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Laura Coates Live

Gallon of Gas Up 90+ Cents Since Start of War with Iran; U.S. and Israel Not Aligned Over Conflict; Comedy in a Time of War; ABC Cancels "The Bachelorette" with Taylor Frankie Paul. Aired 11p-12a ET

Aired March 19, 2026 - 23:00   ET

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

[23:00:00]

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Well, I still believe that. But, you know, it takes two to tango, right?

(LAUGHTER)

UNKNOWN: It's not for sale. It won't be for sale ever.

TRUMP: They don't have the cards right now. With us, you start having --

(CROSSTALK)

You're playing cards. You're gambling with the lives of millions of people. You're gambling with World War III.

UNKNOWN: Handshake? Handshake? Handshake, please.

TRUMP: Thank you, everybody.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABBY PHILLIP, CNN ANCHOR AND SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: "Laura Coates Live" starts right now.

LAURA COATES, CNN HOST AND SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Tonight, Iran strikes refineries all across the Middle East. The price of gas is soaring at home. And now, the Trump administration wants to ask Congress to fork over $200 billion. Plus, are the U.S. and Israel aligned over the conflict? Trump claims he knew nothing, but an Israeli source says the opposite. And ABC pulls the new season of "The Bachelorette" right before it was set to premiere. A former bachelor is here to talk all about it tonight on "Laura Coates Live."

Well, it's becoming increasingly clear what's happening in the war with Iran. Escalating attacks on oil and gas infrastructure, sparking a major energy crisis all across the globe. The way President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tell it, the conflict is practically over.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: It's going to be over with pretty soon. We've obliterated their navy. We've obliterated their -- just about everything there is to obliterate, including leadership.

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, PRIME MINISTER OF ISRAEL: Their air force is nearly destroyed. Iran's command and control structure is in utter chaos. And I can tell you that there's still more work to do, and we're going to do it. But I also see this war ending a lot faster than people think.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COATES: Except it doesn't seem that everything is destroyed because Iran, it's showing it still can cause some very serious damage. Sources say an American F-35 fighter jet was forced to make an emergency landing after it was hit by what's believed to be Iranian fire. Now, thankfully, the pilot is in stable condition. And then there's the damage to energy sites. Iranian missiles struck a major oil refinery in northern Israel. A fire broke out but, thankfully, no one was hurt. A major energy hub in Qatar was attacked twice in 12 hours, causing extensive damage. One official says it could take three to five years to repair that. Refineries in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait have also been hit by drones.

And all of that came after Israel struck a major Iranian gas field. Trump claims he knew nothing about it in advance, and he says he told Netanyahu to knock it off.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNKNOWN (voice-over): You talked to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about attacking oil and gas fields.

TRUMP: Yes, I did. I did. I told him, don't do that, and he won't do that.

NETANYAHU: Fact number one, Israel acted alone against the Asaluyeh gas compound. Fact number two, President Trump asked us to hold off on future attacks, and we're holding off.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COATES: Now, if you listen closely, Netanyahu, he notes nothing about not telling Trump about the attack beforehand, only that Israel acted alone. And an Israeli source is telling CNN the attack was coordinated with the United States. Obviously, the president said something different and so does Netanyahu.

But look, Trump may have reason to publicly distance himself because all of that damage to the energy infrastructure, well, it explains the following: Increasing gas prices. I'm talking big time spikes. They're up 95 cents from just a month ago before the war. So, even if Iran's military is degraded, it's still able to cause havoc that Americans are actually feeling right here at home. But if you hear it from the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, everything is going according to plan.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) PETE HEGSETH, UNITED STATES SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: On target and on plan. We're winning decisively. And on our term, as we've said, we're on plan. So, we're very much on plan, we're very much on track.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COATES: What was going according to plan and on track? Did they track the request to the Congress for $200 billion?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HEGSETH: As far as $200 billion, I think that number could move, obviously. It takes -- it takes money to kill bad guys.

[23:05:00]

So, we're going back to Congress and folks there to ensure that we're properly funded for what has been done, for what we may have to do in the future.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COATES: You know, Trump says it's a very volatile world and it's a small price to pay. But to many Republicans in Congress, $200 billion is no small price. And the cracks are already forming. Many Republicans are already pumping the brakes on any request for more funding. And when you look at what this war has already cost, and I can put aside for just a moment the cost to human life, which cannot be quantified, just in terms of the numbers here, you can see why there's concern. One estimate puts the price tag at just over 11 billion on day six. On day 12, looking at a price tag of $16.5 billion. And guess what? We're about to enter day 21.

