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Neighbors Report Seeing McConnell Put in Ambulance on Stretcher; Israel Warns U.S. of Iran Plot to Assassinate Trump; Kylie's Meta Collaboration Sparks Backlash. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired July 10, 2026 - 06:00   ET

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

BRAD SMITH, CNN ANCHOR: People in California, but not in a good way. This peach truck, it lost some of its fruit on the roadway and caused a major traffic jam.

[06:00:10]

The peaches were eventually pushed to the median, and the lane was thankfully reopened. As if there's not enough that L.A. drivers have to deal with.

That does it for CNN HEADLINE EXPRESS. I'm Brad Smith. CNN THIS MORNING with Audie Cornish starts right now.

AUDIE CORNISH, CNN ANCHOR: All right. We've got new video just into CNN, showing the moment Mitch McConnell was taken to the hospital a month ago. It's bringing up questions about transparency surrounding his health.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's obviously not doing well, but don't know if he's alive or has passed away.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: And Israel shares intel of an Iran plant -- plan to assassinate President Trump. Does that explain the plane switcheroo and the renewed strikes by the U.S.?

Urgent work continues to save that buckling building in New York from partial collapse. Is the timeline too ambitious?

And from hot girl summer to hot surveillance summer. Is Meta trying to sweep privacy concerns under the rug by making Kylie Jenner the face of its new A.I. glasses?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do not buy the Kylie Jenner Meta glasses. Don't buy them. Point blank, period. They are manufacturing consent.

(END VIDEO CLIP) CORNISH: So, this is new and exclusive video just into CNN. It's showing the moment a month ago that Senator Mitch McConnell was loaded into an ambulance.

Now, his current health status remains in question.

Good morning, everybody. I'm Audie Cornish, and we want to start with the discussion about the former Senate leader's health.

CNN has exclusively obtained video of the moment that the Kentucky Republican was taken by ambulance from his home. This happened on June 14.

Neighbors saw the senator being loaded into an ambulance on a stretcher. Two ambulances, a fire truck, and Capitol police officers were also seen blocking off the street.

Now, the face of the person isn't visible in the video, but one neighbor told CNN that an eyewitness saw McConnell's face.

Now, this is new detail around McConnell's hospitalization, which has been a mystery so far. Many Republican lawmakers on Capitol Hill say they've been kept in the dark.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. BRETT GUTHRIE (R-KY): We haven't spoken directly. I've text with him, and I've talked to people with his office and his staff. And, you know, I don't know much more than what the public knows.

SEN. MARSHA BLACKBURN (R-TN): I have not had any conversations with him. I understand that some of my colleagues have. We wish him a speedy recovery.

REP. MARLIN STUTZMAN (R-IN): Yes. No, no, I have not heard from him. And I think it's a question that Republicans should be asking.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you know that he's alive?

STUTZMAN: I don't. You know, just the things that I've heard and seen from some friends is that he's obviously not doing well, but don't know if he's alive or has passed away.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: So, joining me now in the group chat, Elliot Williams, CNN legal analyst and former federal prosecutor; Terry Schilling, president of the American Principles Project; and Lulu Garcia-Navarro, CNN contributor and "New York Times" journalist.

One of the reasons why people are talking about this, political people are talking about this in a kind of ghoulish way, frankly, is that the Kentucky Senate vacancy law, meaning what do you have to do if suddenly a Senate seat is open?

Well, there's a special election. The governor has to call for it. And the seat has to be empty until a winner is certified.

So, the idea is that the clock is somehow ticking on if, suddenly. there's an open seat in Kentucky, whether it can be filled.

What I don't know is why Republicans are kind of leading the charge online, talking about this. This is Nancy Mace in a social media post: "If McConnell is in as bad a shape as Biden ever was, or worse, he needs to step aside. This charade can't continue. We can't demand of others what we won't demand of ourselves."

TERRY SCHILLING, PRESIDENT, AMERICAN PRINCIPLES PROJECT: I think this is all getting kind of crazy, frankly. I can speak a little bit to this personally.

