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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees

Sources: Iran has New Plan to Assassinate Trump, Israel Tells U.S.; Sources: Trump Switched to Old Air Force One due to Security Concerns; Democrats Seek Details on FBI Director's Alleged Abuse of FBI Jets, Use of Taxpayer Dollars; Lawmakers Accuse Patel Of Luxury Travel, Personal Perks; FBI Denies It; Former Olympic Canoeist David Hearn Pleads Not Guilty To Reflecting Pool Damage; Source: Platner To File Paperwork To End Senate Bid On Monday; Source: Mexican National Fatally Shot By ICE In Texas Was Not The Target Of The Immigration Operation. Aired 8-9p ET

Aired July 09, 2026 - 20:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

M.J. LEE, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL ENTERPRISE CORRESPONDENT: they are currently reviewing Groff transcript against available evidence and that they would welcome any additional evidence from anybody that might have it. But some of the Epstein survivors that we talked to did say that corroboration can be hard to come by, because some of these interactions with Groff would have taken place many years ago when some of these victims were teenagers, and certainly before the proliferation of smart phones -- Erin.

ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: M.J. thank you very much for that. And thanks to all of you for being with us. AC360 begins now.

[20:00:35]

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST, "ANDERSON COOPER: 360": Good evening.

We start off tonight with breaking news. Iran has recently devised a new plan to assassinate President Trump that, according to Israeli intelligence shared with the United States. Two sources who spoke to CNN provided the details. One said the warning came this week. Another source said the U.S. had picked up a steady drumbeat of intelligence in recent weeks about possible plans to assassinate the President, but the warning from Israel was new and concerned a specific plot.

The details of that plot were not immediately clear, nor was it clear if the U.S. had detected it separately from the Israeli warning. President Trump alluded to a threat from Iran when asked yesterday why he was leaving NATO on the old Air Force One after arriving on the new Air Force One.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REPORTER: I would like you to address speculation that you are leaving Ankara not in the new Air Force One because of security concerns involving Iran. You've spoke spoken today twice about them possibly assassinating you and possibly being successful. Did that concern have something to do with -- DONALD TRUMP (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Well, I speak about it a lot because, you know, the life of a President is very dangerous. I'm number one on the kill list for Iran. They're lovely people. I'm number one.

REPORTER: Why aren't you flying on the new Air Force One?

TRUMP: It's flying to Europe to one of the big bases, two or three of the big bases where we can show it to the people and we'll be going home by normal methods.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Well, now that the switch from the new Air Force One to the old Air Force One was driven, at least in part, by security concerns around the escalating conflict with Iran. That's according to four U.S. officials. Although there's no indication it was specifically tied to this plot to assassinate the President.

Now, all of this is happening, of course, with the renewed military strikes between the U.S. and Iran. This was the scene on the Iranian coast earlier today. These are fighter jets taking off from the USS Abraham Lincoln, an aircraft carrier in the Arabian Sea, carrying out a routine mission over the Strait of Hormuz. The U.S. is pausing strikes for now to give diplomacy a chance, according to a U.S. official.

We start with CNN's Pamela Brown, who joins us live aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln. So, what more have you learned about this apparent assassination plot?

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: Anderson, my colleague Kevin Liptak and me have been talking to sources tonight, and were told that as recently as this past week, Israel shared intelligence with the U.S., that it was devising, that Iran was devising a new plot to assassinate President Trump.

Now, I'm told from talking to a source that in recent weeks, there has been an increase of intelligence coming in, indicating that Iran was devising new ways to go after the President. We know ever since his first term, it has looked at President Trump as a target ever since the administration took out Commander Soleimani of Iran. But this is a new plot, apparently coming from Israeli intelligence that I should note has not been verified by the U.S., we're told. And one source we spoke to did express some skepticism that this particular intelligence about a specific plot, coming from Israel, they do question that given the fact that they believe that Israel may be trying to influence President Trump.

But nonetheless, this is something the intelligence community is looking at and trying to figure out more. We don't have details yet of that specific plot, but as you point out, Anderson, the change of Air Force One planes this past week certainly raised a lot of questions.

COOPER: Is there any indication this plot or just the security concern, is it connected to the renewed U.S. strikes in the past few days, or is it something that's been in the works for a longer time, do we know?

BROWN: I think that's a fair question. The sources I'm speaking to say that it's not related to these retaliatory strikes that we've seen the last couple of days. I'm told that that is directly in response to the Iran strikes on those three vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, and that this is all part of a military tactic to strike Iran and then pause to try to get diplomacy back on the table, which is what you're seeing right now.

