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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees
Georgia Voters Choosing GOP Nominee For Gov, Key Senate Race; Sources: Trump Officials Concerned About Deal Over Recent Weeks; Trump Says He Will Release Text Of Iran Agreement In A Couple Of Days; CNN Projects Collins Wins GA GOP Sen Run Off, Will Face Dem Ossoff; Wash Post: Ballroom Cost Up To $600M, Includes Tax Dollars; GA Voters Choosing GOP Nominee For Gov. Key Senate Race; Reflecting Pool Still Green With Algae After $14 Renovation; Secret Service Angry At Patel Over UFC Arrest Post. Aired 8-9p ET
Aired June 16, 2026 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA REID, CNN CHIEF LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche declined to answer questions Monday on Capitol Hill.
MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: General Blanche, can you confirm if the Justice Department is investigating Gavin Newsom and if the President directed you to do this?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
REID: Well, Blanche is not going to be able to escape questions in a few weeks when he is expected to face a contentious confirmation hearing, or one of the biggest issues is going to be how the Justice Department has been used to pursue the President's adversaries -- Kate.
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN HOST: It's great to see you, Paula, thank you so much. And thanks so much for joining us tonight. AC360 starts now.
[20:00:43]
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST, "ANDERSON COOPER: 360": It is Primary Night in America once again, and again, Donald Trump figures highly in it races and runoffs tonight in California, Oklahoma, Alabama and D.C. and Georgia, where Republicans are picking a challenger to Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff.
Now, the President has endorsed Congressman Mike Collins. Georgia's voters or excuse me, Georgia's Governor Brian Kemp, backs former college football coach Derek Dooley. Polls closed an hour ago, and the race is still too early to call. The governor and President, though, have both endorsed Lieutenant Governor Burt Jones to challenge Atlanta's former Democratic Mayor, Keisha Lance-Bottoms for the governor's job.
He's trailing opponent Rick Jackson with about 40 percent of the ballots counted. CNN's Dianne Gallagher is at Mike Collin's headquarters in Jackson, Georgia, and Harry Enten is at the Magic Wall for us. Tonight, I want to start with Dianne Gallagher. What's the latest on
the ground?
DIANNE GALLAGHER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You know, Anderson, Mike Collins just walked into his watch party here a few moments ago. Right now, he is shaking hands, taking pictures and hugging supporters as those returns are coming in from across Georgia.
Many of the people in here wondering the same thing we are. If that 11th hour, Sunday night endorsement from President Donald Trump will be enough to bring him over former University of Tennessee head football coach Derek Dooley, who was endorsed by Georgia's Governor, Brian Kemp.
Now, a source tells CNN that Kemp will be appearing with Dooley at his watch party. The two are longtime family friends tonight as well.
Now, we don't know what's going to happen until the votes are counted. But back in May, Collins got about 40 percent of the vote and Dooley got about 30 percent of the vote. What I'm going to be watching is the southeastern rural part of the state, which was a stronghold for Representative Buddy Carter.
He finished third, so he didn't advance to the primary. Where those votes go could tell us whether or not this Trump endorsement had an effect, and what the final results may be tonight.
Now, look, we're also looking at a competitive GOP governor's runoff between the lieutenant governor, who was endorsed by both Kemp and Trump and health care billionaire, Rick Jackson, who cast himself as a conservative outsider.
Now, Jones has criticized the amount of money that Jackson has spent in the days leading up to this runoff race, and Jackson, for his own self, has said that, look, this is trying to win a race here. He finished just about six points in May behind Jones. He did the best in the suburbs and urban areas while Jones' is strongholds were in the rural parts of the state.
Now look early lead right now as the returns are coming in, Rick Jackson holds. But election day votes at this point are favoring Burt Jones and of course, we still have a long way to go until every vote is counted and we have those final results, Anderson.
Democrats, they had their decisions made for them back in May when voters selected incumbent Senator Jon Ossoff. He will face off against the winner between Collins and Dooley tonight. And on the Governor's side, former Atlanta Mayor and Biden administration official Keisha Lance-Bottoms, who will face off the eventual winner of Jones or Jackson.
COOPER: All right, Dianne Gallagher, we'll check in with you a little bit later. Harry Enten is tracking the numbers in the magic wall. Harry, what do you see?
HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR DATA REPORTER: You know, what am I seeing, Anderson? It's pretty simple what I'm seeing. We're talking, we'll start off with the Senate runoff right here. Mike Collins' lead has been expanding as more of the votes are getting counted right now. Now, he has a nearly five-point advantage.
Now, one of the things I think is so interesting is were seeing a clear geographic divide in this Senate race, right? So, essentially from southeast of Atlanta, right, the Atlanta Suburbs, Southeast, you're seeing Mike Collins in your light red doing significantly better than Derek Dooley is. While Dooley is doing well in Atlanta and the surrounding suburbs.
