Return to Transcripts main page
Inside Politics
U.S. Launches "Self-Defense" Strikes On Iran Amid Deal Talks; Democrats Eye Red State Pickup On Path To Retake Senate; Epstein Files Take Center Stage In Crucial Senate Race; Construction Begins On Arena At White House For UFC 250; Trump To Host UFC Tournament At White House On June 14; Democratic Rep. Says Platner's Tattoo Is "Disqualifying". Aired 12:30-1p ET
Aired May 26, 2026 - 12:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[12:30:00]
KARIM SADJADPOUR, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: -- that is the gap here, that both parties want a strong deal and there's -- it's a zero-sum game for them.
DANA BASH, CNN ANCHOR: Let's listen to what the Secretary of State Marco Rubio said earlier today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARCO RUBIO, SECRETARY OF STATE: I think there's strong alignment and agreement on what a preliminary draft should look like. There's going to be a deal, we're going to have to work through that. But this is -- you know, it's either going to be a good deal or there isn't going to be one.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BASH: He went on to say that the deal has come down -- or the talks have come down to disputes over a word or a sentence on Iran's nuclear program and sanctions.
SADJADPOUR: I'm not sure if that's true. I think that the three main issues are the future of the Strait of Hormuz. President Trump needs that to go back to being an international waterway which Iran is not controlling. Iran still wants to control it.
Then there's the issue of Iran's stockpile of highly enriched uranium. President Trump said he wanted to go in there and take it himself, take it entirely out of the country. Iran is not going to allow that.
And then there's the question of Iran's right to enrich uranium. President Trump wants to do a better deal than President Obama did to freeze Iran's enrichment of uranium for 10 to 20 years. I think Iran is pushing back on that.
So we have the contours of what's being negotiated. I think we're far apart on the deal itself. BASH: And, you know, it does also say that some of the thornier issues will be addressed down the road which makes sense given the fact that at least for President Trump, the number one, two, three, four, five issue is, as you said, getting the Strait of Hormuz back open.
SADJADPOUR: So I spoke to someone who was part of the U.S. negotiating team and they said, you know, if we can get this 60-day blockade lifted of the Strait and, you know, the tankers can pass through, we can get oil prices down, that gives us some breathing room. So 30 days 60 days later, if we need to go back and actually perhaps, you know, take military action again or squeeze Iran again with sanctions, we'll have some breathing room. So I don't think there's tremendous optimism but I think the goal is to try to bring those fuel prices down in the near term.
BASH: Right, because even the minute the Strait is open if that happens, it's going to take some time --
SADJADPOUR: That's right.
BASH: -- for the oil prices and then the prices of the pump to go down as you well know.
Good to see you.
SADJADPOUR: Thank you, Dana.
BASH: Thanks for being here, Karim. Appreciate it.
Coming up, over the last decade, Ohio moved from a political coin flip to a GOP firewall. So why do Democrats think Sherrod Brown can retake a Senate seat? Manu Raju has a report from the trail next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[12:37:15]
BASH: If Democrats have any chance of taking back control of the Senate, they almost certainly have to win Ohio. But can they actually flip a seat in what now seems like a reliably red state? Well former Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown is hoping to do just that after losing his reelection bid two years ago.
CNN's Manu Raju recently traveled to the Buckeye state.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SHERROD BROWN (D), OHIO STATE CANDIDATE: Thank you.
MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): After enduring a painful defeat less than two years ago --
BROWN: Tonight I'm sad.
RAJU (voice-over): -- Sherrod Brown seemed to be closing the book on a career that began with a run for the state House in 1974 and ended after three terms in the United States Senate.
BROWN: I thought of my last night. They're going to be more nights now.
RAJU (voice-over): Now the veteran Democrat is trying to pull off a rare feat winning back a Senate seat after losing in the previous cycle. And he's trying to do it in Ohio, a state now dominated by the GOP, in a bid to unseat a Republican Senator Jon Husted, who was appointed to fill Vice President JD Vance's seat.