When my dad was running for Congress in Iowa, Western Iowa, in 2020, he was diagnosed with stage four intestinal cancer. And we made the decision that, since it was an ongoing election, to come public and disclose everything.

The reality is, is that I think McConnell is doing fine. Scott Jennings has backed up that he's completely fine, and he's coherent.

CORNISH: But don't skip over that. You said, "We made the decision to be public."

SCHILLING: Because there was a pending election that voters were going to make a decision on.

But you look at what's happening in the Senate right now. They're not doing anything of substance. There's -- there's not going to be a SAVE Vote Act. It looks like they don't need his vote right now.

[06:05:00]

He's announced his retirement. He's being replaced by, most likely, Andy Barr in Kentucky. It will be exciting to see.

But I think this is much ado about nothing. I think we should let -- give him the grace and give him some privacy. He'll come out when he is -- when he feels comfortable.

ELLIOT WILLIAMS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Can I ask a question? If you're a resident of the state of Kentucky and need help getting a passport with the State Department, who do you call?

SCHILLING: You call Senator Mitch McConnell's office. You -- oh, please, the Senate staff. Everyone knows that the Senate staff is really where the magic happens and makes it all work.

WILLIAMS: I think. Well, no, no, but I just -- I just think the notion that, because there is not a major piece of --

CORNISH: Fighting legislation.

WILLIAMS: Fighting legislation that's a priority to Republicans, that somehow, the residents of the state of Kentucky aren't entitled to -- aren't entitled to know, No. 1, what the health status is of one of the most senior senators in the United States.

CORNISH: Yes.

WILLIAMS: And two, the fact that there isn't an election somehow obviates the senator from one transparency or to doing his job.

CORNISH: There's probably a trust issue, too, because I think during -- when McConnell was a leader, he was someone who manipulated the calendar a lot, somebody who would delay votes for this reason or that reason, most famously, when it came to the Supreme Court.

Meghan McCain weighed in, as well. Another child of a politico, saying, "I also have a lot of regrets almost a decade since my dad's passing. My family should have forced him to step down the second he was diagnosed, which is why I'm now an advocate of age and term limits in politics. I also sincerely hope Senator McConnell, OK."

What struck me there was the word "forced."

LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Yes. This is two things. And you have the experience of having it be both a political matter and a personal matter.

Everyone, as a personal matter, has had to deal with aging parents who you have to take their car keys away and --

CORNISH: Yes.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: -- and have that difficult conversation. They have to decide what they're going to do when they -- you know, if they're going to go into special facilities, et cetera, et cetera.

When it becomes more than that, it's when it's a political matter and not just about the election, but about transparency.

And I do take the point that, at this point, if -- if Mitch McConnell is well enough to be gabbing to Scott Jennings, he should be well enough to call in to CNN or to "The New York Times" or to FOX News or whatever, to -- to show that he's OK.

And the fact that he hasn't done that is quite -- quite frankly, leading to these conspiracies.

SCHILLING: If I could, because, again, I think there's a charitable way to read this, especially if you know Mitch McConnell.

He is a very strong man. He does not like being told what to do, especially by public pressure.

CORNISH: Yes.

SCHILLING: He -- he works on his own time frame. And so, I think you've got to give it to him. Give him a few days, take it -- take a deep breath. CORNISH: But let me play for someone you pointed out this week who you

could describe very similarly, the former defense secretary, Lloyd Austin. When he went to the hospital for his treatment, it became quite the scandal for Republicans.

And in the end, he came out, more or less kind of apologized. And I want to play for you the lesson that he took away from that moment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LLOYD AUSTIN, FORMER SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: I don't think it's news that I'm a pretty private guy. I never liked burdening others with my problems. It's just not my way.

But I've learned from this experience, taking this kind of job means losing some of the privacy that most of us expect. The American people have a right to know if their leaders are facing health challenges that might affect their ability to perform their duties, even temporarily.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: "Even temporarily." Also notice, he said, the loss of privacy is part of the gig.

