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CNN NewsNight with Abby Phillip
Trump Lashes Out On Social Media With Support Waning; Pentagon Quietly Changes How It Reports Deaths In Iran War; Sources Say, Trump Aides Warn Of Potential Munitions Shortfall; Socialist Democrats Leaves Divided Democrats Into Disarray Ahead Of The Midterms; Questions Still Raising On Mitch McConnell's Health As He Remains In Rehab Post-Fall. Aired 10-11p ET
Aired July 27, 2026 - 22:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[22:00:00]
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ABBY PHILLIP, CNN ANCHOR (voice over): Tonight --
DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: What a stupid question.
PHILLIP: -- Trump lashes out at reporters and on social media as he's backed into a corner on Iran and the economy.
Plus, the Pentagon obscures the human cost of the Iran war. Meanwhile, U.S. weapons stockpiles dip, and so does American support for the war.
Also, the head of the Democratic Socialists of America lays out the agenda.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Abolish the Senate?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: True.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Okay. Replace the presidency and Supreme Court as we now know them.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Abolish ICE?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Absolutely.
PHILLIP: And as for the Democratic National Committee, it's so broke vendors are asked to take an IOU.
And where is Mitch McConnell? A health update leaves more questions than answers. Live at the table, Isaiah Martin, Lydia Moynihan, Tony Kinnett, and Sabrina Singh.
Americans with different perspectives aren't talking to each other, but here, they do.
(END VIDEOTAPE) PHILLIP (on camera): Good evening. I'm Abby Phillip in New York.
Let's get right to what America's talking about. President Trump appears to be spiraling. His White House Correspondents' Dinner speech was widely panned. His war in Iran is as unpopular as ever, and Americans are fed up with the skyrocketing costs.
So, how did Trump cope? By going on a social media tirade. He posted nonstop all weekend, and it was mostly A.I.-generated slop on everything from Iran to his frustrations with Republicans, to his SAVE America Act. He began his outburst early on Saturday and didn't quit until late on Sunday. By our count, there were about 60 posts in all, with more than 50 of them dropping in a 24-hour period.
Trump's tirade comes on the heels of a new CBS poll, which finds about two-thirds of Americans disapprove of how the president is handling the situation in Iran. About two-thirds also say that they don't like his handling of the economy.
Now, everything came to a head today when Trump appeared to lose his cool and snapped at a reporter.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REPORTER: On the SAVE Act, why do you want the U.S. Senate to stay in town? Should they be out of across the country campaigning?
TRUMP: Why? What a stupid question for you to ask.
REPORTER: Should they be out campaigning though?
TRUMP: What a stupid question. So, listen, why do I want it? The SAVE Act has to be done. They shouldn't leave town. I'm not going to stop them from doing it, but they should get the SAVE Act done.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIP: Now, before we open it up to the table here, I want to invite you at home to join the debate. You can go to cnn.com/abby, and we'll get to some of your comments throughout the show tonight.
Isaiah, the president losing it on social media is not exactly a new thing, but it also -- I think as the challenges that he's facing become more and more serious, it is an issue that the president can't seem to keep his head on straight when we're facing a war, an economy that's unstable, and his party's facing an election in November.
ISAIAH MARTIN (D), FORMER U.S. CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE, TEXAS: I think, ultimately, the reason why his numbers are so bad is because he's not focused on anything that anybody cares about. One of the most interesting parts of that poll shows that he's down eight points specifically with Republican voters when it comes to his handling on the economy. I mean, they look around, they see the promises that he made. He said that we'd have dollar and something gas. That never happened. He said that we would have half off our energy bills within the first year of him being in office. That never happened. All these things that he promised has not happened.
And so I think people across the country are looking to say, look, this president is not delivering. He hasn't fulfilled his promises, and they want to see something different and see (INAUDIBLE).
PHILLIP: Yes. I mean, on Republicans, as you point out only 34 percent in this Washington Post poll say that their financial situation is better now compared to January 2025 when Trump took office. 18 percent say they are not as well off. 48 percent say that they're about the same. Meanwhile, the president is using social media. I'm not sure if this is like a teenager or like he is an 80-year-old man, so maybe this is what, you know, elderly people are doing on the internet, but it's all these memes, memes of him in the -- dealing with the Iran war, guardian of the world, all kinds of things.
[22:05:02]
I mean, Lydia, I mean, what is he doing?
LYDIA MOYNIHAN, CORRESPONDENT, NEW YORK POST: He, well, he is prolific. You can give him that. Look, obviously it's going to be up to the voters to decide in the midterms. I think that there's things he can point to, Trump Accounts, TrumpRx, but I think it's going to come down to gas prices as well, which have been coming down, and now are going up a bit more than I think he would like to see.
I think the interesting thing though is the incumbent is typically challenged as he heads into the midterms. But in this case, consider the alternative, and The Washington Post has been reporting what Trump voters are feeling, and they feel frustrated. But in the words of one gentleman, he said he's not going to vote for crazy ass Democrats.
So, I think that's what it's going to come down to. People may have frustrations that they don't feel as affordability is as much of a focus, and yet consider the alternative. And some of the loudest voices in the Democratic Party now are pushing for the abolition of private property.
SABRINA SINGH, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS COMMENTATOR: Can I just -- well, can I just add to what Lydia -- can I just say something about what Lydia said though on the challenges? Because you said that this president's entering this midterm cycle with challenges, but a lot of these challenges are self-inflicted. I think when it comes -- like he came in, he turned -- he can take credit for, I think, bolstering the economy in maybe the first part of his like opening year. But you look at inflation today.
