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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees

Trump's DHS Chief Warns Election Officials Could Face Prison Time; U.S. Launches New Strikes As Iran Warns Of Full-Scale Offensive; U.S. Attorney Reveals New Info On Houston ICE Shooting; Atty: Family Believes Bags In Van Were Likely Salt, Not Drugs; Trump Building Granite Helipad On WH South Lawn; China Appears To Have Created Mock- Up Of U.S. Warship. Aired 8-9p ET

Aired July 17, 2026 - 20:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STEPHEN MILLER, HOMEOWNER: There's some phantom outside buyer that comes in the last second, 50 grand over the asking price. It's just absolutely brutal out there.

JOLENE SIMECEK, RENTER: The Midwest was like a secret where you can live comfortably and it's not that way anymore.

PHIL MATTINGLY, CHIEF DOMESTIC CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Back in Parma, Jolene made clear she's not asking for a handout. She's only wondering, how did it get this hard for the people who did everything they were told to do.

Phil Mattingly, CNN, Cleveland, Ohio.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: Thanks for watching, AC360 starts now.

[20:00:38]

JOHN KING, CNN HOST: The Trump administration is now turning the President's words on election security into concrete actions and get this, threatening prison time for officials who resist, John King here in for Anderson.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARKWAYNE MULLIN, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: The election officials, once we gave them the information they need to secure their elections and they chose not to, then those individuals can also be held accountable by fines, by penalties, and even depending on how far it goes, prison time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: That's the Homeland Security Secretary there, Markwayne Mullin, directing that threat at states who will not adopt his department's way of determining if noncitizens are registered to vote. Secretary Mullin coupled that with letters to officials. You see there, California, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Nevada, which together, he says, have more than a quarter million potential noncitizens on their voter rolls.

Secretary Mullin demanding states turn over sensitive voting data. So, the Justice Department can audit it for irregularities of which the President last night said there were plenty.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Hundreds of thousands of noncitizens and dead people are listed and active on the voter rolls and yet we still have elections with no voter I.D., no proof of citizenship, and tens of millions of ballots floating aimlessly through the mail.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: Now, clearly making sure that only people qualified to vote can actually vote is critically important.

But the Constitution assigns that role to the states. That's one thing. Another is that noncitizens casting ballots is simply incredibly, incredibly rare. According to the conservative leaning heritage foundation, there were just 99 cases of it in the last quarter century, 99 cases in 25 years.

So, there's that two perspective, I think we call it. But perhaps the most serious objection is forward looking. State officials from both parties, by the way, telling CNN today they worry that the administration will use their voting data as a way of sowing doubts about the midterm results. If republicans do poorly, something the President foreshadowed last night if congress would not pass his election security bill.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Addressing this crisis of election security demands that Congress must pass the SAVE AMERICA Act. How easy is that to do? Unless you want to cheat. The only reason you wouldn't do it is you want to cheat because your policies are so bad and your candidates are so pathetic that you can't get away or can't get elected any other way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: President's words they're clearly directed at Democrats. But we should point this out because it's important. The SAVE Act does not even have the support of enough Senate Republicans to pass that chamber.

Last night, the President also released a slew of newly declassified documents showing vulnerabilities in the U.S. Election infrastructure. But the documents prove nothing like what the President said. A CNN review finds they largely discuss previously known issues. The President's big point was that foreign powers had figured out how to rig our elections. But again, he offered no proof. The President also accused China of obtaining millions of voter files from around the country, saying it was part of what he called, "sinister election meddling." There's just one catch to that which his nemesis, Republican Congressman Thomas Massie, pointed out today that voting data is available. You and I can get it from most states for just paying a simple fee, showing up at a voter registration place and buying it, or accessing it.

In any case, will the President bring any of that up during that lavish state visit he's hosting for China's President just a couple of months from now? Last night, at least as of last night, it seems that invitation still stands. For more on this, let's go to our CNN anchor, chief White House correspondent, Kaitlan Collins.

How are they feeling today? President gives a speech last night. Secretary Mullin comes out today. Republicans pretty silent, Republicans in Congress, even Fox News not paying much attention to the speech. Do they feel they accomplished their goals?

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN'S CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT AND THE ANCHOR OF "THE SOURCE": Well, and normally, you know, if there's a moment where we don't take the President's comments in full, we hear about it from the White House. They complained about it. We didn't hear any complaints really today. I didn't usually from officials that I that I've been talking to. And I think that says something because even Republicans themselves, beyond the most strident allies of this White House, were really quiet and muted about what the President had to say last night.

