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Trump: Talks Continue But U.S. Told Iran Ceasefire Is "Over"; U.S. Gas Prices Jump 9 Cents In Two Days To $3.89 A Gallon; Democrats Face A Family Feud In Must-Hold Michigan Senate Race; Rep. Stevens On Supporting Israel "I'm Not Afraid Of Bibi"; Maine Dems Scramble To Replace Platner By July 27 Deadline. Aired 12-12:30p ET

Aired July 10, 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]

WOLF BLITZER, CNN CO-ANCHOR, THE SITUATION ROOM: Yeah. Good point. Michael Smerconish, thank you, as usual, for joining us. And a reminder to our viewers, be sure to check out Michael show, Smerconish tomorrow morning, 9 am Eastern, right here on CNN. It is excellent.

And thanks to all of you for joining us this morning. You can always keep up with us on social media @wolfblitzer, @pamelabrowncnn. We'll see you back here Monday morning, 10 am Eastern. Our special coverage of the escalating war with Iran continues now on Inside Politics with our friend and colleague, Dana Bash.

DANA BASH, CNN HOST, INSIDE POLITICS: President Trump pulls the plug on the ceasefire with Iran as the world braces for what comes next.

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

We start with the breaking news on that ceasefire, which wasn't really in place in reality for the last couple of days, but President Trump made it official. He said moments ago on Truth Social. The Islamic Republic of Iran has asked us to continue "talks." We have agreed to do so, but the United States has stated to them in no uncertain terms that the ceasefire is over. Thank you for your attention to this matter, President Donald J. Trump.

Right now, Qatari mediators are in Iran. They were sent there with the goal of getting U.S.-Iranian talks back on track after intense military escalation over the past few days. I want to get straight to CNN's Jeremy Diamond in Tel Aviv. First, the reaction that you're hearing in the region to the president's post.

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, Dana, I think officials in this region are a lot more focused on what's actually happening on the ground. The fact that the United States today has not been conducting strikes, Iran hasn't been conducting strikes either, and instead, focusing a lot more on the shuttle and telephone diplomacy that is taking place today, a lot more so than anything that the president of the United States is saying at this point, because whether or not the president says the ceasefire is over or it's not. At the end of the day, what's happening on the ground is what truly matters. And as it relates to that diplomacy, as you mentioned, we've seen Qatari officials traveling to Iran today. Qatari and Pakistani mediators have been on the phone with a variety of actors in the region, in addition to the U.S. and Iran also speaking with a number of the Gulf states in the region, which can be quite influential in this process. And as it relates to Israel, also very much in wait and see mode for the moment.

We did learn from one source familiar with the matter that while the Israeli prime minister would like to start joining the strikes that we have seen take place by the United States inside of Iran over the last few days, the United States has urged Israel to remain on the sidelines for the time being. There's a very clear understanding and recognition that if Israel jumps back into this conflict right now with kinetic strikes against Iran, that will take things up several notches higher.

And so, for now, the Israeli military remains on high alert, according to the Israeli defense minister and prepare to resume that campaign against Iran if necessary. Israel Katz, the defense minister also said that should Israel resume its military campaign against Iran, it will do so with, quote, even greater force.

We are also keeping a close eye on what's happening in Lebanon. As you know, Dana, what happens in Lebanon has also been critical to this broader ceasefire agreement between the United States and Iran. And in the coming days, we expect to be the first major test of this pilot program that would see Israeli troops withdraw from at least one portion of southern Lebron, allowing Lebanese troops to then come in and take control of an area, and ideally keep it out of Hezbollah's hands.

That is set to take place in a matter of days, according to a U.S. official. We will see whether or not that pilot program actually works and whether it can lead ultimately to the total withdrawal of Israeli troops from Lebanon, which the Lebanese president has said is a precondition for him to advance broader diplomacy between the Lebanese government and the Israeli state, Dana.

BASH: Jeremy, thank you so much for all of that important reporting. Here in New York, where I am today, I have a group of terrific reporters on this Friday. Hi, everybody. Happy Friday. Christina Ruffini of Bloomberg, I want to start with you because I know you've been talking to sources about what their position is -- posture is militarily.

CHRISTINA RUFFINI, CO-HOST, "BLOOMBERG THIS WEEKEND": Well, and that's one of the big issues we keep using that word ceasefire, and Jeremy kind of referenced it too. But I've been going back to the thing for Princess Bride, you keep using that word. I don't think it means what you think it means because it was really never in place, right?

BASH: Yeah.

