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Trump Reinstates Blockade of Iranian Ships in Strait of Hormuz; South Carolina Governor to Name Replacement for Sen. Lindsey Graham Today; U.S. & Iran Trade Attacks After Cargo Ship in Hormuz Strait Fired on; Colombian Man Killed in Maine ICE Shooting; Trump Holds Event on Freedom 250 Grand Prix; 12 States Sue to Block Paramount's Takeover of Warner Bros.. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired July 13, 2026 - 14:00   ET

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

[14:00:00]

RON MAGILL, CONSERVATION LIAISON, ZOO MIAMI FOUNDATION: -- correctly say, is that, you know, you don't yell, you don't try to make noise. If that gentleman indeed beeped the horn in the truck, that could have very easily been able to set him off.

I mean, it's pure speculation, but those types of things. You know, if you see like a black bear, yes, you raise your arms up, you say, hey bear, hey bear, don't run away. And usually the bear will go away.

With a bison that's going after, you know, females that's in the top of his rut, you don't do that because that's a challenge and they're up in the challenges. That's all they're thinking about now, challenge me, I want to fight, I want to show that I'm worthy of these females and that's what's going to make them do that.

So with bison, you don't want to run, you don't want to make noise, you don't want to wave your hands, you don't want to do anything like that. And especially now at this time of year when people are out of school or traveling on summer vacation, please folks, I've seen people who just give a whole new definition to stupid when they're using their cameras to take selfies, turning their back, trying to get close to these animals.

Look at what this animal was able to do to somebody who was 100 yards away.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": Yeah and paying a lot of attention which may have been something that helped save them here.

Ron, thank you, really appreciate your expertise.

MAGILL: Always a pleasure.

KEILAR: And a new hour of "CNN News Central" starts right now.

The blockade is back. President Trump says the U.S. military will stop any Iranian vessels from transiting the Strait of Hormuz while also claiming the U.S. will charge shippers a fee to pass through it. Just two hours from now, South Carolina's governor will name a replacement for the late Senator, Lindsey Graham. Lawmakers are reacting to Graham's sudden death.

And inflation irritation. While we may be past the worst of our inflation problem, economists warn that prices could keep rising for years. We're following these major developing stories and many more, all coming in right here to "CNN News Central."

This hour, some new developments in the standoff over the Strait of Hormuz. President Trump now says the U.S. will reinstate its blockade of Iranian ships in the strategic waterway and that the U.S. will begin imposing a 20% cargo charge on other vessels for safe passage. In a Truth Social post, the president said, quote, "The U.S. will be from this point forward known as the guardian of the Hormuz Strait."

This comes after Iran fired on a container ship over the weekend and that ignited a new round of U.S. attacks on Iran. It ignited counterstrikes by Iran against U.S. allies in the region. So let's go to the White House, where CNN's Kevin Liptak is following this.

Kevin, we're learning that the U.S. military is now preparing to reimpose the blockade.

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: That's right. Of course, this will require significant coordination between CENTCOM and those deployed forces in the region. And that coordination is now underway. That's according to a spokesperson for CENTCOM. This will be, of course, a massive undertaking.

It's one that these troops have undertaken before when this blockade was in place before the ceasefire went into effect. It involves, you know, fighter jets, destroyers all trying to monitor this wide swathe of the Arabian Sea to prevent these ships from accessing the Iranian ports. And, you know, this was really one of the last pieces of that memorandum of understanding to go by the wayside.

You know, the president has been lifting bits and pieces of that over the three weeks since it was signed. And now, the president lifting this blockade as well as saying that it would go back into effect. And it has drawn reaction from Iran, of course, which says that under no circumstances will they allow the United States to interfere in the management of the Strait of Hormuz.

But you also hear reaction from international organizations, including the International Maritime Organization, which is an arm of the United Nations, saying that the right of transit passage through Straits used for international navigation should not be threatened, impeded, denied, hampered, impaired or suspended.

And so this will be, of course, a massive undertaking. So too will the president's other announcement today that the U.S. will begin charging fees to ships that try and pass through the Strait, essentially, in his mind, reimbursement for security guarantees from the United States.

He says that the U.S. will charge 20% of all cargo on these ships as they pass through. He expanded somewhat in an interview this morning on Fox News. Listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: We had a deal. What nobody knows, we had a deal. It was a done deal. And then they broke it. They always break it. We've had 10 deals with these people. And so we're just going to hit them very hard. And we're going to -- we're going to keep the Strait and we'll probably run it. We'll become the guardian of the Strait.

