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Three Vessels Struck Near Strait of Hormuz; Trump Attends NATO Summit; Calls Grow For Graham Platner to Drop Out; Reports of Debris Falling From New York City Building. Aired 11-11:30a ET

Aired July 07, 2026 - 11:00   ET

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

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ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer. Pamela Brown is on assignment. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.

And we begin this hour with the breaking news. New York's Fire Department is evacuating several buildings in Midtown Manhattan right now after debris started falling from one of them. Several floors of the 33-story high-rise are reportedly sagging. The New York City mayor, Zohran Mamdani, just gave an update on the evacuations.

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ZOHRAN MAMDANI (D), MAYOR OF NEW YORK CITY: At about 8:00 a.m., FDNY received reports that bricks were falling from a building under construction on East 42nd Street between Second and Third Avenue.

And first responders have found structural issues on the 21st floor. So this is where two structural columns have buckled at this time. Additionally, multiple cracks and sagging floors were found on the 21st floor.

Now, luckily, there have been no injuries to report at this time. All workers are accounted for. The building has been evacuated. A number of tall buildings in the area are also being evacuated at this time. A school with about 400 children has also been evacuated.

And as a result of all of this, most of 42nd Street and 43rd Street between First and Third Avenues have been shut down to pedestrians and to vehicles. And all of this is a reflection of the fact that our top priority right now is the safety of those who live in this area, the safety of those who work in this area, and DOB inspectors and engineers are on site working quickly to secure the site, as well as that surrounding area.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BLITZER: In just minutes, the FDNY, the New York Fire Department,

will hold a news conference, and we'll bring that to you live once it begins. Stand by for that.

In the meantime, I want to go to CNN's Danny Freeman, who's working on the story for us.

So give us some more, Danny. What's the latest?

DANNY FREEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Sure, Wolf.

Well, I just want to orient our viewers first to understand where exactly this building on your screen is. Again, this is on 42nd Street in between Second and Third Avenue. For perspective, that's just about a block away from the United Nations. It's only a few blocks away from Grand Central Station.

So this really is in the heart of New York City's Manhattan, and that's, you can tell, part of the reason why there's so much attention. There are so many tall buildings around this other area, and, as you heard the mayor right there, he said that many other buildings in that immediate area are being evacuated, including Wolf, a school with as many as 400 children that were there this morning.

So let's just recap right here. Again, this all started around 8:00 a.m. this morning, first responders getting reports of bricks falling from the building, this building under construction. There were construction workers inside.

And then, according to the mayor, there were structural issues on the 21st floor specifically. And, as you noted, two structural columns have buckled. That was the announcement from the mayor just moments ago. And also there were multiple cracks and sagging floors found, again, in that high-rise building.

And that was the point where city officials made the call to evacuate that building. Notably -- and this is the good news for the moment -- at this point, there have been no injuries. All of the workers that were working on that building have been accounted for, but, again, Wolf, first responders and New York City officials taking all safety precautions just to make sure that everyone in the area is safe just in case something else wrong does happen with this building.

Now, according to the Department of Buildings, Wolf, they are on scene. They have structural engineers and investigators that have approached that scene. We expect them to be part of this press conference that should be getting under way any moment to update to us what the scene is on the ground and, most importantly, what the status is of that major high-rise building in a populated area of Midtown Manhattan, Wolf.

BLITZER: Very, very populated indeed.

All right, Danny Freeman, we will stay in close touch with you. And once that news conference from the FDNY, the Fire Department of New York, begins, we will have live coverage of that and update our viewers on what's going on in New York City right now.

But there's other important news we're following as well, including breaking news in a key midterm election with control of the United States Senate at stake, a growing chorus of Democratic officials now calling on the party's nominee in the state of Maine, in the Maine Senate contest, Graham Platner, to drop out of the race against Republican incumbent Senator Susan Collins.

Platner now faces an accusation of sexual assault from a woman named Jenny Racicot, which he strongly denies.

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GRAHAM PLATNER (D), MAINE SENATORIAL CANDIDATE: I wanted to directly address the troubling, serious, and false allegations against me. Any accusation of nonconsensual behavior is categorically false.

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BLITZER: Racicot told CNN's Jake Tapper in an exclusive interview that Platner raped her nearly five years ago while he was heavily intoxicated.

A warning to our viewers: This account has very strong language and content that you might find disturbing.

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JENNY RACICOT, GRAHAM PLATNER ACCUSER: It was a night where him and I were texting back and forth, and he had taken something that I said as an invitation, and that's not how I meant it, and I quickly clarified. And he sent a message back indicating that he would come over. And I said: "No, don't come over. Like, I'm not in the mood, don't come over."

