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CNN's The Arena with Kasie Hunt
Now: Growing Pressure On Platner To End Senate Campaign; Senate GOP Leaders Say They've Spoken To McConnell In Hospital; El-Sayed, Stevens Debate Tonight In Key Michigan Senate Primary. Aired 4-5p ET
Aired July 07, 2026 - 16:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[16:00:01]
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: So, we thought we'd bring that to you. This is angry Pablo.
BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: You won't hear him say much, but you sense the anger in his eyes, sometimes tears.
Actually, there was a little bit of noise earlier when the Egypt second goal was revoked over a foul. I heard some rustling. I heard some angry sounds over there.
KEILAR: It's a feeling. It's a feeling.
SANCHEZ: Yeah.
KEILAR: Pablo, were there for you.
SANCHEZ: I'm not.
KEILAR: And we're there for THE ARENA WITH KASIE HUNT, which starts right now.
(MUSIC)
KASIE HUNT, CNN HOST: Hi, everyone. I'm Kasie Hunt. Welcome to THE ARENA. It's great to have you with us on this Tuesday.
Right now, it seems a matter of when, not if, Graham Platner will end his Maine Senate campaign as his own party tells him to get out now before it's too late.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JEANNE SHAHEEN (D-NH): Graham Platner should get out of the race, and the sooner the better, so that he can be replaced on the ballot.
SEN. RICHARD BLUMENTHAL (D-CT): The Maine Democratic Party has called for him to withdraw. I agree.
REP. MIKE QUIGLEY (D-IL): There's time. We move forward, hopefully learn the lesson this time, find a good candidate.
MAYOR ZOHRAN MAMDANI (D-NY): I think that the only appropriate response is for the campaign to come to an end.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: And those are far from the only voices saying it's time for Platner to go. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a growing list of Democratic senators and representatives, the head of the DNC, and even Senator Bernie Sanders, the earliest big-name backer of Platner, all now saying they don't want him on the ballot.
Sanders is saying that he told Platner that it's time to step aside following that shocking allegation of sexual assault.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JENNY RACICOT, GRAHAM PLATNER ACCUSER: So he had kind of, like, jumped on top of me and indicated that he had intentions that were sexual in nature. And I remember just at first being like, hey, I'm not into this, like, I'm not in the mood, like, don't, whatever. And it got to the point where I was like, okay, I feel like I've said this enough times. Like, he's not listening to me or he's not hearing me. And I looked at him and I remember this very specific look in his eyes. And I could smell alcohol and I was like, this is different.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: That was Jenny Racicot speaking exclusively to CNN, describing the time when she says Platner drunkenly raped her nearly five years ago. Platner denies that allegation, describing it as, quote, "troubling, serious, and false," end quote.
Platner has not yet announced his decision, but a person close to the campaign tells CNN this, quote, "I think he knows it's over," end quote. That source saying they think Platner wants to have a say in who could replace him.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GRAHAM PLATNER (D), MAINE SENATE CANDIDATE: Regardless of the inaccuracy of the reporting, but mindful of the political reality it will inflict, we are taking the time to reflect on the best path forward for the state that I love, the people that I love, the movement I belong to, and the goal of defeating Susan Collins.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: All right, let's get off the sidelines, head into THE ARENA.
My panel will be here, but we're going to get started with CNN's Arlette Saenz. She is live for us in Portland, Maine.
And, Arlette, you've been talking to voters in Maine. What are you hearing?
ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kasie voters that we've spoken to here in Maine have used the words like disappointing, heartbreaking and disqualifying as they reacted to these latest allegations facing Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner. Right now, there has really been a cascade of blowback from Democrats on the national level and right here in Maine who believe it is time for Platner to step aside in the wake of these latest allegations.
But here is one voter that we spoke with a bit earlier today who would express out of sadness and disappointed that this has reached this point in the campaign. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NANCY, VOTER IN KENNEBUNKPORT, MAINE: Yesterday was a very dark day for so many of us. My feeling of -- so many people's feeling about it, obviously, now is that Graham Platner has to -- has to drop out.
SAENZ: We're four months out from the election. Do you think this complicates the Democrats' ability to beat Susan Collins in November?
NANCY: I hope not. I hope -- and we have a very short window here to pull ourselves together and find somebody.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SAENZ: Now the leaders of Maine Democratic Party have said that Platner needs to step aside. You've heard from one of his most influential backers, Senator Bernie Sanders, who said that he spoke with Platner and his recommendation is that he end this campaign.
You also have the Democratic Senate campaign arm, which has vowed to withhold funding and spending here in the Maine Senate race if Platner were to remain on the ballot.
