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Interview With Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD); Court Hearing on Trump Use of National Guard; Iranian Diplomatic Talks. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired June 20, 2025 - 13:00   ET

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

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BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Israel and Iran trading fire, as critical talks get under way in Geneva, Iranian and European officials meeting, attempting to revive diplomacy, at the same time that a strike in an Israeli port city injures dozens. We're following the latest on the ground.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Plus, the mayor of Memphis and a Republican lawmaker in Ohio become the latest targets of alleged political violence. As these threats ramp up, the Minnesota lawmaker and his wife who survived an attempted assassination speak out. Their message, we must work together to return to a level of civility.

And President Trump claims nonworking holidays are hurting the nation's economy, but what do the numbers say? We did the math.

We're following these major developing stories and many more all coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

SANCHEZ: We start this hour with a violent day across the Middle East, as, one week into their conflict, neither Israel nor Iran show any signs of de-escalation.

Explosions were reported in cities across Israel after Iran launched a new wave of missile barrages. Hospital officials say more than 30 people have been hurt in these latest attacks. At the same time, the IDF says that it struck dozens of military targets in Iran, including missile production sites and a nuclear research facility in Tehran.

The brutal fighting comes after President Trump opened a new window for diplomacy, saying that he will make a decision about U.S. involvement in the conflict within two weeks. Right now, Iran's foreign minister is meeting with his European counterparts in Switzerland, the first face-to-face talks between Western and Iranian officials since the start of this conflict.

Let's take you now live to Geneva with CNN's Matthew Chance.

Matthew, what is the likelihood of a potential breakthrough during these talks? MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CHIEF GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Boris.

I think the likelihood of a breakthrough is pretty low. At least, there are very low expectations that that's -- that will happen. You can see I'm outside the hotel in Geneva in Switzerland where those first face-to-face talks since the start of Israel's operation against Iran's nuclear facilities and its other targets began.

The diplomats from the European Union and from Iran are still inside the building having talks, although we have been told that they're expected to come to an end any time now, which is why so many journalists have come outside in expectation that somebody's going to come out and tell us what was actually discussed inside those talks.

So then we will be able to get some clarity about what progress, if any, was made, but, as I say, expectations going into the talks pretty low. Diplomats I spoke to said that the crux of the matter, of course, is the issue of uranium enrichment in Iran and the fact that Iran continues to insist that it will not abandon that capability, even though that's a red line now for President Trump and the Trump administration and many others as well, including the Europeans.

The one possibility that means that this could change is the fact, according to diplomats, that Iran has been suffering such a heavy burst of military pressure at the hands of the Israelis and also that it could face more military pressure should President Trump decide in two weeks from now to join the Israelis in attacks against Iran.

So, because of that military pressure, there is some hope or optimism, at least the word going into these talks, that the Iranian calculus could change and they may be prepared to compromise more than the otherwise have done or previously have done -- excuse me -- as a result of that.

And so we will see. We're expecting somebody from inside the talks to come out soon to talk to us, possibly one of the foreign ministers, possibly the Iranians as well. We don't know, but, obviously, we will keep you up to speed on exactly what comes out of these crucial talks.

SANCHEZ: Yes, Matthew, please let us know if any diplomats come out and speak to the press.

Matthew Chance, live for us in Geneva, thank you so much.

For the latest on the ground in this conflict, let's take you live to Tel Aviv with CNN's Jeremy Diamond, who's on the scene for us.

Jeremy, Israeli officials report several Iranian strikes today. What are you learning?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: That's right.

There was a barrage of more than 20 Iranian ballistic missiles headed toward Israel today, sending the entire country fleeing into those bomb shelters. And we saw several strikes, including in Northern Israel, in Southern Israel as well. [13:05:08]

But it was certainly that strike near the Haifa port that was the most significant in terms of both damage, not only to the area near the port, but also to a mosque that was in that very same neighborhood, as well as in terms of civilian casualties. We saw one person was seriously injured, two in moderate condition, according to a local hospital, and more than a dozen others were taken to the hospital with light injuries.

