Return to Transcripts main page

The Story Is with Elex Michaelson

Woman Alleges Graham Platner Sexually Assaulted Her; Platner Faces Growing Democratic Calls to Drop Out; Trump Heads To NATO Summit Amid Feud With Allies; Belgium Thrash USA To End World Cup Dream And Set Up Spain Showdown; Belgium End Team U.S.A.'s Dream Run with Dominant 4-1 Win; Cristiano Ronaldo & Portugal Knocked Out by Spain 1- 0; Growing Pressure on Platner to Step Aside; Cuba Suffers Nationwide Blackout Amid U.S. Oil Restrictions. Aired 1-2a ET

Aired July 07, 2026 - 01:00   ET

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

[01:00:00]

ELEX MICHAELSON, CNN ANCHOR: Next big mission retirement. The Artemis 2 crewmate says he is stepping down from his full time role as an astronaut in September. He was the only international astronaut to fly along with the mostly NASA crew. In April, Hansen says he'll continue to serve as a reservist member of the Royal Canadian Air Force to leave the door open for future opportunities, wrote on social media that retiring after 17 years with Canadian space agency will allow him to take a significant next step in his career.

Thanks for watching the first hour of The Story Is. The next hour starts right now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Live from Los Angeles, The Story Is with Elex Michaelson.

MICHAELSON: The story is battled for the midterm. Senate candidate Graham Platner denies rape allegations amidst calls for him to step aside.

The story is World Cup dreams dash Team USA knocked out with a 4 to 1 loss to Belgium in a match mired in controversy.

And the story is NATO summit. President Trump heads to Turkey to meet with world leaders. He's in Air Force One right now despite some simmering tensions with that alliance.

Welcome to The Story Is. I'm Alex Michaelson live in Los Angeles. And the top story is whether Graham Platner can survive the growing pressure to drop out of his Senate race after he was accused of raping a woman five years ago.

The Maine Democrat said he is trying to figure out, quote, the best path forward. He firmly denied the allegations but acknowledged that they could hurt his chances of ousting Maine's longtime Republican senator.

Under the rules in Maine, if Platner drops out before July 13, Maine Democrats will have two weeks to find a replacement for the midterm elections.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GRAHAM PLATNER, DEMOCRATIC NOMINEE FOR U.S. SENATE: I wanted to directly address the troubling, serious and false allegations against me. Any accusation of nonconsensual behavior is categorically false.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAELSON: Democrat support for Platner has collapsed. Top tenant Democrat Chuck Schumer said that this Democrat Senate campaign committee will not invest in the main race unless Platner bows out. Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, who had previously endorsed Platner and called him her, quote, kind of man, issued this statement, quote, there can be no tolerance for sexual assault with so much at stake. The best path forward is for Graham Platner to step aside as the Democratic nominee and address these serious allegations outside this Senate race.

Platner's accuser describes an alleged sexual assault which may be disturbing to some viewers. It may also be triggering for sexual assault survivors. She sat down with CNN's Jake Tapper.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JENNY RACICOT, PLATNER ACCUSER: 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've 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 ANCHOR: And you were saying, no, don't. No, don't, over and over and over.

RACICOT: 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. TAPPER: Do you remember pushing him away?

RACICOT: I remember potentially pushing away with my legs. Like, and then as he backed into 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, you know, has already caused this amount of destruction and not listening to me. And so I basically felt safe as just complying.

[01:05:00]

TAPPER: You normally use protection.

RACICOT: Yes.

TAPPER: And this time he didn't. And you didn't want that?

RACICOT: No.

TAPPER: And he didn't care?

RACICOT: No, I don't think my words were falling on deaf ears or 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: 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: And saying, sorry.

RACICOT: I feel like he was in moments.

TAPPER: Is there any way that he thought this was consensual or no. Just because --

RACICOT: I don't believe that you can think that scenario is consensual.