So, let's break down day 20 of the war, what comes next, with my expert panel. CNN national security analyst Peter Bergen and CNN military analyst and retired U.S. Air Force colonel, Cedric Leighton. Glad to have both of you. That number is mind-boggling, but the price of war is detail. Colonel, the U.S. and Israel, they seem to be in direct and constant communication throughout the duration of what we've seen so far. They're coordinating operations together. So, is it plausible that the president of the United States did not know that this attack was going to happen, that South Pars gas field in Iran, in advance?

CEDRIC LEIGHTON, CNN MILITARY ANALYST, RETIRED AIR FORCE COLONEL: Well, let's put it this way, Laura. If he did not know, then somebody failed to tell him up, the chain of command, because I'm certain that from a military to military coordination perspective, it's pretty clear that they, at least CENTCOM, U.S. people at CENTCOM, absolutely knew that this was going --

COATES: How do you that would be the case?

LEIGHTON: Well, because they have to -- what they have to do, Laura, is they have to coordinate airspace, for example. And so, when they coordinate airspace, they find out where those planes are flying, and then you can make a logical deduction. Let's say they don't tell you, but you can make a logical deduction that based on the flight path, they're going to go somewhere, and they're probably going to attack something that's there.

What's in the middle of the Persian Gulf? The South Pars oil field. What other things are there? Well, oil and gas installations along the coast. And Israel has attacked both of those areas and it obviously had a considerable impact.

COATES: Just to follow up on that, I mean, Trump wants a tax on oil infrastructure to stop. You heard that as much. But now, Saudi Arabia is warning it could strike Iran after Iran hit several oil fields today. So, colonel, I mean, if Trump is trying to deescalate, are we in for more escalation even without his consent, so to speak?

LEIGHTON: Yes, that's very possible, Laura, because we have to keep in mind, remember, Saudi Arabia is a majority Sunni country, Iran is a majority Shia country, and there has been a historical rift between those two elements or sects of Islam, and that's one thing.

Now, the Chinese had brokered a kind of peace rapprochement deal between Iran and Saudi Arabia but that, you know, was designed to paper over differences. And if they only paper over differences and don't continue to follow up with that, like the Chinese have not been able to do diplomatically, then the rift can really come out in the open again. And so, it's very possible that this could exacerbate not only tensions in the Gulf, but could result in active armed conflict between these countries if it's not stopped now.

COATES: Well, Peter, what are these comments by both Trump and Netanyahu tell you about the potential power dynamic between the two?

PETER BERGEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, Netanyahu said something very interesting in Hebrew the day the war started. He said, I've been dreaming of this day for 40 years, and now with this alliance with the Americans, I can attack this regime. So, this has been a dream of Netanyahu's for a long time. As you know, Laura, he came to D.C. here on February 11th. He had a three-hour conversation with President Trump. That was about the plans for the war.

Their relationship is obviously pretty good, but it's not -- our goals have now seemingly drifted away from Israel's goals. Early in the campaign, Trump was talking about regime change. Now, he seems to have sort of moved away from that. For Netanyahu, the goal certainly is regime change. But, anyway, the differences are less pronounced than the similarities.

But you're going to see, I think -- you know, we obviously saw Kent resigning over this issue. The MAGA part of the Republican Party is, you know, they don't want to be spending money on another foreign war, particularly supporting Israel in this effort, it seems. So, this split may increase.

[23:09:57]

COATES: Well, the DNI director, of course, Tulsi Gabbard, testified again on the Hill, and she talked about some daylight between the American and Israeli objectives. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TULSI GABBARD, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE: We can see through the operations that the Israeli government has been focused on disabling the Iranian leadership and taking out several members, obviously beginning with the ayatollah, the supreme leader, and they continue to focus on that effort.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COATES: How might these differences impact the timeline of war?

BERGEN: Well, I think one of reasons the Israelis are doing all these assassinations is that technically, the United States isn't supposed to do them. So, even though it was the CIA that developed the information in which Ayatollah Khamenei was killed, it was the Israelis who took the strike.

So, we're seeing sort of a division of labor where the Israelis, they've long campaigned to assassinate their enemies. We, since 1973, have not done that or at least in theory have said we're not going to do that. So, that's sort of the division of labor at least, you know, we'll see going forward, I think.

COATES: You know, the Pentagon is preparing to ask for $200 billion, the number makes me stutter, $200 billion in additional funding for the war. And, in fact, Trump was asked about that today. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNKNOWN (voice-over): If the war is almost over, why is the Pentagon going to ask Congress for an additional $200 billion?

