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Two U.S. Troops Killed, One Missing After Iran Strikes; Trump Threatens Iran's Bridges And Power Plants; Ukraine Launches Deadly Drone Attacks Inside Russia; Johnson Unveils $95 Billion Plan For Defense Spending And Trump's Elections Overhaul; U.S. Launches New Airstrikes To "Swiftly Punish" Iran After Two Service Members Killed; Months Since Last Pentagon Press Briefing Amid War; Iceberg Lettuce Recall Expands To 27 States Due To Potential Cyclospora Contamination. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired July 18, 2026 - 18:00   ET

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

[18:01:19]

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN HOST: Welcome to the CNN NEWSROOM, everyone. I am Omar Jimenez in New York.

We are following breaking news out of the Middle East, where the United States and Iran's fighting is intensifying. The U.S. Military says two service members died in an Iranian attack in Jordan yesterday; another service member is missing in action. These are the first American casualties from Iranian fire since March, and overnight, the United States carried out its seventh consecutive night of attacks against Iran.

Meanwhile, Iran is attacking U.S. allies in the Gulf region as well.

CNN's Julia Benbrook is with us now from New Jersey, where the President is.

Julia, what more are we learning about these service members who were killed?

JULIA BENBROOK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, as you mentioned, President Donald Trump, he is spending his weekend here in New Jersey at one of his nearby properties, and he has not yet publicly released a statement on the two service members who were killed.

Throughout this conflict, though, we've received a lot of his first reactions during brief phone calls with reporters, and he spoke just a little while ago with NewsNation's Hannah Brandt. He told her this. He said that it is a "very sad thing. We hate to see it happen. It is in service to our country." He then reiterated what he has said throughout this conflict that "... we are not going to allow them to have a nuclear weapon."

This comes as there have been days of escalation there in the region. There have been seven consecutive nights of U.S. strikes, as well as waves of Iranian drones and missiles fired at a widening number of targets in countries with U.S. bases. Central Command confirmed that two U.S. service members had been killed in Jordan. They provided a bit more information, saying that on July 17th, two U.S. service members in Jordan were killed in action as U.S. Central Command and partner forces defended against Iranian ballistic missile and drone attacks. Additionally, one service member is currently missing in action.

They added that four American service members were medically evacuated, sent to Jordanian hospitals, and have since been discharged. Now, they are withholding information on the identities of the two service members who were killed until they can be sure that next of kin has been contacted and notified.

Now, it was just a little bit over a week ago that as Iran had targeted ships in the strait, that Trump had said that he believed that the ceasefire was over and it has been just over a month since there seemed to be this big diplomatic breakthrough, the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding by both the United States and Iran that was supposed to kick off 60 days of technical talks to address some of the big issues, like Iran's nuclear program and the fate of its stockpile of highly enriched uranium.

Trump has recently said that he believes that the Memorandum of Understanding is over as well. So what's next here? We do know, according to sources familiar with the matter that Trump has recently been presented with some options for expanding military action in the Middle East, and that there was a recent meeting in the Situation Room that really centered around what it would take to loosen Iran's grip on the Strait of Hormuz, that critical waterway.

Leading up until this, though, Americans have not been approving of what Trump has done in Iran so far. In fact, a recent poll from "The Washington Post" and IPSOS found that just 29 percent of Americans approve of the actions that he has taken during this conflict.

[18:05:07 ]

JIMENEZ: And, Julia, what do we know about this State Department's new guidance to Americans in the region? What can you tell us there?

BENBROOK: Just a couple of hours ago now, the State Department released a new warning, telling Americans to use caution as this conflict between the United States and Iran continues. They said specifically that "Due to heightened tensions in the Middle East, the security environment remains complex, with the potential for unforeseen escalation," adding that "... the Department of State advises Americans worldwide and especially in the Middle East to exercise increased caution."

They did issue a similar statement back in March, so they did this a little while ago as well and re-upping this with this recent news.

JIMENEZ: All right, Julia Benbrook, really appreciate the reporting.

