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Inside Politics

Primary Day In Maine As Voters Weigh Platner's Past; Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: Platner Reporting "Hard To Stomach"; Trump's Intel Pick Could Jeopardize Surveillance Law; Trump Gets Booed At Knicks Game, Calls It "Mostly Cheers". Aired 12-12:30p ET

Aired June 09, 2026 - 12:00   ET

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

[12:00:00]

DANA BASH, CNN HOST, INSIDE POLITICS: Will Graham Platner's checkered past cost Democrats a Senate majority. Well find out today whether democratic voters in Maine are still squarely behind him.

I'm Dana Bash, let's go behind the headlines at Inside Politics.

It's primary day in Maine, North Dakota, Nevada, and South Carolina, and right now voters are casting ballots in a series of key Senate, House, and governor's races. For Democrats, it's all about the Pine Tree State, where today's primary isn't so much about picking a nominee but testing the one that they're pretty sure they have.

Tonight, Maine voters will deliver the first real evidence of whether Graham Platner's latest controversies have diminished his support, and the future of the Senate will be riding on this potentially.

CNN's Arlette Saenz is at a polling station in Portland. What are you hearing from voters so far, Arlette?

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Dana, the Maine Democratic primary voters we spoke to today have really been mixed in their views on Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner. There have been some who said that they are willing to overlook these controversies in his past because they believe he has the best option to defeat Senator Susan Collins in November.

But there are others who told us that they actually voted for Maine Governor Janet Mills today, who suspended her campaign, but whose name is still on the ballot because they felt that Platner was too problematic in this campaign. Platner is favored to win this Democratic primary, but the real test ahead will be in November when he has to convince a general electorate to vote for him, despite these controversies in his past.

But here are two voters that we spoke with earlier who had different views on where Platner's past will hat. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KATHLEEN LEAVIS, MAINE DEMOCRATIC VOTER: I don't believe in misogyny or power over women, and although he has said all of those things were in the past. I don't know if a person can change that much.

LEE EDWARDS, MAINE DEMOCRATIC VOTER: I know he's got a lot of bad stuff behind him. I also understand that having gone through four tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, he has more than PTSD. He had moral injury, and it really messes with your mind.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAENZ: Now, Republicans have made clear that they want to put Platner's controversies front and center in their messaging as they approach that expected general election matchup. And there are some Democrats who are nervous that these controversies that Platner has faced could complicate their abilities to unseat Senator Susan Collins here in Maine. Maine is a state where President Donald Trump lost back in 2024, but Collins has secured five terms here in this state.

Oftentimes there are these split ticket voters here in Maine, so it's an interesting dynamic as you think about this state, and as it relates to the Senate map, Senate Democrats need to pick up four Republican-held seats. They had hoped that Maine would be one of those, but now for Platner, the real test is ahead, as he will have to try to convince voters to support his candidacy, even as there are concerns about his past, Dana.

BASH: Thank you so much. Those voters are really interesting to listen to our fantastic colleague Mata Raju, as he does on a daily basis. Chase down a senator. This one, an important one today. Senator Susan Collins, who is the incumbent senator that Arlette was talking about. He got her reaction on the latest Platner allegations.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Do you believe the denials from Graham Platner that -- and from his New York Times report who his denials?

SEN. SUSAN COLLINS (R-ME): The allegations against Graham Platner are extremely troubling and serious, and he owes the people of Maine a detailed answer and I haven't heard.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: And our terrific group of reporters are here at the table with us today. Tia, I just want to start with kind of the big picture here, which is whether or not we do think we're going to see any -- whether there will be tea leaves that we'll be able to read from the way that these results are, because one of the dynamics that we should keep in mind is that early voting started a month ago, May 11, and that's before some of the latest allegations and controversies came out.

