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Trump Arrives in Turkey for High-Stakes NATO Summit; Woman Who Dated Graham Platner Says He Raped Her in 2021; Multiple Democrats Demanding Platner Withdraw from Maine Senate Race; Hearing Resumes for Man Accused of Killing Carlie Kirk. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired July 07, 2026 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:00]

DONIE O'SULLIVAN, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Their First Amendment right to protest and gather in this way, but clearly, as you can see, with the masks and how they gather like this, the intention is obviously to intimidate people.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, it's menacing. And I've met a few of them out at protests when I was doing some of what you do very, very well. And frankly, when you speak to them, they are anti-Semitic.

They are racist. They are disgusting. But they're also a bunch of clowns, like some of them say things and you're like, that doesn't even come close to what reality is.

And so it is fascinating and terrifying at the same time to watch this group as it is growing in some places and keeps showing up in particular in D.C. And they do that for a reason.

O'SULLIVAN: Yes.

SIDNER: Donie O'Sullivan, you've got great reporting on this. People should go back and look at your reporting because it is quite, quite stark and good. Thank you.

A new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: President Trump just touched down in Turkey for the NATO summit. And we are standing by as we could hear from him soon. What kind of tone is he going to set for this meeting of world leaders?

We're also standing by for news out of Maine. Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner now facing allegation of rape. And he says he is now considering his next path forward.

And a graffiti artist stunt. Four hundred and sixty feet in the air. How did he get to the top of the bridge and why he ended up behind bars when he came down?

I'm Kate Bolduan with John Berman and Sara Sidner. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL. SIDNER: Happening right now, we are standing by to hear from President Trump this hour. The president arriving in Turkey this morning, not long ago, set to receive a ceremonial welcome as he heads to a critical NATO summit at what is a very tense time for the alliance. The president has long criticized NATO allies over defense spending.

More recently, he accused European countries of not pulling their weight during the Iran war. We're told that he even floated cutting U.S. troops in Europe by a third over the spring. Adding to the stakes, Russia's war on Ukraine.

Still grinding on ahead of this summit, Russia decided to strike the capital of Ukraine, Kyiv, killing at least 27 people. President Trump is expected to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Wednesday.

CNN's Kevin Liptak is live in Ankara watching all this unfold. We are waiting for this big ceremonial moment. Something that we know that the president enjoys, the pomp and circumstance. But there are some serious issues that must be talked through at this summit.

What are the concerns you're hearing as you're there on the ground in Ankara?

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes, some big issues and some big concerns as well. You know, leaders, I think, are looking for a signal from President Trump about where the American commitment to this alliance is heading. You know, I think they get the direction of travel.

The president does not think the U.S. should be supporting European countries' security in the way it has in the past. But there are a lot of details that need to be filled in. What number of troops is going to depart Europe?

What capabilities from the United States will depart Europe? Before they can decide on how they will bolster their own militaries, they need to get a better picture from the United States about what exactly it sees this looking like going forward. And so it does contribute to a very, very consequential summit.

You hear that from officials here on the ground, and you really do feel it as well. And the geopolitical backdrop, I think, just lends itself to that. You have what's happening between Ukraine and Russia, this renewed bombardment of Kyiv, and the president will meet Zelenskyy tomorrow.

You also have China firing off a long-range ballistic missile for the first time in years, kind of representing the types of threats that the United States wants to pivot towards and away from Europe. And you also have tensions still in the Strait of Hormuz, despite the Memorandum of Understanding that was put in place last month. And so a lot for these leaders to sit down and discuss.

First up will be the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The president greeted him at the airport. They're on their way now here to downtown Ankara.

The president has said openly that he would not be attending this summit unless it was being hosted by Erdogan. He's someone who he considers a friend. And, in fact, we are learning this morning that the president is prepared to signal that the U.S. will sell F-35 fighter jets to Turkey despite a congressional ban because of some complications with the Russian air defense system that Turkey bought several years ago.

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And so a packed schedule for what is really quite a brief stay on the ground here in Turkey, but also a very important one. And when you speak both to American officials but also to European officials, they do say that the president will make his dissatisfaction with the allies known. The real question is what that will mean for the alliance going forward.

