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NYC Mayor: Evacuated High-Rise IN Manhattan "Remains Unstable"; FDNY: Would Be "Localized Collapse" If Manhattan Building Falls; Platner Support Collapses After Rape Allegations He Denies; Idaho Mother Charged With Murder After Claiming Toddler Twins Died After Routine Vaccinations; Evacuations After Structural Columns Buckle In NYC High-Rise. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired July 07, 2026 - 15:00   ET

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

LEIGH ANN CALDWELL, CHIEF WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT, PUCK NEWS: He is responsible for the people of Kentucky. He is -- the Senate is trying to move appropriations funding bills that he is necessary to be there for and we just don't have any answers.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: He's powerful and notably he's had some recent in the last few years health issues ...

CALDWELL: Yes.

SANCHEZ: ... with not only falls that have been reported but also his seemingly freezing during public appearances. Leigh Ann Caldwell, thank you so much for bringing us that report.

CALDWELL: Yes. Thank you.

SANCHEZ: Of course. A new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.

We are tracking falling bricks, multiple cracks and now sagging floors, fears that a high rise building in midtown Manhattan could collapse, trigger evacuations in the surrounding area.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: And growing calls for Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner to drop out after he's accused of rape. Platner denies the allegations. But can he stay in the race after losing the support of one of his most important backers?

And President Trump is in Turkey for NATO's annual summit. Fellow alliance members anxious to see whether the U. S. will pull more troops from Europe.

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

We do start with that breaking news that we're monitoring out of New York. Right now. Multiple buildings in midtown Manhattan have been evacuated as officials say the nearby high rise undergoing renovation could collapse and you can see why in these photos here. Videos and pictures from inside the building show steel beams buckling on the building's 21st floor. One construction worker describing them as quote bending like cigarettes. SANCHEZ: Officials are warning that the building remains unstable and

it continues to move. The FDNY has created a collapse zone as a precaution. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The way this building is constructed, it's a steel frame building, so it would not be a total collapse. It would be more of a localized collapse. But that -- that remains our concern that it's moving.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Let's go live near that unstable high rise in Manhattan with CNN's Gloria Pazmino. Gloria, we see the -- the yellow tape and the fire trucks behind you. What's happening in that area?

GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Boris, we actually just got a brand-new update from city officials in the last few minutes here. I'm being told that there is a team that is actually entering the building now to try and assess how they can shore up the building. They will essentially have to figure out a way to reinforce the building to prevent the possibility of a partial collapse.

Now, partial collapse sounds a little bit better than a complete collapse, but it is still extremely dangerous. It would mean that a portion of the building is susceptible to collapsing, which, of course, would be incredibly dangerous. Considering where we are. We're standing right on 42nd Street on the east side of Manhattan.

This is a very busy part of the city, much like all of Manhattan, frankly. There are office buildings, apartment buildings, small businesses here. We're not far from the United Nations and not far from Grand Central Station. And the building in question that we're talking about is actually the former site of Pfizer Pharmaceutical Headquarters.

It was a building that was under construction. It was being converted from office space to apartment space. And as part of that project, they were adding floors on top of that building. Now, if we look at some of those images that we have gotten from inside the building, you can see that those steel beams are completely bent, almost completely in half. That's quite an image to see, considering we're talking about a steel beam and that this is a steel frame building.

Now, what's not clear to us yet, or the city officials, is whether or not the addition of those floors on top of the building led to this beam and the part of the construction of this building essentially giving out. The area around the building has been evacuated. The building's surrounding the building where this is happening have also been evacuated, and the area here is closed off to traffic and pedestrians.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani addressing the incident earlier today, telling New Yorkers this is going to be a minute-by-minute situation. Take a listen. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR ZOHRAN MAMDANI (D-New York): Every few minutes we are looking at a new assessment of the structure and of the possibilities and the options that we have in front of us. When it comes to the New Yorkers who call these streets their home, we are going to be in touch with them as soon as we have any updates.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[15:05:03]

PAZMINO: Now, Boris, Brianna, I spoke to a construction worker that was evacuated earlier this morning. He told me he saw the beams bent himself. He told me that as soon as he arrived to the work site this morning, he was immediately turned around. His coworkers were not able to get upstairs where they would have been working throughout the day.