And I was more stern with that message. And then I didn't hear back from him. So I thought that that meant he got the message or gave up on it or whatnot. And so, like, like half-an-hour later, I heard a noise outside my door, and then he came in. He just came into my house. It was unlocked. I live in an area where you don't usually have to lock your doors.

I do now. So he came in. And I realized, OK, he didn't listen. He's in my home. And I was laying on the couch. It was probably pretty late at night, and I was getting -- I was already ready for bed. I just wasn't in bed. And so he had kind of, like, jumped on top of me and indicated that he had intentions that were sexual in nature.

And 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 have 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. He is heavily intoxicated. Like, and that blank stare was kind of like a photographic memory that I still have of that night, and his -- that was me recognizing what the situation was, and this wasn't just like, oh, hey, somebody showed up and I'm going to tell him to go home.

Like, he was heavily intoxicated, had intentions with me, and wasn't listening when I said no. And...

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: And you were saying, no, don't, no, don't, over and over?

RACICOT: I remember -- obviously, I have had to recall a lot of this. This is something that I tried for many years to forget.

And so small details might get past me, but, yes, I remember very specifically saying, "I'm not into this." In my message previously, I had told him I had had an old back injury and I remember saying, like: "I'm not into this. I have had a long day. My back hurts."

Like, I was in that kind of mood, like the leave me alone mood. And there was a little bit of, like a scuffle, like, altercation. The house that I live in has like this antique sewing kit that I kept beside the couch, and that got knocked over. He like backed into it, or something was maybe pushed into it by me, or something happened in that moment, and that thing got spilled. And...

TAPPER: Do you remember pushing him away?

RACICOT: I remember potentially pushing away with my legs, like -- and then, as he backed into it, it spilt, and all of the sewing needles and tape and yarn and everything went everywhere. Everything had fallen onto the floor.

And, in that moment, I evaluated my safety. Like, a drunk person who's blackout drunk is in my home, has these intentions with me, has already caused this amount of destruction, and not listening to me. And so I basically felt safe is just complying.

TAPPER: You normally use protection?

RACICOT: Yes.

TAPPER: And this time, he didn't?

RACICOT: Yes.

TAPPER: And you didn't want that.

RACICOT: No.

TAPPER: And he didn't care?

RACICOT: No, I don't think -- I -- my words were falling on deaf ears and drunk ears. TAPPER: And you were still saying, don't do this, or I'm not into

this?

RACICOT: I remember specifically him, like, grabbing at my chest, and I like hit his hand and I said: "Don't touch me."

And I remember that during the altercation specifically.

TAPPER: And then he kept going?

RACICOT: Yes. And it was this weird mix of like coming in and out of, I don't think consciousness is the word, but like coming to and kind of falling back into that drunken I don't know what I'm doing state.

And, yes -- and he just -- he would apologize in those moments and then go back to doing what he was doing.

TAPPER: So he was aware that he was doing something wrong?

RACICOT: Yes.

TAPPER: He was saying sorry?

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RACICOT: I feel like he was in moments.

So, after everything ended, I ran to the bathroom, which is just beside my bedroom, and I was in there for a while and just trying to, like, comprehend things.

And when I came back out, he was asleep in my bed. And, at that point, I didn't know what my options were. Like, obviously, I don't want this person in my house.

And when I earlier had realized how drunk he was, I knew that he'd driven over that way. Like, I'm surprised he made it to my house. And if I woke him up and sent him home, like, I'm now making the decision to put somebody that drunk on the road. And I didn't want to live with the fact that, like, if he got into an accident or hurt somebody else.

So I was like, I'm going to let him sleep, and the second he wakes up, I'm going to tell him to leave.

And so he slept. I lay there in like a state of panic all night. In the morning, he woke up. And he went to go put his arm around me, and I was like, whoa, and realizing this person doesn't know that what happened wasn't OK. And so I remember taking his arm and throwing it back at him, and I said: "Are you fucking serious, Graham?"

And he's like: "What?"

And I'm like: "Do you not remember what happened last night?"

He was like: "No."

And I'm like: "OK. I need you to get dressed and leave and never talk to me again. Like, nothing that happened was OK."

And he did. He just got up and got dressed and left and didn't seem concerned. So he left. He didn't -- he didn't talk to me. And I waited a couple weeks, because I knew that, with what had happened, I could have gotten pregnant, and I wanted to wait and to make sure that that wasn't the case. And so I waited until that happened. And I sent him kind of like a final send-off message. And...

TAPPER: What did it say?

