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Trump on Iran, We're Going to Be Attacking Them, Very Hard; Trump Says Pulte Will Be at DNI for a Short While, Not Permanently; Platner to Face GOP Sen. Susan Collins in Critical Matchup. Aired 12:30-1p ET

Aired June 10, 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]

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT AND ANCHOR OF 'INSIDE POLITICS': -- something that is more in your Intelligence Committee purview, and that is the fact that the president is putting Bill Pulte, who currently runs kind of an obscure housing agency, in charge temporarily of the DNI, the Director of National Intelligence. That would be the position he would take. He says he's going to look for a more permanent DNI, somebody who would actually have to be Senate confirmed.

Right now, Democrats and some Republicans, but I think it's mostly Democrats, yourself included, are saying we're not going to extend the surveillance known as FISA, which is going to expire on Friday, unless and until he changes his mind about Pulte. He thinks that he politically has the upper hand to push back against you and other Democrats on this. What do you think?

REP. CHRISSY HOULAHAN, (D-PA) INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE: I think he's making a bad calculation. Let me explain why. This is not a case where they need one or two Democrats to be able to extend this authorization. This is a case where they need dozens of Democrats on the House side and more than a dozen on the Senate side to do this.

This is a case where there are many Republicans who have never voted to extend FISA. I am one of the Democrats who very much believes this is a lifesaving mechanism that we need to have. But here's where you can believe that I am a reliable narrator.

He has nominated someone who is wholly unqualified to lead a really, really essential part of our government. And until such time as he demonstrates that he's serious about this role, I have one thing and one thing only, which is my vote. And I want to make sure that he understands that I can be relied upon to cast a responsible vote.

BASH: Before I let you go, I do want to ask about the now very clearly -- clear candidate in Maine, Graham Platner, who won the Senate primary last night. He's spoken a lot about being a veteran, about having PTSD and how that has impacted his past relationships and his behavior even beyond that. He said he didn't know that tattoo that he had on his chest, which was a Nazi symbol, was actually that.

You are a military veteran. You are the daughter and granddaughter of Holocaust survivors. What do you make of his claims, and do you support him as a candidate?

HOULAHAN: So, the good news is that I'm not a resident of Maine, and I don't make that choice for the people of Maine. I am hopeful that his candidacy is successful. My understanding is that he has been resoundingly chosen by the people of Maine for the nominee position. We could have a very long conversation about personal foibles, and we are in a world where we are unfortunately constantly confronted with them.

I would love to make people understand that it's important to lead by example, and I try to do that with my own life every single day. And so, I will start by leading my life in the way that I would like to see people be elected with the values that I have.

BASH: OK, Congresswoman Chrissy Houlahan, thank you so much for being here. I appreciate it.

HOULAHAN: Thank you. I appreciate you.

BASH: And when we come back, Republicans unleash on Graham Platner in a scathing new digital video. He has some very strong words for Susan Collins in his victory speech last night. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:38:02]

BASH: It's official. Democrats' dreams of defeating Maine Senator, Susan Collins are now in the hands of Graham Platner. His primary victory was decisive. His, I guess, former opponent, Governor Janet Mills, suspended her bid in April, but she was still on the ballot. This is notable, though, this big win of Platner's because of how turbulent the last few days have been, not to mention weeks.

Last night, Platner turned his lens forward, issuing a searing indictment of Susan Collins and just reminding us how intense this is going to get.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GRAHAM PLATNER, (D) MAINE SENATE CANDIDATE: Susan Collins may have started her career decades ago in Washington with good intentions, but she has become just as spineless and corrupt as the establishment she now serves.

Susan Collins is getting rich while we're getting screwed. Susan Collins, how do you justify closing hospitals in Maine while using our tax dollars to destroy them halfway around the world? If you are an independent voice, why do you vote with Donald Trump 95 percent of the time? She does not serve us, and so we will defeat Susan Collins.

(CROWD CHEERING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: My panel is back now. Ron Brownstein, I'm going to start with you. I'm going to get to Susan Collins or at least the Republican response so far to that. But just I want to start on this Democratic primary and Graham Platner's candidacy and get your thoughts.

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, look, Susan Collins is a true unicorn. She is the last Republican Senator left out of the 38 in the 19 states that have voted against Donald Trump in all three of his presidential races. She is the only Republican Senator, according to the exit polls, or Senate challenger for that matter, who won during Trump's first term in a state where more voters disapproved than approved of his performance.

[12:40:00]

And the reason she was able to do that is because she wins a lot of voters, more voters who disapprove of Trump than any other Republican in the country, particularly older white women. Sarah Gideon, who was the Democratic nominee in 2020, ran 15 points behind Biden among women 45 and older in the Maine Senate race, and that is extraordinary. Nothing like that really happens anymore in American politics.

The challenge Democrats face with Platner is that his weaknesses overlap precisely with her strengths. I mean, if you look at the kind of voters who are the most likely to be unnerved by the revelations about him, I think it is many of those same older women.