So, still a lot of questions going forward about what Platner's decision will be regarding his campaign if he indeed will suspend his bid for the U.S. Senate and then what the Maine Democratic Party does next.
[16:05:02]
They have been vowing, a source tells me, that they would hold an open and transparent process if they need to replace Platner as the nominee. Some ideas being floated are potentially the state could hold a mini-convention or potentially a caucus. to select a new nominee, but they would need to do that within a matter of less than three weeks.
Platner would need to drop out of this race by Monday to allow Democrats in the state to select a new nominee to face off against Senator Susan Collins in November.
And, Kasie, one thing that many voters brought up as we talked to them today, they said that this process reminds them a lot of what played out back in 2024 when President Joe Biden waited until late July to end his campaign, really leaving Vice President Kamala Harris with little time to run her race against President Donald Trump.
So, some of those dynamics are really at the top of minds for many voters here as they're waiting to see what will come next in this bid for U.S. Senate.
HUNT: All right. Arlette signs reporting for us in Maine. Arlette, thank you very much for that.
All right. My panel's here in THE ARENA. CNN contributor, host of "The New York Times'" "The Interview", Lulu Garcia Navarro; CNN political director and our Washington bureau chief, David Chalian; CNN global affairs commentator, Sabrina Singh, and CNN senior political commentator, Scott Jennings.
We're also joined by Josh Keefe. He's a reporter at the nonprofit publication, "The Maine Monitor". And he also went to high school with Graham Platner, which kind of gives you an idea of -- it's a relatively small state, Josh.
And I was hoping we could start just by talking to you a little bit about what you're hearing on the ground every day from voters in Maine, both about what, you know, they think or what you think Platner is going to do here, but it's almost as though this story has already moved on to the question of who is going to replace him and the fight among Democrats over that question.
JOSH KEEFE, REPORTER, THE MAINE MONITOR: Yeah, that's right. I mean, I think, you know, there have been sort of a scandal after scandal with Graham Platner. And I think after the last few, especially the scandal around his sexting, and, you know, last month, there was a "New York Times" story about unsettling behavior with ex-girlfriends.
You know, a lot of what I heard from Democrats was, all right, kind of, I'll put my nose and vote for this guy, but, like, this better be it. And now that, with this latest -- with this latest story, I think people are kind of already just assuming he's going to drop out in the next few days, if not hours. and are already looking ahead to see who should replace him.
HUNT: Josh, you went to high school with Graham Platner. Do you recognize the person that these women, especially, are talking about?
KEEFE: You know, I -- my memories of Graham Platner, first of all, I should just be clear. I went to high school with him. I've not been friends with him since. I don't think I've seen him since I -- I don't think I saw him between when I went off to college and when I covered him as a reporter.
But, no, I mean, my memory of Graham was, you know, a very smart, outspoken kid who kind of always was bringing up geopolitical conflicts in class that none of us had ever heard of or knew what he was talking about. Somebody who's kind of stridently, you know, declaring their opinions.
But I think, you know, I think we all kind of liked him. That was my memory of it anyway, that I certainly -- I certainly don't, you know, I certainly don't remember anything that that is has been reported here or these accusations or, you know, any kind of behavior like that.
But, you know, it's been a long time, and I, you know, I certainly wasn't around for every high school experience of this.
HUNT: Of course.
David Chalian, big picture here. You have this waiting game. Will he or won't he actually drop out by this Monday deadline? But then you also have, I think, just as we were sitting down here, you said the Bernie Sanders outside group, Our Revolution, has now endorsed someone else in this race.
DAVID CHALIAN, CNN WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF: Yeah, so that's the grassroots group that sort of was born out of the Bernie Sanders candidacy, Our Revolution, and they're with Troy Jackson, the former state Senate leader, the logger, up in Maine, who has suggested he is open to having interest to run in this race.
But I just want to say, it's 4:09 p.m., and you said we're in a waiting game, and Graham Platner's indecision here, as he is reflecting on his future, by the hour, is creating a bigger and bigger mess for the Democratic Party.
So, this is already, obviously, a huge headache for the Democratic Party that they are trying to solve here. But the fact that Platner, despite all of his support collapsing around him, has not yet announced an intention to leave the race creates a much, much bigger headache because, as you heard in Arlette's reporting, the state party is still trying to figure out what their process is going to be to try to find a replacement.
[16:10:10]
Graham Platner doesn't provide an opening yet for a replacement to take place. And the longer he waits, the bigger mess this becomes for the Democrats.
HUNT: Lulu, I want to play a little bit more of what Jenny Racicot said to our Jake Tapper, because I think it's worth underscoring here that the conversation that was had around Graham Platner after -- even before "The New York Times" story that your colleagues wrote came out, was that there was more out there, right?