TIA MITCHELL, WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF, THE ATLANTA JOURNAL- CONSTITUTION: Yeah. I think that it -- a lot of voters had already made up their minds, not just who they were going to support, but that Graham Platner's nomination was pretty much inevitable. So, we've seen that as different journalists have talked to voters in Maine, that they believe that, you know, there was no stopping the train. [12:05:00]

So, I think what's going to -- if he -- if he's successful, and again, there's just no evidence that he won't be. The question will be, is he able to address the concerns like the voters we just heard? Will he better explain himself? Will he be able to rebound and focus back on the contrast with the incumbent, not his own controversies?

BASH: Yeah. I mean, and really, this is leading to so much heartburn here in Washington because they really hoped that this was the year that they finally were able to turn what is a blue state, blue in this Senate seat and beat Susan Collins. The way that Democrats are reacting here has been very interesting.

I want you to listen to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who is, of course, a like-minded progressive, but unlike her very close ally, Bernie Sanders, she has not yet endorsed Graham Platner.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ (D-NY): When it comes to the substance of this reporting, obviously, there's a lot in that behavior that's really challenging. It's hard to stomach, you know, in some of it, but, but at the end of the day, I think that this is a choice. If the choice on the ballot is between that and a senator who's voted to take healthcare away from millions of Americans. That's the situation that we have to weigh.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JASMINE WRIGHT, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, NOTUS: I mean, that but was the loudest thing that I heard in that sentence. I would be surprised if down the line she endorses him because of all of these, but still that option is available. Look, it is hard to understate how important the state of Maine was for Democrats, calculus when it comes to trying to take back the Senate. It was one of -- if not the most state that they felt secured in going into, despite the fact that Susan Collins has been an albatross.

I know we've been reporting in the state of Maine, and the comments from the political class in Maine is kind of similar to AOCs, except they've gone kind of a step further, in which my colleague Christa Dutton reported that folks that she talked to around Maine, who are elected officials or county officials, have said this is not like Donald Trump in the Access Hollywood scandal in 2016 because of the way that Graham, they say, has been responding to it.

He said he's sorry for the things that he needed to say, he's sorry for he definitively denied the things that he says has not happened, and they're hoping that those denials that we heard on MS Now and other places resonate with folks today, but I know that folks in the state and here in D.C. are going to be watching that vote share that comes out of it, even though we're -- that you're right that early voting started a month ago. If Janet Mills is basically defunct campaign gets 20 to 30 percent, Graham is in trouble coming November. BASH: Right. I mean, she's what we call a zombie candidate. She's on the ballot still, and yet she's suspended her campaign, so we'll see if that shows up. Tina Smith is a Democratic senator from Minnesota, you know, where I'm going with this. And she is not just a female Democratic senator, she was the one who was appointed to fill Al Franken's seat when his fellow Democrats forced him to resign after sexual misconduct allegations.

Here's what Tina Smith said, Graham Platner is going to win because he has connected with Mainers on what they really care about, how this country can work for them, not just the wealthy. He'll win because he's not part of the Washington establishment. If I voted in Maine, he'd have my support, no question.

DASHA BURNS, WHITE HOUSE BUREAU CHIEF, POLITICO: My word how much has changed in eight years. Dana, you and I have been talking about this, how the Trump era of politics really looms over all of this. And the way that Graham Platner has handled this, he's addressed this stuff, but he hasn't really said sorry. When Ro Khanna recently said that he does think that Platner should apologize, but he's not apologizing. He's acknowledging, he's taking responsibility, but he's also pushing through this.

I think tonight is the first test for Platner, but boy, it actually only gets harder from here, right? Because now, as we pivot to the general, you are already starting to see my colleague Adam Wren scoop some of these early Republican attack ads where they have Maine voters reading some of the words that Platner has posted. You know, go ahead.

BASH: Yeah. And I just want to quickly play. This is really fascinating. First, you're going to hear a Janet Mills' ad. She, of course, is the governor who suspended her campaign. It was against Graham Platner, followed by one of those new ads by supporters of Susan Collins.

(PLAYING VIDEO)

[12:10:00]

BASH: And again, this is just the beginning. I do want to say that Platner said in response back then to the Mills' ad. If I saw these ads about somebody, I would also have concerns. But this is really the most important thing to underscore, is that the Republicans have basically been holding back.

