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El-Sayed, Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) Locked in Tight Michigan Democratic Senate Primary; Rep. Max Miller (R-OH) Defiant, Says He'll Stay in Re-Election Race; FAA Investigating Incident Involving Trump's Marine One Helicopter. Aired 7-7:30a ET
Aired August 05, 2026 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[07:00:00]
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: It is too close to call. The big Democratic showdown in Michigan still underway. Progressive Abdul El-Sayed, Congresswoman Haley Stevens locked in a tight race to win the Democratic Senate primary there. We are tracking the results as they are still coming in this morning.
SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Embattled Congressman Max Miller defiant despite growing pressure to drop his re-election bid. The Republican spoke exclusively to our Jake Tapper, saying he's staying in the race despite the abuse allegations against him by several women. What he says President Trump told him in a recent call.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: And breaking overnight, we are standing by for official word from NASA about a rocket crashing into the moon, hurtling towards the lunar surface at 5,000 miles per hour.
I'm John Berman with Kate Bolduan and Sara Sidner, this is CNN News Central.
BOLDUAN: We are watching a cliffhanger in Michigan this morning. The votes still being counted in one of the most closely watched races in the entire country this year, a Democratic Senate primary that has come to embody the fight for the soul of the Democratic Party right now.
Progressive Abdul El-Sayed and the moderate Congresswoman Haley Stevens locked in a tight battle right now. You see where things stand at this moment. El-Sayed has a narrow lead. The race remains unresolved. The place that everyone is watching at the moment is Wayne County, where Detroit is, which is notoriously slow in counting ballots. Throughout history, this is how it has been.
El-Sayed and Stevens, they addressed supporters in the wee hours of the morning, likely as you were sleeping. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ABDUL EL-SAYED (D), MICHIGAN SENATE CANDIDATE: I wish I could tell you that I was declaring victory right about now. Turns out it takes a long time to count some votes in Michigan. It's a big state. REP. HALEY STEVENS (D-MI): We knew that this was going to be a close race, and that's exactly what we've got, a close race.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BOLDUAN: The winner of this Democratic primary will face the former congressman, Republican Mike Rogers, in the general election this November, but there is a whole lot of time, clearly, before that, and at least -- and one very big result to finalize.
Let's get to Jeff Zeleny in Detroit for us this morning. And you were up late last night watching all of this come in, Jeff. Where are we right now?
JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Kate, good morning. I mean, this is the closest of close races, and there have been many of them, of course, here in Wayne County in Detroit. But for all of the national implications of this, this is coming down to a very local contest in question right here in Detroit. At this hour, Abdul El-Sayed is leading Haley Stevens by 19,400 votes out of 1.5 million votes cast.
That gives you a sense of how close this is. I saw Abdul El-Sayed just a few minutes ago. He was standing just right in front of our hotel here ready to do a different interview, and he gave me a thumbs up. But it is unclear when exactly he is going to be able to move forward here.
Haley Stevens realizes her path to victory is a narrower one, but that path does exist because of mail-in votes right here in Wayne County and Detroit. But both candidates last night made clear that they were still trying to talk about unifying the party. Both have pledged to support the other, and they started trying to turn their attention to the man watching all of this with glee. That's Republican nominee Mike Rogers.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
El-SAYED: And I know you're listening, Mike. We are coming for you.
This is a guy who has never seen a check from a corporation he did not want to corrupt himself with.
STEVENS: They want to keep the U.S. Senate red so Mike Rogers can keep rubber-stamping Donald Trump's ridiculous agenda, higher prices, a thousand manufacturing jobs lost nationwide, corruption and abuses of power galore.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ZELENY: Well, look, both of those speeches were delivered in the early morning hours, and that is not what either of them believe.
[07:05:00]
Stevens' supporters thought that this progressive movement was going to be enough to effectively stop the establishment. That also did not happen.
But there's no doubt that El-Sayed was expecting an earlier victory. Some of his top supporters actually have put out statements congratulating him, saying that they should be released after the race was called. He was hoping to give a speech during the primetime hours last evening. That didn't happen, Kate. So, the votes need to be continued to be counted here in Wayne County.
But one thing is clear, unifying this party may be much more difficult because of the narrow factor of this race here. Black voters in Wayne County, Detroit, other parts of Michigan clearly were supporting Haley Stevens. There is some work to be done unifying the party regardless of who wins. But, again, Michigan's so important because Democrats must hold this seat and flip four Republican seats if they want to try and win control of the Senate. So, a little bit more counting to do here this morning in Detroit. Kate?
BOLDUAN: A little bit more counting, a whole lot of analysis, and a general election then to move on to.
ZELENY: That's right.