Now, why is that so important? You can see that there's still a lot of vote remaining in the southeast part of the state. Now, Dianne hit on this, which is one of the key parts that I'm really interested in, is this Southeast corner of the state, right around Savannah. Why am I interested in that?
Because look at the initial primary, that is where Buddy Carter did very, very well. Right down right in here in Savannah. And right now, what we're seeing is we are seeing that that right now, that vote is going to Mike Collins. So, you have to like it if you're Donald Trump at this point, good for Trump, not so good for Brian Kemp, the Republican Governor.
Now, the governor's race, on the other hand, is something else entirely. So, if, in fact, we go to the governor's runoff, what do we see here? We see that Rick Jackson running well ahead of Burt Jones right now, the light red Rick Jackson 58 percent, Burt Jones at 42 percent.
Now, one of the things that I think is so interesting right now is let's just take Atlanta, right? Let's go to Fulton County, right? You got 43 percent of the vote in there. Rick Jackson's ahead 66 to 33 percent or 67 to 33 percent. Why is that interesting? Because that's a 34-point lead. What was the margin there in the first primary round? It was Rick Jackson, but only by a little bit over Burt Jones.
So, we'll just have to wait and see. Theres still a lot of election day vote to go. Burt jones is doing better than that. But right now, it's advantage Jackson in the same way it's advantage Collins in the Senate race. So, Donald Trump one for two at this point -- Anderson.
[20:05:59]
COOPER: All right, Harry Enten thanks for checking you a little bit later.
Joining me now, CNN senior political commentator Scott Jennings, executive committee chair of the New York State Democratic Committee, Christine Quinn and "Vox" host and editorial director, Astead Herndon.
Scott, who do you think has the upper hand tonight in the Georgia GOP runoff?
SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, if you look at the Senate race, Collins getting the last-minute nod from President Trump, you know, certainly better than a sharp stick in the eye. You know, Dooley is interesting. He was kind of coming on strong late. Kemp's had his back the entire way through. I interviewed them both. I liked them both. They're different kinds of campaigns. I'm not surprised --
COOPER: Different in what way?
JENNINGS: Well, you know, Collins is a sort of a true blue MAGA, you know, kind of a congressman and kind of a presentation. Dooley a little more nuanced, but I like him. He hadn't run before and I didn't really know much about him when I interviewed him. He was very well prepared on the issue. So, different kinds of presentations, you know, having Kemp's backing was no small thing for him.
COOPER: Kemp's very popular in the state.
JENNINGS: I mean, look, he's the most popular Republican. Frankly, about a year ago, everybody was wanting Governor Kemp to run for the U.S. Senate. I mean, that was the big hope for the Republicans. That did not happen. And, you know, now we're left with this Ossoff in the Senate race is probably going to start out as a favorite. Got a ton of money in the bank. I think both parties will compete heavily for it. But I think the Democrats probably have a small advantage here.
In the governor's race, look, I interviewed both Jackson and Jones, very nice guys. Jackson has the most interesting story of anybody running. First of all, he spent $100 million of his own money, which is a huge amount to his story of, you know, living in poverty, being part of the foster care system, growing himself out of that and becoming this very wealthy, you know, business person. It's been a captivating story, I think, for the electorate, for the Republicans in Georgia.
Interestingly, whereas Trump and kemp were split on the senate side, on the governor's side, they both aligned behind Burt Jones. So, Jackson didn't have any of the big endorsements, but he had a lot of money in the early results here showing, you know, some of that momentum for him.
COOPER: Christine, what are you watching in Georgia?
CHRISTINE QUINN, EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE CHAIR OF THE NEW YORK STATE DEMOCRATIC COMMITTEE: Well, it's interesting that, you know, obviously, you can argue that Trump's endorsement in the Senate Race, even though it was late, has had an effect. But it doesn't look like Trump kind of has this slam dunk effect that he's had in other races. You certainly see that in the governor's race and things being as close as they are in the senate race. You see that, and that to me is noteworthy because how much will he be energizing that core of 30 to 35 percent base when it comes to November and the general election?
COOPER: It's also interesting. I mean, you look at the Senate race in Georgia, there's, I mean, Kemp's so popular, but also loyalty to Trump is high.
ASTEAD HERNDON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes, and I think that that's always been the conundrum here. Donald Trump plays the role of both establishment and outsider in the Republican Party. And I think Georgia's an important place to see both the dual effect of that. Kemp is very popular, as we know. And Donald Trump, you know, as we should be reminded of, tried to take out Kemp unsuccessfully. I mean, Georgia has, is used to hearing a Donald Trump endorsement and kind of weighing it for themselves.
And so, I think we're seeing, some of that play out, but I don't think we should see the governor's race, even if Jackson is successful as a rejection of Donald Trump more than him just embodying MAGA qualities, I think in a different way. This is someone who even Donald Trump, Jr. a day or two ago, was coming out to say nice things about because he's really positioned himself even to the right, or I don't think you can say, maybe to the right of Burt Jones, but he's not trying to he's not trying to be to the center, right.