WRIGHT: Yes.

BASH: And who knows what they've got and what they're going to throw at Graham Platner when the general really begins.

WRIGHT: I mean, the whole theory of the case of Janet Mills' election or race against Platner, one is that she was, you know, the chosen one by the establishment here in D.C., that she was a favorable governor in the state. But that she would prosecute the case against Graham when it came to office scandals, the words that he has said, but she never had enough money to do so. BURNS: The Republicans have a lot of --

WRIGHT: Have a lot -- probably more than enough money to do so. And so the question is going to be, when they throw all this money at them, when they throw all these ads at them, are those folks who talk to Arlette in that state, who are like, I don't know if he's a good person, but I also don't like Susan Collins. Will they just stay?

BASH: And we're going to have to take a break. And the other thing that we now know is that the normal vet that goes on vetting a candidate before they actually get on the ballot wasn't as robust as perhaps some would have liked.

All right, coming up. Congress is rebelling against President Trump's pick for acting national intelligence director. Is the White House reconsidering its unorthodox choice? And so much for Knicks -- for President Trump was in New York's good luck charm last night. Knicks' fans made their displeasure known.

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[12:15:00]

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BASH: It may be understandable that President Trump isn't used to push back from Republicans on Capitol Hill. It didn't happen much in his first year and a half of this second term, but it is now, and this is arguably different, because the stakes, and frankly, some of the disgust is high. Last week, he picked MAGA loyalist Bill Pulte, who has no intelligence experience to run the country's intelligence community and do so temporarily.

And now, Congress may not reauthorize America's preeminent surveillance law, which will expire on Friday. Democrats say Pulte is unqualified and dangerous, and they won't vote to extend that law if Pulte is involved. And it's not just Democrats who are concerned.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: Bill Pulte, is he qualified to be DNI?

SEN. THOM TILLIS (R-NC): I don't know of any national security experience he has.

RAJU: What do you think about Bill Pulte as the acting DNI?

REP. BRIAN FITZPATRICK (R-PA): He shouldn't be there.

RAJU: Was it a mistake for him to put Pulte in that position?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, I'm going to just say, he has --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: And if you're surprised to see Senator John Cornyn in that mash up, don't be. CNN's Manu Raju, who is providing all of the content for this program, asked Cornyn if he feels he has more freedom now. The senator responded, are you kidding? Of course. My liberation day, May 26. That, of course, was the day he lost his runoff to a Trump-backed challenger.

I mean, wow. But this is -- this is a bit different, as I mentioned, and it's of course also quite serious, because the rubber is meeting the road on this law, and it is a big question whether or not the president will back down on this, given the fact that he has made it very clear, not only does he want Pulte in there -- just to be there temporarily, but why, because he thinks he can do more without having the confirmation of the Senate, which is the way it's supposed to work.

BURNS: Yeah. Look, the president, of course, is not one to back down, but we have seen some signs of him doing a little bit of backpedaling, like on that anti-weaponization fund, and his team is very well aware that the exasperation on the Hill is starting to reach a fever pitch, and the president did his revenge tour, or he ousted a bunch of folks in the Senate and in the House in these primaries in favor of people that supported him more, but now those people are still there.

And just like John Cornyn, they are untethered and much more willing to speak their minds. And so, while he -- he won politically, he has actually made his agenda in Congress a lot more difficult to achieve.

BASH: Yeah. And again, just back to the whole question of whether or not the president will back down for lots of reasons, not the least of which is to get this surveillance measure confirmed, or at least extended, which is passed about every six years. Listen to what Mark Warner, who is the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee told me about that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MARK WARNER (D-VA): And what he could do is take a single piece of intelligence that may not be corroborated or make something up, and say, country act is going to interfere, is sending people to encourage non-citizens to vote, and that be used as an excuse for Trump to bring in ICE, federal troops, close down elections, seize polling stations. The list is extraordinarily frightening. And again, this guy doesn't have any national security background. The idea that he's going to get access to all of our most classified information as well means he is a security risk.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[12:20:00]