BROWN: It's a more conservative state. I've won federal elections a state almost every time --
RAJU: Shifted more right.
BROWN: Well, it's -- that's your analysis.
RAJU: You don't think so.
BROWN: So which one. I don't know if I think so. What I know is what I hear around this state and people want someone that will fight for them and they know I will.
RAJU (voice-over): To retake the Senate, Democrats have to win not just in purple states but flip seats in red states like Ohio, which no Democratic presidential candidate has carried since Barack Obama in 2012 and where there are no statewide Democratic officeholders.
Speaking to CNN in Delaware County, a suburban battleground that has leaned Republican, Brown defended his decision to run again at the age of 73 and after serving in public office for half a century.
RAJU: Does your party want fresh blood post Joe Biden?
BROWN: Well, I travel this state. People want somebody that will fight back. They want somebody that's willing to call out Jon Husted.
RAJU (voice-over): As big money is poised to flood the airwaves including nearly $80 million from a leading GOP outside group. Democrats believe backlash over the economy and soaring gas prices will help overcome Ohio's conservative tilt.
LOU BOYLE, OHIO VOTER: I think affordability is a big concern for the vast majority of Americans.
RAJU: So you're truly undecided.
BOYLE: I am. Yes, I think a lot of us are at this point.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not enamored with with both of the candidates.
RAJU (voice-over): Another unusual aspect of Brown's bid while Husted is the sitting senator, the 58-year-old former lieutenant governor lacks the name recognition of his Democratic challenger. That has Husted introducing himself to voters with ads like this. SEN. JON HUSTED (R), OHIO SENATE CANDIDATE: I started my life in a foster home. I tell young people where you start in life doesn't limit your future.
[12:40:06]
RAJU (voice-over): While attacking Brown's tenure in office --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Liberal Senator Sherrod Brown spent 32 long years in Washington.
RAJU (voice-over): -- Brown is trying to define the appointed senator in another way to tie him to the Jeffrey Epstein scandal.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Jon Husted, who's he really working for?
RAJU (voice-over): In his first ads, Brown is spotlighting big campaign contributions given to Husted over the years from Les Wexner, a billionaire who was Epstein's primary financial benefactor, though not implicated in any of Epstein's sex crimes. Husted's campaign says it has donated, quote, "all available funds from Wexner to charity."
But Brown is attacking Husted for voting against a Democratic plan last fall to release the Epstein files though Husted and the full Senate backed the release of the files about two months later.
RAJU: But he later voted no. He supported releasing the files with the rest of the Senate.
BROWN: Well, when there was no real vote. You know -- but you know better than that. You know that it was not a real --
RAJU: You cannot object if he want --
BROWN: No, no, no. You know better than that. The fact is when it was a real vote in the Senate when it was debated and there was arguments in both -- were arguments on both sides, he voted to keep the close -- the files closed only weeks after he had gotten a maximum contribution from that co-conspirator.
RAJU (voice-over): But Brown's campaign has received some money from Wexner's wife Abigail along with former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, who himself, has faced scrutiny over his ties to Epstein.
RAJU: Will you donate that money to (INAUDIBLE).
BROWN: They're not they're not tied in any way the way the co- conspirator is tied in and then he voted to close the files.
RAJU: Right. So it sounds like you don't see a need to return that money from --
BROWN: I don't see them -- I think that it's not real reporting to make those comparisons.
RAJU (voice-over): Husted's campaign said he was not available for an interview but CNN caught up with him on Capitol Hill.
RAJU: I was talking to Sherrod Brown last week. He really went after your votes on not to check Trump's power on Iran, to not check him on tariffs and also against that Democratic bill to release the Epstein files last fall. Do you stand by your votes on those issues?
