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NYT: Women Who Dated Platner Detail "Volatile," "Toxic" Relationships; Platner Denies Allegations Of "Physicality" In NYT Report; Platner Campaign Rocked By More Allegations Of Past Bad Behavior; Trump Must Break Deadlock In Talks, Says Supreme Leader's Adviser; U.S. Economy Adds Stronger-Than-Expected 172K Jobs In May. Aired 12-12:30p ET

Aired June 05, 2026 - 12:00   ET

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

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DANA BASH, CNN HOST, INSIDE POLITICS: Graham Platner is digging in, and Democrats are hanging on.

I'm Dana Bash. Let's go behind the headlines at Inside Politics.

When Senate Democrats plotted their uphill climb to a Senate majority, nearly every path went through Maine. But a series of revelations about their likely nominee, Graham Platner's past is threatening that plan. The latest came from the New York Times yesterday afternoon. The report details several cases of unsettling behavior by Platner toward women he dated, including one case of physically threatening acts.

It's based on interviews with six women who Platner dated, three of whom described volatile and toxic relationships, which included allegations of heavy drinking, infidelity, and demeaning behavior toward women. Platner went on MS Now last night to deny any claims of physical intimidation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GRAHAM PLATNER (D), MAINE SENATE CANDIDATE: There are some allegations in this piece that I just want to be kind of unequivocal about, are simply not true. Anything alleging physicality, anything alleging that I knew what my tattoo was, these are the statements of someone who is politically motivated. The fact that I was, you know, a bad boyfriend a decade ago, that's something I've talked about openly at length for quite some time in multiple places.

So, there is an element where -- yeah, no, I mean, there -- no, I have no doubt, like I mentioned earlier, that this is a dirty campaign. I do expect the Republican Party to fight as dirty as possible, and I expect them to try to create things. I expect them to try to drag stuff up consistently, but there won't be anything new.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BASH: And we have important new reporting on this race out this morning. A source close to Governor Janet Mills tells CNN's Patrick Svitek that she's being encouraged to reenter the race. You remember Mills' suspended her campaign more than a month ago, but she made a point of telling a local paper just a few days ago that her name does remain on the ballot. There isn't much time. This primary in Maine is this coming Tuesday.

I'm joined by a terrific group of reporters here. Lauren Fox, you cover Capitol Hill for us at CNN. I know you've been talking to a lot of lawmakers, particularly Senate Democrats about this. And I know publicly, almost to a person, they're all saying a variation of we're concerned, but what are you hearing privately?

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. I mean, this news broke as Senate Democrats were on the Senate floor dealing with this marathon vote series yesterday. So, I had an opportunity to talk to a couple of them just off the floor minutes after it broke. And one of those Democrats I talked to was Senator Mark Kelly, and he just kept repeating that these allegations are troubling, you know, he said that he did not know Platner.

I think you're hearing from a lot of Democrats that that's the case, but you have to understand that for Democrats, despite the fact that a couple of days ago, when the first story broke, many of them were trying to weather the storm, they're really uncomfortable with this dynamic, right? I think there's a sense, on the one hand, that Donald Trump can weather anything, and therefore perhaps Democrats should stand by their candidates.

But there's another sense, which is a lot of Democrats believe their party should be above that, right? And so, I think that that is what Democrats are grappling with in the Senate right now, and it's going to be really interesting to see what happens on Tuesday.

BASH: Let me just read a little bit more from the New York Times piece, because as I said, they said they talked to six reporters, your colleagues at the time, talked to six women. These are just a couple of examples. This is Lyndsey Fifield, 40 years old, a Virginia conservative who did work for right-leaning groups and Republican campaigns.

She said, when she was dating Platner, he regularly grabbed her by the shoulder, sometimes hard enough to leave marks, and on one occasion yanked her out of the cab by her wrist after an argument when she wanted to stay in the car. During one argument, she recalled he twisted her arm behind her back, shoved her into a bedroom, and held the door closed from the other side, so she couldn't get out.

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One other account, this is from a Maine Democrat, Jenny Racicot, 41, who said she dated him casually off and on between 2019 and 2021, and posts deepen her belief that he did not respect women. And she also said in 2021, he arrived at her house drunk after she asked him not to come over, she declined to elaborate, but said, cut off contact soon after that episode and found his behavior reckless and unsettling.