RUFFINI: The thing is it is taxing for even the best navy in the world. And we sat down with the Chief of Naval Operations this week. It'll air on Bloomberg this weekend tomorrow. But we were asking him about force posture position and whether or not he's worried about all these forces, all these ships that are past the rotation. And he said, you know, we're handling it. We're up to the challenge. We go where the president and world needs us.

[12:05:00]

But yes, he is concerned about it. These ships have to come in for maintenance on a fairly regular schedule. And it's not just that. It's a morale issue. If you've got folks missing weddings, funerals, their families, it does start to work on force depletion and it impacts readiness at some point. Now, he said they are OK at the moment. They can do what they need to do. But the longer this drags out and kind of this amorphous status, I think it's going to start really questioning what is the mission here and how long can it be sustained for these forces?

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR, CNN NEWS CENTRAL: Yeah. I mean, I was going to say what ceasefire, but quoting, Inigo Montoya is even better than that. Look, you know, we're 23 days into the 60-day negotiating period. I don't know how many days of that. There's been actual firing, but a lot of them, if not most of them. And after 23 days, are they any closer to this agreement, they gave themselves 60 days to get to? I think the answer is no.

And I think when you see Qatari officials, you know, going to Tehran, and you see all this diplomacy with Pakistan and other nations trying to fix things, they're really only going back to day one. They just don't seem to be making any progress. Yesterday there was one ship that transited the Strait of Hormuz, so the Strait is kind of not open today, or it may be open tomorrow a little bit, but what about the next day? It just isn't going where the administration wants it to be.

BASH: Sometimes, S.E, we can get a sense of where things are and the discussions -- debates that are happening in Trump world from some of the things that some of his allies or people who are trying to get a message to him say on Fox News. Look at this in that context. This is Brian Kilmeade on Fox News yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRIAN KILMEADE, FOX NEWS HOST: I also don't think that Witkoff and Kushner should be the ones doing this. They're business guys. They have not been effective in Ukraine. Not been effective in Gaza. They have not been effective in this. They can't have three portfolios to begin with. We have a State Department for a reason.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: What does that tell you, S.E?

S.E. CUPP, HOST, "OFF THE CUPP" PODCAST FOR IHEARTRADIO: Well, he's not wrong. That is an astute observation that these businessmen should not be negotiating our Iran deals. But it's a little -- it's a little late for that. And I think that the Trump administration is learning the hard way that Iran was very prepared for this and we were very unprepared for this.

I remember a couple months ago -- several months ago, we were all talking, and Pete Hegseth gets up and has a news conference and says, CNN is making a big deal about the fact that Iran is going to close the Strait of Hormuz, like we weren't prepared for that, were you? Were you? All evidence to the contrary, because of course, people have been war gaming what Iran would do and could do for years because Iran has been preparing for this for years. All of this was known. It doesn't look like it was known to these people, the people in charge, because all of the stuff that has happened and not happened has been pretty predictable.

BASH: And as we have been talking about pretty much every single day, the Strait of Hormuz has been the number one weapon, retaliatory weapon by Iran because it affects everybody here and around the world in their pocketbook at the pump. Today, gas is back up to $3.89 a gallon. A week ago, it was $3.82, and you know, the peak was almost $5 a gallon back in May. But it's not going in the right direction, Gloria.

GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right. And summer is here, and gas is going up, and the airlines even have said that the prices are going to stay right where they're at. And I think what we are seeing with this constant whiplash that we keep getting on this Iran situation, every time the administration continues to just sink into this credibility sinkhole. When it comes to this issue, the primary issues continue to be unresolved, right, the uranium enrichment still not resolved, the sanctions issues still not resolved.

So, there's really no movement being made, and it just shows that, again, as we have learned through history and in the past, it's a lot easier to get into this conflict. It's a lot easier to escalate them, but it's much harder to get out of them and get out of them in a way that's beneficial, certainly to the country. I think we're seeing that play out right now, and I think that voters, you know, people looking at this have got to be asking themselves, what is the point here? What are we getting at and when is it going to end?

BASH: In a related note on this program this week, the president was having a press conference as he was about to leave Turkey, where he was for NATO. And one of the questions was, why was he going to go on his old Air Force One plane home, which he did, and not the new one that they got from Qatar.

And then we learned -- and Pamela Brown, who by the way is on an aircraft carrier. So, she's learning firsthand a lot of the things that you were discussing with your source there that Israel shared intelligence with U.S. of Iranian plot to assassinate Trump. That's according to sources that she and Kevin Liptak are talking to. Listen to the top Democrat on the Armed Services Committee about that.

[12:10:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ADAM SMITH (D-WA): Certainly, Iran has made the statement, as your guest said, since the killing of Soleimani. Gosh, it's over six years ago. Now, it's also easy to see that Israel would want to sort of buck up Trump, make him more willing to take on Iran more strongly. Netanyahu has been, you know, pushing for that tougher stance. So, it's hard to know. It's hard to know exactly what that intel is.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: John?