And there were all of these people who were defending Graham Platner kind of regardless of knowing -- expecting, I should say, not knowing, expecting more to come out. And in that "Times" story, there was a woman who alleged that Graham Platner had put her in a room against her will and behaved violently toward her. She was then criticized by Graham Platner's supporters.
This is part of what Jenny said to Jake about her political motivation, or lack thereof, and part of why she's coming forward. Let's watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR, THE LEAD: Just to underline the point, you're not coming forward because you have any political motivation. RACICOT: No, not at all. That was actually one of the huge reasons that I didn't come forward and still struggled like that was a huge moral conflict to -- to feel like --
TAPPER: Because you'd like a Democrat to be in the Senate.
RACICOT: Yeah, yeah, I like the things that he speaks about. They're important. They're important to people. I'm one of those people.
TAPPER: But at the end of the day, you feel he's not being honest.
RACICOT: He's not being honest. No.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: Lulu, it's -- What does it say that this has to be such a part of the conversation and that it took, you know, Democrats to have another person who has these political views to say this out loud for us to get to this point where they're pressuring him to get out?
LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Yeah, I've been thinking about this a lot, how depressing it is, that at this point, credible allegations of sexual assault and sexual abuse are only believed if you wear the right partisan hat. That is certainly not what it should be. That is true for Graham Platner. It has been true for Donald Trump. It has been true now across the spectrum.
And at the end of the day, this is unacceptable. Doesn't matter if you're a Democrat or Republican. And when you have credible allegations that have been reported out as these have, they should be believed.
The second thing I'll say about this is that I interviewed Graham Platner before these sexual abuse allegations came to light. I asked him explicitly, as many other reporters had, if anything else was coming.
You know, if this had been in the ether. He knew that this was coming. So, at the end of the day, the responsibility for this lies with Graham Platner for not coming forward and either addressing this head on. And putting the people of Maine first or and stepping out of the race if he knew that this was on its way.
HUNT: Yeah, Sabrina, there's been a lot of conversation around -- I mean, yes, Platner is seen as somebody who you know main voters were defending him right and this is why he -- you know, Janet Mills who was the pick of establishment Democrats like Chuck Schumer couldn't raise enough money had to drop out of the race but it is worth noting that Platner was recruited by and assisted by an apparatus of progressive operatives and, you know, financing and things and that Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Ro Khanna were some of his earliest backers here.
What does this mess say about where the Democratic Party's headed?
SABRINA SINGH, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS COMMENTATOR: I think there's two things. One, yes, he had support from Democrats within the party, but many Democrats were divided on Graham Platner. And many Democrats, including myself, at the very beginning, had questions about that tattoo that he had. I mean, that was a huge flag for many people within the party.
I think the second thing --
HUNT: Jake Auchincloss came on the show and said --
SINGH: Right.
HUNT: -- nobody should support him because of the tattoo.
SINGH: That's disqualifying.
HUNT: That was, you know, not even setting this stuff aside. And frankly, he was rigged over the coals by Democrats in Washington for it.
SINGH: Yeah. I mean --
CHALIAN: The Maine Democratic primary voters weren't so divided, though.
SINGH: Right. And they were not.
But I will say the other thing that I think David pointed out, which is right, is that every minute that goes by, every hour that goes by, we're still talking about this. We're not talking about the potential successor or who's going to be the nominee for the Democrats. And that is a problem, because he is wasting our -- he's wasting Democrats' time right now.
We do need to coalesce. Mainers need to coalesce around the Democratic nominee, because I think Mainers are upset and unhappy with Senator Susan Collins, and they do have the opportunity, but that person is going to have a very short amount of time and a very short runway to make their name known, to make their case known, and to appeal to the people of why they should vote for them.
HUNT: Scott Jennings, you know, I think there's a bigger conversation to be had here about what is and isn't acceptable from our public servants?
[16:15:04]
And then there's the brass tacks question of what Democrats are going to do in terms of picking a moderate or a progressive to run against Collins and who's got a better shot in November.
SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yeah, I -- well, just on that front, I'm amazed at just how breezily Democrats are out there publicly discussing subverting the will of the people of Maine. Graham Platner overwhelmingly won a primary, 98 percent of what we know about Graham Platner we already knew. The voters knew, the Democrats knew, the activists knew the donors knew, everybody knew. HUNT: There's a reason why --
(CROSSTALK)
JENNINGS: They voted for him --
HUNT: -- summer of '24 right now.
JENNINGS: They voted for him anyway. You know, Graham Platner hasn't dropped out of this race yet.
