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Erin Burnett Outfront
Now: First Results In Indiana, Where Trump Vows Revenge; Report: Cargo Vessel Struck In Strait By Unknown Projectile; Images Appear To Show Iran's Nuclear Supply Chain Not "Obliterated"; Elizabeth Smart: Bodybuilding Is A "Celebration Of My Body". Aired 7- 8p ET
Aired May 05, 2026 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[19:00:26]
ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: OUTFRONT next:
The breaking news, Trump's revenge. The president facing a major test tonight at the ballot box. Polls are just closing in Indiana, and it's a big night. Seven Republicans fighting to keep their jobs after Trump, the president of the United States, vowed to oust them for defying him.
One of them is our guest, as the results are just starting to come in here as polls close.
Plus, are they really decimated? Obliterated? The Trump administration claims that they have obliterated Iran's nuclear capabilities. But a special CNN investigation reveals that some appear to have survived. Wait until you see this.
And Elizabeth Smart, as we haven't seen her before now, a competitive bodybuilder. Why? She says her new calling is key to her healing after her abduction.
Let's go OUTFRONT.
(MUSIC)
BURNETT: And good evening. I'm Erin Burnett.
And OUTFRONT tonight, the breaking news. It is a major test this hour of Trump's power over his own party. It is 7:01 Eastern and polls are just closing across the state of Indiana. That is where Trump is vowing revenge on seven Republican lawmakers who dared to defy him.
How did they do that? Well, they voted against his redistricting map in December, and that handed Trump his most embarrassing political defeat of his second term to date. So he got involved to try to get them out. His attempts to redraw the house maps failed because of those defiant Republicans. They were targeted even with death threats. As a result of this.
But Trump hasn't forgotten that they stood up to him. His allies then poured millions of dollars to back their challengers in tonight's election. And for good measure, Trump tweeted today against those members of his own party.
He said, "Good luck to those great Indiana Senate candidates who are running against people who couldn't care less about our country or about keeping the majority in Congress. Let's see how those RINOs do tonight. President Donald J. Trump," his name in caps.
And we are, as I said, just getting the first results in some of those crucial seven races, two time zones in Arizona. So some of these more results are in than others. The Republicans targeted by Trump have a red incumbent label next to their name. So you can see this.
And again, these are very early in results. So it's unclear how it will go. In one of the four that you're looking at here that incumbent Trump targeted is ahead, is looking obviously good right now. But you can see a very few results have been counted.
And in the other three right now, it is a Trump-backed candidate trying to defeat those who stood up to Trump on redistricting, who is ahead again, very few results are in. In Michelle Davis-Greg Walker one, you have about half the results are in and it's very close.
So what happens tonight is obviously way bigger than about a redistricting fight that Trump lost. The results are going to reveal a lot, a lot about whether Trump, when he wants revenge and is going to take on people in his own party and get him out, has the ability to do it because he's invested a lot in this particular revenge tour. Just look at this chart. More than $13 million spent on this election, which is a stunning number.
I mean, just look at the look at it in comparison to other times. It's unprecedented. It's exponential. It's logarithmic. Most of that money came from Trump's allies, which is a 4,736 percent increase from last cycle. Just to put the number on it.
And Trump has called these eight defiant Republicans out by name. He knows their names like that of Republican State Senator Spencer Deery, who said this about his vote against Trump's redistricting map.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SPENCER DEERY (R), INDIANA STATE SENATOR: I see no justification that outweighs the harm it would inflict upon the people's faith in the integrity of our elections and our system of government.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Trump then tweeted, "An incompetent and ineffective RINO incumbent named Spencer Deery, who for whatever reason, betrayed his voters by voting against redistricting in Indiana." Trump then went on to Deery an America last politician who would rather side with far left Democrats.
Well, Spencer Deery is going to join me in just a moment, obviously, front and center tonight. But first, I want to get to Adam Wren. He is the national politics reporter for "Politico". And Adam Wren is an Indiana resident, so he knows this story better than anyone. And, Adam, you're there. You have seen all of this. You have seen what
that 4,700 whatever percent increase in spending on these races actually means.
What are you hearing from your sources about which way these races are going tonight with polls closed? But right now, obviously, very few votes cast -- counted
ADAM WREN, POLITICO SENIOR NATIONAL POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. Erin, MAGA sources are going into this night very confident. They think that there's a chance that they could sweep a number of these races.
[19:05:00]
They tell me that, you know, they believe that their challengers were even or better, going into these races just as they started. At the same time, you know, from, from some of the incumbents, I'm hearing signs of optimism, some of their get out the vote numbers look stronger than they expected. You know, I think theyre sort of anticipating a split night here where there's not a clean victory one way or the other.
BURNETT: So I understand you're at one of the few Republican election night gatherings in the state, and one of the sheriffs office where you're actually standing, Adam, but that is, in part that there aren't events because the situation has become so tense when you've got really Republican versus Republican.