TRUMP: Well, we're asking for a lot of reasons beyond even what we're talking about in Iran. This is a very volatile world.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COATES: What does that price tag tell you about the duration of this war?

LEIGHTON: Well, one of the things that's important is, you know, when you compare it to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and you're talking about, you know, little bit south of 200 billion was spent for the 20 years or so in Afghanistan, that tells you that we're getting ready for a war of long duration or perhaps multiple wars, multiple contingency operations throughout different parts of the world.

COATES: Simultaneously?

LEIGHTON: Possibly, even though -- so, here's the problem with that: You know, financially, that's what it is. Fiscally, that's what it looks like. But the problem is that our planning efforts have basically negated the two and a half front war theory that we had basically in the wake of the Cold War. We used to plan for two and a half wars, as we called it. Now, we're basically planning for one, maybe one and a half contingency operations. And that's a vastly different thing, a vastly different array of resources that would be needed.

The problem that we have is that we're spending money as if everybody is going to come at us with fifth and possibly sixth-generation fighter jets, for example. They don't necessarily do that. We're going to see with the Iranians, we're going to see things like small boats come after our large vessels. We're going to see drones come after our aircraft and after installations in the Middle East and perhaps in other areas as well. So, this is a completely different effort that might actually be cheaper to get the same kind of effects.

But it looks as if the planning effort hasn't gone into that cheap mode where you look at, for example, counter drone technologies like what the Ukrainians have and incorporates those kinds of things. So, what we fail to do in this particular case is really build upon existing alliances and it's pretty clear, the way this administration has treated some of the allies, that has not gone well.

And then you have a situation, Laura, where you have, you know, the different types of technologies that are coming to the forefront, things like artificial intelligence, deepfakes, the cyber realm in general, and there is obviously work being done in those areas, but the problem is the integration of that.

And then when you have the disputes between, you know, the different, you know, A.I. groups like OpenAI versus the Pentagon and things like that, Anthropic, I should say, doing that, then you have a problem that is perhaps bigger than the defense sector.

COATES: Well, let's talk about, Peter, the fact that Iran claimed to have shot a U.S. F-35 fighter jet. Again, thankfully, the pilot seems to be in stable condition and has survived. But there was no more information about it. I'm wondering what it says about Iran's defensive power still.

BERGEN: Well, the administration has claimed that 90 percent of the missiles have been destroyed at capacity, drones are down by 83 percent. You know, are they keeping them for a rainy day? You know, we don't really know. But, clearly, look, I mean, just look at the last 24 hours. They took effective strikes in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar. You know, clearly, it's not over. I mean, Cedric, which one was it? He's an Air Force guy. That's what it says.

LEIGHTON: Yes, I think, you know, Peter is absolutely right. And you look at the different ways in which they're conducting operations on the Iranian side. The volume of attacks is actually greater now from Iran than it was just a few days ago.

[23:14:57]

So, we, you know, had this idea that, you know, as Pentagon talks about decimating and obliterating --

COATES: Right. LEIGHTON: -- the Iranian elements, Iranian offensive capabilities, that is actually not exactly what's happening right now. Yes, a lot of their stuff has been destroyed, no doubt about it, but they still have more. You know, we believe that some of it is in storage, some of it is being used, you know, for a, you know, a time and a place of their choosing, potentially that rainy day that Peter was referring to. But the problem is that it is not over, and the Iranians don't want it to be over, and that's what we're dealing with here.

COATES: My goodness. Peter Bergen, Colonel Leighton, thank you both.

Up next, he has been named the top comedian to watch. He sold out Madison Square Garden, and he's using his platform to advocate for the Iranian people, his family, his friends. Comedian Max Amini is here to talk comedy in a time of war.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[23:20:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAX AMINI, IRANIAN-AMERICAN COMEDIAN: I come from two countries that are sworn enemies, Iran and America. All they want is to kill each other. But personally, I have inner peace, I have love. There's only one element that could finish and end this disaster we have in the world, is love.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COATES: Best stand-up comedian Max Amini speaking passionately about his two homes, America and Iran. You've probably seen some of Max's videos online. How could you miss him? His casual and intimate style has turned him into a stand-up superstar on social media. He has racked up almost nine million followers on Instagram alone. And last month, he became the first Iranian-American to headline at Madison Square Garden.

But lately, the Iranian-born comic has turned his shows into heart commentary on the crisis inside Iran, both the war and the deadly and brutal crackdown on protesters.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AMINI: People in Iran are screaming for human rights. And I hope every government, every leader in the world comes behind Iranians and support them because it's going to do way more than just for Iran.

