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12 States Sue to Block Paramount's Takeover of Warner Bros.; Economists Warn Inflation Problems Won't Go Away Anytime Soon; Tip of the Spear: Aboard the Navy Ships Closest to Iran; Democrats Rush to Find Candidate to Replace Graham Platner. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired July 13, 2026 - 14:30   ET

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

[14:30:00]

BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA ANALYST: Yes, 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, California, all banding together to file this lawsuit. It's not the first time we've seen this this year, and it probably won't be the last.

But it's a big deal, in part because it's going to reshape Hollywood, and in part because it involves CNN, since Warner Brothers is owned by CNN and Paramount is trying to take control. So let me show you what California Attorney General Rob Bonta said about this just a few minutes ago. He held a press conference right in front of a Hollywood sign, and here was his argument against the merger.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROB BONTA, CALIFORNIA ATTORNEY GENERAL: There is no debate here. This merger would snuff out competition, drive up prices, diminish content quality, and produce fewer movies and shows each year. That is the bottom line.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STELTER: So that is the argument there from Bonta. He also alluded to the concerns many people have about Paramount taking control of this network, CNN, and potentially merging it with CBS News. He said quote, "This merger will mean fewer journalist informing the electorate." But the text of the lawsuit I've reviewed is really about impacts on Hollywood.

The argument that merging the Paramount and Warner Brothers movie studios will result in fewer jobs, fewer movies being made, and ultimately will hurt consumers. This is now going to be on a judge who's going to have to weigh these arguments and figure out how to move forward -- Brianna.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: And Brian, Paramount has just issued a response. What are they saying? STELTER: That's right. Paramount basically says these prosecutors do not understand how the media world has changed. How technology giants like Amazon and Apple and Netflix, more than any other, have come in and totally changed the game.

Here's part of Paramount's statement in the past few minutes. "As numerous antitrust authorities around the world have already concluded after months of review, this transaction creates a stronger competitor against dominant streaming and technology platforms who have harmed the market for theatrical exhibition and jobs in the entertainment industry." So essentially, Paramount is saying, you have to greenlight this deal.

You have to allow us to merge a Warner Brothers discovery because we're up against rivals who are even bigger and who are even more powerful. That's an argument we've heard from other media companies in the past. And it highlights how the federal government, the Trump Justice Department, did approve this deal a few weeks ago without any conditions or concessions.

Critics have charged that the Trump administration gave the green light because of President Trump's cozy ties to Paramount and to CEO David Ellison and his father Larry Ellison. So there's a lot of politics at play here, with Democratic states now challenging the federal government's decision.

KEILAR: All right, Brian Stelter, thank you so much.

Still to come, inflation is not only hitting gas and groceries, and how economists warn Americans may be stuck with higher prices for years to come.

[14:35:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: Tomorrow, the Bureau of Labor Statistics is expected to report that consumer prices fell in June from the previous month. It would be the first time in two years that prices dropped month over month and only the third time since the pandemic. But experts say that doesn't mean the inflation resurgence is over as they warn prices could keep rising uncomfortably for years.

CNN's David Goldman is with us now. So David, why are economists so concerned about inflation?

DAVID GOLDMAN, CNN BUSINESS SENIOR REPORTER: Well first the good news. We're expecting inflation to fall to 3.8 percent. As you said, that hasn't happened in quite some time. We were at 4.2 percent in the previous month. Good news, right? Well, maybe not. Because this is the number I want everyone to focus on, 2.9 percent. That takes out gas prices. That takes out fuel prices and food. And this is the thing that we're going to have to focus on because the Fed wants that number at 2 percent. And as gas prices come down, it has no effect on what we call core. Why is that so high? Because we are a services economy, not a goods economy. Almost two-thirds of the U.S. economy is made up of services. When was the last time that your gym class got less expensive or a flight got less expensive or a workout? This is not the kind of stuff that falls easily. And that is why we call this sticky inflation.

It's gross. And this is one of the things that's causing it is AI, right? We're building out all those data centers, energy prices, electricity prices are up 6 percent.

For every 10 percent, an increase in hardware-related costs, and they're building out all those data centers, we add a point of inflation to that number. That isn't great news. And also, well, we've got to restock all the weapons that we've used in the war in Iran.

$88 billion worth, that is going to cause a lot of inflation as the economy continues to grow, Brianna.

KEILAR: Yes, that is a lot of money. David Goldman, thank you so much.

My CNN colleague Pamela Brown is just back after spending a few days aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln and the destroyer USS Frank E. Peterson, Jr.

[14:40:00]

The carrier strike group is near the Strait of Hormuz and a constant target of Iranian missiles and drones. In this exclusive report, Pamela gives us a behind-the-scenes look at the mission and the people entrusted with carrying it out.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): One fighter jet after another takes off from the USS Abraham Lincoln, overnight missions amid rising tensions with Iran. We're in the Gulf of Oman, near the Strait of Hormuz, aboard a ship President Trump says, has been attacked more than 100 times since the conflict began.