(END VIDEO CLIP) MICHAELSON: Let's bring back our panel. Political commentator Dan Schnur, who teaches politics at UC Berkeley USC in Pepperdine. And Mike Gatto is a retired Democratic member of the California State Assembly. Mike, first to you.

Just on a human level listening to that, it's tough to watch, but she's very, I mean, she seems pretty credible though, doesn't she?

MATT GATTO, RETIRED DEMOCRATIC MEMBER OF CALIFORNIA STATE ASSEMBLY: She does. And it's very, very hard to listen to and very hard to watch. Your heart goes out for that woman. You got to give her courage for coming forward. And it's like what we talked about last hour. I think the Democratic Party has to get better with vetting candidates because you could argue that we shouldn't be in a position like this to begin with. We should not have had all these prominent Democrats backing a guy like Graham Platner.

MICHAELSON: Let's talk, Dan, about why this is so important politically. Let's put up a map that shows the toss up races. And basically there is almost no path for Democrats to win the Senate if they don't win Maine. Right now, Collins is the only member who is a Republican, who is in a state that Kamala Harris won, which is Maine.

And let's put this up on the screen, which is some polling that despite all of this, this was a recent poll, obviously before this latest allegation came out, but there were all sorts of challenges about Graham Platner having a Nazi tattoo, women saying things that made people uncomfortable, and a recent poll showed he was very competitive if not winning against Susan Collins.

Is that why the Democrats sort of made this bargain, that they thought it was more important to win than to, than to seriously investigate some of this stuff or what do you think was really going on here?

DAN SCHNUR, POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, look, the Democrats need to pull the political equivalent of an inside straight in order to win back the Senate. Republicans have a 53-47 advantage and the seats that are up this year favor the Republicans also. If you've noticed, Elex, over the last few months, a lot of the Democratic strategists and campaign professionals in Washington have been talking about the path to 51 for them by emphasizing states like Ohio and Iowa and Alaska, even Texas. They haven't been talking about Maine.

And if Platner does, as is expected, steps aside by next week and he's replaced with a candidate who doesn't have this type of horrific personal baggage to carry, then Maine does become in play again. And that does make a Senate majority that much more achievable for the Democratic Party.

MICHAELSON: But Maine was in play before. I mean, you look at some of the polling. The recent polling even from the New York Times showed that he -- it was at best a statistical tie. I mean, it was close. But it is crazy because there used to be an era, Dan, and you know this well, where there were, you know, a senator from one party and then that state voted for another presidential person. That doesn't happen anywhere in the country except for Maine. So if

there is a state that should be the easiest for Democrats to win, of all the places you just mentioned, the political current should be at their back in Maine.

SCHNUR: Unless you nominate a candidate who has a Nazi tattoo on his chest and is accused credibly of rape. And by replacing him with someone who's not named Graham Platner, the Democrats chances of winning that state become as great as they ought to be in a state that Republicans haven't carried in a presidential campaign since the 20th century.

MICHAELSON: John Fetterman, who is a senator from Pennsylvania who skews as right as any senator does, chose to talk about this issue on Fox News Channel with Laura Ingraham, which is an interesting place to have this conversation if you're a Democrat. Here is some of their conversation tonight.

[01:10:04]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN FETTERMAN (D-PA): I would really call Bernie Sanders to apologize for pushing this kind of predator more than anyone, he helped him elect and now apologize to the victims, especially the woman that she claimed that he raped her. So I don't know why you want to keep pushing these kinds of people. Maybe he should consider, set a few out and stop pushing these kind of communists.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAELSON: Graham Platner from more of the progressive wing, more of a Bernie Sanders kind of person. Elizabeth Warren pushed him strongly. How do you see this in terms of the ideological battle that's clearly going on in the Democratic Party right now?

GATTO: Yes, Alex, there is a battle going on for the soul of the Democratic Party. A lot of Democrats are watching the electoral successes of Mamdani in New York and maybe possibly Nithya Raman in Los Angeles. They're saying as the coast goes, so go the nation. And the Democratic base wants these Democratic socialists.