I'm told by a U.S. Official that they really want to get diplomacy going, that that is taking the lead, and that right now there is diplomacy happening behind the scenes to try to ease tensions. Because as we've been talking about, Anderson, this week, we have seen those tensions escalate with strikes back and forth between the U.S. and Iran. But it's very touch and go. I can tell you, in talking to folks here on this ship, there's a feeling that things can change at any second, and strikes could resume any minute and they're trying to make preparations for that.

COOPER: Yes. Have you seen any more activity on the on the USS Abraham in the overnight hours there?

[20:05:10]

BROWN: Absolutely, and by the way, here behind me, a drill of some sort. They're doing maintenance here on aircraft. So, that's that sound. I mean this ship is going 24/7 and in terms of aircraft there are operations going on throughout the day with these fighter jets. And throughout the night, I believe we have some new exclusive video we can show you from our time here on the Lincoln today. These are operations from these fighter jets that are defensive in nature.

I'm told they've been doing these types of operations throughout their time here. But it of course took on new meaning today, given this posture of heightened alert. The captain of the ship said that things are heating up and I can tell you, Anderson, here on the ship, it was a lot busier today with putting armaments on these fighter jets in preparation for potential strikes. Pilots were doing drills. They were getting ready in case they were called on to do a third night of strikes.

So far, that hasn't happened. Things are delicate, diplomacy is underway. But as we've seen throughout this war, Anderson, things can rapidly change.

COOPER: Yes, Pamela Brown, thanks so much, appreciate it.

Joining us now, two of our law enforcement analyst, former Secret Service agent Jonathan Wackrow and former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe. Jonathan, what do you first of all, make of this assassination plot? Does it now make more sense that the President flew out of Turkey on the old Air Force One instead of the new one? I mean, his explanation yesterday didn't really seem to make much sense about it being going to a base in order so people could tour it.

JONATHAN WACKROW, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Yes, good evening, Anderson. You know, this new reporting really confirms what this appeared to be from the very beginning, which was it was a risk-based operational decision that was driven by the changing threat picture in the region. I think this new intelligence just adds to that.

And with that threat environment escalating, the focus really shifts to capabilities. And when it comes to the aircraft, which aircraft can best support the President's security communications and command requirements while he's overseas? And when you think about like what the White House military office, the Secret Service, and the National Security staff had to do, this decision to revert to a known aircraft where its full capabilities have been tested in these real-world conditions was pretty easy and straightforward, you know, to make that call, to depart on the Legacy aircraft.

COOPER: Andrew, I don't know why the President wouldn't just, you know, tell the American people the truth, given that it's obviously it would come out anyway and the explanation wasn't very plausible that that he gave yesterday. I'm wondering what light this assassination plot led, you know, plot sheds, in your view, on the changes from the planes yesterday?

ANDREW MCCABE, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Yes, you know, well, I think I have the same questions you do, Anderson. Excuse me, and foremost in my mind is the fact that no President ever has been put out of his own plane or has been forced to switch planes so that the plane he departed the country in could go tour unnamed air bases that other people could look at it. That seems like really a far reach. Now, we know that there is this kind of groundswell of intelligence, possibly collected by our own intelligence community, possibly given to us by the Israelis, that indicate that there is a significant threat picture that the President is facing.

We know this President faces a significant threat picture all the time, an elevated threat picture. We've seen numerous attempts at his life. And let's not forget the fact that he has now traveled into a country, Turkey, that shares a border with the country we are currently at war with, current diplomatic efforts aside.

So, all, you know, all indicators point in the same direction that this was an incredibly high-risk trip, maybe one that the President decided was worth it, but nevertheless, a high-risk trip, and one in which you absolutely cannot, under any circumstances, allow the President of the United States to suffer in any way at the hands of a foreign adversary, ever. That is something, that is an act that could catapult this, you know, us into World War III. So, changing planes midstream. I agree with Jonathan, that was a necessity because clearly the old plane has capabilities that the new one doesn't have just yet.

COOPER: Jonathan, I mean, the risk to the President on an overseas trip like this, and to Andrew's point, one that borders Iran. I mean, it's, the risks are endless, I mean, drones, missiles, you know, something taking off, landing while he's on the ground there. Were you surprised that this trip even took place?

WACKROW: Well, I'm not surprised that the trip took place. I was actually shocked when I saw that the new bridge aircraft was actually utilized, with the imagery of him taking off from Andrew's and landing in Turkey. And the reason being is when, you know, the President is overseas, that aircraft literally becomes part of the National Security infrastructure. It's effectively the flying White House. This mobile command and control post that really is the center of continuity of operations for the U.S. government.

