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Medical Examiner: Sen. Lindsey Graham Died After Aortic Dissection; U.S. And Iran Trade New Strikes Amid Strait Of Hormuz Tensions; Teen Football Player's Deth Sparks Scrutiny And Speculation. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired July 13, 2026 - 07:30   ET

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

[07:30:00]

DR. JEREMY FAUST, ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF EMERGENCY MEDICINE, HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL (via Webex by Cisco): Probably around half of the people who have a spontaneous aortic dissection die before they reach the hospital. And from there the mortality of the people who even make it to the hospital is very time dependent. Maybe one to two percent per hour will die with every hour of delay.

So if you're having chest pain -- the classic teaching is chest pain with a kind of tearing, ripping sensation going to the back. Anyone experiencing that needs to seek medical attention immediately. The way I've heard it described, Kate, is the sensation that you are stabbed, and you turn around but nobody's there. It is that strong of a sensation.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: I mean, seemingly, like internally, you know, violent.

I was talking to -- you talked about it -- there's a -- there are more than one type of aortic dissection. I was talking to some doctors yesterday about this and where kind of the aneurysm if you will occurs is an -- is an important detail. Talk me through that a little more.

FAUST: Sure. So the aorta, by the way, is just a large blood vessel in the body and medical students are taught that it's literally a sacred space to us. It's just without it; you just can't survive.

And a dissection is generally a two-step process. This canal -- this large canal that carries blood out of the heart is, again, essential and it has -- it has linings to the side of it. And a dissection occurs really at the end of this two-step process. The first step generally is that over time the wall weakens often due to heart disease or some -- often like high blood pressure. Some genetic conditions can cause this.

But that weakening of that canal kind of leads to like an outpouching if you will, and that outpouching is what's an aneurysm. And when that aneurysm is then this weakness in the structure and then blood can eventually get into the side and break apart the lining.

And you hear the word "dissection" as if it's like anatomy -- like an anatomy lab. A dissection means the separation of two structures. So blood actually separates the wall. And so what ends up happening is if that's happening really at the top of the structure is one type of aortic dissection and leading to lower parts of the body. That's when you really have a cervical emergency that might be repaired.

BOLDUAN: Yeah.

While I have you, I had mentioned off the top that this comes as we're learning a little bit more about what's been happening with Sen. Mitch McConnell. You previously said, you know, before any information had come out that you really thought that what information was out there was quite concerning about the senator.

Now he has a statement that he was hospitalized after a fall. That he lost consciousness briefly. That he -- then he developed pneumonia. The doctors though, according to the office that it was put, said that he had no fractures, no cardiac abnormalities, no stroke, tumor or hemorrhage.

What do you make of this now?

FAUST: The problem that we have here is a mismatch between the description of what's occurred to the senator and the level of care he's needing. If he's saying -- if his team is saying that he had a fall and a mild case of pneumonia, that doesn't really comport with somebody who has been in the hospital for over a -- for almost a month now and not communicative with the public.

We hear lots of different stories online and on your network about the communication but if it's that mild then it really wouldn't necessitate this level of care. On the other hand, if he did receive CPR, which they're not saying he did, it would be much more likely that he would need long-term care.

So I'm worried that there are some missing pieces here because falls can be devastating and pneumonia can be devastating -- it can cause sepsis and death -- but it sounds to me like a mild case wouldn't be that. So I think that there are a lot of questions still.

BOLDUAN: Still some -- yeah, a mismatch there on information and details is a good way of putting it.

It's good to see you, Dr. Faust. Thank you so much -- John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. With us now, Alex Thompson, CNN political analyst and national political correspondent for Axios. And Leigh Ann Caldwell, chief Washington correspondent for Puck.

And Leigh Ann, let me just start with you because the Senate goes back today with just this very notable absence that will have an impact in many different ways starting today in the U.S. Senate.

Go through some of them.

LEIGH ANN CALDWELL, CHIEF WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT, PUCK: Yeah. So John, there's the logistical impact where Senate Majority Leader John Thune is going to be down one additional vote. Of course, with Sen. Mitch McConnell also out that means that there's going to -- he's going to have two less votes in order to pass anything.

They have a very busy July that they're hoping to move the National Defense Authorization Act, an annual defense bill and pass some big Trump nominations like Todd Blanche as well. So it's going to be harder for John Thune to do his job.

