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Senator Lindsey Graham Dies At 71; U.S. Hits Iran Military Targets In New Round Of Strikes. Interview with Michigan Senate Candidate Abdul El-Sayed; What's Next as McConnell's Absence Hits Four-Week Mark. Aired 8-9a ET

Aired July 12, 2026 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:32]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

MANU RAJU, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, and welcome to INSIDE POLITICS SUNDAY. I'm Manu Raju.

We start this morning with breaking news. Senator Lindsey Graham, a towering figure in American politics, died suddenly overnight. Graham, who is 71, had been in Congress for more than two decades and was an influential voice and a force on a range of major foreign policy and domestic issues.

His office said he suffered a brief and sudden illness before passing away last night. Dispatch audio obtained and reviewed by CNN reveals a major emergency crews responded to a cardiac arrest call at Graham's residence yesterday evening.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DC FIRE EMS: EMS six responds to engine seven medic seven on scene cardiac arrest (AUDIO DELETED). EMS six responds to engine seven medic seven with cardiac arrest.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: Graham had just returned to Washington from a trip to Ukraine.

Now, President Trump, writing overnight that Graham was, quote, "One of the greatest people and senators" he had ever known, calling him a, quote, "true American patriot."

I'm joined now by a panel of political insiders who have covered Graham for many years. "Punchbowl News's" John Bresnahan, reporter and author Molly Ball, and "The Atlantic's" Toluse Olorunnipa.

Good morning to you all.

I mean, this is not the news we were expecting to be discussing this morning. It was obviously a shock to us all, given just the role in the magnitude that Lindsey Graham played. And no one, he just was in Ukraine and he was expected to be on "Meet

the Press" this morning. We saw him just a couple of weeks ago. We saw him a few days ago talking about what was in Ukraine, him announcing a Russia sanctions bill that they wanted to push and get through the Senate. That's been stalled for some time.

John, you have covered him longer than I have, and I've covered almost his entire career, both from the House and the Senate. How do you -- what stands out to you about the biggest impact that he had on Republican politics and the Senate?

JOHN BRESNAHAN, PUNCHBOWL NEWS CO-FOUNDER: I remember literally walking down -- for instance, one memory is walking down when they impeached Bill Clinton, he was one of the managers, and they walked down with the impeachment articles. I remember walking with him and we were talking at the time like that.

RAJU: That really -- that's what gave him prominence during the Clinton impeachment.

BRESNAHAN: It was a huge moment and put him on the national stage.

I think the evolution of Lindsey Graham from the Republican revolutionary in 1994, and then he becomes a senator, and then he is a bush Republican. He's right in the middle of the Bush Republicans, Iraq and Afghanistan. He was a hawk, a big hawk on that.

And then he becomes, you know, I was reading one of your stories from 2014. He saw the tea party movement coming in South Carolina, and he adjusted to that. And then, of course, he challenged Trump in 2016, and they had a very rocky relationship to start.

Remember, I believe Trump gave out his cell phone.

RAJU: Yeah, he read it out loud.

BRESNAHN: Exactly. Because they had no love lost there. And then, you know, when McCain tragically died, he was John McCain guy. And McCain dies in 2018. He becomes a Trump guy and he becomes a Trumper.

He changed like the Republican Party has changed. And he was -- he had, for better or worse, whatever you say about it, he adapted to the times, he adapted what was happening in party in his state. And he, you know, he was always in the middle of everything.

RAJU: He most certainly was. And, you know, his death comes, he was -- we talk about his evolution. He was a longtime John McCain ally, one of John McCain's closest allies, and the so-called three amigos -- John -- Joe Lieberman, John McCain, Lindsey Graham. They often broke with their party on a lot of key issues. Sadly, now all three are no more.

MOLLY BALL, POLITICAL REPORTER AND AUTHOR: That's right. And you know, as Bres was saying, he a lot of things changed about Lindsey Graham. But that was something that was consistent was his advocacy for internationalism and his insistence on being there whenever anything bipartisan was being done in the United States Senate.

He just -- and what an incredible American story, right? This working class kid from the middle of nowhere, South Carolina, who rose to become absolutely one of the most influential senators of his entire era. And it really is the end of an era with him departing, with Mitch McConnell, departing, with John McCain having left the Senate and this planet a few years ago. And they -- and they really represented something that is being lost in Republican politics.

And I think, you know, he clearly bent President Trump in his direction on Ukraine and certainly on Iran. You know, you can see his stamp on so much of what the administration is doing in foreign policy, despite the differences that -- the vast differences that these two men had.