And I just want to put up some images here, in memoriam. These are lawmakers who have died while they were holding office since 2024. And you pointed out many of these names.

SCHILLING: A lot of Dems up there.

CORNISH: A lot of "D's."

WILLIAMS: Well, it's a lot of old people.

CORNISH: Yes.

WILLIAMS: I mean, I think let's just -- We should also discuss the fact that the United States Senate is a gerontocracy. It is. Well, it is.

CORNISH: I think the reason why people are discussing is because the Biden thing --

WILLIAMS: Yes.

CORNISH: -- was like a big wakeup call where everybody was questioning, and Republicans are still questioning.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Can we talk about the Trump thing? I mean, this is the other thing.

CORNISH: Yes.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: We don't know what President Trump actually is suffering from. What are his swelling -- SCHILLING: What are you talking about?

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Well, there's a lot of --

CORNISH: There's -- we have done many segments on the rumors about various health issues.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: About various health issues where doctors speculated, with has swollen ankles, you know, the continued bruising on his arms, like -- on his hands.

I mean, there are lots of questions about, when -- when people get to a certain age. I mean, let's be honest. I mean, he's 80. Mitch McConnell is -- how old is Mitch McConnell now?

SCHILLING: He should be in his 80s. I don't think --

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Yes, he's in his 80s. I mean, obviously, Biden was also in his 80s. I mean, you start to have serious health concerns.

And my point about this, more broadly, is I think the more general point, which is about transparency and what do you owe the voting public about --

CORNISH: What do you owe?

GARCIA-NAVARRO: What do you owe the voting public about your health?

CORNISH: And here's a fact I owe all of you. He's 84.

[06:10:03]

SCHILLING: Eighty-four.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Thank you.

CORNISH: But I have to be honest. One of the things that happened with Biden and Trump was this idea of, like, well, there's a vigorous and, you know, still operating 80-something. And then there's, like, a deteriorating something.

And I think what the audience and voters want to know is, are we all on the same page about when it's OK not to say anything --

WILLIAMS: Yes. Yes.

CORNISH: -- about what's happening? And the answer is sounding more and more like no.

WILLIAMS: Well, yes. And moreover, I think a lot of people showed their behinds about Bidens age. I mean, I think we went through -- people don't remember, there was a year-long debate about Joe Biden being unfit for the presidency.

CORNISH: Right.

WILLIAMS: Which was right for us to have as a nation, because it was clear the president was not fit.

This is an individual who is, No. 1, one of the senior leaders on the Appropriations Committee, a former Senate majority leader and a representative serving the state of Kentucky.

And I think it's a reasonable question to ask, is this individual fit to serve? And are all the people who are out there vouching for his health creating problems for themselves?

CORNISH: Later on.

WILLIAMS: Later on, by being on the record about it?

CORNISH: All right.

WILLIAMS: Correct.

CORNISH: Let me follow up on something else quite serious. Coming up on CNN THIS MORNING, is Iran looking to assassinate President Trump? This was the warning from Israel to tip off the White House.

Plus, extreme heat fueling dangerous and deadly wildfires in Spain.

And where will LeBron go? The odds on Kalshi say there's a greater than 60 percent chance he heads to Cleveland, followed by the Heat and Warriors. We're going to tell you what Charles Barkley thinks.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHARLES BARKLEY, SPORTS ANALYST/FORMER PROFESSIONAL BASKETBALL PLAYER: He should go back to Cleveland and finish his career there. If he goes to Philly, there's people going to say he's ring-chasing to catch Michael. If he goes to Golden State, they're going to say he's ring- chasing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:16:22]

CORNISH: So, an alleged plot by Iran to assassinate President Trump, uncovered by Israel. Sources tell CNN they shared the intelligence with the United States this week.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: I'm No. 1 on the kill list for Iran. They're lovely people. I'm No. 1. I may be gone, too, because I'm their No. 1 target. It's out all over the place. I'm their No. 1, because they're scum.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: Now, during funeral processions for the former Iranian leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, a hardline Iranian newspaper put a $100 million bounty on Trump's head.

