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New Jersey ICE Facility at the Center of Debate Over ICE Immigration; Laos Cave Rescue Ends with Villagers Walking Out; Trump Kenya Pushes Ahead with Ebola Quarantine Facility for Americans; Remains Quiet on Iran Decision; Analysis of Iran Unearthing Its Huge Arsenal of Missiles; Talarico Working to Unify Texas Dems After Contentious Primary; Trump to Host Ceremony as Artists Quit Concert Series; Craig Ferguson: American on Purpose Premiers Tonight at 9. Aired 7-8p ET

Aired May 30, 2026 - 19:00   ET

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

[19:00:39]

JESSICA DEAN, CNN ANCHOR: You're in the CNN NEWSROOM. Hi, everyone. I'm Jessica Dean here in New York.

And tonight, protesters are gathered outside an ICE facility in New Jersey that has become a flashpoint for the debate on ICE and immigration, after lawyers for some detainees said hundreds inside were on a hunger strike over what they call inhumane conditions.

Earlier, a heavy police presence was sent in to deal with both ICE protesters and ICE supporters. And last night, tensions escalated when protesters threw can -- gas canisters and fireworks at officers escorting vehicles carrying employees out of that ICE facility.

Let's go now to CNN's Gloria Pazmino, who is there outside the facility.

What are you seeing right now, 7:00 p.m. on Saturday, Gloria?

GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. You know, Jessica, it's interesting. We have been here for a few days now and all day today. And the reality here is that things can change very significantly minute to minute. You know, right now we're seeing kind of a rush to move out a lot of supplies, food, water, and many of the supplies that the protesters have been having set up here for the past few days.

We just saw state police move towards this area, and there's now a rush to kind of clear this out. So you can see that crowd. Protesters are kind of, you know, walking all over the place as police move in. It's not clear to us just yet whether or not they're going to move this out in any significant way. And then, of course, across the street here, we have Delaney Hall Detention Center, which has been the center, the epicenter really in the last few days of these protests.

Detainees inside of the detention center, a hunger strike trying to bring attention to the conditions inside the facility. They say that they are being denied medical care. They have unacceptable conditions, bad food, lack of access to their legal counsel. And we can see law enforcement here has lined up to block the entrance to the facility. And they have been lining up here throughout the day.

Here on this side of the fence this is where the protesters have been gathering throughout the day. Sometimes the group is really large. They've lined up here and sort of chant and try to taunt the police officers. They gather here. Sometimes there's confrontations at the other end. It's really different from what we have seen over the past few days because now traffic is being kept away from this area. So the street is fully open and it's allowing people to kind of move more freely.

But having said that, you still see some confrontations between the protesters and the law enforcement officers who are here. I should say, in the past few days, we've seen a presence from federal law enforcement officials, but the officers who are here today are primarily state police and police from the local police departments here in the area. That's after Governor Mikie Sherrill said she wanted ICE to essentially take a step back from enforcement after some of the violent clashes that have been taking place here, particularly in the evening hours.

So as we go into tonight, the question is whether or not we're going to see similar clashes to what we have been seeing over the past few nights. Last night, a total of six people were arrested, five of them, according to the governor, were from outside of the state of New Jersey. She described them as extremist elements that had come into this area to protest. She, of course, said that that was taken away the focus from what's going on inside Delaney Center, which is what these protests have been about in the past few days -- Jessica.

DEAN: All right. Gloria Pazmino live for us in Newark. Thank you so much for your reporting.

And here to talk more about this, CNN's senior national security analyst, Juliette Kayyem. She's also former assistant secretary at Homeland Security.

Juliette, thanks for being here with us. New Jersey's governor wants to keep ICE agents separate from protesters. Do you think that's an effective way to try and keep de-escalate this situation?

JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Absolutely. I think she's exactly right. And at least what we can see from the reporting ICE is the focus of the protest.