Maybe we'll call it the guardian angel of the Strait and we should be reimbursed for that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIPTAK: Now, this idea of the U.S. charging ships for passing through is a break from previous administration viewpoints. We just heard last month from the Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, who said that the Strait was an international waterway and that no country is allowed to charge tolls or fees on an international waterway.

[14:05:00]

All of this, I think, just points to how much the Strait of Hormuz has become the center of this dispute between the U.S. and Iran. Clearly, there is a mismatch in understandings of what the memorandum actually stated about who would control this waterway.

The president, I think, suggesting a major escalation that will require sustained American presence in the region. And at this point, it seems as if he is at something of a strategic impasse. Nothing he seems to be doing is causing Iran to bend in its claims over the Strait.

And how he plans to extricate the U.S. or himself from this at this point, I think, remains unclear.

KEILAR: Yeah, certainly. Kevin Liptak, thank you so much for the latest there from the White House.

And we do have some new details, just in to CNN, about a fatal ICE- involved shooting today in Biddeford, Maine. An immigration rights group says the man was a 26-year-old from Colombia who was authorized to work in the United States. Maine Senator, Angus King says he spoke to DHS Secretary, Markwayne Mullin about the incident and was told that this person was the target of an immigration enforcement operation and had been ordered removed from the country.

King says Secretary Mullin also told him the man was shot after he allegedly tried to weaponize the vehicle he was in, the Senator adding that the agents were not wearing body cameras. A witness says an ICE officer repeatedly yelled before opening fire after a car appeared to drive toward him. Another witness says the man was bleeding profusely from the head and told the officers, quote, "I tried to stop."

The fatal shooting comes just days after a federal immigration enforcement officer shot and killed a Mexican immigrant during a traffic stop in Houston, sparking new calls for transparency and accountability. We're joined now by John Sandweg, former ICE Acting Director under President Obama. John, thanks for being with us.

What questions do you have about how this particular case unfolded based on really the few facts that we know here?

JOHN SANDWEG, FORMER ACTING ICE DIRECTOR UNDER OBAMA: Yeah, Brianna, I mean, it's the same as always, right? What caused the officer to think he was in mortal fear here, of imminent bodily harm? But also, Brianna, look, this is now at least the 18th shooting involving ICE since the commencement of the Trump administration, involving someone in a vehicle, right?

So what I want to know is why was the operational plan here to take this guy into custody while he was driving? Could we have done this in a way that posed less risk, not only to the individual himself, but to the ICE officers themselves? Car vehicle stops are incredibly dangerous. They're not something that generally federal agents do. Those are what state and local police do in marked vehicles.

It's especially not something that ICE has done and definitely not something they've done much of over the last six years, Brianna, where the majority of the arrests have taken place of people that are already in Border Patrol custody or in custody of state and local police.

So I want to know, what was the plan in terms of when we went to apprehend this individual that made us say, hey, a vehicular stop was necessary and that we couldn't have let him at least arrive at his destination, take him into custody there, or take him into custody before he ever got into that vehicle?

KEILAR: Is it problematic that there appears to be no body camera footage? That's what Senator King is saying at this point. Of course, we haven't seen video.

SANDWEG: Yeah, ICE has said they're going to roll out the body cameras. But again, this is the second shooting now with the Houston shooting just last week, where no body camera was footaged. I would also urge, listen, the best way to protect these agents themselves is to have the body camera. The body camera oftentimes, more often than not, the body camera shows and justifies the use of force used by the law enforcement officer wearing it.

I would like to make this a priority, right? We know, listen, it's not a shortage of money. ICE has never in the history of ICE been so well- funded as they are right now. I would urge the Secretary to quickly deploy body cameras to all officers so that we're not all in the dark trying to figure out what happened here.

Brianna, let me say one other thing, of course. We're still dealing with this massive credibility gap that really arose in Minneapolis, right? So now, the body camera can help eliminate those questions, eliminate all that suspicion that the agency is under whenever there's a use of force incident as to whether or not the officers are telling the truth.

I hope that we get those body cameras deployed as quickly as possible.

KEILAR: That's what I was actually going to ask you about, because federal immigration officials, they haven't exactly earned themselves, right, the benefit of the doubt, because in past federal officer- involved shootings, even when there turns out there is video, it's emerged and it does not match up.

There have been key cases, obviously, where it does not match up with the initial accounts that we have heard from federal immigration enforcement. I do wonder, it seems like that is just so imperative when it comes to having those body cameras, if you're surprised that that hasn't been solved for yet more broadly.

[14:10:00]

SANDWEG: Yeah, Brianna, listen -- look, first of all, let me back up. I will give the credit to the department so far today. I've not seen a statement yet, right? As we saw in many of these officer-involved shootings, what was happening was the department was rushing out a statement where basically it looked like they already made up their mind, right, that the shooting was justified, that the deceased weaponized their vehicle or took some other action that threatened the officers.