WREN: Yeah. Erin, if this redistricting effort over the last six to eight months has done anything, it's really turned Hoosier Republican against Hoosier Republican. It's really hard to find some watch parties across the state tonight because things are so tense.
Republicans are facing challenges from their own the sitting governor, Mike Braun, made good on his threats to recruit and run candidates against the incumbents. President Trump has done the same. You're really seeing a lot of fissures that I don't think will heal anytime soon.
And it's interesting because, Erin, a decade ago this month, President Donald Trump won the primary here in Indiana. He called the state important-ville. And now it's important for different reasons. It's a state that's showing us you know, just how much the coalition in some ways is turning in on itself. And sort of you know, looking in on itself in a competitive year where there are a number of battleground states, the fact that 13.5 million was spent in a safe place like Indiana rather than a battleground like Michigan to the north, that's causing a lot of Republicans a lot of heartburn, and even some who might agree with Trump about what should have happened here with redistricting in December, that has them very upset. They wish that some of that money would have gone elsewhere in races that are more competitive.
BURNETT: All right. So, Adam, stay with me. I want to bring everyone in here. Gretchen -- I mean, it is pretty incredible when you hear Adam. We'll
see how this goes. Maybe -- maybe Trump win some, lose some. It's unclear, right? We're going to watch these numbers, see if we can make any calls here this hour.
But it is pretty stunning that they spent $13 million on races where these are Republican seats. It's actually really stunning.
GRETCHEN CARLSON, FORMER FOX NEWS HOST: It's stunning, but it's Trump and it's vendetta, retribution, revenge. That's what this is all about. I don't know if necessarily these races will be indicators of what to expect in the midterms, because redistricting is such a different issue than when people are going to go to vote in the midterms, when theyre going to be thinking about gas prices and inflation and the war and all these other big ticket items.
So I'm not sure that we can necessarily say, oh, well, whatever happens in Indiana tonight is what were expecting to hear in -- see in the midterms. But I do think that if Trump loses, it's a bigger headline than if he wins tonight because of all this money that was spent to go after some of his own.
And the last thought I have is that this is a microcosm of the macrocosm of what were dealing with in our country right now. Indiana is just a slice of the hate and the infighting that we have seen only grow within the Republican Party over the last ten years, since Trump came into power.
BURNETT: I mean, Mondaire, it is incredible. It's a political civil war within the GOP, as Adam is talking about, that this -- whatever happens here, he's saying you're not going to have people talking to each other after it. It's pretty incredible thing.
I mean, you're talking about a state is a Republican Party, is a Republican, is a Republican. And now, it's internecine warfare.
MONDAIRE JONES (D), FORMER U.S. REPRESENTATIVE: Yeah, it is also classic authoritarian behavior. I mean, in order for him to truly consolidate power within the Republican Party, he has to make an example of those who would rebel against him, no matter how extreme the actions are, that he would have them take. In this case, another round of mid-decade redistricting where on a partisan basis, 'where legislators get to choose their voters instead of voters choosing their legislators.
This is -- this is extraordinary. I agree with Gretchen that a Trump loss would be a bigger headline than a Trump victory. You would expect him, given the control he already has over the Republican Party to prevail in all of these contests.
And so, if you get a number of these incumbents getting reelected, no matter how close the outcome ultimately is, I think it's going to be yet another data point in a string of data points of people within the party saying, all right, enough is enough. This guy is extremely unpopular. He's at the lowest approval rating of any president in modern history. Gas prices are through the roof because of a war that he didn't have to start, but that is still incompetently being waged.
[19:10:02]
You've got all this polling and swing districts in swing house districts showing the president extremely unpopular, and incumbents in places where Trump run, in some instances by double digits, really in close contests against their Democratic opponents. Ken Griffin, I think today said that it's not even a sure thing that Republicans will hold on to the Senate. And he's a Republican mega-donor. So this -- this is the environment that we're in right now.
BURNETT: Let's look at these numbers again, Paul, that we that we have, because now we've got all polls closed, as I said, two time zones in Indiana. So, some of them closed at 6:00 Eastern. We've got more counties than the ones that just closed here just within the past 10 minutes. Excuse me. Well see if were able to make any calls.
The four that you're looking at here, there are seven total. Right now, you have one of them with very little of the vote in. You do have the, the, the incumbent ahead. In three of the others, the Trump challenger is ahead, extremely tight though in one of those. And again, theyre so few in that it's very hard to know if this is actually indicative of which way this is going to go.
PAUL RIECKHOFF, FOUNDER & CEO, INDEPENDENT VETERANS OF AMERICA: Here's what we know. This is the first battle in the war for the future of the Republican Party. This is a party struggling to define itself. It's going to be a war between the moderates and the Trumpists. And now, you've got essentially Trump fighting Mike Pence in a state that they should have a lock on.