Now, Trump is more unpopular today than he was in 2020 in Maine. Collins is weaker after Brett Kavanaugh voted to overturn Roe v. Wade and, you know, after she stood on the Senate floor and said he would not. But Platner introduces a level of risk and makes this a lot harder than it has to be for Democrats.

And I would point out that under Maine law, until July 13, he can still step aside and the party can pick a replacement. He doesn't want to do that, but more revelations or simply a month of bad polls may increase pressure on him and people like Sanders and Warren and Ro Khanna to reconsider the course that they're on.

BASH: Let me turn to the pushback from Republicans. Ayesha, I'm going to first play a new digital ad from the National Republican Senatorial Campaign.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Susan Collins has brought more than $1.5 billion back to Maine for hospitals, schools, roads and communities across the state. Graham Platner runs a hobby oyster farm whose only customer is his mother's restaurant.

Graham, say hi to your mother for me, OK?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: And Ayesha, I'm going to read a memo from the NRC obtained by Politico. National donors and supporters should not mistake Democrat discomfort for a Democrat retreat. The party is consolidating. The money is moving and the grassroots are already rationalizing the choice. Republicans need to match that urgency immediately.

Define Platner. Defend Collins. Resource Maine. This race can be won, but it will not win itself. Ayesha?

AYESHA RASCOE, NPR HOST, "WEEKEND EDITION SUNDAY" AND "UP FIRST": Yeah, I mean, I think that what that shows is that they know that this is going to be a tough race for both candidates, right? Like, you know, Susan Collins, you don't get to where she is without being an extraordinary candidate and really understanding your state in a very deep way.

Like, you know, as Ron said, she's a unicorn, so she's going to be hard to beat. And then you have a candidate who she's going up against, who is not the -- who is weighed down by baggage to say the least, right? So when you have that going on, that is going to be tough for both sides. But what I -- but what I will say is, for Graham Platner, we live in a day and age where these the sorts of things that would have brought down a candidate in the past, people have been able to withstand them.

BASH: Yeah.

RASCOE: So, he is not so damaged that he would not be able to go on. Like we know, and we've seen this over and over again, where very damaged candidates have been able to go on. Now, does that mean he'll win? I don't know.

BASH: And he's trying to say, I mean, his -- one of his lines that we've heard him say on repeat is, it's not about me. It's about you. We've heard that before from a different candidate, and he did pretty well. You're standing in front of the White House that he now occupies, Kristen.

But when it comes to Collins, one of the main things, forgive me, I didn't even need to do that. One of the big things that has changed since the last time Susan Collins was on the ballot is her vote for Brett Kavanaugh. And that is what one of the things that Platner brought up in his victory speech last night.

I want to play that, followed by Manu Raju caught up with Collins and asked about that vote and about Dobbs. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PLATNER: She got elected promising to protect Roe v. Wade, only to turn around and put on a justice -- put a justice of Supreme Court who overturned it. She lied to us.

(CROWD BOOING)

SUSAN COLLINS, (R) MAINE SENATE CANDIDATE: That's obviously not true. The people of Maine know me well, and I know them well.

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Do you regret your vote on Kavanaugh?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Kristen?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Notably not answering that last part there, do you regret your vote? And this is probably one of the weakest moments that Susan Collins has in her long tenure when it comes to running for re-election.

I will say that, as we've all noted, she comes from a unique perspective. I mean, even within the White House, she has a unique ability to maintain respect from President Trump.

[12:45:00]

I will remind you, months ago, President Trump was saying Collins should be primaried. Now, you have the president just five minutes ago saying she's respected, she's smart. She might not always vote for me but she always shows up. He has been told by his team repeatedly they need that seat and they need Susan Collins. Stop, get in line with Susan Collins, doesn't matter what happened in the past because we are in a very vulnerable position.

Now, in addition to that vote, that Brett Kavanaugh vote, we're also in a completely different landscape when it comes to the low approval rating of Republicans. The fact that we are now in a space where there is what seems to be a never-ending war, although the White House would not describe it that way. They continue to say that every day, they're two days away from some kind of peace deal.

But their -- prices are going up and the kind of patience is wearing thin with this White House. So how does that impact Collins as well? And that's really the landscape, not just for her, but across the entire country right now.

BASH: All right, thanks to the three of you, appreciate it. Please don't go anywhere because there is a political fight playing out across the country at the local level. And this fight is over data centers. CNN's Shimon Prokupecz visited some of these communities.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME & JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Are you worried that all of this could potentially disappear?

BILL HUBBARD, MISSOURI FARMER: Yeah. There is this -- thank you, girls.

PROKUPECZ (voice-over): Sixteen buildings that are planned on 500 acres, which need water to keep the systems cool.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:51:08] BASH: If there is one issue that is uniting Americans across political lines, it is a groundswell of rage about the ever-growing number of A.I. data centers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Maybe this decision should be made after the election.