I got to disagree. I tend to agree more with John Fetterman. I think there is still room in the Democratic Party for traditional Democrats and I think we go down that socialistic path at our peril.

MICHAELSON: Yes.

SCHNUR: And there will be a fight for the soul of both parties. That's what happens in the two party system in 2028. We'll see a fight between the pro Trump and the pre-Trump, more traditional Republicans in the Democratic Party. Well, look at it this way. If this was a multi-party system, John Fetterman and Bernie Sanders wouldn't be in the same party.

MICHAELSON: Right. SCHNUR: And actually --

MICHAELSON: By multiparty system you mean something more similar to what we see in a lot of European countries where there's four or five parties that are all competing. And Bernie and Fetterman would be in separate parties, but under the two party system, they're in the same party.

SCHNUR: Right. Joe Manchin, the former centrist Democratic senator from West Virginia who's now an independent, predicted last week that John Fetterman would be an independent in the not too distant future. Based on this interview, I wouldn't be surprised to see Fetterman declare his independence at all in the next months.

MICHAELSON: Or maybe a Republican.

SCHNUR: Or something else.

MICHAELSON: Yes, I mean, well, I mean, because it -- but our system right now, Mike, and I know you, you see yourself as more of a centrist Democrat, seems to be rewarding the opposite, that this tribal politics right now is rewarded. The more gerrymandering we do, which is what's happening across the country, that will lead to more partisan people.

You know, there's a fight here in California to get rid of our top two system, which is all about having more partisan primaries. I mean, all the incentive structures in social media, in money, in cable news, and all podcasting, it's all about saying outrageous partisan things.

GATTO: Our country is so political right now that what brand of beer you drink and what fast food place you dine at and where you shop is considered political.

MICHAELSON: Right. We saw it even at the 250 this weekend. Right. I mean, President Trump, that celebration on the, on the Mall in Washington felt like a very political event.

SCHNUR: But history -- but if I may, history works in cycles. And if you look around, you see independent candidates running for Senate in Montana, in Nebraska and elsewhere see independents --

MICHAELSON: Are any of them winning?

SCHNUR: We'll see. You see --

MICHAELSON: Have any of them won?

SCHNUR: -- any of them running, you'll see Democrats. You see independents running for governor in Maine and in Arizona.

MICHAELSON: Yes.

SCHNUR: You see a couple of dozen running for Congress around the country. I think you're beginning to see an exhaustion with this constant loud, angry polarization. Mike's right. It does dominate our politics. But at a certain point, I think you do begin to see a pushback against it.

MICHAELSON: I mean, there is certainly a pushback, but what I'm curious to see if any of those people are successful in this model, because a lot of times we see people trying to do that, but not a lot of examples of electoral success, at least not yet. But maybe it's a process and they get there down the road.

Meanwhile, we're about to talk more about the NATO trip that President Trump is on. He's on Air Force One right now heading to NATO. I want to give you an opportunity to weigh in on your expectations for that trip and what you're looking at.

GATTO: Well, I think this is one thing where I will say that Donald Trump might lose politically because what he's asking for is very difficult. But I think in the history books he actually might get rewarded because we are seeing Europe step up with air defense spending. That does take some of the burden off the United States. It does make it so that we will have other people fighting the good fights.

The irony is you talk about everything being politicized. Right. Even the justness of the Ukraine, Russia conflict. Right. Is something that is so deeply politicized. Democrats are solidly with Ukraine. Republicans tend to say Russia's got a point and we can't even agree on external conflicts anymore in terms of what they mean for the United States.

MICHAELSON: Yes.

SCHNUR: During Trump's first term, much of Europe and many international observers saw him as an aberration. Now in his second term in office, they see him as reflecting the roughly 50 percent of the American public that's voted for him in three different elections. And so what you're seeing now is Europe realizing for the first time in the post-World War II era that maybe they do have to provide for themselves and defend themselves.