[20:05:04]

You didn't see a lot of them amplifying it beyond the few who got briefings ahead of time about what exactly it was that the President planned to say. And I think that really speaks to whatever they were trying to achieve last night. If that was trying to get some of those Republicans who are not on board with the SAVE Act on board with it, they don't appear to have been successful with that because people like Lisa Murkowski are still saying, you know, I don't think that that was a compelling enough reason for me to vote for this.

And what the President was arguing last night about states having secure elections would not be addressed by the SAVE Act. And so, you know, the other part of this, though, is that the President wants to also speak to his base and talk to those voters who do want this passed as they are trying to excite them ahead of November. But the question is whether or not they are only going to depress Republican turnout come November. And that's what a lot of Republicans seem worried about.

And so, one part of last night was the President wanted to speak in prime time. He wanted to address the nation. I'm told that he wants to do more of these kinds of addresses on multiple different topics, and talking to people, whether or not the White House tries to recreate what they did last night still remains to be seen.

KING: That's a big question, because you're right, no evidence votes change stay in the SAVE Act. Even some Republicans who support it say, you know, we're 15-and-a-half weeks to an election. We can't be changing the rules now. So, that's unlikely to pass. What else do they do on this issue? Secretary Mullin making clear he's going to keep an eye on state officials. Is this election security something they want to talk about from now to election day, or was that a speech? And now they're going to try to get back to issues their base -- like grocery prices, gas prices --

COLLINS: --what the President wants to talk about.

KING: Right.

COLLINS: And I thought it was notable at the beginning of the speech. If you were watching, he did talk about the economy and that, and I think it's because the White House got a lot of questions yesterday about why they were delivering a speech on election security in prime time and not on the Iran war, which was the last time the President addressed the nation on that back in early April, when he said the United States was close to completing its objectives. And of course, now it's July 17th and this war is still underway or in affordability.

And the White House's argument was with the President can chew gum and talk at the same time. But I do think adding that to the top of those remarks last night before he got into the declassified intelligence and the main part of his argument was the White House aware that that is a real thing that Republicans want the President to be talking about, not trying to talk about Venezuelan voting machines and how vulnerable they are, and trying to compare that to what's happening in the United States.

KING: Yes, can't buy groceries with that. Kaitlan Collins appreciate your time. And of course, you can see Kaitlan at the top of the hour for "The Source" stay with us for that.

And joining us now to continue the conversation, the former deputy director of National Intelligence, Beth Sanner, and Republican election lawyer, Ben Ginsberg.

Ben, I want to start with you. We met a long time ago, back when Republicans were the constitutional conservative party in this country. You heard Secretary Mullin today I say that a little bit snarky, as threatening election officials with fines and penalties and his words, possible prison time. The constitution says states shall have the power to administer their elections. It does give Congress the right to do some things. Does the executive branch even have this power to prosecute state officials, or is that just bluster?

BENJAMIN L. GINSBERG, REPUBLICAN ELECTION LAWYER: I think it's mostly bluster. I mean, there could be federal crimes that they try and make up and sort of make the process the penalty for election officials. But let me say, my experience on the ground in talking to election officials is that this is really an idle threat, that election officials, whether they're Republican or Democrat, are dedicated to upholding the law.

They're not letting illegal aliens vote, and they are enforcing the laws. And so, I think this is -- it's pure bluster.

KING: And so, Beth, to the same point, you worked in the government, he's the Homeland Security Secretary. He's not the Justice Department; he's not the attorney general. He's clearly trying to get some mostly Democratic run states to do some things that they simply don't want to do.

Is what he's talking about, does that fall under his jurisdiction?

BETH SANNER, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Yes and no, so, he has no authority to compel states to comply with election standards to set national standards. None of that falls under CISA, which is the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, which is under DHS and elections, election infrastructure was declared critical infrastructure.

So, what CISA's role and what Mullin oversees in that is that they're supposed to help the states. But the relationship is about support and states can respond, but it's completely voluntary. Most states have welcomed, absolutely welcomed CISA's role because they would go into counties and states and they would scan the election systems and machines. There would be constant communication. They would they would gather all the state secretaries together and help and share information. That was really great in Trump one.

I mean, I thought that they were doing a fantastic job. And I think a lot of the administration did as well. But now they're saying that sucked. And it's now a third world country. So, I'm really kind of confused.

[20:10:13]

KING: Well, to that point, Ben, look, two things can be true at once. The President did not connect any dots. He did not prove at all in any way that any foreign actor had changed a vote or changed the result of an election last night. And the documents don't prove that. At the same time, he gave a pretty dark, ominous and a legitimate warning. If he hadn't done the other stuff about foreign influence, efforts to influence our elections, is there anything in the SAVE Act? What the President says he needs Congress to pass that would actually deal with China or IRAN or Russia or any other foreign power meddling in our elections?