[08:05:09]

And as Bres said, for better or worse, he was someone who always found a way to insinuate himself into the deal that was being made, the power in Washington. And he made himself just incredibly influential on almost every issue in that way.

TOLUSE OLORUNNIPA, STAFF WRITER, THE ATLANTIC: He was a political survivor as well. If you look at the way the party evolved and the way he evolved, it was a lot to do with the fact that he needed to survive politically in South Carolina. He followed the trends that would have allowed him to survive.

Even though he faced a number of primary challenges, he faced general election challenges that were well funded, and he figured out where the power centers were, how to get in touch with the things that were animating his voters and keep people on his side. And he was able to win in a primary just a few weeks ago in which he was --

RAJU: Dominated in that primary.

OLORUNNIPA: He dominated the -- despite the fact that there were people in the MAGA base that did not like some of the positions he had taken on foreign policy and whatnot, but he was able to figure out how to navigate politics over the course of several decades and remain in power, and figure out where those power centers were and how to navigate them.

RAJU: It's so true. It's a shrewd political maneuvering.

And, Bres, as you mentioned, the story from 2014, I was -- I was down with him and it really struck me at the time because back then he was, you know, he, you know, just look at some of the breaks that he had with his party over the years. He supported two of Obama's Supreme Court nominees. He was a champion on immigration reform.

He worked with John Kerry and Joe Lieberman on a big climate change bill during the Biden era. He supported the major bills that became law that bipartisan lines the bipartisan infrastructure bill, the gun legislation, the CHIPS and Science Act. But before the Biden era, there was the Tea Party era, and there was the deal cutting that he made.

And when I went down to South Carolina, you know, I asked him about it back then, and he told me this. He said, you know what? Who wants 30 pure Republicans? This is a line that Jim DeMint, the former South Carolina, often said we should have 34 Republicans. He said, Harry Reid, of course, referring to the Democratic leader.

Then he went on to say, "What I want is a party that can grow. What's my big sin? One in 10 times, defecting from the party line. If we're going to build a party around universal agreement, we become a club." That was in back in 2014.

But as you said, the party has shifted to one in which the current occupant of the White House wants universal agreement and some would say becoming a club.

BRESNAHAN: And he - and he was part of that, as Molly and I were talking about, he was for immigration reform when immigration reform was a big issue.

Look, you would you one of the things Graham was super accessible for us as reporters and you could see it. And he would be standing there and Trump would call him and he'd be like, oh, I got to talk to president. And he was -- you could hear Trump on the line.

Look, he became the ultimate Trumpy in the Senate. And he would challenge us on questions we asked him, like, you all have Trump derangement syndrome. He would attack us.

RAJU: Oh, yeah.

BRESNAHAN: He would -- he would hammer us on it and he would mock Democrats on the floor about it. I do think. This is, as you mentioned, he's a political survivor. He changed with the times.

And it is an American story. He came from nothing. And he made himself into this important player. And the idea of him voting for Supreme Court nominees that were Democrat nominees, like nowadays, you'd be run out of the party.

RAJU: Yeah.

BRESNAHAN: You know? And he did it and he survived. And I don't think -- I don't think we're going to see somebody like Lindsey Graham for a long time. Again, it's going to be hard to replace somebody.

RAJU: And speaking about his evolution, the evolution of Trump, of course, was something to see because he was a sharp critic, very outspoken critic of the president. And now, he was one of his -- the president's closest allies.

(BEGIN VDIE CLIP)

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): Trump is threatening to leave the party if he's not treated fairly. Guess who determines whether or not he gets treated fairly? Here's my retort -- quit threatening us. You know how you make America great again? Tell Donald Trump to go to

hell.

Tell me I did nothing illegal except be Trump's friend, apparently.

And when it comes to President Trump -- Mr. President, I will be your strongest ally in the United States Senate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: You know, he would often say, you want to get Trump to like you, if you want -- you want Trump on your side, you got to be nice to him. And he used that level of, you know, you forget what he said in the past, be nice with them in the future. And they had this very transactional relationship that benefited the senator.

BALL: Absolutely. It was so remarkable to see that tweet from President Trump praising Lindsey Graham, considering all the history they had between them.

You know, I also remember covering that 2014 race. I spent a while following him around, as you did at that time. And when he was being challenged by the Tea Party, and it took quite a lot, but he was defiant in the face of that threat. And he would go around the state not backing down from things like immigration reform.