[01:15:07]

Mike says correctly that something good comes from that. But I'm not sure that getting there is going to be a very easy process for anybody involved, especially the European countries having to relearn how to defend themselves and their people.

MICHAELSON: Interesting insight there on both topics. Mike, Dan, great to see both of you. Thanks so much for hanging out with us tonight.

Let's talk more about that trip -- Trump -- the president is on his way to the NATO summit in Turkey's capital. He has accused members of not spending enough in terms of meeting their requirements. He's on Air Force One right now, that new plane. It's the first time that he has done an international trip on this plane that the Qataris gifted him.

NATO leaders plan to show him that they are spending money to defend Europe. The president also signaling a renewed focus on ending Russia's war on Ukraine. The president of Ukraine will attend the summit as he fights for more aid for his country.

Let's expand this conversation now with CNN's European affairs commentator Dominic Thomas who joins me now live from Europe. Dominic, your thoughts on what you just heard. Do you agree with that idea of the way that Europe is perceiving President Trump as no longer an aberration?

DOMINIC THOMAS, CNN EUROPEAN AFFAIRS COMMENTATOR: -- whelming consensus is that he has disrupted in negative way these decades long post-World War II alliances with the United States and that the Atlantic Pact is has been weakened. His persistent attack on NATO, on European countries, on European elections, his pushing and encouraging of far-right candidates that have disrupted in the case of the UK through Brexit and politics in Europe are one of the major issues that political leaders are doing with.

Now it is true that far-right parties benefit from Trump's presence and rhetoric in many cases, although his attempts to interfere in elections have not gone very far. So these far-right parties were around before President Trump. Some have burgeoned, some have disappeared. But I think it's overwhelmingly his interference and his inconsistency that has fragilised, if we can say this particular lines and going into this NATO meeting, these things yet again, as with the G7 just a few weeks ago, are front and center.

MICHAELSON: What does a successful NATO summit look like for President Trump? What's the top of his agenda?

THOMAS: Well, at this moment he is at the top of the agenda. As I was saying just a few weeks ago, it was as if we'd had a G6 plus President Trump there. So his various agendas I mean, of course, first of all, we have to say that there's a deep irony that of course NATO, this post-World War II alliance founded to bolster and further securitize Europe while at the same time dealing in that time with the Soviet Union, that those questions have not gone away.

And yet, ironically, the United States that has been such a strong and powerful supporter of NATO through its persistent undermining of the organization, threatening of allies within NATO and beyond through tariffs and so on, is ironically weakening NATO as it currently stands.

As he pushes this argument that it can be strengthened through greater NATO member contributions and that has created instability around this long standing war with Ukraine and in many way emboldened Russia and strengthened Russia as an outgrowth of this former Soviet agreement that was there.

And so these are the main concerns moving forward. Here is what will the tone be of NATO, to what extent will President Trump support the organization versus weaken it, which is, let's face it, part of his broader policy of moving towards a greater kind of sovereign U.S. America first interest and not supporting these international organizations. Elex.

MICHAELSON: The biggest event in the world by far is the World Cup. It's the number one thing that people are watching around the world right now. And you had this very interesting development of President Trump getting himself involved and protesting this red card suspension of Balogun. Balogun ended up playing in the match tonight despite that Belgium won.

They put out on X from their account saying overrule this. And they were literally the Belgian players were doing the Trump YMCA dance to mock him on the field tonight at the end of the game.

How much is this something that European nations themselves are paying attention to? Is this something that's breaking through in the rest of the world?

[01:20:01]

And does this have any bearing on some of the international relations or the way that people see the country of America?

THOMAS: Well, it absolutely does, Elex, because it's part of a broader interference of a U.S. president in global affairs, whether it has to do with tariffs or the military or the sporting world. These are all major issues. This is a global sport watched by millions. It's a -- it's the main, you know, sporting event every four years.

