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The Source with Kaitlan Collins

Trump Threatens To Bomb Oman As Iran Truce Officially Expires; WH Slams Ossoff After Dem Sen. Rips Trump & Executive Assistant; Trump Says USS Lincoln Has Enough Food, Calling Reports Of Dwindling Supplies "Fake." Aired 9-10p ET

Aired August 17, 2026 - 21:00   ET

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

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: And after he retired from CNN, he became an usher at the Baltimore Orioles home games. But nothing could match the love he had for his family, and we're grateful to them for sharing him with us for so many years. Our thoughts are with Alec's wife, Debbie (ph), his kids, Brett (ph), Mark (ph), and Blair (ph), and his grandkids Alexander (ph), Vivian (ph), Ingeborg (ph), and Bertrand (ph).

Alec Miran died unexpectedly last week. He was 69. All of us here, who were lucky enough to stand with him, documenting some of the biggest stories of our time, we will never forget all that he was and did.

That's it for us. The news continues. "THE SOURCE" starts now.

DANA BASH, CNN HOST: The latest deal to end the Iran war has expired. So why is President Trump now launching verbal attacks on American allies?

I'm Dana Bash in for Kaitlan Collins. And this is THE SOURCE.

Tonight, a visibly frustrated President Trump is lashing out at several U.S. allies as the war, he promised would last up to six weeks, stretches to six months, and the deal he hoped would end it officially expires.

60 days ago, President Trump declared his deal with Iran complete, and he said the Strait of Hormuz was open, telling the ships of the world to start your engines and let the oil flow. It was supposed to give the U.S. and Iran some breathing room, about two months' worth, to negotiate an end to the war. And while the truce effectively collapsed weeks ago. Today, it became official.

In the Oval Office today, the President brushed off the missed deadline and insisted he's in no rush.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REPORTER: Are you any closer today to reaching a final deal to end Iran's nuclear program?

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Well, they want to make a deal, but they're not going to make the kind of a deal that I feel is necessary. Look, we're in there for one reason: Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. You understand that. Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon, and they won't have a nuclear weapon.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Now, the President didn't say how he plans to ensure that, but he took aim at a U.S. ally that has been trying to help mediate negotiations. He told Fox News that if Oman gets in the way of efforts to reopen the Strait, quote, "We'll bomb the shit out of them."

Iran and Oman have been negotiating a system for shipping through the Strait.

Later, in the Oval Office, the President elaborated on that extraordinary threat.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REPORTER: This morning, you said you would bomb the S out of Oman if they got in the way of reopening the Strait of Hormuz. Would you say you're out of patience with Oman as strategic partners?

TRUMP: No, I don't think they behave very well, but we'd handle them very easily, just like we do others.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Now, Oman is not the only U.S. ally bearing the brunt of Trump's ire. The President gave a new explanation for his weekend decision to reduce military exercises with South Korea, which is under constant threat from Pyongyang.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: When I called recently the President of South Korea, who I like, I think he's very nice actually. But I called him, I said, Would you like to give us a little hand? We don't need help with Iran, but if you'd like, give us a hand with Iran.

He said, No, thanks.

And I said, Wait a minute. We have 39,000 soldiers over there, guarding you from Kim Jong Un, your next-door neighbor, and you're not going to help us on a very easy military operation in Iran? That's strange.

No, no, we'd rather not get involved.

I said, Well, why are we involved in helping you?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: So, that was today's reason. South Korea is not helping with Iran.

Yesterday, the President posted that the main reason was, Based on my very good relationship with Kim Jong Un, and calling the tiff over help with Iran somewhat unrelated, adding that question mark to his own statement.

And today, he posted a meme of Kim Jong Un with the words, Hey Donald, we cool, right?

There is a lot to unpack here with our expert sources in just a minute.

But today, as the 60-day truce with Iran officially expires, The Wall Street Journal has new reporting about how Iran's hardline leaders used the last 60 days, not to negotiate with the U.S. in good faith, but to secretly prepare to escalate the conflict.

According to The Journal, Iran's efforts to include giving the powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, more control of the country's regular army, appointing hardened veterans of the war with Iraq, and past internal crackdowns to key posts, expanding domestic counterintelligence operations, and ramping up production of missiles and drones.

[21:05:00]

My lead sources tonight are:

New York Times White House and National Security Correspondent, David Sanger, who's also a CNN Political and National Security Analyst. A lot of titles there, my friend.

Also with us is U.S. former Ambassador to South Korea and Iraq, Christopher Hill.

And also, Democratic Congressman Ro Khanna of California.