BOLDUAN: It's great to see you, Jeff. Thank you so much. Much more to come. Sara?
SIDNER: All right. Thank you, Kate. This morning after three women have come forward accusing Ohio Congressman Max Miller of abuse, he remains defiant. He is refusing to drop his re-election bid despite mounting pressure over those allegations.
Miller's ex-wife is one of the three women from his past who have said that Miller abused them. Miller spoke exclusively with CNN's Jake Tapper yesterday, just hours after Miller himself requested the House Ethics Committee to open an investigation.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. MAX MILLER (R-OH): I am never going to give up. And what I mean by that is, my daughter's going to grow up one day, and she's going to see all of this, and she's not going to see that her father caved to political and social media pressures for something that he never did.
I will never ever, ever let my baby girl see her dad walk away as a quitter.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SIDNER: CNN White House reporter Adam Cancryn is joining us with the very latest on this. Give us some sense of some of what we also heard from him when he spoke to Jake and how this goes forward with him calling for an investigation of himself.
ADAM CANCRYN, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes, Sara, I mean, the Max Miller watch here as to whether he will stay in his reelection race or drop out continues again today. There's really just kind of growing concern across the Republican Party about his ability to remain in this race, these domestic alle- abuse allegations not going away. And it's in the -- with the concerns of Republicans you know, potentially going to cost them a seat that otherwise should be safely red.
Now, Max Miller has remained defiant throughout all of this. He has denied all of these allegations. He said he wants a House Ethics Committee investigation into himself to clear his name. And then you also saw in his interview with CNN's Jake Tapper yesterday saying that, you know, essentially all of this is false and that he will kind of see this through, refuse to resign. Sara, listen to what he told Jake yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: Are all three of these women who don't know each other, are all three of them lying?
MILLER: Yes, it's very easy and I can tell you why. Every single time, and people have asked me, you know, what are you going to do? Are you going to drop out of this race? Are you going to resign? You know, are you going to get out before the deadline? And my answer to you, Jake, is no, and I can tell you why. In 2016, when President Donald J. Trump faced the most extreme allegations in the world that hit him day after day after day, and people in the media, very much like yourself and others, said that he would have no shot at winning, that he should not be the president of the United States. But guess what? He stayed in and he was resilient.
For no second am I going to sit here and continue to be debased by false and baseless allegations and be pushed out of a seat I have worked so hard to represent and done a terrific job for our community.
I've been a good legislator. All they're trying to do is create rumor mills without evidence. It's all hearsay.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CANCRYN: So, as you can see there, really no suggestion that he thinks he's in jeopardy or is willing to consider dropping out here in the next few days. Now, there only are a few days left for this decision to be made before his name cannot be taken off the ballot. Just one more note. I mean, Donald Trump, Speaker Mike Johnson, they are the two Republicans who probably could get him out of the race. They have refused to do that so far. Sara?
SIDNER: All right. We'll see what happens in the next chapter of this.
Adam Cancryn, thank you so much. I do appreciate it. John?
BERMAN: All right. Breaking overnight, an air safety incident involving President Trump aboard Marine One. We're just getting new details in.
The already devastating wildfires exploding in Washington State, surging temperatures could make it much worse.
And pretty incredible video, how a car managed to go airborne and crash right into the side of a bus.
[07:10:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SIDNER: This morning, the FAA is investigating an air traffic safety incident involving the president's Marine One helicopter and a passenger jet that was taking off at the same time.
This unfolded just yesterday near Reagan National Airport as Marine One prepared for takeoff. You can see it, that's video of what was going on at that very moment. Now, there's some new air traffic control audio, and you can hear Marine One's pilots try to notify the control tower that they were getting ready to lift off.
Initially, the controller didn't respond, and then on a second call, the controller replied that the transmission was garbled.
[07:15:04]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tower, just want to make sure you copy Marine one, three minutes to lift. Tower, do you copy? Marine One, three minutes to lift.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Last calling, broken and unreadable.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SIDNER: Minutes later, Marine One said they were departing as planned.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Marine One, you said you're proceeding as briefed?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: National Tower, that's Marine One, proceeding as briefed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SIDNER: The controller warned them the jet was taking off, and Marine One said that they saw it. They were holding their position. Officials say it does not appear to have been a dangerous close call. John?
BERMAN: All right. Breaking overnight, rising temperatures and dry conditions in the Pacific Northwest threaten to make the wildfires even worse.