ZOLAN KANNO-YOUNGS, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, THE NEW YORK TIMES: And there was also the account of, I believe, from one of those women who said that Graham Platner also did know about the tattoo as well, and did was aware that, you know, that is Nazi insignia as well.

BASH: Which she said --

(CROSSTALK)

BASH: Yeah, and in a very elaborate denial --

KANNO-YOUNGS: That's right.

BASH: -- about members of his family or by marriage being Jewish.

KANNO-YOUNGS: And the concern, by the way, is reflected just in the fact that Graham Platner immediately went on MS Now and did that long interview up until then, he hadn't really been talking to media about some of these concerns as much. I know that also his wife has been more visible recently amid these reports, but you saw the concern just in how he responded immediately.

I also think it's interesting that now you are seeing these reports about Janet Mills emerging, you know, after this as well. And just earlier this week, she reminded the public that she wasn't off the ballot, as well, that she may have suspended her campaign, but wasn't off the ballot. That just signals the anxiety right now in the Democratic Party about some of these reports.

BASH: And this is not in a vacuum, it is not the first. It is part of the drip, drip, drip, and the drips keep coming. I mean, I can put some of the headlines that have been up there, even as recently as you mentioned last week about explicit texts to a woman who was not his wife, just in the past few years. And we should also note, Aaron, that Graham Platner was here in Washington this week for a prescheduled meeting with Senate Democrats, and you know, by most accounts he was telling them nothing more to see here.

AARON BLAKE, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: Yeah. I mean this is -- this is crunch time right now. This is the time where the party really needs to make a decision to fish or cut bait with this. And they have to be thinking right now, you know, what else is out there on this guy, given this lengthy list of revelations that we've seen, but after that primary, their options become much more limited.

At that point, he is the candidate, and if something comes out and he needs to get out of the race, that's on him to decide whether to do that. And so, I think the Democrats are really feeling the pressure because this is such an important race.

BASH: Let's look at some examples of how Democrats are reacting publicly. The chef's kiss of it all, it came from Elissa Slotkin on with my friend Nicolle Wallace yesterday. Let's watch that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SEN. ELISSA SLOTKIN (D-MI) (voiceover): I look forward to the day where I am not answering every single week a question about bad behavior by another dude. I just -- I look forward to that day on camera live. I look forward to that. Frankly, I'm sick of it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: And let's put those quotes on the screen. Ro Khanna, who is campaigning with him tonight, the behavior described in the New York Times story was wrong and toxic. Graham has acknowledged that and sought redemption. A senator, White House seems like a lot of nothing. Jeanne Shaheen, up to the voters of Maine to decide. Kirsten Gillibrand, who is in-charge of electing Democrats to the Senate, we are still going to win Maine.

JASMINE WRIGHT, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, NOTUS: Yeah. I mean, I think that Senator Collins' response is kind of key here because it is up to the Maine voters to decide. But I've been talking to some Democratic strategists over the last 24 hours, and I've been hearing some frustration obviously with Graham and his behavior, and he is solely responsible for what he has done or has not done, to be clear here.

But some frustration with the way in which the Maine Democratic primary is happening in and of itself, right, and the fact that whether or not Chuck Schumer and other Democrats pushed away viable candidates that weren't Janet Mills who had to deal with, even though she's a popular governor in Maine, deal with the age issue, deal with the inability to raise as much money as necessary issue, deal with the idea that she's not an outside insurgent candidate versus a Graham Platner.

And what the actual party's impact is on making it so that the Democratic electorate in Maine shifted towards Graham. And so, I think that that's going to be another thing that just the D.S.C.C. and Chuck Schumer and all those folks at that higher level are going to have to deal with, particularly if this is a loss come November.

BASH: Yeah. And speaking of that, let's just look at the big picture. And we made this map based on Aaron Blake's great reporting, and it kind of gives you a real sense of why Maine was such an important state to win back to flip if there was any chance in getting the Senate back. I mean, so Maine is a state that Kamala Harris won by seven points. It's held by Republican Susan Collins.