Thank you all for being here, gentlemen.

David, I'm going to start with you. OK, we know this deadline that came and went today was largely symbolic at this point. The deal was already dead. But symbols matter, especially to this President. What's the thinking today inside the White House about this war with Iran?

DAVID SANGER, CNN POLITICAL & NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST, WHITE HOUSE & NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT, THE NEW YORK TIMES, AUTHOR, "NEW COLD WARS": Well, they're kind of running out of options at this point, Dana. Because, the President tried attacks on Iran for 38 days, then went into a self-declared ceasefire, then resumed the war, and now is turning back to economic sanctions, which we've heard from the Treasury Secretary in recent days, would be new and innovative and would bring about a change of view in Iran.

Well, the fact of the matter is, in the usual ladder of things, you start with diplomacy, you move up to economic sanctions, and only then do you make a decision about whether or not you're going to use military force.

He has already demonstrated that the military force options that he's willing to use, which do not include putting American troops on the ground, are simply not working. And I think the Iranians have sensed this, see a moment to go try to exploit the President's decision- making, and the fact that the midterm elections are coming up in just two months, three months, and they recognize the power they have to raise gas prices during that time.

BASH: Yes, I mean, you talk about the normal course of things. There's obviously nothing normal about the course of this thing, and that being what the President's -- what he called an excursion into Iran has ended up turning into.

And on that, Congressman, do you take the President's threat today to bomb a U.S. ally seriously, or do you think this is Trump bluster?

REP. RO KHANNA (D-CA): Well, I was telling a colleague we may need to have a 192 War Powers Resolutions because he's basically threatening every other country in the world.

But Thomas Massie and I tried to prevent this war in Iran with our War Powers Resolution.

And now let's be clear: we're just scraping to try to get back to how the situation was before he got us in to this disaster. The reality is that bombing and threatening is undermining our strategic interests.

I was in Berlin and in Rome, on a bipartisan coalition. Here's the shocking news: Our European allies today trust China more than they trust the United States. Our approval of trust has fallen from 70 percent to about 20 percent. That is what this President's foreign policy has wrought, and it's increased domestic gas prices, it's increased food prices, and we have a more hardline regime in Iran.

And the reality is, President Obama was just a far more smarter, thoughtful, strategic president. This person -- President Trump, the problem is not his immorality; it's the strategic incompetence.

BASH: Well, Ambassador, you have been involved in several negotiations around the world, including in Iraq. As this deadline passes, what do you see as the President's best, or last, or maybe even least worst options at this point?

CHRISTOPHER HILL, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO SOUTH KOREA, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO IRAQ, AUTHOR, "OUTPOST: A DIPLOMAT AT WORK": Well, I agree with David. I think the options are dwindling, fast-dwindling.

I think we have a situation where the President kind of established himself as very unpredictable, and now he's busy establishing himself as extremely unreliable. And I think that is what's going on.

I don't think the Iranians feel there's much future in the negotiation. We've also heard reporting that hardliners are very much in the ascendancy there.

So, I think he's got to -- he's got to look at this very carefully, and I don't think he has a way out, except to try to focus on the Straits of Hormuz. Probably he's hoping that some countries will kind of cut side deals there. It won't be very pretty, but we can say we had nothing to do with it. And of course, there's always the old play of trying to change the subject, and I think that's what's going on with the Korean situation.

[21:10:00]

BASH: David, the Ambassador just said something that made me think of your perception of this, and that is that the President, his whole M.O.s in Trump one, and now, has been kind of the madman theory, that he is unpredictable. So, allies and adversaries, more importantly, don't really know how he's going to act.

But it seems to me that over the past six months, what he's done is actually predictable, which is why Iran feels like it's in the catbird seat right now.

SANGER: Well, quite predictable, and I think turning back to North Korea, as Chris has suggested, is an example of that.

Remember what happened in the first term: the President first called Kim Jong Un, Little Rocket Man. Then he started up some negotiations directly between himself and Kim Jong Un. That was the first time an American president had dealt directly with a North Korean leader. I thought that was a good idea. He went into it somewhat under-prepared. Said to me in the first summit meeting, after the first summit meeting in Singapore, that he thought within months North Korea would be disarming. It didn't.

At a second summit in Hanoi in 2019, the entire thing fell apart. But the President said, that was OK because he had a good relationship now with Kim Jong Un, and he basically forgot about the fact that they have 60 nuclear weapons.

Well, they are now in a position, where he may try to do the same thing with Iran, which is, as suggested before, get the Strait open and stop mentioning the nuclear program and try to declare victory and go home.

