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CNN's The Arena with Kasie Hunt

New Scrutiny On Feds Following Another Fatal ICE Shooting; Trump Escalates Push To Reshape Midterms, Fires Election Panel; Just In: Platner Files Official Paperwork To Withdraw Senate Bid. Aired 4- 5p ET

Aired July 10, 2026 - 16:00   ET

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

[16:00:02]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: You see some of those temperatures, 111 in Vegas, 104 in Boise, 99 in Casper, Denver, 96. That sounds horribly unpleasant. Do your best to hydrate and stay in the shade.

And "THE ARENA WITH KASIE HUNT" starts right now.

(MUSIC)

KASIE HUNT, CNN HOST: Hi, everyone. Welcome to THE ARENA. I'm Kasie Hunt. It's wonderful to have you with us on this Friday.

Right now, new anger and new demands for answers following a shooting death at the hands of a federal immigration official. And yet again, witnesses are saying that the Department of Homeland Security is not telling the full truth.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HUGO BALDERAS-IBARRA, ATTORNEY FOR DETAINED MEN: I know that these agents, the agency is going to try to cover it up. This is not the first time that it happens. This has become a pattern where ICE agents claim that they use their vehicle as a deadly weapon, that they tried to run over the agents, and the agents shot at self-defense. But all three of my clients reiterated that at no point was there ever an agent standing in front of the vehicle, nor was an agent ever placed in the line of danger. That is simply false, and I believe my clients are telling the truth.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: So that's an attorney for three men who were detained following the fatal shooting on Tuesday. ICE officials say that the Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a 52-year-old Mexican national without legal status in the US, was driving the men in a work van. ICE claims that when they tried to stop the van, he rammed a law enforcement vehicle and that an officer opened fire in self-defense.

As of yet, DHS has not released any evidence to support their version of events. But surveillance videos obtained by CNN show some of how the morning unfolded, from Salgado getting into the van at home to later as he drove down the street while two black, unmarked SUVs began following him and continue to follow him as he makes a turn. We do not yet have footage of the moments directly preceding the shooting when ICE agents allege he tried to attack them. But we do have video of the moments after gunshots rang out.

Now, we do want to warn you, it is disturbing. You can see law enforcement officials gathering around the van and hunching over a wounded man on the ground, the woman who took the video saying she heard him screaming in pain and begging for help. A source familiar with the incident tells CNN that Salgado was not the target of an immigration operation when the fatal shooting occurred, but that he looked like someone who was.

And Salgado Araujo's family says he would have obeyed the officers if they had identified themselves.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RONALDO SALGADO, FATHER KILLED BY ICE: He did not deserve to die. He did not deserve to be reduced to a headline of Mexican man shot and killed. by ICE.

My father was being followed by two unmarked cars. Had my father seen an emblem of ICE or an emblem that says anything about law enforcement agency, my father would have complied, he would have stopped, he would have not ran away because he feared for his life.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: All right. Let's cut off the sidelines, head into THE ARENA. My panel will be here, but we're going to get started with CNN's Priscilla Alvarez, who's been covering this story for us.

Priscilla, what are you hearing from DHS as witnesses share their version of events?

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the Department of Homeland Security is standing by their account, as of now, of what transpired on Tuesday. And you summarized some of that there, which is to say that ICE says that Salgado was weaponizing his vehicle and rammed into one of them and that the ICE agent fired in self-defense.

Now, my sources have shared a little bit more about what unfolded in the moments before the shooting. First of all, that he was not the intended target of this immigration operation, but rather what had happened here was that Texas authorities had previously tipped off ICE about two men they believed were in the U.S. without legal status traveling in a white van. ICE began surveilling that van, but before they were going before they were getting to the target's address on Tuesday, their intended target, they saw this other white van, and that is the one that was registered to Salgado. It was the one he was driving, and there were three other passengers in that vehicle.

So they followed that white van, and then that shooting later unfolded after he was boxed in by two vehicles. Now, part of what is -- part of the issue here is that there is no body cam. The ICE officers were not wearing body cam. There is no dash cam either on those ICE vehicles. So, in the absence of those videos, body cam, the ICE officers were not wearing body cam. There is no dash cam either on those ICE vehicles.

So in the absence of those videos, there have been a reliance on eyewitnesses.

[16:05:01]

And in this case, there were the three passengers who were in the vehicle with Salgado. And we heard from their attorney, who says that after speaking with them, what they shared was that he did not ram the vehicle, that he did not try to drive over ICE agents.