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This is critical, the one that's maybe closest to this in what is possible was North Carolina, where Trump won, but only by three percentage points. And if you look at all of the other potential pickups that republic -- excuse me, that Democrats are looking at. Look at that, Trump won by 11 in Ohio, Iowa Trump won by 13, Nebraska Trump won by 20, Texas Trump won by 14, Montana 20, Alaska 13. And so, that really gives you the sense of how steep this hill is, and why again, Maine was they thought the lowest hanging fruit. BLAKE: Yeah. And if you look at that map, the thing that people need to remember is that Democrats need to win four of those states. So, they need to win at least two states where Donald Trump won by double digits in 2024, two years later. That's a very difficult thing to do. They're going to need to win territory that has trended red in recent years, and Maine was always, you know, it wasn't necessarily going to be an easy one, because Susan Collins has proven that she's a very accomplished candidate, she has appeal in a blue state. But that was the one that they really needed to even have the majority to be on the table right now.

And so, to the extent that is now jeopardized. I think the path is somewhat difficult, but we are seeing stronger signs in some of these other states, so maybe Democrats start to believe they can compete in Iowa, in a Texas, in an Ohio, where we just had a poll that showed Sherrod Brown out by a significant amount. So, this battleground is going to change significantly, but certainly the Maine news is very significant.

BASH: All right, everybody, stand by. After the break, CNN exclusive reporting inside Iran. Our colleague Fred Pleitgen sat down with one of the most powerful men in Iran's new regime, top military advisor to the new supreme leader. That interview will air for the first time after a quick break.

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BASH: Now to a brand new CNN exclusive inside Tehran. CNN senior correspondent Fred Pleitgen sat down with Mohsen Rezaei, the senior military advisor to Iran's Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei. The supreme leader who has not been seen in public since his appointment, is known to have a small circle of trusted aides around him, and General Rezaei is in that circle. Please note that CNN operates in Iran only with the permission of the government but maintains full editorial control of its reports. Here's that interview by Fred Pleitgen, filmed by CNN journalist Claudia Otto.

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FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You are the military adviser of the supreme leader. How is the supreme leader doing? Is he fully in control of everything? And President Trump said that he would be honored to meet the supreme leader.

MOHSEN REZAEI, SENIOR MILITARY ADVISER TO IRAN'S SUPREME LEADER (INTERPRETED): This will not happen. Right now, we are in the first stage of negotiations, and Mr. Trump has brought the negotiations to a standstill. This will not happen.

PLEITGEN: Are the negotiations right now blocked, or do you think that a memorandum of understanding can be reached quickly.

REZAEI (INTERPRETED): In my opinion, the negotiations are out of deadlock, and Trump must break this deadlock.

PLEITGEN: They are waiting for an answer from Iran.

REZAEI (INTERPRETED): Iran has openly stated that our assets have been frozen, and you must release them. The Americans are not telling the truth in this regard.

PLEITGEN: So, the frozen assets are the big problem right now?

REZAEI (INTERPRETED): This is a sign of trust building. If Trump takes the negotiations seriously, $24 billion is not much to America. If he wants to reach an agreement with Iran, this $24 billion is a test of trust that Iran wants to have with Trump. This is a test that America must pass, and the path will be opened. This is our own money, not America's money.

PLEITGEN: Wouldn't a war be catastrophic for Iran as well, though? If it was a big bombing campaign?

REZAEI (INTERPRETED): If the war continues and the naval blockade is not lifted, we will drag the war to the Indian Ocean, the Bab al- Mandab Strait, the Red Sea, and the Mediterranean, and we will give another dimension to the war by attacking these other American bases that we have been attacking so far. America will definitely suffer much more losses. America's losses will be very heavy.

PLEITGEN: Final question, what's your message to Donald Trump?

REZAEI (INTERPRETED): Mr. Trump must make decisions independently of Israel. He must give what is the rights of the Iranian people and stop the blockade, release our frozen assets, and this can be a new horizon for the future of Iran and America. Therefore, Trump must put aside his personal interests and think about the interests of the American people. If Trump has the courage, many issues will be resolved in the future.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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BASH: I'm going to bring in CNN's global affairs analyst and expert on Iran, Karim Sadjadpour. Thank you so much for being here. I mean, obviously, two big takeaways, the -- actually I would say three; the negotiations are in a deadlock, according to the way he sees it, the way to break that deadlock is for the U.S. to release $24 billion in frozen Iranian assets, and if the U.S. returns to a kinetic fight and that they go ahead and engage in military action in Iran, the threat is to retaliate in a more forceful way against American assets.

