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U.S., Iran Trade Strikes: Is the Ceasefire Over?; Graham Platner Suspends Maine Senate Campaign in Response to Allegations. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired July 09, 2026 - 06:00   ET

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

AUDIE CORNISH, CNN ANCHOR: The U.S. military hit more than 90 military targets last night. President Trump posted these videos on Truth Social, showing some of the attacks.

[06:00:11]

And Iran's military is hitting back, claiming to have targeted U.S. Military bases in Kuwait and Bahrain.

The spokesperson for Iran's foreign minister sent a warning to Gulf allies and NATO leaders, writing on X, quote, "Those who provided their territories, military bases, and infrastructure to enable the aggression cannot evade responsibility for their contribution to an unprovoked aggression and its grave consequences."

To unpack some of this, we have Becca Wasser, defense lead at Bloomberg Economics.

Becca, thanks so much for being here.

So, first, I want to talk about who's aiming at what. What do you see in what the U.S. is targeting in terms of this kind of ceasefire falling apart?

BECCA WASSER, DEFENSE LEAD, BLOOMBERG ECONOMICS: Well, in the past two days, the United States has struck over 170 targets in Iran. Most of these have been along the Iranian coastline. It's been military sites, capabilities, and infrastructure needed to launch some of the attacks that we've seen Iran carry out against commercial shipping.

But I will say, in those 90 strikes last night, we did see a slight shift in the target set. And here we did see an expansion of the geography that the U.S. was hitting, as well as the U.S. striking two railway bridges.

And to me, that's a signal that the U.S. is trying to send to Iran to tell them that, if these strikes continue, and if things escalate further, the U.S. is going to go after infrastructure that is not only military in nature, but also civilian in use. And that puts us on a very different plane.

And then, you also have Iran continuing to strike at U.S. bases in the Gulf, particularly in Bahrain, Kuwait, and also now Qatar. But in many cases, these bases are co-located in populations and other civilian areas. So, it is really hard to disentangle what is a U.S. military facility from Gulf territory.

CORNISH: The Institute for the Study of War put out a new analysis yesterday, where their takeaway is that Iran is willing to return to a large-scale conflict with the U.S., if necessary, to secure its control over the Strait of Hormuz.

I want to ask you about that, because prior to this breakdown, we were still seeing attacks and little strikes on ships, nudging ships in the direction that they want them to go.

Is this about control of the strait and therefore leverage?

WASSER: I think, for both Iran and the U.S., it's about control over the strait.

I think, you know, that assessment is right. I believe Iran is willing to potentially go back to full-scale war, if control over the strait is in such dire question.

But that's not necessarily their preference. And they think that they can achieve what they need to without having to revert to that.

At the same time, the United States wants to ensure that there's the free flow of traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, specifically commercial traffic carrying oil and energy. That does not mean that the U.S. wants to go back to war either.

And both sides are really trying to use this to shape not only the negotiations, but also the outcomes of what it means for the strait to be open. And I think that's very much what we're seeing here.

And for now, I don't think either side wants to return to high- intensity conflict, which is why you're going to continue to see these kinds of tit-for-tat strikes, these -- this kind of skirmishing, which, frankly, has become a feature of the conflict rather than a bug.

CORNISH: Yes. You're the one who told me, I think, when you were sitting here, that this was more fire than cease. So, you've always looked at this as being very tentative.

But are you implying that this could be basically the new normal, this low-level skirmishing, rather than full-scale war or this thing ever coming to an end?

WASSER: This is the new normal. This is no war, but no peace either. And that's where we've been. And I think that's where we're going to continue to be.

That doesn't mean that there aren't risks for escalation. That doesn't mean that there's not going to be some of these close calls.

But right now, both sides, despite being frustrated with the other, are committed to not returning to full-scale conflict because, frankly, there is not much that either can achieve that they couldn't have gotten from those 39 days of fighting. So, if the U.S., for example, were to go back to all of its high-

intensity airstrikes against Iran, they're not going to get much from that.

CORNISH: Do you want another question, or are we done?

And we were -- Becca, I want you to stick around. Thank you so much for talking with us, because we are going to talk about the diplomatic part of it. But so much of this military aspect is driving the conversation. So, thank you for your time.

[06:05:10]

And coming up on CNN THIS MORNING, we're going to talk about the president's about-face on Iran. You've got folks at home, people like Joe Rogan fanning the flames of the MAGA rift over this war.

Plus, what President Trump says about Mitch McConnell's health as everyone looks for answers.

And Graham Platner drops out of the Maine Senate race finally, but not without a parting shot.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GRAHAM PLATNER (D), FORMER MAINE SENATORIAL CANDIDATE: A corporate media system and the political establishment got to act as judge, jury, and executioner.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:10:25]

CORNISH: We've got more breaking news this morning. Democrats in Maine scrambling to find a new candidate for the Senate race there as Graham Platner drops out.

The collapse of his campaign comes after allegations of sexual misconduct from several women, which caused a mass exodus of endorsements and contributions to the campaign.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PLATNER: We are suspending campaign operations. This is incredibly difficult, because I know that some will think it's an admission of guilt, and it most certainly is not. We're not doing it because of the allegations. We're doing it because of the structures that are being taken away from us by those in power.