GINSBERG: No, there's nothing in the SAVE Act -- what the SAVE Act does is require voter id and require proof of citizenship, but that's not going to go to this flipping votes that they that they claim has occurred or could occurred.

And John, if there are really such serious vulnerabilities in the election system, why didn't we hear a plan on how to make us not vulnerable? Why isn't there money in the SAVE Act to be able to strengthen the infrastructure that he's worried about? And why did the administration cut back the CISA, that Beth just talked about, and also Department of Justice, entities that are supposed to help the states with cyber cybersecurity. So, if there are vulnerabilities that get exploited, it is being done on his watch because of his cutbacks, which is why this seems a politically sort of foolish issue to pursue in the way that they're pursuing it.

KING: Beth, I want you to listen to this part of the speech last night, because it gets directly to the work you were doing when you served in the Trump administration, listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Raw intelligence obtained by the FBI in 2020, yet buried by rogue bureaucrats, stated that China's activities even included an attempt to manufacture illegal ballots for Joe Biden. Documents show that during this period, dozens of significant CIA and NSA reports about China's election targeting were kept out of the Presidential briefing.

These were briefings I would get almost every day. Everything was kept out. That was of importance. One e-mail among intelligence analysts admitted that they had, "deliberately massaged the Presidential daily briefing to withhold information regarding Chinese activities related to the election."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: Beth, were you either part of or a victim of some deep state plot to keep critical intelligence from the President of the United States?

SANNER: Well, certainly in some of the declassification exercise that I read last night, deep into the night, I wasn't aware of all of that at the time. And I think the President knows that I shared any kind of information that pertained to election security to him, no matter what country it was, you know, whether it was good news or bad news. So, that was my job and I did it.

But, so, you know, there are some questions that have been raised by this, but I think the one question that has not been raised, and John Solomon reiterated this in his explanation of what happened, no one at the time, nor now is claiming that any vote was changed. And that, I think, is what we really need to get our head around. The rest of this is kind of inside baseball. It needs to be considered. I think that, you know, the person who worked for me, the NIO for cyber was on one side of the debate. I supported him on that. These documents seem to indicate that that that perspective that China was more active in influence campaigns.

But a lot of this reporting that I read last night, we're talking about plans and strategy and ideas, but not really about activities. And, you know, we had Russia doing lots of this in 2016. So, you know, would it have changed anything? John, No.

KING: Beth Sanner, Ben Ginsberg, appreciate your insights tonight. Let's continue the conversation. I want to bring in the chief election officer of Michigan State. The President trump singled out quite a bit in his speech last night, joining us, Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson. She's also a democratic candidate for governor. Madam Secretary, it's great to see you. Secretary Mullin, today, laying it straight out. Cooperate state and local election officials, or I might find you. There might be prison time. Did he say anything today that you think, oh, sure, I need to do that to help my state run better elections. Where do you go from here?

JOCELYN BENSON, MICHIGAN SECRETARY OF STATE: Uh, no, I mean, look, states run elections. Federal officials do not. The President does not. And this really underscores why it's so critical in this moment when there are efforts to bully us at the state and local level and how we run elections to stand course and continue our work as professionals in making sure every valid vote counts in our states and in every locality.

[20:15:20]

And, you know, it harkens me back to when, uh, just recently, a few months ago, the President tried to pressure me to turn over the private voting data of citizens in our state. And I said, no, and I will see you in court, and I won.

And so it is important in this moment to recognize that the law is actually on the side of the election officials here. We are following the law. We are telling the truth. And because of that, citizens can still have rightly placed faith in their elections to be secure and accurate this fall.

KING: You heard Beth and Ben there, and I know you've heard this before. You know, the President has cut back or attacked agencies in the federal government that actually help with cybersecurity, that help states deal with the potential and the actual foreign meddling or interference or probing or testing, whatever you want to call it.

Secretary Mullin today added to that, a threat to withhold federal election security grants if states don't comply. How would that impact your state if that happens? And what do you do?

BENSON: Yes. Again, it is another bullying tactic. And the irony is that in 2020 in particular, we had one of the most secure elections in our country's history because of the investments in CISA and a number of other security protections and funding that we, in every state were able to utilize to protect our systems and ensure they were secure.

And so to actually dismantle all of those protections that the President did when he came back into office last year and then sort of suggest that do more really underscores how they are actually not talking about securing our elections at all, but instead trying to scare and intimidate election officials into doing their bidding and doing their work, while also sowing seeds of doubt among the American people about the security of our elections.

So for us in the states, that means continuing, frankly, to knit together our own security protocols and protections and doing even more than we've done before, and to work together as we are state to state, to share information and to work to put best practices in place. And we have to do all this because the federal government, again, under President Trump, dismantled the very security protections that we relied on to ensure our elections are protected from any attempted foreign interference.