And then lo and behold, video comes out that seems to -- appears to undermine, right, that narrative. I think, look, give credit to the department thus far. I've not heard a statement. I don't think any statement would be appropriate other than we're going to conduct a full and thorough and fair investigation into this.

But you're exactly right. It's a kind of combination between those statements and then video evidence emerges later that undercuts that, that creates that credibility gap. Of course, body cameras would eliminate that.

But Brianna, one other thing very quickly. The department needs to step back right now, though, and ask themselves, why does this keep happening? As I said, this is the 18th -- at least the 18th shooting involving a vehicle. I really, really hope that we're looking, especially when you're involving a non-criminal, someone, as I understand it thus far, at least the initial reporting is this individual has no criminal history.

What was so urgent that required us to make a traffic stop, putting those officers in a position where they're under -- in danger themselves, and obviously the driver? Why did we have to do it this way? And I hope -- I hope that, you know, as this investigation goes forward, we take a step back and do a further review about our operational tactics and minimize the risks of this happening again.

KEILAR: Yeah, you're giving some credit, I think, to DHS under the leadership of Markwayne Mullin and that you see a difference in how they're reacting initially to something like this happening. But as you are questioning the tactics here and the continued involvement of ICE in these shootings, are you seeing a substantive difference there or no?

SANDWEG: Yeah, we were, right? There was a real shift back in those tactics, back to those more targeted operations. Historically, Brianna, when we -- during my time at DHS and ICE, when we did targeted operations. That typically meant we're going to try to get someone in their residence first thing in the morning. It was, you know, and I have to say the number of, you know, situations where officers were put in danger or there were shootings were very, very limited.

I don't have specific numbers, but far fewer than what we're seeing today. What we have seen, I will say, and give credit to Secretary Mullin, we saw a reduction in those kind of, those more demonstrative ways of doing enforcement, right, that show of force, those confrontations with protesters. We went back to that more targeted approach where I think, you know, again, it was done in that quieter manner that put everyone -- lowered the temperature for everything.

I will say over the last couple of weeks, it feels like we've seen an uptick. Reporting has come out, of course, that the department has again come under pressure to increase the number of, you know, ICE arrests, and I worry that, you know, when you're under that pressure to do ICE arrests, and I've often said this, that the quantity, the number of arrests, it really is an enemy of the quality, right? If you're doing that targeted operation focused on the worst of the worst, typically those people are harder to find. It takes more, you know, investigative time to go out there and get them.

It takes more officers to take those people into custody, and you result in lower numbers. I do worry that over the last couple of weeks, as we've seen that kind of the last two shootings, that it is directly related to this pressure the agency is under to ramp up the number of arrests, which is pushing the agency to, again, engage in tactics that pushes these officers outside of their normal experience and training, and in this case, that means vehicular stops.

KEILAR: Yeah, it's an important question that you raise. John Sandweg, thank you so much for being with us.

SANDWEG: Yeah, my pleasure.

KEILAR: Still to come, a major loss of Republican leadership on Capitol Hill as lawmakers mourn the sudden death of Senator Lindsey Graham. We'll look at what's next for the Republican Party and voters in South Carolina.

And then later, CNN takes you on board the U.S. Navy Destroyer that is closest to Iran. It is guarding a carrier group on a dangerous mission. We'll have that and much more coming up on "CNN News Central."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:18:38]

KEILAR: In about 45 minutes, the Senate will return a session without one of its most powerful and impactful members, Lindsey Graham. The 71-year-old four-term Senator died suddenly Saturday from the sudden onset of a heart condition called aortic dissection, which is a tear in the aorta, the body's largest blood vessel.

Graham had just returned from his 10th trip to Ukraine since 2022. And in less than two hours, South Carolina's governor will announce who's going to fill Graham's seat in the short term. Republican leaders, including President Trump, are pushing for Graham's sister, Darline, to take over as interim Senator.

As for the long term, the party is now working toward a possible primary on August 11th to determine who will replace Graham on the November ballot. Let's discuss this with Scott MacFarlane, Chief Washington Correspondent for the MeidasTouch Network. Scott, thank you so much for being with us.

President Trump says he recommended Governor McMaster appoint Lindsey Graham's sister to serve as interim Senator. What do we know about her, and is this the direction that the governor's going to go, do you think?

SCOTT MACFARLANE, CHIEF WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT, MEIDASTOUCH NETWORK: The governor needs to move swiftly on this because they have an issue in the Republican Conference in the Senate of margins. It is a wafer- thin majority they're navigating, and that's without Mitch McConnell's return any time soon.

