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The Situation Room

Jared Kushner Meets With Benjamin Netanyahu; Interview With Rep. Marlin Stutzman (R-IN); Concerns Grow Over Long Military Deployments. Aired 10:30a-11a ET

Aired August 17, 2026 - 10:30   ET

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

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WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Happening now: Investigators in Greenville, South Carolina, are investigating the death of 36-year-old actress Hayden Panettiere. According to reports, Panettiere was found unresponsive inside an apartment yesterday afternoon. She's best known for her roles in "Heroes" and "Nashville." The details about the cause of her death were not immediately released.

Plus, the second largest reservoir in the U.S. plunges to a record low. Lake Powell is now just 30 feet away from the point at which its dam will no longer be able to generate hydropower. The reservoir provides water and electricity to millions in the West and is the late -- and is the latest sign of the crisis unfolding on the drought- stricken Colorado River.

And, in Italy, investigators are now searching for thieves who stole four masterpieces worth millions. Authorities say the thieves got past alarm and security systems at a museum in Sicily on Saturday, then walked away with works of art that have survived for more than 500 years, 500 years -- Pamela.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN HOST: All right, Wolf, happening now: U.S. Central Command Chief Admiral Brad Cooper says that, among the Navy's 11 active carriers, the USS Abraham Lincoln -- quote -- "currently has among the lowest number of cases related to mental health."

Cooper visited the Lincoln this weekend amid reports of worsened conditions on board. His visit comes after I reported last week that a sailor went off board that ship and that a sailor went overboard on the USS Frank E. Petersen this spring. That is a separate ship in the USS Lincoln strike group.

Admiral Cooper went on to say -- quote -- "This doesn't mean that all is perfect. Find any of the nearly four million Navy veterans in America today, and they will likely tell you that service at sea for long periods isn't for everyone. It is uniquely challenging and tough, and every single one of us, including me, reacts to stressors in different ways." With me now here in the Situation Room is former U.S. Navy Captain Brent Sadler, former Pentagon official with the China branch and senior fellow with the Heritage Foundation.

Your perspective is important because you've spent a lot of time at sea. What do you make of Admiral Cooper's statement there?

BRENT SADLER, FORMER PENTAGON OFFICIAL: I think it's spot on. I think it's good to see the commander actually out on the ships that have been conducting combat operations for a long time.

Of course, his headquarters is a world away. But, again, getting the senior flag and general officers out there and then communicating what our sailors, airmen, and soldiers are going through is a very critical message.

BROWN: So I want to read a little bit more from his op-ed. This was from yesterday.

In the op-ed, he said -- he praised the crew, and then he told them -- quote -- "You have delivered a performance for the ages, and now you are going home." He also said: "History will record this deployment as one of the most operationally intense and consequential of the modern era."

In recent conflicts, the Navy has played more of a support role. In this conflict, you're seeing it on the front lines with the blockades, with the constant flight operations. This appointment, as you know, was extended multiple times.

[10:35:02]

Do you think Navy assets are being stretched too thin?

SADLER: It's not a new problem.

We are trying to do a lot more with the Navy that has not been resourced and it's the -- doesn't have the numbers for the world that we live in. I mean, it's a very dangerous world, and it's not going to wait for the U.S. to build the ships that are needed. And that's the core issue here, is more Navy warships are required to carry the burden.

So, absolutely, during the Cold War, very tense time, very dangerous time, the operational tempo was about 17 percent. Today, for like the last 10-plus years, it's been consistently north of 33 to 35 percent, double what we have historically put on a burden on the ships and the sailors.

And that comes at much more maintenance that has to be done, delays and overruns in costs, but also the sailors as well. But, thankfully, the sailors are doing the mission, and that is really driving up morale across the board generally. And that, again, going back to combat operations for national interests, that's what these sailors sign up for. It's why these long deployments are still bearable, but we need to get

back to six months as the standard, not eight or nine months, for these carriers.

