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DHS Chief Issues Stark Warning to State Election Officials; Trump Claims China Worked Against Him in 2020, Intel Says It Didn't; Trump's Election-Security Speech Reveals Information Largely Already Known; Man Arrested After Breaching Security, Approaching Today Co- Host; Hearing Ends on States' Push to Block Paramount-Warner Bros. Merger. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired July 17, 2026 - 14:30   ET

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

[14:30:00]

LUCY JONES. SEISMOLOGIST: ... Well, there would have been strong currents going through as the water gets displaced. But the really big tsunamis that would affect a country well away from where the earthquake happens, that only happens above like magnitude eight and a half. It has to be much larger than this to cause a far-reaching tsunami.

So they did see a period -- it does look like they saw a small tsunami, but it's only a matter of a couple of feet at low tide.

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN HOST: This is the expertise we look for. Lucy Jones, appreciate you breaking every aspect of that down. Thank you for the time.

JONES: Thank you.

JIMENEZ: All right, still to come, President Trump claims America's elections are worse than a, quote, third world country. We're going to take a look at the facts and why his claims don't all add up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: New today, the Trump administration is increasing its scrutiny of state election systems. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin today issuing a stark warning to election officials in states that refuse to partner with his department. Mullin saying that he would use maximum pressure to root out any illegally cast votes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARKWAYNE MULLIN, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: If the election officials, once we gave them the information, they need to secure their elections and they chose not to, then those individuals can also be held accountable by fines, by penalties and even depending on how far it goes, prison time.

(END VIDEO CLIP) KEILAR: Now, this follows President Trump's primetime address last night, where he again raised unfounded claims about vulnerabilities in the U.S. election system and China's alleged efforts to influence elections. CNN's Katie Bo Lillis is here with more details on this. What more can you tell us about that claim on China?

KATIE BO LILLIS, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Yes, Brianna, so I think what we're seeing here is the president is taking a look at a relatively obscure and somewhat even say routine analytic disagreement inside the intelligence community over the strength of the evidence that China was attempting to interfere in the 2020 election and attempting to characterize it as a effort by kind of rogue elements of the intelligence community to obscure or suppress vital intelligence information from getting to him.

So in late 2020, early 2021, the intelligence community, under then President Trump's leadership, assessed that China considered interfering in the U.S. election or considered trying to influence the U.S. election, but ultimately decided not to stage a broad influence campaign designed to denigrate then President Trump's presidential campaign, basically in the intelligence community's view, out of fear of pissing off the U.S., right? They wanted relations to remain stable, and so they ultimately decided not to act.

Now, there was one senior intelligence official in particular at the time, the National Intelligence Officer for Cyber, who didn't agree with that analysis. He viewed the evidence that the intelligence community had gathered as adding up to, well, China tried some low- level efforts to undermine Trump's candidacy, and he wanted to make sure that those views were included in the final intelligence community product. All of that back and forth was included in these documents that were released by the White House yesterday, and the president has been using those to argue that vital intelligence was suppressed from him.

The problem with that argument, Brianna, is that much of this was actually made public even at the time. Then-Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe issued a memo in January that got at some of the thrust of the dissenting opinion by this National Intelligence Officer, and then in the ultimate report that was issued in March of 2021, it explicitly said there was a dissenting opinion, this person believed that there was evidence to suggest that China was trying to undermine Trump.

KEILAR: So is this kind of disagreement in the intelligence community unusual?

LILLIS: It's a feature, not a bug, in how intelligence analysis is produced. Intelligence analysis isn't a mathematical equation, oh, you put these inputs in and everybody comes up with the same answer every single time, right? It is human beings taking lots and lots of different pieces of information from all over the government that have been collected in lots of different ways.

You don't always have a perfect view into what any of it means, you've got to figure out how to vet it, and then you have to put it into a big puzzle that has a final conclusion, right? Reasonable people can and do often disagree on what that final conclusion is -- Brianna.

KEILAR: Very good context. Katie Bo Lillis, thank you so much -- Omar.

JIMENEZ: Sticking to a little bit more of this with Geoff Duncan, former Republican Lieutenant Governor of Georgia and former Democratic candidate for Georgia Governor, I appreciate you being here. I just want to start with, what's your reaction to what we heard from President Trump last night?

GEOFF DUNCAN, FORMER REPUBLICAN LT. GOVERNOR OF GEORGIA: I think the best way to explain what happened last night was just good old- fashioned clickbait. We watched Donald Trump and his cast of characters all week talk about how important this information was going to be, how earth-shattering, and it almost made the sense that it was going to validate all the nonsense that we've heard over the last six years. And in reality, what we saw play out was three things.

One, they talked about, or he talked about, our election process has vulnerabilities, certainly we've known that for a long time. China hates us, we've known that for a long time, and that election machines somehow, some way could be open to cyber attacks, which possibly could be the case. I think the reality is that vulnerabilities and actual fraud have a million miles of separation between the two of them.