So, I don't think we should see it as Donald Trump being diminished more so than MAGA is the standard that Republican voters are looking for. And what Jackson did in this race is really positioned himself in that.
And so, I think if we ask really quickly, I think if we ask why are Republican voters willing to see a successful businessman who pitches himself as an outsider over the establishment endorsement, look no further than Donald Trump. he's created the pathway that Jackson has embodied.
QUINN: Right.
JENNINGS: When I interviewed Jackson, I asked him, what's your relationship like with Donald Trump? And he said he'd been in touch with him, but then he said, look, I don't have his endorsement, but I'll be his favorite governor. And so, it's not like any of these guys are out here, are running against Trump or running away from Trump. Everybody knows, you know, Trump, you know, sort of is still the north star.
[20:10:15]
COOPER: I want to play something that the President he called into, he said about Dooley. He called into a tele rally for Congressman Collins. This is what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: He didn't vote in 2020 and he didn't vote in 2016. Well, those are big votes for me. He didn't vote in 2020 or 2016. And he said, what lost Georgia that he said that -- when we had all the proof and all the evidence and everything that we have right now, and it's coming out on a daily basis, he said he didn't think I won the election in 2020, and I won it by a lot.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: We should just point out, of course, he did not win the election in Georgia, and there's not new evidence coming out every day. And so, what he's saying is not true.
QUINN: I mean, it would be great, in my opinion, if Donald Trump, if he wins, continues to attack him all the way to November, that would be, you know, great. And probably dissuade some level of turnout. But I think whoever wins both of these primaries will see Trump get solidly behind.
HERNDON: If you're Democrat, you think you start off in a good position here. Both of them kind of united the party. They didn't rock the boat. They really feel as if Republicans are kind of leading the infighting. But I also think they shouldn't overcorrect on that front. There's kind of structural advantages. Even harry pointed out in Atlanta and Atlanta Suburbs to a certain type of republican that that that the Brian Kemp style voter who softened on Trump, but still necessarily isn't a liberal, right.
And so, I think we should see that in terms of the context of the reason why Georgia will be close come November. But, you know, in these kind of primary questions, Donald Trump's power over the scope of the last several months has been proven really clearly in the Republican Party.
So, I don't think we should overcorrect from this result in Georgia. If anything, I think it just shows how Donald Trump in office, particularly the second time, has a little more of an establishment feel. And so, there are a version of voters who say, okay, I hear you, President, but I'm going to go with who I think projects MAGA even more than what the kind of a lead or establishment or top of the Republican Party is telling me.
JENNINGS: The one thing about the governor's race, Kemp is popular for a reason. They think he has been a really good governor. it's not sort of a vibe with him. They love what Brian Kemp has done in Georgia. So, to the extent that the Republicans here run on the Kemp record and say, well, if you like what Brian Kemp has done, we're going to keep that kind of governance going.
That will be a powerful message independent of the other forces going on in our politics. You know, federal races and governor's races are sometimes different, different issues. People want different things out of that. And, you know, Brian Kemp has been one of the most popular governors that state has ever had because they like his decision making. You know, they've got a good economy down there. People are flooding into Georgia. I mean, it's been a good state under Kemp.
So, if I were running the campaign in the fall for the Republicans, I want more Kemp, you know, because the voters have responded to that.
COOPER: We're going to return to the primary reporting a bit later in the program. Coming up next, though, the administration continues to sell the agreement with Iran, which no one behind the White House has beyond The White House has seen. Even as more details emerge on the doubts that top officials have surrounding it.
And later, a new weapon in the war against recurring algae in the reflecting pool, pool guys we're seen dumping jugs of hydrogen peroxide into it after millions spent on a no bid contract and a new liner and a whole lot of blue paint has not yet made the green algae go away.
What the White House is saying about when things will clear up, ahead. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:17:51]
COOPER: New reporting tonight on the Trump administration's agreement with Iran and the concerns of some U.S. Intelligence officials that Tehran might not live up to its end of the bargain. CNN analyst and AXIOS reporter Barak Ravid broke the story last night. He joins us shortly.
Now, CNN has learned from multiple sources that at various points over recent weeks, nearly every senior official involved expressed serious reservations about a deal. That said, according to one of those, officials, "the consensus of the team was, we want to get this thing over with."
Today, Vice President Vance had this to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
J.D. VANCE, (R) VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Now, if they comply with this deal, I think it's much better for the United States, and it's going to be much better for Iran. But if they don't comply with the deal, the Straits are still open. We've still done incredible damage to their nuclear program and is really, you know, we can get on with our lives as a country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: The White House said today, "The President will only agree to a good deal for the American people." The catch is few have seen the preliminary agreement. Not even the Senate's top Republican and Democrat.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN THUNE (R-SD): I certainly have not yet, although, we are requesting that, and I assume we will at some point hear from the administration with greater specificity about what's in that memorandum. We're all hearing in generalities what's to being reported.
SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): First, I'm calling on Trump to hold a Gang of Eight meeting on what is in this so-called deal. That, of course, is classified. Second, I'm calling on Trump to brief the whole Congress, all senators deserve answers. And third, I'm calling on Trump to immediately tell the American people on whatever is in his so-called deal. He needs to stop keeping America in the dark.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Well, yesterday you'll remember the President said the document won't be made public until after Friday's ceremonial signing in Geneva.
Today, at the G7 Summit, he was asked why not sooner?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REPORTER: Why not release it before Friday?
TRUMP: Because I'd like to get a formal setting first before we do that, but I have no problem with that. It's grid document, actually, I'll not only release it, I'll probably have a press conference and read it to you word by word.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: The President also praised Iran's leadership while downplaying one of his initial war aims, which was regime change.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Now, you talk about regime change. I never cared about regime change. It's never a part, but I guess you have regime change because you know better than anybody. The first group, they're all dead, the second group, they're dead. A part of the third group is gone. And we're dealing with people that I think are very rational people. I mean, they we're nice to deal with. They were strong people, smart people. I think actually they're smarter than the first and second group, but they're not radicalized. And they are, you know, looking to help their country. So, again, I don't believe the regime change, I've watched regime changes for years, they never work.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: The President claiming that the people, the U.S. is dealing with the Iranian leadership are looking to help their country. Keeping them honest, whether or not regime change works, the President's suggestion that he never cared about it is belied by what he said at the start of the war.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Finally, to the great proud people of Iran, I say tonight that the hour of your freedom is at hand. Stay sheltered. Don't leave your home. It's very dangerous outside. Bombs will be dropping everywhere. When we are finished, take over your government. It will be yours to take. This will be probably your only chance for generations.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Joining us now is Barak Ravid with new reporting on the money Iran could receive under the memorandum of understanding, before even making a single concession and further talks. Barak, so Maritime Intelligence Company Tanker Tracker says that Iran
has successfully exported its first crude oil shipments in two months. According to your reporting, this memorandum of understanding is expected to allow Iran to sell oil freely over the next 60 days. Can you just put that in perspective? How big a lifeline is that for the Iranian regime right now?
BARAK RAVID, CNN POLITICAL AND FOREIGN POLICY ANALYST: Well, it's definitely going to generate a lot of revenue for the Iranians. Especially that, you know, those negotiations are not going to end in 60 days. This is a highly technical, complicated deal on Iran's nuclear program. The deal itself says that those 60 days can be extended by mutual agreement. I predict that it will at least be extended at least once, maybe several times, which means that the Iranians will be able to sell oil for a long, long time. And at least, according to what I hear from U.S. officials, those sanction waivers that the Iranians will get to sell oil will take place, will be issued immediately after the agreement is signed on Friday.
Several U.S. officials have said publicly, including Vice-President Vance and others, that this will be a pay for performance deal. It is unclear what will be the performance by Iran if those waivers are issued immediately after signing. We will have to see whether Iran is doing anything immediately. If not, I think it will raise a lot of questions about the claims by the Trump administration that this is a pay for performance agreement.
COOPER: As I mentioned, you reported on doubts by the U.S. Intelligence community that Iran intends to make the kind of concessions on its nuclear program that the U.S. wants you. I mean, the reporting you had was extraordinary. CNN reported today that according to sources familiar with the findings, Iran can effectively shut down access to the Strait of Hormuz at will. How much skepticism are you hearing there is inside the Trump administration, or has there been among some top officials that a nuclear deal or any deal is going to be good for the United States, or is it even going to be held to?
RAVID: I think the skepticism -- yes, so I think, there were two camps during the internal deliberations of this deal inside the White House. One camp was led by Vice-President Vance with envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner. They negotiated the deal; they supported the deal. They told the President, we need to move forward with this deal. There's a chance to get a nuclear deal with Iran afterwards.
The second camp that was Secretary of State Rubio, Secretary of Defense Hegseth and CIA Director Ratcliffe was very skeptical, not about this current deal, but about the possibility that Iran will indeed make the nuclear concessions that the U.S. wants it to make in the final deal.
And Ratcliffe told Trump and the other officials in those meetings that the U.S. has intelligence that shows that the Iranian leadership does not have any intention to make those concessions. And, for example, one of the information that was discussed in those meetings in the White House, according to two sources, was that in the internal discussions in the Iranian leadership, the way they speak about the deal, the way they interpret it, is very different than what they say to the mediators and to the U.S. negotiators during the talks.
And this is why, Ratcliffe told Trump and the others that he's very skeptical that the Iranians will follow through about nuclear concessions.
COOPER: Barak Ravid, thank you so much. Appreciate it. Joining me now is former Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman, who led the team that negotiated the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran and Karim Sadjadpour, Senior Fellow for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
Karim, based on what you know right now, what do you think of this memorandum of understanding and how significant is it that not only has it not been released publicly, but neither congressional leadership nor the Israeli government have seen it.