BASH: Yes, I just -- I mean, getting the Strait open obviously is the hardest thing right now, given the fact that Iran--

SANGER: No small thing, yes.

BASH: Right, that that's Iran's retaliation, their main retaliation right now.

Congressman, I do want to ask about something that The Wall Street Journal editorial board wrote, and that is, Democrats this week are expressing outrage over press reports of low morale and tough conditions aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln... This is a new level of chutzpah from the party that won't pass a bill to finance military operations, and the causes of declining naval readiness aren't new or mysterious.

Last month, you were one of many Democrats who voted against the annual defense policy package. What's your response to The Wall Street Journal?

KHANNA: I voted against the defense budget because it was going to be a handout of $200 billion to defense contractors. I voted against it because we're wasting all this money in a war in Iran. I voted for increasing our ship building and increasing pay for our military families.

And what is happening to our sailors and electricians on the Lincoln is just unconscionable. I mean, they aren't getting food. They aren't getting to call home. The Navy isn't being transparent. This isn't politics. This is just basic respect for our troops.

And the reality is that the President has botched this war in Iran after he ran on no more wars, and they're looking for a scapegoat. Where what they really need to do is end this war, and they need to get a deal with Iran. They need to get other allies involved, Gulf allies, China, and European allies. And they're not going to get as good a deal as President Obama had with the JCPOA. But that's tough. I mean, they've got to -- the focus should be to lower gas prices for Americans, lower food prices, and get us out of there.

BASH: And speaking of allies. Ambassador, back to the South Korea situation. You have experience negotiating with the North Koreans, and I know that you agree with President Trump that the country is unthreatening and respectful, or I should say, do you agree with that? Given the fact that, as David mentioned, the President talks about Iran and keeping them from having a nuclear weapon. The North Koreans seem to be, by U.S. intelligence and other records or estimates, way further ahead than Iran.

HILL: Yes, I think it's fair to say North Korea is one of the most dangerous rogue states out there. Their increasing cooperation with Russia is something to be very concerned about.

But I think the signal that many Asian countries got in the last 24 hours was that you cannot rely on the United States, and this is certainly felt on the streets of Seoul. The problem that the South Koreans have is they don't have good relations with the Chinese, they don't have good relations with a number of the sort of major partners, but they have great relations with us, and they're kind of worried that maybe they've made a bad bet. So, I think it's very worrisome.

[21:15:00]

And by the way, they don't see any sign of any softening from North Korea. Indeed, when the South Korean President reached out to the North Koreans recently, they wouldn't even answer, meaning that the North Koreans have reverted to their old position that there is no such thing as a Republic of Korea, that is South Korea. There's only a U.S. puppet, and we'll only deal with the U.S.

So, this decision or whatever it is, in the last day, has really kind of setback diplomacy in Asia, and I'm not sure -- you know, I don't quite understand what the President is doing, but I'm not sure he understands what he's doing. BASH: Well, it seems pretty clear that he's just, forgive me, but pissed at South Korea for not aiding with the war in Iran, and he also likes to applaud his friend, Kim Jong Un. So, these two things dovetail pretty well.

HILL: Yes--

BASH: Congressman Ro Khanna. Ambassador Christopher Hill. David Sanger. Thank you all for being here. Appreciate it.

SANGER: Thank you.

BASH: And up next. What Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff said about President Trump that seemingly struck a nerve and drew a furious and personal response from the President and White House allies.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JON OSSOFF (D-GA): The President sleeps through his meetings.

(LAUGHTER)

OSSOFF: He golfs and trades stocks. So, he doesn't want to do the job.

CROWD: No.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Lazy.

OSSOFF: He wants to build his ballroom and travel with Natalie on their apparently defenseless flying palace gifted by the Emir of Qatar.

(CHEERING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[21:20:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BASH: Tonight, the President and his top aides are rhetorically retaliating against Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff after he railed against the Commander-in-Chief at a rally last night, and referred to someone that most people probably have never heard of.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OSSOFF: While the sailors on the Lincoln fight his war, while he fruitlessly drains our munitions and oil reserves, the President sleeps through his meetings.

(LAUGHTER)

OSSOFF: He golfs and trades stocks. So, he doesn't want to do the job.

CROWD: No. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Lazy.

OSSOFF: He wants to build his ballroom and travel with Natalie on their apparently defenseless flying palace gifted by the Emir of Qatar.

(CHEERING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: The Natalie that Ossoff is referring to is Natalie Harp, the President's executive assistant, who was among the handful of Trump aides who snuck off Air Force One to board a smaller plane in Turkey last month.