[19:05:04]

ICE is running the facility. ICE might be responsible for concerns, deprivations in the facility. ICE is a -- is part of the Department of Homeland Security. It's a very complicated, you know, environment here because you just think of all the different aspects, you have state and local police under different authorities trying to keep protesters from being violent. You have protesters and counter protesters are two types of protesters, one who are protesting the facility in ICE, others that are protesting those who don't like ICE.

And then you have ICE, which is the focus of a lot, not just Democrats or liberals, a lot of concerns within the United States -- within the population about what they're doing. Why are they, you know, targeting just protesters, as we certainly saw in Minnesota? So I think these divisions are appropriate. Let people protest. We still have the First Amendment, but make sure that nothing escalates into violence that would harm ICE or any other law enforcement.

DEAN: Yes. And the governor also said that five of the six protesters that were arrested on Friday night came from outside New Jersey. What does that tell you?

KAYYEM: It's -- I don't -- I mean, it tells me I don't like this a lot. I mean, in the sense that there is -- there are accusations about what's going on in that facility that are illegal. I mean, in other words, what could be happening in that facility is not just this facility in New Jersey. It is a lot of ICE facilities. Suicides are up, deaths are up. Deprivations of -- or the way that these centers should be run, you know, are occurring.

We want to focus on that. When you have outsiders come in, you worry whether, and I don't know what side they're on because they could be on either side. They could be either on the anti-ICE side, that agitate and want violence to get the narrative, right, that the Trump administration is violent. The other is the pro-ICE elements. We saw lots of pro, you know, gun owners for Trump.

Those kinds of counter protesters who may want to escalate simply to get violence and say, look, none of these facilities are safe. So that's the challenge for the governor and local police.

DEAN: Yes. And this is a privately owned facility. How does that -- what kind of role does that dynamic play? Or does it have the same oversight as a facility owned by the government, run by the government?

KAYYEM: It should and generally it does. The government cannot get out of its legal, let alone moral responsibility, simply by subcontracting out to a private prison facility. We are seeing lots and lots of pushback to these big detention facilities in both red and blue neighborhoods. Because we don't know. No one knows how they're being run.

Generally, there are appropriate rules about access to these facilities, in particular ICE facilities. You can't go any time of the day. You have to show identification. Why are you there? Are you a lawyer? Are you a counselor? Are you a doctor? I mean, but these things generally are open to outsiders because we don't have, you know, like, black facilities, like, you know, in the United States. I mean, you have to be open.

The government cannot argue that a private facility that is being funded by the U.S. government is being staffed by the U.S. government and whose detainees are captured by the U.S. government somehow is absolved from the -- both the legal and as I said, you know, the sort of moral duties to open up and assess whether people are being harmed in them. The numbers aren't my numbers. The numbers are ICE numbers about the number of people that are

getting killed in these facilities, the number of people that are committing suicide. And now at least lawyers are claiming that there is a hunger strike. We were told that the new secretary, Mullin, was going to sort of calm things down. His language so far has not done that. And I would urge the White House that, you know, this doesn't benefit anyone as they've seen as what's happened in Minnesota, to address the substantive concerns that are going on in these detention facilities.

DEAN: All right. Juliette Kayyem, thank you. It's nice to have you. Thanks so much.

KAYYEM: Thank you.

DEAN: A shocking end in Laos as several villagers who were trapped in that flooded cave for more than a week just walked right out. Plus, President Trump and his administration remaining tight lipped as he -- on any decision really on the next steps with Iran. We'll discuss that.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:14:29]

DEAN: Four villagers have been freed after being trapped for more than a week in a flooded cave in Laos. The four men at the center of the rescue mission stunned a team that was preparing to go back in for them when they walked out on their own. Divers were gearing up to reenter the flooded cave, but after a day's long effort to pump water out, the men inside were able to escape on their own.

And the first of the five men who had already been found alive was brought out by rescuers. On Friday two others believed to have entered the cave system earlier than the five rescued men remain missing.