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COATES: Comedian Max Amini joins me now. Max, I'm really glad you're here. I've been following your comedy for so long. And to hear you blend what is so relevant and important and global into the medium you have has been really, really compelling. And after the protests, you said you wanted Trump to go to Iran and rescue people kidnapped by the regime and you support regime change in Iran. We're a month in almost. What do you make of the war today?

AMINI: Thank you so much. It is wonderful, the way you put that. I personally followed the news, and I try to stay in close contact with a lot of my friends in Iran. And I'm really trying to just amplify the voices of the people there. And we really truly as Iranians been suffering in the last 46 years under a tremendously terrible government who are not only, you know, don't care about their own people but now, you know, during this war, we see how they're treating their neighboring countries, etcetera.

So, I just try to, you know, amplify their voice. And people of Iran have been wanting to get rid of this regime for so many years, and they're sitting there hopeful under the worst conditions to see what happens.

COATES: Do you think the hope still exists given that the president is not publicly calling for regime change and that perfect phrase anymore as an objective of the war? Is there still the hope inside Iran from the voices that you are hearing?

AMINI: It is definitely nerve-racking not to hear that. Its change of narrative will be tremendously painful. It will be costly. I think it will be waste of so much effort, funds. All of these things gone through this war. And I think, honestly, will make the Middle East a much better region in the world if they accomplish what they started.

So, I hope that that's what he's going to do. And I believe the hope is strong. I think without hope, we have nothing. Without hope, you're just sitting being depressed. I don't think that's the way to go. I think we all should be hopeful. We all should do our part on social media. Anybody can contribute any sort of voice to this and encourage the people to do the right thing. Hopefully, it will be the case.

COATES: You have been very vocal using your platform and particularly about who you want to lead in Iran. And one of the things that you said, Reza Pahlavi. And he is a son, for people who don't know, of the former shah. I spoke to someone last night who was very critical of him, in fact. Listen to what he had to say. I want you to respond.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALIREZA NADER, INDEPENDENT POLICY ANALYST: He doesn't talk about elections anymore. He doesn't talk about democracy. He says people call him on the streets, and some people have. Not millions, as he claims. There's no evidence to suggest that the majority of the people of Iran support him. We know we can't do surveys in Iran. It's not a free country. We have to have elections.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COATES: What's your response to those concerns? What are you hearing?

[23:25:00]

AMINI: We can't do surveys, but we can definitely look at the analytics, we can look at the numbers. There are very basic facts out there that genuinely millions of Iranians in Iran are calling his name. If you look at the views of Reza Pahlavi's Instagram from when he made the announcement for the people to go on the streets, until two days later when they shut down the internet, you will see videos were up to 90 to a hundred million views.

And the next few days, when they shut down the internet, the views went down extremely low, we're talking about just a very few million, maybe -- I don't want to say the exact number, but I would say maybe less than 10 million views, and went for the first time of all times, you know, all the uprisings we see in Iran when he made the announcement, millions of Iranians were in the streets and all of those footages have been publicly, you know, shared on social media and different medias.

So, no, we strongly believe that Iranians in Iran, they are calling his name. And I'm not saying this to be bias. Again, I really try to make sure I do my homework and understand what the people of Iran are saying, and this is this is my information from my perspective.

COATES: You know, your perspective, in so many ways, is also synonymous with comedy for people, obviously, because of the work you do, how they know you so well. And it might seem very counterintuitive to -- for people to lean into what you're saying when your vehicle has been something that normally takes us into better times. How do you find comedy in these moments? How do you find it as a vehicle to really use that and maximize your platform here?

AMINI: I believe any artist, they have a unique voice. And as a comedian, comedy, my comedy is who I am. And when I go on stage, I talk about things that matter to me. I bring as much humor as possible to the stage, and I'll try to make certain points, certain life lessons that I've had that I want to share with my fan base in the most comedic, most entertaining format possible. And when it comes to these moments, I've had a really nice, you know, two decades of doing comedy.

So, my fans, know me personally, and they know that when I'm perhaps closing the show at some point, I truly express certain emotional things. When you come to my show, it's a journey. We go through some laughter, we go through some thoughtful topics, we might get emotional here and there, but it's a journey and it's me sharing who I am. So, in that sense, no matter what the topic is, I just try to stay authentic to that and I try to bring a balance, and that is the key. So, my fans truly are not -- they can digest and take the information in the best way possible.