KING: Ive been doing this for 40 years. One of the most refreshing things is how Democratic and Republican Secretaries of State share information about best practices. It is one of the good things in our system.

If you were watching last night, I am guessing your ears perked up a bit when you heard the President talking about Michigan. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Among the disclosures tonight are FBI files detailing evidence of alleged fraud by a large scale voter registration operation in Michigan.

The documents state that some canvassers admitted to FBI agents that they signed voter registration forms in other peoples' names, submitted fraudulent registration for people who did not exist and received gift cards tied to their number of applications that they produced.

In other words, it was pay, play and cheat.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: The President there referring to an incident you're familiar with back in 2020, a county clerk flagged these fraudulent voter cards, resulting in both state and federal investigations.

Ultimately, no fraudulent votes were cast and no one was prosecuted. Democrats point to this as the system working. What did you make of the President bringing that up last night six years later?

BENSON: Yes, quite frankly, I was stunned because here we are seeing this build up, right? There are all these attempts to shake people's faith in the election systems that we know to be secure and protected and make people doubt the results, not just of the 2020 election, but future ones as well. And then to bring up one of the most widely debunked conspiracy theories that was debunked years ago, that was actually an example of the security protocols we have working was stunning to me, because it really just underscores that there is actually no evidence of any wrongdoing, that the systems are secure and if there was any actual evidence, we would have heard it by now.

What happened in Muskegon, again, was not just the system working. It really underscores how important it is to have local election officials in places to do their job, independent of the federal government, in this case, a local clerk identified unusual voter registration forms, quickly flagged it to law enforcement. They were identified as fraudulent, and they never even were entered into the voter file as a result of all those protections.

Again, that's why we say this is the system working. This is why you can trust our elections to be secure, because we have so many layers of protocols in place to catch any attempts to defraud the system and stop it before it ever is even entered into the voter file, let alone becomes a potential false ballot.

KING: Secretary Benson, thank you so much for your time tonight. Thank you.

Up next for us, the war, day seven of renewed American airstrikes and a new threat from Iran about what will happen if those strikes continue. And later, new details on the moments leading up to last week's fatal ICE shooting in Houston. What officials are saying about it, and, critically, what the top federal lawman in the case is not saying.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:24:20]

KING: Troubling new developments tonight in the war with Iran. Iranian state run media reporting two oil tankers have exploded and caught fire after hitting mines while trying to pass through the Strait of Hormuz. CNN cannot independently confirm that claim.

Tehran also threatening key ports in the region in response to the American strike on a surveillance tower near the Strait. A top military adviser in Iran going even further, warning the United States could face "a full scale offensive" in the coming days if airstrikes on the country continue through the weekend.

Here to talk about what that could mean and what could lie ahead, CNN global affairs analyst, Brett McGurk.

Brett, the CENTCOM statement today announcing the strikes had resumed included, "for the seventh consecutive night," which jumps out to me as, once we resume the military activity, now both sides seem to be dug in for a while.

[20:25:10]

BRETT MCGURK, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Yes, John, I am watching this all unfold over the recent months to where we are now. I am reminded by a quote by Yogi Berra that applies as much to military campaign as baseball. If you don't know where you're going, you might wind up somewhere else.

And, you know, we started with whatever the objectives were. This is now all about the Strait of Hormuz, which was not an objective coming in. This is the battle for the Strait of Hormuz and Iran has made clear they will control it, that they read the MOU that was negotiated to say that it is their right to control it. The U.S. side reads it differently. And now we have a military escalation, which is all about control of the Strait of Hormuz.

I think CENTCOM believes they have a decent plan for what they're trying to do. But Iran has cards, and they are launching missiles at Kuwait, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and maybe some more ships have been hit tonight.

So, John, I think we are -- you know, we are in the middle of the summer here. I think it is going to be a pretty hot summer because I do not see the off ramp as we sit here tonight.

KING: Well, it is interesting you use that language because the gift of having you here is you're one of the few people who has actually spent a long time, a lot of time negotiating with the Iranians, and you're talking to your other sources in the region.

So the United States says seventh night, which just sounds like there is going to be an eighth and ninth and 10th if you read that statement, the Iranians saying, keep it up, and we are going to have a full scale offensive.

Is there anything going on behind-the-scenes to try to break this?

MCGURK: There is. Theres a lot of back channel discussion through mediators, Qatar and others, trying to find an off ramp. I am told by some sources in the region there is a debate in Tehran. Some in Iran are saying, you know, maybe we miscalculated by hitting those ships with drones a week or so ago that kicked this all off because under the MOU, they actually had a pretty good deal going.