Now, Congresswoman Sylvia Garcia had this to say about the conflicting accounts earlier today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. SYLVIA GARCIA (D-TX): We certainly now have conflicting testimony. I mean, we've certainly now see videos, and I've seen it, one at least, that there appears to be no damage, no damage whatsoever to the van. So yes, I think that as the case unfolds, much like the case in Minneapolis, remember that this is a straight copy -- copy playbook of ICE. I'm not prepared to say today that it's all lies, but it sure is looking that way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALVAREZ: Now, there are multiple investigations that are ongoing here. The FBI is conducting one, the Department of Homeland Security's Office of Inspector General, as well as the Harris County District Attorney. Kasie, we are seeing increasing number of traffic stops as Immigration and Customs Enforcement tries to ramp up their immigration arrest. This one ended tragically.

And as you heard there from his son, his father would have complied had he known it was ICE following them because these vehicles were unmarked.

HUNT: All right, Priscilla Alvarez reporting for us -- Priscilla, thank you very much for that.

My panel's here in THE ARENA, CNN legal analyst, former federal prosecutor Elliot Williams; Republican strategist and pollster, Kristen Soltis-Anderson; former DNC senior advisor communications director, Xochitl Hinojosa; and former Republican congressman for Michigan, Peter Meijer.

We are also joined by retired Army Major General Randy Manner.

Thank you all very much for being here.

General Manner, let me start with you here for your initial reaction to what we've learned about this. I -- what is your view of how DHS is approaching these conflicting accounts? RANDY MANNER, RETIRED ARMY MAJOR GENERAL: So, first of all, I need to express my own sorrow for the loss felt by the family I will also express calm by all people that are involved in this community This is a continuing story of the lack of training and lack of accountability of ICE agents.

It's something that is very dangerous. It's something that is not keeping within the rules of law and the transparency. And it's something that, quite frankly, is we need to be watching very, very carefully to demand accountability of this administration at the federal level for what these people are doing to both Americans as well as people who are perhaps not Americans.

Again, we need to be able to be transparent and follow the rules of law. And it's not always clear that is happening.

HUNT: Yeah. Elliot Williams, can you walk through kind of some of the legal questions here? Because, of course, this is something we have seen ICE, when there are incidents in the past, say X has happened.

ELLIOT WILLIAMS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Right.

HUNT: You know, the involvement of a vehicle has been something we've seen in some of these other incidents in Minneapolis, notably. And then, of course, we have seen evidence come out that shows that Y actually happened.

WILLIAMS: Right. The big picture is that it is exceptionally hard to prosecute or sue law enforcement officers for what happens in the line of duty if they can say and establish that either it was self-defense or it was just a discretionary decision to use lethal force, and it just happened at that time.

Now, that's where the devil's in the details, Kasie, and determining how egregious the action was is going to depend on, sadly here, the absence of body cameras or testimony from other people, testimony from eyewitnesses testimony potentially -- potentially from the officers themselves. And so, it's tricky.

I mean, what many would think that any would say fairly that any death is egregious and, of course, it is. However, the legal standard -- what the law considers egregious is way higher than what most ordinary people would think of -- would think about how to hold officers accountable.

HUNT: Yeah.

XOCHITL HINOJOSA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: And --

HUNT: Xochitl, go ahead.

HINOJOSA: Well, I mean and I was also going to say in 2022 when I was at the Justice Department we had guidelines on the use of lethal force. And that is what ICE officers and FBI agents, et cetera, would look at and go to when conducting any sort of search, anything like that. You're not supposed to be shooting, using lethal force whenever there

is a vehicle, just to stop the vehicle as the vehicle is going away. So I think it is very -- the point about how the vehicle was not being used as a weapon I think is a very important one. The other thing that folks are talking about here is that there were witnesses there. There were people in the car and they're talking about potentially deporting them and that they have potentially asked them to self-deport.

That's a big deal. You don't necessarily deport witnesses, especially when there is a shooting, and questions within the shooting are at hand here. And so -- and I think when it comes to the politics of this, I think this is very interesting.

[16:10:02]

You saw that the administration kind of pulled back on Minneapolis because they understood that it was very unpopular to go ahead and have these types of shootings. Now you're seeing something like this happen in Texas. I am from Texas, my sister's running for governor there, but there's a very competitive Senate race where Latinos make up 30 percent of the voting population, and it'll be critical for whoever wins in that state to get them.

So, something like this is not helpful to Republicans and the administration in the state as well.

KRISTEN SOLTIS-ANDERSON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, this will be a very important test, I think, for new Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin, because after everything that happened in Minneapolis, there was a widespread belief, including among enough people in the Trump administration, that then-Secretary Kristi Noem and her deputies who had been running that whole show, that it had become too much of a circus, that it had become too tragic, it had become too embarrassing, and they changed personnel.

And so this will be a real test of the new personnel who are in charge, that now another one of these incidents has happened. Do they handle it more responsibly with more care, or is there more due process given to the get to give testimony, et cetera, because it was, even among Republicans, considered a clown show and a disaster what had happened.