So, that aircraft matters the most when the President is operating in these heightened threat environments.

So, the choice to use that aircraft initially, I kind of scratch my head at, it was the right decision to go back to the Legacy aircraft. And the reason being is because that aircraft is tested within real world conditions, that Legacy aircraft has gone into war zones. It has the capabilities to operate in an environment like that. So, seeing him depart yesterday on that legacy aircraft was a bit of a relief for me.

COOPER: Andrew, just from a security standpoint, I mean, you alluded to this, what kind of intelligence would the Secret Service have about a plot like this, and how much would they be relying on the Israelis?

MCCABE: So, the service, as Jonathan well knows, is the benefactor, the recipient of all of the United States intelligence community's best collection on any issue that impacts the safety and security of the President of the United States. So, it's not what the service collects on its own. It's the best of what NSA is hearing in their vast intercept capability around the world.

It's the best of what NSA is collecting on the cyber front around the globe. It's the best of what the FBI is getting from their surveillance of and monitoring of Iran-connected people here in the United States. It's, of course, the best of what the CIA collects from their sources all over the globe, and some of whom are in doubt, you know, obviously in touch with and maybe in Iran.

So, they have an incredibly expansive and detailed and nuanced view of what the United States knows. Now, put on top of that, they're the beneficiaries of receiving any sort of intel that's passed along to us from our allies. Of course, in this case, Israel has extensive collection in that area. And, of course, our European allies as well, particularly Five Eyes nations that have a very open sharing capacity with us.

So, if the threat is out there, if there's a legitimate, credible threat out there, it's highly likely that were going to see indications of that either in our own collection or in the collection of our partners.

COOPER: Andrew McCabe appreciate it, Jonathan Wackrow, as well.

Coming up, we'll have more on the reported Iranian plot to assassinate President Trump and how it could impact future negotiations to end the war.

And later, FBI director Kash Patel is now at the center of a congressional investigation into his alleged abuse of FBI airplanes and other perks of the office. More details on that ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:17:13]

COOPER: Back with our breaking news tonight, CNN has learned that Israel shared details of a fresh Iranian plot to assassinate President Trump. While the details of the plot were not clear, the Israelis told the U.S. that their intelligence indicated it was a new and specific plot to kill the President.

We're learning of this after CNN reported today that the President's decision to switch planes for his flight out of Turkey was driven in part by security concerns. Two U.S. officials told CNN that security personnel felt more comfortable with the President flying on the plane, which was built from scratch, to ensure the safety of the commander-in-chief rather than the newly retrofitted plane gifted to the U.S. by Qatar. Joining me now with more on this, former U.S. Ambassador to NATO, Ivo Daalder, and retired U.S. Air Force Colonel Cedric Leighton who's a CNN military analyst.

Ambassador, what could the impact of this assassination plot on the war be and the efforts to end it?

IVO DAALDER, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO NATO: I well, frankly, I don't think very much. it's not surprising that the Iranians would continue to want to target the President of the United States. After all, we started this war by assassinating and killing the Supreme Leader of Iran.

I would have assumed that from day one, we would assume that the Iranians are going to target the President of the United States. Indeed, they have been trying to do so for a very long time. Way back in the 1980s, Iranians were targeting, U.S. officials. So, it isn't surprising that this is happening and it shouldn't make in many ways any difference to how one conducts the war.

When it comes to war, with another adversary, almost all think particularly with Iran, almost all things are off the table. And that I would have assumed would be part of the conversation the President had with his senior advisors on how to conduct this war.

COOPER: Colonel, from the perspective of the U.S. Air force, what is a plot like this? I mean, do you think, for transporting the President safely moving forward?

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: We'll, Anderson, one of the key things, of course, as the ambassador mentioned, is the safety of the President and when you plan a mission like a Presidential transport to another part of the world, they take a look at all of the intelligence pictures. And in your previous segment, when Andrew McCabe was talking about it, he's right there, it is basically an all-source intelligence picture that is brought to the Air Force, as well as the Secret Service.

And when the Air Force gets these pictures, what they do is they develop flight plans to make sure that the President's plane is as safe as possible. Sometimes that that involves things like, when you go into denied area like Baghdad during the Iraq war, the plane would come in in a kind of a corkscrew fashion to avoid surface to air missile engagements, if at all possible, or at least minimize the risk of those engagements.

So those, you know, it's basically a series of tactics, flight paths that are developed in order to protect the aircraft itself and make sure that the President and the traveling party is as safe as possible.