SINGH: But if Graham Platner does drop out --
(CROSSTALK)
JENNINGS: But you have all these Democrats and even some of the -- well, I guess we'll have to get somebody else, you had a vote. This is a democracy. The Democrats voted and now, the party of democracy is apparently going to subvert the will of the people.
(CROSSTALK)
GARCIA-NAVARRO: What you think from Scott, though, is that obviously the Republicans at this point would love to run against Graham Platner. I mean, this would be a gift. I mean, that would be a gift for them.
HUNT: And to Dave's point, every hour that goes by --
(CROSSTALK)
JENNINGS: Look, Lulu, it's not a gift that someone like this was allowed to make it this far in a in this process. But he did make it this far. And I think the Democ -- sometimes what's the old saying? You know, you made your bed now, you got to lie in it.
SINGH: Well, at least --
JENNINGS: The process here will dictate that Democrats ought to have to lie in this.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: I just the only other thing that I will say about, you know this and what's going to happen next is, you know, at this point I think there is, and you can see by the reaction something that is exponentially larger when you have a woman coming publicly and accusing someone of rape. I think that that is exponentially a much, much more serious and bigger deal.
There will be arguments forever as to how Graham Platner got here and why he got here. But I don't want to diminish the importance of what his accuser said.
HUNT: Especially because, I mean, she did it on camera with her own face.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: Exactly. And she is -- and that is -- that is something that will follow her around for the rest of her life.
HUNT: All right. Josh Keefe, thank you very much for joining us today. I really appreciate your time.
The rest of my panel is going to stand by.
Coming up next here in THE ARENA, after weeks of virtual silence, top Republicans and someone sitting at this table say they've recently spoken to Mitch McConnell. What we know about those conversations as the senator's office remains basically mum about his nearly month-long hospitalization.
But first, the newest place that President Trump is trying to make his imprint on Washington, branding leaders of radical -- branding the leaders of radical activists who can't be trusted, the authors of "Regime Change", Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan, will be here live.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:22:23]
HUNT: All right. Welcome back to THE ARENA.
As Democrats scramble to find someone to replace Maine Democratic candidate Graham Platner on the ballot, should -- he hasn't yet -- should he drop out amid a new rape allegation? Republicans are more or less sitting quietly by, happy to revel in the Democratic mess.
James Blair, the man who is steering President Trump's midterm operation, making a sarcastic jab at Democrats on X last night, saying, quote, "This is going great."
Joining me now are "New York Times" reporters Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan, who you probably know as the authors of the new book, "Regime Change: Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump," a book that is, of course, done so well that the publisher can barely keep it in print.
Thank you both very much for being here. I'm very grateful to have you.
And I do want to start, Maggie Haberman, with what we're seeing in Maine, because this has in no small part generated a debate about what we expect from people who are holding the highest offices of public trust in the country.
And of course, that goes straight to these questions about President Trump all the way back to 2016, the "Access Hollywood" tape and other things. When the White House sees something like this play out, how do they understand it?
MAGGIE HABERMAN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, at the moment, Kasey, the White House and President Trump's allies, as you said, feel quite thrilled about what's happening, because a lot of the focus has been on splits in the MAGA movement, and now you have a fair amount of very public division playing out among Democrats. To your question about what this says about what is expected of people
who hold higher office, look, what we are seeing with how Donald Trump conducts his presidency, and this is the whole purpose of the reporting and the title, frankly, of what Jonathan and I wrote in this book. It is unlike anything that we have seen before in terms of a use of executive power and a president who really wants power. But the public and this is sort of part of the problem that Democrats have had for some time the public doesn't make the differentiations that a lot of Democratic strategists do about their own candidates and Trump.
And There is a reason explaining to people that it's OK to lie about your health or be dishonest about your health or misleading about your health or, you know, the various explanations about the tattoo that Graham Platner has or, you know, John Fetterman's health or Joe Biden's health. It's hard to explain to voters why that's OK.
[16:25:00]
It's OK to do that, but it's not OK in the case of President Trump. And so, if you are -- you know, not everything is equal, but if you are the White House right now, the current White House, you're quite happy because you don't care, because this is all baked in to Donald Trump's brand.
HUNT: Well, Jonathan Swan, I mean, for President Trump personally, how does this -- I mean, based on the reporting that you've done, all the conversations you've had, and it's been many years, of course, very much for this book and this presidency, but also a longer period of time, does this validate him in some way?
JONATHAN SWAN, POLITICAL REPORTER, NEW YORK TIMES: Well, one thing we write about in the book is Donald Trump. has for a long time been blessed by his opponents, blessed by the way that they've comported themselves. And he often sort of creates a flattening, you know, established. establishes a flattening, which is, it's a corrupt world. I'm the only one who's being honest about it, et cetera.