But now theyre eating their own. They're fighting amongst themselves. And I think it's reflective of what we may see before, during and after the midterms, especially. And definitely as we go toward 2028, where the Republicans have to figure out, are they going to be Donald Trump or are they going to be Mike Pence, or are they going to break in half?
And I think you're going to see a similar fight in the Democratic Party. You're going to have the AOC, you know, Democratic socialists against the more moderate, you know, national security centrists. And there's going to be a war between both parties.
And here's what's interesting about Indiana. Over 40 percent are independent, right? And theyre not even in this discussion, right? You got closed primaries. Most of the folks in the state aren't participating. And that's where the real action is. That's going to be where the action is for the midterms.
And that's definitely where the action is going to be for the presidential when we get to 2028.
BURNETT: Fascinating when you say 40 percent of them are independent.
Adam, you know, back on the ground, I know you went door to door with some of the Republicans that Trump had targeted. How -- what did voters say, you know, when they approached them and
brought this up and introduced these Republican voters? How did the voters feel about the situation? Right?
The Trump wanted revenge against these individuals. And these by the way, these people that are there, most of them have been elected again and again and again by Indiana Republican voters. They're not unknown to Indiana Republicans.
WREN: Yeah, Erin, a lot of the voters that I talked to are anti- establishment. And, you know, for years, they voted against whoever they felt in Washington was the establishment. Some of the voters I talked to felt that Trump, in some ways, has become the establishment over the last two years or so, and his return to Washington.
And so they don't like Washington putting its thumb on the scale here in Indiana, no matter whether its a Democrat in the oval office or whether its a Republican, there's a strain not just of independents, but of libertarians. This is a very libertarian state.
Ron Swanson, who was famously caricatured on the NBC show "Parks and Rec", is sort of a good representation of that. Someone who doesn't like federal government spending, doesn't like to be taxed, doesn't like to be regulated. And, you know, that's a key feature of a lot of the Republican voters who I talked to as I went door to door.
BURNETT: It's really incredible that Trump has become the establishment. And when you talk about test, you're saying this is just the start. Paul. Okay, take a look. In two weeks, you've got Thomas Massie. Okay, now this is Trump. Trump has tried to eviscerate this guy literally, probably, to eviscerate him.
Trump has done everything he can. I mean, just listen to things he said because Massie took him on, on the Epstein files. Here's Trump.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You have a, you know, a guy like this loser Massie. He's a real loser.
Massie is a complete and total disaster as a congressman and frankly, as a human being.
We have guys like Tom Massie in congress is terrible. He's just terrible, terrible person.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Trump has put an extraordinary amount of political capital into defeating Massie. That is going to be something to watch, to see -- I mean, if Massie prevails.
RIECKHOFF: He has to, because again, it's a fight for the soul of the Republican Party. And Massie is also going to say no deficit. He's going to say no Iran war. He's going to say no more forever wars, and he's going to say Epstein a lot. And the question becomes, does Massie have a place in the Republican
Party? And if he doesn't, is there another lane? Is there a third party? Is there an independent lane?
Massie is also the guy working with Ro Khanna across the line on many issues. And I posed this question to Ro Khanna on my show a couple of weeks ago. Will you leave the Democratic Party? I think there's this moment where you could see someone like Don Bacon, the Republican moderate in Nebraska. You see Massie. They will either become the future of the Republican Party or they might be driven out of the Republican Party, either into something new or into an independent, unaffiliated space, which is wide open for whoever gets there first.
[19:15:02]
BURNETT: It's really incredible. Gretchen, when we talk about Massie, there's a pro-Trump PAC that has been very involved in this race because Trump has put so much into it. I said personal, political capital. They have a fake A.I.-generated ad.
They basically create a threesome, essentially of Massie --
CARLSON: A tripling.
BURNETT: A coupling, with members of the Squad. Here it is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AD NARRATOR: Thomas Massie caught in a throuple in Washington. He's cheating with the Squad on the America First movement. Massie voted with the Squad against Trump's tax cuts. This is worse than adultery. It's a complete and total betrayal of President Trump and Kentucky conservatives. On May 19th, fire Thomas Massie.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: You know what's amazing about this, Gretchen? Other than -- other than the new word is that Thomas Massie has voted with Trump 91 percent.
CARLSON: Yes.
BURNETT: The times that he hasn't have had to do with Epstein wasn't even a vote. I mean, right, was ---
CARLSON: Trump told them to vote for it ultimately.
BURNETT: Right. Ultimately. So you can't even count that one. But you know, when you talk about Iran and deficit, but that's what Trump's spending his time on, on a guy who's voted with him 90, 91 percent.
CARLSON: By the way, he's taking him on for not voting for the Big, Beautiful Bill. But the reason he didn't was because it was going to escalate the debt beyond belief, which used to be a Republican talking point.
BURNETT: Yeah.
