Return to Transcripts main page

Inside Politics

Platner Drops Out, Casts Himself As Victim Of Party Insiders; Maine Dems Will Hold Convention This Month To Pick New Nominee; Platner Lashes Out At Press, Democratic Party As He Quits Race; U.S.- Iran Ceasefire Crumbles As Fresh Strikes Rock Region; Gas Prices Show Largest 1-Day Spike Since Early May; Epstein Survivors Say His Former Assistant Lied To Congress. Aired 12-12:30p ET

Aired July 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: Pity party, Graham Platner ends his Senate campaign by torching the Democratic Party and portraying himself as the real victim.

I'm Dana Bash. Let's go behind the headlines at Inside Politics. Graham Platner is officially out, leaving Democrats just about two weeks to determine who will challenge Senator Susan Collins in November. But we want to start with that 11-minute video Platner released as he announced his exit, because it was really something. How Platner characterized his campaign's downfall and who was responsible?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GRAHAM PLATNER, (D) FORMER MAINE SENATE CANDIDATE: I just want you to think about, like, what you would do as a regular person in a position where a much larger world, large forces were working against you personally to accuse you of the worst thing that a person could do and it was not remotely true.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Regular people run for office all the time. Not all regular people are credibly accused of rape by a former partner. Here's what Jenny Racicot told my colleague Jake Tapper about her experience.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JENNY RACICOT, GRAHAM PLATNER ACCUSER: I remember just at first being like, hey, I'm not into this, like, don't, I'm not in the mood, like, don't, whatever. And it got to the point where I was like, OK, I feel like. I've said this enough times, like, he's not listening to me or he's not hearing me, and I looked at him, and I remember this very specific look in his eyes, and I could smell alcohol, and I was like, this is different.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Now, Platner has every right to forcefully deny what are really serious allegations against him. CNN, POLITICO and The New York Times deemed these allegations credible after reviewing documentation, texts, diary entries, and emails, and by speaking to friends who confirmed their version of events. So, let's turn to why he says he believes the large forces in the Democratic Party are targeting him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PLATNER: They would rather see Susan Collins win than have me be the next senator from Maine. All we were asking for was healthcare, was to end the genocide, to use our taxpayer dollars at home to uplift our communities instead of waging war overseas. We were asking for a fair system.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: It is true that Platner wasn't the Democratic establishment's first pick for this race, but even after the Nazi tattoo, the Reddit post, which by the way, including him downplaying sexual assault, the sex to women who weren't his wife. The party got behind him because they want to unseat Susan Collins, and by the way, a number of the Mainers throwing their hat into the ring now to succeed Platner back the same proposals he lists.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PLATNER: But the brutal political reality is that they are going to take everything away from us. Those in power who have the ability to do so, are using these allegations as an excuse to take away all of the things that we need to run a campaign.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: It was an 11-minute video filled with grievance and blame, while ignoring the long list of controversies that dogged him for months, and that full picture, the collapse of trust contributed to why this campaign fell apart.

I'm joined by a terrific group of reporters here at the table, including Jeff Zeleny. And Jeff, I know you've got some new reporting on how that 11-minute video came to be.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: One of the reasons I'm told it took so long for it to come out. It was sent out last night around 8 pm at the very same time he was having an all- hands campaign video phone call. And I'm told the tone was actually somewhat different on the phone call with the staffers. He was thanking them for their work and was more gracious, but we heard that video there, which I'm told was taped around 4:30 yesterday afternoon.

[12:05:00]

And a number of advisors, I'm told, urged him to strike a more gracious tone. Yes, he can deny the allegations. No one is saying he cannot do that, but striking a more gracious tone, instead it was the exact opposite. The divides in the Democratic Party are very obvious at this point. In Maine, they are really a metaphor for what we're seeing across the country, but there was no offer of trying to heal the party, simply pouring, you know, salt in the wounds of the divide.

But one staffer, who was on the phone call and then watched the video was shocked by the difference, said this, it's all about him and ego, not an ounce of humility, which, of course, is obvious to all of those watching that, but a staffer saying that, I think, really kind of brings that home. But Maine Democrats are trying to move forward. He made it more difficult for them to do so.