And to have a U.S. president interfere in this negatively undermined the sport itself. But also arguably, the credibility of this American team as it -- as it took to the pitch to establish its legitimacy in a very important game. And I think it emboldened the opposition. And yet again in the public discussion around President Trump, for those that might be less interested in the G7 or in NATO, it was a further, to me blow to his international reputation because his meddling in affairs is of great concern to people when it extends beyond the United States context.

So, I think going into it, it's another negative talking point as NATO is at a crossroads and experiencing arguably its greatest fragility. And since it was initially founded all the way back in 1949. Elex.

MICHAELSON: Well, it is going to be a fascinating and important few days of this conference. President Trump says he's only going because of his friendship with Erdogan, the leader of Turkey, who is hosting this conference. We'll see what comes out of this in the hours ahead as Air Force One is expected to touch down. Dominic Thomas, thank you so much for your insights. Appreciate it.

THOMAS: Thank you.

MICHAELSON: Just ahead, we'll talk more about the World Cup from the sports perspective, hopefully not the political perspective, as Belgium knocks out the last host, standing, dashing Team USA's championship dreams. We also are going to preview big matches in the coming hours with some of the best teams in the world and perhaps the best player, Lionel Messi.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:26:37]

MICHAELSON: Well, Team USA's World Cup dreams have come to an end. Belgium dominated the pitch, scoring twice in the first half and then exploiting a series of defensive mistakes. They ultimately pulled away for a 4 to 1 win to reach the quarterfinals. That result comes amid controversy over FIFA's decision to delay a red card suspension for one of Team USA star players and a phone call between President Trump and FIFA leadership that raised serious questions about interference and corruption.

For more, I want to bring in Blake Price. He is a play-by-play announcer for Major League Soccer on Apple TV. Welcome to the show.

BLAKE PRICE, PLAY-BY-PLAY ANNOUNCER, MLS ON APPLE TV: Thanks for having me.

MICHAELSON: So was the U.S. naive to think that it could win the World Cup and was this simply an example of the better team won?

PRICE: Well, the U.S. looked fabulous to start this World Cup, so let's put that in a separate pile from the aspirations to win a World Cup. You always will put that forth as the public aspiration, but the U.S. looked great through its first four matches of this World Cup, but they had a more preferential path to this point. They didn't have to take down any of the best teams on the planet yet. And that usually happens come the knockout round of the knockout round is for keeps. Right?

We've seen that with the heightened emotion around here and we saw that with the quality on the pitch. Mexico versus England the night previous at Aztec in Mexico City.

So there are two things here. Did they want to win the World Cup? Intellectually, yes, but executing on that is an entirely different thing. And if the United States had won the World Cup, it would have been a monumental global upset. So let's be clear on that.

They played amazing to this point, but they ran up against a team that had emotion on its side and wanted to make sure that they played the absolute best they could. And Belgium did indeed do that.

MICHAELSON: Well, let's talk about that emotion on their side. When I put up on the screen an X post that they put up from the Belgium team, overrule this, which is in reference to President Trump working to get the red card overruled. Do you think, you know, sports sometimes they talk about, you know, putting stuff up in the locker room that are negative stories about you to motivate you. Did that maybe end up actually kind of helping Belgium?

PRICE: Slights, real or perceived, are used as fuel in sports all the time. And until I see evidence that anybody directly on the roster or coaching staff asked anybody, any dignitaries to speak on their behalf and lobby on their behalf, you know, they weren't a part of this. It's just what happened. Apparently full of allegiant actually went and spoke to the opposition coach and, you know, sort of apologized for all the noise around the incident. So the U.S. Men's National Team had no direct input into what went on off the pitch. And they were in -- I think it's fair to say this was a no win territory for them if they win, especially if Folarin Balogun was a big part of it. The rest of the world sees that as a tainted victory for the United States.

[01:29:44]

If they lose, I think it is also reasonable to say that there was a target put on them to some degree. And that they were going to see the best out of the opposition who wanted to execute their own level of justice.

