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Zelenskyy is Asking for Missiles; Trouble for U.S. Carrier on Extended Mission; Trump's Plane Switch Details; ICE to Get Electrical Shock Gloves; Progressives Look to Bury Woke Past. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired August 13, 2026 - 06:30   ET

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

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[06:34:34]

AUDIE CORNISH, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, is trying to convince the U.S. to make him a deal for more missile interceptors. Now, his countries is currently in the crosshairs of intense ballistic missile attacks from Russia, as their current supply of Patriot missiles run low. Zelenskyy is telling CNN there is a way out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRESIDENT VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINE: I'm asking American partners to sell me five percent, five percent of missiles what they have in their stocks.

[06:35:04}

If they sell us five percent, we will go through the winter and save people's lives. If they can sell us 10 percent, we will destroy all the Russians ballistic missiles.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: All right, he was talking to our own Nick Paton Walsh. And we're bringing into the group chat Adam Kinzinger, CNN's senior political commentator, former member of Congress.

I want to ask you about this because it feels like a sensitive ask in a moment when we are actively discussing running out or having depleted inventory of missile interceptors. Do I have that right?

ADAM KINZINGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes. Yes. I mean, look, it's -- we do make Patriot missiles. We're making THAAD missiles. We're not making them fast enough, obviously.

CORNISH: Yes.

KINZINGER: The administration, hopefully they say they are, has focused on ramping this up.

One of Vladimir Zelenskyy's asks, by the way, is to license to be able to produce those missiles. We do that with Japan, by the way. They have license to produce these interceptors. Ukraine has clearly shown they have the technical skills to do it. There's some questions about why it's not happening. What -- the interesting thing is that the administration has held Zelensky basically at bay on these energy strikes against Russian tankers now, because the administration is concerned.

CORNISH: Yes. Can I give people a view of that, right? Like, Ukraine has been going after Russian trade routes on the Black Sea.

KINZINGER: Yes.

CORNISH: And the administration has told them to stop. And to your point, "The Financial Times" is saying that Vice President Vance himself --

KINZINGER: Yes.

CORNISH: Urged the drone campaign to stop. And they wrote that, "Washington was alarmed that Ukraine was destabilizing oil markets and harming U.S. companies by targeting tankers carrying crude."

KINZINGER: Yes.

CORNISH: Can you talk about that?

KINZINGER: Yes.

CORNISH: I mean, Vance, of all people --

KINZINGER: Right.

CORNISH: And the message and the issue specifically over oil routes.

KINZINGER: Well, Vance is a guy that said his greatest accomplishment has been to defund Ukraine and defund Ukraine's war. So, let's be very clear about that. These oil tanker strikes were extremely successful. And this is against the Russian oil industry, OK.

CORNISH: Yes.

KINZINGER: So, not like our buddies. And it has been good. But what they're using now, because Zelenskyy has basically said, I have to stop these strikes because they're holding the Patriot missiles over my head. And this is insane. You know, look, we've blown so many Patriot missiles in a war we never should have been engaged in. Our partners would fire six Patriot missiles at the beginning of the war for every $20,000 drone coming in. And now a country that is truly under attack, that has an alliance with Iran, by the way, is attacking Ukraine. They're on the edge of losing, and Ukraine is out of missiles. And we won't even grant them the license to build it when we have a lack of supply.

CORNISH: I want to turn to something else because it's unusual. I was surprised to see it. A lot of military families watch this show. We've been hearing Donald Trump say the Strait of Hormuz is open. Everything is open.

KINZINGER: Yes.

CORNISH: OK, which we know is not true to the extent he's implying. The USS Abraham Lincoln has been a part of that mission. And we are hearing these reports from on board. A congressman tweeted out a report saying that basically 5,000 sailors are on board. They're on month nine of what was supposed to be a seven month deployment. And the conditions are horrendous. Moldy showers, broken toilets, no hot water for weeks, meals that were down to half a cup of rice and two tortillas, stores out of deodorant, toothpaste, all this stuff.

This is not the bad part. The bad part is the concern over suicidal ideation. The idea that there are an uptick in sailors who have tried to throw themselves overboard. And families hearing very little about their loved one's conditions.

Here's an example.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NATALIE OLIVERIO, PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT, "MILITARY TIMES": Speaking with Emis Soloma (ph), she is extremely worried and concerned about how her husband is actually doing. And until she can be in front of him and see him with her own eyes, she's not really going to be able to answer that question. And facing the stresses that every military spouse faces when theirs is deployed, as being a solo parent at home with three little kids. So, not being able to have answers or direction is really challenging right now for her especially.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: The Navy is saying, look, we haven't seen anything.