And just a bit of good news in the last few minutes, I heard from city officials that in the last two hours, the building has not moved. That is a slight bit of progress considering that this morning, the fire chief told us that the building was continuing to move. So, perhaps things are starting to move in the right direction as they tried and get in there to make sure they can shore up the building, reinforce it and prevent any further collapse from happening.

SANCHEZ: Yes, hopefully they can stabilize it soon and provide some relief to those folks that live nearby. Gloria Pazmino, thank you so much for that reporting. We'll keep an eye on this story if get more details.

We also have some breaking news on Graham Platner as support for his Senate run in Maine is collapsing. All of this after a woman accused him of rape.

KEILAR: This is Jenny Racicot telling CNN that Platner showed up to her home drunk in 2021 while they were casually dating and then forced himself on her. Despite Racicot saying she repeatedly told him no. Here is a new moment from Jake Tapper's exclusive interview.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: If he had the next morning asked you what he did, if he had taken ownership and apologized for what he did, would that have changed anything?

JENNY RACICOT, GRAHAM PLATNER ACCUSER: I've thought about that. Maybe. I can't speak to something that, you know, isn't factual. But one of the reasons that I am here and doing this is because he -- I got to learn more about him. You know, everything has been dug up about his old comments. I only knew him in that time frame and I didn't know him through his military experience and through his -- his old days of posting on Reddit. And I actually -- I didn't know that person. I only knew him in the context of who he was in my life.

And so, when I got a clearer picture of old comments that he had made, you know, dismissing, you know, claims of sexual assault and ...

TAPPER: Let me -- let me read -- let me read it to you because I thought about that. So, this is more than a decade ago. He posted a comment on Reddit about a video promoting underwear designed to prevent rape. And he wrote, quote, "Rape is a real thing. If you're so worried about it to buy Kevlar underwear, you'd think you might not get blacked out (expletive) up around people you aren't comfortable with."

RACICOT: Right.

TAPPER: What did you think when you saw that?

RACICOT: I thought here's a man who was drunk and who, by dictionary definition, raped me. And he's blaming drunk women. So, I just felt like that was a very odd take to have on that. And I also feel like with all of the comments that he made about women, sexual assault, rape, even, you know, the comments that he had made that was in the New York Times article about, you know, threatening people with rape. Like, why does this person have this issue like scattered throughout their life throughout their commentary? Like it's on their mind. Why do they have such a strong opinion about women coming forward with allegations?

Like, I just feel like this isn't the first time -- like, I -- I live my life and I don't have really strong opinions on these topics because they've never been relevant to my life. And I -- it just made me wonder why he feels so strongly about all of these things. The answer to your question is maybe it would have made a difference if he had taken accountability. Like he's claiming that he's doing, you know, in life in general right now is -- and that -- and that a lot of his supporters are praising him for is his level of accountability that -- that I don't see.

And so, it might've made a difference, but at the end of the day, what happened that night still happened and nothing is going to make that okay. And no amount of acknowledgement or apology or anything like that takes it away.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Platner has denied all allegations against him. CNN's Lauren Fox is with us now.

Lauren, this is a significant development.

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I mean, absolutely. And I think what we've seen over the course of the last 24 hours is basically all support for his campaign collapse around him. And that is everything from people like the Senate Majority Leader, excuse me, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, the chairwoman of the DSCC, the campaign arm for Democrats saying that this is untenable, that they won't be donating a dime to his campaign.

[15:10:06] Despite the fact that he is right now going up against Susan Collins, who has been a top target for Democrats for years. At this point, I think that that just shows you that this is a moment that Democrats are feeling they cannot stand by this candidate. And people like Senator Bernie Sanders, an Independent who is obviously aligned with many progressives and the progressive movement, he put out a statement earlier saying, "I have spoken with Graham Platner about the best path forward for Maine. In light of these very serious allegations, I have recommended that he step aside."

Now, that statement came this morning. Some of the other statements came last night. And in the earlier hours of the A.M., I think this just shows you that it was really a wave that was moving through the Democratic Party, where if people felt like perhaps the earlier drips over Graham Platner's past were not enough to disqualify him, this really pushed a lot of Democrats over the edge.