CARLSON: We don't hear that one anymore on the Republican side, at least not from Trump. He also voted against wars because that was one of the main platforms of getting Trump reelected. So it's ironic that the things that Thomas Massie has stood up against Donald Trump about are things that Donald Trump actually agreed with before, except for the Epstein files. But then he also agreed with that and told Republicans to vote for it.
BURNETT: Right, right.
CARLSON: So this, this whole thing -- and by the way, the A.I. thing, we are so far gone in this country about what people will believe and what they won't believe. And A.I. has just escalated that beyond belief. But people who are not paying attention to politics look up from their sofa, eating their TV dinner, and they see that ad. And theyre like, oh, I guess he sided with AOC.
BURNETT: With AOC, right.
Mondaire, you mentioned Ken Griffin, who is a fascinating person, happens to be a billionaire GOP donor, as you mentioned. And, but you mentioned that he talked about the Republicans could lose the Senate. Here's what he said about it today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MODERATOR: Do you see the Democrats taking Congress?
KEN GRIFFIN, CITADEL CEO: So it's almost a certainty the Democrats will take the house. That's the -- that's the nature of almost every midterm election cycle, is the house seats swing in the -- in the favor of the opposing party. The Senate will be the -- the big battleground in this midterm. The Republicans will almost certainly keep the Senate, but that will be the political battleground in this election cycle.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Now, he refers to it as a political battleground. Okay. Obviously, he's got a dog in the fight. Interesting, though, that he was still confident and Democrats have been -- they have had a lot of swagger about taking the Senate. There's been a real shift.
Are Democrats too confident?
JONES: No, I don't think Democrats are too confident. I think -- I think what you see, what you hear is cautious optimism. Right? I mean, so long as this president remains unpopular, so long as he is distracted from lowering the cost of living by personal grievances, as are playing out this very evening in the state of Indiana, at the -- at the -- at the local legislative level.
The more he is going to remain unpopular as we head into November, and the more people like Mary Peltola in Alaska, like Zach Walz in Iowa, like, you know, whoever the Democratic nominee ends up being in Michigan, all of these people running for senate are going to be significant -- well-positioned on the Democratic side to take back -- to take back that chamber.
BURNETT: All right. Well, we will see and all, thank you very much as we are watching these results, just starting to come in Indiana and see if we can we can make some calls and see where Trump fares on tonight out of the seven races where he has targeted the incumbents, we are just starting to get more and more results coming in. I'm going to talk to one of Trump's top targets in the state, State Senator Spencer Deery, as promised. He's with me right after this break.
And we're also following breaking news tonight out of Ohio. Vivek Ramaswamy remember him, the former presidential candidate? Well, he's hoping to win the Republican primary for governor. He's poured a lot of money into this race. He has Trump's blessing. Big numbers coming in this hour. We'll see if there's a call there.
And breaking news with a cargo ship reportedly struck in the Strait of Hormuz, as we're learning that Trump's claims of obliterating Iran's nuclear capabilities do not necessarily add up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:23:52]
BURNETT: Breaking news, we are just getting more results in from Indiana, where Trump is seeking revenge over seven Republicans in the state senate because they voted against his redistricting map. Two of those Republicans Trump targeted are trailing significantly right now. One of them is -- the targets is incumbent Republican state Senator Spencer Deery.
Now, we don't have an official vote count in that race. I'm just showing you his race right now. So polls are closed. Polls in that race actually closed at 6:00 Eastern. So been closed about an hour and 24 minutes. But we don't yet have any results in.
So the second we get them, were going to let you know because when that populates, its really important because were being joined right now by the Indiana Republican State Senator Spencer Deery.
And, Senator, I really appreciate your time. So you're looking at this as well, that there are no results formally reported. But obviously, were almost 90 minutes past polls closing in your race. What are you hearing? How confident are you feeling
SPENCER DEERY (R), INDIANA STATE SENATOR: You know, I think it's going to be close. That was always the expectation going into it. I'm still confident that we'll prevail, but its going to be a tight one. And you know, given the money that's been spent against us, that's, you know, really actually even a victory in its own.
BURNETT: Yeah. I mean, we saw $13 million is just stunning that that's being spent against you in a Republican on Republican race.
[19:25:04] I mean, it all comes back to your and your colleagues' opposition to the new congressional maps. And after that, I know, Senator, you received death threats that you said your home was swatted and Trump has attacked you in deeply personal ways. He called you in America last politician. He called you an incompetent and ineffective rhino. And he said that you betrayed his voters by voting against redistricting in Indiana.
I mean, how do you -- how do you deal with all that? I mean, you are a -- I understand a lifelong Republican. You've been doing this for a long time. And that's -- that's where it is now.
DEERY: Well, I mean, the truth is, I know that Trump doesn't really have any idea who I am or any idea who my opponent is. This is all just designed to try to show that Washington, D.C. can control Indiana. And that's really what this race has been about. You know, Trump is perhaps not as popular in my district as he once was, but he is still overwhelmingly popular.