WILLIAMS: Really important, really quick legal point that I left out, too, because I think people get lost in this. The immigration status of the person killed has no bearing on the legal analysis of whether the use of force was proper. People might think that -- well, Minneapolis is different because these were white people, these were citizens, or whatever, and you're talking about someone who's illegally in the country who got killed, that, at least for whether the officer's action was proper, is just not a factor under the law.

HUNT: I mean, Kristen, do you think it's a factor politically?

SOLTIS-ANDERSON: I mean, I certainly assume that there will be people who will look at this and believe what they want to believe and make the assumptions that they will make. And I don't doubt that there are some people for whom race may make a difference. But I also think, to Xochitl's point, geography also makes a big difference.

And I think the fact that this is happening in Texas, in a place where the politics of the border -- or certainly, it's been a topic much more of a way than it ever was in Minneapolis --

HUNT: It's different.

SOLTIS-ANDERSON: It is a different -- it's just a situation in many ways.

HUNT: Yeah, depressing that the -- some of the elements of this are kind of depressing.

Congressman, what is your view of the unmarked piece of this, like the fact that the cars were unmarked, that we've sometimes seen these officials not be in uniform, et cetera, et cetera?

PETER MEIJER (R), FORMER U.S. CONGRESSMAN: Yeah, I mean, both the vehicles being unmarked, I think, is slightly different than if you're in plain clothes or with no identifying characteristics. Because that's the other -- we have very few details and I wish we had body cameras. I wish we had some videos. Even in the Renee Good case, the first video that came out painted a very different picture than when you saw the full scope, but that helps better adjudicate claims on both sides.

But the question of, you know -- were the ICE officers or the DHS personnel, were they firing from a vehicle, or was one of them outside the vehicle and felt that? The video that we saw, they were all wearing plate carriers that had identification on them. Even if they weren't affirmatively saying, ICE, stop, something along those lines, visually, you should be able to see that these are not people trying to rob you.

But that question of if you're being followed. That is not an unreasonable concern. And so how law enforcement balances their own safety and security and the ability to do their job with making sure that there aren't these misunderstandings that just create greater risks for themselves and for the general population is a challenge.

HUNT: Yeah, I mean, General Manner, can I put that to you as well, as someone who's, you know, been a leader of troops, when you are in a situation and it isn't clear who is potentially, in this case, following you in a car because there's no markings on it.

MANNER: So this is one of those situations which actually has a greater implication for the United States, is the use of rules I'm sorry, the rules for use of force by National Guardsmen also in southern states and other areas as well. They're not well-defined. They're not -- the Guardsmen are not always trained. And therefore, it does raise this issue that was raised by some of the other people on the panel that what exactly -- how do they identify themselves? How well trained are these people in dealing with the situation that they're being faced with?

And of course, most importantly, this concept that I mentioned before about accountability and transparency, it continues to be a problem with this administration. And going silent is the same thing as admitting guilt, in this particular case, by the administration. It's very disconcerting. We need to continue to demand accountability and transparency to include, by the way, the use of our National Guard in law enforcement activities across our country.

HUNT: All right. Retired Major General Randy Manner, thank you very much for being with us. Really appreciate it.

The rest of our panel is going to stick around.

Coming up next here in THE ARENA, exclusive video right here on CNN that concerns the health of Senator Mitch McConnell, what the video shows the day he was taken to the hospital, as his office still remains silent on his condition.

But first, President Trump escalating his push to overhaul how midterm elections are conducted, bulldozing any notion of bipartisanship in a normally hyper-partisan -- in a normally hyper-partisan era.

[16:15:13]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Here's what I would like to say. Much more than a bill, that's a big deal. It's a yawn. Some people say it's wonderful.

To me, compared to the SAVE America Act, just about everything is a big yawn.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HUNT: All right. Welcome back.

Just about eight hours from now, the most significant housing affordability bill in a generation will become law.

[16:20:01]

But oddly enough, it will not have the president's signature on it.

President Trump confirming this morning that he will not be signing the bill, quote, "in protest" over Republicans', quote, "crazy refusal to pass the SAVE America Act." That is his signature legislation aimed at imposing more voting restrictions.

President Trump's symbolic gesture encapsulating two defining threads of the 2026 midterms, Congress's mad dash to address voters' affordability concerns and the president's fixation on overhauling how U.S. elections are run. It's also coming just a day after the president fired the leadership of a key bipartisan federal agency that provides funding and security guidance to election officials across the country. Elliot Williams, the legality of these firings, of course, the Trump

administration pointing to the recent Supreme Court decision. The implications, though, pretty significant.