BERMAN: I mean, look, I think it's safe to say Iran has wanted, Donald Trump gone for a long, long time, whether or not, they've taken new action or not, it's almost immaterial, right? They're dictating in some ways U.S. action, whether it be, what the United States does on the ground or in the waters off of Iran, or what the president does in terms of his travel plans. It's not a good look. When the president on his first trip on the new plane, can't take it all the way home, right?

BASH: I mean, lots more to say. We're out of time, but we are going to have a lot more to talk about on a whole host of issues, including Democrats are trying to move past the meltdown in Maine. The biggest test yet of the Democrats' policy divide is heating up in Michigan. CNN's John King is on the road there and will be live from the Mich. Plus, 26 days in the hospital. No explanation why. We have exclusive CNN video shedding new light on Senator Mitch McConnell's medical emergency that put him in the hospital.

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[12:15:00]

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BASH: If Democrats are to take back the Senate, they need every single thing to go their way. Every single battleground race is of monumental importance, especially Maine. You have to really squint to see a scenario where Democrats lose Maine but still win back the Senate. But even the grandest efforts to flip a seat fall short if Democrats don't keep the seats that they already have, and Michigan is one of the biggest questions on that. The purple state with a Democratic primary next month will be the biggest test yet of the Democrats' debate over its identity.

CNN's John King is live there in Michigan. So, Mallory McMorrow dropped out this week, narrowing the candidates to just two: Haley Stevens and Abdul El-Sayed. Haley Stevens, the more moderate choice, the choice of the establishment Democrats, El-Sayed, not. I know you went to one of his town halls. What happened there?

JOHN KING, CNN ANCHOR & CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Number one, I did chat briefly with a couple of McMorrow supporters who are out shopping for a new candidate. We'll see where they end up. But mostly, what you get at El-Sayed rally, Dana, are true believers. The Bernie 2016 stickers in the parking lot, that's your first clue. And there are quite a few when you walk into Abdul El-Sayed event, Bernie 2016. Remember Michigan, Clinton, Sanders here in 2016? Well, that fight has been reinvigorated. As I noted the other -- talking to my colleagues the other, it's like the cicadas have come out of the ground. El-Sayed is unapologetic. He says we need Medicare for all. He says we need to take corporate money out of politics. He goes after Donald Trump in his events. Some he talks about him and his what he says corruption, but he spends as much time, if not more, running after the leadership of his own party, particularly the Senate leader, the guy who would be in charge if El-Sayed makes it to the Senate, and he's not at all nuanced. Dana, listen?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ABDUL EL-SAYED, (D) MICHIGAN SENATE CANDIDATE: The establishment's taken to calling me dangerous. You're not dangerous. I'm not dangerous if you're someone who needs government to work for you. But if you're Chuck Schumer, damn right, I'm dangerous. I'm dangerous. But you are someone who wants to stand in the way of government working for people. Yes, I'm dangerous. And I think we need that kind of dangerous government. What about now?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: So, we've seen this, Dana, with you know, Mamdani in New York, Platner in Maine before he got out in some Democratic primaries, largely in blue states. But to see that family feud right here in a key battleground state, as you know, not only just important this November, but critical in 2028 and beyond. It is real. It is live, and it's nasty at the moment.

BASH: Let's drill down on one of the big issues dividing these two Democratic candidates, and that is support for Israel and how far it should go, if at all. Our colleague Kasie Hunt talked to Haley Stevens about that yesterday. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. HALEY STEVENS (D-MI): I'm not afraid of Bibi. These leaders, these bullies who abuse power, who are corrupt? They will not get a pass from me. My goal and the work that I stand by is long-term peace and a two-state solution, where people in Palestine and Gaza can live peacefully side by side with the people of Israel. It is deeply concerning that Abdul equivocates when talking about Israel's right to exist. That does not bring us closer to peace.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: John, how much are you hearing from voters there about this issue versus affordability and other economic issues?

KING: Affordability is by far issue, number one, issue number two, issue number three. When they talk about the stakes of the election, however, that's talking more in the context of November. Right now, August 4 is primary day here, and Dana, this is a huge issue again in that progressives versus establishment.

[12:20:00] I'm going to just show you the map. Let me go back a little flashback. To remind you of the importance of this issue. Kamala Harris lost Michigan by 80,000 votes. I'm in Dearborn, which is in Wayne County. She got 5,37,000 votes here. Go back to 2020, oops, sorry about that, that's 2018. Come back to 2020 and come back to president there. And you see Joe Biden, 60,000 votes, 60,000 fewer votes than Joe Biden in Wayne County for Kamala Harris. I'm in Dearborn. This is majority Arab. 15,000 votes fewer than Biden right here.