Again, whether that's real or perceived, it doesn't really matter. It's what ultimately came out of it from the Belgians. And the Belgians -- and that's how they saw it.

ELEX MICHAELSON, CNN ANCHOR: That being said, most Americans and certainly that team would have rather won versus lost with all of that.

Same is true for one of the great competitors in the history of soccer, Cristiano Ronaldo, who says this is his last World Cup. Portugal ended up against their rival country of Spain.

Spain has not given up a goal in this entire World Cup. Spain scored in the final minutes to win one-nil. You could see the emotion on the face of Ronaldo on his way off the pitch.

Talk about him and also how good Spain is.

PRICE: Spain is a juggernaut. They were amongst the two main pre- tournament favorites. France and Spain were really the ones that people were betting favorites to -- the ones that everybody thought had the, the deepest roster, the highest and talent to really do it all.

And you know, Portugal had its proponents as well. People thought there was a bit of a turning of the page happening. Yes, Cristiano Ronaldo remained but there -- the next generation was there.

And people -- I don't know if dark horses is maybe putting them down a little bit too much. They were amongst sort of the middle favorites, if you will, to go on a deep run, which they ultimately did.

This isn't a bad run to bow out in the Round of 16. But ultimately Cristiano Ronaldo himself could not make the difference that, you know, his main rival all these years on the world stage, Leo Messi has been able to make for Argentina, albeit four years younger, of course.

There's another cycle theoretically left here for Leo Messi in the World Cup. But for Cristiano Ronaldo, this is what veteran players, legends at the end of their careers are supposed to look like.

And you know, he's way older than most legends we see. Usually it's the late 30s guy that is -- that is playing like this. So this is way beyond the pale for him to be playing at the age of 43,

and he still was able to add some offense. He's just not the legend that we're used to.

It is absolutely time. He has a Euro championships, which he holds dear, and he compares to a World Cup title. I think people wanted more out of him title-wise in his career. But it's hard to argue with the individual accolades and Ballon d'Ors that he's been able to put up over the course of his career.

MICHAELSON: And I think physically, most people in their 40s would love to look like him. That is -- just the look is quite -- is quite something.

(CROSSTALKING)

MICHAELSON: So Messi who you spoke of is going to be competing in the coming hours against Egypt. Switzerland is competing against Colombia, happening in Vancouver where you are. So we'll see what happens in both of those matches tomorrow.

But unfortunately, at this point, the Canadians, the Americans and the Mexicans, the host countries are all out of the tournament. But great teams remain, and we'll continue to cover it every night here.

Thank you so much for being with us, Blake Price, appreciate your perspective.

PRICE: A pleasure. Anytime.

MICHAELSON: Coming up, more on our top story.

A Senate hopeful is accused of rape, and that is far from his first controversy. Can Maine's Graham Platner withstand the calls for him to step aside?

Ron Brownstein has been going into this and the Plan B; he's been talking about that for weeks on our show. He joins us live next with a look at what's likely coming next in Maine and who likely will replace Graham Platner.

[01:33:36]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MICHAELSON: Now to the mounting pressure on Graham Platner to end his U.S. Senate campaign in Maine.

The Democrat says that he is reflecting on what he calls the best path forward after being accused of rape. He called the allegations, quote, "troubling, serious and false".

But he's quickly losing the backing of his party, and that Maine Senate seat is critical to Democrats' chances of gaining control.

California Democrat Ro Khanna is among those rescinding their endorsements. He wrote on X, quote, "I've been very clear that sexual assault or violence against women is a red line. These allegations are very serious and credible. Graham Platner should drop out of the race."

Let's bring in CNN senior political analyst Ron Brownstein, who's also an opinion columnist at Bloomberg, who has a brand-new column out late tonight talking about this race.

Ron, welcome back to the show. You were with us on set, laying out a possibility of replacing Graham Platner weeks ago, when the "New York Times" raised questions about him then. And now we have more serious questions.