[07:35:00]

But with Sen. Lindsey Graham also with him -- his passing it's going to be a big hole in the Senate. Right before his death he announced that there was a deal on passing Russian sanctions. There's an effort to move that immediately in his honor. But he was central to foreign policy. He was not only a key ally of Donald Trump, he was extremely close with Senate Majority Leader John Thune -- a close confidante and friend.

And, of course, there is what's happening in South Carolina in the race to replace him. He was on the ballot running for re-election this year.

So this is a multifaceted impact and big loss for the Senate, John.

BERMAN: You know -- and I know this sounds odd, but people liked him. I mean, there were people on both sides of the aisle who liked hanging out with Lindsey Graham, having a drink with Lindsey Graham. There are a dwindling number of people like that in U.S. Congress right now, whether or not they agree with their views or bizarre -- you know, or policy evolutions that have had. So there's that, Alex.

Also -- and you famously, you know, co-wrote the book on Joe Biden, his aging here. Lindsey Graham was only 71, which makes him relatively young in the U.S. Senate. But combine that with Mitch McConnell and it does put age again right at the center of U.S. politics in a way that just seems to be growing.

ALEX THOMPSON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST, NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT, AXIOS: I mean, you look at all the reporting about the average age of Congress over the last 30 years has gone up by decades. And you've had several -- even members of the -- and it's bipartisan. You've had several members of the Democratic Party in the House die in office. You've had senators last, you know, too long, honestly, beyond their, you know, capacity. Senator Dianne Feinstein.

You know, Sen. Mitch McConnell. I think if you were to really ask, you know, a lot of former Mitch McConnell staffers if they believe that he is at, you know, his best right now they would -- if you put them on truth serum they would -- they would say no. That maybe he is not, you know, at his best in terms of being able to serve the people of Kentucky.

And, you know, aging is difficult. It's fine. It's also very sensitive. But the fact is that these are public positions. They are taxpayer dollars paying their salaries. And there are some people that are no longer, you know, capable. And you're even seeing this in some of the re-election campaigns right

now. Senator Markey, in Massachusetts, is running for another term at 79 years old and promising to be, you know, just one more term.

But, you know, this issue is not going away, in part because these are public positions with taxpayer salaries.

BERMAN: Alex, it is July 13. The election is in November. And as we stand here on July 13 the situation in the Middle East with Iran seems to be escalating, not de-escalating. And it does feel like this could be an even bigger issue as we approach the midterms, which is the very thing the White House and certainly Republicans in Congress want to avoid.

So what would the impact be and what are the pressures?

THOMPSON: I mean, this ceasefire has been full of fire so far, and you're seeing Iran have every incentive to continue to escalate and make sure that everyone -- not just the United States but everyone in the Middle East and the world recognizes they ultimately control the Strait of Hormuz.

And that, you know -- I think based on my reporting and my colleague Barak Ravid's reporting, there is a significant chance of incredible escalation in the coming months that fire will -- you know, that the violence will resume in the Strait of Hormuz.

And I can tell you that people in Iran -- the leadership in Iran also understands the political calendar and feels that they have political leverage over Trump in the coming months because Donald Trump does not want oil prices to go back up.

BERMAN: And Leigh Ann, I just wonder for Republicans running for re- election or running for office at all in the midterms how they plan to address this. What's the answer for a Republican in terms of what they support in Iran?

CALDWELL: Yeah. It's a great question, John because talking to Republicans for the last several months they would say as long as this war is wound down by the middle of summer or by Labor Day at the very, very latest, this is something that we can handle. This is -- but there has to be this definitive end where gas prices start to come down and everything is smoothed out, but that doesn't look like it's going to happen.

So it's going to be fascinating to see how their justification changes, especially if they're on the ballot. They are going to try to run in a very localized race separate from the national mood, the national environment. Separate from this war in Iran. And that is really their only hope as the party continues to be strangled with his war that is having these impacts on their constituents at home.

[07:40:05]

And this is a very tough position for Republicans, and I think that the more difficult the race they're in, the more difficult it's obviously going to be and the more they're going to have to distance themselves in some way from the president and from this war, John.

BERMAN: Yeah. I just looked at the calendar with all this. There's just not that much time left in summer with the situation there getting worse, not better.