I mean, he was in Michigan, and before the war in Iran, gas was $2.90, and now today it is $4.22, and that is because of this war of choice. And then so you look at that, you look at the, the price of groceries, you look at the spread of measles, you look at a diarrhea disease, and all around the country, people are wondering, what is this president actually going to deliver?
MOYNIHAN: I mean, I don't know that he's responsible for Cyclospora. SINGH: I think that people want a government that works for them. And when you can't trust what's coming from your government, whether it comes from measles or when it comes from not taking shots, like you told me like RFK is doing --
TONY KINNETT, NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT, DAILY SIGNAL: You think him not taking shots is causing the diarrhea disease?
SINGH: Well, I think that is happening under President Trump. It's not happening under anyone else.
(CROSSTALKS)
SINGH: And you were really worried about the disease. I mean, why were you worried about millions of people crossing the border who didn't have any vaccine?
(CROSSTALKS)
PHILLIP: Go ahead, Isaac.
MARTIN: But here's the thing. You made a statement about what's crazy. I think what's crazy is when you have the president of the United States acting like Abe Simpson, going and waving his fist at the cloud on social media and putting tariffs on countries like Canada that we have free trade with. Do you support the tariff on Canada that will raise prices for people?
MOYNIHAN: Look if we want to talk about his social media presence, it always has been --
MARTIN: Do you support the tariffs?
MOYNIHAN: -- all over. It's going to be up to voters to decide what they want to do in midterms.
MARTIN: Do you support the tariffs on Canada?
MOYNIHAN: Why does it matter what I support?
MARTIN: Why does it matter?
MOYNIHAN: It's up to voters in the midterms. But I'd say with the A.I. thing, it really triggers a lot of people, which I think, frankly, he likes to see.
MARTIN: You don't want to address the tariffs.
(CROSSTALKS)
PHILLIP: I don't know that some people like to see him tweeting out about the unhinged A.I. memes.
MOYNIHAN: The base likes this.
PHILLIP: Is that? MARTIN: No. But the question -- but the real question is, again, when prices are up, why is it that this president went and engaged in more tariffs on Canada when we already know that it has significant price pressures? Why did he do that, Lydia?
SINGH: Because it's self-inflicted.
MOYNIHAN: Look, voters are going to have to decide if they think he's doing enough --
MARTIN: You don't have an answer to that?
MOYNIHAN: -- for affordability.
MARTIN: Why would he do that?
MOYNIHAN: I'm not here to answer for --
MARTIN: The answer is that there is no reason. That's what's really crazy. I think that's what voters are going to react to.
PHILLIP: It is also -- I mean, it's a fair point that the reality of Trump's decision-making in this moment is the root of the issue. He's lashing out at all sorts of people, reporters, he's tweeting out memes, but he refuses to stop doing the things, like tariffs like getting into a war that he promised Americans he wouldn't get into, that are causing some of the problems that he's dealing with right now.
KINNETT: I think that if the president was having this negative impact across the entire country, then Democrats would be doing a lot better as the opposition party, we've won the polls.
MARTIN: We've won pretty much every special election there is.
SINGH: Yes, we're doing pretty good.
MARTIN: We won in Kentucky. We won in Louisiana. Trump's own state house district has been won by a Democrat. That's pretty successful, I would say.
KINNETT: According to the last Reuters poll, Democrats consistently --
MARTIN: I'm not talking about polls. I'm talking about election results.
KINNETT: I'm talking about polls because we're getting closer to midterms.
MARTIN: Well, we're talking about election results.
KINNETT: We're talking about the generic Congressional ballot, as my point was, if the president is so detrimental to everything, I should see the Democrats skyrocketing in all of the polls.
MARTIN: He's losing almost every special election there is. PHILLIP: Well, we did -- you know, we talked about this last week. The recent poll showed that Democrats have overtaken Republicans in terms of who Americans trust to deal with the economy. That's something --
KINNETT: Strangely, the Reuters poll that I've got right here doesn't say that.
PHILLIP: Look, not every poll is the same.
KINNETT: Well, then send me --
(CROSSTALKS)
PHILLIP: But my point is there are some polls showing that Trump is losing ground on key issues, especially on the economy, which is typically something that Republicans do well on. When you look at his approval rating on issues from the economy to Iran, to trade, to immigration, he's underwater on all of those issues.
[22:10:01]
KINNETT: So, I should expect to see voters trusting Democrats over Republicans, and I'm not seeing that yet.
SINGH: You are seeing that. You are seeing that in polls.
KINNETT: I'm not. Again, we're not seeing these things.
MARTIN: Why did we win in Georgia? Why did we win in Texas? Why did we win in Kentucky? All across this country, voters are choosing Democratic candidates in special elections. What are you talking about?
KINNETT: Again, what I'm seeing, according to the -- all of the data that comes out of the pollsters, from Ipsos to Reuters, all the way over to Morning Consult --
MARTIN: You care about polls now?
KINNETT: Yes.
MARTIN: I care about election results.
PHILLIP: Well, I guess, I mean, that why should polls -- I mean, if they're -- if you're comparing these apples to --
KINNETT: I'm sorry, would you like me to cite like look at the betting markets only? What's the issue here?
PHILLIP: It's apples to oranges, right? These are apples to oranges. But do you think that the election results matter more perhaps than the polls?