BASH: And Tia, at the beginning of his comment, he was referring to the fact that President Trump was very clear when he appointed Bill Pulte that he wants Pulte to look into -- to look into rigged elections. So, they're concerned about -- concerns about what he might say about 2020, which is probably the president's goal, but also what he might do to muddy the waters on this election year. MITCHELL: Right. And I mean, I think the biggest concern, bipartisan concern, is that Pulte already has shown he is willing to use, you know, the levers of government that were under his control when he was at this obscure housing finance agency --

BURNS: Which were a lot fewer than at the office --

(CROSSTALK)

MITCHELL: A lot fewer, and he used it to do Trump's bidding and go after Trump's enemies. So, what happens when you put him under the purview of all of national intelligence -- international intelligence. What could he possibly do? What will he have access to? That is what scares again that Republicans and Democrats in Congress, who sat through January 6, are afraid of what he could do.

BASH: And as we speak the -- we believe he's still there. The House Speaker, Mike Johnson, is the White House talking to the president about this. I'm sure, among other things, the top Republican on the other side of the Capitol, John Thune, said the following. I don't think about replacing Pulte. I think they're weighing seriously making a long-term pick. Meaning, just get over this quickly by finding somebody who they can confirm and move beyond the notion of Pulte being in there for a long period of time, or at least through the election.

WRIGHT: And the White House and President Trump himself have been kind of laying some seeds about this. Obviously, last week the president said, when asked about whether or not he would actually officially nominate Pulte, said that he would be there on a temporary basis. Sources that I've talked to around the White House have said that it was Pulte's idea in the first place to be put in this DNI position, not necessarily the president's, although he liked the idea of what could Pulte do.

And so, you know, it's not a bug, it is the feature of it. And so, I think you've been seeing the White House trying to temper things a little bit by laying the seeds that this is not forever, we want him to do something very quickly and then get out. Obviously, that is not enough for Democrats, who need -- who -- Republicans need their support, especially in the Senate to get this passed.

I think you're seeing Democrats use those very slim opportunities that they have, despite being out of power in both chambers of Congress to try to needle the White House and push them in a direction, and they've seen some success. It's unclear whether or not they'll see success --

BURNS: For Johnson and Thune, I mean, it seems like every time Congress gets close to putting a piece of legislation over the edge, the president or his team, someone in the administration puts something forward that then disrupts all of that progress, whether it's the ballroom or the anti-weaponization fund or now Pulte.

BASH: All right, everybody standby. Usually in Madison Square Garden, the jumbotron features celebrity row, the front row, Spike Lee, Ben Stiller, Timothee Chalamet. Last night, a different famous New Yorker got quite a welcome.

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[12:25:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BASH: President Trump visited the mecca of basketball last night, Madison Square Garden. You did -- that to cheer on the New York Knicks in the NBA Finals. A longtime Knicks fan said he got an amazing reception. You can listen for yourself.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: It was certainly amazing. It was -- it was, I think, mostly cheers. It was -- it was loud and it was very enthusiastic.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: My panel is back now. Nothing like an all-female panel to talk a little basketball and politics.

BURNS: Absolutely. And talk about all these men and what they're up to.

BASH: But on this, I mean, Dasha, I mean, you all are obviously very well sourced in Trump world. I'm assuming that he knew that this would be a mixed reception. The question now is, given the outcome, you know, kind of what they're saying inside the White House.

BURNS: Well, look, the president, there was a time, you talked about all the celebrities that, you know, usually sit courtside. There was a time when the president -- when Trump, Donald Trump, the real estate mogul, the reality show star, was a fixture at port side at Madison Square Garden. And so, he still has this old school love for New York, even if New York might not love him back in this moment.

He -- this is something that is his -- it's his home. That arena is a place where he does feel comfortable, and so you heard him sort of reframe for the audience, and probably for himself what the cheers or boos were last night.

BASH: And Stephen A. Smith, who is a sports analyst, sports commentator, also somebody who is not so subtly thinking about running for president himself. Listen to what he said and how Trump responded.

[12:30:00]