[20:20:16]

COOPER: Ambassador, you know, the President has said that the new leaders of Iran are the people that the U.S. is dealing with are less radicalized than the previous two iterations of the regime, many of whom have been killed. A, do you believe that is the case? And if there is an assassination plot, does that any commentary on how serious Iran is or is not about actually making a deal?

DAALDER: Yes, I don't think this is a particularly moderate regime. And the Iranian regime doesn't have moderates. But one thing that that resulted from this war is that the hardliners within this regime, uh, have taken control. Clearly, the Supreme Leader's son, who is now the new Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, was closely tied to hardliners within the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the IRGC. Those are the people who are clearly in charge now and they believe they are winning this war.

They believe that they have a strategic leverage by holding hostage the Strait of Hormuz and the traffic that goes through it. And they're not willing to give it up. The memorandum of understanding as they negotiated didn't say that they were have to give it up, and the President will have to decide, is he willing to live with an Iran that in some ways is able to control access to and from the Strait of Hormuz, or is he willing to escalate militarily to the point that the Iranians are preventing from doing so?

But that would be a major, major military escalation, probably involving ground forces in a very significant fashion. And the President has, up to this point, ruled that those options out.

But this leadership, as far as I can see, and certainly in leadership that is bent on revenge for the killing of its own Supreme Leader is unlikely to be looking for a deal, let alone begging for a deal that the President keeps on telling they are.

COOPER: Yes. And Colonel, I mean, if there's if there is not a deal or a deal, you know, a reasonable deal in in the works or in sight and, you know, a civilizational annihilation wipe out strike is not in the cards as certainly it would be illegal to do. And, you know, even though the President has at times kind of threatened something like that militarily, what happens is that just kind of a low-grade tit for tat just moving forward?

LEIGHTON: It could very well turn out to be that, Anderson. And, you know, one of the things that were very reluctant to do, as the ambassador mentioned, is to commit ground forces to something like this. Now, there is one thing that is interesting about the target set that was picked, uh, for yesterday's strikes. And that is that in the city of Chabahar, there was a maritime control tower that was actually struck by the U.S. Forces. So there seems to be an effort on the part of the U.S. to try to reach, you know, some degree of destruction with those kinds of targets.

So, if you take out the maritime control tower, the theory is, is that you're going to limit Iran's ability to control the flow of traffic into and out of the Strait of Hormuz. Whether or not that's successful is another question, but the effort seems to be there to go after certain strategic targets, and that is one of them. And that, of course, is a key leverage point for the Iranians, the controlling of the Strait of Hormuz. That's something they want to do. They want to continue to do that, and they will only be dissuaded from doing that if they don't have the means to do that.

COOPER: Colonel Leighton, appreciate it, Ambassador Daalder, thank you very much.

Up next, Democrats on Capitol Hill investigating claims that FBI director Kash Patel had misused funds and government jets for personal perks. And what the bureau is saying about those claims.

And later, a defiant Graham Platner still has not officially dropped out of the Maine Democratic Senate race after announcing he was suspending his campaign. As the party scrambles to pick a replacement. The question is when will he drop out? The latest ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:28:39]

COOPER: Breaking news on FBI Director Kash Patel and a Congressional investigation into alleged abuse of FBI jets and tax dollars. You know, the investigation was launched today by the ranking members of both the Senate and House Judiciary Committees, senator Dick Durbin and Congressman Jamie Raskin, who joins us in a moment, quoting now from the announcement of the Congressional probe into, "Director Kash Patel's misuse of taxpayer funded resources," which was launched in part after, "... receiving new details from sources about Patel's excessive travel, luxury expenditures and personal activities disguised as official business."

One example cited Director Patel is now quite well known trip to the Olympics in Milan.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(KASH PATEL CELEBRATING WITH OLYMPIC HOCKEY TEAM IN MILAN.)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Well, for some, the beer chugging belied the bureau's stated purpose for the trip. Long-planned official business, which just happened to coincide with the Olympic Hockey Finals of Team USA versus Canada. Kash Patel is a big fan of hockey.

In a letter addressed to Director Patel, Senator Durbin and Congressman Raskin point out that when he first announced he'd be attending Olympic Hockey, there was no mention of FBI business.

Patel wrote in a social media post, nearly eight months before the games, "NHL agreed to let the boys play in the next Olympics this coming winter. First time in over a decade, team USA, I'll see you there."

Director Patel was asked about the Olympic trip at a Congressional hearing in May.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CHRIS COONS (D-DE): You attended the Olympics in Milan. How much did your trip cost and to what extent did that help you carry out your mission?