Leigh Ann Caldwell, Alex Thompson, great to see both of you this morning. Thank you very much -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: John was talking about the latest with Iran. Let's talk about the details of this. New overnight, the U.S. military is intensifying strikes against Iran, over the weekend hitting more frequently and striking deeper inside the country than we've seen. U.S. Central Command says it hit dozens of targets overnight, part of what very clearly appears now to be an all-out effort to get Iran to stop attacking commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran today says it's going after U.S. military targets and is claiming it hit a U.S. base in Bahrain, but CNN has not been able to independently verify that report. But Tehran is also vowing to not stop, saying it's going to keep up strikes on U.S. allies in the region. And Jordan, Bahrain, Kuwait all say that they have been forced to fend off incoming fire.

Joining me right now is CNN military analyst, retired Col. Cedric Leighton for more on this. Colonel, what should everyone make of what happened this weekend? A weekend of strikes and counterstrikes. People seem to -- I mean, this is -- as Alex Thompson was saying, it's a ceasefire that's been full of fire. But what do you of what happened this weekend?

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Yeah, good morning, Kate.

Well, Alex is exactly right. You know, a ceasefire by any other name is not what we're seeing here. And, you know, you're looking at this in a way that, you know, clearly points to an intensification of U.S. efforts to really prevent the Iranians from closing down the Strait of Hormuz.

So basically, what's at stake here -- what we've got is a -- really a possible change in the whole precedent that we see when it comes to the law of the sea, which is you need to have open waterways that are free, you know, from a navigation standpoint.

And the Strait of Hormuz is a prime example of that. There are other chokepoints around the world, but this one is a very critical one because as we famously talk about, 20 percent prewar -- about 20 percent of the world's oil goes through the Strait of Hormuz on its way to its final destination. So this is a critical waterway, and it has been one that the U.S. has recognized as a critical waterway that needs to stay open for a very, very long time.

And when you look at the oil price you really see that there are, you know, some absolute economic factors that are at play here and they have, as we've previously discussed, political implications as well as geostrategic implications. BOLDUAN: CENTCOM also said that the U.S. used one-way attack aerial drones and one-way attack sea drones for the first time now in this war.

What does that indicate to you?

LEIGHTON: Well, they've learned a lot from the Ukrainians.

BOLDUAN: Yeah.

LEIGHTON: And, you know, from one standpoint you're looking at this, you know, with the one-way attack aerial drones as well as the sea drones, we're moving into a different era of warfare. I -- and that is an era of automation, an era of robotics, and of course, drones being part of that.

So what we're trying to do is use as many types of weapons that we can without endangering our air crews, our sailors, and all our other military personnel. So the way that the U.S. is fighting this war is really wants to automate this as much as possible and put as few troops as possible in danger. Basically, avoiding ground incursions and trying to open the strait without too much damage to our forces and too much risk in terms of casualties.

BOLDUAN: Are -- do you think we are to a point where people need to accept that the way negotiations are going, the attacks, counterattacks, a ceasefire that is full of fire, that Iran will have some control over the Strait of Hormuz going forward that they did not have before this war because I'm curious what you see when you look at the military aspect of this. What more the United States can do to get them to stop using that leverage.

LEIGHTON: Yeah. Barring a ground incursion and the taking over of territory on the Iranian side of the Persian Gulf, and especially on the Iranian side of the Strait of Hormuz, it really does look like there's going to be some kind of acceptance of Iran's control, at least of the northern channel.

Now, that doesn't mean necessarily that that's going to happen, but it seems like we're moving in that direction. And if we do move in that direction that could have grave economic implications for other areas. You know, the Strait of Malacca around Singapore. You know, you've got chokepoints in the South China Sea. So this is a critical area right here and this will set a precedent for years to come.

[07:45:10]

BOLDUAN: For the globe.

Colonel, it's great to see you. Thank you so much.

LEIGHTON: Yeah.

BOLDUAN: John.

BERMAN: All right. This morning investigators are trying to piece together the final hours of Nolan Wells. The 18-year-old football player left on a July Fourth trip to an uninhabited island off Mississippi with friends, and he did not return when they did. His body was found a week ago and his family, this morning, is searching for answers.

Let's get right to CNN's Ryan Young following this for us. What's the latest this morning, Ryan?

RYAN YOUNG, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, John. You know, there's still so many unanswered questions when it comes to this case of Nolan Wells. The internet is talking about this and trying to investigate it for itself. We're hoping investigators will provide some sort of update this week.