First off, Graham Platner is weighing his options. Do you see any path forward for him in terms of this race?

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: No. I mean, you've got to think his candidacy is measured now more in hours than even days. He -- under Maine law, if he steps aside by next Monday July 13th, the state party can replace him. They would have until July 27th to do so.

You know, I have felt for months that his candidacy was a triumph of ideology over experience, that the groups, especially nationally, but also in Maine that were supporting him, were so determined to prove that their model of how Democrats can recover, which was to nominate populist outsiders running on kind of a soak the rich message was the right one that they ignored all the mounting evidence of the vulnerability of the specific, actual human being, that they were attaching this theory to.

[01:39:52]

BROWNSTEIN: And now even those voices, particularly Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, who have been critical to his campaign from the outset, they renounced him. Ro Khanna. I don't see any way forward for him.

MICHAELSON: So you've been looking at this process to replace him for some time. Walk us through what happens next assuming he drops out.

BROWNSTEIN: Well, as I said, under Maine law, the party can't force him out once he is the -- once he won the nomination. But he has until July 13th to voluntarily step aside. And then the party would have until July 27th to pick a replacement.

The party has been very closed-lipped today, obviously, since they're not getting ahead of themselves about how they might try to do that. There is no provision in Maine law that lays out how they pick a replacement.

But some party officials have told the "New York Times" tonight that they would try to -- they would want to involve the public in some way in picking another candidate, rather than having the party executive committee to do it. Some kind of convention or caucus.

You know, it's a pretty accelerated time frame until July 27th. And as I wrote all the way back in June, I think the obvious alternative for them are the candidates who ran in their governor's race.

They had five strong Democrats in that governor's race. Hannah Pingree won that governors nomination. Four others are kind of looking for something to do, and I suspect at least three of them are going to be seriously considered in whatever process the state party puts together.

MICHAELSON: Well, let's talk about some of those names and put them up on the screen right now.

One of them is Shenna Bellows, the secretary of State; Troy Jackson, former State Senator; Nirav Shah, former director of the Maine CDC.

It seems like there's a whole lot of discussion about Troy Jackson tonight, somebody who backed Platner, is viewed as progressive. A lot of folks on the left seem to be championing him right now

BROWNSTEIN: Yes, I think -- I think that is clearly as I felt that way in June, the path of least resistance, the one that could get the broadest support in Maine.

Look, Platner was a -- or I guess is until he leaves, a charismatic candidate who excited a lot of voters and touched a genuine chord.

Jackson is someone who endorsed him for the senate, who Platner in turn endorsed for governor, both of whom were endorsed by Bernie Sanders. They share a lot of policy positions.

Jackson is actually a more authentic kind of candidate springing from the working class in a way that was more ambiguous with Platner, fifth generation logger, a former state senator who championed a lot of causes for organized labor in the state.

And I think that ending up with him would kind of ease the pain for a lot of the voices, both nationally and locally, that supported Platner. And you would get someone who could bring many of the strengths of Platner did, not as strong a campaigner, I think on a retail basis, without the obvious vulnerabilities.

MICHAELSON: But it will be fascinating to see how they do this. The idea of trying to, because they've got like three weeks, right, to figure this out.

BROWNSTEIN: Yes.

MICHAELSON: And we know the Democratic Party has a perception problem of anointing candidates without going to voters, i.e., Kamala Harris saw how that worked out.

So how can they create an election system in a few weeks that incorporates people and just to be clear, Ron, there is basically no path for the Democrats to win the Senate without Maine. And as you've pointed out, it should be the easiest state for them to win, right?

BLACKWELL: Yes. Can I just do a quibble? Ask Jacky Rosen, Ruben Gallego, Elissa Slotkin and Tammy Baldwin how

it worked out to replace Joe Biden without a process. Because none of them would probably be in the Senate if Joe Biden had stayed on the ticket.