KASH PATEL, U.S. FBI DIRECTOR: We purposely planned that trip around the Olympics because, as I mentioned in my opening, the top cyber- criminal from the CCP was housed in Italian custody. While there, we were able to work an agreement, an arrangement to have that individual expelled from Italy instead of going back to China. That individual was returned to America two weeks ago.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[20:30:40]

COOPER: CCP refers to the Chinese Communist Party. He's speaking about this man, a Chinese national extradited to the U.S. from Italy more than two months after Patel's Olympic locker room celebration. The investigation also cites special perks on official international trips, including VIP snorkeling in Hawaii. That is likely referring to a snorkeling trip the director took -- reportedly took, to the USS Arizona in Pearl Harbor, hallowed ground, a military cemetery where more than 900 service members are entombed.

Snorkeling there is not allowed, with some rare exceptions for military and government officials, normally those responsible for managing the memorial. The VIP snorkeling was not on Director Patel's official schedule for his trip to Hawaii.

Beyond VIP perks and international travel, lawmakers on both sides of the aisles are demanding answers on how Patel gets around Washington. It was revealed today by Durbin and Raskin that Republican Senator Chuck Grassley, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee and a stalwart ally of President Trump, sent a letter to Patel asking him to defend his purchase of BMW SUVs.

Patel had reportedly directed the FBI to purchase the luxury vehicles despite the longstanding policy of the FBI director being driven around in Chevy Suburbans. In Grassley's letter, he also wanted Patel to list each flight he took on an FBI aircraft, if it was for personal reasons, and if so, if he had reimbursed the government. When asked for comment on the story regarding the SUVs, an FBI spokesperson said that two of the FBI's armored Suburbans needed to be replaced, and that the BMWs, quote, "had already been purchased by the State Department sitting idle and unused in their warehouse. The FBI purchased the vehicles from the State Department."

Whatever the explanation, the many questions surrounding FBI Director Patel sure seem a far cry from then-citizen Kash Patel.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PATEL: Chris Wray doesn't need a government-funded G5 jet to go to vacation. Maybe we ground that plane. $15,000 every time it takes off. This is odd.

Go take their money. Chris Wray doesn't need a private jet.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: Chris Wray was the former FBI director. The ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee Jamie Raskin joins me now. So, Congressman, you obviously have been a frequent critic of Director Patel. How confident are you that Senator Grassley, who's been a staunch ally of President Trump, is committed to getting to the bottom of who is paying for what when it comes to the director's personal travel?

REP. JAMIE RASKIN (D), RANKING MEMBER, JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: Well, he sent a letter back on May 6th. We've been demanding answers to this set of problems for several months. It -- all the evidence that we have indicates that the taxpayers are footing the bill for junkets and splurges and special recreational experiences for the FBI director.

And now we know that there is serious bipartisan concern. The chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Chairman Grassley, is demanding answers. And Senator Durbin, who's the ranking member over on the Senate Judiciary Committee, wrote a letter with me today demanding an accounting.

Now, look, the FBI director is supposed to travel on an official plane, even if he's taking a personal trip. But it seems pretty clear to the whole world that that was a personal recreational trip when he went out to see his beloved American Olympic hockey team play. And we saw him chugging the beers and partying with the boys as he said he should pay for that trip.

You know, he's talking about grounding an airplane the FBI director used on official business for $15,000. That trip to Milan cost more than $100,000. So we want to make sure that he has written a check to the taxpayers to reimburse us for that, because we don't pay for VIP snorkeling. We don't pay for jet skiing.

We're not paying for luxury travel. That's not what we're in it for. And it's obviously a massive diversion and distraction from the real work of the FBI.

COOPER: And has Director Patel offered Senator Grassley, to your knowledge, any proof of reimbursement for private use of FBI aircraft?

RASKIN: No, we are aware of no proof or documentation of reimbursement on any of these cases. And we know that Senator Grassley has asked for it, and we're asking for it too.

[20:35:06]

So we now have bipartisan and bicameral determination to get to the bottom of what's happening over there, yes, including on the purchase of the BMWs.

COOPER: I also want to ask you about one of your constituents, the former Olympian David Hearn. He appeared in court today. He's facing a felony charge with -- allegedly vandalizing the reflecting pool in front of the Lincoln Memorial, which has obviously become one of the President's, you know, projects as he seeks to renovate the nation's capital. He denies he had done anything wrong. I'm wondering what your reaction to the case is.

RASKIN: Well, first of all, I know David Hearn. He is a -- an upstanding citizen. He is a great guy. He was an Olympic canoeist. He has taught canoeing and kayaking to generations of young people in Montgomery County, Maryland.