And that's been this process that's played out all the way back since the early hours of 2020, when I and others were standing up to Donald Trump in Georgia. It isn't just enough to talk about vulnerabilities without actual facts of the fraud happening. And that's really what I think played out last night.

[14:40:00]

JIMENEZ: And to your point, let's talk about Georgia briefly, because yes, back in 2020, Georgia was the center of President Trump's election denialism. And in your experience, how has Trump's rhetoric, not just around Georgia, but around election security in general, impacted everyday Americans' faith in the country's democratic process, especially during that period back in 2020, when, again, you all were at the center of it?

DUNCAN: Yes, I mean, I certainly think it has divided America. And I think more and more people are coming into the fold that this is not actually a thing, that the 2020 election wasn't rigged. Are there vulnerabilities?

Are there ways for us to continue to use an iteration process to tighten up elections? Absolutely. And we should do that in a bipartisan fashion in all 50 states across the country, from coast to coast.

But the reality is it's created a division. And look, the MAGA world has just wanted to latch their teeth onto this election fraud theory and just act like Donald Trump got shafted in the 2020 election. But the reality is that it that didn't actually happen.

I think the interesting part to this from a political standpoint is a majority of Republicans, especially those that are on this year's ballot, don't want Donald Trump to be talking about this. They don't want him fanning the flames of conspiracy theories that have no validation, have no proof. They want him to be talking about the things that matter the most, gas prices, wars abroad, grocery costs, housing issues, ICE shooting people, innocent people in the streets.

I mean, these are things that I think Republicans want to see dealt with, along with independents and of course, Democrats, too.

JIMENEZ: You know, one other political aspect of this that we've seen pushed, especially by the president and his allies, is urging Congress to pass the Save America Act, which would require proof of citizenship to register to vote, among other things. Based on what you heard last night, again, talking about some of the real vulnerabilities that there are, even if they didn't change results, do you think that Trump's Save America Act would actually fortify America's elections against some of these real vulnerabilities? Or I just wonder how you assess it on the merits of what it would actually do.

DUNCAN: Well, I do think there's a process that we can continue to improve and tighten elections. I.D. is certainly a part of that process, but I think going back to this kind of saying that always sticks in my mind around public policy, are you showing up to just try to make a point, or are you showing up to make a difference? If you're trying to create laws and regulations that limit the number of people that show up to vote just because you want to create a certain political outcome, then that's wrong.

That's not the democratic process. If you're trying to create a system that actually wraps its hands around the legalities of an election, who shows up, who votes. But I also think there's an interesting chasm that the Trump administration has created.

They've created a tension between states, Republican states, Democratic states alike. The federal government, the intent was for states to run these elections. The federal government should be there to support them, not bully them into positions, not try to create a synthetic outcome just because they want to have a political win in a certain state or a certain election.

JIMENEZ: And we've talked about, again, some of the real concerns around vulnerabilities, even if they have been assessed by the intelligence community for years in some cases to this point. But when you look at President Trump's second term in particular, he's dismantled many government organizations set up to alert the public about foreign influence operations aimed at U.S. elections, just to name one aspect of things. And I just wonder, for you, are you concerned at all that America's elections could be more vulnerable than they were previously based on some of those actions?

DUNCAN: Well, the concerns I had taking away from this speech and Donald Trump's continued rhetoric and the MAGA crowd as a whole is that it continues to look like they're sowing seeds of doubt for forward-looking elections. But if you go no further than the Fulton County raid on the warehouse, the voting warehouse for the ballots, that had nothing to do with trying to prove a fraudulent effort in the 2020 election. I believe it had everything to do with sowing seeds of doubt going forward.

And so how does Donald Trump and his cast of characters, do they action on this? Do they try to create some sort of federalization of the election process? Do they continue to sow seeds of doubt?

Look, we need to work. We need to be mature enough to work across party lines with elections and with national intelligence. We need to make sure that these are not partisan reports being written, that these are American reports being written that have the best interests of 350 million Americans, regardless of their political affiliation.

JIMENEZ: Geoff Duncan of Georgia, really appreciate you being here. And thank you for taking the time.

DUNCAN: Thanks Omar.

JIMENEZ: All right, still to come, a man is now charged with multiple hate crimes after slipping past security at 30 Rock and approaching NBC host Craig Melvin. We'll have new details from the investigation next.

[14:45:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: Authorities in New York are investigating how a man slipped past security at 30 Rock and lunged at Today Show co-host Craig Melvin. The man is alleged to have done this and allegedly called Melvin a racial slur during that encounter yesterday but was quickly taken into custody. Melvin briefly addressed the incident this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GRAIG MELVIN, CO-HOST, NBC'S "TODAY": An intruder made his way into an unauthorized area here in Studio 1A. Thankfully, he was apprehended quickly. He was placed under arrest.

We are cooperating fully with the NYPD as they investigate the matter. And we are just very happy that everyone is safe. Absolutely.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, of course. We want to make sure that you're safe.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: CNN correspondent Brynn Gingras is with us on this story. All right, Brynn. What are you learning?