But yes, you know, there are 19 states that voted against Donald Trump in all three of his campaigns for president. Democrats have 37 of their 38 Senate seats.

Susan Collins is the last Republican remaining in those 19 states. They need this seat to have any realistic chance, I think, of winning back the Senate majority, not only now, but in the immediate future.

And, you know, Collins was the only Republican, as we talked about before, during Trump's first term, the only Republican Senate incumbent or challenger who won in a state where his job approval was net negative in 2018 or 2020. His job approval is weaker in Maine now than it was in 2020 when she won reelection.

I mean, the job of Maine Democrats was not to find an exceptional candidate who would persuade a majority of the state that Republicans were taking the country in the wrong direction. It was to find a candidate who would reassure the majority in the state that always -- that believed that.

And that's why I always thought that Platner was kind of a weird fit, even without his personal baggage. But, you know, now they have -- they have options. They have three strong, at least three strong on candidates -- Nirav Shah, Bellows the secretary of state, Jackson in the governor's race.

[01:44:48]

BROWNSTEIN: And they have options. They're going to try to find some way to do it publicly, probably be a little messy, but I think they're in a better position if he gets out than if he stayed in to win this race.

MICHAELSON: We're grateful to have you with us every step along the way to see how they do that. Ron Brownstein, thank you for your insights.

We'll be back with more of THE STORY IS right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MICHAELSON: Cuba has suffered yet another nationwide blackout. It's not yet clear what caused the outage. Cuba has been grappling with an energy crisis made worse by sharp declines in fuel imports.

CNN's Patrick Oppmann brings us the latest from Havana.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN HAVANA BUREAU CHIEF: We're on Havana's Malecon Seawall. And despite the fact that it's a nice night, there's a beautiful sunset happening behind me, there's a lot of concern right now because Cuba is in a nationwide blackout.

It has become a fairly regular occurrence here, but even more so now that the U.S. has essentially stopped all oil shipments into this island. It is preventing countries from selling oil to Cuba, giving oil to Cuba, trying to make this island make economic and political concessions, that up until now, the government here has resisted.

[01:49:50]

OPPMANN: So we've been seeing daily blackouts that stretch already for most of the day. In my neighborhood, we had blackouts that were lasting, you know, 20 hours or more in recent days.

It's very hard to live under those conditions. It's impossible to live when you have days and days of absolutely no power.

So if you see some lights on, it's because there're emergency generators. There are hospitals or hotels that are prioritized here. They get a little bit of power from the government.

Some people have generators, but of course they don't have fuel for those generators. Other people increasingly have solar panels and batteries, but those are really things that most Cubans can't hope to afford. Still very hard to bring those items in.

And so the concern is, if this goes on for days like has happened previously, that people's food will begin to spoil. We've already seen some anti-government protests, but they've remained pretty small.

People are just exhausted by this ongoing crisis. And so even if the power comes back on, it will likely be a couple of hours a day at maximum, because this is an island that is running on fumes. The pressure campaign against Cuba has all but broken this island.

Patrick Oppmann, CNN -- Havana.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MICHAELSON: Up next, an amazing view of us from outer space.

[01:51:06]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MICHAELSON: Now to some stunning pictures from space. European Space Agency astronaut Sophie Adenot captured video of an aurora shimmering in the earth's atmosphere while she was on board the International Space Station. She said it's one of the most amazing ones she has seen on her mission.

Adenot has now been in space for more than 140 days, and has orbited the earth more than 2,000 times. Look at that.

And check out these images from the Space Station. Those twinkling lights you see, those are Fourth of July fireworks right here over Los Angeles on Saturday. The station was orbiting over the city during its celebration, which

was so bright you could actually see it from space.

And as people know that live here, most of those were not legal. But they clearly made an impression.

Thanks so much for watching THE STORY IS.

I'm Elex Michaelson. I will see you tomorrow.

It was a fun run for Team U.S.A.

The news continues right here on CNN after a break.

[01:56:29]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)