He would never desecrate or post graffiti or engage in vandalism towards a federal building, whether it's the Kennedy Center or the reflecting pool. He would never demolish hundreds of millions of dollars of material at the White House without congressional consent. And he's being swept up in an absolute Kafkaesque and Orwellian prosecution, where he apparently, I'm just going on public reports now, he apparently touched some of the peeling paint.

He didn't even rip it off or anything, but he touched it when he stopped there on his bike and then suddenly was the subject of an arrest. And now they're accusing him of creating more than $1,000 worth of damage. So while, you know, we're watching corruption unfold, including at the FBI, including at the White House, for millions or hundreds of millions of dollars, they are attacking and prosecuting one of my constituents for basically the act of putting his hand in the water at the reflecting pool, which my constituents are now calling the Strait of Warm Ooze after the millions of dollars that Donald Trump wasted in turning it into an algae farm.

COOPER: Congressman Raskin, I appreciate your time tonight. Thank you.

Up next, the -- we go to the Democratic Senate race in Maine. Now that Graham Platner has announced he's suspending his campaign, has not dropped out yet. Plus, a family seeking answers after ICE fatally shot a man in Texas.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:41:42]

COOPER: Maine Democrats are now scrambling with just over two weeks to pick a new candidate in the critical Senate race after Graham Platner announced in that 11-minute video last night that he's suspending his campaign. Platner's exit comes after this woman, Jenny Racicot, accused him raping her in 2021, which he has strongly denied. This woman, Lyndsey Fifield, accused him of physical violence, which he also denies.

The party's new nominee will take on Republican Susan Collins in a Senate race that could decide what party takes control of the chamber. State party leaders are planning to hold a nominating convention with about 600 delegates before the July 27th deadline. Who those delegates will be and how they make that decision, that's not yet known.

Joining me now, CNN Political Commentators S.E. Cupp and Xochitl Hinojosa. So, S.E., does it make sense to you that Platner would wait until Monday to the deadline day to formally end his campaign?

S.E. CUPP, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, it feels very much contrary to what he said in the video, that he does want to influence this process. And that feels very much like entitlement. We are in this position because you messed up. You messed up with the things that you did in your past and pretty present, actually. And you messed up in not being transparent.

You don't get to play anymore. You're done. And unfortunately, you let down the Democratic Party. You let down voters in Maine. I think you let down your campaign staffers by not being transparent and upfront about the things you had done, not being apologetic or accountable for the things that you had done.

So, you're done. You're out of the process. And now Democrats are left with a mess to pick up. And they've got to figure this out. But the mess is Platner's fault. Platner's why they're in this mess.

COOPER: And Xochitl, I mean, if Platner does indeed wait until the last possible day to officially drop out, how much does that throw a wrench into what is already a complicated and kind of vague process to pick another Democrat to replace him?

XOCHITL HINOJOSA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, that's right, Anderson. If Graham Platner were to get out of this race and sign the appropriate paperwork today, then on Monday, we wouldn't be talking about Graham Platner anymore. And we would be talking about the process moving forward.

We would be talking about the people getting in the race. We would be talking about how we need to beat Susan Collins. But the reality is, is that the Democratic Party has not been talking about Susan Collins, their opponent that they are trying to beat for weeks now because we've been talking about Graham Platner.

Listen, I -- if he gave a speech last night or a video that talked about and if he exited this race gracefully, I would have given him the benefit of the doubt, saying maybe he needs to raise to clear up some debt, et cetera, ahead of Monday. This man is a narcissist. He's a scumbag.

He is -- that's not what he wants. He cares only about himself. And so, this is, if he wants to help Mainers and the Democratic Party, then he would get out before Monday. But that's not what he cares about. He cares about himself.

COOPER: Xochitl, I mean, as, I mean, he won the primary. Do you think he has a right to have any influence over what comes next? I mean, clearly you don't.

HINOJOSA: No, I don't think so. When you rape someone, you have lost all rights to have a say in who is going to replace you. The other thing about this, if you listen -- we all listen to his 11-minute video yesterday. He talks -- he sounded a lot like Trump.

[20:45:02]

He sounded like someone who not only lied, but was trying to find an enemy. And that enemy was the establishment. And -- but if you really think about this and you talk -- and you look at his so-called movement, you would see that both Bernie Sanders and Ro Khanna are part of that. And they're not standing by him.

They have actually called on him to resign. And they don't seem to believe that what he is saying. And so I do think that this has become all about him. He has lost all rights to do this. He's put the party in a terrible position, as S.E. Cupp has said. And now the main Democratic Party is in a -- there's a lot of pressure for them to hold a nominating convention that is successful and transparent.