I think in the early days, there was a sense that perhaps they could weather this in some way. They watch Republicans stand by Donald Trump. And obviously, I'm not saying these two people are the exact same in any way. But I think they thought that that is a political playbook for maybe there's a controversy. You just sort of paper over it. Obviously, this is a much more serious allegation in this moment. And a lot of Democrats are saying we're just not comfortable.

KEILAR: Yes, that concept of things that no way would they have flown before in politics. And sometimes they do. It's sort of a -- a new space. And -- and they were clearly trafficking in that. Lauren Fox, thank you so much for the latest.

Still to come, an Idaho mother who claimed her twins died after routine vaccinations is now accused of murdering them.

Plus, Lionel Messi and Argentina reaching the World Cup quarterfinals after a miraculous comeback against Egypt.

SANCHEZ: And later, Prince Harry losing a high-stakes legal case. The details straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:16:05]

KEILAR: An Idaho woman who said her twins died after they were vaccinated is now accused of killing them.

SANCHEZ: Now, last year, Andrea Shaw appeared on a show produced by an active -- anti-vaccine group that was founded by health secretary RFK Jr., who has since left. During the appearance, Shaw said she found her twins dead in their crib shortly after they received routine vaccinations. More than a year later, she's now facing two counts of first-degree murder. CNN Law Enforcement Correspondent Whitney Wild joins us with the details. What are you learning about this, Whitney?

WHITNEY WILD, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT: Well, there are still quite a few questions. The indictment that we have doesn't describe how law enforcement came to this conclusion. It doesn't describe how they believe she actually committed this crime. It simply says that she is now being charged, as you mentioned, with first degree murder. She is pleading not guilty, and she insists that her children died after these routine vaccinations.

According to the podcast where she gave this interview, she had taken her children in early in the week in May of 2025 to get routine vaccinations. They received three vaccinations. She was most concerned about the flu shot because her mother-in-law, according to the podcast, said that there had been a family history of allergic reaction to the flu shot. She was concerned about that. She went through with the flu shot anyway. She says, within just a few days of that vaccination for both children, they became very sick. They became so sick on a Wednesday morning that she took them to the emergency room with her mother-in-law. They were treated. They, you know, nothing serious, mostly just given Tylenol, told to be monitored back at home, put on the BRAT diet, that kind of thing.

She said she took them home. They started to look like they were getting a little bit better that day. And then it was Thursday morning. She said that, you know, normally the kids come out of their bedroom like little kids do. That, you know, they come to find her. She said they didn't wake up, didn't come to find their mother. So, she went in thinking that they were just sleeping in. She left to go clean up the living room. She went back to check on them, and that is when she found them and says that they had passed away. What she believes was in their sleep.

Police are saying, of course, a completely different narrative here. Although the details from the police side are scant at this point, they're saying that this conclusion came after a thorough and lengthy investigation. She is now being held on a $2 million bond. According to her attorney, she is just one month postpartum with their third child, who is now with his father. Here's -- with the father -- but here is more from Andrea Shaw's attorney.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE FILICETTI, ANDREA SHAW'S ATTORNEY: No, their conclusion is she suffocated them. Our conclusion is the vaccines caused the kids to suffocate, and they don't have the -- to my knowledge -- we'll see -- but they don't have any evidence that ties her to any of it. But we'll wait and see. I want to see what their evidence is.

Well, obviously, I was shocked. What I heard was she had been arrested. Law enforcement was at her house at the time. Obviously, I'm familiar with law enforcement, so I know what that means. I trace it back and try to get the indictment. I didn't get the indictment till probably almost a week later. So, now we've got the indictment. We know what their theory is, but I need to look at their evidence before I could speak to that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WILD: Andrea said during the podcast that both she and her husband were interviewed by police. Her husband was really upset by that and -- and -- and felt like the questioning from law enforcement was accusatory, and he described it as disrespectful. Andrea said it felt like they were trying to, you know, pit -- pit one against the other.