RACICOT: I remember -- I remember a few pieces of it. And I remember saying that, like, nothing that happened that night was OK or consensual.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Platner says he is -- quote -- "taking the time now to reflect on the best path forward."

Joining us now to discuss all of this and more, CNN chief political analyst, David Axelrod. He was a senior adviser to President Obama.

David, thanks very much for joining us.

As you know, among the Democrats pulling their support for Platner right now are -- and they include the Senate minority leader, Chuck Schumer, Senator Elizabeth Warren, Congressman Ro Khanna, and many, many others.

Is there a path forward for Platner if Democrats want to win this Senate seat in November?

DAVID AXELROD, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: No, I don't think so. I don't think there's any path forward.

His financial base has collapsed within the party. His political base has collapsed. I think what you heard was pretty raw. And people were willing to forgive him some of the past stories that have surfaced, but sexual assault is a serious, serious -- well, it's a crime really, but it's a serious offense.

And, no, there's no path forward for him. I think you sort of heard that in his remarks yesterday. He was defiant, yes, but he also seemed to acknowledge that this was something that might be in an insuperable barrier for him. And he talked about how to continue the movement.

I think the real story here, Wolf is what happens between now and next week when the deadline comes up at the end of Monday for him to quit, and then what happens subsequently. I think July 27 may be the date by the which the state party has to appoint someone.

What it seems to me is going on right now is that Platner wants to use the resignation as some sort of leverage to get a candidate who more comports with a kind of populist campaign that he's run. A lot of discussion about Troy Jackson, a guy who ran for governor, who was a former state Senate president, close to Platner and his politics. There's heated debate about that. I think other gubernatorial

candidates who failed in the recent governors election, but showed promise -- Nirav Shah, former public health official, is going to surface as a name here, at least one of the names here.

But the real story now isn't whether Graham Platner can move forward. He can't. As impressive as what he built is, he -- his personal problems are such that people understand that this is a nonstarter. So I think the real story is what happens next.

The thing is, Wolf, this seat was considered one of the two that were most obtainable for Democrats if they want to take over the Senate. They need four seats. North Carolina and Maine were viewed as the most promising. Kamala Harris carried the state by seven points.

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Susan Collins, running for her sixth term, is an unpopular incumbent. But they need a candidate who's not going to be more of an issue than Collins herself. And I think that's what they're going to be searching for in the next -- in the next few weeks.

BLITZER: How big of an issue was the Nazi tattoo that he had on his chest?

AXELROD: I think it was an issue. It was one. He maintained that he didn't know what it was. It wasn't a swastika. And he didn't realize when he was a young Marine and he on some drunken foray with his buddies got this tattoo, didn't realize what it was.

I think people were willing or some people were willing to forgive him that. But it was an amalgam of things. And I think the real thing that -- first of all, these allegations -- and you saw the woman attest to them -- was pretty compelling. These allegations are pretty shocking.

But the other question is, what else is there? He's assured people that there were no other stories out there. And then stories kept surfacing. And the question was, after he was locked in as a candidate, which would be next Monday, what do the Republicans know that they haven't shared yet? And were there surprises down the line?

And so I think all of these things contributed to a sense of anxiety, but people respected what he had built. He had really -- he had really appealed to voters in that state who are economically stressed and angry about establishment politics and the influence of big money in our politics.

And he was speaking to that compellingly, so people gave him some room. I think that room has -- is gone now, and now the question is, what comes next.

BLITZER: I want to play a little bit more of what Jenny Racicot told CNN's Jake Tapper about the politics of this. Listen and watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TAPPER: There are going to be people, maybe even his campaign, certainly his supporters, who say this is politically motivated. What would you say to that?

RACICOT: I couldn't disagree more.

That was actually one of the reasons that I didn't come out.

TAPPER: Because you agree with his politics.

(CROSSTALK)

RACICOT: I do. I really agree with his politics. I think we need somebody with those political stances and who are willing to do the work.

And I see his political videos. They get me fired up as well. I understand why people want someone like him in office. And I felt like me coming forward would essentially -- potentially take that away. And I felt really uncomfortable with the responsibility of and the weight of my story and what that might do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: So, David, what's your reaction to that?

AXELROD: My reaction is that in some ways she's speaking for a lot of voters in Maine who were willing to forgive Graham Platner many other stories, because they felt he was speaking to something very important, which is the failure of the system to really address the concerns that people had about their health care, about their housing, about wages, about the basic necessities of life and the influence of big money interests in Washington that gets in the way of policy that they feel would help them.

He brought that message powerfully. Now the question for the Democratic Party is, will they respect that concern and will the candidate who emerges in his place understand that sentiment among voters in the state? And so that's going to be part of the discussion in the next -- in the next few days?