And there were countless banners calling for the president to be assassinated, along with other U.S. politicos like Senator Lindsey Graham.

Graham posted this photo on social media, remarking, "At least they used a good photo of me."

Joining the group chat, Holly Dagres, senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

Obviously, the U.S. and Israel were able to take out whole tiers of leadership in Iran. So, talk about how serious this assassination threat is, could have been based on what you're reading on the sources.

HOLLY DAGRES, SENIOR FELLOW, WASHINGTON INSTITUTE FOR NEAR EAST POLICY: Well, first, we should start by saying that this was related to the targeted killing of Quds Force Commander Qasem Soleimani by a U.S. drone strike in Baghdad in 2020.

So, these calls for an assassination of not just President Donald Trump, but senior U.S. officials that were in the first Trump administration: then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, national security adviser John Bolton, among those. And actually, there have been two plots that were foiled related to the latter two.

So, this isn't entirely new. But to your point, I mean, this is right now happening after a three-month war.

CORNISH: I do want to raise something, which is that the people who have been very critical of this war and critical of the U.S. and the Netanyahu and Trump relationship, have kind of questioned intel from Netanyahu, for example, on nuclear breakout periods or something like that.

I want to play for you. This is Hillary Clinton. This is many weeks back, but she was talking about what it was like to deal with Netanyahu when she was secretary of state. And it's relevant here. Let me play it for you.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON, FORMER U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: I remember one day I was on the phone for hours with Ehud, with Bibi, with others, you know. And they would say things like, you know, our planes are on the tarmac.

And I'd say, Well, good luck. I mean, great. Why are you doing this?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're saying you were -- they were -- you were -- you were being played?

CLINTON: All the time.

(END VIDEO CLIP) CORNISH: Can you talk about this in this context? I think where people are speaking about Netanyahu and Israel with suspicion.

DAGRES: Well, we've seen incidents where the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has been speaking to an audience of one, which famously in 2018, right before President Donald Trump withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal, Netanyahu did this very well-known presentation in English, of course, about new findings that Mossad had found from some files they had stolen from an undeclared site.

But even though it wasn't exactly new information, the fact that this had been presented was really what sold President Trump to decide that he was finally going to withdraw from the nuclear deal in May of 2018.

So, I think that a lot of questions are arising in this moment, because it's clear that the goals that the Israelis had for the war hadn't been met, but had to be deterred because of the ceasefire. And there's an understanding that there's still unfinished business with Tehran.

[06:20:04]

CORNISH: I know it's been actually hard for you, because you have a lot of family and connection to Iran. We've been seeing these images of people mourning the death of the supreme leader.

But this is a dictatorship with -- that had a severe and violent crackdown of protests. What is the feeling for people who didn't have to make their way out into those streets?

DAGRES: Well, you know, ironically, this past week marked the six- month anniversary of the January anti-regime uprising that resulted in the deaths of thousands of protesters. And so, a lot of those Iranians were honoring their memory, the people that could afford to in the capital of Tehran, where much of the main procession was happening for Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's death was -- people took it as an opportunity to leave, to go to the North or Caspian Sea.

And so, those people were not on the streets. They were not. And if you were an anti-regime protests or lost a loved one, I remember some of the commentary after the Internet blackout ended was, oh, well, you didn't let us bury our loved ones, but it took you many months to bury your own, meaning the supreme leader. So, I think that really tells a lot about this moment.

CORNISH: Are people still scared?

DAGRES: They're scared for many reasons, Audie. They're scared because they don't know where their future is, because they don't -- if you're an anti-regime Iranian, you don't want this regime.

And you had the United States arguably say that help was on the way. That is, President Donald Trump, and that this was a regime change, or at least initially.

And then to see that this is a more emboldened regime, one that, surprisingly, has more support from people that are critics of the war.