The White House fired back today, calling Ossoff, quote, "Cringeworthy, feminine theatre kid cosplaying as Barack Obama."

And the name-calling continued when President Trump was asked about the Georgia senator's remarks by our colleague, Kristen Holmes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yesterday, Jon Ossoff said you'd rather travel with your aide Natalie Harp and build the ballroom than do your job as president.

What is your response?

TRUMP: Who said that?

HOLMES: Jon Ossoff.

TRUMP: You mean Pee-Wee Herman? Pee-Wee Herman-lookalike. No, I would much rather do other things. It's a -- we're building a great facility here. We're fixing a White House that hasn't been taken care of.

The whole building, the White House, was let go. The exteriors were falling apart. The columns were falling apart. The whole place was a mess.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: My political sources tonight are:

Bill de Blasio, former Democratic mayor of New York City.

And Chris Sununu, former Republican governor of New Hampshire.

Thanks to you both for being here.

First of all, I think that Paul Reubens, otherwise known as Pee-wee Herman--

CHRIS SUNUNU, (R) FORMER NEW HAMPSHIRE GOVERNOR, PRESIDENT & CEO, AIRLINES FOR AMERICA: Mr. Reubens, yes. BASH: --would be thrilled to hear that he's being compared to Jon Ossoff. Just my own two cents. But--

SUNUNU: Well, he's not alive anymore, so he'd probably be thrilled to be compared to anybody at this point.

BASH: Well, oh, OK.

SUNUNU: Yes.

BASH: What do you think the White House's response to this tells you?

SUNUNU: Yes, well, I'll say one thing. Look, from a has-been politician, that's me, to the current U.S. senator, you don't hit the Trump's assistant, the young woman. It just -- it's unnecessary. It's punching down. It's -- if you want to criticize the President, I think there's a lot there that he could potentially criticize. So, I think it was a mistake on his part to drag this young woman into that kind of conversation. All the -- a lot of the other criticisms may be valid, and they go back and forth. So, political mistake, and I feel bad for her more than anything else.

So, I very much appreciate the response from the White House. If someone were to criticize my staffer, just out of the blue? Yes, I'm going to be super defensive on that. You want to take me on? You want to challenge my policies? Fine. But when you bring staff and my team into it, then I would take personal offense.

BASH: Wasn't totally out of the blue because she's been in the news because of Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan's excellent book. And in it, one of the things that they report on is that she, as one of his closest aides, leaves him personal -- private notes in personal spaces, adoring letters, and he considers her such a loyal aide--

SUNUNU: Yes.

BASH: --that he says, All of you -- to the other staffers -- will go off and make money. She will never leave me.

Having said that, I think what you're trying to say, and tell me if I'm wrong, is that she's also a young woman, and inserting her--

SUNUNU: Yes. And she's--

(CROSSTALK)

BASH: --and inserting her into this political conversation makes suggestions that is really unfair.

SUNUNU: But like in terms of private citizen--

(CROSSTALK)

BASH: Well--

SUNUNU: --right? BASH: Well, she's not a private citizen.

SUNUNU: Did anyone know -- really know her name before today's release--

(CROSSTALK)

BASH: No. No.

[21:25:00]

But Bill de Blasio, I'm going to bring you in here. Because, just on the politics of this, what Jon Ossoff has been doing, I mean -- roughly monthly, is give these big speeches, and he finds new ways to talk about a lot of things, but new ways to break through, and get at Trump. And there's no way that they -- they obviously knew that mentioning Natalie Harp or just Natalie would do that.

BILL DE BLASIO, (D) FORMER NEW YORK CITY MAYOR: Oh, absolutely. I think Ossoff's handling himself very smartly in terms of building his profile and getting a message out there.

But look, as to her, look, she is a public official too. So, she made a choice to be in the public role.

Now, that wasn't a cheap shot, and I'll tell you why. Donald Trump chose to take her on the safe flight and leave other high officials, senior officials, on the decoy flight, and many members of the media, without any warning to them whatsoever. That is a huge strategic choice, and it really hasn't been talked about enough, in my view. That -- God forbid something had happened to Air Force One, those folks would have been sitting ducks, and they would have never been given a choice in the matter.

So, this is where it is fair game. Why is he choosing a young staffer, he obviously has some feelings for--

BASH: Well--

DE BLASIO: --over people that we depend on to play senior roles in our government?

BASH: Yes, I just want to say, what you just said, there's absolutely no evidence. I mean, yes, he obviously cares for her as a member of his staff. But there's no evidence to suggest what you just said. And you--

DE BLASIO: Dana, I'm sorry. May I just clarify?

