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Voters in Six States Head to Polls Today in High-Stakes Primaries; Negotiator: Iran Will Confront Israel if Strikes on Lebanon Continue; Trump Says Israel and Hezbollah Will Hold Off on New Military Action; Capitol Hill Staffers Fear Reporting Sexual Harassment. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired June 02, 2026 - 08:00   ET

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

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BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA ANALYST: The rest of Warner Brothers Discovery, so that intensifies the speculation even more with people wondering what the intentions are for CNN. This idea of an outsider coming in it's something we see in Silicon Valley and other industries all the time. Bilton and Weiss said to staffers last week, if you don't disrupt yourself, then you're going to be disrupted.

And I can see why that's appealing to some people, but very disturbing to a lot of other people. So you have a tug of war here over the future of 60 Minutes.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Needless to say, a lot of people are watching for a lot of different reasons what goes on here. Brian Stelter, great to see you. Great reporting. Thank you very much.

A brand new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: It is election day in America once again, primaries in six key states today, which could reshape the political landscape for tomorrow. We've got details for you.

And a CNN exclusive, more than a dozen current and former female staffers on Capitol Hill are coming forward with claims of harassment against lawmakers and other senior staff. Nearly all chose not to report, saying that silence feels safer than speaking, that is until now.

And after narrowly escaping death, a reunion among some of the villagers who were trapped in that flooded out cave for 11 days.

I'm Kate Bolduan with John Berman and Sara Sidner. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right, just moments ago, the polls opened in Iowa. It's one of six states holding critical primaries today with the midterms hanging in the balance. Two Democrats and two Republicans are competing for the state's first open Senate seat in more than a decade after Senator Joni Ernst announced she would not seat re- election. In Iowa's governor's race, five Republican candidates are vying to

succeed Kim Reynolds, who also decided not to run again. The winner is set to face the lone Democrat in the race, Rob Sand, who is running unopposed.

But today's most closely watched races are perhaps happening in California. In the governor's race, a crowded field. We're talking of dozens of candidates, 61 in total, competing to succeed term limited Gavin Newsom.

And in Los Angeles, former reality star Spencer Pratt is shaking up the mayor's race as incumbent Karen Bass fights to hang on to her seat.

CNN's Jeff Zeleny is at a polling place in Des Moines, Iowa for us. You know Iowa, as good as anybody, you have been all over, up and down and across that state. What are you hearing from voters this morning and what can you tell us about that race there?

JEFF ZELENY: Hey, Sara. Good morning. I mean, you mentioned the retirements of Governor Kim Reynolds, a Republican, and Republican Senator Joni Ernst.

That is why Democrats are seeing potential glimpses of optimism in both the race for Senate and governor. Not since 1968 has there been an open race for governor and Senate in the same time here in Iowa. But it is the Democratic Senate primary here that has captured so much attention.

Of course, Democrats are looking across the country for places they could possibly pick up a seat. And one of those places will be here in Iowa. But there is a primary first.

So the outcome of the race between State Senator Zach Wahls and State Representative Josh Turek is going to be decided today. There's been a lot of outside money spent here. This is largely a race about biography as well as an outsider versus insider campaign.

But Democrats, I'm told here as I've been talking to them, have been torn over this. But they do believe, many of them, that Josh Turek, who is a Paralympian in men's wheelchair basketball, they believe that he is more electable perhaps because he has won a seat in a red county of Iowa. We shall see about that.

Zach Wahls also is from a deeply populated Democratic area in Iowa City on the eastern part of the state. So Democrats are keeping an eye on that. But as you said, the governor's race, also so important here because of the Republican endorsement from President Trump.

SIDNER: I'm curious what people are saying about the fact that you bring up this 68 years, you haven't seen something like this, and if that's going to draw more people to the primaries.

ZELENY: We'll see about that. There's no doubt there's a competitive primary on both sides. But the governor's race, as I was just saying there, on Friday, late Friday afternoon, Donald Trump decided to weigh in on this because a very messy Republican primary was unfolding here.

A congressman by the name of Randy Feenstra was largely thought to be the runaway winner, but he's had a very tough primary on his hand. So the president got involved on Friday. We will see how that turns out. It's one more test of the president's strength here. There's no question about it.

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But overall, five months from now, of course, the midterm elections happen in November. The question is, will Iowa be on the map in terms of the Senate majority? Democrats have some optimism here. But of course, Iowa has been trending red in recent years, so we shall see how the winds are blowing.

But many headwinds for Republicans here. There's no doubt about it -- Sara.

SIDNER: Jeff Zeleny, it is so good to talk to you. I know you are enjoying yourself in Iowa there this morning, watching all of the polls open and the people coming. Appreciate it -- John.

BERMAN: All right, from Iowa, further west to California. If you're watching from California, good morning to you. It's 5 a.m. there. We appreciate you joining us this morning. So what's going to happen in the primaries? With us now is CNN's Patrick Svitek.

Patrick, great to see you. What exactly are we watching for today? And how did we get here?

PATRICK SVITEK, CNN REPORTER: Yes, the California governor's race has seen a lot of ups and downs. There were some Democratic hopes that very prominent Democrats, such as former Vice President Kamala Harris, would get into this race. But she declined.

And so that left somewhat of a wide open and crowded field. We've noted the dozens of candidates who are on the ballot. But the big question today is whether the top two finishers that will advance to November are going to be a Democrat and a Democrat or a Democrat and a Republican.

California, obviously, is a very blue state. And so any matchup in November between a Democrat and Republican would heavily favor the Democrat. But if two Democrats advance out of the election today to the November election, things could remain quite competitive, quite contentious, and quite expensive.