[08:10:01]

He'd been censured by every Republican Party in the state of South Carolina. They called him Grahamnesty. They called flimsy Lindsey. I think they still call him that, probably in his most recent primary.

And yet he stood up to them and beat them. But and, you know, he briefly called out President Trump after January 6th as well. But he always wanted to be in the room where the decision was being made. And he found a way to get there. He found a way to cozy up to President Trump.

And so remarkable that after all of the negative things that he said about him, here is this incredibly generous tweet from the president.

RAJU: And he played a key role in getting Brett Kavanaugh confirmed to him. Remember, he played that big role in that hearing that was going the wrong way for Brett Kavanaugh. Then he defended Brett Kavanaugh, helped him get on the Supreme Court. So he was instrumental in the president's agenda.

It's a -- it's a huge loss for the Senate, for the Republican Party, and will be breaking that down more later in the hour.

And also breaking overnight, the U.S. has launched a brand new round of strikes on Iran. We've got expert analysis on what it all means, and then more on the impact of Lindsey Graham's death. That's after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [08:15:28]

RAJU: Breaking overnight new escalations in the Middle East. The United States launched another round of strikes on Iran, with the U.S. military claiming it hit about 140 military targets. It followed a new attack on a merchant ship transiting the Strait of Hormuz, which the U.S. blamed on Iran.

Now, this morning, Iran's state media saying it retaliated by launching strikes on U.S. military targets across the gulf. So what does this all mean for negotiations to reach a deal?

Joining me now is David Sanger with "The New York Times".

David, good morning to you. Thanks for being here.

You cover these issues, this war, so closely. You've covered these negotiations. Are we about to see another full scale war? And is the president prepared for that?

DAVID SANGER, CNN POLITICAL AND NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: You know, Manu, I don't think it's going to be a full scale war of the kind that we saw starting in late February, the 38 days of bombing across Iran. I think what the bigger risk right now is that you will see an era that is neither war nor peace, which is to say the Iranians determined to keep control of the Strait of Hormuz, attacking ships that run in channels that are furthest from Iranian territory, the U.S. retaliating.

We've now seen this cycle three times in the past week, which tells you that the overall framework of the 14 point agreement that President Trump signed in mid-June is basically shattered at this moment, it's very hard to understand how you could move on to the nuclear negotiation, for which there was a 60 day clock, half of which is just about gone up. And, you know, the administration itself was telling us, Manu, on Friday afternoon that they were demanding that this weekend, the Iranians declare that all those lanes of shipping were open and there would be no more firing on commercial ships.

And what they got was firing on commercial ships and a complete closing of the strait. And I think that it's this tit for tat that you're going to see for a while. And it's basically a situation the Iranians think is preferable to negotiating away the nuclear program.

RAJU: Yeah. We saw the president issuing his own threats over on Truth Social over the weekend, too. So we'll see how this continues to escalate. And, David, there was also news over the weekend about the Justice Department issuing subpoenas for grand jury testimony after your outlet, "The New York Times" reported on security concerns with a Qatari-gifted Air Force One. The president was really he was gushing about. We know Kash Patel was at the White House, and "The Times" is reporting this order did, in fact, come from the White House -- being directed out of the White House.

You had contributed to this initial story. I'm wondering what the implications are of these subpoenas. SANGER: I think they're a pretty outrageous effort, Manu, to try to

repress and restrict ordinary daily news reporting. Remember what started this? The president switched airplanes and turned out a Truth Social. That said that he had decided to send his aircraft ahead to Britain to be shown to American troops because it was -- it was such a new gem.

It seemed like a thin explanation at the time, and it didn't take rocket science or even any particularly confidential sources to observe that the new airplane did not have the pods and equipment that you can see clearly on the outside of the older planes that have the laser capability, the shaft capability to be decoys if the plane comes under attack.

So this wasn't a particularly, you know, striking national security story. It was the ordinary reporting that was sort of truth testing the president's own Truth Social post. And to see to see this run out of the White House is particularly disturbing.

RAJU: Yeah. And its president was reporting that president was angry about those reports, too, which perhaps is the reason why these reporters got these subpoenas. And that's come that testimony coming this upcoming week.

And, David, I do want to get your thoughts about the late Lindsey Graham, his shocking death overnight. He was the leader of really the interventionist wing of the party. He was a staunch supporter of Israel, but also of Ukraine, really one of the last remaining Republicans who really was such a forceful advocate for Ukraine, a robust foreign policy.