And -- but also there's a worry: like, what if this war does continue? Their lives have gotten effectively worse. Economy's in shambles. They're saying they haven't seen numbers like that since the Iran-Iraq war.

And so, if you're a young Iranian, you feel like your future -- there isn't really one. So, this is where Iranians are feeling, at least in this moment. I would say.

CORNISH: OK. Holly, thank you so much for talking to us in this inflection point. We'll have you back soon.

DAGRES: Thank you.

CORNISH: Now, after the break on CNN THIS MORNING, we're going to talk about the worker who saved a New York City high rise from collapse. They're speaking out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In this situation. They're calling me a hero. I don't believe I am.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: The job isn't done yet, however. Can workers save the building from partial demolition?

Plus, Meta bolsters privacy features on its secret recording Ray-Ban glasses. Will that make them any less creepy?

And a live look at the White House. The president's next construction project, the White House columns. You can see already they are covered with scaffolding.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:27:07]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KYLIE JENNER, REALITY TV STAR: Hi, I'm Kylie Jenner, the new voice of Meta A.I. Hey, Meta A.I., is that a chicken?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: OK, Kylie Jenner. As she says, the new face and, it turns out, voice of Meta A.I. glasses. But, as everything with the Kardashians and A.I., comes the backlash.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There's a way for you to tell, usually, if somebody is filming on their phone. With the glasses, there is no way for you to tell. And they are trying to get women more and more comfortable with that.

So, enter Kylie Jenner with this very cute pair of glasses.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This collaboration with Kylie ultimately is roping in women consumers.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To me, it's almost as if Meta is saying, like, OK, these creepy men are recording you, but hey, you can record them right back.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: All right. Needless to say, seems to be some real concerns. Turns out users can actually tamper with that LED light on the glasses, so you wouldn't know if you were being recorded.

So, now Meta is trying to address some of those concerns, saying it's rolling out a new update that will turn off the camera if users turn off the privacy light.

So, we're talking about all of this on this week's "Engagement Party." So, joining the group chat, Ari Shapiro, my co-host of "Engagement Party."

So, we were joking about the various tiers of people who hate this.

ARI SHAPIRO, CO-HOST, "ENGAGEMENT PARTY": Yes. This intersects with a lot of different backlashes.

CORNISH: It does.

SHAPIRO: All going on at once.

CORNISH: But also, there are some people who might make use of them. Help me understand why it's such a big thing online.

SHAPIRO: All right. Well, first of all, you've got the A.I. backlash. You've got the tech billionaires backlash. You've got the surveillance technology backlash.

So, this is kind of summed up by people who are online calling this either Cybertrucks for the face, or there was another line I saw that: was the biggest advance in pervert technology since the trench coat.

CORNISH: OK.

SHAPIRO: I think Meta has a public history of, No. 1, compromising their users' safety and security and privacy, then publicly apologizing for it.

And No. 2, sinking tens of billions of dollars into transformative technologies that then die, like the Metaverse.

Too early to say if this is going to be one or both of those things, but the public response is, to say the least, not positive. CORNISH: Yes. And we should say what started out kind of like social

media stuff here and there, especially being posted by women, has moved to the lawsuit face [SIC] -- phase of this with you've got some states -- let me see who it was. There's some kid safety lawsuits that they're dealing with, four state attorneys general seeking $1.4 trillion in damages.

And there have been a couple other cases, as you've mentioned, that Meta has either lost or settled this year. And then there's just, Lulu, people like you who have encountered these in the wild.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: I've encountered these in the wild. It was deeply uncomfortable. Someone was, I thought, filming me when I was with my daughter. I didn't like it. And then it just starts to --

CORNISH: And where were you?

GARCIA-NAVARRO: I was on a train.

CORNISH: OK.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: So, I was in a public space. But at the same time, it leads to these very awkward interactions.

What are the social niceties for me to say, like, hello, sir, I don't -- are you filming me with your Meta glasses? I don't want to be filmed."

SHAPIRO: Did he admit it?

GARCIA-NAVARRO: No. It was just like this incredibly awkward.