BASH: Yes. It means--

DE BLASIO: I don't mean romantic feelings.

BASH: OK.

DE BLASIO: I'm saying, to choose a personal staffer -- I know what it's like to have staffers you really trust, you really depend on. But to choose a junior personal staffer over Cabinet secretaries to be on the safe flight. I mean, look, everyone realizes, it must have been a very, very serious threat for the President to get into a catering truck and go off to a different military jet. So, that's where this takes on some different meaning. I don't think it's an attack on this young woman. I think it says something about the President made a choice and he hasn't taken accountability for it.

BASH: Governor Sununu, there was another moment in Ossoff's speech that really stood out because it was on the issue that is on Americans' minds and that is affordability. But he did it with a twist. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OSSOFF: I want the President's remaining supporters to hear this because it was all a lie.

CROWD: Yes.

OSSOFF: Under Donald J. Trump, it cost more than ever to stock your fridge.

CROWD: Yes.

OSSOFF: To power your home.

CROWD: Yes.

OSSOFF: To make a cup of coffee. To buy school supplies for your kid or a tractor for your farm.

CROWD: Yes.

OSSOFF: Gas is up 30 percent since inauguration.

(BOOING)

OSSOFF: Diesel 47, coffee 35, ground beef 23 percent.

So, say it again with me now, Atlanta. Enough.

CROWD: Enough.

OSSOFF: Is enough.

CROWD: Is enough.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Is game no game here? I mean, the fact, first of all, that he had a little dig there, saying, To the remaining supporters who are out there to -- about the President but--

SUNUNU: Well, look, affordability is--

BASH: --but on affordability.

SUNUNU: Yes, affordability is -- I mean, he's being very -- very smart in terms of how he's phrasing it.

Look, technically, inflation is always going up, and things always get a little more expensive. But what you're really talking about is the skyrocketing costs, and it's not just a refrigerator. It's specifically health care. It's specifically housing. It's those core things that government does have -- not so much housing, but on health care especially, government does have so much say in that process. Where's the government, fixing the problem?

The challenge that I think both parties have is this has gone on 20- plus years. This is not just a Trump problem. It was not just a Biden problem or an Obama. It has continuously gone on, and no one on Capitol Hill seems willing to address it.

BASH: Well--

SUNUNU: So, it's always going to go against the party in power in the moment.

BASH: Right, exactly.

SUNUNU: Yes.

BASH: And also, the guy who got back into the White House, promising to lower prices, which of course--

SUNUNU: And not go to war and all this. So yes, there's a -- there's a lot of things there that they can obviously hang on, on the President. And yes, it does definitely cater right into the midterms. It's going to be tough.

BASH: And Mayor De Blasio, we also heard Jon Ossoff attacking President Trump's ballroom.

The President has been leaning even more into the argument that his ballroom is needed for national security. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: When I said I was going to build a ballroom, the military asked if they could see me and they said, Sir, we have an opportunity to go down deep into the ground and build a military facility to go with the White House and to go with all of Washington, D.C., which would be so valuable.

And then they came up with the drone port on top, which would be a major drone port to protect the White House and all of D.C. And all of those things added up, and it became much more than just a ballroom. And I said to myself, Well, what an opportunity.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: What do you think about that argument? DE BLASIO: Dana, you know more than anyone about political messaging, and government messaging. It's amazing to me that he even continues to talk about it. It is the last thing the American people want to talk about.

[21:30:00]

I mean, think about it, a literally gilded ballroom in the White House. And people do not want to know about the quality of the White House, how nice it is, how wonderful it would be to have a party there, when they cannot pay their bills, when they can't afford gas, or they're choosing between rent and food. I mean, this is, middle- class Americans right now are struggling. Folks who used to think they were solidly middle-class are not anymore.

So, the President, every time he's asked about it, if he were really paying attention to what is necessary to propel forward his party, he would say something entirely different. He'd switch off the ballroom instantly, but he dwells on it. He loves talking about it. And I think now, the American people have decided, rightfully, he cares more about things like that than he does about their day-to-day reality.

BASH: Right. Which is why he's emphasizing what's underneath the ballroom that is now out in the open because of the lawsuit, and that is definitely something that is being built by the military. Let's say that.

All right, stick around, if you will.

Up next. Chilling new details tonight after an attack on a New York City synagogue. I'll get reaction from the man you just heard there, former Mayor of New York City. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[21:35:00]

BASH: Tonight, new details are coming to light about the man charged with multiple hate crimes after violently disrupting a New York City synagogue, Friday night, during a Sabbath service.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh my god.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: You're watching the livestream of the service that captured the panic, as a man now identified as 46-year-old Larry Montes barreled down the aisle towards the rabbi, according to CNN affiliate WCBS.