KINNETT: I do. I do think there are a lot of primaries, and also the Supreme Court elections, for example, that seem to dispel a lot of narratives on money buying elections entirely, Tom Steyer not pulling out his California election, Elon Musk not being able to buy the Elon Musk Supreme Court situation.
MARTIN: Texas special elections, Louisiana, Chesney Martinez won a big special election, Kentucky. Trump's own state house district where Mar-a-Lago is was won by a Democrat. All these Trump-won districts are being won by Democrats. That's showing that people are choosing common sense Democrats over what the Republicans are pushing. It is not common sense for more tariffs. It is not common sense to go forward and push the policies that Trump has been pushing.
MOYNIHAN: Look, none of this is shocking that in a midterm election you would -- as you always do, you sort of see a bit of the pendulum swinging the other way.
MARTIN: That sounds like cope, if you ask me.
MOYNIHAN: That's not shocking.
KINNETT: No, that's what we call consistent historical data.
MOYNIHAN: So, that's historic.
SINGH: That is historic.
MOYNIHAN: So, what you're saying is kind of in line with what we have always seen before. But your notion about common sense Democrats is just frankly not the case. And I know we're going to talk about it later in the segment, but you literally have a party now that is overtaken by people that want to abolish private property and have socialism. You look at Abdul in Michigan who won't condemn the ayatollah.
PHILLIP: We will talk about that issue, that set of issues, later in the show.
MOYNIHAN: So, these are the people in the Democratic Party right now.
PHILLIP: But let me make one more point.
KINNETT: She seems to have touched a nerve.
PHILLIP: Because in addition -- we're going to -- don't worry.
SINGH: Yes, we're going to get to it.
PHILLIP: We have a whole segment later in the show.
KINNETT: Okay, good.
PHILLIP: One of the other things the president did this weekend was spend time attacking his own party, specifically John Thune in the Senate, for not passing the SAVE Act. And Trump continues to attack him over it. Thune actually responded to it today, basically saying he knows we don't have the votes. But here's what Trump said when he was asked about his attacks on Thune over the weekend.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TRUMP: It's fine. I have a good relationship with John Thune. He's just got to get his job done. You got to get the SAVE America Act passed, or better than that would be the filibuster. If you terminate the filibuster, everything happens. If you don't terminate the filibuster, only bad things will happen.
REPORTER: But you don't want to see him replace this leader?
TRUMP: I haven't even thought of it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIP: So, Trump is going down this road alone. Republicans in the Senate are not with him on the SAVE Act. Why does he keep doing this?
KINNETT: I see a lot of Republicans in the Senate who are currently siding with the president. There's been a lot of chaos, of course, that have been reported across many of the media, the Republicans arguing on what the best path forward for the Senate is, as you see, a lot of the Democrats on the left side of the aisle arguing about what the best path forward for that party is.
If we're going to look at President Trump going this alone, calling for a policy that, again, according to the latest Pew Research data, is in fact a policy that the majority of Americans support, gee, I just don't see that as --
(CROSSTALKS)
PHILLIP: Do you think that they should get rid of the filibuster to pass the SAVE America Act?
KINNETT: I think right now that would be appropriate, yes.
PHILLIP: Do you think that there are the votes to do that?
SINGH: That's the thing.
KINNETT: That is the thing, correct. And I think there are a couple of Republicans that aren't in line with him. So --
SINGH: Are there 60 votes?
KINNETT: No, that's why I said that I supported getting rid of the filibuster.
SINGH: But there are not the votes. So, why is the president going out --
PHILLIP: I know, but are there even the votes to get rid of the filibuster?
KINNETT: I agree there aren't the votes to get rid of the filibuster.
PHILLIP: Okay, so then to quote John Thune, the president and his team could come up to Capitol Hill and try to find -- try to get new votes, but they're not doing that.
KINNETT: As he did about a month-and-a-half ago.
SINGH: Well, I think on this point, this is what goes back to what I originally said, was that these are so self-inflicted wounds that the president is launching against his own party. This is, to Lydia's point, about historic trends. It is usually during the midterms that we see the pendulum swing to the party that is not in power in the White House.
So, this election will be a referendum on Donald Trump. Historically, the House -- hold on. Let me finish.
MARTIN: It's just really interesting to me, you know?
SINGH: The House usually will flip during a presidential -- like a president that's of the opposite power in the White House.
However, I've never seen a president rally against his party the way this president does. If I could just finish, because this president, he does not have the votes for the SAVE Act. This of choice with Iran is -- you admitted it, is jacking up grocery prices, jacking up electricity costs, and Republicans are going to go home in August and have to face their constituents, and this president is not doing anything to allay concerns of their constituents.
PHILLIP: Quick last word to you.
[22:15:00]
MOYNIHAN: Look, I actually think when it comes to the SAVE America Act, even if it doesn't pass, this is what the base wants to hear. They care about voter I.D. They care about these issues.
MARTIN: It's a passport to voter fraud by the way.
MOYNIHAN: Trump knows that this is an 80/20 issue. This is whether or not people like John Thune, whether people or not like John Thune, Trump is appealing to what the vast majority of Americans care about. And, okay. Can I talk for two seconds without getting interrupted?
MARTIN: I'm hearing a lot of cope on your side of the table, my man.
MOYNIHAN: Can I talk for two seconds?