And I also feel an immense amount of responsibility to everyone who has worked so hard to get us to where we are.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: So, what happens now?

Joining me in the group chat, Anna Kramer, reporter at "NOTUS"; Joel Rubin, former deputy assistant secretary of state in the Obama administration; Mike Dubke, former Trump White House communications director; and Meghan Hays, former Biden White House director of message planning.

So, first, I want to talk about just the dropping out. To begin with, this is not a campaign that had a lot of high-roller donors behind it. It had more small contributions. Is that correct, Anna?

ANNA KRAMER, REPORTER, "NOTUS": Yes, it is. And the reality is that now the folks who had endorsed Graham Platner, once they started pulling them, there's a lot of concerns, I think, that he just wasn't going to have the funding to keep going. It's not clear whether he actually wanted to drop out.

CORNISH: Which they raised themselves, I think, like a week and a half ago. They were like, gee, we really could use more money. And everyone was like, but is another shoe going to drop?

KRAMER: Exactly. And then the other shoe seems to have dropped, and the infrastructure sort of collapsed out from under him. So, now we have a problem where he doesn't have a choice but to drop out, regardless of whether that's what he wanted to do.

CORNISH: Like all Democratic political autopsies, this one is a vivisection. People are now looking at the strategists. Who brought this guy into Maine? Who recruited him?

"The Wall Street Journal" did an interview with some of the folks behind that back in June. I just want to play a sample for you. This is reporter Aaron Zitner, asking about the vetting process, which we all have questions about now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AARON ZITNER, WSJ REPORTER: Did the vetting process turn up the tattoo that became so controversial?

DANIEL MORAFF, SENIOR STRATEGIST, PLATNER CAMPAIGN: No.

ZITNER: The Reddit posts, did that turn up in the vetting process?

MORAFF: The firm sent us a thing, and it had some of the posts.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

MORAFF: I said, none of this will, or should, stop him from becoming a U.S. senator.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: Sounds like there's a lot more here than the tattoo, right? Which also was revealed by an ex-girlfriend.

I saw you scribbling up a storm, Joel. So, what are your thoughts here?

JOEL RUBIN, FORMER DEPUTY ASSISTANT OF STATE IN OBAMA ADMINISTRATION: I can't help it. Look, Audie, this is a fake candidacy. This was a fake candidate. There was no vetting process done. But that's because they did it as a pageant.

They brought in people to try to figure out who they could put in as their candidate, to carry a message. And so, what Daniel Moraff is pointing out there is, no, we didn't do vetting, because he wanted political vetting. He didn't care about the actual person himself.

CORNISH: I know. But just sometimes because something's bad doesn't mean it's malignant. I mean, is this just a bad campaign in the sense that it's not done well, not a malicious one.

MIKE DUBKE, FORMER TRUMP WHITE HOUSE COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: I am sorry. When you've got a womanizing Nazi, what could go wrong?

MEGHAN HAYS, FORMER BIDEN WHITE HOUSE DIRECTOR OF MESSAGE PLANNING: I mean --

DUBKE: Right? That's the original question here. And he proved it in his own text and ink on his body.

So, there is a -- there's a lot of questions to be looked at here.

I'm actually more interested -- and this is where I'd ask the reporters this question -- knowing that the date of July 13th was coming up, how many Democrats were leaking to reporters all the other things that they had found when they finally vetted the guy?

CORNISH: Yes.

DUBKE: Because I think there was a desperation by the Democratic Party to get this guy out. To me, that's the story. That's the --

CORNISH: Yes.

DUBKE: I was going to say "fun part." I don't mean that in a bad way. But that is the -- that is the more interesting.

CORNISH: But leaks sort of -- it's not a leak. It's just, like, the faucet.

HAYS: Yes. There was a lot of rumors swirling around that the Republicans were going to drop something after this.

DUBKE: No way.

HAYS: Yes, the July 13th date, so you couldn't replace them. But the fact of the matter is, is these are the same consultants that are bringing you Abdul El-Sayed in Michigan. They're the same people who are bringing you other candidates that are not vetted, because they think that, if you are online and you are popular online, that you are going to win people. And it is disgusting and gross. This person was bad from the

beginning. I have said it for months. He has no business being in the Senate. He has no business being on a campaign.

And the fact that the Democratic Party stood with him after the first allegations, and the men of the Democratic Party stood with him is disgusting. And the women are the only ones that stood up.

CORNISH: Can I add something here? Abdul El-Sayed is not facing any kind of allegation of sexual abuse.

[06:15:05]

HAYS: And he's an unvetted, untested candidate.

CORNISH: He's also a former public health worker.

RUBIN: Yes.

CORNISH: I just want to put that out.

HAYS: Totally fine, but the same --

CORNISH: I want to make sure that we are not taking a very serious allegation and smearing it across the entire slate. Because I think that is a question that has come up time and time again about Trump.

As we are talking today, a judge is trying to force the president to release payment that is due to her for a case that involved sexual abuse and then damages for defamation, saying she was lying about it.