But the IRGC, they are the guys in charge in Tehran, and they see it differently. And their assumption is that the more pressure they can put on the United States -- economic pressure in the Strait of Hormuz and these missile attacks against our bases, I just -- we have Americans under fire tonight in the Middle East. It is what we should be talking about, what the President should be talking about, the Secretary of Defense should be talking about, about what our objectives are.

The Iranians, though, they believe that this will put pressure on the U.S. to get a better deal. And the U.S. assumption is that our military strikes actually put pressure on Iran to get back to the table. So to answer your question, yes, there are back channel mediation trying to find a way off.

But both capitals right now assume that the military pressure will play to their advantage. And, you know, something has got to give here at some point or else it is going to go on.

And every time a military tit-for-tat is happening, you're always one strike away from something really going off course.

KING: I mean, to that point --

MCGURK: And we are going to have Americans killed. We could have a tragic strike in Iran. I mean, you never know.

KING: Forgive me for jumping in there, but to that point, Iran says they targeted seven countries across the region late Thursday into Friday, claiming for the first time hitting -- attacking a U.S. base in Syria. The United States and Syria both said that didn't happen, but it gets to your overall point about this is expanding, not acting. And there are huge risks there.

MCGURK: Absolutely. A big risk. Let me put the best case from the U.S. side that CENTCOM believes they have a very good plan. They have a plan to isolate these ports. You might hear about Bandar Abbas. It is a port city. It is a kind of a military base right at the gate of the Strait of Hormuz. They are working to isolate that area so that Iran cant resupply, difficult to get off drones, difficult to get off cruise missiles. But that's going to take some time and Iran has their cards.

So, so long as were in this tit-for-tat it is very dangerous. Let's hope the diplomacy can find a way. And this is kind of an escalate to de-escalate situation. But I've got to call like I see it, john, right now, right now, again, I don't see that off ramp. I see this continuing over the coming days at least.

KING: That's a tough conversation, but an important one. Brett McGurk, thank you so much.

Up next for us, new important developments in the Houston ICE shooting, notably the allegation against the victim, the federal prosecutor in charge is not making.

And later, the newest part of the President's White House remodeling spree and the questions being raised by who is paying millions to build it?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:33:28]

KING: New details tonight in the moments leading up to last week's fatal ICE shooting in Houston. The U.S. attorney in the case says ICE agents were initially looking for two Guatemalan men known to be driving a white van, who potentially were subject to deportation. But he says agents instead came across the van driven by the Mexican national Salgado Araujo.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AARON REITZ, U.S. ATTORNEY FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF TEXAS: Two of the four officers got out of their vehicles and instructed the non- compliant aliens to put the van in park. Preliminary information indicates the driver shifted the van into reverse, then forward again, while an officer was partially inside the van or immediately next to it.

During this confrontation between federal agents and a group of illegal aliens attempting to flee, one of the officers fired a single shot. That round struck Lorenzo Salgado.

(END VIDEO CLIP) KING: Notice the careful language there. What he did not say is what the Department of Homeland Security claimed on the day of the fatal shooting on social media, namely that Salgado Araujo, quote, "weaponized his vehicle in an attempt to run over an ICE law enforcement officer resulting in our officer firing his weapon in self-defense." As we mentioned last night, doubts are also being raised by the local D.A. and the victim's family on FBI claims that a crystal-like substance was found in the van and that FBI believes it could be drugs.

Joining us now is Ruby Powers, the attorney for Victor Salgado Araujo, the victim's brother, who was in that van along with two others. Ruby, grateful for your time today, and it's a tough day for the conversation because there was a wake today for your client's brother, your client, we understand, still in detention. How is he holding up?

[20:35:00]

RUBY POWERS, ATTORNEY FOR BROTHER OF ICE SHOOTING VICTIM LORENZO SALGADO ARAUJO: Well, it's a very traumatic event that happened to him a week and a half ago, and to be missing this time to grieve with his family. It's a very traumatic event that happened to him a week and a half ago, and to be missing this time to grieve with his family. You know, the visitation was yesterday with the funeral tomorrow.

He's trying to stay strong, but it's very difficult having witnessed his brother shooting and then being detained soon after. So he's very strong, but it's very difficult.

KING: Let's talk about this controversy about the warrant, FBI search warrant unsealed. The agency suspects, alleges there could be illegal drugs in the vehicle. The family says, no, it's sort of a homemade electrolyte mix because you're outside at a construction site.

The easy way to clear this up, a toxicology test. Do you have any information on the timing of the testing and the release of that information?

POWERS: I only know what the D.A. had said, that it should only take a couple of days. We're hoping either later today or Monday. But, yes, it definitely was unique that the warrant was unsealed, and I was concerned about prejudicing public opinion during this time.