[14:20:00]

So there would have to be a prompt movement to get somebody in that seat so they can do things like, you know, take votes and win them for Republicans. Darline Graham comes obviously from the same lineage as Senator Graham, and the president has given an indication he likes where she is politically aligned with her late brother.

But the broader issue is still there, Brianna. They have to, in a matter of eight days, stand up a special primary for this seat. July 21st is when they'll open up for people to join the race. You mentioned the primary date being August 11th. That leaves very little runway to stand up a statewide campaign to fundraise for it, to galvanize for it.

Nobody expected this race to happen, and everybody is flat-footed.

KEILAR: Is that the only timeline that can be? And is this just a sort of a caretaker role, if she is appointed, that she would be having in this, being a Senator?

MACFARLANE: I think that's right. Caretaker is the role of an appointed Senator, but it's a bit of a loose term because she'd be taking some pretty important votes pretty quickly, including potentially on the nomination of Todd Blanche to be Attorney General, on a must-pass piece of military authorization, the National Defense Authorization Act. There's some high-value, high-octane things coming very quickly on the appointed Senator. But standing up the campaign for election in November, that is for a six-year term, for a Senate seat whose previous occupant, Brianna, before Lindsey Graham, was somebody born in 1902, the Teddy Roosevelt administration.

This seat comes up very rarely, and suddenly there's a scramble drill to get that nomination for the full-time role.

KEILAR: Yeah. So who might throw their hat in the ring here?

MACFARLANE: I'm watching Joe Wilson, the 78-year-old Republican who has some of the same political alignments with the late Senator Graham. He is also on the Armed Services Committee, Foreign Affairs Committee, known to be hawkish on military issues. He's a known quantity in South Carolina, been around there a long time.

In fact, a lot of people might know Joe Wilson outside of South Carolina as the person who famously yelled "You lie" at then-President Obama during a State of the Union address in 2009. He also may have an easier time getting the support of Trump because it was Joe Wilson, Brianna, who authored the bill last year to put Trump's face on a new $250 piece of U.S. currency. It didn't pass, but he may have cornered the market on Trump's alignment.

KEILAR: Yeah. He's made himself maybe known and liked there. Yeah. I just -- what a different time, though. I mean, now it feels like people yell at the State of the Union all the time. After he did that, I actually flew down to South Carolina to cover his first appearance back in the state. But he was very well known for that when that kind of behavior was something you didn't see very often.

Graham, of course, I think we just need to talk, Scott, about what this means and just how shocking it was that this happened over the weekend. Just someone who has been in Washington for so long, I think even people who have political differences with him up on the Hill sort of just, they saw him in, I mean, you explain how they saw him and what this means and how people are reacting.

MACFARLANE: In this uniquely politically toxic moment in which venom and vitriol are in high quantities, really was a lot of collegiality between Democrats and Republicans in sharing their thoughts on Senator Graham. He was trusted. He gave you his word, he kept his word, no matter whether you agreed with him or not. He was somebody who had relationships on both sides of the aisle.

It's increasingly rare here as somebody who covers the U.S. Senate, been here since 2004. He was the most reliable to stop, even in a hurry, to try to answer questions. That's in short supply here, too, Brianna.

KEILAR: Yeah. Scott, thank you so much for joining us. It's a really important time to have this discussion. We appreciate it.

MACFARLANE: Thank you.

KEILAR: So you don't see this every day at the White House. Right now, the president is hosting IndyCar drivers ahead of next month's Grand Prix here in Washington, D.C. Look, pit stops -- pit stops right there at the White House. Look how fast they're going. I'm mesmerized.

They're in, they're out. Very exciting stuff. This event is part of a string of sporting events in the Capitol celebrating the nation's 250th birthday. This is a race that is going to wind through the streets of D.C. at the end of August. We'll see if they get lost, because a lot of people will tell you, it's quite easy to get lost here in Washington, D.C.

Still to come, the legal challenge for a major Hollywood merger, details on the brand new antitrust lawsuit aiming to stop Paramount's takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery. That and much more coming up on "CNN News Central."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:29:30]

KEILAR: A coalition of 12 state attorneys general is suing to stop Paramount's takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery, which is CNN's parent company. The AGs argue the mega merger would hurt competition across the entertainment industry. Let's go to CNN's Chief Media Analyst, Brian Stelter.

And Brian, you've been following this for us. Walk us through the claims here.

BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA ANALYST: Yeah, this is a really high profile example of the states, in this case, Democratic state attorneys general, who are filling in because they believe the federal government, the Trump administration, has walked off the beat, has stopped enforcing antitrust law.

So you have these Democrats in states like New York, New Jersey, Oregon, Washington --