Now, let's dig into more of what is happening in the region, I want to bring in CNN's Nic Robertson, who has the latest. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: What the Iranians have been saying that they have been targeting in Jordan is a Jordanian Air Base just outside the town of Azraq, which is in the desert, not too far from the capital, Amman.

Now, this has been an air base that the Iranians have targeted before, because they say it is a base that U.S. Forces operate out of and there has been damage to U.S. Military equipment there in the past, going back to the earlier part of the war.

We don't know if that's the location where these two service members were killed, where the other service member is missing. But that's what Iran said it has been targeting over the past couple of nights. So Jordanians say that last night, they intercepted at least 10 different missiles and a number of missiles on the previous night as well.

Look what we see Iran doing at the moment is escalating and escalating across the region. They haven't targeted Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia is at the top of their escalatory ladder after they've targeted all the other Gulf countries. They have targeted the most sensitive site in Saudi Arabia, Yanbu, which is its port facility on the Red Sea, which is where it now exports its oil from because it can't export it through the Strait of Hormuz. So super sensitive, a red line for Saudi Arabia.

The Iranians also targeting another airbase or what appears to be another airbase in Saudi Arabia, Prince Sultan Air Base, that one also typically has been used and where U.S. Forces were struck there in the earlier part of the war back in March.

So, then you look at the bigger picture in Kuwait today, second day desalination plant, power plant hit significant enough that the Kuwaiti Minister for Electricity and Water goes out to visit that plant, also in Kuwait, and oil -- their major oil company, they are saying that there was a significant impact on vital equipment, operatives at that oil plant injured. Part of that plan will be offline for a while. Bahrain hit multiple times.

So what we are seeing from Iran is an escalation. Add on top of that, what we've heard from their Supreme Leader today saying essentially they are not working towards the Memorandum of Understanding anymore. They don't trust President Trump. They are saying that his signature is worthless and unreliable. And we've heard the same from the Deputy Foreign Minister in Iran saying they are no longer working to the Memorandum of Understanding.

At this point, it does seem things are set to escalate and if you want another key indicator of that, the United States has asked Israel here if it can park more and operate more of its KC-135, those air tanker refuelers that are absolutely critical for the F-35s and other fighter jets in the skies as they prosecute the war in the Strait of Hormuz in Iran. So Israel, again, now attracting more U.S. Military hardware in this war at a time when Iran says anyone supporting the U.S. in this region will be targeted. If Israel were to get drawn in, that would be, again, a significant escalation.

They have stayed away from it. The Iranians have stayed away from targeting them until now. But this weekend could be a potential turning point.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JIMENEZ: Nic Robertson, appreciate the reporting.

We are joined now by retired U.S. Army Brigadier General Peter Zwack and General Zwack, I just want to start with your reaction to this news that we've gotten in, two more U.S. service members have been killed in this war, and another missing.

BRIG. GEN. PETER ZWACK (RET), FORMER US DEFENSE ATTACHE TO RUSSIA: Omar, first of all, I am just sad for the families and their friends. But this is war and as we get -- as we are going into a mano-y-mano phase with the Iranians, we can -- sadly, we can expect to take more losses.

So we need to be steeled for that and the nation needs to be steeled for that. And yes, we are in a escalatory cycle.

[18:10:08]

The President has not yet spoken on it. The Ayatollah has, and this is -- we think we may be entering into an even more vicious phase than we have hoped for.

JIMENEZ: So tell me about that. What do you anticipate U.S. retaliation on Iran to look like here?

ZWACK: Yes, Omar, I think that the retaliation certainly will come in hard with airstrikes, and the question is, what? Clearly, we've been now what -- in a seven-day round -- seven-night round and, you know, going after military infrastructure, some civilian infrastructure and bridges and roads, et cetera.

But what's next? And, we are, of course -- you know, we've been listening to concern about desalinization plants, power plants, and the one thing we can count on is that the Iranians are not going to bend to us. I think that early on, culturally, we frankly underestimated the Iranians right from the beginning.