KINZINGER: Yes.

CORNISH: Literally, their statement is, "we have not observed an increase in suicidal ideations" and that they're taking it seriously.

But I feel like this is not a random rumor. Like, what's your -- how could things get to this point?

KINZINGER: Look, every day, you know, you may have this that occurs kind of generally in the Navy, but I think it is clear, and this is a ramp up.

Look, I -- when I went to war --

CORNISH: Blumenthal wants an investigation. Do you think there should be an investigation?

KINZINGER: Oh, absolutely. A hundred percent. Yes.

When I went to war, like as an Air Force pilot, my deployments were three months because we would time out. We could only fly so much. But if you got extended even a week, it was like a blow to morale. Really, I'd be there and it's like, hey, you can't leave this Saturday. It's going to have to be next Saturday. It's like, oh. And I wasn't even married.

These guys, and men and women, having been extended multiple times, that is a huge blow to morale.

[06:40:07]

And then if the Navy, which they aren't giving them an end date, saying we're going to be out of here in, you know, in two weeks or three weeks. And then on the food side, fresh fruit, stuff like that, that has to be taken out by ship, out into the middle of this dangerous area. So, it's difficult to get it out there. It's difficult to get it out there fresh. If you do get fresh fruit, you have to eat it pretty quickly because you can't keep it on board.

CORNISH: Yes.

KINZINGER: And it just creates pretty bad conditions.

CORNISH: And you're talking fresh fruit. I mean, at this point, I don't know if there's like an MRE or something.

KINZINGER: Right.

CORNISH: You're talking a cup of rice and the doctor saying people are going to start losing their minds.

KINZINGER: Yes.

CORNISH: The -- I think the other reason we care about this is because the Navy is being asked to sustain a massive mission. And do we have the ability to do that? And is this a red flag?

KINZINGER: Yes, this is a huge red flag. I mean -- and plus, again, the administration is saying, we're going to sustain this closure of the Strait, which is totally open that we control, we're going to sustain that indefinitely until Iran relents. How long is that going to be?

We just had an aircraft carrier in the Caribbean, by the way, for whatever reason.

So, look, I'm not going to question where the Navy is sending these assets. But if we're going to maintain a blockade there, there's going to be some things that give.

CORNISH: One other thing I want to ask you about, which is this plane switcheroo everyone's calling it. The idea that when the president was in Turkey and there were threats from Iran. Instead of Air Force One, he was switched to another plane.

And you've been talking about this online. And, you know, everyone's being really glib. They're just sort of like, using the truck, that's so funny. But it seems to me like, are there other options? Could they have grounded the plane without everybody knowing what was going on? You know what I mean?

KINZINGER: Yes.

CORNISH: Like, how do you balance the security and the, like, reality of all the people that were still on that flight?

KINZINGER: Look, I -- you know, my viewpoint is, you can at least read in the press and your staff, right? You could -- you could let them know what's going on. So, I've heard some that defend this. And I -- look, I understand, you've got to save the president's life. But some are saying, well, Bill Clinton in Pakistan, 1991, a similar thing happened. But actually the press and his staff was read in on it. They knew it, right?

CORNISH: And read in you just mean, hey, guys, you're pulling the shades down because there's a threat, not because it's kind of hot in here. Don't worry about it.

KINZINGER: Yes. That's what's happening. Yes. Right. Exactly.

And so, I think that's where the press has a right to be upset. If they were on that plane, they were basically made to be, in essence, bait.

CORNISH: Yes. I wonder if his staff was upset and that's why it got to the press. Do you know what I mean?

KINZINGER: It's -- yes.

CORNISH: Like, there were some people who were like, wait, what? Like, we were all left behind as well?

SARA FISCHER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA ANALYST: Yes, I mean there's a trust that has to be brokered. And whenever the press is traveling with the president, they want to know that the government is doing their best to protect them.

CORNISH: NO, I mean White House staff, Were there people who were just --

FISCHER: Same thing with the White House staff. It's the same thing.

CORNISH: OK.

FISCHER: If you're going to be traveling with the White House, you want to know that the bosses are there to protect you. And if that trust is broken --

CORNISH: Oh, shaking their heads. No, that's --

FISCHER: If that trust is broken, why are you going to agree to --

MIKE DUBKE, FORMER TRUMP WHITE HOUSE COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: Two former White House staffers are sitting here shaking --

MEGHAN HAYS, FORMER BIDEN WHITE HOUSE DIRECTOR OF MESSAGE PLANNING: Yes.