COATES: I see why they love you. Max Amini, thank you.

AMINI: Oh, thank you. Thank you very much.

COATES: Tomorrow night, don't miss the CNN town hall "War with Iran." It starts at 9 on CNN or you can watch, of course, on the CNN app. Up next, the Congressional Black Caucus slamming Illinois Governor JB Pritzker and sending veiled threats that if he runs in 2028, he might have to do it without their support. I'll tell you what he did to provoke their ire. Plus, cracks emerging in Republican support for the war with Iran.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. TIM BURCHETT (R-TN): I think we need to find an exit strategy as fast as possible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[23:30:00]

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COATES: Two hundred billion bucks. That's what the Pentagon is asking for the White House -- asking to approve for funding. Excuse me. The number is getting me hung up. Two hundred billion dollars, people. It doesn't roll off the tongue. And the president seems OK with the price.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNKNOWN (voice-over): Why is the Pentagon going to ask Congress for an additional $200 billion?

TRUMP: Well, we're asking for a lot of reasons beyond even what we're talking about in Iran. This is a very volatile world. And the military equipment, the power of some of this weaponry is unthinkable. It's a small price to pay to make sure that we stay tippy-top.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COATES: A small price to pay, says Trump. But as for other Republicans, they're not exactly on board. Congressman Lauren Boebert, for example, is a no on funding, Congressman Chip Roy says that they have a whole lot more explaining to do, and Congressman Thomas Massie is questioning if this will turn into a trillion dollars. So, the question tonight is, could President Trump's war effort be derailed by his own party over money?

Here with me now is CNN anchor Elex Michaelson, Ashley Etienne, former communications director for V.P. Harris and former senior advisor to Speaker Pelosi, and CNN political commentator and Republican strategist Shermichael Singleton. Glad to have all of you here, especially we got Elex from the West Coast.

ELEX MICHAELSON, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it's fun to be in a --

COATES: I'm happy that you're here. Look at this. ASHLEY ETIENNE, FORMER COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR FOR VICE PRESIDENT KAMALA HARRIS, FORMER SENIOR ADVISOR TO SPEAKER NANCY PELOSI: It's midday for him.

COATES: I know. It's 11 p.m. here.

MICHAELSON: Yes.

(LAUGHTER)

COATES: Are you you're supposed to be here?

MICHAELSON: I don't know what time it is, but I'm happy to be here.

[23:34:58]

COATES: Well, you know what time it is right now? It's time to show some real cracks right now on the GOP over funding, which are very evident over this price tag. I mean, is the party going to buck the administration?

SHERMICHAEL SINGLETON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: I think it's possible. I mean, you need a few Republicans to vote with Democrats. If Republicans were to get it out of the House, then the question becomes the Senate. We don't have a large majority there. You might lose Susan Collins, Murkowski, one or two others, and then it fails. I think the president has to communicate with the leaders on both sides, Laura. What's the reasoning for $200 million? What's the reasoning behind --

COATES: Well, billion, not billion.

SINGLETON: Oh, Billion.

COATES: I know.

(LAUGHTER)

SINGLETON: Billion. So, is it to restock some of our munitions? Is it to invest in special black projects? I mean, those are real serious questions that I would imagine minority leaders and majority leaders are going to want answers to before they move forward with asking their members to vote for this very expensive project which, by the way, we're now nearly at $40 trillion in debt. That's a hard pill for most members to swallow, especially with elections coming up.

COATES: Well, former leader, Pelosi, spoke to you about public perception on this very issue.

MICHAELSON: Well, so, I asked her the question tonight at this event that USC was holding. Basically, what did Democrats do to stop it? What leverage do you have at this point? Here's what she said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA), SPEAKER EMERITA, FORMER SPEAKER OF THE UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES: Well, the only thing that really matters is public opinion. When he speaks to Congress, he's speaking to the American people to say to them, we're putting our precious treasure, our men and women in uniform, in harm's way.

We're taking hundreds of billions of dollars to do it after he had already taken a trillion dollars out of Medicaid, half a trillion dollars out of Medicare, hundreds of millions of dollars out of food for children to give tax cuts to the richest people in America. Now, he's spending money on more.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COATES: See, in so many ways, you think about Americans instantly comparing that, right? What this cost would be versus what they're asking for.

MICHAELSON: Yes. And the other thing she said is the president is going to listen to public opinion, possibly, but the real thing that he's going to listen to is the stock market and financial hit and a lot of his wealthy donors potentially being impacted by this.