BROWN: But I just wonder what your point of view is in terms of preparing them, conditioning them for what could be a very long deployment at sea. A lot of these are young sailors. I've reviewed messages of sailors saying that they had to seek suicide counseling. One of them said that he was caught crying in a room, saying he wanted to kill himself, and that's what prompted that.

I just wonder if more needs to be done to prepare this younger generation of sailors.

SADLER: Well, they are prepared very well.

It's -- again, life at sea is dangerous every day. The ocean is unforgiving. And now you have got sailors and airmen that are doing combat operations, so you have also got an enemy. Preparing them for that is the training and the whole workup cycle for the deployment.

And there's always a few that at the last moment want to try and get off the deployment or during it want to try to get home earlier. The pressure is actually more than they can bear. That always happens. That's human.

But, by and large, Navy preparation, the training and the crew takes care of the crew and keep that pretty much within bounds. So I haven't seen anything from my 26 years that seems outside of the norm. Does that mean that we can't do better?

No. We should do better. We need to do better. Top of the list in my mind that really is going to be helpful is getting more ships into the Navy.

BROWN: Right.

Well, in terms of just the mental health part, I mean, you saw in the USS George Washington, which is actually en route right now...

SADLER: It is.

BROWN: ... to take over for the Lincoln, there were multiple suicides on that ship several years ago. I mean, at what point do you say, we need to do more on the mental health front? We need to make sure that the sailors we are putting on these ships are mentally ready to take on this mission?

SADLER: Well, there's a couple of things that are going on in the history. A lot of the suicides actually were ships that were in very bad conditions during extended, prolonged maintenance and availabilities.

Those are sailors that aren't doing the mission they signed up for. They signed up for what you see on the Lincoln right now in the Arabian Sea. They didn't sign up to be sitting inside a shipyard for months, if not a couple of years. And that actually wears, because you're doing a hard job.

It's still dangerous even in an industrial environment as a shipyard, but you're not really doing the mission you signed up for. So we need to do far better in getting the ships through the maintenance periods, which again goes back to not enough ships because of the wear and tear on these extended deployments.

But, again, we also do need to do better for the types of services that we provide our sailors in these ports, but, also -- and I think great shout-out to Captain Chowdah Hill, who if you have seen his feed from like the Red Sea, made famous in the operations in the Red Sea and again fighting against the Houthis, bringing in mascots like a golden retriever that comes to the ships actually does...

BROWN: Captain Fathom.

(CROSSTALK)

SADLER: Oh, yes, brings back a lot -- it actually does a lot for the sailors to kind of have that kind of outlet...

BROWN: Yes.

SADLER: ... something out of the norm of the six-hour watch rotation that you end up living your life by for many weeks and months on end.

BROWN: Yes, Captain Fathom is the dog aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln that I got to meet.

SADLER: Yes. Oh, yes.

BROWN: It was a pleasure.

Brent Sadler, great conversation. Thank you.

SADLER: Thank you.

BROWN: With us now is Republican Congressman Marlin Stutzman of Indiana. He's a member of the Financial Services and Budget Committees.

Good morning to you. I appreciate you coming on.

So, I have been in touch with several sailors aboard the Abraham Lincoln, and I have heard varying viewpoints. But one of them wrote me this, and I want to get your response.

"At first, when we learned that we would be doing combat operations, it was intended to be a two-week thing. But, unfortunately, that became a seven-month thing. They told us it was to help Iranian protesters, and they told us we were out here to denuclearize Iran. Now it's to support a blockade. The purpose of even doing this is inconsistent."

The sailor went on to talk about the multiple deployment extensions hurting morale. Congressman, what do you say to our service members who see this

deployment as a constantly moving goalpost?

REP. MARLIN STUTZMAN (R-IN): Well, good morning, Pamela. Great to be with you.