[19:15:00]

All of the villagers entered the cave over a week ago to look for gold, and then became trapped when heavy rain and flash flooding trapped them there deep inside.

CNN's Will Ripley has been reporting exclusively from the scene there in Laos and has more on this morning's extraordinary result.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We are just -- want to get you a little bit closer. Come on in here so you can see this incredible scene. They've just loaded two of the men I believe into these ambulances which are on standby. You can see they're carrying a third villager down now. So you can see the entire village is coming out here. People are recording with their phones. You've got smiles. You've got people with looks of absolute

astonishment because these men, they thought, everybody thought, they were going to need to be ushered out by this team of highly skilled international divers, and they climbed out on their own. They showed the world how it's done here in central Laos.

Obviously, there's a lot of medical care that they're going to need, which makes it all the more extraordinary that they crawled out of that cave, 260 meters, more than 850 feet, on their own, a testament to the hard work, the days of pumping water out of the cave, and that the rain has not fallen yesterday and hasn't fallen yet today. And here he is, getting in the ambulance on the way to the hospital. It's just an extraordinary ending to really an extraordinary story here.

These are some of the locals who've been gathering, some of the people who've been assisting with the search. You have dozens of people in this village, and we now have -- Kocha, is this -- I think Kocha is coming. This is the mother of one of the men who is rescued.

Hey, Kocha.

KOCHA OLARN, CNN PRODUCER: The mother of the last guy who just like sent to the hospital.

RIPLEY: Kocha, let's talk. Come on over here. You guys remember Kocha from yesterday. How are you feeling? Congratulations.

OLARN: She said, thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you for helping me.

RIPLEY: Thank you for helping me.

This is one of those moments, really one of those once-in-a-lifetime moments that you take a mental snapshot and you always remember. And that's just us standing here at the bottom of this mountain. You can only imagine what it was like for the rescuers from Thailand, from here in Laos, from all over the world.

And you can see these fellas now. You've got Robin there, who's from France, based in Indonesia. You've got Mikko, he's based here in -- here in Laos, based actually over in Thailand I should say.

Hey, guys. Can we talk to you? We're on live. Can I just -- can I just -- Joshua from Australia. Mikko. Robin. Holy molly. Congratulations.

ROBIN CUESTA, FRENCH RESCUE DIVER: I was very worried this morning that we had to extract them by diving because I don't think they would have made it alive. They could still like have a laugh and --

RIPLEY: They were laughing.

CUESTA: Yes, they were laughing and said like, oh, thank you. So I think that's strong guy.

MIKKO PAASI, FINNISH RESCUE DIVER: The fact that they actually crawled, they crawled out by themselves. That talks a lot about it. It's not -- it's quite physical.

RIPLEY: It's rainy season. This is the exact kind of storm that caused the cave to flood 11 days ago. This is why they got stuck down there. And now the storm is coming up again after an extraordinary two-day almost pause in the rain. It was supposed to rain yesterday. It was supposed to rain all day today, but it's just now starting to rain at 5:17 in the evening. And they are out, they're at the hospital getting the medical care they need. They're back with their families. We're going to wait for an update on the two that are still missing.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DEAN: All right, Will Ripley, incredible reporting. Thank you for that. And at this hour, there is still no update on those two villagers who remain missing.

New tonight, a source telling CNN a team of Americans arrived in Kenya today to run an Ebola treatment facility for U.S. citizens who may have been exposed to the deadly disease. A Kenyan court temporarily blocked plans for the facility this week, but the country's government appears to be moving forward with it anyway.

More than 1500 miles away from that facility is the center of the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where there are more than 1000 suspected cases and at least 230 deaths.

CNN's Clarissa Ward spoke with the head of the World Health Organization while he was on his way to visit that African nation.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Are you worried that this could spread to the level that we saw in 2014?