But really what this race is about is how many Hoosiers are going to recognize that all of this marketing is designed to try to tell them from out of state who to vote for versus how many just believe it and buy it. And that's what this race is really about, because Hoosiers don't like being told what to do, even by somebody that they respect, and like for those that feel that way about Donald Trump.
BURNETT: If you lose, do you have any regrets about standing up for what you believe in on the redistricting, which meant opposing Trump's efforts to redraw the map in mid cycle?
DEERY: Absolutely not. There was really no other option. This is the first office I ever ran for four years ago. So I'm new to politics and I swore that I was going to lead by principle and strong conservative principles.
And the idea that the government should be able to draw new maps anytime it wants, not after a census takes power from the people and gives it to the government. And that's far from conservative. And so there was never any question.
But I also overwhelmingly heard that my voters didn't want it. They didn't want me to do it. And so that only reinforced me.
But that's really not the issue that this race is about. I mean, redistricting hasn't been the key focus. And even the attack ads, it's barely been an afterthought. They've had to fabricate issues, because many of us were quite popular and run millions of dollars in ads to be able to try and generate that support.
BURNETT: So just to understand where we are here, I want to put up some boards because were getting some more numbers. Some of these are starting to populate. More votes are being counted, Senator Deery. So let me just put those up as, as you can see.
You've got, Greg Goode is up, obviously by Goode is up. You can see that. And then you see in some of those looking like, very, very close in one of them. But it looks like Trump may end up prevailing in some of these.
I mean, if you look across, I know you think yours is going to be incredibly close. You think you can prevail. But as were watching the green on the bottom of each screen for our viewers coming in, you can see looks like Blake Fletcher, the Trump backed candidate there against Travis Holman. We're not able to call that yet, but you've got more than half the vote in. And Trump backed candidates up by 20 percentage points there, Senator Deery. So that -- that may be where that one ends up going.
How do you think this splits if you look at the seven? Do you think that that Trump can position this as is he gets a close to a sweep or what do you thinks going to happen?
DEERY: You know, obviously, everybody's going to try to claim victory however they can. The truth is that not all of these races are the same. You know, in two cases, two -- two of the individuals were actually decided they weren't going to run. And so very qualified candidates decided they were going to run. And then they changed their mind. And so, those ones in particular are expected to be more competitive.
But, you know, given the money that's been spent, if its anything, you know, very that much short of a clean sweep, I think its, its certainly a failure, but really, I think it's a failure overall no matter what, because all of this money is money that did not go towards maintaining the congressional majority, which is supposed to be our top goal as Republicans. And so it's been a distraction from that. And I think that should be concerning, alarming to anyone who wants to maintain the Republican majority.
BURNETT: As we said, its been $13 million, spent over 4,700 percent more than the last cycle around and, as you said, spent on Republican versus Republican at state senate level, not in the congressional level.
All right. Well, Senator Deery, I appreciate your time, and thank you very much. We'll keep an eye on your race. Obviously, still nothing reported in your specific race yet, but we will be watching it. And thank you so much for joining me.
DEERY: Absolutely. Thanks for your time.
BURNETT: All right. And next, a CNN special investigation. The administration has claimed that Iran's nuclear capabilities have been wiped out. New satellite images, though, do tell a very different story. And it is important to look at what the data and the pictures show and not what people are saying.
Plus, Elizabeth Smart, now a competitive bodybuilder opening up tonight to us about this new calling and why she was originally scared to compete under the name Elizabeth Smart.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:34:11] BURNETT: Breaking news, a cargo ship struck in the Strait of Hormuz, that is according to the U.K. maritime trade operations. And we're going to bring you new details as soon as we are able to get them on this ship.
But it is the latest of several similar strikes over the past 48 hours coming as Iran issues a new warning. The top negotiator for Iran, posting on social media, quote, we know full well that the continuation of the status quo is intolerable for America, while we have not even begun yet.
Trump, though with a totally different spin tonight.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: They play games. But let me just tell you, they want to make a deal. And who wouldn't when your military is totally gone?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Of course, just to be clear there, as you know, CSS has laid out all the numbers of Iran having about half of its missile launchers and drones all still in place.
[19:35:02]
So what he said there is untrue.
And a new CNN investigation tonight finds Iran is far more capable than Trump makes it seem. In fact, key parts of Iran's nuclear supply chain remain intact.
Katie Polglase is OUTFRONT.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KATIE POLGLASE, CNN INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER (voice-over): This university in central Tehran is considered by the U.S. and Israel one of the very first stages in Iran's nuclear supply chain. It was struck in mid-March by the U.S.-Israeli campaign, and it's one of dozens of sites across Iran we've been analyzing to see how much of its nuclear supply chain has been wiped out. And the answer is not as much as the U.S. and Israel would like.
POLGLASE: That university you just saw has been under U.S. sanctions since 2012 for researching and developing weapons of mass destruction. It's a reminder of just how long the U.S. has been tracking Iran's ability to make nuclear weapons.