You don't get much of a better political gift than someone who literally had a Nazi tattoo, and the party sticks with him, and then was accused of pretty serious sexual misconduct by someone who happened to be a conservative, and then the party sticks with him.
So, you know, for Trump, it sort of it doesn't really get much better as a political gift, setting aside the obvious seriousness of these allegations.
HUNT: Yeah. Does President Trump believe that the rules that apply to him are different than the rules that apply to other political candidates, Jonathan?
SWAN: I don't -- look, I haven't heard him say that exactly, but I think pretty clearly, based on the way he comports himself, he does believe that. I think it's evidently true. People who try to mimic Trump or be mini-Trumps often fail. You know, Donald Trump is a figure of such almost historic charisma as a mass -- you know, in terms of his mass appeal, his ability to create a visceral connection with his voters that he managed to paper over all these divisions in the party in a way that I'm not sure other politicians could get away with.
HUNT: Yeah. Maggie, you're nodding, jump in.
HABERMAN: Yeah, look, Donald Trump is a sui generis figure, and that is part of what we write about in the book. I mean, the comeback that he made in 2024, it is hard to see anybody else doing that, Kasie, and you've covered him for a long time as well. It isn't just because of various things that are his, you know, political superpower, the main one being his shamelessness. He simply refuses to acknowledge anything.
He would not -- Graham Platner, I mean, to Jonathan's point about how mini-Trumps tend not to be able to do it, Platner did try, and he a cohort of allies who were attacking anybody who raised questions about him. But yesterday, given seriousness of the allegations of sexual assault, he now is saying he's reflecting and it's not clear what he's doing.
Trump's never done that. He's done sort of a version of like almost a hostage tape apology for the "Access Hollywood" tape in 2016. He did a very weird pseudo-apology for birtherism. And then I can't really think of anything.
Around January 6th, we know that he protested having to say anything that was remotely apologetic about it. So that has helped him. He also does not get held to the same standard by voters, because voters knew him as a celebrity for decades. And so that is just different.
SWAN: Jared Kushner used to tell people that Trump was like a shirt that had wine poured all over it. And that Mike -- sorry, a tie-dye shirt. He used to say Trump was a tie-dye shirt. And then he said Mike Pence was a white shirt. So, when he gets a bit of wine on it, you notice the wine.
Jared Kushner's point being that Trump can just absorb so much scandal in a way that's basically unique. in American politics.
HUNT: Yeah, I mean, it has been pretty astonishing. I mean, the long list of things that, I mean, go back to John McCain and the POW remarks back in 2015.
Maggie, you're also reporting on this ongoing ideological fight that the president is having with the Smithsonian. And, you know, in some ways, this ties into what you write about in the book about how consumed he is with how things look, but also with his legacy? How do these things fit together?
HABERMAN: So, it's -- I'm glad you asked about that, because this reporting that we have today in the newspaper about the Smithsonian and the behind-the-scenes about the efforts to take control there by the White House is adapted in part from or drawn in part from our book.
And we got -- we were fascinated by this, and we got really into trying to figure out and we've done a number of rabbit holes trying to understand exactly what was happening in these very, very closed, hard-to-penetrate Board of Regents meetings for the Smithsonian, where you have the chief justice of the Supreme Court presides over them, senators are there, major figures of industry, the vice president.
[16:30:05]
And the relationship that Donald Trump had with Lonnie Bunch -- has with Lonnie Bunch, the secretary of the Smithsonian, he's the first black secretary of the Smithsonian. He was one of the creators of the National African American Museum. He wrote something that Trump was very unhappy about, about Trump's disinterest in the slave trade during their tour of that museum in 2017 in his own biography.
And the relationship was on a collision course since then. Trump was unhappy about his own picture in the National Portrait Gallery, and then he was unhappy about and a text referencing his impeachments under it. And it became very clear that when he was calling for the firing of the woman who ran it last year, the people who were involved in the Smithsonian recognized there was a tie.
There was also an executive order that he signed in March of last year about restoring, I think I'm going to get this wrong, but it was restoring sanity to U.S. history. And it was about minimizing slavery, about not talking about DEI policies and inequity. And he has made an effort to put his mark on this institution that was created by Congress in 1846 and is supposed to be out of the reach of partisan politics. And he has just bided his time and done as much as he could.
HUNT: Right, and showing again that basically nothing is outside of or above our politics anymore.
All right, Maggie Haberman, Jonathan Swan, thank you both so much. Congratulations again on the book. It is "Regime Change: Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump." If you're lucky, you can snag a copy right now.