DR. TEDROS ADHANOM GHEBREYESUS, DIRECTOR-GENERAL, WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION: It depends on how we respond. If we move fast and we're asking the international community to move fast in terms of funding and others, we can stop it and the government can stop it. Communities can stop it. So it depends. If we don't take it seriously, of course it can outsmart us.

[19:20:02]

WARD: I have to ask you, the United States pulled out of the WHO in January, dismantled USAID last July. How has that impacted the response?

GHEBREYESUS: So first, we're working with the U.S. They're working with us. And second, they are putting resources. They're allocating a lot of money. So I'm glad to see this. And I can see commitment from all levels, starting from the highest to the technical people we meet on the ground. And that's very good. So working together, unity, solidarity is the key.

This virus cannot be stopped if there is a vacuum between us. When there are cracks in the solidarity, because solidarity is the best humanity. And I'm glad that U.S. is doing that.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DEAN: And our thanks to Clarissa Ward for that.

As we wait for President Trump to announce whether or not the U.S. has reached a possible deal with Iran, the secretary of defense says the military is ready to fight again if need be. We'll take you to the White House next.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:25:35]

DEAN: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth says the U.S. is preparing to resume fighting with Iran if needed. That message coming just a day after President Trump met with members of his National Security team, saying he would make a final determination on a memorandum of understanding with Iran. That deal would reopen the Strait of Hormuz in exchange for an easing of sanctions.

Let's bring in CNN's Julia Benbrook from the White House now.

And, Julia, we have not heard from the president on that issue since the meeting on Friday. So bring everybody up to speed on where the administration is, as they weigh what happens next with Iran.

JULIA BENBROOK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. President Donald Trump has been posting about various topics, but he has not specifically talked about this memorandum of understanding and where things stand now.

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, he did say that the United States would be ready to resume combat if needed. He added, though, in these recent remarks that right now Trump is, quote, "laser-focused" on coming to a deal with Iran and that talks so far have been productive.

I want to play you some of those remarks.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETE HEGSETH, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: I think they know where it needs to go. And I'm quite confident with this -- with our president, who makes nothing but great deals that ultimately it will be something he's proud to defend, that ensures that Iran, which everyone knows should not have a nuclear weapon, never does.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BENBROOK: But there are still a lot of questions about how and when a deal to end this conflict could come together. Just yesterday, Trump held a high level meeting here at the White House in the situation room with a number of advisers, including Vice President J.D. Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. And going into that meeting, Trump posted on his Truth Social site say that he planned to make a final determination on this tentative agreement. We have not heard an update since then.

An official did tell CNN in a statement. They said this, following that meeting, they said, "The situation room meeting has concluded and lasted approximately two hours. President Trump will only make a deal that is good for America and satisfies his red lines. Iran can never possess a nuclear weapon."

Now, sources have told our team that that memorandum of understanding would include a 60-day time frame to then address Iran's nuclear program, including the fate of the stockpile of highly enriched uranium.

But, Jessica, a lot of questions here. Just yesterday, we heard he planned to make a final determination. We're still waiting to hear. And then it was last week that he said that he wasn't in a rush to have a deal with Iran.

DEAN: All right, Julia Benbrook, with the latest from the White House. Thank you for that.

A new CNN analysis shows Iran is quickly digging out its vast underground missile arsenal, which was buried by American and Israeli airstrikes.

CNN's Tamara Qiblawi reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TAMARA QIBLAWI, CNN SENIOR DIGITAL MIDDLE EAST PRODUCER (voice-over): These are recent satellite images of Iran's missile bases taken after the start of the ceasefire with the U.S. and Israel. Dump trucks and excavators digging through piles of rubble along the mountainside but it's what lies beneath the surface that makes this significant.

A vast stockpile of missiles trapped by U.S. bombs and likely intact according to weapons experts, with satellite images showing Iran quickly regaining access to them, casting doubt on U.S. President Donald Trump's claims of having all but vanquished Iran's formidable rocket arsenal.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Their ability to launch missiles and drones is dramatically curtailed and their weapons factories and rocket launchers are being blown to pieces. Very few of them left.