POLGLASE (voice-over): And we found that in these latest strikes by the U.S. and Israel, while much of the production process has been substantially damaged, some of the most important parts of this process, the stores of highly enriched uranium may not have been touched at all.
Let's start at the beginning of the supply chain, alongside the research. The process starts at places like these, Saghand Uranium Mine, where the raw material, uranium ore, is mined. In recent years, Saghand Mine has expanded significantly. You can see widening pits, growing piles of earth and diggers.
We looked at recent imagery since the latest strikes, and found no evidence of damage. In fact, from between the clouds, you can still see diggers operating at the site so far. This indicates this stage of the nuclear supply chain may remain untouched.
Next, the mined uranium ore is transported to production plants like this one in Ardakan.
Here, it's converted into yellow cake, which is a type of concentrated uranium.
We found this plant was substantially damaged in recent strikes on March 27th, an image taken the following month shows little change, suggesting the Iranians have not rebuilt this site yet. After this, the yellow cake is taken here to sites like this one in Isfahan to be purified and converted into uranium hexafluoride.
And it's this one, this stage of the supply chain, that has caused the biggest headache for the U.S. and Israel. Back last June, French outlet Le Monde found this truck visible in imagery taken just days before the strikes. These blue containers are likely carrying uranium into the tunnels, experts told CNN.
Days later, these facilities were substantially damaged in Israeli attacks. You can see several buildings wiped out.
Then in early 2026, Iran covered over several entrances to these underground tunnels with earth preventing people from accessing them. Further measures were taken this April, when these road blocks were put up in front of the entrances to the tunnels, it could suggest there still remains something valuable down there.
They were not, however, hit in the latest U.S.-Israeli strikes, even experts we spoke to are unsure why.
David Albright is a world leading expert on nuclear weapons.
POLGLASE: How much of a risk in the future is that stores in Isfahan Mountain?
DAVID ALBRIGHT, FOUNDER OF INSTITUTE FOR SCIENCE AND INTERNATIONAL SECURITY: I think it's a big risk. That's quite a bit of money in the bank. I mean, the amount of enriched uranium they've produced was equivalent to a full year of production of their entire enrichment complex, and is believed to be mostly and almost all of it at Isfahan.
POLGLASE (voice-over): In fact, the U.S. believes this too, and their demand to remove this uranium has been a key issue in the stalling peace negotiations. And finding out exactly how much is down there is central to determining whether Iran remains a nuclear threat.
Katie Polglase, CNN, London. (END VIDEOTAPE)
BURNETT: And Seth Jones is here.
I mean, Seth, when you hear Katie's reporting and just, you know, laying out the supply chain as you know it and, you know, looking at that truck, right? That particular truck that she highlighted with the blue things that almost look like giant water kegs on them, which I guess is in a sense similar to what might be where the highly enriched uranium may be stored. It just seems incredibly difficult when you see that physically, we know its hard to know where it is, but that just really brings it home.
SETH JONES, PRESIDENT, DEFENSE & SECURITY DEPARTMENT, CENTER FOR STRATEGIC & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES: Yeah, Erin. It does. I mean, I think what, what is important to understand is there are a lot of different components of the nuclear program. There's the supply chain, there's the nearly 1,000 pounds of uranium enriched up to 60 percent, which is the Iranians still have buried underground, very difficult, in fact, for U.S. aircraft to strike, even with big GBU-57s. It's just buried beneath the Earth.
And then -- and then there's -- there are other things that weren't in that, like scientists, the Iranians have scientists. So there's nuclear know-how the Israelis have killed a little bit over a dozen Iranian nuclear scientists. But there are still many out there. So there's knowledge that still persists as well.
BURNETT: Yeah, I mean, it, you know, impossible to just kind of eviscerate or obliterate the whole thing obviously has had been put out there.
Now, Iran said today, Seth, something I wanted to ask you about.
[19:40:02]
You know, yesterday, we know that the UAE was hit by a large number of missiles and drones. Okay? In fact, almost the most since the, quote/unquote, cease fire even began. And Iran then said that their armed forces did not carry out any attacks on the UAE, but the UAE says they did, right? And there was obviously evidence of that as well. There was a major oil port in flames, and the UAE says it was 19 missiles and drones yesterday.
So what is going on here? And I know you're learning something new about that really could change in a sense, one of the core trajectories of this war.
JONES: Yeah. Erin, it looks like Iran is trying to publicly make it seem like this is a war between Iran and the United States. The reality, as we look at what Iran has conducted attacks against or who its conducted, attacks against, even the last day or two, it's conducted strikes against the Emiratis and against Oman, targets in Oman and their ships as well, including a South Korean tanker. So, the number of countries that have been hit has grown. I mean, my sources are telling me that there is growing unhappiness
within Gulf States who are increasingly looking at options to become more militarily involved, not just in defensive operations, but in offensive operations, including with potential for airstrikes. I mean, I understand that already one gulf state has likely already conducted strikes in unpopulated islands in the Gulf as a signal that it could escalate. So I think we are on the verge of potentially seeing some escalation by Gulf States.