I think you your previous guest, Captain Sadler, made some excellent points. War is hard. The military is hard. Just joining and signing up to serve our country, just to make it through boot camp is a tremendously hard endeavor for our military men and women who sign up to serve the military.

[10:40:02]

And you know what? I understand there can be frustrations out there, especially considering that we're told one thing and then -- but something else -- circumstances change. The operations change. And so, therefore, there's going to be movement in what you're told from one week to the next, because the conditions change at the higher level.

And our president is wanting to move this quickly and is wanting to accomplish the goals here as quickly as possible. But, of course, we know the Iranians are going to try to drag this out as long as they can.

BROWN: But the president just said today he's in no hurry. As you know, that 60-day period has passed as of this morning.

And in terms of the conditions on the USS Abraham Lincoln, the president basically said that the deployment is not nearly long enough.

My colleague Jake Tapper spoke with the wife of a U.S. service member aboard the Lincoln. Here's what she said.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was really hoping that at some point there would be a redemption. Try to redeem yourself at least a little bit with everything that you do and everything that you say, and try to redeem yourself. Have some sympathy, some empathy. Take some accountability for what's going on with your military, your ship in your war, in your war.

It's infuriating.

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BROWN: And, Congressman, several sailors also told me they did not appreciate that sentiment from the president in this moment after working so hard for so many months. What do you say to that?

STUTZMAN: Well, again, I mean, I understand the difficulty, especially for spouses. That's something that we often forget about, is the spouses at home that are waiting for their loved ones to come back, and especially when they weren't knowing that there was going to be a conflict, that their loved one was going to have to be serving.

But, again, this is the military. This is -- we train men and women to serve the country in times of peace and in times of war. And I know the president cares because he wants to protect our country. The operation to, first of all, eliminate nuclear capabilities for the IRGC is the first top priority to protect the United States, second of all, to be sure that the Strait of Hormuz now is an open, free-flowing place for trade.

Again, if people have issues personally, there are ways to definitely reach out. And that's one of the things. I had a friend right here in my hometown that committed suicide after he came back from his deployment. So, after -- I served on the VA Committee in Congress and know the struggles that our veterans carry with them long after they have served, and especially those in theater.

PTSD is very real. And so there are people there to support our service members, also people there to support spouses. There are spouse clubs. I understand the frustration. But, at the same time, this is our military serving our country to be sure...

BROWN: Right.

STUTZMAN: ... that we have safety and security here at home.

BROWN: But is that the right message from the commander in chief in this moment?

STUTZMAN: Well, again, I think that his frustration is that this is this is dragging on longer than he would like.

And I think a lot of this is -- it's different for us as Americans when we watch President Trump, who negotiates so much differently than what George W. Bush did or what President Obama did or Joe -- President Biden.

So we are kind of in -- seeing this all unfold more openly because of the negotiating style, also social media, and so much of this is out in the public, and we see almost negotiations back and forth every day. And this isn't, of course, like the Maduro capture. This is a longer struggle because the IRGC is deeply embedded.

They have been in power for 40 years. They have a lot of money, and -- but I believe that we're suffocating them. I believe that the acts of attacks back from the IRGC are much less than what they were several months ago. We are winning. And we have to win this, because these are very dangerous people, and what they have done over the last 40 years is something that needs to be stopped.

I was talking to some veterans on Saturday night in Corunna, Indiana. And they're just like, you got to get these guys. You -- this has got to stop. We got to finish the job. Support our military men and women.

Again, I just want to say thank you to our service members. I know it's a tough job.

BROWN: It is.

STUTZMAN: But you know what? This is a job that has to be finished.

BROWN: No doubt it's a tough job. But -- and we respect them and we recognize their tremendous sacrifices.

But you say right now we're winning the war. I mean, when the president started this, he said it would be a few weeks. Now it has dragged on for many months. Today is the day, as I pointed out, that that 60-day deadline has ended.