DUBKE: No.

CORNISH: Yes.

HAYS: Your job is -- I mean I was told straight up, and I hate to be so cras (ph), you're to die in place.

DUBKE: Yes.

HAYS: If there is a threat against the president, they save him and you're behind.

FISCHER: Right, but wouldn't you want to know?

HAYS: I went on every single trip --

FISCHER: Wouldn't you want to know?

HAYS: No.

DUBKE: No.

HAYS: I went on every single trip with the president, foreign and domestic, when I worked in the White House. I do think that there is a -- they needed to tell the press -- to read the press in. I went to war ones with him. We did read one person in, et cetera. Like, there is a way to do it to make sure that the press is covered, to make sure we're having continuity of government. But you -- I mean --

DUBKE: Here's the thing. Every time you got into a motorcade, you were under threat.

HAYS: Yes.

DUBKE: Every movement of the president --

HAYS: Every single time.

DUBKE: You are under threat. And you know that taking the job.

KINZINGER: Here's the worst part, though, is everything leading up to this moment was a lie. Every explanation. Everything was a lie.

FISCHER: Yes, I agree. That --

HAYS: That's a different story. That's a different story than reading it. I mean --

DUBKE: If you want me to be glib about this, Taylor Swift is still lying about getting --

KINZINGER: She's not the president of the United States.

DUBKE: Getting in a popcorn cart going into, you know, Arrowhead Stadium. FISCHER: Yes, I --

KINZINGER: Well, if we make her president, that will be a thing.

FISCHER: I think just the fact that this administration was impeding (ph) reporters about trying to do coverage of this. They were trying, actively, as it appeared, to subdue reports about this and make it seem like it wasn't that bad. So, then when people find out a couple of weeks later that it was that bad, that's where there's the real trust.

HAYS: But that's a different conversation than reading staff and press in.

DUBKE: Yes.

HAYS: They definitely --

DUBKE: In real time.

HAYS: Absolutely should have read the Correspondents' Association in. And I worked in that job. I was the one who had to read them in. I totally understand that and appreciate that. But there is a difference, when you take these White House jobs, at what's at risk here and what you're like -- unfortunately, that's the world we live in. And the president of the United States, regardless of party, is always a target. And you are a target in the motorcade as well.

CORNISH: OK. Well --

DUBKE: Look at this bipartisanship here.

CORNISH: I know. I know. Y'all are ride or die. I like it.

Adam Kinzinger, thank you so much for joining the chat.

KINZINGER: Good to be here. Yes.

CORNISH: Really appreciate it.

Next on CNN THIS MORNING, there are some Democrats that are trying to, you know, walk it back, saying woke one was crazy, y'all, but the internet and voters never forget.

Plus.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When I scream like a little girl and pee myself, pull back -- ahhh.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: A new tool for ICE, electric shock gloves. Are these going to be used for, quote, "deescalation"?

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[06:48:53]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I said, listen, y'all going to make us wear body cams and just know that were going to get the electric gloves out for y'all.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, yes, these are really going to deescalate the situation.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sickening. Gross. Pathetic. And a waste.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: OK. Thousands of ICE agents may soon be outfitted with special gloves that can deliver an electric shock. The Trump administration plans to spend up to $20 million to buy them. The manufacturer says they're meant to de-escalate encounters.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So, if I was back here and I was working with Wyatt, and you started to struggle with me. I would say, Wyatt --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh. Oh, ah, ah, ah. Oh, (EXPLETIVE DELETED). Oh, oh.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now, if you take a look at Wyatt, he's got no burn signatures. Nothing happened to his skin. He's perfectly fine. But that fight ended in less than three seconds.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: Right, so this tech isn't new. Some police departments and jails are already using them. It does come as ICE already faces a lot of scrutiny about what people are calling aggressive tactics.

Joining me now, former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe is here to discuss.

I want to talk about this because we -- people have been asking, activists have been saying, we want body cameras.

[06:50:04]

Instead, they're possibly getting this. From a law enforcement perspective, is this a situation where, like he says, it ends any altercation just way faster, and therefore that's safer?

ANDREW MCCABE, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: You know, I think that there is a -- an intended and reasonable tactical use for a device like this. I think, particularly in the situation of using these, like, in a prison or a, or a facility that that has, you know, small cells in which you're trying to control a population, where guards typically, you know, find themselves in conflict with inmates and things like that, small spaces so you cannot use traditional, less than lethal devices. You can't shoot a taser into a group of people. You can't swing a baton in a very small cell. So, in situations like that, you can understand why a debilitating device like this might be effective.