Coming up next here in THE ARENA, new insight amid growing questions about the health of Senator Mitch McConnell. Someone who says he's talked to the senator just this morning will be here with us on set. Scott Jennings will give us all the details.
Plus, Democrats vying to be Michigan's next senator set to debate tonight as the latest allegations against Graham Platner upend the Democratic Party's plans for winning back control of the Senate.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ABDUL EL-SAYED (D), MICHIGAN SENATE CANDIDATE: I said that voters definitely deserve a choice that doesn't force them to pick between --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So, should he drop out of the race?
EL-SAYED: I think he should. He needs to step aside. I made the statement specifically to say that he should step aside. And let me say that clearly. I think he should step aside.
(END VIDEO CLIP) (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:36:38]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRET BAIER, FOX NEWS HOST: Senator McConnell, we're told he was hospitalized. Have you heard any word on him?
SEN. JOHN THUNE (R-SD), MAJORITY LEADER: I have. I spoke to him yesterday, and he was in good spirits. I mean, he was paying -- very dialed in, paying attention to what's going on, and indicated that he would be back soon.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: That was the Senate Majority Leader, John Thune, just days after Senator Mitch McConnell was admitted to the hospital. It has now been three weeks since McConnell was admitted. We still don't know why he's there.
Today, spokespeople for both Leader Thune and the GOP whip, John Barrasso, said the senators recently spoke to McConnell about a variety of topics. McConnell's office says he's recovering, but they've not provided any details about his condition, which has left room for rampant speculation, even prompting some MAGA voices to say McConnell's team needed to provide proof of life.
Joining us now in THE ARENA is Al Cross. He's a political columnist for the Northern Kentucky Tribune, professor emeritus at the University of Kentucky, longstanding dean of the press corps in Kentucky and has covered McConnell for a long time.
But I actually do, Al, want to start with, I know our mutual, I know you know Scott Jennings quite well from your time because Scott --
AL CROSS, POLITICAL COLUMNIST: Scott has the news.
HUNT: Scott has the news, exactly.
You spoke with Mitch McConnell today. What did you talk about? What did he say?
JENNINGS: Yeah, he called me this morning before I did my radio show. We talked for about 17 minutes. He talked a lot about the situation with Iran, talk a little bit about Ukraine and what's going on in Europe. I told him I'd been to the Teddy Roosevelt Library. We talked a little bit about the history of the vice presidency and how Roosevelt had transformed that in the modern presidency, a little history of the Senate.
I mean, it was a, you know, it was a wide-ranging conversation. I talked to him often. I hadn't talked to him since he'd been in. I'd gotten a few text messages from him, but I hadn't spoken to him.
So, it was good to hear his voice. Voice sounded strong and sounded like he was keeping up with the news to me.
HUNT: Did you ask him how he was feeling?
JENNINGS: Yeah, he said, he was feeling okay, obviously well enough to call me on the phone and obviously well enough to talk to Barrasso and Thune. Now look, I'm not qualified to discuss any medical issues or give you any information about that that's really for him or his staff to do. But I talk to him from time to time and I see him from time to time.
We had a conversation today about the things that we normally talk about, which are news of the day, political stuff.
HUNT: Did you come away feeling like he's still capable of serving the people of Kentucky as senator?
JENNINGS: I came away feeling that he was staying on top of the news. Again, look, his condition and why he's in the hospital or when he might come out, that's --
HUNT: Do you know why and are just saying it's got a liberty to share?
JENNINGS: I do not know why. I only know, frankly, what has been reported or what his office has said. So, this was -- it was a personal private call, but I didn't -- I didn't probe him too deeply for his medical records.
HUNT: Would you encourage him or anyone in his position to be more transparent with his voters about his health than he's been so far?
JENNINGS: Good question. I think that's a fair -- I think that's a fair thing to say. But on the other hand, you know, my impression of men of that age is that they're a little private when it comes to their health.
[16:40:00]
Now, he's in public office, and that carries a different responsibility, but it's a fair question.
SINGH: Can I just jump in here? Because we have been on multiple shows together where you have brought up Secretary Austin's hospitalization when I was in the administration, and you were very critical us on the handling -- and the secretary of his handling and being -- you were incredibly critical of him not being transparent with the American people and the public about his condition.
And I find it just so interesting that you're not being critical of a sitting senator who represents the state of Kentucky in not being transparent with his constituents. He's been able to call Thune, Barrasso, and you, but we have no idea why he's hospitalized.
But you were so, so critical of Secretary Austin, who was -- who did disclose why he was hospitalized, and was for five days. We are at almost a month, and we have no idea why Mitch McConnell has been hospitalized. And you're not being critical. You're not concerned by that?