KING: Is that why you think it happened? Because we know that warrant was initially filed unsealed, and then it was unsealed, and there we learn about this, you know, the allegation that there could possibly be drugs in the vehicle. Have you gotten any good explanation as to why it was unsealed and then made public?

POWERS: No, but experts have said that it's very unusual of the way that it was sealed and then unsealed. And I think ultimately that's why we came out with the statement that we did, even though it was the day of the visitation of Lorenzo and the family was otherwise detained with the family in the public viewing, was because of the impact on public opinion. And just wanting to clear my client's name. I mean, it was as simple as crystallized salt to put in an electrolyte drink. KING: You heard the new statement at the top of the segment here. The U.S. attorney saying the vehicle went into reverse, then went into forward. Obviously, your client is a key witness in the case. Is his account to you consistent with what you heard there from the prosecutor?

POWERS: It isn't, and there's some confusing parts with his statement and what my client said and what DHS said on the day of the shooting. And I think I would really appreciate if maybe a lot of these statements could be refrained from being public until the investigation is more finalized, because I think that by detaining the one eyewitness of the shooting, it really doesn't show that we're putting an emphasis on transparency with the investigations. But from what my client told me, there were unmarked vehicles, and the only time that they knew they were ICE was after the shot was made and he saw the word ICE on the lanyard of the agent pulling him out of the vehicle.

KING: How many times has your client been interviewed by investigators during this?

POWERS: Well, before I became his attorney, I know that he was interviewed by a federal agency. Last week, I assisted with the assistant D.A. to visit my client, and since then, I believe he hasn't been interviewed by any other group. And which is why we're calling for his release so that he can be accessible to provide his testimony.

KING: I do get your point. I should have said this earlier. I get your point about, you know, it seems like a one-sided statement, but it's our job when the prosecutors are speaking or the law enforcement is speaking on such a high-profile case to cover them, but we'll also point out, as we are trying to do, when there are inconsistencies. I promise you that.

Ruby Powers, grateful for your time. Thank you so much.

And up next for us, what we're learning about the President's new helipad and who's paying for it. And later, why is there a mock-up of a U.S. warship? Get this. That's the Chinese desert.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:42:54]

KING: More construction underway at the White House. A new helipad is being installed on the South Lawn, the same site as last month's UFC cage match. You'll recall some of the grass was damaged by the construction of the makeshift arena for that event. This, just the latest instance of President Trump remodeling the nation's capital.

CNN's Sunlen Serfaty has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It is President Trump's latest stylistic stamp on the White House. DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're building a helipad, beautiful helipad.

SERFATY (voice-over): Building a permanent helipad on the South Lawn for Marine One to land and take off.

TRUMP: And other presidents wouldn't do that because they think it's not good to make a change to luxury, but you got to do it.

SERFATY (voice-over): As construction crews have started working, details have emerged. Trump ordering up a pad that will be 100 feet in diameter, made out of black granite, and features the presidential seal.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The President of the United States of America.

SERFATY (voice-over): The work starting after June's UFC match that tore up the South Lawn, causing $700,000 in damage when the octagon, known as the claw, was built on the South Lawn.

For years, Marine One has landed on temporary circular disks, put out manually before the helicopter lands.

TRUMP: For 50 years, we've been landing helicopters on grass. The grass is wet, soggy. The helicopters sometimes miss their little mark.

SERFATY (voice-over): The White House is arguing that this change is not just about style, but also necessity needed to protect the grass on the South Lawn from the exhaust fumes from the more powerful, upgraded Marine One. The high-velocity heat from the new VH-92A Patriot helicopter that Trump has opted to use has burned the grass and torn up the sod of the historic lawn.

TRUMP: They landed the helicopter, and half of the grass was sitting in front of the Oval Office front door. The rest of it was scattered all over, because of the power. It's tremendous.

SERFATY (voice-over): The helipad will be paid for by Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin subsidy that builds the helicopters and builds this model as one capable of fulfilling a no-fail mission supporting the Commander-in-Chief around the world. The President says it will cost between $5 and $6 million.

[20:45:06]

Just like other work Trump has ordered to the White House campus, this is also being done without Congress and without two federal commissions that typically would have a say. A White House official telling CNN they believe "upgrades to the White House grounds, such as the helipad installation, do not require commission reviews."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SERFATY (on-camera): And past presidents have used this more powerful version of Marine One in the past but never to take off from the south lawn. For instance, former President Joe Biden, he would opt to use the older version of Marine One, potentially saving the grass a bit.

A White House official tells me they expect that this construction will be completed by mid-September. But in the meantime, while the work continues, the President will need to take off from this area behind me, the Ellipse. That, though, will necessitate him getting into the motorcade when he departs the White House and going just a quarter of a mile. John?

KING: Sunlen Serfaty, thank you.