We do know the family has a private autopsy that is going on and we're hoping to get more details from that. But something to remind people is was when the initial one was done in Mississippi, we were told there were no obvious signs of trauma.

But as you can understand, this family is just trying to figure out exactly what happened on July Fourth. He went out to Horn Island with some friends. Some of those friends returned. Obviously, he did not. There is a conversation about exactly what happened. Did he indicate that he was going to go back with someone else? What happened? What happened in those hours afterwards?

Now we do know after the public plea that a lot of people have been reaching out to the family attorney Ben Crump with some more information so that timeline hopefully is betting a bit clearer. But we need to talk to investigators again to figure out exactly what they have been able to ascertain in the last few days.

But take a listen to his mother because obviously there's so much pain in this family and you know they just want some answers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTINE WONSLEY, MOTHER OF NOLAN WELLS: Transparency is important. Um, since we started this, that is all we asked for. Um, and it's just a lot of things with this case that's going on that's not clear. Um, I know locally, it's being pushed that oh, it's likely a drowning. Well, you know, you have all these other things that have kind of happened in between and it makes you wonder, you know, could there be anything else?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

YOUNG: Yeah, there's a lot of questions when it comes to it.

John, I will tell you also the internet has its own storyline with this. We've seen this in a lot of cases where people are trying to figure out and maybe even getting ahead of the investigation. But what we do know is that independent autopsy should be complete this week, so we'll hopefully get some more information there.

Also, there are other people in the community who are stepping up. We know Tyler Perry is paying for the funeral. That should happen in the next few days as well. Colin Kaepernick is the one who is paying for the independent autopsy.

So there's a lot of things that are moving along in this case, but still no immediate answers right now. Still an active investigation. And we can tell you that the sheriff's office was hoping to talk to a lot of those friends as well and hoping that people will come forward with additional video as well to figure out and maybe put those missing pieces together -- John.

BERMAN: Facts would be very, very helpful and welcome for this family --

YOUNG: One hundred percent.

BERMAN: -- no doubt.

Ryan Young, thank you very much.

All right, get ready to pay more for electronics, gaming consoles, phones. How AI is driving up these prices.

And the dramatic rescue as police save a woman trapped in a creek.

(COMMERCIAL)

[07:52:50]

BOLDUAN: Jannik Sinner wins again on tennis' biggest stage. The 24- year-old Italian now has back-to-back Wimbledon titles.

CNN's Coy Wire is here. There he is -- the man, the myth, the legend --

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Hey, hey.

BOLDUAN: -- Coy Wire.

How did you Jannik pull it off?

WIRE: Good morning, sunshine.

If falling behind was a sin, Sinner made up for it with a heavenly comeback. Pressure doesn't build champs, Kate; it reveals them. World number one Jannik Sinner facing French Open champ Alex Zverev and Sinner dropped the opening set, but then he would go on to flip this match on its head.

Now watch there. He appears to tweak his knee after a nasty slip in the third set and from there the momentum belonged to Sinner. The Italian powering through to win three sets to one, capturing a second- straight Wimbledon crown. That is five grand slam titles at just 24 and an incredible 10-straight win over Zverev. Watch him kiss the baby right here -- yeah. Love it.

All right, to women's golf now. The Evian Championship delivered Hollywood drama. Brooke Henderson erased a six-shot deficit within an eagle putt on seven. And then Kate, the very next hole -- hole in one. Another eagle. She got a third eagle at 18 to force a playoff.

But Haeran Ryu had one more answer, birdying the first extra hole to claim her second major title in three weeks after winning the PGA Championship. She's the first player in a decade to win consecutive majors. And why waste a perfectly fine bottle of champagne, I will never know.

All right, second-straight day with no World Cup action but fear not -- semifinals kick off tomorrow in Dallas. Arguably the two best teams, France versus Spain. And France is looking to reach a third- straight World Cup final.

Then it's England and Argentina on Wednesday, renewing their famous rivalry. It'll be the sixth time the two giants have faced off on the biggest stage -- most famously in '86 when Argentina advanced thanks to Diego Maradona's iconic hand of God goal.

Our ArKay "What a Shot." Fans packed tighter than sardines with a forest of smartphones sprouting up into the Dallas sky to snag a pic of Mbappe and co arriving at their team hotel. We started with 104 games at this World Cup, Kate. We're now down to the final four.