PHILLIP: I mean, I also -- look, I do agree that --
MOYNIHAN: The base likes the SAVE America Act and I think this is energizing them.
PHILLIP: -- when you talk about the Save America Act, you should be specific, that it's not a voter I.D. bill.
MARTIN: That's right.
MOYNIHAN: It includes a lot of things, including the voter I.D Act. PHILLIP: It is a proof of citizenship bill --
KINNETT: Oh, the horror.
PHILLIP: -- for which most forms of I.D. would not count.
MARTIN: Only five states --don't need a passport.
PHILLIP: So, that's important to know.
SINGH: Do you know how many people don't have passports though, right? Do you know where your birth certificate is? Many people don't.
KINNETT: So, you know you can go to your health department and get a birth certificate.
PHILLIP: All right. Next for us, the Pentagon has changed the way that it counts the casualties in the Iran war and blames Joe Biden for U.S. stockpiles dipping, but the calls for transparency are getting louder.
Plus, Democrats are fighting a civil war inside of their own party, a rising DSA wing on one side and the establishment with a huge fundraising problem on the other.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[22:20:00]
PHILLIP: Tonight, as Donald Trump and his aides assess their remaining military options in Iran, the Pentagon is facing scrutiny over a depleted munitions stockpile, and a lack of transparency over the human cost of this conflict.
After nearly two weeks of U.S. strikes in Iran, Donald Trump announced a temporary pause today, he says, at the request of the Iranian regime, to allow for negotiations. Iran says no such talks are happening. And despite the pause, Saudi Arabia says it intercepted several drones launched from Iranian-backed militias in Iraq.
Now, over the weekend, the Pentagon quietly updated its war casualty database, recording more than 140 additional wounded, and restoring the four soldiers killed due to the Iranian strikes after they effectively disappeared from the website.
Now, after facing scrutiny over why the number of killed and wounded somehow dropped as the Iranian attacks escalated, officials blamed a data disruption. They denied that there was any intentional effort to mask the war's toll. But instead of listing the casualties under Operation Epic Fury, the database now features a new tracking category for killed and wounded troops starting on July 7th. That's a date that coincides with when Trump claimed a new conflict with Iran began in a war powers notification that was sent to Congress.
I think this is important for several reasons. I think there're some practical issues here for the troops who are affected, especially the ones who are wounded. But the idea that that they can re-categorize these deaths and casualties under a different conflict, even though we all know that this is part of the same conflict, that seems to be an attempt to obscure what is happening.
SINGH: It is. When I was at the Pentagon, and we did unfortunately lose service members, we were very clear about where they were killed in action, and the reason. And this idea that you're going to re- categorize their deaths so it fits your political narrative that this war did not take a toll on 18 lives and over 600 wounded is gross, and it is, I think, deeply offensive to the families. I mean, people that I've spoken to at the Pentagon, this is not something that they have ever seen ever happen, a re-categorization of how you would determine someone killed in action.
And so, you know, for the families of these four, you know, men and women who were just lost, it's devastating. Because when we have, you know, the conversation of why they were lost, they were lost because of this war. They were lost because Iran launched Iranian drones and ballistic missiles at installations where our service members are, and that is the reason
PHILLIP: It's like the whole gimmick of saying, oh, okay, we've reached the threshold at which we don't have to notify Congress, so let's just pretend like we're going to start a new conflict, that, I think, seems to insult the intelligence of the American people, who know exactly what's going on.
KINNETT: We've seen the Pentagon multiple times actually go through and set up after we've gone through several different kinds of border conflicts, after certain kinds of observations and then strikes, retaliations, re-categorize both casualties on the injury side and then those who have died. We've seen this before again all the way dating back to the Korean and the Vietnam Wars, in which we've seen the Department of Defense at the time actually --
SINGH: I've never seen Department of Defense re-categorize injuries or deaths from an operation. I've never seen that, and I was at the Pentagon.
KINNETT: They have done so multiple times. In the Obama administration, they re-categorized the Syrian strikes multiple times.
SINGH: That strikes, like deaths from a strike, versus an entire operation is very different
KINNETT: Retaliation would follow the strikes, as the Department of Defense categorizes.
SINGH: This was an operation. This is a war. How would you explain how these four people died?
KINNETT: I'd like you to go back to asking me very clearly why didn't you know. If you're Ms. Pentagon, why don't you know the history of actually re-categorizing strikes?
SINGH: You were not specific. But hold on. How did these four people die? KINNETT: Again, they were struck by Iranian forces.
SINGH: Under -- from the war?
KINNETT: From, yes, the retaliation from the Iranians, yes.
SINGH: Okay, so it's from the war. Great.
PHILLIP: Yes. I mean, look --
SINGH: That seems simple enough.
PHILLIP: I don't even know why you would argue otherwise because it's the same conflict. It is definitely the same conflict. And I don't know. I mean, they initially tried to say this was a software glitch, and then they created a whole different place to put these names.
[22:25:04]
Why?
MOYNIHAN: I mean, look, what matters is that President Trump has honored these families, and I'm not shocked to hear that there's issues with government websites. Whether or not it was a purposeful obfuscation, I think, remains to be seen. But --
PHILLIP: Well, I think at this point we know that --
MARTIN: They changed the classification. That sounds like dead wrong.
PHILLIP: I mean, they --
MOYNIHAN: We do have --
PHILLIP: The names came down. They claimed it was an accident, that some kind of glitch. But then when -- but then they did not restore them to where they should be. They put them in a different place.