And all of this comes as President Trump is saying that he wants to take as much as two weeks to determine whether or not he's going to get involved in carrying out any strikes in Iran. And that led to some frustration that we heard today from Haifa's mayor in conversation with our colleague Nic Robertson.

Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: President Trump waiting two weeks to make a decision, what do you think about that?

YONA YAHAV, MAYOR OF HAIFA, ISRAEL: It's too much.

ROBERTSON: Why?

YAHAV: Because we have no time. You see what's going in the meantime. A fixed answer, I can't get from Trump. And this bothers me.

ROBERTSON: Why?

YAHAV: Because I like stability. And I think that he has to give me this stability.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DIAMOND: Now, the reality, of course, for President Trump is that he's also weighing what U.S. strikes in Iran would mean, what potential retaliation that would draw from them.

And he has chosen at this moment to allow diplomacy to take its course to see whether or not a deal can be achieved. The real question now is whether that two-week timeline is actually a real one, as we have heard President Trump on previous occasions, many previous occasions, talk about two weeks, and ultimately it's just a way to kick the can down the road.

And so today what we are hearing from the Israeli military as well is that they are preparing for a prolonged military campaign in Iran, with the Israeli military's chief of staff, Eyal Zamir, telling the Israeli public that they are going to have to hunker down and prepare for this to be drawn out.

He also highlighted the fact that the Israeli military so far has destroyed about half of Iran's ballistic missile launchers to this stage, but, clearly, even with those military successes in Iran, Iran today showing that it still has the capacity to fire barrages of missiles that can cause very destructive and potentially deadly impact in Israel for the time being, Boris.

SANCHEZ: Jeremy Diamond live for us in Tel Aviv, thank you so much -- Brianna.

KEILAR: The president received an intel briefing from national security advisers earlier today.

CNN's Alayna Treene is at the White House for us.

Alayna, any sense that you're getting about where the president's thinking is right now?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes, look, so, as you mentioned, he met with his national security team this morning.

We actually just saw some of them leaving, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, the CIA director, John Ratcliffe, someone actually the president has been, we're told, are leaning on heavily for a lot of these discussions behind closed doors. I was told that that meeting had now wrapped.

Look, I think he's very much weighing what to do here. I think what's been clear in my conversations with people here at the White House is that he still is closer than he had been in weeks prior to wanting to have Israel -- or -- excuse me -- the United States aid Israel in a more offensive posture, and aiding them in striking these Iranian nuclear facilities.

However, he still does want to give time to trying to see if a diplomatic solution is achievable. And that's really what I was told led to that two-week time frame that he put out there. I agree with what Jeremy just said, that a lot of times when it comes to the president, Donald Trump, saying two weeks is a nebulous type of time frame. It's not really clear if he will stick to that.

But he does want -- he's been waiting to see really, is what I'm told, what Tehran would do, particularly in reaction to these strikes from Israel, and whether or not them being in a more weakened state after some of these strikes would lead them back to the negotiating table, and specifically in a way that is far more forthcoming than they had been previously before these attacks have really begun to play out, and specifically being more willing to make some significant concessions.

That is really what this president, President Donald Trump, is looking for and what some of these conversations are behind the scenes. But, Brianna, I do think it's really important to talk about the context of this. We have kind of discussed this over the past couple of days, but it's really key in understanding where the president's mind-set is, because his supporters, the American public, but his supporters included, many of them are split on how to move forward.

You have a lot of people who are wary and don't want the United States getting involved in another foreign war. And then you have another side that believes the United States needs to stand behind its ally in Israel and also needs to ensure directly that the Iranians cannot ever have a nuclear weapon, something, of course, the president has said for several months and years, to be quite frank.

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And so that's really what's been weighing on him. I know in some of these private conversations in the Situation Room, he's been asking his advisers, is there a way to strike these facilities without having this turn into a prolonged war? Because that is really what he wants to avoid here.

All of this, of course, still weighing on his mind. And a key question that we have is, we have now heard from different people, different Iranian leaders, including the foreign minister, that essentially they believe that the president needs to tell the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to cease their strikes on Iran.

It's only at that point that they will agree to reopen some of these diplomatic channels and have these negotiations. Very much unclear if that's anything President Donald Trump is even considering at this point.