QIBLAWI (voice-over): CNN previously identified a pattern of U.S.- Israeli strikes to put Iran's missile complexes out of commission, not by destroying them but by blocking the tunnel entrances leading in and out of them, leaving the rockets trapped inside and severely hampering Iran's ability to wreak havoc on U.S. allies in the region.

But that was only a temporary solution. Iran is already undoing the effects of that strategy. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has acknowledged that Iran has been repairing the damage. HEGSETH: You are digging out your remaining launchers and missiles

with no ability to replace them. You have no defense industry.

QIBLAWI (voice-over): But the recovery is widespread and it is happening quickly.

[19:30:01]

CNN looked at 69 tunnels across 18 underground missile bases, at least 50 of those access points appear to have been cleared and many others are being repaired.

Take this base in Western Iran. Just weeks ago, U.S.-Israeli fighter jets destroyed all four entrances to the underground complex, but now, two of them appear wide open.

The roads needed to wheel out its trapped rocket launchers repaved, and Iran is already in the process of clearing the remaining two. It has also repaired some of the more than a dozen craters left behind by U.S.-Israeli munitions. The craters indicate that a large amount of firepower was used to destroy just two tunnel entrances, and all Iran needs to reopen them, dump trucks and bulldozers.

As Iran rallies around the missiles that survived the war, weapons experts say, it will continue to come up with new ways to protect its arsenal from any renewed U.S.-Israeli bombing.

Tamara Qiblawi, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DEAN: And when we asked for comment, the Pentagon pointed to its earlier statement, "America's military is the most powerful in the world and has everything it needs to execute at the time and place of the President's choosing. We have executed multiple successful operations against combatant commands while ensuring the U.S. military possesses a deep arsenal of capabilities to protect our people and our interests."

When we come back here, how Texas Democratic Senate candidate, James Talarico is looking to win over Black voters who backed his primary opponent, Jasmine Crockett.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:36:15]

DEAN: It is a Texas-sized battle in the Lone Star state, as Democrats and Republicans kick into full gear ahead of the November election. Ken Paxton and James Talarico facing off for a U.S. Senate seat. There are challenges on both sides of the aisle.

On the Republican side, there is the issue with money, a race that could reportedly cost $130 million. Meanwhile, Democrats are trying to break a losing streak that's lasted more than three decades, and they are looking to a key group to help get it done.

CNN reporter, Patrick Svitek explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PATRICK SVITEK, CNN POLITICS REPORTER: James Talarico became the Democratic nominee for Senate in Texas nearly three months ago, but he is still working to unify his party after a contentious primary against Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett. A big part of that is courting the Black voters who strongly supported her.

Talarico, a state representative, has been meeting with groups of Black leaders in major Texas cities. He gave the commencement address at the oldest Historically Black College in the state, and he has released a plan to address maternal mortality, which disproportionately impacts Black women.

After Talarico won the primary, Crockett conceded and called on Democrats to unite behind all their nominees, but the two have yet to campaign together, and Crockett's team told CNN in a statement that Texas Democrats have a, "long road ahead to November."

The statement noted that three statewide candidates, including Talarico, are from Austin and said, "They'll have to do a lot of work outside of Central Texas and to resonate with constituencies across our state, which is one of the largest and most diverse in the world."

Talarico told us that he is taking that task seriously and that he takes responsibility for earning the, "trust and support of Black voters."

Why is this so important? If Democrats want to have any chance of flipping Texas, they need every vote they can get, especially from their base.

The state has not elected a democrat to statewide office since 1994.

DEAN: All right, Patrick, thank you so much for that.

And we are joined now by two Democrats, Bakari Sellers, CNN political commentator and former South Carolina State Representative, and Adam Mockler, who hosts "The Adam Mockler Podcast." Good to have both of you here.