BURNETT: Which would be obviously huge, huge if they have refrained from doing so thus far, which would be incredible step in this war.
All right. Seth Jones, thank you very much. With all of that new reporting.
And next, Elizabeth Smart is now an award winning bodybuilder. Why she says this new activity is helping her heal after the abduction and sexual abuse that she endured so traumatically as a teenager.
Plus, more results just coming in. We've got key races in Indiana. We've got new numbers. But also I mentioned Ohio, important numbers coming in there. All showing whether Trump's grip on the Republican Party is slipping or not.
We'll be right back with the latest numbers.
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BURNETT: All right, breaking news. One of the seven races where Trump backed challengers are trying to defeat Republican state lawmakers. So Republican on Republican warfare here has been called. Indiana State Senator Travis Holdman losing to Trump's pick. His name Blake Fiechter. So, Trump's pick there winning. And as you can see, that's obviously very clear margin of victory there.
So we are able to make that call. That's one race though. There are six other, seven total, all of them. Trump putting an unprecedented amount of money in for the GOP to fight other Republicans, the ones he's trying to get rid of, are the ones who refuse to approve Trump's redistricting map.
So these elections are a major test for the president's power over his own party. We're able to call one of them, as I said, six more. We'll see if there's any more calls we can make in these next few moments.
Jeff Zeleny is OUTFRONT.
Jeff, what is the latest that you are learning?
JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Erin, this defeat of Senator Travis Holdman is significant because he is the third ranking Republican in the Indiana state senate, a set -- effectively the leader of these seven senators who are on the ballot today. So, certainly a convincing win there. A Trump backed real estate agent has defeated Senator Holdman, who served in the Indiana state senate since 2008. So 18 years.
So this is significant. Again, we are waiting for the other results to come in. But what this really is going to show is if the Trump coalition is going to respond to a massive advertising campaign, we have not seen anything like this. I mean, this is a local race usually that's been dumped on and its become a national contest in these -- these states.
But Senator Holdman is from a -- from a northeast Indiana. Again, he's been in the Indiana state senate for 18 years. He voted against redistricting. He thought it was the wrong thing to do at the time. And now, he is going to be effectively thrown out of office. We will see how the other six races that turn out. But this is a significant sign, Erin.
BURNETT: Yeah, it's a significant sign. Of course, you know, as you heard Senator Deery saying, well, Trump spent $13 million on this. So, that in and of itself they see as a failure for the GOP. But we'll see how many Trump prevails in.
Polls just closed I mentioned a couple moments ago Jeff in Ohio. So let's give you the projection that we've got here everyone. And that is that we can project that Democrat Sherrod Brown is the Democratic nominee for Senate, as he hopes to get back -- back into the Senate. So that's a special primary there.
And former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy is running for Ohio governor. So we're looking at that obviously huge, huge lead right now. But 4 percent of the vote is in. So what are you seeing?
ZELENY: Well, look, this Sherrod Brown winning the primary is no surprise. But its the beginning of what Democrats hope will be a comeback for Senator Sherrod Brown.
Now, once upon a time, of course, Ohio was one of the most competitive states in the country. It's not been that long ago, however, in the Trump era, it is a trended Republican. So for the next six months, Senator Sherrod Brown and other Democrats will try to determine if Ohio is still a swing state. But the enthusiasm on the ground for Senator Brown and others is certainly something we'll have our eye on for the next six months, Erin.
BURNETT: All right, Jeff Zeleny, thank you very much.
And next, Elizabeth Smart is OUTFRONT talking about her journey to becoming an award winning bodybuilder.
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BURNETT: Tonight, Elizabeth Smart like you've never seen her before. I mean, you may have seen some of these pictures recently on social media. They stop you in your tracks. She's 38 years old now and is an award winning bodybuilder. That's who she is now. Obviously different than what the world saw when she was a young girl. She was abducted at age 14 and held for nine months, taken in the dead
of night. The only witness, her nine-year-old sister. The story struck fear in the hearts of parents everywhere.
Elizabeth was found after a horrific ordeal, incomprehensible. She was raped and starved and abused, rescued when witnesses recognized her in public with her captors. And she is here with us now.
Elizabeth Smart, child safety advocate, bodybuilder, author of her new book, "Detours", mother, there are many things to describe -- to describe you, but obviously, you know, so many of us, when I see you and I see you now and I -- your -- everybody knows your face. Everybody in this country knows your face.
And, you know, I think of that little girl, that girl that we all saw and those horrific circumstances. And now, you've got three children and you've chosen to become physically strong in a way that very few do. Those bodybuilder pictures are unbelievable. Okay?