COOPER: S.E., what lessons do you think Democrats or I guess anyone in any party should take away from this situation?

CUPP: Yes, I don't know if folks have listened to the Wall Street Journal interview with the two young consultants that hand-plucked Graham Platner out of obscurity and made him the candidate. Don't -- you'll want to pour battery acid in your ears. But there is a lesson in there that you can't just parachute into a state, crowdsource a candidate from social media, and then foist him on voters, barely do a vetting process.

These two people admitted they did about an expedited three-day vetting process. They paid about 6 grand to do this. It didn't turn up all the things that we now know. Some of the mechanics of running for a political office still apply.

I know that 2024 kind of scrambled the brains of some Democrats, right, both on the establishment side and the progressive side. Like, how did we let this happen? We have to throw everything out and start over. I understand that. But some things are still true.

And candidate quality still matters. And it seems like we've all decided that the political stakes are so high now. It's on the left and the right. That character doesn't matter. We can overlook it.

We've watched Republicans overlook Donald Trump's character again and again and again. We've watched Republicans overlook character because the stakes were just too high. Democrats, I think, did the same thing with Graham Platner. I'm still hearing some women today on the left say things like, well, the victim should have gone to the police then. Or I'd still vote for him even with these sexual assault allegations. That is insane. When we all decide character doesn't matter, bad things happen. I don't have to point to all the examples. You know them.

But character does matter. It has to matter. And turning a blind eye to these things because you want to hold the seat, keep the seat, flip the seat, that's no excuse. We end up paying for those mistakes in the long run as voters.

COOPER: Yes. Appreciate it. To be clear, Graham -- we should just point out, Graham Platner has denied accusations of nonconsensual behavior. S.E. Cupp, Xochitl Hinojosa, appreciate it.

Another ICE-involved shooting, this time in Texas. A Mexican national was driving to a construction site in Houston with a crew of workers Tuesday morning when he was shot and killed by an ICE agent. ICE says the man attempted to evade arrest as agents tried to conduct a traffic stop.

Now, a source says he was not the target of the immigration operation. And like other shootings, there's limited video. And there's the question why agents were not wearing body cameras.

CNN's Ed Lavandera is in Texas with the latest. First, a warning, what you're about to see could be disturbing.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ED LAVANDERA, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The only video that has emerged so far of the shooting death of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo captures the 52-year-old construction worker lying on the ground moments after ICE agents shot him as he drove a white van with three other men inside.

The medical examiner says Salgado was struck in the torso by a gunshot. In the video, you can see him bleeding on the street.

DOMINGO GARCIA, NATIONAL PRESIDENT, LULAC: Crying, screaming after he'd been shot in the stomach. And he's screaming for help.

LAVANDERA (voice-over): Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials say agents were conducting a, quote, "targeted enforcement operation." This is how ICE described what led to Salgado's death.

The agency says Salgado tried to, quote, "evade arrest, rammed an ICE law enforcement vehicle, refused to follow multiple verbal commands, and weaponized his vehicle in an attempt to run over an ICE law enforcement officer resulting in our officer firing his weapon in self-defense."

But a source familiar with the preliminary details of the incident tells CNN Salgado was not the intended target of the operation. In a new statement to CNN, DHS says agents conducted surveillance based on a, quote, "credible tip from our law enforcement partners" weeks prior to the shooting and spotted two white vans at a property.

On Tuesday morning, as agents approached that location, they saw Salgado's white van and initiated the vehicle stop. The statement does not make clear if Salgado's white van was the same van spotted by agents weeks earlier. Salgado's family and Latino civil rights activists question whether DHS is telling the truth.

[20:50:05]

JUAN PROANO, CEO, LULAC: We do not believe them. They're playing by a playbook. They're using a template in shootings and murders that have happened across the country time and time again. And it is time to stop.

LAVANDERA (voice-over): At 6:46, Tuesday morning, video shows Salgado Araujo's white van turning onto Canal Street, followed by a black SUV, which turned out to be one of the unmarked vehicles carrying ICE agents. Shortly after that, another camera captured the black SUV pulling up alongside Salgado's white van, with a second unmarked black SUV following seconds behind them.

At 6:48 a.m., a woman driving by the scene recorded the video of Salgado on the ground suffering from the gunshot wound.

GARCIA: -- put yourself in his shoes as a driver. He has all his tools for construction. His livelihood is in that vehicle. He has his brother in the vehicle. He has two of his workers in the vehicle. Would you not be concerned and maybe try to go to a place where it's public when you have unmarked cars trying to ram you and stop you?