(CROWD CHEERING)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The burdens would stay local. The profits will leave town. We are asking you please stop this theft and rape now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: In his new report, "Data Center Defiance," which is streaming now on "CNN All Access," Shimon Prokupecz traveled across the country, speaking to Americans already living in the shadows of data centers and people trying to stop them before they're built, like these farmers in Union, Missouri.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PROKUPECZ: What happens if this does get approved and they're able to build?

SAMANTHA CROOKS, MISSOURI FARM: That's what's scary. Are we going to stay and pray that it's not as bad as we expect it to be? I'm really not sure. I don't have a plan.

(LAUGH)

CROOKS: I don't have a plan for after. I'm hoping that we can fight this.

PROKUPECZ (voice-over): Most here are like the Hubbards, generational farming families. They worry because the land is their life.

HUBBARD: I'm tied to this land in a lot of ways. We lost our son on this property. He was coming to help me and had an accident on the bike.

We hunted, fished on this property. Even if that hadn't happened, I would still say this is home.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Wow, Shimon is joining me now. It's just really remarkable to see communities of all kinds, farmers, you know, suburban Americans, who are really trying to push back against these data centers. How much success are they having in the areas where you went?

PROKUPECZ (on camera): They are having a lot of success, you know, certainly on the local level with city councils pushing back and in some cases, they're voting them out. They're getting them out of office, you know, city councils that are trying to approve data centers or have approved data centers.

In many cases, these protesters are coming there, they're making noise and they're getting them out. There's just a lot of mistrust right now over what these data centers are and a lot of it is related to A.I. You know, many of the people who live in these communities, they just don't want these large non-descript buildings coming into their communities, sucking up all this energy, sucking up a lot of water.

There's a lot and lot of good information they feel, these people in these communities, about the safety of this. What effects will this have on the environment? What effects will this have, you know, for farmers, on their animals, on their cattle, on the stuff that they make? And so because of that you're seeing this pushback and this distrust.

And the other thing is that there isn't -- they feel that there isn't a lot of transparency coming from the data center companies, that they're coming in offering this large amounts of money to build these centers but they're not really giving up a lot of information.

BASH: So what we just played were people who are trying to prevent data centers from going in. You also went to a data center in Northern Virginia, one where it is already existing and the neighbors are already living with it. What did you learn there?

PROKUPECZ: Yeah, this is in Loudoun County, known as Data Center Alley, and really this is where you can go to see what many of these buildings look like. But a lot of those buildings in Loudoun County were built for the cloud, you know, stuff to store information on our -- from our phones and our computers.

But what's happened there, there was such a boom that, in some cases, they built these buildings right near people's homes and here's sort of a taste of what those people are experiencing.

[12:55:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PROKUPECZ (voice-over): Data Center Alley was Buddy Rizer's brainchild 20 years ago.

BUDDY RIZER, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, LOUDOUN COUNTY ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT: The only reason we did this was for the community. You know, we needed to grow the commercial tax base. They are great in the community. I mean, they're big funders of K-12 education, community college education, all the charities.

PROKUPECZ (voice-over): But not everything went right.

GREG PIRIO, LIVES NEAR DATA CENTER: It is like having constant jet airplanes flying overhead 24/7.

PROKUPECZ: Because you can hear it right now, right?

PIRIO: Yeah, yeah. PROKUPECZ: Like, take a listen here, right? This is --

PROKUPECZ (voice-over): That hum you hear, that's coming from this, a massive data center just feet from these homes.

PROKUPECZ: What's it like when you're trying to sleep?

ETHAN DOUE, LIVES NEAR DATA CENTER: It's like July 4th fireworks going off.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PROKUPECZ (on camera): And so, you know, people in communities where these are being proposed, they're seeing these stories, they're seeing the noise issues, they're seeing the potential environmental issues, and they're seeing this online and they're getting freaked out by it. And so they are asking for, in some cases, just a pause to say, hey, let's take a break. Let's see -- learn more information about this.

Buddy Rizer, the man there from Loudoun County, who kind of is like the brainchild of so many of these data centers there in Loudoun County, he agrees. He said, look, in some cases, we have gone too far and these shouldn't be built near people's homes. He's rejected some proposals. He's pissed off about some of the proposals for data centers there in Loudoun County. But inevitably, we're going to need these buildings.

BASH: Exactly.

PROKUPECZ (on camera): And so, it needs to be figured out exactly how we can get communities the information that they need, so that we can all learn more about it --

BASH: Yeah.

PROKUPECZ (on camera): -- and feel safe if they're built in our communities.

BASH: Yeah, I mean, it's a classic NIMBY. People understandably don't want this kind of disruption where they live, but they also like the information that they can get quickly on their phone and will likely get it even more quickly as A.I. evolves in a very rapid way.

Shimon, thank you so much for bringing us that.

PROKUPECZ (on camera): Yeah. Thanks for having me.

BASH: And everybody can see his whole report on CNN.com because it's streaming there.

And thank you for joining "Inside Politics" today. "CNN News Central" starts after a quick break.

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