HUSTED: Well, he well knows that I voted to release the Epstein files that's why we have all the information. The problem is, is he was such a failure for 32 years and so the only thing that he has to offer is to try to point fingers at others and he's been quite a failure.
RAJU: You said -- on Iran, you said the war was going better than expected but gas prices continue to be very high. Is it worth it for your constituents to pay that kind of money?
RAJU (voice-over): On the trail, Brown is attacking Husted for saying this to the Dayton Daily News back in March about the Iran war.
HUSTED: It is obviously going much better than anyone thought it would.
RAJU (voice-over): CNN later caught up with Husted again.
RAJU: Senator, on the war, you had previously said it's going better than expected but a lot of your constituents are paying more for gas.
HUSTED: Well, that's not what I -- that's not the context in which I --
RAJU: What did you mean?
HUSTED: -- was discussing that. I was talking about the military conflict of course when we had hit 13,000 sites and destroyed Iran's capability to create war with long-range missiles and degrading their ability to have nuclear weapons.
RAJU (voice-over): CNN tried to ask Husted about Brown's new attack ads.
RAJU: A new ad out today going out --
HUSTED: All right, so we're done. Thank you.
RAJU: Can you explain your relationship with Lex because because he did contribute a lot to your campaign and they're going after you on it. Can you talk about that at all?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BASH: Nice try, Manu.
Up next, new construction at the White House, the UFC Arena that will bring fight night to the South Lawn and the key promoter who actually isn't President Trump.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: These are real warriors. When we talk about warriors, these are warriors. These are the toughest people. These are the greatest fighters in the world. They're champions.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[12:48:37]
BASH: No, it is not another White House renovation. What you're looking at behind the White House there are structures towering over the South Lawn that will frame a historic stage. White House first, the UFC fight commemorating the 250th birthday of the nation and it will happen on the President's 80th birthday.
In TIME magazine's new cover story, UFC President Dana White, was asked about a litany of risks. Extreme weather, logistical and security challenges and here were his responses. "I don't sleep a lot, but it's not because I'm worried about anything. It's because my life is so f-ing awesome."
My panel is back now. Ben, that's quite a quote and, you know, good for him. I don't think there are a lot of people who can relate to that.
BEN TERRIS, WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT, NEW YORK MAGAZINE: Yes, I mean --
BASH: There days.
TERRIS: -- I mean, as far as he's concerned, his life is f-ing awesome, right? I mean he's got the President putting on, you know, the show of a lifetime on the White House lawn. I mean, this is like it's going to be the biggest spectacle that UFC has ever had. It's got to be an exciting time.
BASH: And just to kind of give our viewers a little bit more context about the President's relationship with Dana White, it goes back. I mean they've been friends for 20 something years, and then when it comes to the President's political career, if you go back to 2016, Dana White was at the RNC, 2019, President Trump went to a UFC fight. 2024, White was at the President's victory speech And 2025 and 2026, the President has gone to UFC fights.
[12:50:15]
And let's just go back in time to 2016 and hear what Dana White said at the Republican convention back then.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DANA WHITE, UFC PRESIDENT AND CEO: Donald was the first guy that recognized the potential that we saw in the UFC and encouraged us to build our business. He hosted our first two events at his venue. He dealt with us personally. He got in the trenches with us and he made a deal that worked for everyone.
On top of that, he showed up for the fight on Saturday night and sat in the front row. Yes, he's that guy. He shows up.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BASH: Josh?
JOSH DAWSEY, POLITICAL INVESTIGATIONS REPORTER, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: Well Dana White has certainly benefited from this presidency, has been there quite often. If you would have told someone in 2024 that the President was going to build a UFC octagon on the South Lawn of the White House, if he won again and staged a huge fight like this on his birthday, I'd be curious to what the reaction would have been.
But, you know, that said, this is quite --
BASH: People would have said it was a Democrat they had Trump derangement syndrome and I'm quoting you back to you.