And the Ayatollah and his current IRGC team have been badly banged up. He has lost much of his family and they are not going to roll, and we just need to be ready for that.

I think that what I -- one thing I do worry about with a lot more activity in the air and we lost -- you know, we lost the three -- the two soldiers and one wounded in Jordan. I am worried about in the air strikes that day when we don't get lucky with an aircraft getting shot down and the airmen parachute into the Gulf or even in Iran and now, we have a hostage situation.

So I mean, this, this can go a lot of different ways and they are angry. Both sides are angry. I don't had -- our MOU, a lot of fanfare a month ago and that's gone. The ceasefire is gone. And I think it is going to be more force on force violence and that is immensely -- the only thing we can expect is predictable is the unpredictable and there will be things that happen here, and we just need to be ready and hopefully plan for it.

JIMENEZ: And that, of course, this next step is what we are watching for so closely. We have been hearing from Central Command, but obviously, waiting to hear from the President as well for any posturing moving forward.

General Peter Zwack, we've got to leave the conversation there, but appreciate you being here.

ZWACK: Always. Thank you very much.

JIMENEZ: Of course.

All right, still ahead for us, Russia hit with the deadliest drone attack in more than two years. We will tell you how Ukraine's military strategy targeting oil facilities could be the key to weakening Moscow.

Plus, there may be trouble ahead for Democrats. The issue that is dividing many in the party and why it could make passing legislation difficult, even if the party wins back control in November.

And then, Taylor Farms now recalling shredded iceberg lettuce in more than two dozen states as a parasitic outbreak wreaks havoc in the Midwest. We will have the details on that just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:18:56]

JIMENEZ: New tonight, Ukraine launches some of its deadliest attacks on Russia. Black smoke, you can see some of it here is seen billowing in the sky after two warehouses were hit in Russia.

Now, regional officials say at least eight workers were killed and Ukraine says those facilities were used in drone manufacturing.

CNN's Barbie Latza Nadeau has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARBIE LATZA NADEAU, CNN ROME CORRESPONDENT: Eight people were killed in drone attacks on two Russian warehouses, seven in one warehouse in the Tambov Region and one person killed in a warehouse in the Moscow Region. Dozens of other people were also injured in the attacks.

Now, these attacks are the deadliest on Russian soil in more than two years, marking a potential strategy shift by Ukraine, which said both of the warehouses were retail distribution centers owned by the same company and involved in drone manufacturing. Russia, for its part, says it shot down 28 drones equipped with warheads designed to cause mass casualties.

Now, Ukraine has previously focused its long-range drone attacks on Russian energy and infrastructure and factories making weapons and military hardware in addition to Russian shipping, including hitting 172 vessels tied to Russia's shadow fleet, according to the Ukraine military.

Barbie Latza Nadeau, CNN, Rome.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[18:20:18]

JIMENEZ: Barbie Latza Nadeau really appreciate the reporting.

I want to bring in CNN contributor and former CNN Moscow Bureau Chief Jill Dougherty.

So, Jill, can we just start with how significant were these Ukrainian drone attacks? What kind of impact are they having on the ground?

JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN RUSSIAN AFFAIRS CONTRIBUTOR: Well, if you're talking about the ones that are happening today, they are quite significant.

I mean, the video is all over social media. They sent smoke billowing in an incredible fashion over these areas where they were located close to Moscow.

And then in a general sense, I mean, I think you have to look at the military effect and then there is a societal effect. You know, the military effect. Look at the numbers. At this point, the estimates by western experts are that 30,000, maybe even more Russian soldiers are being either killed, wounded or taken out of battle every single month and a lot of this is because of drones.

And then, as was just mentioned by the other reporter, they are hitting -- the Ukrainians are hitting oil terminals, et cetera. And then I think, you know, for average citizens in Russia to see this happening, that the war, as everyone keeps using that phrase, has come home to them. But it really is true that that's precisely what's happening.