Bakari, let's start first with you and let's stay in Texas for a second.

In that piece, we heard from a spokesperson for Jasmine Crockett saying that Texas Democrats will have to, in their words, do a lot of work outside Central Texas, calling the state one of the largest and most diverse in the world. So to you, what does that look like? And is that feasible to win those voters over?

BAKARI SELLERS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: It is definitely feasible. I think what it does look like is contrary to what a lot of my progressive, White liberal friends have been doing day in and day out for the past three, four decades, which is simply showing up in Black churches and doing fish fries and showing up at HBCU games, you know, after Labor Day of election year.

I think James has a unique opportunity to do something different, which is engage instead of just engaging Barack Obama and Beyonce and having people put on a hat and a t-shirt. And by the way, I love both Barack and Beyonce. I don't want them in my inbox or their fans in my inbox.

You know, not focusing on the grass tops, but focusing on the grassroots, not focusing on the preachers, but focusing on the pews.

He has to spend the hundreds of millions of dollars that he will have building infrastructure in those places that really matters and hoping that his message resonates, and actually meeting and listening to voters across Texas.

DEAN: Yes, and Adam, AXIOS this morning called the Senate race the ultimate test of whether the GOP's anti-woke strategy can work. We have seen Ken Paxton and Republicans already trying to paint Talarico as extreme, as super woke, in their words. Do you think that's going to be a -- I mean, listen, it worked in 2024 with that ad. Remember the ad that the Trump campaign played against kamala Harris on transgender issues? Do you think that will work again?

[19:40:10]

And do you think the Talarico's campaign is prepared to push back on that effectively?

ADAM MOCKLER, HOST, "THE ADAM MOCKLER PODCAST": Well, it is a strategy that does work, but I think the Republicans are going to struggle to find any moral high ground in this specific race when Ken Paxton is such a uniquely weak and scandal-plagued candidate.

Right now, the Talarico campaign has done a great job of highlighting the specific case where Ken Paxton let a pedophile walk after 29 days when he was supposed to get 25 years to life in prison. So with all of this, I want to not even call it dirt, this is the reality of it, with all of this behind Ken Paxton, I struggle to see how the Republican Party is going to paint James Talarico making some cringey comments in 2020 as equal.

Now, I see the discourse online. They are doing a really, really good job of putting up this offense against Talarico, but we should have Republicans on their back foot every single day explaining for Ken Paxton's past.

DEAN: Yes, Bakari, do you think that Democrats can do that and can they effectively stay on that message and push back effectively on those criticisms?

SELLERS: I mean, that is me and Adam's task. I mean, me and Adam's task is to tell, you know, you know, Texas voters in the country, you know, the closest thing to Ken Paxton is probably Matt Bevin, where we saw somebody like Andy Beshear, who is a very talented Kentucky governor win that seat.

He is just -- he is not someone who comes to the standard in terms of character, of being a United States senator. I mean, he may be President of the United States talking about character, but not a United States senator, and that's our task. That's what we should do daily. That's what people should go out and do daily.

James Talarico needs to go out and tell voters what he is going to do for them. People are tired. Democrats do this weird thing where we try to tell voters about Republicans as if they can't read. We have to tell voters what we are going to do for them. That is the challenge that Democrats have to meet. And honestly, going into November, we haven't done a great job of defining that just yet.

DEAN: And you're both talking about character and using that as a comparison. I do want to ask about the new reporting from "The Wall Street Journal" and "The New York Times" surrounding the main Democratic Senate candidate, Graham Platner, who allegedly sent sexually explicit messages to women during his marriage. The campaign providing the statement to CNN tonight from Platner's wife, Amy Gertner, in part, "I confided deeply personal details about my marriage to someone I considered a friend. I am deeply hurt by her betrayal and the invasion of our privacy. Our marriage today is stronger than ever before. I know who Graham is. I know the man I married and the husband he has been to me on the best and worst days of my life. That hasn't changed and it won't."