But it's interesting because we talk about this. I mean, this was the party that came in with DOGE, right? The idea that we're going to be the ones to trim the deficit and the idea of $200 billion for the same people that said we're going to make government smaller, you know, that math ain't mathing.

COATES: It's not.

MICHAELSON: Yes.

ETIENNE: I mean, what I would add to that is, to your point, you know, Trump's first address during his first term to Congress, he made the point that we spent trillions of dollars in Afghanistan, in wars in Iraq, and that was a wasted money. His argument was we should have reinvested that money in the country.

And now, we've got an opportunity where you have failing infrastructure in schools all around the country. The nation is not connected by broadband. We're not making investments to continue to compete with China. So, it's an opportunity cost.

And for a war, have no idea when this thing is going to end. What's the objectives? You've got conflicting reports and accounts from Israel and our officials. I mean, it's a complete and total mess.

COATES: Aside -- I want to hear your opinion on this, but aside from the issue of even the cost, you've got him campaigning on no foreign wars, right? No boots on the ground. But now, they are hearing from lawmakers regarding boots on the ground. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNKNOWN (voice-over): Do you think Congress needs to be briefed if there are boots on the ground? SEN. LISA ANN MURKOWSKI (R-AK): Yes, absolutely.

BURCHETT: I think we need to find an exit strategy as fast as possible. I don't -- I don't want to put Americans on the ground out there in any shape, form or fashion.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COATES: And, Shermichael, I mean, Trump said in the Oval Office that he's not planning to send troops, but if he does, essentially, he wouldn't announce it publicly. The money aside, would that be a deal breaker for the Republican Party?

SINGLETON: I think so. I think you would lose a lot of support within the party for this. And you're hearing it, even from Burchett. He's a very strong, ardent supporter of the president. But the president, if you believe some of the reporting, is looking for an out here. He has spoken continuously about a couple of weeks, this will be over. A couple of weeks, this will be over.

COATES: Soon.

SINGLETON: Well, soon. I think there's an opportunity to frame the message around destroying Iran's capabilities ballistically, and that should be it. We've knocked out all of the silos. They can't rebuild.

ETIENNE: But that's in dispute, actually.

SINGLETON: And then you can consider that to be a successful mission. Pull back. You don't need $200 billion. That would be my advice to the president. If the Israelis want to continue, we'll support them in some capacity, but that doesn't mean we have to be there for six, seven months or a year longer.

COATES: Six, seven months from now. Oh, you mean the midterms? Great.

SINGLETON: Yes, midterms.

COATES: Let's talk about that for a second because you've got JB Pritzker, the governor of Illinois, under fire from the Congressional Black Caucus. And they're accusing him of placing his thumb and his money on the scales in the Democratic Senate primary that was just recently held there. As you know, he put his full support behind his lieutenant governor, Juliana Stratton. The CBC, though, supported Robin Kelly. He responded to the criticism earlier tonight on CNN. Listen to this.

[23:39:58]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. JB PRITZKER (D-IL): Well, look, people say things in the heat of a battle and, you know, even in the wake of that battle, in a primary in particular, when the differences between the candidates are not fabulously big. And I don't think people mean them. And afterward, of course, we all come together to support that candidate. And that is what's happening. I've gotten a number of calls today from members of the Congressional Black Caucus to that effect I'll just say this: I was very proud to have supported Juliana Stratton.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COATES: Ashley, what do you make of the idea that the representative, Bennie Thompson, as one member of the Congressional Black Caucus, said that he needed to justify what he had done and somewhat intimated that by not going behind their choice, he may have made a mistake for the support he wants to get if he runs for president?

ETIENNE: I mean, listen, here's the reality. This is how the game is played. I mean, I don't know what they expected the governor to do. I mean, it's his home state. He's got a lot to prove. He had more on the line than anyone else. He's got to prove his political muscle, which he did. He's definitely going to get credit for elevating a Black woman. People will forget these six months from now.

Remember, this is not rippling outside of the Congressional Black Caucus. I love every one of them and respect them all to death. But he is the big winner from that primary race the other night. I think he's well positioned.

And, you know, I have to agree with Carol Moseley Braun, former senator from Illinois. She said, our focus right now should be on the fact that we're sending another CBC member to the Senate, that we're going to be making history once again as Illinois. And so, all this sort of fuss about who you supported, it matters not, because the reality is we're continuing to build Black political power.

SINGLETON: A little bit of gatekeeping here to me. And I'm not necessarily certain, if I can just add quickly, what difference would it make if they supported his presidency or not if he decides to run? I don't think it really matter.