This issue matters to Arab voters, as you know from 2024. It matters to younger college-age voters. And how will it play in November? We don't know. But Abdul El-Sayed is counting on the passion, the anger, and frustration that cost Harris in 2024. He hopes those voters come out in droves to help him in the primary.

BASH: Let's talk about Maine. Even though you're in Michigan, you have been spending a lot of time. First of all, you were in Maine last month, and then since you have been staying in touch, I know with the voters, particularly the female voters, who were already kind of on the fence about Platner. What are you hearing from them now that Platner has imploded?

KING: First and foremost, they wish he would shut up. Forgive my language, but they wish he would just shut up. They didn't like his exit video where he portrayed himself as the victim. They think he's the problem, and they think the people around him, again, the Bernie Sanders supporters, the consultants, and the unions that recruited Graham Platner are still trying to play an active role in that race.

And that might be important to some of the progressives who supported Platner, but it is annoying to those who did not, or those who supported Platner reluctantly, who now want to move on from the whole episode, not just him, but them, if you will, all the people around him. So as this plays out, now we have to go through this two-week process to pick a successor, and it has a lot of Maine Democrats nervous.

As you noted, this was the number one opportunity for Democrats. A Republican held Senate seat coming into the cycle. It was opportunity number one, get Maine, take Maine from Republican Susan Collins. Now Democrats are worried this fractured family will cost them the race again. To go back in time, you know, Kamala Harris won Maine by nine points. So, he say, oh, we can win six points, I'm sorry. So, we can win this state.

Why can't Democrats win this state? Go back in time. Joe Biden won it by nine. So, Maine is there for the taking for the Democrats. But you know this as well as I do. I just want to remind people: Susan Collins was also on the ballot in 2020. When Joe Biden won the state by nine points, she was reelected. That's what Democrats worry about. She has proven in a difficult climate. 2020 was a blue year.

It was a Democratic year, and she eked out a win. Democrats up there know that she's competitive, knows that she can do this. They're worried, just like they're worried here, that if you have a -- now you have another fractured Democratic fight to pick your nominee, that some people on the losing side decide to stay home in November. So, Maine, number one, wants to get a candidate. Number two, the people who had reservations about Platner before, just wish he would be quiet and go away now.

BASH: All right. Well, we'll see if that happens. John, thank you so much. Appreciate it. And coming up, can a lot of green help paint a red state blue? Texas Democrat James Talarico is hoping to find out.

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[12:25:00]

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BASH: As we just heard from John King on the ground in Michigan, the showdown inside the Democratic Party has some worried they might have a problem, even if states like Maine and Michigan end up with a Democrat that is strong enough, but perhaps more of a battle to keep the state in Michigan's case and perhaps turn over the state in Maine's case.

Sort of big picture here. S.E, I'll start with you, and then I do want to talk about one specific race. But at the beginning of the even discussion about this election cycle, it was all about the House and the Senate was a pipe dream.

CUPP: Right.

BASH: And it's not anymore because of the environment.

CUPP: I think, yeah, because of those internecine fights inside the party. And I think 2024, in a sense, kind of scrambled the brains of Democrats a little bit. How did we just lose all seven swing states to this convicted felon? Bernie Sanders came right out and said it's because we've lost working class voters. Progressives were talking --

BASH: And he wasn't wrong, he was --

CUPP: He was not wrong. Progressives wanted to talk more about some of their pet issues. Moderates were cautioning, no, no, no, no, no. Just we got to go back to the center. We got to -- we got to recapture the center. And I think there's been a lot of like confusion and consternation. And what are we going to do? And it's turned into this kind of cannibalizing project. And I can just tell you, from experience, Republicans went through this as well in the early 2000s. We started rhino hunting.

Remember that project that started in the early 2000s, and what it did was weaken the party. It weakened the party so much that we couldn't get a McCain or a Romney, two of like the most decent men ever nominated president. It wasn't just because Obama was so great. It was because we were not coalesced around our own candidates, and it opened the door for someone like Trump to come in. So, a healthy family fight, fine, but don't let it destroy your party and the goals that you have. They're immediate and in front of you, and they are winning back both the House and maybe even the Senate. BASH: So, the white whale for Democrats for the last generation, maybe even close to two generations at this point, is Texas. And the question right now is whether James Talarico, who is the Democratic nominee there, can turn that very red seat blue. Ken Paxton, the state attorney general, is the nominee. And if you just look at the numbers, the fundraising that James Talarico did.