KARIM SADJADPOUR, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Anderson, based on Vice- President Vance's media interventions and some of my conversations with administration officials, I think the Trump administration has actually a very ambitious agenda, which is basically to do a grand bargain with the Iranian government. They essentially want to present two very divergent paths to Iran to say, if you take path A, we'll reintegrate you into the global economy, provide you hundreds of billions of dollars in investment, reassure your security concerns.
And path B is the exact opposite. It will be continued isolation. You know, poverty, potential, return to conflict and if you're looking at this from the vantage point of someone who has a real estate or finance background, obviously that's a no brainer. But when you're looking at this from the vantage point of a revolutionary dictatorship, this is a regime which doesn't want to be reintegrated into the world. They've thrived in isolation.
And so, for that reason, I'm skeptical, that ambitious agenda is going to succeed.
COOPER: Ambassador Sherma, I mean, do you think it's the case that the administration has basically given up on the idea of, or would be okay with giving up on the idea of a nuclear deal that essentially the priority was just end this conflict, get the oil flowing and move on?
WENDY SHERMAN, FORMER DEPUTY SECRETARY OF STATE: Well, I'm afraid that may be exactly where we are, Anderson. I agree with Karim. This is not an administration regime that plays by the same rules we do. And the Trump administration has never understood the culture or the history and the approach of the Iranians throughout this whole process.
I think they indeed just wanted to get the war over because, quite frankly, our military was fantastic. But the Iranians understood that they could use asymmetric means, particularly closing the Strait of Hormuz and attacking our gulf partners and allies and our bases. Every administration before this one understood that that would be a war we would lose, because the Iranians could close down the Strait of Hormuz and attack our allies and partners.
Only this President was foolish enough to take our fantastic troops and send them to tactical success and strategic failure. And now, listening to what President Trump and Vice-President Vance have said today, and what Barak Ravid reported, it won't surprise me at all if the President truly just lets this go and moves on to his next shiny object.
The President has not really been interested in taking the next step on anything. If he can't go to get a quick victory in Ukraine, he moves away. If he can't really take Venezuela to the next step, he moves on to the next shiny object. If he can't really help Gaza reconstruct and Palestinians to have a future, he moves on. And I'm very afraid that that's what will happen here.
One last point, if you look back at what he said when he withdrew from the 2015 agreement, and you go through his criteria about why he thought it was bad, I urge everyone to read that statement because it hasn't met any of his criteria then, and I don't think he's going to meet his criteria now.
COOPER: Yes, I mean, Karim, he was incredibly critical of that agreement, blasting, you know, money that Iran would get for, you know, for compliance if they comply with the agreement. I mean, it seems like they're getting all the same things in this agreement.
RAVID: So, under the Obama nuclear deal, which Wendy led the negotiations for in 2015, I believe the figure was Iran got $1.7 billion and, you know, economic incentives in exchange for very significant nuclear compromises.
The numbers were talking now, Anderson, are in the tens, if not the hundreds of billions of dollars. And if you remember, President Trump's speech on the night of the war, February 28th, he laid out some very specific objectives to further obliterate Iran's nuclear program, to raise its missiles down to the ground, to defang its regional proxies, and potentially even unseat the regime.
Unfortunately, none of those objectives have been achieved, and they weren't successful in bombing Iran into change. And I think now the idea is let's try to bribe them into change. But again, that hasn't worked and persuading revolutionary dictatorships to do things that would be inimical to their own survival.
[20:30:57]
COOPER: Karim Sadjadpour, Ambassador Sherman, thank you.
Coming up next, how much you are paying for a ballroom the President said would not cost taxpayers a dime. Something that new reporting reveals officials had reason to know was untrue when they said that.
Also, that reflecting pool which cost taxpayers a no-bid inflated $14 million to make blue is still not blue, and crews are now knee-deep in green algae, and the administration is scrambling to explain and pouring in buckets of hydrogen peroxide.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:35:54] COOPER: Primary night in America. CNN can now project that Mike Collins will be the Republican Senate nominee this fall against Democrat Jon Ossoff. Again, that is the Trump-endorsed Mike Collins getting the nomination over Derek Dooley, who was backed by Georgia's popular governor.
I want to go back to CNN's Dianne Gallagher. Dianne?
GALLAGHER: Yes, Anderson, Mike Collins hasn't come out yet to address this, but we are seeing a little bit more excitement in the room. A lot of kids running around, sort of dancing, waiting to see when he's going to come out and sort of accept this nomination.
Now, look, Mike Collins has represented Georgia's 10th district since 2023. He owns a trucking company. He's also the son of a former congressman.
He has painted himself as this reliable MAGA and Trump-aligned supporter and basically ran his campaign in that way, supporting President Trump on just about everything, including his false claims that Trump won the 2020 election.
Trump didn't endorse him, though, until Sunday, that 11th-hour endorsement that, of course, Collins was very appreciative of, touted from that moment over former University of Tennessee head football coach Derek Dooley, who, as you mentioned, was supported and endorsed by Georgia's governor, Brian Kemp.