JIMENEZ: And to that point, I mean, look, we have seen the information cycle around this war, at least within Russia has been heavily guarded and there has been this image projected by Vladimir Putin of what they sort of want the Russian population to see, and yet, when you have videos like this playing out and you have smoke billowing, you have people being killed on Russian territory, how does that shape Vladimir Putin's ability to or how does that impact Vladimir Putin's ability to shape the narrative about the direction of the war?

DOUGHERTY: Well, the narrative, I think, it is very difficult for Mr. Putin now to have the narrative that everything is okay because Russians know everything is not okay, and especially everything is not okay in the capital, Moscow, that has the most sophisticated protection, you know, for a city in Russia.

So that's not working. The message is not working.

Now, you know, the question is if the Ukrainians want to change the minds of Russians and turn them against the government, that's another subject. You can't really say this happened, therefore, you know, they are not supporting Putin anymore. Although I would add that there are studies, polls, and everyone knows polling is not that reliable during a war, but the ratings, the popularity, you know, approval ratings for President Putin are going down and that's also worrying the Kremlin.

JIMENEZ: You know, this week, CNN reported on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy calling Putin out for a false claim that Russian troops had taken over a city in Eastern Ukraine. And I know we talked about sort of projecting strength within the country in terms of Putin to his own people, but is there a separate dynamic for the story Putin is trying to tell to the world about the current state of the war?

DOUGHERTY: Well, you know, I am not quite sure that the world is really accepting everything that he says. I mean, I think the most interesting part of this is he may actually believe that, and part of it could be propaganda, but there is also the possibility that he is getting bad information from his military and there are quite a few experts who watch this very closely and they do believe that he is getting, you know, an overly optimistic, warped view of what his troops are doing and that might be part of the equation here.

JIMENEZ: You know, there is another interesting aspect that was playing out in Ukraine, where people in Ukraine were out in the streets protesting after Volodymyr Zelenskyy ousted his Defense Minister, which for someone just tuning in, might feel like, why is that happening? But explain that to us. What happened here and what is the current political situation for Zelenskyy within Ukraine?

DOUGHERTY: Yes, it is still happening as we are speaking. It is a little complicated. Essentially, you have the Defense Minister, Mykhailo Fedorov. He is only 35 years old. He has been on the job for six months and he is a proponent because he is really kind of from the tech world.

[18:25:08]

He was a proponent of drone technology -- using drones and that entire approach to the war, which has been very successful. He also did or tried to introduce some reform, some anti-corruption reform.

So now, surprisingly, he is fired by President Zelenskyy. Now, you would ask why that would happen. Well, its, again, politically very complicated because Fedorov, the Defense Minister, is in a personal, acrimonious personal disagreement, to put it mildly, with the head of the -- I guess, the head of the armed forces, Oleksandr Syrskyi, and so this has been -- Syrskyi is kind of old school. He believes in, you know, kind of infantry, et cetera, which is important. But, you know, drones are really what is changing this war. So they've been at each other's throats.

And now, at this very moment, we understand this weekend, President Zelenskyy has been talking to both sides. Those protests were really big. Thousands of people on the streets of Kyiv et cetera. So I think the other shoe may drop, maybe not tonight, but we will see what happens on Sunday.

JIMENEZ: Something to watch for as we are now years, many years into this war.

Jill Dougherty really appreciate the time and perspective. Thanks for being here.

DOUGHERTY: Sure.

JIMENEZ: All right, still ahead, a growing divide within the Democratic Party here in the United States as some House lawmakers vote to block billions in aid to Israel. Could this become a bigger problem for the party come November? We will talk about it, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:31:13]

JIMENEZ: President Trump is seeking 10s of billions of dollars from Congress to fund the war with Iran. House Speaker Mike Johnson this week unveiling a massive $95 billion emergency funding request, and Republicans are looking to spend up to $73 billion on the Pentagon and national security, $12 billion in agriculture aid for farmers, and up to $10 billion to promote President Trump's push to crack down on election laws. The Pentagon is urging lawmakers to pass the funding request -- funding, excuse me, by the August recess.