[08:20:08]

I'm wondering you cover national security. How big of an impact will this have on the GOP debate over these issues?

SANGER: Well, as you indicate, you know, this tragedy, and I think we're all going to miss dealing with the other with Mr. Graham, Senator graham is one that really comes in a moment of real shift in the party. He was, as you say, one of the last sort of untrammeled interventionists who believed that the use of American power, the use of American military power around the world, was almost always an unalloyed good.

And while you could challenge him on whether that was the case, he came out of an older era of Republican politics that, frankly, was out of touch with the MAGA groups that just did not want to have what they called the forever wars. But he was extremely strong on Ukraine and did want to continue sanctions on Vladimir Putin, that he was trying to push President Trump to agree to.

RAJU: Yeah, we'll have to see if anyone picks up that mantle now that he is sadly gone.

David Sanger, thank you so much for joining me. Really appreciate your expertise as always. And coming up next for us, the Democratic primary in Michigan is now

taking center stage. The next senate majority may hinge on it. So can a Bernie Sanders backed progressive win in a purple state. I go one on one with Abdul El-Sayed. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:26:03]

RAJU: The battle for the soul and direction of the Democratic Party is taking place in Michigan, where critical senate primary is now just 23 days away. Democrats must hold the open seat if they have any chance at flipping the Senate.

But the party is badly split. Should they nominate Abdul El-Sayed, a progressive firebrand backed by Bernie Sanders, who can energize the left? Or should they choose Congresswoman Haley Stevens, who has more moderate views as one in the competitive house races and is backed by party leaders? So the question of electability dominates the Democratic debate.

Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, a former public health official, joins me now live to discuss this race.

Dr. El-Sayed, we appreciate you joining me.

As you know, your party leadership, they're -- frankly, they're fearful of your candidacy. They see you as the kind of candidate who could win a primary but can lose a general election in a purple state and cost Democrats the majority.

So why shouldn't Democrats nominate a more moderate candidate, someone who doesn't have such progressive views and may not alienate those swing voters you need in November?

ABDUL EL-SAYED (D), MICHIGAN SENATE CANDIDATE: So, Manu, first of all, thanks as always for having me. Thanks for an important conversation about what electability means right now. I've been up and down my state 110 different cities now, 475 public events.

And everywhere I go, people tell me it just shouldn't be this hard, shouldn't be this hard to afford groceries or pay your rent, or believe you could own a home, or see a doctor in the richest, most powerful country in the world.

And the reason why those things are true in this country right now is because too often, politicians on both sides of the aisle are bought off by corporations. The worry you're hearing from the establishment in my party isn't about whether or not I could lose. It's about whether or not I might win and actually challenge them on the fact that our party is supposed to be a party for working people, not for corporations.

Because if my opponent in this primary or the Republican win, DTE wins, our utility, that just left millions of people in the dark. Blue Cross Blue Shield wins, who raises our rates on premiums every single year. AIPAC wins.

And so, I think people are looking for an alternative that really can fight for people without having to worry about whether or not that politician is being bought off by a corporate lobbyist.

RAJU: But Republicans think you're going to be easier to beat. I mean, shouldn't Democrats be concerned about that?

EL-SAYED: Well, I don't know. That's not what it looks like on Fox News. That's not what it looks like with Mike Rogers. They're teeing off on me every single day because they realize that if they don't try and take me out now, the three months in which I will label Mike Rogers for what he is a corporate shill who's never seen a corporate PAC check he didn't like, a guy who retired to Florida to golf with his buddies, made $14 million he can't explain.

He knows he can't beat me head on in a general. So they're trying now to beat me up here. Now, I know my opponent wants to talk about Republicans, but look, poll after poll after poll after poll showing that I am the strongest candidate because I actually have something to say to the electorate. Those swing voters you're talking about, they're not swinging between right and left, Democrat and Republican, because they're happy with either choice. They're swinging because they keep going to the buffet and finding nothing that they actually want.

I'm offering them an alternative that isn't a megalomaniacal maniac like Donald Trump or somebody who's bought off by the corporations. Like too often, establishment Democrats and Republicans.

And I think that's exactly what they're going to choose. And that's why we're seeing that in the polls.

RAJU: Let's talk a little bit about yourself, your own politics, your views, because you said you're not a Democratic socialist, but your policies really are in line with Democratic socialist ideology, like backing Medicaid, Medicare for All, for instance. And you're obviously campaigning with the most prominent Democratic socialists of them all, Bernie Sanders.