But to use it outside in the real world with citizens and immigrants, many of whom you know very little about, you don't know what their medical conditions are, you don't know if they have a pacemaker or some sort of a heart vulnerability, things like that, is at baseline really questionable.

Now think about letting ICE use a device like this, with all the problems we know they have, and that's a very different prospect.

CORNISH: Yes, I want to play something that may seem unrelated, but I want to follow up with why. There was this confrontation between a woman in Virginia and some ICE officers. And the context for this, the woman, Carolina Molina (ph), has been very public. She's a licensed mental health therapist. And she said she was visiting some immigration lawyers. And then she saw agents arresting two men. So, she's against this. She's shouting insults at the officers. And then she says masked agents actually pulled up to her. And then this is what was captured on camera.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You almost ran us over.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I didn't almost run you over.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You almost ran us over. Stop playing.

(CROSS TALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stop playing.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You are full of (EXPLETIVE DELETED).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right. You're not funny.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're not funny.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I will arrest you. Keep it up.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm a legal citizen.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Keep it up. I don't care.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, my goodness!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, keep it up.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK. For what?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) try to run us over. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Run you over when? I've got recording. I've got

dash cam. I've got dash cam. That's a lie.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: All right, as you heard, she has dash cam. So, even if they don't have body cams, tons of people are recording their interactions with ICE. And the thing I noticed in that video was that gun just kind of flying up there and being waved around. And I wonder, like, can we trust, can we trust the current ICE to use something like these shock gloves with any kind of discipline?

MCCABE: Yes. Well, Audie, the short answer is overwhelmingly, no, we cannot. Not under current conditions, right? So, this situation, which tactically is a -- is a disaster. It's the sort of thing you would show in a police academy to show recruits how to not handle a situation with the public. But nevertheless, it is emblematic of what we've been seeing from ICE. They are having hundreds of interactions with both the people they're out to apprehend, and also just members of the public who are fed up and actively engaged in exercising their First Amendment rights to record and interact with or yell at or curse, whatever, the agents at work. And time and time again, what we're seeing are terrible reactions by ICE officers in those situations.

And I think to be fair, those reactions are based on a couple of things that are outside their control. Many of them have been hired without proper backgrounds. Most of them, as we now know, are not getting adequate training. They are poorly led. They are -- they have very little oversight. These are all things that lead law enforcement officers to stray from the rulebook, as it were.

So, with those conditions happening time and time again across many cities in America, you're now going to issue a device that essentially will enable ICE officers to punish people for noncompliance in the street, at will, anywhere, any time and in a way that is totally unaccountable.

This is not the sort of thing that if you fire your weapon, other people see it, hear it, there are witnesses, there is an investigation, hopefully, of whether or not it was an appropriate use of force. Here, what would have been to stop that agent from reaching in to that car and touching that woman with an electrified glove? Nothing.

CORNISH: Yes.

MCCABE: So, with a -- with an agency that needs so much right now, it seems the last thing they need is another way to inflict pain and punishment on citizens and immigrants.

CORNISH: OK, that's Andrew McCabe.

Andy, thanks so much.

[06:55:01] I want to end with this. Progressives trying to put woke to bed. So, why are we talking about this? AOC kind of triggered a conversation when she laughed off some of her more woke positions from the early days of her career.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ (D-NY): I have a local city councilman that has this saying, woke one was crazy.

During this time, and during -- especially during Covid, the doors were really open in trying to entertain any and every policy that was going to get us to a better place. And I actually think that the discussions that had -- that were had in that time were quite fruitful.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: New York's mayor, Zohran Mamdani, also trying to shed the woke label.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ZOHRAN MAMDANI (D), NEW YORK CITY MAYOR: Each person has a responsibility to tell New Yorkers, to tell Americans when they're running for office, what they believe. And sometimes what you believe can change. It can develop. It can grow.

I've made very clear that I do not believe in defunding the police, that I will not be defunding the police.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: I remember this Chi Osse, he was a panelist, actually, this city council member, and somebody actually showed him one of his old tweets where he used the phrase, "cis (ph) white man," OK, just so we remember those days, cis (ph) gender. And he says, "woke one was crazyyyy," with many y's. This is where this comes from.

Is this enough to distance progressives from these positions that now they are having to defend?