I want to bring in Axios senior contributor Margaret Talev. She's also the director of the Institute for Democracy, Journalism, and Citizenship at Syracuse University.

Margaret, I just want to start with, is there enough support for this in Congress when you've got this largely unpopular war among the American people that only seems to be escalating here, especially with recent news today?

MARGARET TALEV, DIR., INSTITUTE FOR DEMOCRACY, JOURNALISM & CITIZENSHIP AT SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY: Yes, Omar, it's quite unpopular, and there's a couple of new polls that really drive that point home. As it stands, the Republicans will have to do this on their own through the budget reconciliation process. They have a maximum of three votes they can lose within their own wing. I think what you just said is important because while the loss of American lives in this conflict will intensify the criticism over this and the unpopularity among some voters, it also, you know, has the potential to create a rallying effect, especially inside the President's own party. It's very difficult -- going to be very difficult for many Republicans to say no to the President from their own party when the argument about defending the country and protecting the troops comes into play. So, I think what's happened today has the potential to impact this

debate. It's too unclear just exactly how yet, but the margin is very low and unpopularity very high. And among Republicans who might be otherwise likely to support the President, they also have financial concerns about this. How will it be paid for, those sort of accountability and budgetary measures, on top of concerns about the war to begin with?

JIMENEZ: And, you know, when you look at the opportunities for congressional pushback that we -- that we've seen, sometimes members of the Republican Party, but definitely members of the Democratic Party. We saw Senate Democrats this week block the annual defense policy package over their objections to the war with Iran.

Now, this is a must-pass piece of legislation, usually passes with large bipartisan support. There is still time for this to pass before the deadline, but the perception of killing this bill, on one hand, might be tough for Democrats who don't want to appear as if they don't support the troop. So, how do they balance this with their objections to the war?

TALEV: Yes, I -- I really think the calculus is quite different for Democrats than it is for Republicans. But, again, if Republicans are intent on using budget reconciliation when it comes to funding, it really won't be about how the Democrats vote. It will come down ...

JIMENEZ: Yes.

TALEV: ... to how the President's own party votes.

JIMENEZ: Yes, yes. And, you know, one of the other things we saw is that more than a hundred House Democrats voted this week to block billions of dollars in military aid to Israel. Now, look, that measure still went through, that aid still went through. But that is a -- what seems to be a growing schism within the Democratic Party. And do you read any more into that when you sort of look ahead to the midterms and the future direction of the Democratic Party here?

TALEV: There's a huge -- a -- a massive division inside the Democratic Party right now at a time when Democratic leadership obviously wants to be unified so that they -- and put their best foot forward and turn out voters in the midterms that retake at least the House of Representatives and start being able to push back on the President's agenda.

[18:35:12]

But instead, look at this vote, as you mentioned, that just happened. You had the Democratic caucus splitting actually more Democrats than not voting to cut off aid to Israel, 103 Democrats, 98 voting in the other direction, and the remaining handful, you know, checking the box with the President so you can see how divisive this is. It's also Democratic leadership, the House leadership itself, split over this vote.

And if you look at the polling for how Americans overall feel about Israel, just the changes in the last year, year and a half, not just towards the Israeli government and towards Netanyahu, but towards the Israeli people. It's quite stark. It has many Democrats concerned that this tracks with anti-Semitism or a loss of support for -- for Israel in the region among Americans.

But here, look at this. The difference between the two political parties is what is so stark, right? Because you've got now barely half -- just more than half of Americans overall holding a favorable view of the Israeli people. And 62 percent of Americans have unfavorable views of the Israeli government. This is Pew Research Center numbers.

When you look at the splits by party, Democratic voters and younger voters, much more unfavorable in views both of the Israeli government and the Israeli people than Republicans and older voters. So, what you see happening in that House caucus does reflect these schisms inside the Democratic voting base. And it could have real repercussions, not just for policy moving forward with respect to the region, but for cohesiveness around what candidates will people support and turn out for anywhere from, you know, Maine to Michigan to Georgia to all states in between, pivotal races in the -- in the House and the Senate.

