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President Trump Confirming Iran Downed A U.S. Army Apache Helicopter Over The Strait Of Hormuz; Democrats Deciding Whether To Back Graham Platner For Senate; NASA Announcing The Crew Of The Upcoming Artemis Mission. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired June 09, 2026 - 15:00   ET

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

ALEX CARRIER, SHARK EXPERT & FISHERMAN: They chose this area because there was already inherently sharks there.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: What would happen to XELA Expeditions if this bill passes the Senate?

CARRIER: Great question. It would definitely, you know, affect not just XELA Expeditions, but it would affect a, you know, a massive -- you know, the shark snorkeling and diving industry is a huge industry. It would affect not only so many livelihoods of people doing this, but I think it would also greatly negatively impact sharks in general.

I mean, there is thousands and thousands and thousands of people who get to see what sharks are truly like going on these trips, and they're just not the mindless monsters that a lot of people think they are.

SANCHEZ: Alex Carrier, thank you so much for joining us.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: A vow to respond, President Trump confirming Iran downed a U.S. Army Apache helicopter over the Strait of Hormuz, and he says the U.S. has no choice but to act.

And it's the main event, Democrats today deciding whether to back Graham Platner for Senate, despite questions about his behavior and character.

SANCHEZ: And moonstruck, NASA announcing the crew of the upcoming Artemis mission, the next step in bringing humans back to the lunar surface.

We're following these major development stories and many more, all coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

KEILAR: We do have breaking news on the Iran war. President Trump is now vowing to retaliate after he says Iran shot down a U.S. Army Apache helicopter near the Strait of Hormuz. Here's the latest that we know, two Army pilots who were aboard that helicopter are safe and uninjured. U.S. officials tell CNN an Iranian drone struck this helicopter, but one of those officials says it's unclear if the strike was intentional. Let's get to CNN's Kristen Holmes, who is live at the White House with the latest. Kristen? KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, we're still

trying to figure out what exactly retaliation means in the sense when President Trump says that they have to respond to what happened to that Apache helicopter. This was the post President Trump put on Truth Social. He says he was informed by the military that last night the Iranians shot down one of the highly sophisticated Apache helicopters while patrolling over the Strait of Hormuz. The United States must, of necessity, respond to this attack.

And just a reminder, this comes after President Trump just two days ago told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not to retaliate against Iran when Iran was launching drones and strikes into Israel. He is, of course, saying he has to respond.

Here's what we know so far about the incident that happened last night. A U.S. Army Apache was patrolling regional waters when it went down. It went down near the coast of Oman. Two crew members were rescued, we're told they are fine, by U.S. forces within two hours. And there was an investigation launched into how exactly this happened.

We were talking to a number of sources who are being incredibly careful as to -- trying to categorize this, if there was some kind of electricity malfunction or electrical malfunction, or if they were, in fact, shot down. Now, we are learning that they were shot down. The big question being intent.

As you mentioned, we still don't have a good understanding as to whether or not this was something that was intentional or something that happened by mistake. They were aiming at something else. It was unfamiliar, anything that could have happened there. But President Trump seeming to acknowledge that there was at least some sort of intent here when he's saying that the U.S. has to, by necessity, respond here.

Again, this really throws into question everything that we have been hearing from the White House and U.S. officials for the past several days, specifically when it comes to a potential deal. President Trump saying just last night he thought a deal was two to three days away. Now, of course, we've heard that before.

But, certainly, if we're talking about a Iranian drone striking a U.S. Apache and now retaliation, we seem further than ever away from some kind of peace deal.

KEILAR: Yes, certainly. Kristen Holmes, thank you so much.

We're joined now by retired U.S. Army Colonel Peter Mansoor.

Colonel, what message will any U.S. response send Iran when it comes to a response here? And -- and what might a response look like?

COL. PETER MANSOOR, U.S. ARMY (RET.): Well, I think the response will be measured and muted. If we go all in on -- on a massive response, then it -- it could potentially trigger a resumption of full-scale hostilities. And the Trump administration doesn't want that. They're trying to come to some sort of agreement with Iran.

So, some sort of strike on a drone base or something of that nature, I think, would send the message that shooting down our Apache helicopters is -- is not acceptable without triggering a resumption of full-scale hostilities.

[15:05:12]

SANCHEZ: A source tells CNN that this was a Shahed drone that struck the helicopter. One U.S. official said it was unclear whether the drone initially targeted the Apache or whether it was inadvertent. Does that change the response? Do you think the U.S. would be able to make a determination?