BLITZER: Yes.

All right, David Axelrod, as always, thank you very, very much.

AXELROD: Thank you.

BLITZER: And we're still following the other breaking news we're following from New York City right now. Falling debris from a Manhattan high-rise building is prompting evacuations. We're expecting a news conference in the next few minutes. We're going to bring that to you live once it begins.

We will be right back.

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BLITZER: Breaking news: Right now, President Trump is in Turkey. He's expected to prod the NATO allies over the defense spending.

Sources tell CNN that the president was so angry about NATO's refusal to join his war with Iran, he considered slashing U.S. troop presence in Europe by about one-third. That would be bringing back to the United States about 25,000 U.S. troops from Europe.

This morning, the president also confirmed that he will consider, consider selling F-35 fighter jets to Turkey. That would reverse his own ban from his first term and a ban later adopted by Congress.

CNN political and national security analyst David Sanger is joining us right now.

David, Secretary of State Marco Rubio says this could be, in his words, could be the most important meeting in NATO's history. Do you agree?

DAVID SANGER, CNN POLITICAL AND NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: It could, but I suspect that when history looks back at this, the really critical one will have been the one last year, when the NATO allies agreed to up their defense spending to 3.5 percent of their gross national product by 2035 and to do so and then to spend another 1.5 percent on related infrastructure.

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But what you're hearing already from the president, Wolf, suggests that isn't fast enough for him. While he greeted all of that last year, and certainly it was his pressure that led them to go do it, I think he is so angry, as you suggested, about their reluctance to join the Iran conflict, which many of them regarded as an illegal war, that he now has basically moved on and said, no, you have to spend more now and be responsible for more instantly.

BLITZER: Do you believe the president would really pull a third of the American troops from the NATO alliance in Europe? And if he did, what would that do to the NATO alliance?

SANGER: No, I do believe that he would do it.

And I think many in his administration make the argument, and it's not a completely unreasonable one, that those troops may be needed more elsewhere, the Middle East, if we have to do a continued patrol of the Gulf area and the Strait of Hormuz, or we're just tied up there to keep pressure on Iran, the Pacific.

And so the president's strategy has been to move European troops in place of the American troops. And that makes perfect sense if they are trained up and ready to go do this. And that is all based on an assessment of what you would need if Russia decided to go take part or all of a small NATO nation and what you would need to deter them. And that's a pretty complicated process. And the question is, is the

president acting out of an emotion here, an anger, or is he acting out of an analysis of what needs to be done?

BLITZER: You know, it's interesting, because the U.S. currently has, what, about 70,000 troops based in Europe in the NATO alliance, and he's threatening to maybe bring home 25,000 of them. Those are big numbers.

SANGER: Those are big numbers.

And the bigger issue -- excuse me, Wolf -- is if they are -- the American troops are not there, is there a way to replace that deterrent force? And many commanders have said to me, yes, there is, but it takes time and training and equipment.

And so if the president announces a plan to do this in a rational, unfolding way that makes sense and keeps the deterrent going, then I think that would have considerable support. If he just wants to pull them out to show the Europeans that he is no longer going to be -- allow the United States to be the centerpiece of conventional defense, then I think there's a problem.

And then, of course, there's the bigger issue, which is, do the Europeans believe that if Russia acted against a NATO nation, that the United States would be there to back them up and be there with its nuclear deterrent as well?

BLITZER: David Sanger, as usual, thank you very, very much.

David Sanger helping us.

SANGER: Thank you.

BLITZER: I want to go to a CNN SITUATION ROOM exclusive report right now.

My co-anchor Pamela Brown is joining us live from aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier, which is now in the Arabian Sea. The Lincoln is crucial for U.S. military operations in the Middle East. It supports up to 90 U.S. aircraft and ensures free use of the sea as part of the Navy's Fifth Fleet. Its extended presence in the region is also linked to the ongoing negotiations with Iran.

Pamela, I'm glad you're with us right now. We're glad to have your perspective as the first American journalist with access -- the access you're getting right now aboard the Abraham Lincoln. And you just got some new reporting, I'm told, about an attack on commercial vessels near where you are right now. Tell us more about what you're learning.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN HOST: That's right, Wolf.

This exclusive access here aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln, it's coming at a time when there are escalating tensions right near where I am. We're in the Arabian Sea. And just today, Wolf, Iran launched strikes against three vessels that were trying to transit through the strait through the Oman route.

That was a route established a couple of months ago. So, this is escalating already heightened tensions, even though there is this memorandum of understanding in place right now. One U.S. official I spoke to said what Iran did today is a gross violation of the memorandum of understanding, this person calling it illogical.