So, this has been -- I'm watching all the cable shows, and it is a whataboutism waterfall of which men in which party are the ones that should be disqualified?

KRAMER: One thing I'd like to note, too, is that with the campaign moving forward now, our reporters have been talking to folks about how there's this fear that Graham Platner may sort of remain as a specter for the remaining candidates.

And there's this question of will the remaining candidates be tainted by association with him? Will whoever gets the nomination end up being someone who has to run away from his endorsement, even though he might want to endorse?

CORNISH: The answer is yes.

RUBIN: Yes.

CORNISH: I mean Mike. Mike, I'll just help you out here. The answer from Mike Dubke is yes.

HAYS: Did we not learn as children, two wrongs don't make a right? The Democrats don't -- didn't want to vote for Donald Trump because of all these allegations. They shouldn't have wanted to vote for a Democrat at the same token. RUBIN: Yes.

HAYS: So, how can we have it both ways?

RUBIN: I want to pick up on what Meghan is saying. Look, I think the whole ethical problem here for Democrats is that we've been spending years saying that we're not going to do what the Republicans did.

HAYS: Exactly.

RUBIN: We're not going to support a candidate who now is going to have to pay money to someone who he sexually abused.

But here we are, essentially, turning a blind eye to a candidate who -- and I've got to say, as a Jewish person, it really bothers me that the Nazi tattoo wasn't enough, that that wasn't somehow disqualifying.

And Senator Sanders, who I worked for as his Jewish director in 2020, you know, he pushed this candidate into the system.

CORNISH: Right.

RUBIN: This was not an endorsement.

CORNISH: And has now helped push him out.

RUBIN: This was a creation of Bernie Sanders. And I feel like he owes us all an apology for forcing a candidate like that into the system, who obviously backfired. And now it may blow up the chances to get that seat back, which is a highly winnable seat for Democrats.

CORNISH: OK. And I --

HAYS: Sabotage.

CORNISH: I hear you bringing the Sanders name and apology. You're the second person to say this on air to me, so --

RUBIN: Yes, we need that. We need that.

CORNISH: OK, you guys stay with me. Obviously, a lot to talk about.

After the break on CNN THIS MORNING, there is an outbreak of a parasite in Michigan, a stomach illness making more than a thousand people sick.

Plus, another landmark will bear the Trump name. What some Florida travelers are already noticing starting today.

And in the meantime, a live look at the Vegas Strip.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:22:02]

CORNISH: OK. It is now 21 minutes past the hour. Here are five things making news this morning.

Nearly 1,000 people diagnosed in the largest parasitic outbreak in Michigan history. It's an infection that causes weeks of watery diarrhea.

Similar outbreaks have been reported in 28 other states. The cause of the infection, frankly, it's hard to pin down, but the parasites usually spread through contaminated food.

Sources telling CNN that lawyers for several states now finalizing an antitrust lawsuit challenging Paramount's pending acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery. The suit claims the deal would harm competition across the entertainment and news industries.

A Paramount spokesperson responded, saying, quote, "We continue to engage constructively with regulators, including state attorneys general, and are prepared to address any legitimate antitrust issues."

The Justice Department cleared the deal last month, but federal clearance does not prevent states from bringing their own claims.

And, of course, Warner Bros. Discovery is a parent company of CNN.

And President Trump officially has an airport named for him. As of this morning, the Palm Beach International Airport becomes the President Donald J. Trump International Airport. The new airport code of "DJT" will take effect next month.

There are two separate lawsuits hoping to stop the name change.

And the White House announced a new network of gas stations that it says will offer lower prices. Twenty-five privately owned, quote, "Freedom Fuel" gas stations will be located in the Greater Philadelphia area and South New Jersey.

The one that opened on Wednesday initially sold gas for $3.47 per gallon, which a nod to Trump being the 47th president during his second term.

The price has already gone up at that location.

And many are still asking this morning, how is Senator Mitch McConnell's health? But don't ask President Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Have you spoken with Senator Mitch McConnell since his hospitalization?

TRUMP: No, I haven't.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How's he doing?

TRUMP: I have no idea. I have no idea how he's doing.

(END VIDEO CLIP) CORNISH: The 84-year-old has been hospitalized for three weeks. It's unclear why he was admitted or what his condition is.

Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear is now asking the senator directly to disclose more about his condition, writing a letter saying that Kentuckians are concerned.

And yesterday on the show, we displayed quotes from a Republican -- some Republicans, about Senator Mitch McConnell's stay in the hospital. One of them was mistakenly taken from a parody account on Twitter.

Now, obviously, we should not have done that, and we regret the error.

Straight ahead on CNN THIS MORNING, Iran concludes funeral honors for the late supreme leader just as strikes with the U.S. are ramping up. Is Tehran prepared for another wave of war?

[06:25:00]

Plus, Rahm Emanuel saying Democrats are at a crossroads. Is the party's divide over Israel getting deeper?

And the marathon funeral.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CORNISH: The marathon funeral of Iran's former supreme leader nearing its end, with his burial happening today.

Now the funeral procession has now moved to a city in Northeast Iran, the birthplace of Ali Khamenei. That is where he will be laid to rest.

[06:30:00]