MOYNIHAN: Right. So, I'd like to see that --
PHILLIP: That's not a tech issue. That's a (INAUDIBLE) choice.
MOYNIHAN: I'd like to see that restored. I think we need to have transparency around what's going on. I think one situation that frankly where we saw the government was certainly obfuscating, didn't have any transparency, was Anthony Fauci --
MARTIN: Why are you picking on --
(CROSSTALKS)
MOYNIHAN: We're getting his diaries today.
MARTIN: I mean, this is like, are you serious now?
MOYNIHAN: Where he was purposely obfuscating about -- (CROSSTALKS)
MOYNIHAN: No, that's actually something where we know he was purposely obfuscating.
MARTIN: What is this?
PHILLIP: Hold on a second, Lydia. We're sitting here talking about Americans who were killed in theater, okay, as a result of a war. We are not going to pivot to Anthony Fauci's diaries.
MARTIN: Right.
PHILLIP: That's a different conversation.
MOYNIHAN: But you're saying that this is a purposeful obfuscation. We don't know that it was a purposeful obfuscation.
PHILLIP: The other thing that we learned this weekend, Isaiah, the other thing we learned this weekend is that the president has been warned by his own Defense Department, by his own vice president, that we are running low on munition stockpiles.
The -- I'm going to play, this is Tim Walz -- or, I'm sorry, Mike Waltz, the ambassador to the United Nations, who was asked about this, and just listen carefully to how he explains whether this is true or not.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KRISTEN WELKER, NBC NEWS ANCHOR: Is America backing away from a larger military attack because its military stockpile has been depleted?
MIKE WALTZ, AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED NATIONS: Well, look, we have to take a step back here in that a lot of stockpiles were depleted, not only from what we gave Ukraine over the last however many years, four or five years, and the administration inherited -- the secretary, Secretary Hegseth, inherited a depleted situation.
I want -- no, I want to be clear. No, I want to --
WELKER: Do you acknowledge they're depleted, though, at this moment?
WALTZ: No, I want to be -- I want to be crystal clear. The U.S. military, and I've verified this every which way, has everything that it needs to conduct this campaign as effectively as it needs to be.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIP: A tough job he's got there because he seems to want to blame the previous administration for depletions and then claim that there are none.
MARTIN: I mean, it's just the standard playbook for them. It's just Biden derangement syndrome. It's really all they have at this point. Because, ultimately, we understand that what was given to Ukraine was primarily for ground warfare. When it comes to this situation, I mean, he just said a couple weeks ago that the military had everything they needed to continue and to carry out these strikes. That's what he said.
So, it's amazing how when this comes down to where we are today, they change their tune. It's not really shocking because this is what they do.
KINNETT: So, you can't have it both ways. Are we depleted or aren't we depleted? I want your opinion on that.
MARTIN: The point is is that Mike Waltz --
KINNETT: No, answer the question.
MARTIN: Mike Waltz said --
KINNETT: Answer, do you think we're depleted or not?
MARTIN: -- a couple weeks ago that we had everything we needed to carry out these strikes.
KINNETT: Can you answer the question?
MARTIN: So, did he lie? Did he lie?
KINNETT: I'm asking you the question.
MARTIN: Did he lie?
PHILLIP: What do you think? I mean --
KINNETT: It matters. I don't believe that the United States --
PHILLIP: The reporting is that we -- the reporting is that the president was warned by the Defense Department and by his own vice president that if they continued with a larger war campaign, which he has the option to do, that would dangerously deplete our munitions.
So -- and I've seen actually, rather than a lot of people saying, this is not true, I've seen a lot of conservatives saying, who leaked this, which seems to imply that they believe it is true.
KINNETT: I do not believe that the United States is in a position right now where we're not able to continue interceptions. There's two kinds of core munitions. But if we're going to look at this right here when you're looking -- it is, when you're looking at interception or positive action kinetic strikes.
SINGH: But can I -- that's just they're not -- the way you're characterizing it is not entirely accurate. I think there has been -- I think the United States military, to your point, will do everything necessary to conduct an operation. But what you are not including here is that they will pull stocks from other combatant commands because our stockpiles are so depleted. And --
KINNETT: Why are our stockpiles depleted to this level? Do you think that a small operation like this --
SINGH: Do you think this is small?
KINNETT: Do you think this is enough to deplete the entire U.S. stockpile?
SINGH: No. You just said interceptors. How long do those take to make?
KINNETT: That's an excellent question. How long do they take to make?
SINGH: How long do those take to make? They take two years.
KINNETT: Yes, they do.
SINGH: And do you know how many we've gone through in this war?
KINNETT: By all means, do you have that data point?
SINGH: No, go ahead. You tell me.
KINNETT: I'm asking you, do you have the data point?
SINGH: You seem to know every answer. What we have done is we have depleted very, very expensive munitions to shoot down very inexpensive drones, like $30 to $40,000 drones.
[22:30:01]
KINNETT: And to Walt's point then, why did we not have a larger supply of interceptor missiles? If this isn't enough to take on Iran, then what about Russia or China?
SINGH: We're not giving the type of interceptor missiles that we use on the battlefield to Ukraine.
KINNETT: So then do we have a ready stockpile to take on a larger group?
PHILLIP: It sounds like at this point, Tony, you're acknowledging that there is a depletion happening.
KINNETT: I'm saying that either so, if there's a conditional, no, no, it matters here, because I don't know the numbers, you don't know the numbers.