Now, Dooley tried to paint himself as an outsider, but also said he didn't vote in 2016 or 2020, a stark comparison to President Trump, who even mentioned that in his endorsement of Collins, Anderson.
COOPER: All right. Dianne Gallagher, thanks so much.
Now, new reporting for The Washington Post shows that despite the President's repeated claims, more than half of the massive ballroom project is slated to be paid for with taxpayer dollars. The Post obtained invoices and documents from the contractor. They indicate the White House had reason to know more than two weeks before plans for it were unveiled that taxpayers would be on the hook, despite the President repeatedly claiming the opposite.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And I'm paying for it. I'm paying for it. The country is not --
We're donating a $400 million ballroom. Myself and donors are giving them free of charge for nothing.
We did this no charge to the taxpayer, whatsoever.
Rich people and people are putting up the money. Zero taxpayer dollars.
We didn't ask for any tax money. We have no taxes. This is taxpayer- free. We have no taxpayer putting up $0.10.
We're putting up $400 million to do the ballroom, section of the ballroom. We are putting that up privately.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Jonathan O'Connell is on the byline, The Washington Post reporting. He joins us now. So you report that this past March, President Trump said, quote, "this is taxpayer-free," but documents prepared for the White House weeks earlier showed total construction costs of $600 million, with more than half coming from taxpayers. What else did you learn?
JONATHAN O'CONNELL, INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER, THE WASHINGTON POST: Really that the whole time the President has been talking about this, and repeatedly, as you point out here, talking about how taxpayers would not have to pay any money for this, that the White House not only knew that the taxpayers were going to have to pay for part of it, but already were making payments using taxpayer funds for portions of it.
So, you know, you line up those comments that the President is making with these budget costs that we have, that the contract was prepared for the White House and that the White House has. And over time, you can just see the cost of this whole thing going up and up and up to $600 million as of mid-March.
And the President continued to talk about, you know, he started with it would cost $200 million. He got to $300 million. There's a couple of times where he says it would be a little under $400 million at once, depending on the finishes. And the real cost is just obviously much, not obviously, but is much higher than that when you look at the estimates that the White House is actually looking at.
COOPER: So even early on, while the President was saying no taxpayers would be paying money for it, the government was already -- the administration was already paying -- using taxpayer money for this.
O'CONNELL: Yes. And, you know, they're continuing to do that. Now, we don't know what this $600 million number is as of mid-March. And I unfortunately don't have visibility to a number more recent than that. And the White House and the Secret Service have not provided us with a number beyond that.
[20:40:02]
It could be higher -- I guess it could be lower, but the trajectory of this over the, again, the nine months that we have insight into now shows that it's been going up virtually the whole time.
COOPER: And the details about the ballroom, they seem to keep changing. There's an impenetrable steel roof, titanium fencing, four- inch thick windows, a six-story underground facility. Is it clear that the documents you obtained, do they show what the reality of the structure is at this -- or is that still changing? O'CONNELL: I mean, we don't know all the details of the physical structure. I mean, there's obviously multiple components to this, which the President very rarely touches on. There is the part above ground, which includes a planned ballroom, obviously. There is office space.
There is also below ground security facilities, most of which the details of which are not public. But this entire structure is often described by the President as just a new ballroom or a brand new ballroom and something that private donors will pay for. And I think people are reasonably come away from that thinking we are not paying for this, that this is a ballroom that he wants to build. Private donors are paying for it and that we aren't.
COOPER: How does the White House explain the rising costs and the taxpayer funds now being used to construct this?
O'CONNELL: I mean, they have focused, especially recently and since the attempted attack at the correspondence dinner, to talk about the East Wing rebuild as like a national security priority. And I think there is obviously wide agreement.
We all want the White House to be a secure place. We want the President, the President's family and the President's staff to all be safe. And they are now talking about the fact that rebuilding it is a, you know, it's a focus of -- it's a security priority.
Now, there is obviously, you know, many facets of this building that are going to have to be highly secure. There's going to be technology. There's going to be, you know, the President has talked about wanting to prevent drone attacks, wanting to prevent cyber attacks, et cetera.
But we don't -- so we don't have a specific breakdown of what all the costs would go toward. But they are talking about more and more interest of security priority for the country instead of just wanting to have a nice new ballroom where they can host, you know, parties or foreign leaders, that sort of thing.
COOPER: Yes. Jonathan O'Connell, great reporting as always. Thank you.
O'CONNELL: Yes, thank you.
COOPER: Coming up next, back to the primaries with Harry Enten breaking down what the numbers just now coming in are telling us.
Also, visitors to Washington's reflecting pool today saw crews dumping jug after jug, gallon jugs of hydrogen peroxide into the water, trying to kill the still present algae. The administration saying it'll all clear up soon. Thanks to the taxpayer dollars they spent on a no bid basis. What a CNN lab analysis in the water actually says.