SIDNER: That is the real question. Kevin Liptak, thank you for being there. I know you will give us all the great reporting as it becomes available to you. Appreciate it -- John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: With us now is the former U.S. ambassador to NATO, Kurt Volker. Ambassador, it's always great to see you. I want to start with Ukraine, if I could, which has dominated NATO meetings for several years now.

The dynamic this time is different than we've seen, certainly over the last year, year and a half, because Ukraine seems to be having some success, despite these pictures we're seeing in Kyiv of the Russian bombardment, which is actually a sign of Ukraine's success. This is a Russian retaliation. Ukraine's relative success the last few months, how will that shape these meetings?

KURT VOLKER, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO NATO: Well, I think we've already begun to see some of that. In fact, if you remember, President Trump at the G7 summit meeting just a few weeks ago joined the G7 summit statement that referred to Russia as the aggressor and called on sanctions on Russia and support for Ukraine. I think we're going to see support for Ukraine coming out of NATO as well, including a continuation of this program whereby European allies in Ukraine buy American arms and ammunition and transfer them.

And President Zelenskyy has been playing this success very well, I would argue. He has been making a real impact on Russia's finances and their fuel and logistics and impacting their ability to continue the war, and at the same time calling for an immediate ceasefire, which Putin rejects. But this is a very good message for playing it to President Trump, saying, look, I want peace, but Putin doesn't want peace, and trying to get President Trump to be more forceful in putting some pressure on Vladimir Putin.

BERMAN: Zelenskyy, of course, coming to these meetings, do you think he can get more or what more do you think he can get from NATO and maybe the United States? VOLKER: I'd say the critical issue is air defense capability. Ukraine is producing 70 to 80 percent of what it needs on the front lines, which is drones, counter drones, electronic warfare, short-range air defense, anti-drone defense. But the Patriot missiles or the air defenses against ballistic missiles or cruise missiles, those are what are in really short supply.

What President Zelenskyy would love to get is a license from the United States to work together to produce those air defense systems in Ukraine. The U.S. is not able to keep up with the global demand for U.S. forces, allies around the world, like in the Gulf states or Israel, as well as sell them to Ukraine. But if production could be expanded through licensing them so Ukraine could produce them, that would be a great win for everybody.

BERMAN: Ambassador, all sides here in NATO, and it's weird to be talking about different sides to NATO since it is an alliance after all, but it does seem that there are sides. Now there's the U.S. and then there's the European countries. They seem to be saying the right things to appease each other, but everyone's patience seems to be wearing thin.

I'm wondering where you think this ends up.

VOLKER: Right. There are levels going on here. There is the political level, the leader level, where President Trump is frustrated that allies are not spending enough, and even where they're increasing, not increasing fast enough.

He wanted more vocal and more practical support from them on Iran. The Europeans are frustrated that President Trump is criticizing all the time, threatening to take Greenland every once in a while, not helping on Ukraine, not standing up to Putin. So there's a lot of tension.

But when you get below that, you have a lot of professionals in this alliance who are doing the day-to-day work that needs to be done. And when the U.S. talks about force withdrawals from Europe, which was in the earlier story, that's something that's going to be managed by the U.S. military. They're going to look at what's the ideal force posture, what are the missions that need to be carried out, where do you need to conduct those missions from, what's the right force mix to do that.

And we'll adjust there over time. We're not going to do it suddenly. It would be too expensive to make sudden changes.

But we'll move in that direction. And part of that movement should be matched by Europeans picking up where the U.S. is leaving off. And I think that's good planning, good management for NATO, and not terribly concerned that this is going to be a rupture.

BERMAN: We will listen very closely to the tone and the substance of what they say. Ambassador Kurt Volker, great to see you this morning. Thank you -- Kate. BOLDUAN: There are growing calls for Graham Platner to end his Senate bid now. Just last hour, Senator Jeanne Shaheen told us that it's time for him to get out, and the sooner the better, the senator just said.

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And the man accused of killing Charlie Kirk is due back in court. Prosecutors will be presenting what evidence they have against him. Big question is, what could the judge do today?