FISCHER: No, because they look inauthentic. They look like they are bait and switching. I actually think that this is a bad, like, tactic. I think AOC's explanation was kind of interesting, basically saying that the response at the time was appropriate and maybe it's not now.

What gets me about that clip, though, was her laughing. If she had said that with a straight face and said this was the best way to have acknowledged it then, it doesn't work now, I could believe it better. When you're laughing it off, that's what makes it feel like inauthentic and that it actually -- you're not actually embodying what you believe. And so that's what I don't like about it. And the tweet is the same thing. Woke one is so crazy is not, in my opinion, a really thoughtful response and taking, you know, acknowledgment of the fact that you might have switched your position. CORNISH: Yes.

Here's Stephen Miller, presidential advisor. Needless to say, he goes a little farther from you about that laughter.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHEN MILLER, WHITE HOUSE DEPUTY CHIEF OF STAFF FOR POLICY: Callan laughter from AOC talking about what she calls woke one.

What was one of its core tenets. The dismantlement, destruction, and defunding of our police departments.

We're all going to have a good laugh about that? So, sorry your husband was murdered. Sorry your mom was killed. Sorry your loved ones are six feet under the ground now. We're going to have a good laugh about that?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: I have to admit, I don't totally know the references in the back half, but I do think at the time people weren't --

DUBKE: I think it's just --

CORNISH: Wait, people were talking about people being killed at the hands of police, of which there was video. So, there were many deaths. It was not a fun time. We may not remember that. I was trapped in my house with a baby, wondering what the riots in the streets were going to be like. So, I'm not saying he's not wrong. I'm just saying that people were on both sides concerned about violence. I don't know how you distance yourself from that period without looking inauthentic.

HAYS: I mean, I think AOC is trying to moderate in case she wants to run for president. And I think that's what --

CORNISH: In case?

HAYS: Well, I mean, I don't know --

DUBKE: Or Senate.

HAYS: Or whatever she wants to do next.

DUBKE: Right.

HAYS: Because I think that people realize that campaigning is actually a lot easier than governing. Governing is hard. When you get to be in government, it's hard to make these choices. And the -- most of the electorate is moderate. People want police departments. People want to have their government working. That is the exact same reason why abolish ICE is another dumb statement. We need ICE enforcement.

DUBKE: Look --

CORNISH: Last word to Mike. DUBKE: Last word here is, you can say, look, I have changed my position. I have thought about this and be thoughtful. The laughter is the killer.

HAYS: Yes.

DUBKE: The laughter is the killer here.

HAYS: It's not a joke.

DUBKE: It's not a joke.

HAYS: Like, defunding the police is not a joke. It was a dumb idea then, and it's a dumb idea now.

DUBKE: I mean, I don't believe anything she says now because, well maybe I don't believe that now.

CORNISH: Well, one thing I want to note is that there were some progressive groups, one in particular, saying, "the unacceptable erasure of a historic black struggle." And I do think this is something to navigate. And there are lots of people who have said, wait a second, I thought you guys were here to support us on issues that we seek reform. Was that just a convenience? Is it inconvenient to you now? And where those groups have a voice in the party going forward that says, you all went too far?

DUBKE: Well, isn't the answer yes to that question?

CORNISH: Sounds like no based on this argument.

DUBKE: When I'm -- when I'm listening to Mamdani and I'm listening to AOC, the answer sounds like yes.

You were convenient for us as a group that we wanted to talk about years ago. You're not as convenient anymore, so we're going to laugh it off.

FISCHER: Yes. And on the Mamdani part, I mean, him having that great rapport with Donald Trump is also such a signal of the fact that he is going to be politically opportunistic when he needs to be, and that his constituents are part of the equation, the very, very, you know, sort of far left part.

CORNISH: Opportunistic or just political? It feels like that is a --

[07:00:00]

FISCHER: One in the same. Hello.

CORNISH: Like, one in the same.

FISCHER: Say that from --

(CROSS TALK)

HAYS: We did see this happen exactly with Target earlier this year when they abandoned some of their policies that they --

CORNISH: They were punished.

HAYS: And they were punished too.

CORNISH: Yes.

HAYS: Politicians are going to be no different here. I just think, if you're going to change your view, you have to have a reason why, and you have to have a rationale. And it's OK to say, I learned when I got into Congress. It's OK.

FISCHER: Yes, and own it. And own it.

CORNISH: It is.

FISCHER: Yes.

CORNISH: Well, plenty more people are probably trying to figure out their story right now as we speak. Also, as we learn, delete your tweets.

Thanks to the group chat. Thanks for waking up with us. The headlines are next.