Prosecutors allege Montes rushed toward the rabbi, claiming he was God, vandalized property, called the worshippers fake Jews, and struck a 63-year-old woman in the face, knocking her to the ground. They also say Montes headbutted and spit on a Black security guard working to remove him, calling him a racial slur in the process. Security then escorted the man out.

He is said to have had a history of mental health issues and has been charged with two counts of assault as a hate crime and one count of criminal mischief as a hate crime. He faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted.

Now this is just the latest violent attack to rock the Jewish community, as antisemitic assaults in the U.S. have reached a record high.

My political sources are back with me.

And I'm going to start with the former mayor of New York City. Of course, this is one of the nightmare scenarios that Jews in New York have been dreading, and it could have been a lot worse--

DE BLASIO: Right.

BASH: --had security and NYPD not stepped in.

DE BLASIO: It's really troubling, Dana. And you know, it is so important to protect the Jewish community at this moment. This is not the first time we've seen antisemitic attacks. And I remember, when I was mayor, when we were dealing with very different conditions in the world, we still had way too many of them. And the answer is to educate people and obviously fight intolerance.

But also, it's important to have that police presence, to protect and to follow up when there is something like this. Obviously, this individual is mentally ill. That's probably the number one motivating reality here. But it's really important that each and every one of these situations is addressed very aggressively and very quickly.

BASH: The current New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani responded by saying, quote, "Our administration will always stand against bigotry in all its forms. We will use every tool at our disposal to confront antisemitism and keep Jewish New Yorkers -- and all New Yorkers -- safe."

There are a lot of Jewish leaders, I think you know this, who have been publicly and privately pleading with Mayor Mamdani to tone down his rhetoric against Israel because, it is, they believe, helping make Jews in his city less safe, regardless of their views on Israel.

You supported Mamdani. Do you think he should tone down his rhetoric?

DE BLASIO: I don't think this is happening because of Mayor Mamdani. I think this is happening because of the scourge of antisemitism that's been around for literally thousands of years, but also because of things that are happening in Israel and Gaza, and that's because of Benjamin Netanyahu, not because of Zohran Mamdani. Let's be real.

Mamdani has consistently said he wants to protect the community. He has a police commissioner in Jessica Tisch, who happens to be Jewish and has done an outstanding job as Commissioner in general and protecting the community. When he says that what's happening in Gaza is inhumane, which is what he says, consistently, he speaks for many, many people in the city, including many Jewish people, who think what's happening there has to stop, and that United States should not be a part of it. But he did not cause this crisis, I assure you.

BASH: Then you didn't -- I don't think you meant to suggest that Bibi Netanyahu caused the antisemitism in New York City.

DE BLASIO: I'm saying that the events that some people are responding to -- and no one should ever respond with antisemitism, and no one should ever respond with violence, let's be clear. But the atmosphere that brought up the issue of Gaza to begin with, that was because of Netanyahu's decisions, and decisions that so many people have condemned across this country.

Clearly, a majority of Americans think what Israel has done is wrong in Gaza and, again, so many Jewish New Yorkers agree with that and are very, very troubled by what they've seen Netanyahu do.

BASH: Governor, when you were the chief executive of your state in New Hampshire, I know you fought hard to push back against hate.

SUNUNU: Yes.

[21:40:00]

BASH: You had executive actions, state legislation. Antisemitic incidents aren't isolated to New York City. I'm sure you have a -- I know you have a smaller population in New Hampshire, but this was still a big part of what you did.

SUNUNU: Yes, I mean, look, over the past, I'd say six, seven years, you've seen antisemitic rhetoric really ramp up in this country, right? 10, 15, years ago, this was not the quote-unquote, The hot topic. I think it is charged from political leaders. There's no doubt about that.

But I think the Mayor is right. I'm not going to put the blame on Netanyahu like that. We have a cultural issue here in this country. There's no doubt about that. You have -- it's not just young -- a lot of Republicans say, Well, it's just those young progressives that hate Israel and they're all anti -- Guys, it's way beyond that. It's in Middle America as well.

And so, from a cultural standpoint, we can recognize it, we can say that it's there, we can say it's terrible, and we have to push back on it. But what are we really doing? I mean, that's the thing I get to. What in America is changing to push back on the antisemitic rhetoric that has been out there, really aggressively, let's say, for the last two or three years, kind of post-COVID, if you will. Yes.