So, some real repercussions for Democrats at a time when they -- it's just close in their grasp the ability to retake a chamber, at least one chamber of Congress, but this has the ability to really gum up the wheels for them.

JIMENEZ: Some political dynamics to watch for sure. Margaret Talev, really appreciate the time. Thanks for being here.

TALEV: Thanks, Omar.

JIMENEZ: And as we've been speaking, we are just getting in some new breaking news on Iran that we are going through right now. We'll have much more after the break. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:42:15]

JIMENEZ: Breaking news tonight. The United States is announcing new attacks on Iran. I want to bring in Julia Benbrook who is traveling with the President. She joins us now live from New Jersey. Julia, what do we know here?

BENBROOK: Well, a new round of strikes. Things are continuing to escalate. This is coming in a statement from U.S. Central Command. They say that these strikes were carried out at President Donald Trump's direction. And went on to say this: "The strikes are designed to further degrade Iran's ability to threaten commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. And swiftly punish Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps forces who launched attacks against American service members in Jordan last night."

Now, this comes after there had already been seven consecutive nights of U.S. strikes, as well as waves of Iranian drones and missiles fired at a widening number of targets in countries with U.S. bases. And the news that two U.S. service members had been killed in action in Jordan. And that one service member was still missing in action. They had also said that four service members had been medically evacuated, sent to Jordanian hospitals and had been discharged since then.

But all of that news, we are still waiting on a direct response to those deaths from Trump. He's spending his weekend here in New Jersey at one of his properties nearby. He did do a brief phone interview with News Nation where he did say that this was very sad. That it was done in service to our country. But he also reiterated a point that he has been making throughout this conflict. He said that Iran will not be allowed to have a nuclear weapon.

So, from that statement, it does seem like this action could continue. And then, of course, there is this confirmation from CENTCOM that more strikes are taking place now. Omar.

JIMENEZ: Something we are watching very closely right now. All happening in real time. Julia Benbrook, really appreciate the reporting. Now, both the President and the secretary of defense have spoken out about the deaths of these two American service members killed in Jordan. When it comes to the overall war, the Pentagon, we haven't seen the press briefings consistently as we have seen in years past. CNN Chief Media Analyst Brian Stelter joins us now.

So, Brian, tell us about this dynamic and how unusual is this for the Pentagon?

BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA ANALYST: This is very unusual when you look at history and past U.S. conflicts. Military beat reporters are increasingly agitating and agitated about the complete lack of information. This total information vacuum. Take the announcement just a few minutes ago about these renewed strikes. It comes in the form of a brief statement on X, on a social media platform with no follow-up and with no access or availability for questioning.

[18:45:09]

The most recent Pentagon press briefing was all the way back on May 5th. So,, it's been more than two months since Pete Hegseth or other senior leaders fielded questions from the press about this ongoing war.

Now, if you look back to the war in Iraq or other conflicts involving U.S. personnel, typically there were press briefings almost every day or on a very regular basis, especially in the early weeks and months of military conflict. In this case, however, the Pentagon's only held a handful of briefings. Those were largely in March and April. And like I said, they've petered out entirely and they stopped in May.

It's worth noting now as we go into day, I believe it's day eight, with U.S. strikes in Iran and with the counterstrikes by Iran, that total information vacuum that exists. Hegseth has used X to announce his plan for testosterone, checks of troops. He's used X to announce a task force to investigate leakers. He's been using his social media platform to talk about all sorts of things. But he's not taking questions from the press as these strikes inside Iran continue.

JIMENEZ: Brian, before you go, I want to ask about something else we saw this week. President Trump's social media site says it plans to sell faster access to what is essentially potentially market-moving posts, including Trump's, to Wall Street firms.

STELTER: Yes.

JIMENEZ: And Truth Social says the data feed will be available to institutional investors starting August 1st. Why is the company moving to sell faster access to these posts?