LAVANDERA (voice-over): Salgado lived in the United States for 35 years, supporting his wife and three college-educated sons by working in construction. The family says they learned about his death by seeing a video posted on social media.

RONALDO SALGADO, SALGADO ARAUJO'S SON: I recognized him immediately, not from his appearance, but from his voice, crying for help as he lay on the street bleeding out.

LAVANDERA (voice-over): The FBI's Houston field office says it's investigating the incident as a potential assault on a federal law enforcement officer. But Salgado's son disputes those allegations and says his father would have complied with law enforcement if they identified themselves.

SALGADO: Because he had been in the process of getting a work permit, he knew what to do in case he was stopped by ICE, OK? He knew the process.

LAVANDERA (voice-over): The shooting, like those that came before, is now prompting protests in Texas.

CROWD: Justice for Lorenzo.

LAVANDERA (voice-over): And calls for justice and reform

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They are coming to our streets not to make people more safe but to terrorize our communities.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LAVANDERA (on-camera): Anderson, activists and the family have also been calling on ICE agents and ICE officials to release any body cam footage, dash cam footage from those vehicles that were pursuing Salgado and those three other men. But DHS officials late this afternoon tell CNN that body cam does not exist, that the agents who were there on that scene were not carrying body cam equipment with them. And the vehicles that they were in did not have dash cam cameras either.

The agency went on to blame Democrats for multiple government shutdowns, for slowing the process down in that funding. But there's also been questions, and the family has been calling for a full independent investigation, apart from the federal investigation. But that appears very unlikely.

We've reached out to city officials in Houston, as well as prosecutors. They say that the feds hold all of the evidence, and a local investigation seems very unlikely. Anderson?

COOPER: Ed Lavandera, appreciate it. Thank you.

Coming up, my conversation with author and former diplomat Nicole Avant. For the latest episode of my grief podcast, All There Is, Nicole's mom, Jacqueline, was shot to death by an intruder in her home in 2021. And Nicole talks about the role of faith in her grief, ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:57:48]

COOPER: A new episode of my podcast on loss, All There Is, is just out. You can find it wherever you listen to podcasts or by scanning the QR code at the bottom of your screen. This week's guest is producer, author, and former U.S. ambassador to the Bahamas, Nicole Avant. Her mom, Jacqueline, was shot to death by an intruder in her home in 2021. She was 81.

Her dad, Clarence Avant, a legendary music producer and businessman, then moved in with Nicole and her husband, Ted, and died two years later at the age of 92. Here's some of what she told me about loss and faith.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NICOLA AVANT, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO THE BAHAMAS: My mom was really good at reminding me that inside the circle of life is death. And we all like to look at death as being outside of the circle of life, which is why we struggle in our culture a lot to even talk about it. One of the best gifts she ever gave me was real faith, not, oh, if you have faith, everything's going to go right.

No, when you have faith, you call on it, especially when things go wrong. You have to believe that this trauma or this terrible thing is not going to last forever.

COOPER: Oprah said that she called after your mom was killed. She called you up and Oprah was crying. And do you remember what you said to Oprah? I'm here standing in my faith.

AVANT: Standing with my faith. And she said, what? And she said, why not?

COOPER: I love that line, that idea.

AVANT: Yes.

COOPER: In that moment when you said I'm standing in my faith, was it also part of a wish of, if I say it, it will be true?

AVANT: Both. 100 percent both. I said it to myself over and over again, hoping like maybe this is really going to feel like this, but it felt good to say it. And it didn't mean that I didn't grieve. But my mom would always say, and my grandmother gave this to me all the time.

The only way out is through. The only way out is through. There are no shortcuts. You have to feel it because that is life. You have to feel joy. You have to feel pain. You have to feel laughter. You have to feel sadness. That is the gift of being alive.

You're going to feel so many different emotions. And the sad ones remind you that you're human, which is a good thing. And it reminds me, we don't know what someone's going through. So I used to be so like, God, what's wrong with that guy? What could be so wrong?

Always thinking, why isn't he in a good mood? He's got, I don't know what the hell happened to him in his life. What am I judging for?

COOPER: I think that's such an important thing. Everybody is going through something and we have no idea what somebody else is --

AVANT: No idea.

COOPER: -- going through or has been through and --

AVANT: No.

COOPER: -- to give the person some grace.

AVANT: Some grace.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COOPER: You can listen to the full conversation with Nicole Avant wherever you get your podcast or watch the entire episode at CNN.com/AllThereIs.

That's it for us. The news continues. The Source with Kaitlan Collins starts now.