KEILAR: All right, Alayna Treene, live for us from the North Lawn, thank you so much for that.

Let's talk more now with CNN political and national security analyst and White House and national security correspondent for "The New York Times" David Sanger.

So that is what Iran is saying, David, but you have Iran at the table, right? Iran and Israel trading these strikes, even as you have Iran and Europe having talks right now at the foreign minister level, in coordination with the U.S.

What is the effect then of these traded strikes here on those talks?

DAVID SANGER, CNN POLITICAL AND NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Brianna, watching the traded strikes during the talks is a little bit like watching Ukraine and Russia attacking each other while you're trying to get negotiations going.

It's not an ideal way to do negotiations, nor is the fact that you have got a two-week deadline here. And if we have learned anything about negotiating with Iran is, it takes a long time. But Iran doesn't have a long time here. And so the question is, will this coercive diplomacy, which is really the only phrase you can use to describe it, change the view the Iranians have had?

Until now, their view has been Iran is a signatory of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. It has a right under that treaty to enrich uranium. And as long as it's not making a nuclear weapon, no one can impede on that right.

Now, the Americans are going and saying, look, you may have a right, but you don't have much of a reality. Half of your nuclear enrichment sites right now are in smoking ruins. It doesn't mean that couldn't be rebuilt sometime, but they're smoking. That's the Natanz plant.

The other half, President Trump is thinking about wiping out with bunker-busting bombs. So the question here is, do you do a negotiated way to get to this outcome, or do you do a way by force? You would think that the Iranians looking at this would say they're not winning this one. They're running out of missiles. Better to get the deal.

But my guess is that most countries, when they're back to the wall like that, think that they can't afford at home to look like they are basically handing the keys over to their country.

KEILAR: Yes, it's a really good point.

And Tehran insists it is enriching uranium, and it insists that it is doing so for nuclear energy. But you have the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog saying the uranium is enriched well, well beyond the level that it needs to be for energy use.

SANGER: Right.

KEILAR: And Iran's making it clear, as you said, they're not going to stop enriching uranium.

Where do you see ultimately -- and it seems like it's way, way off here -- but, ultimately, what do you think they would agree to on enrichment? Is there some way to get a creative solution to this?

SANGER: Sure.

So there have been a couple of creative thoughts out there. One of them, which the United States proposed to the Iranians before the Israeli attack, said, let's create a consortium, you and Arab states producing uranium just at nuclear power level, that is to say, 3.5, 3.6 percent purity, not the 60 percent on the way to 90 that you would use for a nuclear weapon.

And that enrichment's got to happen someplace other than Iran, although Iran can be a participant in it. The Iranians said, no, we can't give up enrichment here.

The first thing I think is being tested right now in those conversations in Geneva is, has the Iranian position changed after seven brutal days of war? Remember, we're at the six-day war plus one at this point for the Israelis.

Then the next question is, could you do something that was face-saving for the Iranians, saying you can keep some of these facilities, they're there, but they're not spinning, they're not producing, and you have got full inspection to make sure they are,and inspection anywhere the U.N. inspectors want to go in the country so that they have assurance that you don't have a secret site?

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And we just don't know if the Iranian system, which is opaque and sclerotic in the best of times, can handle that now.

KEILAR: David, great to get your insights here. Thank you so much.

SANGER: Great to be with you.

KEILAR: And still ahead: The mayor of Memphis and a Republican congressman in Ohio say they have become the latest targets of political violence in the country. We have some new details on the alleged threats made against them.

And an appeals court ruling President Trump can control the California National Guard, at least for now. We will tell you what impact that ruling could have as a federal judge hears new arguments in this case.

Stay with CNN.

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KEILAR: Happening right now, a hearing is under way in California on President Trump's use of thousands of National Guard troops in Los Angeles. The judge is hearing arguments about how the president can use the troops that were sent in nearly two weeks ago in the middle of anti-ICE enforcement protests.

SANCHEZ: This is the same judge who just days ago ruled that Trump was using the Guard illegally and must relinquish control of them.

An appeals court just tossed the lower court's decision, saying the president can maintain control over the Guardsmen, at least for now.

CNN chief legal affairs correspondent Paula Reid is here.