BASH: What did you do in New Hampshire?

SUNUNU: Well, look, we talked about it. We were in every community. We talked about it in schools. We didn't shy away from it. We owned what wasn't working. We made sure security was there, of course. But at the end of the day, you have to keep talking about it and keep bringing kind of those local leaders out, not from just a national standpoint and having headlines, but the local leaders, not just within the Jewish community or folks that had -- you know, I used to tour with a woman, she's a Holocaust survivor. They've made a movie about her. Kati is incredible. And just go from eighth grade to sixth grade to ninth grade, talking to these kids about what real antisemitism, what real hate is.

BASH: Yes.

SUNUNU: People think they know hate, and they tend to rationalize it with the past. And it's at a whole different level, when you put this into context. But it's something that has to be dealt with.

BASH: I'm going to make a very hard turn here to ask you about another--

SUNUNU: The ballroom again?

BASH: No, a big political story, which is Politico reports the President voted by mail in Florida's Republican primary.

SUNUNU: Oh.

BASH: And as you well know, and as we all know, he fiercely criticizes it, and he wants to change the federal law to make it impossible. Let's just--

SUNUNU: Yes. Look, I -- yes.

BASH: Let's just watch a little bit of what he says.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Mail-in ballots are inherently corrupt.

Mail-in voting means mail-in cheating. I call it mail-in cheating, and we got to do something about it.

You will never have an honest election if you have mail-in, and it's time that the Republicans get tough and stop it. Because, the Democrats want it. It's the only way they can get elected.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SUNUNU: Yes, no, optics matter. It's -- it's -- I support the President, but this was definitely a bad move.

I'm very much against mail-in voting myself, and I think it's rife with a whole lot of problems. We don't have it in New Hampshire. We have the highest voter turnout in the country.

So no, if you -- you can't go around railing on mail-in voting and then go ahead and do it yourself, it kind of deflates the argument a little bit. So, wish we -- wish I wasn't defending that on CNN tonight.

BASH: Mayor De Blasio?

DE BLASIO: You know what's amazing here is that he mail-in voted previously in the special election, back in March, in Florida, and a Democrat actually won the House seat, the Florida House seat that includes Mar-a-Lago.

So, this is -- this is what's fascinating is that people are just not listening the same way to this president. I think what's happened -- Tale of Two Cities. Last year, it looked like he was on a roll in so many things, the executive orders, so many other things he was doing. This year, he is losing touch even with a lot of people in his own base. He can't even get a winning candidate for Florida State House in his own district in Florida.

So, I think the bottom line is these kind of hypocrisies, this kind of personal obsession, whether it's ballroom, whether it's mail-in voting, whether it's the Qatari jet? He's just losing -- he's losing his audience more and more.

BASH: Bill de Blasio--

DE BLASIO: And I don't know how they're going to change course between now and the midterms at this point.

BASH: Bill de Blasio. Chris Sununu. Thank you both for being here. Appreciate it.

SUNUNU: Thank you.

BASH: And up next. We are learning another military ship could be on the way to the USS Lincoln, after reports among some crew on the Lincoln say that there're very poor living conditions and low morale since they have been there for more than 200 days without going to land. My inside source tonight is a veteran who will share her experience serving at sea.

[21:45:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BASH: The USS Abraham Lincoln has been deployed for more than 250 days after being redirected to the Middle East to support U.S. operations in the war with Iran. The ship may break a record for the longest trip away from its home port for a U.S. carrier since the Vietnam War.

Sources say the USS George Washington Strike Group is on its way to the Middle East to relieve the Lincoln after reports of low morale and mental health concerns.

But today, President Trump downplayed the situation, in the Oval Office.

[21:50:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: The Lincoln has been out there for a period of time, good period of time, but over the years we've had them out there much longer.

I was at a group meeting, and an Admiral came up to see me over the weekend. And it was at a big group. And he happened to be an Admiral, retired. He said, I've been on ships that are out there much longer than that, sir, and I know -- people on the Lincoln, they say it's beautifully maintained and beautifully taken care of. And other people went out, and they found out to be true. It was fake news reporting from CNN.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Now, those comments today are notable, given Admiral Brad Cooper, a top U.S. Commander, visited the Lincoln over the weekend, and acknowledged some of the mental health challenges from serving months at sea, calling it uniquely challenging and tough, and pointing out, Mental health is another aspect of individual health and requires our attention just like physical health and spiritual health.

Cooper penned a separate op-ed, in The Wall Street Journal, about what he saw, praising the crew for their camaraderie, teamwork, and resilience.