What's making you choose to do this? To pursue that which, by the way, it happened pretty quickly. And to choose to share it.
ELIZABETH SMART, AUTHOR, "DETOURS": Well, first of all, I, when I decided to do it, I did not think I would ever share it. But I, you know, I was into running for a long time and honestly, it was taking a toll on my -- on my body. Like I was always having to stretch out a lot before I went for a run.
And then on Saturdays, when I do my long run, I just, I wouldn't be, I'd be pretty worthless the rest of the day.
[19:55:01]
I just want to lie on the sofa and eat bread, chips, cake.
BURNETT: Which is hard when you've got three, three young children and you've got a lot of other things to do.
SMART: Yeah.
BURNETT: So, so what made you choose bodybuilding? And this isn't just bodybuilding, like going to Orangetheory and getting stronger. I mean, you're competing.
SMART: Yeah. So I felt like I needed a change and I had a trainer, a friend coach that I had worked with years ago, just about being fit with reach out to me. And she was like, hey, I haven't seen you a long time. You want to work out again? I was like, yes.
And I was like, I need a goal. I need like, I need to get better. Like, I -- like, I've always loved my body. I've always appreciated, but there was a lot of room for improvement.
And I was like, I just need a goal. I need a deadline. Otherwise it'll always be next Monday. I'll start a fresh week, Monday, next Monday, Monday I'll go to the gym. Monday I'll start macro matching or macro counting, whatever.
And she was like, okay, well, you know, like, what do you think about bodybuilding? I was like, okay, yeah, let's do it.
BURNETT: You talk about loving your body and you, when you first posted the pictures of yourself bodybuilding, you posted with them this you wrote, my body has carried me through every worst day, every hellish, grueling experience. My body has risen to every single challenge. Life has presented it with and carried me through. So I refuse to be ashamed of it.
You know, you endured something that very few human beings can -- can comprehend. What does it mean? How empowering is it to you to walk out on a stage and to share, and to show that physical strength?
SMART: I mean, if my body hadn't showed up for me through every bad day, id be dead. But it showed up for me every bad day, every hard experience I went through day in and day out, it showed up for me. And so, now for me, like getting to the point where I'm at right now and stepping out on stage, I feel like it's a celebration of my body. I feel like it's giving it the attention that it deserves.
BURNETT: So you have a new podcast with iHeart where you talk to other survivors, of people who have gone through things that, that almost no one can imagine except for them. And that's why you're talking to them.
And you've gotten a lot of messages of support. After your post, someone posted, "Amen, sister. I'm a domestic violence survivor and a bikini competitor. Exactly why I do what I do. Congrats." Really understanding what you're saying, about celebrating your body.
Another one, "I spent many years living in deep shame, as I'm sure many of us do. The fact that you have taken ownership of your body in such a way is just tremendous."
What does all that support mean to you?
SMART: I was very scared. When I was going back and forth on whether or not I should post about it, like --
BURNETT: Because you were even, you weren't competing under Elizabeth Smart. You were using --
SMART: I was using my married name. Yeah. And so I really was like, oh, should I do this? Should I not do this? Should I do this? And then it really came down to, well, why am I not doing this? Why am I scared to do this?
And it was, well, I've been an advocate for so long. What if it changes how people perceive me? What if it suddenly makes my words less valid and just sitting there thinking that I was like, those are the exact same reasons why victims don't come and disclose?
What if people don't believe me? What if they look at what I was wearing and decide I'm not worthy to be believed? What if, like, I put myself out there and go after the perpetrator and nothing ever happens to that person, and I just end up looking like a liar? Like there's so many -- that fear I feel like, has held so many of us back. And when that connection was made in my brain, I was like, okay, I'm doing this.
BURNETT: I'm doing it. I want to ask you about one thing separate from all of this. I was just thinking about it with Nancy Guthrie and being missing. And, you know, when you were missing and the reason everyone knows your face. Everyone wondered. And then it was. Well, it's been months, and maybe the worst has happened.
And you came back and here you are. There's new surveillance footage. There's -- there's, you know, everyone's wondering what could possibly have happened with Nancy Guthrie. Do you think there's any chance -- and I know, obviously, I'm not asking this forensically or anything, but because you have been through a time where maybe in your own mind, you didn't know if you were going to live to be gone for so long. Do you think it's possible that she could still have gotten through it?
SMART: Absolutely, absolutely. She could absolutely still be alive. I mean, there were cases that span many more years than mine does, and they came back alive. I mean, we're talking years and years. So she absolutely could still be alive.
I mean, of course there is the alternative. But until we know, we have to keep looking until she deserves either way to be brought home.
BURNETT: Yeah. All right. Well, Elizabeth, thank you so much. It's a pleasure to meet you. And thank you so much for talking about this and inspiring all of us to just do a little bit more.
SMART: Thank you.
BURNETT: And thanks so much to all of you for being with us.
"AC360" starts now.