BASH: And there's one other -- well, there are lots of other points before we move on to who's going to get in the race. But one of them is his argument that Mainers are not going to have a proper voice now for the issues that he's talking about. It is true that he got a very large number of votes in the Democratic primary after Janet Mills, the sitting governor, dropped out of the race. He did very, very well. It's also true, apparently, that he was picked to run not by people in Maine or from Maine, but by consultants for highly progressive movements and who work for organizations and sort of campaign advisors.

Here's from the New York Times. The initial headhunters, Dan Moraff and Leanne Fan, and then a third out-of-state operative called up to Maine, Morris Katz told Mr. Platner, he was the one, a hero of the movement, historic figure who could be leading a revolution, according to half a dozen people with knowledge of their conversations.

MARIANNA SOTOMAYOR, CAPITOL HILL CORRESPONDENT, PUCK: So, I have been talking to a number of Hill Democrats and also strategists for some time, right, because the talk around Washington, as the strip, drip, drip continued, was what more is there. Is he a flawed candidate? And Morris Katz's name came up a lot and Dan Moraff. And now I think there's two ways to look at, you know, the fallout of this.

One is, sure, we are now in an era where people want authentic candidates who have probably never had political experience before. This anti-Washington sentiment is real, but you still need political consultants who understand how to run campaigns, how to vet. Like that was the most basic thing that even some people are criticizing the DSCC for, and Schumer, like no one is saying, OK, you were right, you were wrong, or a lot of people are saying, you are wrong, no one's saying you were right in any part of this. So that is one thing.

I think the other part, too, is because there wasn't vetting, and because you had so many progressives --

BASH: They did a cursory vet.

SOTOMAYOR: Yeah. I mean -- but there were still so many lawmakers who could have pulled their endorsements at any point in time. They legitimized him instead, and they criticized any Democrat, which were few and far between, who said, I cannot support him.

BASH: That is such an important point. I'm glad you brought that up.

BETSY KLEIN, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Well, and exactly as he's talking about this as the system fighting against normal people, he is really, to your point, a complete failure of vetting. I think with or without political consultants, voters have a reasonable expectation that their candidate doesn't have a Nazi tattoo or did not have a Nazi tattoo, that they are not sexting with people who are not their wife, that they may not have women who would accuse them of sexual assault. Of course, he's denied that third claim there, but people expect that their candidates will not have this level of baggage.

BASH: Let's look at what now, because the camp -- the deadline, by the way, to withdraw from the race was July 13, which is just around the corner, which is why there was so much pressure on him. And then there will be a Democratic Party meeting with hundreds of people who will find a way to replace him. That's going to be on July 27. There is -- by July 27, I should say.

There is a list of a lot of potential placement -- replacements, as I mentioned, a number of them agree, and they will would run on the same kinds of ideals that Platner did. They're just not Platner. Here are some examples of some of the candidates who have been on CNN over the last 24, 48 hours.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHENNA BELLOWS, MAINE SECRETARY OF STATE: I'm from the working class. I've won a state senate district that voted for Trump and voted for me. And as secretary of state, I've been standing up to Trump, protecting democracy and fighting to protect our elections.

DAN KLEBAN, FOUNDER, MAINE BEER COMPANY: I'm not a career politician. I've spent the last 20 years building a small business, started my kitchen, moved my garage, and now I employ over 100 Mainers and provide a living wage, and I cover 100 percent of their healthcare costs.

DR. NIRAV SHAH, (D) FORMER MAINE GOVERNOR CANDIDATE: Graham and I share a lot of the same progressive ideals, like Medicare for all, taxing billionaires.

TROY JACKSON, (D) FORMER MAINE STATE SENATOR: The movement here in Maine, and across this country, people that are fed up with healthcare not being offered to everyday people, you know, with prescription drugs, workers' rights.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[12:10:00]

BASH: Josh?

JOSH DAWSEY, CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: Well, whoever gets a nominee certainly has a short time period ahead. Just a few months before the election and Susan Collins right, to take her on, and they have to get the process, right? If you're Democrats in Maine, I mean, we saw with the -- when Biden dropped out on the Kamala Harris process afterwards, right, a lot of people were frustrated how that went in the party, and that probably led to some folks not turning out, and some concerns there, right? If you're the Maine Democrats, you have to first get the process right, of how do we pick this next person. And whoever it is has to come in swinging pretty quickly, because you have three, four months. Susan Collins, you know, is not viewed to be a terrific year for Republicans. Obviously, there's presidents' numbers are not great right now. There are some uphill things, but she's a pretty resilient candidate. She's won repeatedly in Maine, she knows her state, and I mean, they could take -- they could take her out, but she also is pretty formidable. And I'm not sure, you know, whoever, whoever the nominee is, has to get to work pretty quickly.