DAWSEY: This is quite a hot ticket, right? I mean, I've been talking to lobbyists people across Washington Republicans, a lot of people who like this UFC fighting, a lot of people around are really clamoring to go. The tickets are being tightly controlled and lots of people are jockeying really to get in this ring of the White House.
So, you know, the President is going to be there obviously himself. But he's created sort of a spectacle. One of the things we've seen time and time again with him is he likes to throw these big events that have demand and people asking him for tickets and favors and XYZ. You see that with lots of different things he's done and this is going to be a signature Donald Trump production on the White House on.
BASH: Dana White is on the cover of TIME magazine, "The Promoter: How Dana White Took the UFC from the Fringes to the White House." And there's a quote on the idea of White's influence not just on President Trump but on President Trump's campaign particularly in 2024.
"I had this philosophy that if he stayed at Fox News, he couldn't win the election, says White. How significant was White to the campaign. "Very important," Trump says. He introduced me to people I had never heard of, young kids. I mean, I was being interviewed by 20-year-old kids. I'm saying, 'Where the hell did you meet these people?' They're called influencers."
JASMINE WRIGHT, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: I mean, putting aside the campaign of it, I think that profile was so interesting because you see Trump basically acting as a supporting voice for the main character Dana White and you don't really see that type of just context happening in a lot of profiles. That's minority journalism.
But for that, I think the campaign, it's right. Like you see Dana White was kind of omnipresent. He was the person that when you're talking about the manosphere, when you're talking about getting men to connect sports and Donald Trump, something that Trump has been doing for a long time but certainly focused on not just in the campaign but the first year in office.
And since then, getting, you know, folks who were so politically active before to look past maybe the kind of integral things about politics and say they want change and to connect that with Donald Trump in a way that his opponents just weren't able to do that. And Dana White, you know, is not the catalyst for it but he certainly helped usher that movement in there with folks like Alex Bruesewitz and others.
And so, I think that the President is really fond of Dana White and Dana White is in a kind of perfect position because he doesn't have to respond to any of the politics that Trump is talking about. He could just put up the UFC fight and have people love him.
BASH: The first person who's ever said Dana about a Dana because I'm always called Dana. So that was impressive.
WRIGHT: So look at that. Sorry, Dana or Dana.
BASH: Thank you all.
Coming up, why a Democratic congressman says a Maine Senate candidate, the Maine Senate Democratic candidate, Graham Platner, has disqualified himself from holding elected office.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[12:58:49]
BASH: Topping our political radar, President Trump is back at the White House after his annual physical. We'll wait to hear the official report from the White House Physician's Office. But the President is already telling us what to expect, quote, "Just finished my six month physical at Walter Reed Medical Center. Everything checked out perfectly. Thank you to the great doctors and staff."
The White House did not specify ahead of time what exams or procedures President Trump would undergo beyond saying that he would receive routine medical and dental exams.
A Massachusetts House Democrat says he will not support his party's candidate for Senate in nearby Maine. Congressman Jake Auchincloss tells CNN that Graham Platner's tattoo of a Nazi symbol is disqualifying.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. JAKE AUCHINCLOSS (D), MASSACHUSETTS: I find that tattoo and his commentary about it to be personally disqualifying. I hope Maine voters agree with me. I think there would be a mistake for the Democratic Party to think that Graham Platner's brand of the Democratic Party is what wins us durable majorities throughout this country.
(END VIDEO CLIP) BASH: Platner said he didn't know the imagery was a Nazi symbol and covered it with another tattoo after it was first reported last year. In a statement a few minutes ago, Auchincloss clarified that this doesn't mean he's going to endorse the Republican in the Senate race, quote, "Susan Collins is a rubber stamp for the worst administration in history." But he added, "If it were me, I'd vote for someone else in the main Democratic primary."
Platner is running virtually unopposed in the primary after Governor Janet Mills ended her bid last month.
Thank you so much for joining Inside Politics today. CNN News Central starts right now.