WILLIAMS: Pretty significant. Now, again, the president does have really broad latitude, broader than many people would want, to remove people from top positions in government.

Now, to your point here, Kasie, yes, this has potentially profound consequences, but so is so much that President Trump has done. That's just where we are in American government right now, and he's chosen to remove these people, and we'll see what the fallout will be.

HUNT: Go ahead.

MEIJER: I was just going to say, it wasn't the Federal Election Commission. It was this Electoral Assistance Commission. It was set up 20 years ago after the Help America Vote Act. It was a pretty small thing.

Now, the question of whether or not somebody can be fired is an important one, because I think while I believe that executive authority should be way smaller, I have very little dispute that the chief executive should have control over hiring within the executive branch. And I think that's one of these challenges that was addressed in that case.

If the president can't fire somebody in the executive branch, there is literally no democratic accountability for people that are on the taxpayer dime.

HINOJOSA: But the reason why he is doing this is because he wants to be able to point to something in the midterm elections when Democrats potentially win, that something, you know, went wrong. He wants to sow some sort of doubt and into our election after November.

One of the things that this Commission did is that they helped states, whether for their voting machines, they ensured that they had everything they needed. These voting machines were actually working. And if for some reason now you no longer have quorum on this Commission and they can no longer operate or help these states.

One of the first things he's going to point to if there is anything that any rumor that anything went wrong is that somehow our elections were rigged or the voting machines didn't work. And so, this is Donald Trump laying the groundwork to contest the election. I think that is -- I don't even think it is about who he can and cannot fire. This is about him actually wanting to influence the election.

MEIJER: They haven't had quorum many times over the past two decades and the responsibilities for the election kind of calibration of those machines, it should be with CISA, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security --

HUNT: It's worth noting that he's also gutted CISA.

Go ahead.

SOLTIS-ANDERSON: Well, the other thing that I think is, the thing that I find just baffling about this is this housing bill could be a win on cost of living. And not just on cost of living, but on an issue that I especially see young voters care a lot about in my data.

And if there is one voter group, there are a couple of voter groups that have moved from being like, oh, let's give Donald Trump a chance to -- whoa, I don't know if I like what I got. It's Latino voters and it's younger voters. And I think the housing issue is one that I see younger voters say, I want to be able to buy a house, the rent is too high.

For Donald Trump to come out and be able to say, I signed this bill, I threw a big ceremony at the White House, I had a bunch of people stand behind me, I made it a whole spectacle. For him to pass up that opportunity, even though the bill will, I suppose, become law, even if he does nothing, for him to pass up the opportunity to, like, spike the football on this a little bit --

WILLIAMS: Yes, because --

HINOJOSA: It's bizarre.

MEIJER: I don't want to claim credit for this thing. The White House was trumpeting, you know, up and until the point he got frustrated with it. That you're born in the missed opportunity is just -- just kind of a lay-up.

Now, is everyone going to overstate the benefits of this bill? Yes. Will it probably have a net positive? Sure. But at the end of the day, the political optics on it are good. So take them.

WILLIAMS: I was going to go further. I was going to say even if the bill does or did absolutely nothing, the mere ability to go around the country spiking the football saying we did something for you on affordability would be gold for young voters and the kinds of folks that Kristen's talking about.

HUNT: Yeah. And again, Donald Trump has never hesitated to take credit for something even if he didn't do it that people are happy about, right?

WILLIAMS: Right.

HUNT: I mean, one thing here that I do want to zero in on in terms of I mean, take the point about the commission and what it may or may not be worth. I think it's worth taking a look at it in the bigger picture, right? What is President Trump doing around the midterm elections?

And Xochitl, we've had this warning from Senator Mark Warner.

[16:25:02]

He's the vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, so he's the top Democrat. Does not have a history of histrionics, shall we say, right? Some of his colleagues, prone to histrionics. Mark Warner, typically not, he's a business guy, right, a relatively centrist Democrat from a state that's now blue, but historically has been purple.

He wrote this, quote, "Democracies rarely fail in a single moment. They are tested when the boundaries between lawful authority and political power are deliberately blurred. The idea that a president could fabricate an emergency to take control of elections would have been unthinkable not long ago. It must remain unacceptable now.

He has been warning about this idea that the Trump administration might declare an emergency and use that to invoke powers in the wake of the elections.

Now, David Axelrod, who's, of course, a partisan, he put it this way about the firings. He's setting up he, Trump is setting up plan B. Do whatever you need to win anything. Anyone who says, well, he wouldn't do that hasn't paid attention. He's already proven that he will.

So the period after the midterms may be even more turbulent the run-up to them. The courts are going to be very busy this fall.