MANSOOR: Well, I really think that changes the entire situation because Shahed drones are not air-to-air drones. It could have been just an accident that the Shahed drone was aimed at something else and ran into the Apache, you know, by -- by chance. But if -- if it was actually aimed at the helicopter, this would be a new use for this particular type of drone which is really an air to surface guided cruise missile, rather than air to air missile like Ukraine has developed.

KEILAR: That's a really interesting point about the normal capabilities of this drone. I do want to ask you because last month CNN's Zach Cohen and Natasha Bertrand reported that Iran was, you know, essentially using the several weeks of the ceasefire to reconstitute its military industrial base, which included drones. How are you seeing that reporting now that we have this incident with the drone?

MANSOOR: Well, we never destroyed the entire drone capability of Iran in the first place. In fact, much of it survived, and they were able to dig out the tunnels that had collapsed and so forth and reconstitute a lot of their launching platforms. So, I'm not sure they're producing a lot of new drones, but they are recovering those that had been buried by initial strikes and getting them ready to launch. So, there's no doubt that Iran today is more capable than it was when the ceasefire began. But it's going to take years for it to recover the sort of production capability that was lost during the airstrikes.

SANCHEZ: Colonel Peter Mansoor, thanks so much for sharing your expertise.

MANSOOR: Thank you.

SANCHEZ: Still to come, there's new testimony in the Jeffrey Epstein investigation. What his longtime assistant is telling lawmakers why she is calling him a master manipulator.

KEILAR: And NASA revealing the four astronauts who will go on the Artemis III mission. We'll have that and much more coming up on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [15:11:59]

SANCHEZ: Breaking news to CNN, jurors have reached a verdict in the Karmelo Anthony murder trial. The former high schooler accused of fatally stabbing a 17-year-old competitor at a track meet in Texas last year.

KEILAR: The closely watched trial has raised questions about race and self-defense. Jean Casarez has been following this case for us.

Jean, while we wait for this verdict to be read, just remind us of the facts of the case and what the defense argued here.

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the facts of this case are fairly simple. The case started last week with opening statements. They worked through -- through Saturday with testimony. Defense case was very short, but it involved two 17-year-old students in Frisco County, Texas. That's a little bit outside of Dallas. And they were on their track teams at opposite schools.

The victim in this case, Austin Metcalf, was under their team's tent from national high school. And the -- the track team's tent was used if it's going to rain or where the players would just get together. And Karmelo Anthony from Centennial High School came into the tent and sat there on the bleachers under the tent. And that's -- that's the victim right there.

And Austin, according to the arrest report and also our affiliate WFAA, said to Karmelo Anthony, you know, this is for our team. You need to get out of here. And according to the arrest report and witnesses testified to this in various degrees, right there, Karmelo Anthony said, touch me and you'll find out what's going to happen. So allegedly Austin actually touched him. And then after that, he said, look, you got to get out of here. And he said, you -- you push me and you'll find out what happened.

So, that's where the witness testimony in various degrees, a light push, a hard push, a tough push. Karmelo Anthony was sitting down on the bleachers. Austin was standing up. At that point, he begins to, according to witness testimony, rummage through his bag. This is Karmelo Anthony. He takes out a knife and he plunged it into the chest of Austin Metcalf, the victim, 17 years old.

According to our affiliate WFAA, the blade of this knife was three and a half inches. The medical examiner's testimony was the wound was two and a half inches deep. It went straight through his skin, his cartilage into the ventricle of his lung. He died very short time later there at the track meet.

And the testimony really included all of the eyewitnesses. So, you can tell that the eyewitnesses had differing testimony. Some could hear one thing. Some could hear another. It just happened last year. But the defense was self-defense. And under Texas law, self-defense is that you believe death or serious bodily injury is imminent. That is the test for self-defense. But the thing that was unusual about this self-defense case is that the 17-year-old defendant, Karmelo Anthony, did not take the stand to testify what was in his mind, his state of mind.

[15:15:04]

But what -- what helps him, according to many, would be after he stabbed -- and he admitted that he stabbed him. It's not a case of who did it. It's why did he do it. He, according to the arrest report and witness testimony, was very emotional after that. He ran from the -- the tent, but officers found him, and he was very emotional. And does that emotion equate to intentional killing, intentional or knowingly intending to kill someone.