And a drive-thru order ends with a woman in handcuffs. How a tip from a fast food worker led to her arrest.

We'll be right back.

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BOLDUAN: We're standing by for news out of Maine. Because Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner says that he is now considering his options in the path forward after a woman came forward accusing him of rape. That allegation, clearly a bridge too far for some high profile Democrats.

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And there is a growing list now of elected Democrats. You see them there, pulling their endorsements from this critical race. Ro Khanna, Elizabeth Warren, the top Senate Democrat in the Senate, Chuck Schumer.

All now calling for Graham Platner to drop out of this contest. The calls come after Jenny Racicot says that Platner came to her house drunk in 2021 after she explicitly told him not to come that night. And then she says that he forced himself on her after she repeatedly said no.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JENNY RACICOT, GRAHAM PLATNER ACCUSER: So, you know, I don't know. 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, don't I'm not in the mood. Like, don't whatever. And it got to the point where I was like, OK, 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.

I remember specifically him like grabbing at my chest and I like hit his hand and I said, don't touch me. And I remember that during the altercation.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: And then, he kept going. RACICOT: Yes. And it was this weird mix of like coming in and out of -- I think consciousness is the word, but like coming to and kind of falling back into that drunken, I don't know what I'm doing state.

And yes, and he just he would apologize in those moments and then go back to doing what he was doing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Graham Platner denies the allegation. He addressed the claims directly in a video statement that he posted and calling them troubling and false and saying this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GRAHAM PLATNER, (D) MAINE SENATE CANDIDATE: I wanted to directly address the troubling, serious and false allegations against me. Any accusation of nonconsensual behavior is categorically false. Regardless of the inaccuracy of the reporting, but mindful the political reality it will inflict.

We are taking the time to reflect on the best path forward.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Joining me right now in Washington, your chief political director for CNN, David Chalian. David, we there's a lot to get -- there's a lot here. There has been a lot.

And then there is this. This clearly seems a bridge too far, as I said, a red line, if you will, for many Democrats. We just had a top Democrat, a senator. Jeanne Shaheen was just on the show last hour, and she also is joining the calls now for Graham Platner to drop out. Let me play what she just said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JEANNE SHAHEEN (D-NH): Well, I think in the context of all of the allegations against him and what has just surfaced, the accusation of rape, that it's in the best interest of Democrats in Maine and in the country for him to get out of the race. And as I said, he should do that the sooner the better.

BOLDUAN: A lot of questions here, David, right? Which is one, what's Graham Platner going to do? We'll see eventually.

Two, if he doesn't get out of the race, is there any way to force him out of the race?

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF AND POLITICAL DIRECTOR: There's really not. I mean, this is in a time period right now where there is until next Monday, Kate, at 5 p.m. Eastern. That is the deadline by which Graham Platner would need to get out of the race, choose to leave the race and be able to have a replacement candidate put forth by the main Democratic Party. They would have two weeks to do that after that deadline. So July 27th, they would have to put something forward in order to get a different candidate on the November ballot. I think you're seeing the mechanism available to Democrats, which is this public pressure campaign.

You noted in that chart, I mean, the first two people there, Chuck Schumer, the leader of the Democrats in the Senate, who obviously had recruited Governor Janet Mills and wanted a different candidate in this race. That didn't go his way. And Kirsten Gillibrand, the chairwoman of the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee, who they put out a statement saying there is no more spending to happen here.

There will be no investment from National Democrats if Graham Platner remains to be the candidate. And as you noted, Platner himself said he's taking a moment to reflect here. You know, as you said, I think we all need to be on high standby and alert this morning, because my experience is when candidates say they're taking time to reflect on the future path of their candidacy, it's not very long before decisions get made.

BOLDUAN: David, also, I mean, I heard you very eloquently talk about this last night, but the allegation and what is being said here is important to be dealt with in and of itself, take it out of the realm of balance of power. But it does continue to raise questions of the balance of power and the race for it in the Senate. What does this do to that goal for Democrats?

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CHALIAN: Yes. I mean, it's such a horrific story, allegation, and it's hard to watch Jake's interview with Jenny and hear her story. There's no doubt about that. But her story has enormous political consequences, as you've just noted.