JENNINGS: Of course, I'm concerned about my friend. I've known him since I was 16 years old. So, if you're asking me if I'm --
SINGH: You don't think he should disclose why --
JENNINGS: -- if you're asking me if I'm concerned, if you want to be honorary and mean about me being concerned about my friend, you're welcome to do it. He's not the head of the United States Armed Forces, who apparently went AWOL while he was secretary of defense.
SINGH: He is the U.S. senator for your home state.
JENNINGS: And do you think --
SINGH: For your home state, for the people. They don't deserve --
JENNINGS: You don't see the difference in those two positions?
SINGH: There is no difference. They are elected to public office.
JENNINGS: No difference.
SINGH: There is no difference. They should be held to the same exact standard. Secretary Austin did disclose his condition. McConnell should, too.
HUNT: All right. One more question for Scott, and then I want to bring Al into this conversation.
Scott, was this an audio call, a FaceTime call? Does McConnell FaceTime ever?
MCCONNELL: I can't say that I've ever FaceTimed with him. I do get text messages from him, and we do talk on the phone, but I think it's always audio.
HUNT: OK. Al Cross, I'd love to get you to weigh in here, because I do know that you had been speaking at some length to the senator as he prepares to exit the public stage, which we -- you know, had known was part of his longer term plan.
What have you been hearing from him? Have you heard from him since he was hospitalized? And how do you look at all of this?
CROSS: No, I haven't made any effort to it. I've had two long interviews with him in the last six weeks because I'm doing a project for the Kentucky Historical Society that'll come out in December. And first, I want to thank Scott for putting on his old reporter hat and bringing us the news today.
He has done Mitch McConnell and the people of Kentucky a favor by getting out some information. It would still be nice to know if and when the senator is going to come back to work, but you know, the Senate's in recess this week, so I expect we'll see some news on that on Monday. I do think that his reluctance or his offices reluctance, and I
suspect it's his reluctance, to say very much about his condition stems partly from his pride. He is, you know, he's a person who has a lot of pride, justifiably so. That kind of gets in the way of admitting infirmity. And he's always been very private about his health.
However, when you say as little as he has said, you are simply letting conspiracy theories and speculation fill the vacuum. And when people deal primarily in speculation and conspiracy theories, that just adds to the distrust that people have of the political system and the people in it. And whose hands do that play into? It plays into Donald Trump's hands, and I doubt that Mitch McConnell likes that.
HUNT: Yeah, fair enough. Are you surprised, Al, that they haven't been willing? We haven't seen any photos of McConnell, for example. What does that tell you?
CROSS: I don't know. I just think it all goes to his desire to keep things private and Secretary Chao may have some influence in this matter, too. I think that -- perhaps this is the worst situation he's been in since the fall in the hotel that kept him out for six weeks or so, and because the situation is serious, he's all the more guarded about it.
He may not really know if and when he's going to be able to come back to work. I find it interesting that he has not expressed that, although Leader Thune did say he had expressed that.
HUNT: Scott Jennings, you know, as we wrap up here, do you think he'd be willing to call into the show? Could we get him on the phone now?
JENNINGS: You know, I wasn't really expecting him to call this morning, to be honest, so when the phone rang and I was able to talk to him. I was frankly pretty grateful. As I said, I've known him since I was a teenager.
If it hadn't been for Mitch McConnell and the McConnell Center at the University of Louisville, I would never have been able to go to college. He's been my mentor and he changed the trajectory of my life. So, you know, when things happen to him and happen to people in your life that you really care about, you just sort of naturally feel extremely worried.
[16:45:05]
So, when I heard his voice today, he was clearly keeping up with stuff that made me happy to hear from him because like everybody else, I've been somewhat in the dark about it. But to hear him talking and know that he's also talking to the Senate leadership, it made me pretty happy.
HUNT: The MAGA media ecosphere, shall we say, has been driving a lot of the questions about where Mitch McConnell has been and what has happened. to him. You, of course, are in tune with that in the role you have on your radio show. Do you think they should put out a picture of Mitch McConnell, that he should release more to the public to quiet this noise?
JENNINGS: Yeah, I think Al had a good point about McConnell's general disposition towards privacy. I sometimes wonder, like, if I were laying in a hospital bed, would I want a bunch of people around photographing me? Probably not. Particularly if I were an 84-year-old person who's normally private about his health, probably not.
But I -- look, I take the criticism. I think it's a fair question about transparency. I think it's a fair question about whether they've done enough.
But ultimately, these office holders, you know, they're in charge of their own operations and you know, it may be somebody around him says let's put out a picture and he doesn't want to do it. I think -- I think that's a that's a fair observation from Al, but all I can tell you today is all the rumors about him being dead or brain dead or, you know, being his body's being hidden somewhere.