[08:29:44]

So, what makes you different than a Democratic socialist?

EL-SAYED: Manu, I support Medicare for all, not because of any ideology. I support Medicare for all because I went to medical school, to learn how to heal. And when I graduated, I realized that I didn't want to work in a system that too often chews up patients and spits them out.

I am a scientist. I try and take empirical questions and ask, how do you solve this problem? And right now, a lot of people are priced out of healthcare. And for the folks who aren't, they have a, what, $4,500 deductible that they can't pay. That's putting us into bankruptcy at the tune of $225 billion medical debt --

RAJU: But what -- but if I can jump in, if I could jump.

(CROSSTALKING)

EL-SAYED: -- trying to solve problems.

RAJU: If I could jump in, just what makes you different than a Democratic Socialist?

EL-SAYED: I am not somebody who is a socialist. I believe in capitalism. I just believe that capitalism has to be regulated.

If you read Adam Smith, who was one of the fathers of capitalism as we know it, he always knew that the biggest danger to capitalism wasn't government regulation. It was monopoly.

And we live in a society right now where too many monopolies and oligopolies can buy politicians to get their way. It's the reason we're watching as our prices just keep going up and we keep getting further and further behind.

So forgive me for actually wanting to regulate trillionaires and billionaires so that we can build schools and roads. I know you guys really desperately want to put me into a category.

I'm just saying that take me on what I tell you that I'm trying to do. I've been very, very clear and consistent about the fact that I just think billionaires should pay their fair share so our kids get to go to good schools. It's not that radical.

RAJU: But one of the big dividing lines in your primary, as you know, is the issue of Israel. An AIPAC-funded group is spending a lot of money to defeat you, in no small part because of your pretty harsh criticism of the Israeli government.

You have signaled in previous interviews an openness to there being a Palestinian state. Do you believe a Jewish state of Israel should exist alongside it?

EL-SAYED: Look, here's what I've always said. I believe in equal rights to peace, dignity, and self-determination for all people. I believe that a free Palestinian people, alongside free Jewish Israeli people, ought to decide what the future of the region looks like.

That is not my job. My job is to make sure that the money that we're sending over there right now to subsidize a foreign military, to do things like apartheid and genocide, is spent here to provide schools and health care for our kids here.

I take seriously the idea that I live in a state where there are some communities where the median income is $14,000. Whatever you think about Israel, Israel does not have a right to their tax dollars. They have a right to their tax dollars.

RAJU: So you don't -- you don't have -- you don't have a view of there should be a two-state solution. You're saying you don't have a view of whether there should be a two-state solution or whether a Jewish state should exist. You don't have a view of that. Is that what you're saying?

EL-SAYED: What I'm saying is that I want people on equal terms who have rights to that land to decide together how they want the ultimate peace to look like.

If they want one state, that's their choice. If they want two states, that's their choice. It's not my choice to make.

What my choice to make is, and what Michiganders deserve is a senator who's going to fight for them to keep our money here, to invest here. It's a crazy thing that we have a gigantic super PAC who spends its money with the key interest of taking our taxpayer dollars and sending it to a foreign government.

And I'm just saying that I don't have the hubris as a future policymaker for Michigan to get to decide how to solve other people's problems. I just don't want the money that could solve our problems, making their problems worse.

RAJU: You told me back in April that the Israeli government is evil as Hamas is evil. Now, the United States government considers Hamas a foreign terrorist organization. So do you think that the Israeli government should be considered by the U.S. as a foreign terrorist organization?

EL-SAYED: It's certainly a rogue state. I mean, they did a genocide, Manu. I just want to ask you like what -- what about doing a genocide is not evil in your book? It -- baseline they do apartheid.

A U.S. congressman who you've interviewed multiple times on this show just got detained by settlers who are settling illegally. I mean, the question of how we treat Israel is so inconsistent with how we would treat any other country that does the same thing. I'm just trying to call us to hold a standard and follow that standard.

RAJU: Would you consider them a foreign terrorist organization.

EL-SAYED: I would consider them a rogue state. It's a state, and it deserves to be treated in accordance with how it violates human rights and international law. And we are definitely not doing that right now.

RAJU: All right. I want to ask you about some scrutiny you've gotten for past social media posts that you deleted, including about defunding the police.

Now, you've said recently you never, never called for defunding the police, but our K File team here in CNN found interviews in the past where you did repeatedly back in 2020, including in the aftermath of George Floyd's killing.