Again, law enforcement insisting that this came after a very lengthy investigation. Andrea insisting that this was the result of, you know, these routine vaccines. There's still a lot of questions here. A lot of pieces of information that we're trying to get, but that is the latest on that case. Back to you guys.

[15:20:08]

KEILAR: All right, Whitney Wild, thank you for that update.

Ahead, New York City officials warning they -- a high rise there -- you're looking at it -- is at risk of collapsing after construction workers noticed some of its steel beams had buckled. Surrounding buildings have been evacuated at this point. We're going to talk to a structural engineer about the risk and the possible fix right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:24:51]

KEILAR: We continue to follow the breaking news out of New York City where a 22-story building or 22-story high-rise is buckling and could collapse. Multiple nearby buildings have been evacuated because of this. Several interior column beams, you can see one of them right here, are bent. New York's fire chief telling CNN there could be a localized collapse if the structure begins to fall down.

Let's talk about what this could mean with structural engineer Troy Morgan.

Troy, thank you so much for being with us. Explain to us what you are seeing in these photos of these beams.

TROY MORGAN, STRUCTURAL ENGINEER: Yes, thanks for having me on. Yes. If you look at some of the video and photos that have been collected and distributed, there's, you know, clearly buckling of at least two steel columns. And that buckling has allowed the floors above to -- to sag or to, you know, displace vertically. That has caused some buckling to the interior partitions, which those -- those steel studs you see that are buckled, those are typically non-structural and just support the -- the drywall for -- for, you know, separation of walls and that sort of thing. But that's -- that's kind of what I've seen just based on my review of -- of some of the photos and video.

KEILAR: How could this kind of thing have happened?

MORGAN: Yes. Well, that's -- you know, that's going to be the subject of a pretty lengthy investigation. And typically, in investigating a failure such as this, you know, we'd be looking and the DOB and -- and other investigators would be looking at a lot of causes, right? If -- since this was during construction as part of a renovation project, was there additional load that might have been added either temporarily or permanently as part of that renovation? Were structural elements either removed or modified? Was -- you know, so, either the load is additional, you know, the capacity is maybe reduced because of the renovation.

And remember, when you're doing modifications to a building, it's important to ensure stability at each stage of that renovation. So, there may be temporary conditions that were in place that could have possibly contributed or factors in this collapse.

KEILAR: So ...

MORGAN: But there's going to be a lot of potential causes that are going to be looked at.

KEILAR: They -- they need to -- they -- they're saying that they -- this needs to be stabilized in order for them to shore it up. There has, I think, not been some movement here for a couple of hours, was the last report that our reporter had heard from folks there. But talk to us a little bit about that concern about the movement and what they may be able to do short of this having a partial collapse.

MORGAN: I think it's an important aspect of this because, as far as I know, you know, DOB and FDNY are -- are actively monitoring any potential movement. Because, really, movement indicates a lack of stability. It's only when the structure has stopped moving completely that then measures can be taken such as, you know, emergency shoring, which will then basically support those floors that are -- that are sagging and take the load that those buckled columns previously were doing.

And so, you know, arresting that movement is certainly a first priority or ensuring that that movement has ceased before anybody enters that building for -- for safety reasons.

KEILAR: What would a localized collapse look like and how can officials be sure that it's not going to be something bigger?

MORGAN: Well, the localized collapse, I think, is what we've already seen, which is where the -- you know, several columns and the floors above have experienced significant movement. And -- and if it remains that way, then I think the collapse can be considered to be localized. The fear could be, and there's no indication that this is what's happening, but if that load, when it's being spread out to adjacent structural elements, then those become overloaded and then those would be unable to perform their gravity load-carrying capacity. And if they were to fail, then that load then distributes further.

And so, what everyone will be looking for is -- is whether or not there's this kind of progressive collapse or kind of a chain reaction that occurs. But I haven't seen indication so far that that's what's happening.

KEILAR: Yes, we're keeping our eye closely on this. Troy Morgan, thank you so much ...

MORGAN: Yes. KEILAR: ... for your expertise. We do appreciate it.

And still ahead, some top Democrats are now polling their support for Senate candidate Graham Platner after a woman has come forward and accused him of rape. It's an allegation that he denies. We'll discuss this with Democratic Congresswoman Debbie Dingell after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)