Let's get some perspective now from Democratic Strategist Paul Begala and Former White House Spokesman for President George W. Bush, Pete Seat. Pete, this was a conversation back when I covered the White House, when your -- President George W. Bush was president.

I stopped covering the White House 20 years ago. This was a conversation back then. So perhaps it is necessary, especially with the more powerful helicopter, but having a defense contractor with billions of dollars in contracts before the federal government paying for it, is that a good look, good idea?

PETE SEAT, FORMER WH SPOKESMAN, GEORGE W. BUSH ADMIN.: This is manufactured outrage. People would be upset if it was taxpayer money. They're upset if it's privately funded. At the end of the day, they just don't want Donald Trump to make changes to the White House, even those that are absolutely necessary.

The last of 23 of these new Marine One helicopters was delivered in 2024, and they're not being used fully as intended. They're practically brand new, and they're not being used as intended because there's no helipad that can accommodate them on the South Lawn and take the President to Camp David or Andrews Air Force Base or anywhere else in the greater Washington, D.C. area. This is just all manufactured outrage for something that is practical and necessary.

KING: Let's stick to this for a minute. I want to get to a bigger conversation in a minute. But, Paul, does Pete have a point? The UFC said it set aside the money to pay for the damage to the grass after the cage match. Sikorsky is paying for this. It's their helicopter. So, on the one hand, you say they know what it needs.

I'm not outraged, Pete. I was asking in the context of just the idea that you have a defense contractor pay for this because, you know, two or three months down the road, they might have to make a call on which weapons system to buy, and that defense contractor might be on the table. Where are you, Paul?

PAUL BEGALA, CNN POLITICAL CONTRIBUTOR: Oh, Pete's completely wrong. The President of the United States works for me. He works for you. He works for Pete. He's a public employee. The White House is the President's residence, but it's the people's house. We own it.

Pete worked there. I worked there. You covered the place. Every time I walked in that door, a Marine snaps to attention, opens that door, not because I'm a great guy, although I am, but because it's the people's house. He has no right, no right to be tearing down wings, putting up some Liberace boudoir ballroom. He has no right to be doing these things to our house.

He's a temp. This is, to me, like the biggest outrage of the whole Trump era is that he doesn't seem to get the fundamental fact of a democracy. This is our place. It's our country, by God.

We threw kings out 250 years ago. So that, to me, is the outrage, is that this guy going around our house and knocking stuff down. If anybody else in public housing did it, what do you think would happen? What do you think would happen if in Houston, where I'm from, some guy in public housing started knocking down wings and bathing the Rose Garden? We'd throw him out.

So Mr. Trump, he believes he's above the rest of us, and that's antithetical to democracy.

KING: Pete, when you bring in all the other projects, any one of them we might view separately, but there's the helipad, there's getting the algae and the other stuff from the reflecting pool. That was a no-bid contract. There have been several other contracts.

This White House says we don't have to go to the commission. Does Paul have a point that if you did have, whether it's congressional involvement or commission involvement, at least you could have a public debate about it, and it wouldn't feel like this is Donald Trump saying this is what Donald Trump wants?

SEAT: So much of this is subjective, and it's based on partisanship or personal aesthetic preferences. On the partisan side, it comes down to do you like or dislike Donald Trump? Case in point, there was a Washington Post-ABC-Ipsos poll taken back in April, and respondents were asked about the ballroom. It was a very loaded question. It mentioned Donald Trump, the ballroom, the demolition of the East Wing, and the $400 million price tag.

And what's so interesting is it mirrored whether people approve or disapprove of Donald Trump. Among Democrats, 4 percent approved of the ballroom, 5 percent approve of Donald Trump. Among Republicans, 20 percent disapprove of the ballroom, 15 percent disapprove of Donald Trump. It was a proxy on whether you like him or not.

BEGALA: What about independence, Pete? What about independence?

[20:50:14]

SEAT: And it's -- I didn't write it down, Paul, but it's almost the exact same number as well.

BEGALA: I did, Pete. 75 percent of -- I did. I did, Pete. 75 percent of Independents don't like that ballroom, and they don't like any of the rest of the stuff he's doing. It's like he's trying to croak the Republicans in the midterm. People can't pay for groceries. They can't pay for gas. They can't pay for rent. And this guy is spending hundreds of millions of dollars of their money to go fix up his house.

KING: To the point --

(CROSSTALK)

KING: Hey, Pete. Pete, let me jump in for one sec. To that point Paul makes, I understand you think a lot of this is worthwhile, and I think you think maybe the President has the courage to do things that other presidents wouldn't do because they would worry about the blowback, and he's doing it.

But given where we are, 15 weeks and a few days from an election in which affordability is a huge issue, even for a lot of Trump voters -- I travel the country all the time. Everybody's having trouble buying a second or third bag of groceries if they need it for their family.