BASH: That's the irony, which is that if you were to give Susan Collins and her advisors truth serum, they would have wanted Graham Platner to stay in the race, because it is such a bad year for Republicans that it turned out that Platner, from their perspective, they might have been wrong, was because of all of the faults separate and apart from what he believed in, could have been the best opponent. Now there is the chance for the Democrats to put somebody up who also wants a progressive -- who has a progressive philosophy, who doesn't have the baggage.

ZELENY: Without question, and I think the test to see if this is really going to be a marquee race after Labor Day, will be the degree to which the Democratic candidate, whoever it is, is successful in making this race about Susan Collins and not about this Democratic mess. Because her record, obviously, is what it is, and she's never run in the moments after the Roe decision. She's never run after the whole change of the Supreme Court.

So, yes, she has won five times, and do not count her out. She has considerable financial advantages, but it's also her toughest race ever. Her advisors know that without a question, and every year she's won. She's won five times in the Senate. She's won by a smaller margin, so she's never run in a moment like this, but it all depends on if the race can become about her, as opposed to just this unruly mess in the Democratic Party.

BASH: All right, everybody, stand by. Still ahead, the ceasefire in Iran appears to be dead as fresh strikes rock the Middle East. Plus, quote, to meet Jeffrey Epstein, you had to go through Lesley Groff. Why survivors are going on the record in a CNN exclusive claiming that Groff lied to Congress.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:15:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BASH: The ceasefire has, quote, at least temporarily ceased. That's what a U.S. official told CNN's Pam Brown last night as American forces hammered Iranian targets overnight and into this morning. Iran says, the U.S. military conducted multiple attacks this morning. U.S. officials have not confirmed the strikes from today, but said, they struck approximately 90 military targets near the Strait of Hormuz overnight. Iranian officials claim the U.S. committed war crimes when it struck a civilian railway bridge near Tehran. CNN was able to geolocate this video, showing a damaged railway bridge in northern Iran and has reached out to CENTCOM for comment. Iran's Revolutionary Guard says it retaliated with strikes on U.S. bases in Jordan, also Kuwait, and Bahrain. That was after President Trump claimed, as he often does, that Iran is desperate for a deal.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: They have very little left, and they want to make a deal so badly. They called a little while ago, they want to make a deal so badly. I just don't know if they're worthy of making a deal. I don't know that they're going to honor the deal. That's the problem.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: My panel is back. Josh Dawsey, that was from overnight on Air Force One. It could have been from any number of times over the past many, many months, and it doesn't. What we are seeing certainly now post ceasefire, because that is where we are right now. That doesn't seem to be the case that Iranians are desperate for a deal.

DAWSEY: Yeah, it doesn't seem to be the case. I mean, what the president has had happen here since he initially went into this war with Israel, with Bibi Netanyahu -- Prime Minister Netanyahu. It's just been, you know, turmoil, more and more, and then they get closer to a deal, then something else happens. And then more strikes, and Israelis want this, and Trump wants these talks with the Iranians. They follow through.

I mean, he's not been able to find a way out of this, and it's one of the reasons that some of the people around him never wanted this happen in the first place to go into the war, right? Because they believe that this wasn't like Venezuela, you couldn't just go in and get Maduro, take him out, and this was over that.

Once you become entrenched in a conflict in the Middle East, there's no easy way out. And you see Trump now saying, you know, no one even ever heard of a Strait of Hormuz, right? But I mean, that obviously, people had heard of Strait of Hormuz, but all of these --

BASH: Especially those who did war games --

DAWSEY: - repercussions down, downstream, right, that have happened here. And now you have a president who's successfully getting gas prices down before the election. You know, once his team is trying to get these numbers down, you have him back sort of where he was several weeks ago.

[12:20:00]

And after his triumphant, remember the UFC fight for his birthday, he proclaimed that day the war was over, that Yahoo was upset, but we're back in it, now it appears, right? And that sort of is the intractable problem for him, is that once you open this sort of proverbial can of worms, it's really hard to get out.

BASH: What are you hearing, Betsy?