I've seen all kinds of crazy things on the Internet. That's obviously not true because he picked up the phone and called me and that was a -- that was a good thing.
HUNT: Well, let him know our phone lines are open here at THE ARENA, should he wish -- should he wish --
JENNINGS: Long time listener, first time caller.
HUNT: -- to call in. As someone who covered many of his Senate campaigns, not as many, of course, as Al Cross, but a couple.
Al, thank you very much for your time, sir. Appreciate it. Hope you'll come back. Good to see you.
All right, ahead here in THE ARENA, we're hours away from a one-on-one debate in one of the most important Senate races of the year, as we get new CNN reporting on one of the candidate's past stances on a key issue.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
EL-SAYED: Judge me by my work rather than some deleted tweets, because you know --
HUNT: Why did you delete the tweets?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:51:34]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
EL-SAYED: I said that voters definitely deserve a choice that doesn't force them to pick between --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So, should he drop out of the race?
EL-SAYED: I think he should. He needs to step aside. I made the statement specifically to say that he should step aside. And let me say that clearly. I think he should step aside.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed saying that Graham Platner should end his main Senate campaign following that shocking rape allegation.
Questions about Platner are sure to come up at tonight's debate between El-Sayed and Congresswoman Haley Stevens. who has also called for Platner to drop out.
The Michigan Democratic primary has basically served as a proxy war for the two sides, the two flanks of the Democratic Party, with the establishment wing standing firmly behind Stevens and progressives backing El-Sayed.
David Chalian, this candidate, of course, now facing questions ahead of the debate. about his stance on defunding the police. Our KFILE reporting this afternoon that El-Sayed's interviews from 2020 and 2021 show him embracing the defund the police movement, not just uttering the phrase, but also supporting the key principle of reinvesting funds from the police into other public sector spaces.
I pressed him on this issue a couple of days ago. He essentially said it was Washington clickbait, wouldn't answer my question about why he deleted his tweets about defunding the police. How do you see tonight playing out?
CHALIAN: I think we're going to certainly learn from Maine Democratic primary voters whether they mind a candidate who wants to defund the police or not or had that --
HUNT: From Michigan.
CHALIAN: Sorry, from Michigan. My apologies.
HUNT: Yes.
CHALIAN: The debate tonight is going to be pretty -- I expect a lot of fireworks here because it's a new race, because Mallory McMorrow's left the race. It was a three-person race. It is now a two-person race.
You called it a proxy war. They do kind of serve as perfect avatars for this divide in the Democratic Party that we're seeing right now. So, I would imagine that is going to be exploited by the moderators in the debate to really tease out all those differences.
I will just note, he's got the energy behind him right now in this race. and it is unclear I think to any of us observing right now if Mallory McMorrow's departure really benefits one candidate or the other. She was trying to carve a middle lane and so it is possible that some of her supporters kind of go into either camp and I don't think it's a clear-cut guarantee to help one or the other.
HUNT: Yeah, when I talked to Debbie Dingell yesterday, she said exactly that when she puts her ear to the ground and you know union halls --
CHALIAN: So, they're going to make an appeal tonight for some of those McMorrow supporters.
HUNT: Yeah. I mean, Lulu, how do you see this particular contest between two of them because, I mean, Haley Stevens is, in many ways, I mean, not necessarily the kind of communicator that breaks through online the way El Syed has broken through that way. And you've had a lot of discussion about that.
But there are a lot of Democrats in Michigan who are convinced I'll say I can't win a general election in what's now a purple state.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: Yeah, it's a purple state. And also, there's all these constituencies there, right, that they have to appeal to. You've got black Michigan, you've got, you know, rural Michigan. You have all these different things playing out.
And to the question of energy, this is really at the heart of, I think, what is happening right now in the Democratic Party, because you have one side, the progressives, laying claim to that idea that we have the energy, we have the new ideas, we are representing a new generation. And then, of course, you have the establishment Democrats representing it's not clear exactly what.
[16:55:04]
I mean, no offense, but really -- and --
HUNT: That's the problem they're having.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: That's the problem they're having. They-- what does they-- what does an establishment Democrat stand for, if not opposition to the progressives and trying to be a bulwark against that?
HUNT: Yeah.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: I don't know.
HUNT: We're about to find out tonight.
All right. On that note, we'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HUNT: All right. Thanks very much my panel really appreciate you all being here.
Thanks to all of you at home for watching as well. But don't go anywhere because Jake Tapper is standing by for "THE LEAD".
Hi, Jake.