And later, details of the alleged terror plot targeting the White House UFC fights. The manhunt for alleged plotters still at large and whether FBI Director Kash Patel going public with it all could be making that search harder.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:47:08]
COOPER: Busy night with primaries and runoffs. I want to go back to Harry Enten in the Magic Wall. So what's the latest from the numbers in Georgia?
ENTEN: Yes, OK. You called the Senate race earlier, right, for Donald Trump's chosen candidate, Mike Collins. Governor's race tightening significantly. Rick Jackson, the businessman who spent millions upon millions of dollars in that race, has been ahead the entire night.
But Burt Jones, who has the endorsement not just of Donald Trump, but the Republican governor, Brian Kemp as well, has been gaining in the vote. What is going on here, Anderson? What is going on is what I hinted at at the end of the last hit. That is the first votes that are counted are the early votes.
Rick Jackson doing very well in the early votes, getting, let's say, about 60 percent of the early vote. What's coming in now, however, is the Election Day vote. Rick Jackson doing significantly poor there, only getting about 45 percent of that vote.
Burt Jones, on the other hand, of course, is getting the inverse of that. It's in fact getting 55 percent of that, in fact, Election Day vote. Why is that so important? Well, it's so important for a very simple reason, and that is the Election Day vote will make up the majority of the vote.
We're talking about 60 percent of the vote estimated to be when it is all in and counted. Now, there are some ways to kind of look at this equation a little bit to get an understanding of exactly what is cooking. That is, what if we look at the counties in which most of the votes are in? Does that give us a clue of where this result might end up when all of the votes are in and counted?
Well, if we, in fact, go and we do this, let's see if I can pull this off. There we go. And we look here. If we look at the counties in which 95 percent of the vote or more in, we'll just take one that's right in here, right? This is Burt Jones, who's getting 62 percent in Jasper County, right?
How did he do in the initial round? Well, in the initial round, that 25-point lead, excuse me, he was winning that vote by 30. In other words, he's not exactly getting what I think he would need to get in order to win this race. However, with the Election Day vote still out, it's still too close to call at this point, Anderson.
COOPER: All right. Harry Enten, thanks very much.
ENTEN: Thank you.
COOPER: Now, a new chapter on Washington's reflecting pool, as you know, the plan was to get rid of the algae that's played dead for years. President thought it urgent enough to give out a no bid contract to do it. Now that the work is done, the algae is still there or back. Crews are scrambling to contain it. The administration is trying to explain why it will all go away soon.
More from CNN's Sunlen Serfaty.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): President Trump's freshly renovated reflecting pool.
TRUMP: It will look far more beautiful.
SERFATY (voice-over): Has been hit with a problem that has dogged administrations for decades.
TRUMP: It's called American flag blue.
SERFATY (voice-over): The problem, algae. In just one week, this blue pool has grown into an increasingly murky shade of green. The very color in muck the President has repeatedly railed against.
[20:50:05]
TRUMP: The water is disgusting looking. It's not representative of the country.
SERFATY (voice-over): The administration is now dispatching crews to vacuum up the clumps of algae and dumping gallons upon gallons of hydrogen peroxide in the pool to try to fix the hue. But algae experts say that's an uphill battle.
BARRETT BROOKS, ALGAE RESEARCHER, THE SMITHSONIAN: We're in Washington, D.C. in the summertime. This is a shallow pool with stagnant water, abundant sunlight that creates a situation where opportunistic algae can really take advantage of the situation.
SERFATY (voice-over): The renovations, which started in April and finished last week, cost more than $14 million, a far cry from the $1.8 million first expected and included at least one no bid contract. There were a series of functional fixes, including repairing leaks and installing a filtration system for the first time to help clean the water.
SERFATY: And we're going to scoop up a water sample to see if we can get this tested.
SERFATY (voice-over): CNN independently took the sample of water and consulted with a pool store that regularly tests water to help read the results. It showed phosphate levels far higher than what is recommended to keep algae at bay based on estimates for a pool that holds 6.5 million gallons of water.
BROOKS: If there's already some phosphate fertilizer in the water, that's really opportunistic, especially for the blue green algae that can fix nitrogen. So they are having a field day out here probably.
SERFATY (voice-over): The Department of Interior says they believe some of the initial problem was residual algae that had accumulated in pipes and insists the filtration system called the ozone nanobubbler is working. Due to deploying the advanced nanobubbler technology, the algae is dead and being vacuumed up as we speak.
A Department of Interior spokesperson told CNN, "The nanobubbler technology has successfully destroyed the algae bloom that has plagued every pool reopening." The hydrogen peroxide, they say, is being used as a milder treatment for the algae.
DANIELLE KHAN, MARYLAND RESIDENT: It looks exactly the same to me.
SERFATY (voice-over): At the reflecting pool today, mixed reactions to the latest look.
KHAN: I know a lot of money went into this, but I can clearly see algae growing.