PHILLIP: Well, I mean, the reporting at the beginning of the war was that we had probably around 1200 of them. And this has been one of the big issues with this type of war is that we've had to intercept a lot because Iran has had the ability to launch a lot of cheap missiles. These interceptors cost $4 million each to create.
So it is conceivable that we would be, maybe we're not at zero, but we don't need to get to zero. I don't think they would let us get to zero, but we don't need to be at zero for it to be a problem. Wouldn't you agree? KINNETT: Well, I don't think that necessarily we're going to be
getting to that point. That's one of the reasons why the National Defense Authorization Act continues rebuilding stockpiling.
I come from Indiana. There's a lot of military industry that creates manufacturing opportunities. That does matter over a year to year basis, not just in this administration, because a lot of those things take a long time to restore and restock.
SINGH: And by the way, you might not admit this, but we did a lot of investing in the defense industrial base during the Biden administration. It just turns out these things take a lot of time. And when you have something like Iran launching flying lawnmowers at you that cost $15,000 and you're shooting it down with a $4 million missile, that is a problem that our defense industrial base cannot meet right now.
PHILLIP: All right, we're going to leave it there.
Just 99 days until the midterms, new reporting shows that the DNC is seriously strapped for cash. At the same time, the progressive wing of the party is on the rise. That's next.
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[22:35:00]
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PHILLIP: Tonight, as the Democratic Socialists pick up a string of victories across the country, a new party platform from a progressive group is becoming fodder for GOP attacks. 99 days from the midterms, Democrats are facing a reckoning.
Disavow and disown the Democratic Socialists of America or embrace policy positions like these endorsed by the DSA's co-chair.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SHANNON BREAM, "FOX NEWS SUNDAY" HOST: Okay, so we're going to put up on the screen a few of the things that are part of your platform. And I want to ask you just give me sort of a true or false on these.
Abolish the Senate.
MEGAN ROMER, CO-CHAIRMAN, DEMOCRATIC SOCIALISTS OF AMERICA: True.
BREAM: Okay, replace the presidency and Supreme Court as we now know them.
ROMER: Yes.
BREAM: Abolish ICE.
ROMER: Absolutely.
BREAM: Abolish borders and give amnesty to anyone currently in the U.S. illegally.
ROMER: As a long-term plan, yes.
BREAM: Defund the Pentagon.
ROMER: Absolutely.
BREAM: Abolish prisons, at least in large part.
ROMER: Yes, again, as part of a long-term program, yes.
BREAM: Okay, so no prisons. Government or public ownership of most large corporations.
ROMER: Yes, absolutely.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIP: All right. That seems like a problem for Democrats, that this is sort of the competing force in their own party.
SINGH: Yes, I think that's a huge problem. I don't agree with any of those statements. I don't think a majority of Democrats agree with those statements.
I think we have a lot of great candidates running across the country, some that are veterans and some that are from the moderate side of the party. These are views that are, I think, represented by a very small amount of individuals that are not representative of the Democratic Party at large. And I personally do not support those.
ISAIAH MARTIN (D), FORMER U.S. CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE, TEXAS: You know, what's really interesting is that, you know, this is a person that has their own views, their own platform. And, you know, I think everybody has their own positions.
But I find it really interesting that conservatives actually want to try to go and talk about this when they literally have Project 2025 in the last election. Project 2025, which was uniquely calling for the gutting of the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act and many different things.
What I know is that the Democratic Party is a big tent party. We've got folks like Joe Manchin, folks like Zohran Mamdani. And I would like to work with somebody like Zohran Mamdani that has gone forward and had a sharp reduction in pride.
PHILLIP: It is actually an okay analogy, but you would have to acknowledge the Democrats ran against Republicans on Project 2025. And the Republicans eventually had to try to disown it. Some of them tried to do it and others didn't.
But it's you're acknowledging it's going to be a problem.
MARTIN: I mean, look, I don't support those things. But the point is, is that we need to talk about the things that people in elected office are doing. Anybody can come up with their own platform or whatever, just like the Heritage Foundation had when it came to Project 2025.
What we're talking about is the results of the people that have been elected to office. I don't mind working. And as a matter of fact, I would love to work with someone like Zohran, who's had record lows on crime, has delivered on universal child care for so many people in New York.
That's a good thing. What the heck does race have to do with this?
KINNETT: Excuse you.
According to the Politico article citing black voters in the South who have made it clear that because Democrats are so focused on the DSA candidates, they have completely abandoned black voters running as Democrats.
MARTIN: You know what black voters don't support? They don't support the gutting of the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act. Part of Project 2025 that you are specifically on the Heritage Foundation's website.
[22:40:01]
KINNETT: I'm so sorry that Politico article happened to you.
MARTIN: So that's what you support in your own organization.
KINNETT: You can bring up things from years ago if you would like, but what's happening right now.
MARTIN: I don't think that black voters support that whatsoever. Not at all.
KINNETT: I'm just reporting what it is that many time Democrats in Congress have made it very clear that they don't like it. After all, the chair of the Hispanic Caucus just lost his seat in New York.
SINGH: What does that have to do with black voters?
KINNETT: Again, I'm talking about the traditional groups of Democrats. I have two people talking to me.
KINNETT: You don't want to touch that one.
MARTIN: If you can't figure that out, I don't know what to do for you.
KINNETT: You don't want to touch that one.
PHILLIP: You're going to explain why you brought up this?