Adam, look, this is the latest thing in in the story of Graham Platner that we can kind of go through all the other ones, but add this to the list. What -- you know, what do Democrats do about this? And is this cause for concern for Democrats?

MOCKLER: I mean, of course, it is a cause for concern. At the end of the day, it is going to be up to Maine voters. I live in Chicago, so I don't have much say on this election. But if Republicans main attack is going to be that we can't have an outsider, populist candidate who is plagued with scandals in his past, I would just point to basically every single candidate they've been running in the MAGA universe for the past decade or so.

But of course, it is not ideal. We want a very electable candidate. I am not sure if the article was clear whether or not he cheated on his wife, or whether they were just texts before the marriage happened. But either way --

DEAN: It was during the marriage. It was during the marriage.

MOCKLER: During the marriage?

DEAN: Yes.

MOCKLER: It is not good. It is not good. Yes.

DEAN: Bakari, this comes after --

SELLERS: Yes, Adam, don't die on that hill, brother. That ain't the hill to die on, my brother.

DEAN: Yes, it comes after we had our own KFile reporting that he had called himself a communist, that he had denigrated police. He had obviously disavowed those posts afterward; comments where he criticized rape victims, where he had to ask for forgiveness and say he regretted and covered this symbol on his chest, a tattoo that resembles a Nazi symbol.

There is a long list of these things. Is this something you think Democrats are prepared to defend going into the fall?

SELLERS: I mean, you have to be, because were in the mud right now and I hate being in the mud. In fact, in South Carolina, we had this saying that you never wrestle with a pig because you both get muddy and the pig likes it, but here we are. I mean, Donald Trump has just driven the discourse, the culture, the ethics, the morals of this country into a universe where we never thought it is kind of beneath, beneath where we think we should hold our elected officials to be.

[19:45:10]

Graham Platner is not a good candidate. I mean, I will be honest with you. I mean, h is just not.

In the game of politics, do you want to elect more people than they have? The answer is yes. And so we have to reckon with that. But if Democrats can't just come out and simply say that Graham Platner is not a good candidate, then we are going to lose the -- we might win a battle, but we will lose the war.

People want honesty. They want authenticity. We deserve to win Maine. I mean, he is a better candidate than the alternative. That says something about the alternative in Maine. But to be completely honest, I am going with the words of his wife on this particular issue. But everything else in his past, I mean, I need him to have a better understanding of who we are as a country. He needs to have a, for lack of a better term, come to Jesus, and there has to be an understanding.

But Democrats, we cannot -- we cannot allow them to drag us to where they are. I think the country is tired of it, and they're ready to turn the page.

DEAN: And Adam, just lastly to you, on that point, do you think essentially the argument is well, it is if you're a Democrat, like the two of you are, it is worth it to win that battle to even if, in Bakari's words, this isn't a great candidate, that it is okay for these things, for this to be the candidate, to be representative of the Democratic Party.

MOCKLER: It is not that its entirely okay and young men like me shouldn't be looking to people like this for moral leadership. But were in a race right now where its him versus a Republican, and he is a better candidate than the Republican.

I think the problem here, the one -- I agree with everything Bakari said. The problem is that he is not even as bad of a candidate as you're painting him. I know that he has got all of these problems in the past with electability, but he is now a unique populist in the Democratic Party who has got this deep voice and this masculine image and a captivating backstory and something about that is enough to overcome this past.

I feel like in his political campaign, there is a concession that he is an average guy with a plagued past and now, we are seeing that come out and that's not that Democrats should defend this past or stoop down to this level, but I think that's part of the concession of the candidate as a whole.

So the weird like Schrodinger's candidate here is that he is simultaneously resonating with a lot of voters in Maine and across the country, but also simultaneously got this really checkered past, it is very hard to defend.