DINIKA SETH, VISITING D.C. FROM NORTH CAROLINA: I look at it, it's getting cleaner. Yes, and there -- because obviously I wouldn't see if it was if it was still, you know, in not good shape, you wouldn't see a good reflection.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Sunlen Serfaty is at the reflecting pool now. So is it safe to use hydrogen peroxide to treat the reflecting pool for, you know, birds and animals?
SERFATY (on-camera): Yes, we asked this, Anderson, of the Department of Interior, and they insist that they believe it is safe for animals and the environment, and they say that it's much less harsh than chlorine that would typically go into a swimming pool.
They also say that hydrogen peroxide is occasionally used in natural swimming pools and some spas. But these experts that we spoke to today, they really said the intention of this hydrogen peroxide is to go in and oxify the water and really break up the cells of algae, which we saw the actual physical parts of the algae around in this pool today.
It should be noted that this has been a decades long problem back in 2012 after the Obama administration renovated the reflecting pool very soon after the algae showed up. And notably, experts say it's the success of this project is not going to be determined by right after refilling this project, but in the months and weeks ahead. Anderson?
COOPER: All right. We'll see it.
Sunlen Serfaty, thanks so much.
Up next, details of an alleged plot on UFC Fight night at the White House and why Secret Service officials are at odds with FBI Director Kash Patel over his social media posts on the case.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:56:03] COOPER: More breaking news, Secret Service officials at odds with FBI Director Kash Patel tonight, saying he posted detailed information too soon on social media about a foiled alleged plot targeting the UFC Fight night at the White House. The reason a number of suspects are still at large.
Secret Service Deputy Director Matt Quinn did not mention Patel by name, but his message was clear.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MATT QUINN, SECRET SERVICE DEPUTY DIRECTOR: I'll tell you a phrase I learned early in my career in the New York field office, and that's don't choke on your own smoke. I'll tell you, the Secret Service led that investigation from the beginning. I'll tell you that it's ongoing in order to maintain the integrity of the investigation and the security plan. We chose not to leak it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: So far, only five, perhaps as many as 23 suspects are in custody, including a 19-year-old, according to the criminal complaint, his parents were alarmed by his actions and alerted authorities. Investigators say he had an arsenal of weapons, including an AR style rifle and several boxes of ammunition.
The five in custody face a variety of charges, conspiracy to murder, attempted murder, conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States. According to the criminal complaint, the alleged plotters, including those still at large, plan to use a drone to drop explosives and create panic.
And then investigators say he used snipers in the crowd, quote, "prepared to kill certain high value targets." Investigators say the suspects, quote, "expressed ultra-religious and anti-government sentiments, with some upset about the Jeffrey Epstein case and others sharing vehement anti-Semitism."
CNN's Chief Law Enforcement Intelligence Analyst John Miller joins us now. So I want to get the specifics in a moment, but did Kash Patel jump the gun here?
JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: Well, certainly his announcement in the early hours of this morning before any court was open, these documents were still sealed. Other teams were out attempting to make other arrests came as a real surprise to the Secret Service agents who were working on the case.
COOPER: It's highly unusual that any FBI director would ever do this.
MILLER: OK, but this is the third time for Director Patel. Remember, there was the Detroit terrorism plot where he announced it while there were still suspects in New Jersey and in the state of Washington that weren't in custody, that was pretty irksome within the FBI. There was the Charlie Kirk assassination where he announced an arrest had been made in connection with that before one had. And now this. So it's become a bit of a habit. Interestingly, the fight here is between, you know, the upper echelon of the Secret Service and the FBI director about why does this happen. As far as the Secret Service agents and the FBI agents working the case, they were also shocked, but they're working together fine. So it's not between the agencies, it's between the executives.
COOPER: So what more -- what about the suspects? What more do we know?
MILLER: Well, you had a universe of this 23 people that were in these chat rooms. Then you had a core group of 14 that were actively in discussions of I'm down for the mission. We're going to meet in Fredericksburg. Then we're going to deploy to Washington.
COOPER: You call them accelerationists.
MILLER: Well, that's right. And this is an extreme kind of further than right wing extremism. This is people who want to accelerate the collapse of society, the fall of the U.S. government to do attacks like this and others that have been plotted and thwarted so that it will spark a race war and that they can then achieve in the aftermath of that a white religious ethno purist society.
COOPER: And how close did this actually come to a reality? I mean, were they actually in D.C.?
MILLER: So, no, this was uncovered on June 10th. You know, the event at the White House was going to be on the 14th. And, you know, on the 11th and 12th, they have the Secret -- the Secret Service was, you know, getting these handles that they were using in the chat room and then trying to figure out who was who and attach real names to them.
And by then, they were able to get a number of people in custody. But there's still more to go. They had the intent and they had the capability because they had ordered thousands of dollars of military equipment, rifles, ammunition, body armor.
COOPER: Yes. It's incredible.
John Miller, appreciate it. Thanks very much --
MILLER: Thanks.
COOPER: -- for continuing to follow it.
That's it for us. The news continues. The Source with Kaitlan Collins starts now. See you tomorrow.