KINNETT: Yes, absolutely. Because there are traditional groups that are considered to be active and proud Democrat voters.
MARTIN: Why don't you want to talk about the gutting of the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act?
SINGH: What are the traditional groups?
MARTIN: I think that's rather extreme to me. I think actually that's the most extreme thing out of anything that's been mentioned so far in this segment. Getting rid of the Voting Rights Act and the Civil Rights Act.
Do you support that?
KINNETT: No. Which Republicans are running on that? The people that supported Project 2025.
And Donald Trump literally has someone that is working on the OMB that literally was a part of this. Russ Voigt was a big supporter of Project 2025. I mean, he had them appointed into office.
So the point is that Republicans not only had --
PHILLIP: Here's the point. Hold on a second.
Because the topic is uncomfortable. Elections are in fact about choices, right? And it's the Democrats versus the Republicans. We went through why Trump is unpopular on a whole host of issues.
But the other reporting that we got this weekend was that the DNC is struggling.
They are millions of dollars in debt. They are so short on cash that they've asked their vendors not to bother to send bills until after the midterm elections. They have put a loan out on their headquarters to try to fund last year's off-year elections, not to mention any spending that they need to do this year.
So they're not exactly in a strong position to lead the party in this moment, which actually could cause Democrats to take a really good year for them and maybe squander it.
LYDIA MOYNIHAN, CORRESPONDENT, "NEW YORK POST": Yes, that's very fair. And I think that's why they're so reluctant to disavow some of these really extreme radical policies, like getting rid of prisons and opening the borders again, as we saw under Biden.
MARTIN: I mean, it's just what --
MOYNIHAN: No, this is the thing. So look, Zohran Mamdani, you mentioned Zohran Mamdani earlier, and you said...
Great. Can I talk for a second?
So look, so Zohran Mamdani, who you want to be part of this Democratic Party, who Chuck Schumer, Barack Obama, everyone has seemed to embrace. Yes, he watched the World Cup at Rikers. He wants to get rid of prisons, he wants to abolish private property. This is literally the most radical --
MARTIN: When did he ever say that, Lydia? When did he ever say that?
PHILLIP: Rikers is a jail, not a prison.
PHILLIP: I did not like --
MARTIN: When did he say that?
MOYNIHAN: I'm not here to answer to you.
MARTIN: You just made the claim.
MOYNIHAN: Can I speak for two seconds?
MARTIN: When did he ever say he wanted to get rid of prisons? You made a direct claim.
MOYNIHAN: That's part of his platform. That's literally part of his platform.
MARTIN: When did he say that?
MOYNIHAN: He's part of the DSA.
MARTIN: When did he say that?
MOYNIHAN: I can point you to the website after. I'm happy to show you that.
MARTIN: He never said that one time. You just lied on air.
MOYNIHAN: Oh, my Lord. Okay. I'm happy to point you to the website.
MARTIN: That's a lot.
PHILLIP: It's just a simple question. Has he actually said that?
MOYNIHAN: That's literally part of his platform.
MARTIN: Where?
MOYNIHAN: On his website.
MARTIN: Where? Was that on his (inaudible) website?
MOYNIHAN: He wants government-run groceries. This is literally --
MARTIN: No. Where did he say about getting rid of prisons?
MOYNIHAN: My point is that you have a candidate like Zohran Mamdani, who is incredibly radical, who the Democratic Party is thrilled to embrace, because, yes, the alternative is --
MARTIN: You can't lie.
PHILLIP: Okay, let's --
MOYNIHAN: Oh, my Lord. Can you stop interrupting me for, like, three seconds? PHILLIP: Go ahead. Just go ahead and finish your talk.
MOYNIHAN: The point is, this is the new mantle bearer. This is why they were thrilled to embrace Graham Platner, despite the fact that he had a Nazi tattoo.
There is no energy apart from these people. And the more conventional Democrats, like a Chuck Schumer, are scared to stand up and call out any of these radical, extremist policies.
PHILLIP: Zohran Mamdani did launch his government-run grocery stores today.
MOYNIHAN: He didn't endorse Graham Platner.
PHILLIP: It's controversial. They're going to be offering some groceries at a 30 percent discount off of regular commercial groceries. That probably will be popular with some New Yorkers.
But it's not going to help Democrats beat the socialism allegations, maybe the communism allegations that Republicans are going to lodge against them.
MARTIN: Well, I think, personally, if you want to talk about communism, I think Trump going and acquiring large swaths of American businesses and stocks of that, I think that's actually a good example of communism, if you want to talk about it.
KINNETT: So, to address the point that you actually talked about, if he can actually bring forward these particular promises to fruition, like Mr. Balance the Budget and then just push the billions of dollars off into 2032 and get the commission all upset. If he wants to come and make more promises that he can't deliver on, again, setting prices monthly as his plan is outlined here, he can try to do that.
[22:45:00]
But again, I'm still waiting to see Mr. Free buses, Mr. Rent freeze come through on these promises that I just don't think he's going to be able to do.
PHILLIP: I mean, look, actually, I mean, to your point, he ran on the grocery stores. He did it.
He ran on the rent freeze that's happening.
MOYNIHAN: Guess what? Free? I think he's --
PHILLIP: I mean, he ran all these things. You may not like it, but he did run on it. And he is trying to do everything.
MOYNIHAN: When you run for class president in seventh grade and offer free ice cream, it's often very popular. Is it economically viable in the long term?