I want you to listen to your comments here.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EL-SAYED: I believe that we do need to defund the police insofar as defunding the police is disinvesting in the means of incarcerating someone or killing them on the streets.

What if we were to invest in social services? What if we were to invest in public schools? What if we were to invest in public libraries? What would the world look like there?

And I think that has to be the way we go. And that means both investing more in these services and it also means investing less in police.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: So why did you say you never call for defunding the police when it sounded like you did in the past?

[08:34:45]

EL-SAYED: You know, what's interesting about that comment is I go as far as defining what I mean by that. Do you disagree with investing in libraries and public services and social services?

You fixate on the word "defund", but what I'm talking about is war material that we made too much of during the war in Iraq. And then because we had too much of it, we had to find somewhere to sell it. So we sold it to a whole bunch of local police departments.

I believe in investing in retention and retirement for law enforcement. I've done work with law enforcement during my time in Wayne County.

RAJU: But won't that issue of defunding the police -- won't that --

(CROSSTALKING)

EL-SAYED: No, no, no -- let me finish -- let me finish my answer, Manu.

RAJU: Won't that -- won't that become electability Issue in November?

EL-SAYED: Let me finish my answer. Let me finish my answer, Manu.

I actually don't think it is. I think the vast majority of people agree that they want to be get home safely every night. I think the vast majority of law enforcement agree that they want to get home safely every night.

I think the way that we have thought about law enforcement is we answer every social problem with somebody with a gun. And you talk to folks in law enforcement with whom I've worked very closely, they'll tell you they don't want to go on those runs where they know that somebody is in mental crisis.

So maybe instead of investing in war material for police, we invest in a safe retirement for them. And then instead of sending a guy with a gun, we actually send a trained mental health professional.

That's what I'm talking about. That's what I defined. And I think that's exactly what people want.

Now, if you want to keep talking about one particular word that was in vogue that I tried to define at the time, sure. But I think if were having a serious conversation about public safety, you'll see that my perspective is in keeping with exactly what most people who are rational about this question are talking about and what they want.

I want law enforcement to be able to get home safely, and I want people to be safe in their communities. And the way we do that is to make sure that we have competent law enforcement and to make sure that we are not making war on our streets, and that we have the social services that people need to stay healthy and safe.

RAJU: So I do want to ask you, because Haley Stevens, your opponent, has been going after you about a separate issue for not releasing your tax returns or financial disclosures before the primary.

She's been campaigning as the lone non-millionaire in the race. Are you concerned that by releasing those financial records, you'll show you to be considerably wealthier than Stevens while you're courting working class voters?

EL-SAYED: Not at all. I'm going to release my tax return this week. What I'll just tell you is that what she's desperately trying to change the picture on is the fact that you have $40 million of outside spending brought to you by our local utility that force people to sleep in the dark for five days after a minor storm. That she's taking money from AIPAC that wants to send our money abroad. That she's taking money from big tech and the health insurance industry.

You want to talk about financial transparency? I'm happy to do that all day.

She took a trip with her mom to Portugal -- to Portugal. I don't know why her mom had to go to Portugal, but it's from a group called Center Forward. I don't know what they talked about.

I think the people in the state of Michigan deserve to know. What I will tell you is that I filed jointly with my wife, Haley Stevens files alone. What you're comparing is apples to oranges.

And I understand that if you really want to turn the page on how your campaign is funded, you might try and pick something like this as a distraction.

But we're going to clear the record this week, and I'm happy to turn the page to a conversation about why her and her mom decided to go to Portugal on some special interest dime, what they learned about and what that means they traded for the vote that she's going to give in the U.S. Senate if she gets elected.

RAJU: And very quickly, do you think that she would lose, Haley Stevens, in November if she becomes the nominee?

EL-SAYED: I think she's going to have a really, really hard time. Mike Rogers barely lost to Elissa Slotkin. My question to her is, what are you even running on? What is it that

you're after aside from the fact that you have $40 million that can come in and pretend that somehow President Obama endorsed you in this race, even though he hasn't. That can say a lot of bad things about your opponent, take low blows without actually having to say what you want to do.

If you're bought off by the same companies that buy him off, at some point, we all lose.

RAJU: All right, Michigan Senate candidate Dr. Abdul El-Sayed. We have to leave it there. I really appreciate your time.

Thank you for joining me ahead of the primary. I really appreciate your time.

And coming up, my political panel is back with reaction.