KEILAR: All right, Jean, and these are live pictures that we are looking at. We are going to be monitoring the scene. We'll be checking back in with you as we await this verdict being read. But it has been reached in this trial of Karmelo Anthony for this stabbing at a Texas track meet last year. So, we'll be monitoring this to you. This should be breaking here very shortly. Jean, thank you so much for that. We'll see you in just a moment.

In the meantime, NASA is ready to step up its game after the spectacular Artemis II mission in April. Today it introduced the crew for Artemis III. It's a four-man team consisting of three Americans and one Italian that will take the next step toward a return to the lunar surface. They're hoping to launch late next year and watch this moment when the Artemis II crew actually made a special appearance at today's announcement.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REID WISEMAN, ARTEMIS II COMMANDER: On behalf of myself, Christina, Victor, we all know Jeremy wishes he was going to be here today, that he could be here. We just want to say how completely fired up we are for you. I hope you saw us down there cheering, screaming as loud as we could. And Randy, in your comments, I really loved when you said that you all are the link from II (ph) to the surface. And that really resonated with me.

And you guys know because you work in the office, we've been carrying these batons around for way too long. And so with that, the Artemis II crew, comrade, hands you the baton. You got the controls.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Baton handoff there. All right. Joining us now is Colonel Ron Garan. He's a retired NASA astronaut. Ron, it's so fun to watch this. I think we're all just so engaged after Artemis II especially. Tell us, as we are moving towards this ultimate goal with these series of missions, what we need to understand about what this Artemis III crew will be doing.

COL. RON GARAN, REITIRED NASA ASTRONAUT: Yes, so this is another test mission, hopefully the last test mission before we put boots on the surface of the moon. And so, this is our last chance before heading to the moon to test out all the systems, but most importantly, to test out the landers. And so, the plan is to be able to rendezvous and dock with one or both of the planned landers that are in competition right now, one from Blue Origin, one from SpaceX, to check out all those systems. And, you know, you want to do that in low Earth orbit rather than doing it on your way to the moon. So, it's a really, really important test mission. It's step two in -- in the milestones to change the idea of going back to the moon into a reality. And we're going back to the moon this time to stay, so it's really exciting.

KEILAR: So, you say one or both. Explain this fact that they may be having options when it comes to this lunar lander -- this lunar lander piece.

GARAN: Exactly. The -- the -- SpaceX has the HLS, the human landing system, and Blue Origin has Blue Moon. Both of those spacecraft, those landers, are under development right now. NASA hopes that at least one of them is going to be ready to go. It really hopes that both of them are. It's part of a competition to see which lander is going to be used for Artemis IV, which is the planned landing on the moon. And so, if they're both ready, then I think the plan is for the crew to dock and spend a couple of days with Blue Moon and then undock and dock to the HLS and check -- check out both of those systems further. So, it's a -- it's -- it's plan B, if you will, in keeping as many options open as we possibly can.

KEILAR: Love to have many options. Always great, right, especially when you're in space. So, a couple of weeks ago, the Blue Origin New Glenn rocket exploded during a ground test. And these were just -- I mean, these were unbelievable images that we were all watching here. They showed potentially significant damage to the launch pad. Blue Origin has declined to provide additional details just about how bad it is when we're talking about potential launch pad damage here.

GARAN: I can hear you. Can you hear me?

KEILAR: Can you hear us? Can you hear us, Ron? Can you hear us all right?

GARAN: I -- I can now. I lost you for a little bit.

KEILAR: Okay.

GARAN: Sorry about that.

KEILAR: All right. I was just going to say, as we are looking at that New Glenn rocket that exploded and there are concerns about potential launch pad damage, if there is launch pad damage, could that actually delay the Blue Origin lunar lander that is supposed to rendezvous with this crew?

[15:20:09]

GARAN: Yes, of course. There's a lot of things that can delay it. The plan is to have this mission sometime in 2027, but they're not going to launch the mission unless at least one of the landers is ready to go. And so that's a -- a long -- a long pole in the tent there. And it's probably the most likely thing that could slip this mission is having one or both of the landers not be ready -- or actually, I should say both of the landers not be ready, because if one is not ready, I think they'd still go.

KEILAR: Oh, that's really interesting. All right, well, we'll be looking for that and hoping that they do have multiple options here. Colonel Ron Garan, great to speak with you today. Thanks.

GARAN: My pleasure, Brianna.