BROWN: And they have tried with missiles and with drones?

CAPT. DAN KEELER, COMMANDING OFFICER, USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN: Yes, everything they throw at us hasn't really gotten near us at all.

BROWN (voice-over): Earlier, we watched as missiles were prepped and loaded onto these fighter jets, the mission and active combat and defense as real as it gets.

BROWN: I want to show you these symbols right here. These are drones right here that this fighter jet has taken out during this conflict that started 5.5 months ago. These are missiles that have been taken out just by this fighter jet alone.

BROWN (voice-over): With the Lincoln under constant threat of attack, it's guarded by navy destroyers for protection. On a chopper headed to the Frank Petersen Jr. destroyer high above the Gulf of Oman, we get our first look at vessels headed toward the Strait of Hormuz.

BROWN: We've seen about five vessels so far, we are seeing maritime traffic, in fact, right here if you turn around, you can see, there's a ship right there passing by. That's about the sixth ship we've seen.

BROWN (voice-over): The traffic is lower now, as tensions rise again in the Gulf. Officially, the Navy reports 20 vessels around the strait as we head to the warship, the tip of the spear.

BROWN: We are the closest Navy ship to Iran right now.

CAPT. CASEY MAHON, COMMANDER OFFICER, USS FRANK E. PETERSEN JR.: Correct. You're right on the what we call the picket line, the firing line right now. So, if Iran were to attack the U.S. Naval forces, we'd be the first ones they'd be attacking.

But don't worry. Our radars are working. Our guns work. We have a lot of well-trained folks down below.

BROWN (voice-over): Threats are part of life here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you don't obey my order, you will be targeted.

BROWN (voice-over): Like when Captain Mahon led this ship through the Strait of Hormuz in April. Radio transmissions between the U.S. and Iran were released by Iran to its state media. Mahon confirmed to CNN an exchange like this did happen.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm ready to open fire on them without any warning.

BROWN: And so the Iranians were threatening.

MAHON: Correct, yes, yes. They told us, hey, you have to turn around within 30 minutes or we will open fire on you. We kept going, obviously. Had to go through what was potentially a minefield to get there --

BROWN: Yes.

MAHON: -- which was, you know, not something I had on my bingo card for things I would do in my life, go through a minefield.

BROWN (voice-over): The firepower aboard this ship is everywhere.

MAHON: We have this as our last-ditch defense.

BROWN (voice-over): Captain Mahon calls the shots from a command center several decks below.

BROWN: Just with Iran being to the north, they're always on the lookout for all kinds of threats. Have you had any close calls?

MAHON: My fight really starts at that Iranian coastline and comes all the way back. I don't wait for it to come to me. I go out and I try to meet that threat.

BROWN: You go out.

BROWN (voice-over): Back on the Abraham Lincoln, it can be tough to keep spirits high day in, day out for the nearly 5,000 people on board. Because of its limited port visits, the Navy considers this deployment among the longest consecutive days at sea for any aircraft carrier.

RANDALL STONE, WORKS IN HANGAR BAY: I mean, I haven't stepped off the ship in the year 2026.

BROWN (voice-over): Most have been here more than six months under constant threat and change and missing their families.

BROWN: What kind of toll does that take on you personally?

LT. CMDR. JOE CAPSTAFF, USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN: It's tough. I had my first kid born in February.

BROWN: Oh, wow.

CAPSTAFF: So I'm very excited to get home and meet her.

BROWN: You have never met your daughter?

CAPSTAFF: Nope.

BROWN: And she was born right around when this conflict started.

CAPSTAFF: She was born February 6, so I was able to get on FaceTime, watch the birth. I talked to my wife before everything went down, so.

BROWN: And you don't know when you will be able to do that.

CAPSTAFF: Nope. We will see, I mean, hopefully home soon. But, unfortunately, it's a common story on the ship, I think. You know, you get in the Navy, this is what you kind of sign up for.

BROWN (voice-over): Pamela Brown, CNN, USS Abraham Lincoln.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KEILAR: Our thanks to Pamela Brown for that very important reporting.

And still to come with Graham Platner out of Maine Senate race, Democrats there find themselves in a race of their own to replace him on the ballot. And the list of contenders is growing. We're going to talk to one of them next.

[14:45:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: The clock is ticking for Maine Democrats to find a Senate candidate to replace former primary winner Graham Platner. Platner withdrew as the nominee last week after a rape allegation tanked his campaign, an allegation that he denies. Maine Democrats now have about two weeks to find a new candidate to face off against veteran GOP Senator Susan Collins. A field of prospective replacements have emerged, including our next guest, Jordan Wood. Jordan, thanks for being with us.

You ran for a house seat in Maine's second congressional district. You came in third with 25,000 votes. Why do you think you can beat Susan Collins?

JORDON WOOD, (D) MAINE SENATE CANDIDATE: Well, I think -- thank you for having me. We are going into a perilous situation here in Maine where we need to decide a new nominee and put forward the candidate best positioned to take on Susan Collins. The stakes are too high for our country, our democracy.