DEAN: All right, Adam and Bakari, always great to have both of you. Thank you so much for your time. I really appreciate it.

SELLERS: Thank you.

MOCKLER: Thank you.

DEAN: President Trump says forget musicians. He could headline the Freedom 250 event after artists bailed. We will have details on that just ahead.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

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[19:52:18]

DEAN: Americas 250th Birthday celebration has a new host, President Trump. That's after many of the artists booked to perform dropped out this week.

Earlier, Trump said performers who quit were getting the yips at what is being billed as the Great American State Fair. And earlier, I spoke with Dominic Patten, the executive editor of "Deadline Hollywood" about the artists cancelling.

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DEAN: Martina McBride, who was one of those artists, said in a post. She said, "I was presented with an opportunity to perform at a nonpartisan event, but that turned out to be misleading." How did this all happen?

DOMINIC PATTEN, EXECUTIVE EDITOR OF "DEADLINE HOLLYWOOD": Well, I think it happened -- that usually happens with these MAGA events, which is it was all put together at the last minute and it was all done with no thinking about who would be a hit. There was no, for instance, no one thought to invite Bad Bunny. You know who they all complained about being at the Super Bowl, saying it was a DEI thing. But of course, he is one of the biggest artists in the world. It makes absolute sense to have him a big event like that.

No, instead they went with, well, you know what? Our "Deadline's" Glenn Garner wrote about Trump's remarks on this today, but actually Matt Walsh, no big, non-fan of MAGA said, you know, that they invited a bunch of absurdly washed up, geriatric one-hit wonders and when that didn't pan out, they tried to turn this into a Trump rally.

So ultimately, maybe that was the real goal was to self-sabotage with this. But when you have loyal Donald Trump fans like Bret Michaels, formerly of Poison or still of Poison, you know who was on "Celebrity Apprentice," when you have him dropping out and people like that, this is just falling apart very quickly.

I was surprised that we didn't see Lee Greenwood on this, because he has been in almost every Trump event and what have you. Maybe they will try to resurrect it because right now, this is yet another embarrassment in their alternative America 250 that's coming against the nonpartisan committee that's put together various events, just like they did at the 1976 Bicentennial. But that doesn't seem to be what the Trump people want.

They want it to be a glorious celebration of El Presidente, and that is not working out.

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DEAN: And that was Dominic Patten. Thanks again for joining us, Dominic.

Tonight on CNN, see what it means to be an American through the eyes of a new American. Comedian, Craig Ferguson hits the road from coast- to-coast, uncovering what makes our country tick.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right, let's give the painting a try.

CRAIG FERGUSON, COMEDIAN: All right.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You see this line?

FERGUSON: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Angle it up. That works.

FERGUSON: I feel like, I look at it, and all I can see is this line sticking out of it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Step back. A lot of times, especially when you're at a wall, you've got to step back and look at it.

FERGUSON: You know what? It is okay. Yes, I feel like it is all right.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it is cool, man.

FERGUSON: Yes. I feel like it gave a little -- it gave a little thing. This is my -- I did this now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, it is a collaboration.

FERGUSON: With graffiti art in particular, I think it is such an American form of art because it starts like -- it starts out like you're a bunch of outlaws.

Like you're the founding fathers.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sure.

[19:55:12]

FERGUSON: It is a revolution. Everybody's like, oh, these guys are bad and it is all going to end badly. And then slowly over time, it becomes this multibillion dollar business.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Absolutely! It changes the whole world.

FERGUSON: Yes, there you are. There you are. I love it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: You can tune in tonight at 9:00 to the new CNN original series, "Craig Ferguson: American on Purpose." It is only here on CNN and tomorrow on the CNN app.

Thank you so much for joining me this evening. I am Jessica Dean. I am going to see you again tomorrow night starting at 5:00 P.M. Eastern.

"Real-Time" with Bill Maher is headed your way, next. Have a great night everyone.

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