KLEIN: Well, the biggest question that I have for the White House right now is, now what? What happens with these negotiations? President Trump said, he doesn't know if they're worthy of making a deal. What do you tell Steve Witkoff or Jared Kushner? Are they going to go back and try to have some serious talks with the Iranians? But to Josh's point, like, consumers have finally started to get some relief at the gas pump, and gas prices already up five cents on the gallon since this fighting resumed. The longer this goes on, the more complicated it's going to get for Republicans in November.

BASH: Let's just show the numbers that you were just referring to. Today, the gas prices are up, as you said, five cents. In May, they were up by 5.3 cents. In March, they went up by 11 cents. And I just want to sort of note here, what is important is it's up five cents today, but while there was this alleged ceasefire, gas prices did start to come down.

SOTOMAYOR: And that is what made a lot of Republicans on Capitol Hill incredibly happy. Now, if you noticed, they're not here, and you haven't heard much commentary publicly from Republicans, and the reason why is because privately they're like, why are we in this again? I mean, you're talking about how even within the administration, there's so many conversations about what happens next. Congress is just like, hey, can you let us know at all what this next strategy is, but then you also have lawmakers who say Trump has been so back and forth on, we have a deal, we have a ceasefire, we don't.

At this point in time, I was talking to one Republican lawmaker who's just like, what is the point? Like, we know we're on the pathway to lose, because prices, especially at the pump, are likely to stay up, and Congress can't really do anything about it.

BASH: Right. But I think --

ZELENY: Well, one thing they can do, though, is funding. The funding debate is going to start up again. I mean, this is going to -- if this becomes a full out to war again, I mean, this is going to be a funding request, is going to be a way for Congress to express their displeasure or not. And we've seen what they've done over the years, but one thing I think we've talked about before, but it's relevant again today.

I mean, forever wars don't start out that way, and they become that, and it just seems like for all the talk of gas prices and stuff, there's actually something more at play here, is just the position of the U.S. in the world here. So, the White House, to Josh's point, this is why people didn't want him to do this in the first place.

BASH: Yeah. And that's exactly right, and to your very important, I think maybe even rhetorical question about now what happens. And I say, rhetorical because we all know that they don't know the answer to that. There is some good reporting by our colleagues here at CNN, talking about the challenge in the U.S. ever being able to really knock out Iran militarily deliver a knockout blow.

And they quote our colleague here and friend, Colonel -- former Colonel Cedric Leighton, retired U.S. Air Force Colonel. Their overarching goal is to keep their theoretic regime -- theocratic regime in power. This air campaign won't force them to change any of that. It's too limited in scope. So, you have that, and the reality that the way that Iran is retaliating, aside from some of the very real military strikes that we've seen on Jordan and other countries in the region is economically, it's with the Strait of Hormuz, coming back to where you started the conversation.

DAWSEY: Yeah. In a lot of ways that's been the most punishing thing they've done in return to the United States, right, for this attack. I mean, the president is correct that when they went in, they blew up a lot of their air force, a lot of their military, there wasn't much to block the United States from going in and taking all these kinetic action, all these bombing, and all these missiles, but then the downstream effect was that -- was that they made it hurt for the United States back home in significant ways.

So, when the president says, oh, look, we won because we took out this, this, this, this, and this, he did take out a lot of these things, but also look at all of the things that now the president's having to fight to get the Strait back open. Gas prices are back up. You've spent, you know, $25 billion or more on this war. You've had U.S. deaths.

There are different ways in how you measure winning, right? And it's not just -- are you winning because you're taking out airplanes and naval carriers and XYZ, and you say, oh, we've got them out. And they still have, you know, lots of capabilities left. I mean, they've not been totally defanged. The Iranians have not been totally defanged, so it's a very interesting challenge for the president.

BASH: Yeah, to say the least. All right. Up next, a new CNN exclusive, Epstein survivors on the record saying his longtime assistant lied to Congress. Stay with us.

[12:25:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BASH: We are nearing one year into the congressional oversight investigation of Jeffrey Epstein. At least 16 closed-door interviews, from Bill Gates to Bill Clinton to Howard Lutnick and Pam Bondi, but survivors say, they're frustrated. We have the latest example why. In a CNN exclusive, six survivors say Jeffrey Epstein's longtime assistant, Lesley Groff, lied to Congress in June. And they say it went well beyond, claiming she had never met the victims.

CNN's MJ Lee has that reporting and joins.