ETIENNE: Are you trying to say the Black has no power?

SINGLETON: I don't think it matters. As long as he's making his case to Black voters about some real tangible things, I think that's what matters way more than support from the CBC.

ETIENNE: You're going to get a call from Bennie Thompson. That's it.

(LAUGHTER)

COATES: My lights are going to fall (ph). (INAUDIBLE) right now. Elex Michaelson says he's going to do it from D.C. tonight.

MICHAELSON: Yes.

COATES: And you know what? He spoke to Pelosi, and she had some good predictions about the upcoming midterms. We're going to seize that for a second, but he's going to pick up our live coverage after this show ends. I'm glad to see you here.

MICHAELSON: Yes. Thanks, Laura. Up next, ABC canceling this season of "The Bachelorette" days before the premiere. Former bachelor Ben Higgins weighs in.

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[23:45:00]

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COATES: The most dramatic season yet for a show that uses that tagline for pretty much every season, it's finally true, it seems, because this season is so dramatic, it got canceled before it even premiered. I'm talking about "The Bachelorette," the dating show that has been on ABC for 23 years.

Now, here's the deal: Taylor Frankie Paul is starring, you'll know her from "Secret Lives of Mormon Wives." And today, TMZ released a video showing Paul attacking her ex-boyfriend Dakota Mortenson in 2023. ABC putting out a statement saying, "In light of the newly released video just surfaced today, we have made the decision to not move forward with the new season of "The Bachelorette" at this time, and our focus is on supporting the family."

CNN has not independently verified the video, and Paul says "it conveniently omits context" -- end quote. Now, the incident isn't a new one. In fact, it was covered on the very first episode of "Secret Lives."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(ON SCREEN TEXT): Video redacted by Herriman Police Department.

DAKOTA MORTENSEN, T.V. PERSONALITY (voice-over): (INAUDIBLE) those metal chairs at me. I mean, put a hole in the wall (ph). Like, I was like, I was actually a little bit scared for my life there.

TAYLOR FRANKIE PAUL, INFLUENCER: I peed my pants because I was so scared of him in my garage. He pushed me into the wooden thing. So, I reacted. I threw the wooden thing at him. And when he came in, I threw everything else.

UNKNOWN (voice-over): At this time, you're going to be placed under arrest for D.V., for domestic violence. OK? So, before I talk to you more about it, I need you to turn around and place your hands behind your back.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COATES: The video obtained by TMZ, well, that is new. And there have been recent allegations of a separate ongoing domestic violence investigation involving Paul and her ex, allegations that paused production on "Secret Lives." I should note, "The Bachelorette" is produced by Warner Brothers T.V.

Let's talk about it with former bachelor Ben Higgins and Dominic Patton, executive editor at Deadline Hollywood. Ben, I'll begin with you. You know this franchise quite well. We don't know the outcome of this new investigation, and we don't know what context is missing from the video that TMZ has released. But this incident happened in 2023, and she did plead guilty to aggravated assault. Did the network make a mistake in even casting Taylor Frankie Paul?

BEN HIGGINS, FORMER LEAD, "THE BACHELOR": Well, I mean, I think it matters who you consider, you know, or how you consider a mistake being made. They had the information, and they made the decision. And so, I think now, they would say it was a mistake. There are millions of dollars gone. And they filmed a show. But they made this decision with the information they had. And they knew that, at some point, this would probably come out.

I think Bachelor Nation and my peers would -- from the beginning said, you know, this isn't "The Bachelorette." This isn't the bachelor or bachelorette that we were a part of. What is happening here? But we rallied around it, and we rallied around her being the lead because we believe that maybe they knew something we didn't.

COATES: Why did you think she wasn't?

HIGGINS: But with the video coming out today --

COATES: Why did you think she --

HIGGINS: What's that?

COATES: Why did you think that this person was not the bachelorette or bachelor that you knew?

[23:49:58]

HIGGINS: Well, I think we knew about the past, we knew about the arrest, and we knew about the events in 2023, but we were hoping that somebody couldn't -- you know, maybe it wasn't going to be defined by their worst moments in their life, and they had this redemption story that we could all watch. Now, if you're OK with that or not, that's, you know, everybody's personal opinion. But we were hoping that things had changed and she had grown and healed.

But then, with the recent incidents that we can't verify, I think, at this point, it sparked up a whole new conversation of what is actually happening here and has healing taken place and has growth taken place. And that's where we sit today. And then the video gets released. And all of a sudden, you know, the network says we can't air it anymore. But they knew this happened in 2023. This isn't a shock to them.