KARIM SADJADPOUR, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST & IRAN EXPERT: So, Dana, Mohsen Rezaei is one of the original leaders of the Revolutionary Guards. The last time he actually held an important position was in the 1980s, but he's a very ambitious person. He sought to run for president before, and he's elbow deep in corruption and terrorism. There's an Interpol warrant out for his rest, for his connection to the bombings of the Jewish Community Center in Argentina. He's implicated in a lot of the mafioso activities of the Revolutionary Guards.

But as a result of the fact that so many of Iran's top military and political leaders have been assassinated over the last few months. Someone like him has now come to the fore, and he's in a position of power and influence. And you heard it from him that Iran believes it's prevailed in this war, and so their demands are much greater now than they were three months ago, and that's a real challenge for President Trump. You know, how can he offer more to Iran, given that he's just spent, you know, tens of billions of dollars prosecuting a war against them?

BASH: And I mean, just to kind of maybe state the obvious, but highlight it, the fact that this man, who is -- has -- is somebody who you're calling like a terrorist, and I mean, and somebody who has experience with corruption and everything else. The fact that he has now risen to the top, to the point where the Iranian regime thought he was the right spokesperson to go out there and send a message publicly, not just to President Trump, but to the world. What did that tell us about the state of the Iranian regime?

SADJADPOUR: It's an important question, Dana, because we've heard from senior Trump administration officials and President Trump himself saying there's a new regime in Tehran. They're more moderate, they want to work with us, and that simply isn't true. It's a regime which is doubled down on their ideology, their antipathy toward Israel and the United States. And as I said, Mohsen Rezaei is one of the original figures of the Revolutionary Guards. And so, you know, this does not portend a new Iran and a new policy between America and Iran.

BASH: Thank you so much for coming on and putting what we just heard in context and perspective. Nice to see you.

SADJADPOUR: Thank you, Dana.

BASH: Thank you. And after the break, good economic news for President Trump this morning. The big question politically is, will voters give him any credit?

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BASH: The White House is celebrating stronger than expected jobs numbers. This morning, the economy added 172,000 jobs in May. Plus, the government revised the April and March totals up. It's the first time since early 2024 that we've seen three consecutive months of job growth over 100,000. That good news follows other recent positive economic signs. Gas prices are down more than 20 cents in a week, and the stock market is hitting record highs.

Now, the big political question for this midterm year is whether voters will feel the economy improve in their day-to-day lives. Today, the president is traveling to Wisconsin to talk to farmers in a pivotal battleground House district. My panel is here now. What do you think the answer to that is?

KANNO-YOUNGS: Well, for one, the on topic for President Trump speeches usually don't end up being so on topic. So, like we'll see if this is actually a disciplined speech to address the concerns of farmers who have had a good amount of concerns since President Trump came into office. The impact of his tariff policies in China choosing to not buy soybeans, that was a bit more of an issue last year.

President Trump's bailout in December of last year was welcome news to many farmers who have also been frustrated with a seasonal farm visa backlog for immigrant farmers as well, coming in, and of course, the impact of the Iran war and the rising price of fertilizer, as well as diesel fuel, tractors use diesel fuel, right?

So, they've been hidden in various ways, not to mention the frustration they had when the administration bailed out Argentina, which China was buying soybeans from, instead of the United States, right? So, there's been a lot of different pressure points. The president also had an event in late March to address the concern of farmers. This is something that's been on senior White House officials' mind, this really important constituency base. So, this speaks to a concern and anxiety in the White House.

BASH: And I just want to do a snapshot here of how people feel about the economy. This is nationwide, not just in Wisconsin. Among registered voters, 22 percent, only 22 percent say excellent or good, 77 percent say fair or poor.

WRIGHT: Yeah. That is concerning to the White House, but to Zolan's point, yes, of course, it's going to determine -- I mean, it's going to be determined if Trump stays on message. But this is a perfect snapshot of a White House -- of a day for the White House, you have good jobs numbers, you have Kevin Hassett going out on TV to talk about it, and then you have Donald Trump reinforcing that idea, I mean.