And so, you know, Kate, the Democrats have a tough, tough map to try and win a majority in the United States Senate, barring any controversy, right? It was already happening in a lot of red states. But they need to win four states, a net gain of four states. Democrats need to win the majority.

The first place they look is where a Republican is up for re-election in a blue state. There's only one. That's Susan Collins.

And so this is a hugely important race to Democrats as a building block to even have a shot at winning the majority. And that shot has been massively complicated by Graham Platner.

BOLDUAN: Yes. David, it's really good to see you. Thanks for coming in and working through this with us -- Sara.

SIDNER: All right, it was a great conversation, Kate. Thank you.

Right now, President Trump is in Turkey, arriving early this morning for the NATO summit there. We're following all of the latest developments on this presidential trip with high stakes. All right, also, the man accused of shooting Charlie Kirk is due back

in court on the second day of a crucial hearing. Kirk's family there, as well as Erika Kirk, coming face to face with the man prosecutors say murdered her husband. Those stories and more ahead.

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SIDNER: All right, happening today, the man accused of shooting conservative activist Charlie Kirk is due back in a Utah courtroom, as a judge weighs whether there is enough evidence for the case to move forward and go to trial. On Monday, prosecutors began laying out their case against Tyler Robinson, who was accused of shooting Kirk last September at Utah Valley University, while so many students watched.

For the first time in court, Kirk's widow, Erika Kirk, came face to face with Robinson.

CNN's Nick Watt is in Provo, Utah. Nick, this is quite a stunning group of people inside of that court and also stunning to see what the judge did as he watched some of the videos. Give me some sense of what you're learning, what you're expecting today and what you learned from trial or from the case yesterday.

NICK WATT, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, what we're expecting today, Sara, is first up a montage of surveillance video allegedly showing Tyler Robinson on that campus the day that Charlie Kirk was assassinated. Now, this is interesting. The prosecution tried to put that video into evidence yesterday.

The defense objected because the video wasn't just straight video. They'd zoomed in, they'd circled, they'd done stuff to try and help the judge and then eventually a jury understand what they were looking at. And the defense said, no, we don't like that.

We don't have a written statement signed by the person who made this edit to show that it's legit. And the judge agreed. That is pretty much the rhythm of this -- Sara.

The prosecution tries to put as much evidence as they can to get to probable cause. So the judge decides, yes, there's enough evidence here to take it to trial. The defense plays defense pretty much every exhibit the prosecution tried to put in. The defense says well, don't know who shot it. We don't know when it was shot, blah, blah, blah.

Anyway, we also heard yesterday from a UVU cop, one of six who was on campus that morning. He described hearing a crack of a rifle. He described seeing Charlie Kirk slump.

And he also said he later found what he described as a sniper pad. He also discussed the chaos. People initially thought the suspect was in custody.

Nobody really knew what was going on. Take a listen to what that cop had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Officer, upon seeing this disturbance in the gravel, you've described what it looked like to you.

OFFICER CHRIS BAGLEY, UTAH VALLEY UNIVERSITY POLICE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Someone lying down in a prone position, correct?

BAGLEY: Yes. At that moment, I realized because it was a direct line of sight plus the disturbance in the gravel where I could see somebody laid down in a prone position or a sniper position and asked dispatch to get on the victim. Then I realized that we probably didn't have our shooter in custody.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATT: Now, we will have Erika Kirk and her family will be back in court today. We don't yet know if Donald Trump Jr. is coming back. We expect he is.

And also, there are 14 seats for the public, and they were in line for those through the night -- Sara.

SIDNER: Nick Watt, it is good to have you there. You're so good at sort of explaining the details and making it very vivid so people understand what you're also seeing in person in court. Thank you so much for your reporting there outside of court in Provo, Utah -- John.

BERMAN: All right, a man is arrested and accused of posing as an Amazon delivery driver to try to break into cars. I'm not quite sure why being an Amazon delivery driver helps you break into cars. Perhaps we'll learn.

This morning, the top actors union in the nation denouncing plans for a fully AI actress to make her film debut.

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