[14:50:00]

And I believe that putting forward a candidate that both is able to continue on Graham Platner's, the platform and the agenda and the message that he ran on, but also able to very truthfully distance themselves from many of the scandals that have come out. And I'm uniquely in position to do that, I believe, because I was the first Democrat, the first prominent Democrat back in October, who saw early red flags that Graham might not be being truthful with us about his past. That the people around him, his consultants were not being truthful with him as to what exactly it would be like to run for the U.S. Senate and the stakes for it.

I was ultimately forced out of the U.S. Senate race because of that decision to speak out and switch over to the U.S. House race. But this is a moment of crisis. I believe that public service running for office is a calling. It is something that that you step up to do when the moment demands it.

And I think this is just another one of those moments.

KEILAR: You say you want to continue on with, I'm assuming, the part of Graham Plattner that people liked, right? He made a lot of appeals as an outsider. Mainers, obviously, they really like that.

They saw an oyster man. They saw a military veteran. They saw someone who portrayed themselves certainly as a straight talker who sort of said, you know, you don't know Maine.

He was saying he knew Maine. I mean, you may know Maine, but you do also know Washington. So I'm wondering, I know you said that you're an outsider, but I wonder how you make that case to Mainers when usually that outsider label is reserved for people who really are from outside Washington.

You've worked on Capitol Hill for two members of Congress. You've worked for multiple congressional candidates. You've worked formerly for the former California gubernatorial candidate Katie Porter, who was obviously formerly -- or when she was in Congress.

So talk to us a little bit about how you do make that case. I think that's going to be tough for some people to see.

WOOD: Yes, a great question. The reality is I ran for the U.S. Senate last April and our establishment told me to wait. They said, we don't -- not sure we want you to be the nominee.

And I said, I'm not expecting your support, but I'll earn it because we'll go and wage a campaign to win this primary. And so I have a record of standing up to the establishment. I also spent really much of my career fighting political corruption and changing the way that our politics works and that Congress works.

I helped start and lead a group called End Citizens United to get big and corporate money out of politics. Voters in Maine know that. They know that, yes, I have experience in Congress and in Washington, but that experience is about working to fix and change this rigged and broken system, which is very in line with a lot of the message that Graham delivered.

The other point I would make is that voters know this about me. I was in the Senate race for six months with Graham and we both campaigned on Medicare for All, universal childcare, putting conditions on any future aid to Israel, calling the genocide in Gaza what it is, that we need new leadership in the U.S. Senate. I believe it's time for Chuck Schumer to move on and pass the torch to new leadership.

I have aggressively supported getting rid of the filibuster because I have experience in Congress seeing how the filibuster has failed, been the reason we have failed to deliver democracy reform, voting rights, expanded health care, gun safety, so many issues.

(CROSSTALK)

KEILAR: You just said the establishment told you that they weren't going to get behind you and that you said that you would get their support.

WOOD: What I mean by that is that I decided last April to run for this seat because nobody else was stepping forward to do it. And I knew that the establishment was trying to clear the field for a candidate that they could pick. And that's not how the democratic process works.

And what is the best way for voters to have trust that the candidate coming out of a primary system is one that they back and they decide is by having multiple candidates go and work to earn the support. I mean, we've done that through the over 40 town halls we've had across all 16 counties. What my point is, is that the D.C. establishment, they do not -- should not be deciding democratic primaries. That should be left to the primary voters. The establishment, our national party, the DSCC, they should just be prepared to get behind whoever the main people vote to be their nominee.

KEILAR: So what about the money? Like you've raised a lot of money outside of Maine. In fact, you've raised significantly more money outside of Maine than inside of Maine.

[14:55:00] FEC data through May 20th shows $120,000 from Maine based donors, 287 from California based donors, more than double what you raised in Maine about from New York, about what you raised in Maine. Is that the kind of thing that that Mainers are OK with?

WOOD: Well, I think it matters is how do you fundraise? Where does that money come from? I've said from day one, this campaign will not accept money from corporate PACs, from lobbyists, from APAC. And that matters.

I mean, this is a campaign that is funded by regular people. And I'm proud of the support I've got right here in Maine. I mean, over 5,000 Mainers have donated to my campaign, 9,000 contributions from the state. And that may seem like not much, but we're a small state. But this is a very consequential, important federal race.

And we are going to need supporters from all over the country, people that understand what's at stake for our democracy, our country and the need to elect a Democratic majority that's going to stand up to Trump and deliver for the American people. So, you know, we can't do this alone. There isn't enough people in Maine, they could give all the money that they had.

We need people from everywhere to support it. But I'm very, very proud of how we fundraise on this campaign and the support that I've gotten right here in Maine.

KEILAR: Jordan Wood, thank you so much for being with us. Obviously, we were watching this race very carefully. Thanks for your time.

WOOD: Thanks for having me.

KEILAR: New Hour CNN News Central starts after a quick break.

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END