President Trump told FOX News that there is a back channel with the IRGC. The IRGC says there's not. He said the number one goal is and always will be that Iran cannot have in any way, shape, or form a nuclear weapon. You have heard other priorities from administration officials like J.D. Vance is to lower the gas and oil prices.

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The U.S. does not have control of the Strait of Hormuz. That was not a problem, the Strait of Hormuz, before this war started.

STUTZMAN: No.

BROWN: What message do your constituents there in Indiana want you to bring back to Washington about this war?

STUTZMAN: Well, they want us to finish the job, as I said. I have heard that.

And I know there's -- the younger people don't understand the entire context of Iran, and so their belief is, hey, let's -- why are we here? Why are we doing this? Well, we know. We know why the IRGC needs to be eliminated. They have they captured a country back in 1979. They have used it to -- and the oil and gas money to fund their terrorist operations.

Every country -- basically, every country in the world of civil thought or reality recognizes that Iran is the leading state sponsor of terrorism. They fund Hezbollah. They fund Hamas, the Houthis. We're winning in that region.

I mean, look at Syria. Syria is another country that's coming our way. Iraq is still, -- is stabilizing. The countries down to the south, Saudi Arabia, Qatar...

BROWN: Yes.

STUTZMAN: ... the UAE, they're becoming great allies.

BROWN: Very quickly, Congressman...

STUTZMAN: And so this is going to take some time. Just -- sure.

BROWN: Right, but the president and everyone else initially said, even Republicans were saying this wasn't a war, this is -- in the very beginning, this is going to be just a few weeks. And then it kept getting extended.

Now, they did always leave that option open, but you say eliminate the IRGC. How do you do that? When I was aboard the Abraham Lincoln, even some of the sailors and pilots I was -- I was speaking to said, how do you win against an ideology? How do you win this war...

STUTZMAN: Yes.

BROWN: ... when we're really fighting an ideology that's deeply ingrained and embedded?

STUTZMAN: Yes, well, it is happening, in the sense that the coalition is being built.

And I have said that from the very beginning. You have to build a regional coalition. And also you have to somehow support the Iranian people inside, because the Iranian people want the IRGC to be gone as well. And they're afraid to even go out in the streets.

But you have countries like Pakistan, Saudi, and Turkey signing a coalition agreement saying, if we're attacked by anyone in the region, we see that as an attack on all of us. That's a powerful statement. And so Iran is isolated. We need to continue to isolate them.

I think we need to keep a big eye, a close eye on China and Russia to be sure that they're not back-channeling operation equipment and funds into Iran to prolong this. They want to see this drag on as long as possible as well. So that's why it's a very challenging mission, but I believe that we're going to accomplish what we're setting out to accomplish.

BROWN: Then does it worry you that we have moved assets away from China to support this war?

STUTZMAN: No, I really don't.

I mean, I think China has its own issues, but, like your previous guest said, this is why we need to be sure we have the ships available to us...

BROWN: Right.

STUTZMAN: ... the drone capabilities. We have a lot of work to rebuild and to add on to our military for future operations.

But I think China knows that they need to be careful as well in this situation.

BROWN: All right, Congressman Marlin Stutzman, thank you for your time.

We will be right back.

STUTZMAN: Thank you, Pamela.

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BLITZER: Happening now: The White House envoy Jared Kushner just wrapped up a 4.5-hour meeting with the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. It happened just the day after Kushner was in Cairo for a separate meeting with the new Hamas leader.

This is a new push to try to get the U.S.-backed peace plan, the Gaza peace plan, off the ground after Israel publicly rejected it earlier this month. According to sources, Kushner urged Netanyahu not to create obstacles to the deal when they met.

Joining us now, Michael Allen. He's the former special assistant to President George W. Bush for national security and the former majority staff director for the House Intelligence Committee. He's now managing director at Beacon Global Strategies.

Michael, thanks very much for joining us.

MICHAEL ALLEN, FORMER BUSH NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL STAFFER: Thank you.

BLITZER: Can the Trump administration actually wind up salvaging this current plan?