Plus, the scramble in Maine to replace Graham Platner and what this all means for the fight for the Senate.

[08:38:37]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

RAJU: My political insiders are back with reaction to my interview just now with Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed.

Toluse, can a -- he says that it doesn't matter, you guys are trying to pin me down on my ideology. He is very progressive in a purple state like Michigan. Can a progressive in this environment win a purple state like Michigan with the arguments that Abdul El-Sayed is making?

TOLUSE OLORUNNIPA, STAFF WRITER, THE ATLANTIC: Well, that's a test. First of all, that was a very fascinating interview, and we learned a lot about how he's going to try to message and try to win over some of those swing voters.

He's going to talk about these policy areas where he thinks that he can win over voters who maybe voted for Donald Trump, or maybe have gone back and forth between Republicans and Democrats over policies like the fact that it's too expensive to live in Michigan right now, the fact that health care is expensive, housing is expensive.

He tried to talk about those policies and differentiate himself from the Democratic socialists that have caused some consternation among Democrats about whether or not socialists are taking over their party.

RAJU: Yes.

OLORUNNIPA: He said I am not a socialist, which I thought was a very important part of that.

RAJU: Even though his policies are just in line with Democratic Socialism in so many ways. And also the issue of Israel, of course, such a key one in Michigan where there are Jewish -- so many Jewish voters, Muslim-American voters in the Detroit metro area.

He has staked out a very firm line against the Israeli government. He called it a rogue state but he would not say he supports a two-state solution there as well.

MOLLY BALL, POLITICAL REPORTER AND AUTHOR: It was really an incredible interview and a fascinating answer on that question in particular. We have seen Israel really become the dividing line in these Democratic primaries.

[08:44:45]

BALL: It has become a crucial litmus test for the Democratic base, particularly left-wing Democrats needing to see their primary candidates say the word "genocide", which is --

RAJU: Which he said.

BALL: -- of course, an extremely controversial point.

And so I think the test here is, as Toluse said, you know, this is a swing state. It's one thing to nominate someone with these kinds of left-wing views in a state like Maine, where even though you have a formidable incumbent Republican, it is a blue state.

This is a swing state. And so a lot of Democrats are very nervous about having a candidate with these kinds of views, be the general election nominee.

But the theory of the case among progressives is that they think someone like this is actually better suited to win.

RAJU: Yes.

BALL: And so we may very well get a very good test of that.

RAJU: It is a base election. And the argument those progressives that we need to fire up the base and the argument that Haley Stevens can't do that.

Speaking of firing up the base. That's why he's campaigning with Bernie Sanders. And Bernie Sanders, look at his endorsement record so far in the 2026 endorsements. He's won a bunch of House primaries. He lost some House primaries of candidates that he backed.

He's backed, of course, Abdul El-Sayed, we'll see what happens in August during his primary. And of course, the big one, Graham Platner, who he got behind dropping out in Maine.

JOHN BRESNAHAN, PUNCHBOWL NEWS CO-FOUNDER: Yes, I mean -- and Elizabeth Warren, part of this also. So the progressive wing of the party has really pushed on this.

Following what these guys said, what I thought was very interesting here, the Israeli answer, because AIPAC is in spending a lot of money against him, a tremendous amount of money against him before this primary.

But what he also said -- his message there was also, you have to make a change because things are going badly in Michigan, ok. And if you vote for Haley Stevens, you're going to get the same thing.

Mike Rogers, Haley Stevens -- he's trying to say they're exact same thing. He's talking about the quality of life has really -- it's gotten worse in Michigan.

The reading scores, the schools are down. The whole infrastructure is problem in Michigan. So he's appealing to everybody there saying like, look, if you vote for Haley Stevens, you just may as well vote for Mike Rogers.

RAJU: Yes.

BRESNAHAN: I think it's a very interesting message. And it's a powerful message in this time. Not only Democrats, Republicans want change. And this is a smart message by him if he's going to find this link.

RAJU: And while that primary is playing out, the next one is in Maine, the Democratic primary. That's not actually a primary. That's the insiders will be picking 601 delegates by July 27th, try to have to pick a new candidate after Graham Platner dropped out.

Can any of them beat Susan Collins? A huge question in the Democratic Party in the weeks ahead, both in Michigan and in Maine.

All right. Coming up, Mitch McConnell has been absent for exactly four weeks now. Why that could start causing problems for Republicans as soon as this coming week.

Plus, on the morning of Lindsey Graham's passing, this is a live look at the White House. The flags have been lowered to half-staff.