My source tonight is former Lieutenant Commander, Julie Roland, who trained for deployment on the USS Lincoln.

Thank you so much for being here.

You've served aboard many aircraft carriers. The Lincoln has had a nearly nine-month deployment. Can you give a sense of what it's like for sailors on the Lincoln right now?

LT. CMDR. JULIE ROLAND, U.S. NAVY (RET.): Sure. Thanks for having me.

Aircraft carriers are difficult even under normal circumstances. You're away from your friends and family for months at a time. You are with 5,000 people with no privacy. It can be hard to make comms back.

But these are not almost normal circumstances at all. They've been extended. They're not seeing port calls. There's no clearly- articulated mission. And that mission, and its ambiguity, is leading to indefinite extensions as well. So, with no end in sight, and all of the associated conditions that are worsening for the crew, it's really hard to know how do you -- how do you look ahead and have something to look forward to? How do you feel like it's going to end?

And these conditions that they're experiencing are broken toilets, food shortages, water shortages. So, it's rationed and rotten -- rotting food we're hearing, but also inadequate medical supplies and things of that nature. The combination of all of this, can't imagine. Absolutely grueling. We haven't seen anything like it in modern history. And then on top of that, I think if they could hear what their Commander-in-Chief is saying, which is to rely on a third party, a retired Admiral's word of what they think is going on, on the ship, that I think that to not have a Commander-in-Chief interested enough to find out exactly what's going on there, I think that would also kill morale.

So, with no end in sight and the conditions worsening as they are, my heart just goes out to them. And I think the Admiral who did board the ship, we understand that they are resilient.

BASH: Yes, and that Admiral, as I mentioned, is Brad Cooper. He's the head of U.S. Central Command. And he said, Addressing mental health concerns is a high priority for the military.

Did you feel that way during your service?

ROLAND: I don't think we saw anything like this while I was in service. So, deployments were hard, but the resources that we had available were probably enough, given the fact that we weren't in a conflict zone during a time when it's not being defined what that conflict is, how long we're going to be there, what our goals are, and how we expect to meet them. So, it's a completely different kind of scenario.

So, it's hard to know what these sailors really need. But clearly, what they are receiving right now is inadequate. And beyond needing to meet their needs, from fixing the toilets, getting them the food they need, and getting them the relief they need, we need to be having a bigger conversation too about how are we in this situation in the first place.

This is not just normal wear and tear of the navy and an extended deployment. This is that the -- right away, as soon as this conflict started, we lost Bahrain's ability to be a logistics hub for us, so our supply ships are not able to get to the strike group in the amount of time that they need to, to properly be resupplying.

This is a situation that we created for ourselves. And though the George Washington is on its way to relieve this ship, we need to be addressing the bigger context, or we're going to see more and more Lincolns.

BASH: You said a couple of times now that you don't think that the people on board, many of them, know what the mission is. How much do you think that is playing in? I mean, you are free to talk. You retired as a Lieutenant Commander. But the people there, understandably, are not. We don't have a lot of time left. But what do you think? Why did you make a point of saying that multiple times?

ROLAND: Well, on multiple levels, that's difficult for them and for their family members to just understand. When we ask service members to make this sacrifice or be prepared to make these sacrifices for this country, I think the other side of the bargain, the other side of that contract, is to have leadership that's defining what that sacrifice is for. What is the purpose of being spread thin? BASH: Yes.

ROLAND: There's a lot we're willing to stomach, there's a lot we're ready to give up, in order to serve this country. But it's only fair that we rely (ph).

[21:55:00]

BASH: Former Lieutenant Commander Julie Roland, thank you so much for being here. Really appreciate it. And thank you for your service.

ROLAND: Thank you for having me.

BASH: Up next. The Source Code. We're giving you a number at the center of a story in the news. Can you guess the story? Tonight's Source Code is 330,000. We'll be back with the answer.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BASH: Tonight's Source Code is 330,000. That's the number of people the Trump administration expects to apply in the first year of eligibility to reclaim their ability to own firearms under a new DOJ rule.

As one of his first official actions as Attorney General, Todd Blanche launched a new process that allows people convicted of non-violent felonies a pathway to reapply for gun ownership.

[22:00:00]

In a statement, the Attorney General writes: The Second Amendment is not a second-class right, and the federal government should not permanently deprive Americans of a constitutional right without regard to whether they pose a danger to public safety.

The Justice Department says restoration will be granted on a case-by- case basis.

Thank you so much for joining us tonight.

"CNN NEWSNIGHT WITH ABBY PHILLIP" starts right now.