ALLEN: I think it's going to be really tough.

I mean, Benjamin Netanyahu has been known historically to be very skeptical of these type of peace process ideas. There's a lot going on in the West Bank right now. I think the Israelis are being very, very aggressive. And we have to consider the looming election.

The only way Netanyahu could possibly be reelected is if he keeps the right flank solidly in his corner. And to seem to be compromising on things that the right flank is not interested in, I think, costs him. So there's a delicate balancing act going on right now.

BLITZER: The Israeli elections are now scheduled for the end of October. That's not too far, far away. Is Netanyahu, you think, Michael trying to bide his time with Trump until the Israeli elections in October?

ALLEN: I think so.

It'll be so interesting to hear the readout of what Jared Kushner discussed with the prime minister, to the degree that we know what happened, but, inevitably, that had to have been part of the conversation. They had to have discussed, listen, the timing on this may not work exactly perfectly for Benjamin Netanyahu.

I think what his brand is, his brand is, I'm going after our enemies. I'm not sure Israel, especially when you consider just the sweep of history, October 7, where they feel like they are in the war with Iran, I don't know that this is the most opportune moment for the Israelis to say, you know what, we're ready to turn the page. I still think they're trying to reestablish deterrence I still think

they're trying to uproot Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran and their enemies. So I don't know that this is going to work at this time period.

BLITZER: Trump actually has not endorsed Netanyahu, at least not yet at this point. Is he withholding that as a form of leverage or possible -- because the relationship has been strained, clearly strained in recent months?

ALLEN: Almost certainly.

[10:55:00]

There's definitely the strain that you mentioned. There's a lot of annoyance coming out of whether a regime change was possible and what the Israelis briefed the United States on the eve of the war. So I think a lot of that is out there.

And I do think that the president is going to use this leverage, because this might be the only -- one of the only ways that Netanyahu can thread his way through to an election victory, if the United States, at least in the form of Donald Trump, says, you know what, he's our partner.

BLITZER: President Trump in a new interview this morning threatened to bomb Oman, a key U.S. ally, if they get in the way of U.S. efforts to try to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Do these comments from Trump right now, do they really strain this relationship with Oman? Because Oman's been deeply involved behind the scenes in trying to work out a peace deal with Iran.

ALLEN: It's very confusing.

I mean, the memorandum of understanding that we signed up to, of course, it's defunct now, but it actually called on Oman and Iran to get together to try and figure out what a governance structure would look like.

So I...

BLITZER: For the Strait of Hormuz.

ALLEN: For the Strait of Hormuz.

So I don't know that they were definitely doing it pursuant to that idea or not, or whether they were actually working against us, but I'm sure Oman is thinking to themselves right now, we're trying to be an intermediary for peace. We're trying to achieve...

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: Have you ever heard a president of the United States threaten to bomb the -- quote -- "shit" out of a key U.S. ally the way the president has done said today in terms of Oman?

ALLEN: Not offhand at all. BLITZER: Yes.

ALLEN: I don't know that that's the way to treat our allies. I know the president likes to show strength and he likes to be strident, but I don't know what their offense was. What's the underlying offense? Has he found out intelligence that he's working against United States interests?

Seems like you would want to raise that in public, instead of in -- or -- I'm sorry -- in private, rather than in public, but let's wait until the rest of the story comes out, and it will be interesting to see.

BLITZER: We will see what happens.

All right, Michael, thank you very, very much.

ALLEN: Thank you.

BLITZER: Pamela.

BROWN: I think that is the second time Trump has threatened to bomb Oman.

BLITZER: Yes.

BROWN: Here's what's coming up all new at the top of the hour.

Opening statements are set to begin in the Tupac Shakur murder trial nearly 30 years after the rapper was killed.

Plus: stunning refusal. Attorney General Todd Blanche says he will not promise to always act independently of the White House. How he's explaining that -- all new next hour.

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