KEILAR: Coming up, voters in four states heading to the polls for primary elections, and the results could paint a clearer picture of Democrats' chances in retaking the Senate. We have the latest.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:25:38]

SANCHEZ: Today is primary day in four states, and voters are heading to the polls in Maine, Nevada, North Carolina and -- or rather North Dakota and South Carolina. Democrats have an uphill battle to win control of the U.S. Senate this year, with hopes hinging on several key races, perhaps none bigger than in the state of Maine, where Democrat Graham Platner is trying to overcome a recent string of controversies and move on to face the Republican incumbent, Senator Susan Collins, in November. Let's discuss with Xochitl Hinojosa, former communications director for the Democratic National Committee.

Xochitl, before we get into the controversies with Platner, let's take a step back and examine his rise. Because you had Janet Mills, a popular governor in Maine, that was courted by prominent Democrats to run, and she suspended her campaign months ago because Platner had built up a base. Why do you think he's had such success?

XOCHITL HINOJOSA:, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: There is this anti- incumbent sentiment that is happening all across the country right now, and you saw it not only in Republican primaries, but you're also seeing it in Democratic primaries, and you're seeing it in the general -- general election. And I think that is one of the reasons why Democrats have a strong case to make to voters heading into November and why they will likely flip the House and hopefully the Senate, because voters are tired of the same.

The economy isn't doing well. They don't have health care. They felt like they voted for change with Donald Trump. Trump was supposed to shake up the system, he was supposed to drain the swamp. They don't feel like he did that. And so, now you have voters saying, we want something else. And so, this anti-incumbent sentiment is very much why someone like Graham Platner, who is not a politician, kind of rose to the top and is someone who appeals to a lot of both Republicans and Democrats and independents in Maine because he's not your typical politician, and that's why you've seen him do so well.

SANCHEZ: Maine also, to be fair, not your typical state.

HINOJOSA: Correct, yes. Very different.

SANCHEZ: It's very purple, especially for -- for New England.

HINOJOSA: Mm-hmm.

SANCHEZ: What would you see in today's primary results that would tell you that these recent controversies are causing his support to slip?

HINOJOSA: A lot of people are looking to see how Mills will do. She is still on the ballot, and whether or not she gets about 15 percent or others, she's not going to win and he will -- he will be the Democratic nominee. But I think what people are looking at is, are there Democrats that are splitting away from Graham Platner? Are there Democrats that might potentially, and, you know, and voters that might potentially not vote for him in the general election?

So, far what we've seen from the polling is that this hasn't really impacted him a ton. Maine voters don't seem to really care. A lot of the conversation is on the national level. But I think tonight it will be really interesting to see what share of the vote Mills gets, and that will tell you a lot about whether or not this has hurt him.

SANCHEZ: Is there much he can do to rebuild trust with any voters that he may have lost, especially given some of the recent reporting with women?

HINOJOSA: Yes, I think part of the trust is that nothing else comes out. I think that is a big worry with national Democrats right now. You saw that when he was in town late last -- or -- yes, last week ...

SANCHEZ: Yes.

HINOJOSA: ... they asked him whether or not something else would come out, and he said no, but he had previously said that nothing else would come out, and now you have the recent allegations that are in The New York Times. And so, what you need to see from him is, A, you need to be able to see from him, listen, I made a mistake, I am sorry. You also need to see him really ensure that nothing else is out there on him, and if there is something, that he is truthful about it. These are all things that he could have got in front of, but instead they have come out through this process, and so I think people are looking to actually talk about the issues. This is another big problem with the race.

While we should all -- all be talking affordability, we're talking about his scandals instead, and that is not helpful for Democrats, or for him, and it's not helpful for Democrats nationally.

SANCHEZ: So, I imagine that you would approve of the strategy thus far from Minority Leader Schumer and others who have sort of said, Graham Platner, if he's the nominee, will do what he has to do to win the race in -- in November. He hasn't actually commented on things like the covered-up Nazi tattoo. Chuck Schumer, in an awkward spot, because he wrote a book about anti-Semitism like a year or two ago, you think that they're handling this the right way?

HINOJOSA: I -- I'm not sure about that. We'll see what happens. I think that Democrats need to be very careful. Democrats are running against many people, like for example, Greg Paxton -- or, I mean, sorry, Ken Paxton ... SANCHEZ: Ken Paxton.

HINOJOSA: ... in my state of Texas.

[15:30:10]