HINOJOSA: So -- and David Axelrod is right. I will say that Democratic groups and just progressive groups in general that are monitoring all of this are worried about a number of things. One, they're worried at ICE at polling locations. Two, they're worried about the president, again, somehow not taking the results of the election and accepting him. And three, they're also worried that Speaker Johnson isn't going to seat the new Congress.

And there is deep fear that there is something that will happen between Election Day and in January, especially if Donald Trump's had his way. Obviously, he is willing to say, I'm not going to sign this housing bill because I want the SAVE Act. He's laser-focused not on winning in terms -- the right way. He is laser-focused on winning the election by changing the rules last minute because he knows that he's not winning on the issues.

WILLIAMS: Just in fairness, he's allowed, as president of the United States, to not sign a bill he doesn't wish to sign. Now, it becomes law in 10 days. We all watch Schoolhouse Rock as children. But I hear your point.

But, you know, he's exercising his duties as president in a weird way.

HUNT: Congressman, how do you look at these sort of warnings and conversations around the idea that if the elections don't go Republicans' way, the administration might declare some sort of national emergency and try to use powers to influence who is a sitting member of Congress?

MEIJER: Yeah, I mean, I -- I wish there was a track record where I could say, the president has been -- has been above board on everything related to accepting elections, right?

HUNT: I appreciate your willingness.

HINOJOSA: Yeah.

(CROSSTALK)

MEIJER: We should -- because there has been a lot of history -- there has been a lot of histrionics around. oh, he's mobilizing the National Guard. That's going to lead to the imposition of martial law, right? Everything kind of goes to 11.

Now, there were times when, you know, maybe it didn't go to 11, but it went to a --

WILLIAMS: Solid nine and a half.

MEIJER: Yeah, it was bumped up there. I think at the end of the day, I would find it very unlikely, you know, because Speaker Johnson would need the support of a tremendous amount of members of the House. And that's where, you know, you will these are not things that can be opposed solely with the president's executive authority.

And, you know, even in the -- in the run-up to January 6, you didn't have unanimous or even massive support on the Republican side. Like, there are folks who say, OK, you know what, I see the short-term attempt at this kind of effort for political advantage, but I also understand the very long-term negative consequences of the body politics, so I'm not going to sign on.

HUNT: And do you think that that, in this environment, is still strong enough that if there were a significant institutional challenge, the system would hold the way that it did at least in the immediate aftermath of January 6?

MEIJER: I think you see the strength and resiliency when it's tested and when there's sort of no other choice. You know, I'm not saying that I have a tremendous amount of respect and expectation of the United States House of Representatives, but I don't think that they would fail.

SOLTIS-ANDERSON: If I may have one other thing that might set the minds at ease -- set at ease the minds of those who do not like Donald Trump and do not trust him one ounce. The election where Donald Trump made the most fuss -- fuss is downplaying it.

HUNT: Most noise.

SOLTIS-ANDERSON: You know what I mean.

HUNT: Yes.

SOLTIS: Was an election where his name was on the ballot.

This is not the case today. It is not the case this year. It will not be the case moving forward.

So if your belief is that Donald Trump is going to do this, he cares a lot about his own image as a winner or a loser. I am not as convinced that he cares as much about people running for the House.

MEIJER: The Senate failing to pass the SAVE Act is not on him. It's on the Senate.

HUNT: All right. Coming up next here in THE ARENA, new questions after CNN obtains exclusive video from the day that Senator Mitch McConnell was taken to the hospital nearly a month ago.

Plus, the new intelligence shared with the U.S. from a close ally about threats against Donald Trump, and why some U.S. officials suggest it's being used to sway the president's thinking on the war with Iran.

[16:30:12]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REPORTER: Were you aware of any credible threat by Iran against Air Force One?

TRUMP: Well, I have a threat all the time. I'm number one on their list before you. But if I go, you go, right?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HUNT: All right. Welcome back.

New video exclusively obtained here at CNN shows the moment that emergency responders loaded Senator Mitch McConnell into an ambulance after responding to a call about an unconscious person. The video was taken last month outside of the Kentucky Senator's Washington, D.C. home. And it comes amid rampant speculation over the 84-year-old's health.

McConnell has been hospitalized for well over three weeks, and his team has yet to disclose details about his condition.

CNN senior reporter Annie Grayer joins me now.

So, Annie, I understand you spoke to some eyewitnesses who saw all of this unfold. What did they tell you? What does the video you obtained tell us?

ANNIE GRAYER, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Well, Kasie, the eyewitness who I spoke to is one of McConnell's neighbors who, on the morning of June 14th, left their home at 8:30 in the morning and saw a lot of commotion on the street. They saw two ambulances, a fire truck, and they saw Capitol Police had locked down the entire street.