[08:47:30]

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RAJU: The sudden death of Senator Lindsey Graham has sent shockwaves through the United States Senate, where Republicans hold a narrow majority. And it comes in the wake of ongoing concern and questions about the health and condition of Mitch McConnell, the 84-year-old Kentucky Republican who was the longest serving Senate party leader in history.

McConnell was taken to the hospital four weeks ago, and his staff has refused to explain why or say anything about his condition other than that he is recovering.

Now, in a highly unusual move this past week, Kentucky's Democratic governor, Andy Beshear, sent a letter to McConnell's team demanding details about his condition and whether he can continue to serve.

And there's a big deadline. If he resigns, the Senate before August 3rd, Kentucky law calls for a special election putting the seat to chance.

But after that, his seat would remain open until his successor is sworn in in January.

John Bresnahan is back with us. Bresnahan, we've covered McConnell for a very long time together. We've written many stories with him when we worked together at Politico over the years.

McConnell, we know he's a survivor of childhood polio. He's had lifelong health issues. He had those freezing episodes that we saw happen to him, the falls.

BRESNAHAN: The falls.

RAJU: He's falling multiple times because of his walking issues. Health has clearly deteriorated.

But the question that I have and I'm getting from so many people -- you are, too. Why won't they tell people what's going on with them?

BRESNAHAN: Because they don't think they have to. This is one of the areas where people don't understand. Senators and House members they don't work for the Speaker. They don't work for the Senate Majority Leader.

They are individuals of their own, and they don't have to -- they don't really have to answer to anybody except back home. And he doesn't have to -- he's not answering to Beshear.

So --

RAJU: And he's not running for reelection, so he doesn't have to answer to voters.

BRESNAHAN: You know, I've covered situations. We covered -- Ted Kennedy was sick for very long. McCain sick back and forth.

I remember covering a House member, Julia Carson, a Democrat. She was gone for months, and she wouldn't say anything to Pelosi at the time.

So this is not unusual. It's just it's so high profile right now. And McConnell in particular for the left and right, is such a -- someone they don't love.

(CROSSTALKING)

RAJU: He's someone -- he's always been very guarded over his health. Even during those freezing episodes, there wasn't really a full diagnosis or full revelation about what led to that.

They said he was dehydrated, even though there were a lot of questions about is that really what caused it?

BRESNAHAN: Right.

RAJU: You know. BRESNAHAN: So there was an incident where I don't remember, McConnell had the black marks on his hand, the bruises on his hand.

RAJU: Yes.

BRESNAHAN: So I went up and asked him about it, and he was not happy about that.

[08:54:46]

BRESNAHAN: And then for weeks, months after that, he'd be like, Bres, how are you doing? You know, pointedly he was like, pushing back on me.

Look, McConnell has this image. He's a polio survivor. He spent two years bedridden as a child. He made it to where he was despite all that. And he's not going to give an inch to it.

And his staff, you know, they're very secretive about it. As you said, they're not saying anything. I think there's probably only a couple of people who know, and they're not talking, and then everybody else is just guessing. We're just guessing here, so.

RAJU: They don't -- they know the conspiracy theories are running rampant, but they're still -- I guess they're ok with that. And they'll just -- because McConnell wants to protect this information.

He was angry at me one time when I covered him --

BRESNAHAN: I remember that.

RAJU: -- asking about those freezing episodes. He did not like that and didn't call on me for some time in press conferences because of that.

There is this August 3rd deadline. Do you think -- you know, he is always someone who does not want to give Democrats an advantage on anything. Do you think this is part of his decision about whether to resign or not, because of concern about putting that seat to chance?

BRESNAHAN: 100 percent about it. But I think that there'll be immense pressure from his own leadership if he has to go to go quickly, so.

RAJU: Ok, we'll see. And of course, in the meantime, he sits on a key committee. He's the chairman of the Senate Appropriations Defense Subcommittee. There's big appropriations bills that are moving -- that have to move through committee. There's one vote margin there.

If he's not there, then of course, that could tie up bills in that committee. That's something to watch as well.

Ok. That's it for INSIDE POLITICS SUNDAY.

Up next, "STATE OF THE UNION WITH JAKE TAPPER AND DANA BASH". South Carolina Senator Tim Scott will join Jake for (INAUDIBLE) on the late Senator Lindsey Graham. Thanks again for sharing your Sunday morning with us. We'll see you

next time.

[08:56:19]

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