Paula, any updates from court?

PAULA REID, CNN CHIEF LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: So, actually, the hearing has not started yet. It's running about 20 minutes late.

They just said that Judge Breyer -- he's of course, the brother of retired Justice Stephen Breyer -- he's running a little bit behind. But this hearing, once it gets under way, this is the latest development in this ongoing feud between the Trump administration and the state of California over President Trump's use of the National Guard to respond to protests over immigration enforcement in that state.

Now, this hearing is specifically focused on President Trump's use of members of the U.S. military in Los Angeles, including the thousands of members who are federalized from the National Guard. It's a little bit confusing because, last night, the U.S. Court of Appeals overturned a decision that this same judge made roughly two weeks ago, when he said that Trump had unlawfully seized control of the National Guard.

Last night, though, an appeals court overturned that. So here, today, they're trying to block Trump from using the Guard or the U.S. Marines to do anything other than protecting federal property. Again, this hearing is expected to get under way any minute here. Last time, Judge Breyer -- he's a talker. He's been on the bench for about three decades.

The hearing went on for quite some time. So we will see what he says once this gets under way.

KEILAR: Many judges are talkers...

REID: They are.

KEILAR: ... as we know, Paula.

(LAUGHTER)

KEILAR: It gives you so much to report on.

Paula Reid, thank you so much for that.

And now to some of the other headlines that we are watching this hour.

Senegal's prime minister says the country's women's basketball team is canceling a training camp scheduled in the U.S. after some members of its squad had their visas denied. Basketball officials say -- or basketball officials there say five players, a doctor and the general manager were among those who had their visas denied.

Senegal is among the 36 countries that President Trump is reportedly considering adding to the travel ban he announced earlier this month. CNN has reached out to Homeland Security officials for comment.

SANCHEZ: Plus, singer Chris Brown pleading not guilty in his U.K. assault case. He's accused of attacking a music producer with a bottle at a London nightclub two years ago. Prosecutors say the alleged attack was unprovoked, then continued in another part of the club, where the man was allegedly kicked and punched. The next hearing is scheduled for July 11, the trial set to begin in October of next year.

And tens of millions of people are about to get hit with the hottest temperatures so far this year, brutal heat going to climb above 100 degrees in places like Denver starting today. The dangerous heat will later spread into the Ohio Valley and Great Lakes over the weekend. These scorching temperatures, relatively scorching, are going to reach the Northeast by Sunday and continue into early next week.

Cities like New York and Washington, D.C., will see triple-digit weather in the coming days, and on Monday alone more than 250 daily temperature records could be broken. Good idea to stay inside, if you can, and hydrate as well as you can.

Still to come, CNN is on the ground in Tehran, as Iranians take to the streets to protest Israeli airstrikes. We have an update from there next.

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SANCHEZ: As European and Iranian officials gather for talks in Geneva, back here in the nation's capital, there's a debate brewing over who has the authority to declare war.

War powers resolutions have been introduced in both chambers of Congress, which would require President Trump to get congressional permission to authorize war against Iran. Notably, neither Democratic leader, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer nor House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, have signed on.

Let's discuss this and more with Democratic Congressman Jamie Raskin of Maryland.

Congressman, great to see you. Thanks for being with us.

Would you support a resolution ensuring that Congress debate and vote before any military action in Iran?

REP. JAMIE RASKIN (D-MD): Yes, I'm a co-sponsor of the war powers resolution, and I have always co-sponsored those resolutions when it looks like military hostilities might begin.

The Constitution is very clear in Article I that it is Congress which has the power to declare war. That is the sole and exclusive power of Congress. Now, it's true that the president has acted in emergency situations before, but, obviously, if Donald Trump has said, well, nobody knows what I'm going to do, I might do it, I might not, now I'm going to take two weeks to think it over, it's clearly not an emergency.

And so all of the complicated policy factors that enter into this analysis are for Congress to be deciding, and it should be within our province.

SANCHEZ: On President Trump giving two weeks for diplomacy to play out as Israel and Iran exchange attacks, do you think we have seen enough from Tehran over not only the last few months, but over decades, to convince you that they're serious about diplomacy?