MARTIN: No. Sounds like Donald Trump. MOYNIHAN: Absolutely not.
KINNETT: There's the pivot again.
PHILLIP: Coming up for us, Senator Mitch McConnell's office has issued a health update, but leaves even more questions unanswered, including when he'll return to work.
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[22:50:00]
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PHILLIP: Tonight, a health update on Republican Senator Mitch McConnell. The 84-year-old senator will remain in rehab as he continues to recover from a fall in June.
Now, according to the office of the attending physician, McConnell is, quote, "not yet medically cleared to leave the rehab facility and return to office." McConnell also shared this new photo alongside his wife, Elaine Chao, and also said, "I'm still working hard to get back to my full schedule of work in the Senate and in Kentucky, keeping up with intense physical therapy per my doctor's orders."
The Capitol physician added that McConnell's childhood polio continues to be a significant factor in his mobility. McConnell has missed the last 38 votes on the Senate floor since his hospitalization. It's still unclear when or if he will return.
Lydia, we got a viewer comment that says, "As a Kentucky resident within McConnell's district, I'm very concerned around the secrecy that we have seen around his health. Why is it so hard to provide a video or address your constituents?"
MOYNIHAN: That's a good question. I think it's very odd that they are being so secretive about it. They have sort of been posting these cryptic updates.
But I also think this just gets to a larger issue of the gerontocracy in Washington, D.C. This didn't come out of left field. McConnell was having a lot of sort of glitches publicly. I'm sure it happened privately.
And I think there should be sort of a moment where you know when to hold him, know when to fold him. And for the most part, we probably shouldn't have a Capitol that's filled overwhelmingly with people who are having these senior moments in their 80s and in some cases, their 90s.
So I think for anyone, we need to have transparency. When you are serving a constituency, you are responsible to them. You owe them that information.
Technically, it's also a violation of Senate rules. You're supposed to request leave if you're gone for that period of time. But generally, I think this should sort of be a --
Not a wake-up call because we get a lot of these wake-up calls, but this should be a reminder.
PHILLIP: This is strange. It's odd. I mean, Kentucky's Governor Andy Beshear sent out a letter tonight saying to McConnell, "I'm calling on you to directly and verbally address the people of Kentucky and provide proof of your capacity to serve or resign."
I mean, that seems like a reasonable thing to ask. If McConnell is claiming and his staff are claiming that he's working, which I don't think anybody really believes, they should be able to put out a five, 10, 15-second video of something saying, hey guys, hi, I'm here.
MARTIN: And it's so easy.
PHILLIP: I mean, yes, why not?
KINNETT: I mean, I think this is a really great example of a reason why the 17th Amendment to the Constitution should be abolished. Because if you have a senator who is not there, who's not doing anything useful, and their state legislature does not like what they are doing, they should be able to, as originally the framers intended, bring that senator back and then elect and appoint a new senator.
I think the six-year terms are ridiculous. I think the idea that we built this country with, again, the original framing that made the most sense, people being more invested in their local state legislatures may not have been expecting me to go there, but that is exactly a case for why the 17th should be repealed.
SINGH: I guess, can I ask you a question?
PHILLIP: Absolutely.
SINGH: And because I agree with Lydia and everything that you said, and I was curious because you said that, do you think Mitch McConnell should resign today?
KINNETT: Do you think he should resign today? I think that he should release some kind of a video statement that you suggested, how simple is it to record a simple video, and more transparency to the voters of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. I think that's fair.
SINGH: But I guess, where do you draw the line? Like, it's been months now that he hasn't been able to fulfill his, you know, Senate, his role.
KINNETT: Well, my next step would be asking about why he didn't request leave for his staff to do so.
PHILLIP: -- What a reasonable person to be pushed into resigning, if we're really recovering at this level.
KINNETT: I don't know why it's just so difficult for him, if he is all there, to just go and whip out his phone, take a selfie video, and say where he is.
And the other thing is that I also find it absurd that he also hasn't talked at all to the governor of this state, Andy Beshear. Like, the fact that there's been no communication, people have not heard from him, I think that's all pretty absurd, I think that ultimately, Mitch McConnell should resign, because it's long overdue.
PHILLIP: All right, next for us, our panelists will react to your feedback from cnn.com/abby. We'll be right back.
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[22:55:00]
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PHILLIP: And now some viewer feedback from cnn.com/abby.
The first one, "I'm a veteran, I'm telling you honestly and thankfully that we should not approve any money for the Department of Defense or additional money until specific guardrails are put up, no blank checks."
And then another viewer comment, "If the Democratic Party can't manage their own money, why would we expect them to do better with our tax dollars?"
A couple seconds to respond.
MARTIN: Well, so far, Ossoff has raised $20 million compared to his opponents, raised $5 million, you've got Talarico raised $30 million compared to his opponents.
[23:00:01]
PHILLIP: But that's individual candidates.
KINNETT: But I've also heard that people that are going to the United States Senate eventually are managing their campaigns very well. And I would say that's a good example.
SINGH: I would say that raising money, though, is not a form of governing. And so if like to that viewer's point of like, I'm assuming they're talking about the DNC, like the DNC is not the government and how to manage money in the government and how to --
PHILLIP: Let that be the last word. Thank you very much for watching "NewsNight." Don't forget, you can scream, stream my new show, "Confessions and Obsessions," anytime on the CNN app. "Laura Coates Live" starts right now.