[07:55:00]

All right, something you have to see. The WNBA served up basketball and a little shoe business. Marina Mabrey and Betnijah Laney-Hamilton were already exchanging hard fouls and technicals when things got even stranger. Laney-Hamilton tossed a shoe that hit Mabrey square in the back. Now Kate, she says she was just trying to throw it to her teammate who lost a shoe. Officials not buying it. They gave her the boot -- ejected -- escorted off the floor.

And Mabrey -- her 30 points did all the talking as the Tempo edged the Liberty 93-91.

We've heard of throwing in the towel but throwing the show, Kate, that's a little too far. But be honest with me. How many times have you thought of tossing your shoe at maybe John Berman or anyone else there on set?

BOLDUAN: I mean, I have really no talent because my shoes are like lethal weapons. So, like, you have to be very careful with a stiletto. And it would also then show my true height, which no one needs to know how short I am.

Wait, Jamie doesn't know what to do with us.

BERMAN: No. I was just thinking about, like, you know with a heel, like, stuck in my cranium here.

BOLDUAN: Could you imagine? She's like standing on court and she turns around and she's, like, a shoe? Like, what? Of all the things, like, to come at you. I love it.

Thanks, Coy.

WIRE: You got it.

BERMAN: We applaud creativity, even if abhor violence here on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

BOLDUAN: We applaud creativity -- even the violent type.

BERMAN: All right. In New York, an officer in Queens rescued a woman clinging to a wooden piling in the water. The Harbor Unit struggled to navigate their boat close enough to pull her in, so the one officer did what they had to do. They just jumped into the murky water to rescue her.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

New York Harbor Unit rescuing woman clinging to wooden piling.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Guys, (INAUDIBLE).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Police have not said how she ended up in the creek in the first place.

We learned this morning that actor Sam Neill has died. He appeared in more than 150 productions over a career that lasted five decades, including as Dr. Alan Grant in the "Jurassic Park" franchise.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

Clip from Universal Pictures "Jurassic Park."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: So Neill had battled a rare and aggressive blood cancer but did say in April he was cancer-free. He was 78 years old.

And then Meta shut down this new AI feature on Instagram just days after introducing it. We were talking about it just Friday. The tool allowed people to pull images from public Instagram accounts and create AI photos based on those public profiles. But this triggered pretty widespread backlash and concern that the new feature violated privacy and all kinds of likeness rights. But, at least for now, it's gone -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: So stand by -- stand by on that one.

Also new this morning, if you are thinking about buying a new laptop, video game console, or anything like it anytime soon, you might need to be prepared to spend more. The price of many types of electronic devices is on the rise and there is an interesting way of reasoning why right now. You can blame AI for this one, too.

CNN tech editor Lisa Eadicicco has much more on this reporting. What are you learning here?

LISA EADICICCO, CNN TECH EDITOR: Yeah, and that's right, Kate. The demand for AI is really driving up the prices of these products, and that's because there are only three companies that make most of the memory that's used in a lot of electronic devices around the world. And those three companies have been flooded with demand for memory for AI data centers, so they're not making enough memory to also go into consumer products and that's raising the prices of these critical components.

And now we're reaching the point where a lot of companies can't afford to eat those costs anymore and they have to raise prices. We've seen Apple raise prices for some of its products like iPad and MacBooks. Nintendo has raised the price of its Switch 2 console. Sony has raised the price of the PlayStation 5.

And the reason why you're really seeing these price hikes hit products like laptops, tablets, and game consoles is because those are the types of gadgets that use a lot of memory.

What you're not seeing getting more expensive right now are smaller things like earbuds and smart watches because a lot of those products don't do a lot of processing --

BOLDUAN: Um-hum.

EADICICCO: -- really. They attach to your phone where a lot of the processing is done. So that's what we're dealing with now.

And I've been speaking with analysts to kind of help guide consumers on how to ride this out. And basically, the advice that I've been hearing is that if you're in the market for something, buy now before prices get even more expensive because this thing is not going away anytime soon.

BOLDUAN: And that's what I was going to ask you is, like, how long -- it's not like you can create another fourth company that's going to start creating memory for these devices. So it's kind of like how long is this going to -- is this trajectory going to continue?

EADICICCO: Exactly. So those companies are in the process of putting up new fabrication plants to make more memory, but that takes a long time. This is a really complex --

BOLDUAN: Yes.

EADICICCO: -- manufacturing process.