[14:50:00]

BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Brianna, we've actually learned a lot because that person, Andrew Truelove, is who police have identified, 41 years old, is now charged with several crimes related to hate crimes for that racial slur that you just mentioned about. And he has had a court appearance. So we're learning a lot from the criminal complaint that was filed. And, essentially, what we've learned is police believe that he actually followed an NBC employee who used a I.D. card to get into an unauthorized area of 30 Rock and followed that person, and then encountered Craig Melvin and asked, where's Roker, Al Roker, of course, being Melvin's co-host. And when Melvin asked him what he wanted, he essentially used the N-word against him.

And then, as he tried to get away, what we're understanding is that Melvin was able to get someone to basically catch him until police could arrive. And according to the criminal complaint, Melvin said, that's what you want to get arrested for. And Truelove's response is, I always wanted to call a black famous person the N-word.

Now, you can imagine, this is disturbing in so many ways. Also, though, just the security breach of this is extremely unsettling. We know that NBC says that it was going to review all of its security protocols and make sure everything is, you know, buttoned up a little bit there.

We know that NBC's co-anchors and their staff were seeing more security in February after Savannah Guthrie's -- the abduction of her mother. And we also know, just talking to employees at NBC, that there has been extra security in that area, just because of all the World Cup events that are happening around the 30 Rock area. So, certainly, this is something NBC is looking a closer look at, but scary incidents.

But as you heard Craig say there, Brianna, everyone is OK. And we know that Truelove, he is behind bars on $10,000 bond and will be back in court next week.

KEILAR: Yes, thank goodness everyone is OK. Brynn, thank you for the latest there -- Omar.

JIMENEZ: Let's get you updated on some of the other headlines we are watching this hour, including a recent drop in gas prices, helped Americans feel more optimistic about the economy this month. The latest survey from the University of Michigan shows that consumer sentiment surged 10 percent in the early part of July to its highest point just since February, though. Consumer sentiment, as you might imagine, is closely tied to gas prices.

So any recovery could be short-lived with the Iran war heating back up. But when we got good news, we'll bring it to you. Both the global, excuse me, and U.S. crude oil benchmarks are up more than 4 percent today. So a dynamic we will watch.

Also, Ireland has approved the country's first public register for domestic violence offenders. The site will include the names of those convicted of serious offenses, including rape, harassment and nonfatal strangulation.

Supporters of the landmark legislation say it will empower people to check whether a potential partner has a history of violence. But there are limits to the register. Publication will be determined by the trial judge based on the circumstances of the case.

And the offender's name will only be released if the victim consents.

And then a terrifying landslide in southwest China. I mean, look at this. Earlier today, it's killed at least eight people and left 34 missing. This is dash cam video, which shows part of a hillside literally giving way, sending dirt, rocks and debris crashing down onto homes and businesses below. You can see drivers stopping as the hillside collapses.

And then in another video, you can see people just running for their lives. Others might still be trapped under debris as well. As rescue crews have reportedly pulled out multiple survivors at this point, authorities are still working to determine the cause of this disaster.

All right, coming up, a judge considers a temporary restraining order seeking to stop Paramount from taking over Warner Brothers Discovery. We'll have an update from the courtroom next.

[14:55:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JIMENEZ: Breaking news from a federal courtroom in California where the fate of the Paramount Warner Brothers Discovery merger hangs in the balance. A hearing on a temporary restraining order aimed at stopping the merger just concluded. And we should note Warner Brothers Discovery is the parent company of CNN.

But I want to bring in CNN chief media analyst Brian Seltzer, who's with us. So Brian, what happened during this hearing?

BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA ANALYST: Yes, this is one of the biggest mergers in the world. And frankly, Paramount is right on the one or two yard line. They're almost in the end zone with this merger.

But now these states are standing in the way. So moments ago, the judge said that she will respond to the state's request by next Wednesday. That's July 22nd.

And the timing is significant for the following reason. Paramount has secured almost all the approvals it needs all around the world for this merger, including from the Trump administration in the U.S. That approval from the Trump administration has been widely criticized, with many believing that it was approved for political reasons. So there have been some indications that Paramount might try to take over WBD and the rest, including CNN, by actually on July 22nd, next Wednesday.

So that is why these state attorneys general have gone to this court in California and asked the court to press the pause button while this legal process takes place. Now, executives at both Paramount and Warner have told me they expect the judge will press the pause button and will slow things down. And that's a problem for Paramount, because this deal gets more expensive for Paramount on October 1st, based on the terms that are set in the deal. I interviewed California Attorney General Rob Bonta overnight. He's the attorney general who's overseeing this 12-state coalition. Because there's been a lot of speculation, including some encouraged by Trump allies, that what the Democratic state attorney general actually want is for Paramount to divest CNN, to sell off this channel, and not let it be sold to Paramount.

Bonta has completely rejected that. And here's a part of what he told me overnight. He said, "If Paramount Warner Brothers want to come forward in good faith and sincerely want to make a settlement offer, we will always consider a settlement offer. And it would have to include ...

END