So this person went up to a Capitol Police officer to ask what was going on, where the officer said there was a medical emergency occurring but wouldn't specify who it was. So this eyewitness then stood in the street along with some other neighbors to try and see what was happening. about 30 minutes later, around 9:00 a.m., is when this person saw first responders carrying somebody out of Mitch McConnell's home on a stretcher and into an ambulance.

And the person I spoke to did not see the face of the individual on that stretcher, but overheard and spoke to somebody else who said that they did see that it was Senator McConnell on that stretcher.

And the reason why these small details here are so important is because we've gotten such little information from McConnell's team about why he was hospitalized June 14th and why he continues to remain in the hospital. It's really raising questions about the level of transparency that lawmakers need to provide while handling very delicate medical issues. But since McConnell's hospitalization, some in Senate Republican leadership have said that they've spoken to the senator and said that he seems to be recovering. They've spoken for about 20 minutes with Senate Majority Leader John Thune.

But major questions remain here, Kasie, especially because audio from EMS shows that emergency responders were sent to McConnell's home on the same day, June 14th, to respond to somebody who was under cardiac arrest, who was unconscious, and who needed CPR.

So, a lot of questions here. In fact, the governor of Kentucky asked McConnell to provide an update on his health, and we're told from a spokesperson that that update -- that they have not heard anything. That update has not been provided. So still a lot of questions more than answers here on the status of things.

HUNT: All right. Annie Grayer for us -- Annie, thank you very much for that reporting.

All right. Joining our panel, CNN senior political commentator, former political director for Senator Mitch McConnell, Scott Jennings.

Scott, Annie mentioned that the former majority leader had spoken with John Thune. You, of course, also said that you spoke with him. Have you spoken with him since we last spoke?

SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: No, I haven't. I have been in touch with his staff and I know he's been meeting with his staff the last couple of days. In fact, was meeting with him this afternoon, but no, I haven't -- sorry, I haven't spoken with him directly, but understand he's, you know, getting briefed and talking about issues with the team. So it sounds like somebody who's. staying engaged with the duties at the moment.

HUNT: What do you make of the video that we see here? The sort of urgency or lack thereof from the personnel as well as, you know, obviously we've we heard the audio of this call that had previously come out.

JENNINGS: Yeah, well, I'm not surprised. I mean, typically that's the way you get to a hospital in an ambulance. And so I wasn't surprised to see there was some video of it.

But honestly, the scene doesn't look very frenetic to me. I mean, we're showing it right now. I mean, they're not rushing around. I don't see anybody being resuscitated. I don't see a lot of, you know, frantic activity.

So, my understanding is he was transported to the hospital. That's where he's been. You know, my guess, Kasie, is that and my urging to them and my counsel would be by Monday when the Senate comes back into session, they do need to tell the people of Kentucky what's going on, how he's doing and if and when he intends to go back to work, but that right there just what I'm seeing.

I mean, a lot of people have, I think, said a lot of things about this that that, to me, kind of disproves. I mean, you don't see a lot of frantic, frenetic activity going on in that ambulance.

HUNT: Well, I both take your point, and I also would say that these are professionals and that, oftentimes, medical professionals who are moving with great urgency, from the outside look very calm and collected as they do so. So, of course, we don't want to project too much.

But I assume, or is it safe to assume, have you conveyed what you just said here to the McConnell team, saying, hey, by Monday, you guys should tell us what's going on?

JENNINGS: Absolutely. I mean, look, I think that, you know, every politician handles these things differently. Some people are more comfortable putting their personal medical business out on the street. Some people aren't. And that's -- that's an individual call.

[16:40:01]

But after it's been a few weeks and the Senate, by the way, has been on recess. So the last two weeks, you know, they have been there anyway. But now that the Senate's coming back into session, my counsel has been, yeah, you should send a letter to the people of Kentucky saying how you're doing and. and what you intend to do in the weeks ahead.

By the way, as a political matter, remember, he's retiring. His final term in the Senate will end here at the end of this year, so he's not on the ballot for reelection. He's going to be replaced by another senator in November.

So we're coming down to the end of his story in service here. But I think even though that's true, he still has a few weeks to go. And I know from talking to him the other day, there's a bunch of issues he's still interested in and some votes that he wants to cast. I think sort of packaging all this up and telling people what happened and what the status is would be a great idea by Monday and hope they do that.

HUNT: Yeah, your home in Kentucky. I mean, what are your friends and neighbors telling you about this?

JENNINGS: Well, you know, look, I've known Mitch McConnell since I was 16 years old, so most of the people I hear from are just always sort of conveying concern and checking in. And you know how's he doing? You get a lot of those kinds of questions. And so, you know, I always just say look what I what I said is what I know. I talked to him and you know he was in the hospital and the word is he's feeling better. But he's not out of the hospital yet, so I just try to tell people you know what I know to be true, but I don't try to say anything that I don't know to be true, of course.