Would you at least say, Mr. President, if you're going to talk -- you know, put the gold letters out here, talk about a ballroom, spend taxpayer money or get private money to spend on these big projects, maybe you also should spend some more time on affordability and maybe go buy a -- instead of holding up these gold leafs all the time, go buy a food bank or something. Are the optics bad for Republicans?

SEAT: I don't disagree that the President should focus on prices, the economy, the conflict in Iran. I wish he had spent more time on those topics during his primetime address yesterday evening. But if we just allow things to fall into disrepair, the cost is going to be much greater when we have no choice but to do something.

The Obama administration spent $34 million trying to fix the cracks in the algae in the reflecting pool. They failed. It all came back within a year. Donald Trump now is trying to do something about it so the next president doesn't have to fix that problem, too.

KING: Paul, last word.

BEGALA: He needs to care about our money because it's ours. He's giving no-bid contracts out. I worked in the government. Again, Pete did, too.

No-bid contracts are allowed only for an urgent situation, an emergency. So he gave a no-bid contract to put more gold on the horses statues out by the Lake Memorial. The Lafayette Park fountains, no-bid contract. The ballroom, a no-bid -- like it's an emergency. It's an emergency. He's got a need to boogie so desperately that he can't be more careful with our taxpayers' money?

KING: Made your point. I've got to end the conversation there for time reasons.

Paul Begala, Pete Seat, great to see both of you on a Friday night. Thank you so much.

Coming up, why what looks like an American warship. Look at that. It's a world away from even 1 inch of water.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:56:58] KING: Right now, at least a dozen U.S. Navy destroyers in the Iranian theater. There also appears to be a model of one in a Chinese desert. CNN's Will Ripley explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): At first, it looks like any American warship at sea. Then you notice the sand. More than a thousand miles from the nearest coastline, hundreds of miles from any major city, deep inside the western Chinese desert, what appears to be a full scale mockup of a U.S. Navy Arleigh Burke- class destroyer.

Look at it side by side with the USS Fitzgerald. The resemblance is striking. Both are around 510 feet long. At the back, the helicopter flight deck used to launch and recover naval helicopters.

Next are the vertical launch systems. Cells used to fire guided munitions like the Tomahawk cruise missile. Heavily used in the conflict with Iran. This is the bridge and command area where navigation, communications, and combat operations are controlled.

At the front is the deck gun used for surface targets, air threats, and shore bombardment. Together, the details suggest a carefully built, full scale replica of one of America's main guided missile destroyers. Workhorses of the U.S. Navy fleet. More than 70 sailing in oceans around the world.

If conflict ever erupts over Taiwan, these destroyers would likely be among the first U.S. warships deployed.

Han Su analyzes China's military for Taiwan's top defense research institute.

RIPLEY: Why would China go through all the effort and expense to build this?

HAN SU, DIRECTOR, INSTITUTE OF NATIONAL DEFENSE AND SECURITY RESEARCH (through translation): The Chinese military has ballistic missiles that can attack from high angles and cruise missiles that can attack horizontally. So they're trying to combine both and enhance their anti-access and area denial capability.

RIPLEY (voice-over): He says they're trying to improve the accuracy of China's newest hypersonic anti-ship missiles displayed at Beijing's military parade last year. The 3D replica is covered with antennas designed to simulate the radar signature of an American warship. Helping China detect, identify, and perhaps target the real thing.

It's located in Xinjiang, the same area where the People's Liberation Army built 2D flat mockups of U.S. aircraft carriers and destroyers several years ago. Even putting them on tracks, analysts say to move at the speed of actual ships.

RIPLEY: Have they ever built a 3D mockup before?

JOSEPH WEN, OSINT RESEARCHER, TAIWAN INSPIRATION ASSOCIATION: It's first time.

RIPLEY (voice-over): Open source intelligence analyst Joseph Wen first spotted the mockup when it was still under construction about a month ago.

WEN (through translation): I do think this is quite surprising. The scale of the construction is really massive.

RIPLEY: What message are they trying to send by building this?

WEN (through translation): The message that they are sending is China is always preparing for war.

RIPLEY (voice-over): Under leader Xi Jinping, China has poured billions into modernizing its military, from aircraft carriers and nuclear weapons to artificial intelligence. The PLA has also long trained using mockups of everything from U.S. military assets to Taiwan's Presidential Office.

On China's tightly controlled social media, censors are allowing comments like these, "The U.S. military's premier escort warships -- long regarded as a source of pride -- have now become designated targets for Chinese missiles. They are nothing more than targets sitting in the desert, waiting to be hit.

Will Ripley, CNN, Taipei.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KING: And the news continues. The Source with Kaitlan Collins starts now.