Several fires near Spokane are still 0 percent contained. Thousands of residents remain under evacuation orders. In the Spokane area, more than 10,000 acres have burned, and hundreds of homes have been destroyed. More than 200,000 acres have burned across the state. Tomorrow, the man accused of setting one of the Spokane fires will be arraigned on a first degree arson charge. Kate? BOLDUAN: Overnight, we learned at least 17 people were killed, more than 50 people injured after Russia launched a huge missile attack on Ukraine's capital city. Ukraine says none of the ballistic missiles fired by Russia were intercepted. And President Zelenskyy also spoke out overnight, saying that Ukraine's stockpile of air defense missiles now has dropped by two-thirds since last year. Zelenskyy is also accusing Russia and speaking out against what he's calling a drone safari now against innocent civilians.
We showed you this disturbing video yesterday. Ukrainian officials say this is the moment -- just look at this. It's terrifying. An innocent street vendor, they say, was literally tracked and chased and attacked by a Russian drone. The man survived that explosion, is recovering now from his injuries.
Coming up still for us, an armed man arrested at President Trump's golf club ahead of his visit there. The new details we are now learning this morning about the suspect.
And a passenger train smashes through a farm trailer, bales of hay sent flying. What authorities say the driver was doing before the crash that endangered the lives of hundreds of people.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[07:20:00]
BOLDUAN: So, the first earnings report for SpaceX since it went public is out, and it blew past expectations. Revenue for Elon Musk's satellite, space, and A.I. company soared by 92 percent. But the company did also show just how much cash it is burning through, particularly when it comes to A.I. investments as it tries to compete with the likes of OpenAI and Anthropic and more.
CNN's David Goldman has been looking into this. So, what did you learn in this report so far.
DAVID GOLDMAN, CNN BUSINESS SENIOR REPORTER: Yes, I mean, well, so far, yes. I mean, the stock is down 11 percent, and it's a little bit of a strange reaction because of everything that you just said, right? I mean, the sales almost doubled, up 92 percent, and that is one of the big traditional kind of metrics that we use to determine whether a company is successful. $8 billion in revenue, that's pretty good.
Actually, it also pared its loss by a ton. It lost more than $500 million. That's not great, but it was $4.3 billion in the previous quarter. So, you know, that is a pretty good path forward for that company, too. And also, Starlink, one of the key businesses, remember, beaming the internet down from space, those sales rose 66 percent.
So, what's the problem? Oh, also A.I., which is its key business now, well, those sales rose more than 200 percent. So, why do investors hate what they saw? It all has to do with the amount of money that they're spending on A.I., which exceeded $18 billion in three months.
And this is what Wall Street is looking at, not just for SpaceX, but for all of these companies, OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Amazon, right? How much are you spending on A.I.? Because if you can't get this under control, investors are going to say, well, when are we going to start seeing the returns? If SpaceX is still posting a loss with all of the A.I. sales that it generated, well, then when are we going to get our share?
This is a big concern on Wall Street right now, and SpaceX is just at the pointy end of the spear here.
BOLDUAN: And it is definitely hard to wrap your mind around some of these numbers that you're throwing up on the screen.
GOLDMAN: Well, everything with SpaceX, it's hard to wrap your mind around. I don't get it.
BOLDUAN: From the technology to the -- yes.
GOLDMAN: Yes.
BOLDUAN: To all of it. It's good to see you.
GOLDMAN: You know what? We'll just leave it there.
BOLDUAN: Thank you, David. Sara?
SIDNER: What's so hard about rockets? I understand it all.
BOLDUAN: Exactly.
SIDNER: It makes total sense.
GOLDMAN: It's not rocket science. Oh, it is rocket science.
SIDNER: Wait, but it is. Good one, David.
All right, ahead, concerns growing that the United States is rapidly depleting its weapons stockpile. How this could play into President Trump's next move in the Iran war.
And police arrest an airline pilot after they find 70,000 ecstasy pills in his bag. Now, authorities are saying this could be part of a much larger international drug trafficking ring.
Those stories and more ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[07:25:00]
BERMAN: All right. Happening now, we are still counting votes in Michigan in the much watched Democratic primary for Senate there. As you can see, only 19,000 votes separate Abdul El-Sayed with Haley Stevens. That was with 95 percent reporting.
95 percent, you might be saying there's a lot, so where is the remaining vote? We take this down. There's really only one place in the entire state with less than 90 percent reporting. That's Wayne County, where Detroit is. Let's go there. You can see Wayne County has about 84 percent reporting now, so there is some outstanding vote in Wayne County. This is the most populous county in the state. It makes up about 18 percent or so of the voters there.
You can see in Wayne County, Haley Stevens is leading Abdul El-Sayed by about 14,000 votes. We don't know exactly how many votes remain in Wayne County.
[07:30:01]
The New York Times says it could be as many as 30,000.
You can see the math is hard. The math is hard for Haley Stevens if she wants to overtake Abdul El-Sayed.