And you know, there's a lot of people -- there's a lot of people that are concerned about him. Look, the guy is the longest serving senator in the history of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. He has been in the Senate for over 40 years. He first won election in 1984. He knows the state like the back of his hand, and it means he's got friends in every county of this state.

So, you can imagine that a lot of people are concerned for him. But when they heard that he was calling people on the phone, like me and Senator Thune and others, I think that gave people a lot of hope that perhaps some of the conspiracy theory hype they've seen on the internet was false and overblown.

HUNT: Well, certainly, we always -- anyone in this kind of situation, we wish them well for their health. But, Congressman Meijer, I mean, while what Scott has to say certainly underscores the length of service what he has meant to his home state, it also underscores just how long he has been serving and how -- I mean, we -- what is your view of what lawmakers should do in situations like these? Not just Mitch McConnell, but anyone that finds himself in this kind of a situation.

MEIJER: Yeah. I mean, number one, we're looking at that video and we're trying to piece out little details because of an absence of information. And that gives some folks online to say, oh, he's brain dead and go to crazy hypotheses, what Annie was saying about, you know, cardiac arrest, CPR, that is very hard to square with an ambulance being there for 30 minutes, and then folks just kind of bring it out and going, right?

So, none of that really adds up, but it's also because we're having to just extrapolate and draw off a very little information. I think there is -- your privacy as a public individual is always something that's going to be tension about. But if you are not able to perform your duties, if you're going to be missing votes, If you are in a position where now people are speculating, you should tamp that down, because there have been a number of elected officials who have had an injury, have had to go to the hospital.

First thing they do, hey, here's a statement, this happened, seeking care, being briefed by the team, we'll update, here's the expectation of when I'll be able to come back. That nips it in the bud, and you don't even hear about this.

SOLTIS-ANDERSON: And I think part of what's causing us to have this conversation about Senator McConnell and his situation is that it's coming on the heels of a very long absence from a member of the House, Representative Tom Kean, who was gone for reasons that went unexplained for a very long time. Prior to that, you had Congressman Kay Granger, who was absent. And so I think there's just there has been a pattern in the last year

or two of elected officials not being transparent and not being present that I think has then led to this extra scrutiny. There already would be because it's Mitch McConnell, this additional level of scrutiny.

HINOJOSA: And he hasn't called any Democrats. He's talked to Scott Jennings for 20 minutes, but he can't find five minutes to call Chuck Schumer or Andy Beshear.

HUNT: Well, Scott Jennings, can you get him on the phone?

JENNINGS: For the record, for the -- for the record, I'm perfectly healthy and I wouldn't call either Chuck Schumer Andy Beshear either. So I don't know --

HINOJOSA: You're also not a senator.

JENNINGS: I don't know why, Xochitl --

HINOJOSA: You're also not a senator. No offense.

JENNINGS: I don't know why, Xochitl, I don't know why they would be at the top of his call list.

HINOJOSA: You could run for the special seats, their special election.

JENNINGS: But -- but, look, I -- my expectation is, sometime before Monday, you're going to hear from him and find out, you know, what's been going on with him and actually, most importantly, you know what are his intentions about getting back to work? Because you know they said it does have some issues they got to resolve here in the fall. And I know there's some issues, particularly on national defense that he's cares about a lot. So I'm looking forward to getting that communication and certainly think it's due in Monday or by Monday is a good time to do it.

HUNT: So Scott, you can't get him on the phone right now. I mean, he could call in in the next block. It's available, if you want to.

[16:45:02]

JENNINGS: I'll check in on it for you. I'm just a contributor here, but if you would like me to take on an additional role of booking producer, I'll --

HUNT: Absolutely.

JENNINGS: It's going to cost you, though.

HUNT: Okay. Scott Jennings, always grateful for your time. Thank you very much.

The rest of our panel's going to stand by. Ahead here in THE ARENA, the extreme home makeover continues at the White House, what we are learning about the newest construction job at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and how it's different from the president's other projects.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HUNT: All right, breaking news, this just in to CNN. Graham Platner has tweeted out the letter officially withdrawing his name from the ballot in the Maine Senate race.

[16:50:03]

We here at CNN have reached out to the Maine Secretary of State who confirms that the letter has been received and is official.

This is notable because we had expected Platner to wait until just before the Monday deadline to make this official. Now, I want to read a little bit from this letter here, because he says, "I write to formally withdraw my candidacy from the United States Senate. On June 9th, 156,084 Mainers voted for a new kind of politics, one that's representative of people down here in the real world, not billionaires, oligarchs, or the political establishment."