STELTER: Yes. I am a little bit obsessed with this story. I feel like this story is a microcosm of Trump's return to power. His return to office and the way that he is using his office in some ways to generate funds for him and his allies. It's really a striking story. But I think what's been missed in the past couple of days is the reality of what truth -- of what Trump media is.

Now, Trump Media, Donald Trump's social media company, it barely makes any money. It barely makes any revenue. It is desperate to come up with new ways to make money. And so that, I think, is what explains this new money-making scheme, his attempt to make it easier to have faster access to the President's posts and other prominent posts on the platform.

If you look at the first quarter of the year, Trump Media made less than $1 million in revenue. It reported a quarterly loss of $400 million. Now, that was an unusually ugly quarter for the company. But it's been like that for a while. Look at the stock for the company. It's down about 50 percent over the past year.

So, Trump Media desperately, from the point of view of the -- of the company, desperately needs new lines of revenue. And now, you see this scheme where they're going to tie computers together, making it easier for the stock market computer traders, you know, those algorithmic traders, to instantaneously know what the President is saying on Truth Social. Democrats are going to claim it's another example of Trump corruption. I think we're going to hear about this a lot in the midterms.

But from the point of view of the company, this might be one of those desperate boosts of revenue that Trump media needs. And so, I'm intrigued by it on that level, because every time the company reports quarterly earnings, it is a very troubling quarterly earnings report for the company. We'll see if that changes in the next report.

JIMENEZ: Yes, something to watch for, no doubt. Brian Stelter, appreciate the reporting, as always.

STELTER: Yes.

JIMENEZ: All right, coming up, a new recall from Taylor Farms as the FDA investigates a parasitic outbreak linked to shredded iceberg lettuce. It's now moved, by the way, beyond the states where it was served at some Taco Bell locations. We're going to bring you some new details on how to protect yourself and your family next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:53:09]

JIMENEZ: The recall of iceberg lettuce is now expanding to 27 states due to potential Cyclospora contamination. This map shows the states where produce -- produce supplier, Taylor Farms, is expanding its iceberg lettuce recall. And the FDA is warning that more states could be added. Cyclospora is a parasite that's causing thousands of cases of diarrhea across the country. And more symptoms but diarrhea as well.

Taylor Farms says customers should immediately discard their shredded iceberg lettuce distributed between June 29th and July 16th. CNN Health Reporter Jacqueline Howard walks us through the origin of this outbreak and the symptoms you need to watch for.

JACQUELINE HOWARD, CNN HEALTH REPORTER: Here's what we know so far about this Midwest Cyclospora outbreak. The CDC has confirmed that more than 1,600 people have gotten sick as part of this outbreak. Ninety-four of them have been hospitalized. And this is across five states. Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, and West Virginia. And the FDA says that it is working directly with the supplier of this shredded iceberg lettuce to determine whether the contaminated lettuce has been sent to other places outside of Taco Bell.

So, this is an active ongoing situation. And we also know outside of the Midwest outbreak, which has been connected back to the shredded iceberg lettuce at Taco Bell locations, across the country there are several other states reporting cases of cyclosporiasis. Health officials are still investigating those other cases. It's not clear whether they are outbreak with the Midwest outbreak or not.

But in response to the Midwest outbreak, Taco Bell has said in a statement, quote, "based on ongoing conversations with public health officials and out of an abundance of caution, Taco Bell has taken immediate action to voluntarily remove potentially impacted lettuce from a supplier in select states. The affected ingredient from our supplier is being indefinitely removed from our supply chain nationwide and will be replaced within 24 hours in select states," end quote.

For now, CDC says do not eat shredded iceberg lettuce served at Taco Bell locations in those five states. And if you do develop symptoms like watery diarrhea, sometimes explosive diarrhea or nausea, fatigue, definitely call your doctor and let them know what you may have eaten in the past few days. Back to you.

JIMENEZ: All right, Jacqueline Howard, really appreciate the reporting.

Still ahead on CNN NEWSROOM, we are tracking new U.S. attacks on Iran that the military says were designed to Swiftly punish Iran hours after two American service members were killed. We're going to get the latest details just ahead. Stay with us.