COATES: Dominic, the upcoming season, I mean, it was already shot, ready to go. We saw ads even during the -- I think the Academy Awards had like a group chat thing that was going on with her and the rest of the bachelorettes from years gone by. How much does the network stand to lose? And not just in terms of financially, but if they knew this in advance, which it seems they did, at least the charges or the discussion, why?

DOMINIC PATTEN, EXECUTIVE EDITOR, DEADLINE HOLLYWOOD: Well, I think, Laura, there's a couple of different things. The first thing is they stand to, as Ben pointed out, millions and millions of dollars. They shot an entire season of a television series that doesn't come cheap, even if it is unscripted. They've lost that, they've lost sponsors, they've lost advertisers. They still have to pay the license fee to Warner Brothers. They get that money, anyways. So, all that is gone. All that is gone.

And there's a lot of egg on their face. This is also the first day of the new CEO of Disney, the owner of ABC, on the job. So, there's that. Now, then, you look at this. Did they know or how much did they know? We know now that, obviously, from "Mormon Wives," which is on Hulu, also owned by Disney, they talked about this in the opening episode of what's a now paused season.

Then there was the incident in Draper City, which they are saying both Taylor and Dakota were responsible for. They refer to it as going in both directions. That's still a pending investigation. No criminal charges. We checked into that deadline, but that might happen later.

So, now, you're looking at this new video that TMZ had that shows Dakota and Taylor's one-year-old child in the video. That is something that seems to be new. She had talked about this on podcast during promo. It wasn't just they did ads for the Oscars. It wasn't just the season was supposed to debut on Sunday. She was out there doing press up until less than 48 hours ago.

COATES: I mean, Ben, "The Bachelorette" has faced, frankly, many scandals. I mean, racism scandals, a former bachelor who's stalking anyone he chose, others. And why is this, do you think, the straw that led them to cancel this show?

HIGGINS: Well, I think it's the fans' response for one reason. I think the fans and what they were hearing was, hey, we're not going to watch this now. And if you do watch it, I think you're platforming something that either you're unfamiliar with or you're acknowledging and knowledgeable of when you chose to bring Taylor Frankie Paul and as your lead. Either way, it's not a good scenario.

You're right, the show has had scandals in the past, but I think when we're speaking about this specific video, it's showing things that I think the public, no matter who you are, right? It's not a divisive topic. It's not one that there's even an argument. This is not OK. None of us should be OK with the video and what happened that night.

And so, I think it is, if you're going to say the straw that broke the camel's back and said, let's cancel the season, I think it's really because universally, what we saw in this video is not OK for anybody to watch, let alone platform as a season air.

And just let me close in this, this whole show is about your love story. Now, it is reality television. It's goofy, it's funny, it's all those things that we can make fun of. But at the end of the day, it's successful because it's showing a love story. And it's going to be hard for people to rally behind someone when this is the first -- the last thing they saw before season airs. COATES: An important point. Dominic, I mean, reality T.V., it certainly runs the gamut. At one point, I would say, you know, 10, 15, five years ago, this might have been used, the whole scandal, to even promote the show. I mean, table flipping to cat fights and beyond, people tune in, but this does have a different feel. What do you think has changed in the landscape of media?

PATTEN: Well, I think, Laura, over the past several years, we've seen a lot change in the wild world of reality T.V. There have been numerous lawsuits to the Bravo Empire, the housewives of whatever. "Love is Blind" has had them. There have been the sessions on sexual assault, intoxication, manipulation, all sorts of things. Codes of conduct have been introduced by some companies like Comcast who owns NBC. So, I think there's a lot of that going on.

[23:55:00]

I also think, though, too, is reality T.V. along with live sports is kind of the beating heart of network television right now. I think when you lose a sponsor, as they did here, when you have what may or may not have been a -- oh, I don't want to say a liable mission, but there was an omission about the child and the extent of this video, which Dakota seems to have sat on for three years. I think that does change the circumstances.

Ben is right. There's a lot of things that are fun and goofy about reality T.V. And I love reality T.V., I might add, a lot of it. But I also say this is something different. It's much more visceral. It's much harder to buy into the myth or the reality of the love story. And to be honest, also, it's insane and it's painful, and there was a child involved, and there was another incident. So, it seems that this is a building case, as they say in science, right? One time, it may have been an accident. Two times, it may have been a coincidence. Three times, something is happening.

COATES: Ben, Dominic, thank you both. And thank you all for watching. "The Story Is with Elex Michaelson" out of D.C. is next.

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