He says, "People are desperate for change, for this broken system to be righted, for the American experiment to be furthered. My name may have been on the ballot, but that ballot line belongs to the people of Maine. As such, please consider this notice my official withdrawal from consideration for this office."

He ends it, "F ICE. Free Palestine. Up the hearts," and signs it, "Solidarity forever, Graham Platner."

Xochitl?

HINOJOSA: Good riddance.

WILLIAMS: Yeah.

HINOJOSA: We needed him out. The longer he stayed in, the longer we are talking about Graham Platner and the less we're talking about Susan Collins as a party. And I don't know how many weeks it has been where we are talking about Graham Platner's sex scandals and not talking about how Susan Collins has --

MEIJER: Her bipartisan record --

HINOJOSA: Her -- no, how her --

(LAUGHTER)

HINOJOSA: Her confirmation of Kavanaugh, et cetera.

Listen, this now will allow the Democratic Party to move forward. They -- "The New York Times" just reported that they're eyeing a late July convention that they will likely look to potentially have a process where they have delegates, a caucus-like process, where they can finally pick someone, and we can move on.

And honestly, this is a good day for the Democratic Party. Finally, we have -- we will hopefully pick someone who can beat Susan Collins, because Graham Platner was never going to be that person.

HUNT: Congressman?

MEIJER: I mean, banking a lot on sort of the organization of that late July -- or was it late July or late August?

HINOJOSA: Late July.

MEIJER: I mean, because that's a very tight window before the election. I mean, you've got August, September, October, you've got three months for a candidate, you know, whether the candidate has strong name ID, whether the candidate is able to get a good message all the while. Susan Collins, I don't think she's even really started campaigning proper yet. You know, obviously, she was unchallenged in her primary. You know, it's still --

HINOJOSA: Well -- but they've been on the air already. I mean, she's not somebody who forgets what's going on at home.

MEIJER: No, no, no. I mean, there's a reason why she sits on a throne of skulls of her vanquished opponents. I mean, Susan Collins is an incredible, incredible politician.

And there's a reason why she -- I mean, she's over-performed the top of the ticket in presidential cycles by you know, I think 20, 25 times.

HINOJOSA: But Republicans are not resting on their laurels on this one, because in some ways, Republicans were excited to run against --

MEIJER: A tremendously damaged --

HINOJOSA: This guy. And so, now, they may be running against someone who's going to be coming in at the last minute, trying to build name ID, have still have the baggage of being from the party that gave you Graham Platner. But Republicans are not -- do not think that this by any means makes Maine a safe race for them. And Republican Party officials are emphasizing that to their donors and supporters repeatedly. This is still a big deal race for them.

HUNT: Kristen, can I ask you, one of the major trends in American politics has been, Tip O'Neill famously said, all politics is local, right? In our era, all politics has become national, with a couple of exceptions. And one of the exceptions has been Susan Collins in Maine, right?

She has overperformed the top of the ticket. She has been able to have an identity that is about her state and not necessarily solely about her party. If this, whoever the Democrats choose, essentially runs as a generic Democrat, do you think our politics have changed enough to override that?

Will whoever wins in Maine essentially just be a version of the generic ballot? Or do you think Collins still has a chance to continue to buck the trend? SOLTIS-ANDERSON: I mean, I think the national political environment, it creates very strong headwinds, but if you have a long history in a state. But that's not to say, again, that she's safe. There are plenty of incumbents who have been around forever, and they win and they win and they win until they don't.

So she is by no means safe, even though she is a very skilled political operator. This is an environment that doesn't look great for Republicans. I don't know when early voting exactly starts in Maine, but let's also remember, it's not as though this decision gets made in November, there are voters who will be casting ballots in the weeks leading up to this.

WILLIAMS: Well, Democrats have a really good track record of picking candidates in July for major elections, and so -- oh, sorry.

(CROSSTALK)

HINOJOSA: Yeah, say that.

HUNT: There's more than one option.

[16:55:00]

WILLIAMS: I will just say this. He ends it with a pretty controversial F ICE, free Palestine or whatever. That's a point being made in democratic circles. Fine. Have a candidate who doesn't have Nazi tattoos and hasn't been accused of sexual assault, make that case to the voters of Maine.

HUNT: OK. On that note, we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HUNT: All right. Thanks to my panel. Really appreciate you all being here. Have a great weekend.

Thanks to you at home for watching as well. Have a great weekend. Don't forget, you can watch much more of THE ARENA tomorrow.

THE ARENA SATURDAY airs at noon and again at 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time right here on CNN. I'd be honored to have you join us.

But for now, don't go anywhere. Jake Tapper is standing by for "THE LEAD" and he is, of course, hosting "STATE OF THE UNION" this Sunday.

Hi, Jake.