You have one of the Democratic candidates, billionaire Tom Steyer, who's fighting for one of those two slots to advance to November. He's self-funded his campaign more than $200 million. And so if it is a Democrat versus Democrat matchup, you can expect this race to continue to be quite dramatic through November.

BERMAN: And what about the mayor's race in Los Angeles, which has similar-ish rules there? What exactly are the highlights? Because this race is getting a lot of attention. SVITEK: Absolutely. There's no doubt that Spencer Pratt has tapped into, I think, something unique in this race. And the fact that a Republican candidate for mayor of Los Angeles is even in the conversation today, I think, is notable.

That being said, if he does advance to the November election, he's facing a very steep climb. I mean, he's running -- he's a Republican running for mayor in a very, very blue city, in a very blue state, in a midterm where the Republican president is unpopular.

And so he would have to really overcome a very tough set of political circumstances to win in November.

BERMAN: It will be interesting to see what the margins are there between those three candidates. Patrick Svitek, I have to say, you know, you've been at CNN for a little while. I haven't had a chance to welcome you.

Welcome aboard. I've been reading your stuff for, like, well over a decade since you were a very, very young man in Texas. So it's really an honor to get to have you here.

Thank you. Thanks so much. Kate, it's always an honor.

BOLDUAN: It's great to meet you.

BERMAN: I've been reading your stuff for well over a decade.

BOLDUAN: I've been reading your work, and I've been following your career for a very long time and co-anchoring with you for more than a decade.

BERMAN: Exactly.

BOLDUAN: Yes, exactly.

BERMAN: Because you have to.

BOLDUAN: Because I'm required to. Coming up for us, sexual harassment, silence and fear, new CNN reporting on how women working on Capitol Hill say they are not reporting what they say is happening because they're too scared. They're speaking out now.

Plus, inside the epicenter of the Ebola outbreak where health officials are struggling to contain the spread still. CNN goes inside a hospital in what's called the Red Zone.

And an 18th century shipwreck with ancient artifacts, priceless treasures that have not been seen in centuries -- until now.

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BOLDUAN: This morning, the big question with Iran is what now and what next? Iranian state media signaling that talks to end the war are now back on track. That's just after reports that Iran had suspended talks with the United States over Israel's offensive in southern Lebanon.

And according to Axios, President Trump just yesterday unloaded on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over this. With expletives flying over the phone, Axios reports that Trump demanded that Netanyahu back off his plans to take his attacks and offensive against Hezbollah straight to the center of Beirut.

A U.S. official summarized the call this way to Axios, that Trump told Netanyahu, quote, "You're effing crazy. You'd be in prison if it weren't for me. I'm saving your ass. Everybody hates you now. Everybody hates Israel because of this."

Joining us now is one of the reporters who broke this news, global affairs correspondent for Axios, Barak Ravid. Quite the read, Barack, of course, and quite the call. I mean, is this how these two leaders speak to each other often?

BARAK RAVID, CNN POLITICAL AND GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Well, I don't know if often, but it's not the first difficult and tough call they had. Although a senior U.S. official told me yesterday it was definitely one of the worst calls they had. And maybe there was one call over the war in Gaza that was more difficult than the call yesterday.

And I think what led to this is a growing feeling that the president had that Netanyahu is out of control.

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I heard it from several of the president's people. And Trump, at the end of the day, wants to end the war with Iran and to de-escalate in the region more broadly. And he felt that what Netanyahu is doing in Lebanon and his plan to escalate the war further by expanding the Israeli ground operation in southern Lebanon and by going on a massive bombing campaign in the center of Beirut, knocking down buildings, that that is disproportionate and that would cause an escalation that would undermine what the president was trying to do with getting a deal with Iran. I think this is how the president went into this call yesterday with Netanyahu, yesterday around noon. And he told Netanyahu that he needs to stand down and that he needs to understand that this war broadly in the region has to come to an end and that you cannot just continue it.

And over this call, Trump used the F-word several times, told Netanyahu he's effing crazy, mentioned the fact that he helped him numerous times regarding his pardon request in his corruption trial. And therefore, what I heard from U.S. officials and what I heard and my colleague Mark Caputo worked with me on the story, what we heard is that Trump messaged Netanyahu was that by doing what he's doing in Lebanon, he's being ungrateful to all the assistance Trump gave him on the pardon issue. And I think this is also what, you know, what led to the mention of, if not for me, you would have been in prison by now.

BOLDUAN: That does sound very Trump-esque of saying you have not been grateful or shown you're grateful enough. So then what now? I mean, is it clear that Israel is going to slow or pull back on operations against Hezbollah in Lebanon because of this?

Or just specifically exactly where they're targeting? And isn't there a responsibility and where's that conversation of Iran to tell Hezbollah its proxy to stop as well?

RAVID: No, definitely. And I think the Iranians for two or three weeks now told Hezbollah to escalate because they wanted to, you know, put pressure on Israel and to also put pressure on Trump. And this is why we saw Hezbollah escalating.

On the other hand, once Israel escalated its response, the Iranians came to the U.S. and said, oh, if they're escalating, we're out. We're not talking to you anymore. I think this was part of this Iranian maneuver to, you know, to try and because the Iranians at the end of the day, they want a deal to end the war and they want it on their terms.

And I think they thought that through Lebanon, through putting pressure through Lebanon, they would get better terms or would get Trump closer to where they are. But I think now the question is what happens. So the ceasefire at the moment, we had numerous announcements on a ceasefire.

Most of them stayed on paper. So I think we need to see if this is actually implemented because we're just in the first phase. The first phase is Hezbollah stops shooting rockets at Israeli towns in the northern border and Israel holds or suspends its plans to attack Beirut.

This is a very minimal thing. There is fighting on the ground in southern Lebanon. Israel has ground forces there.

They're demolishing buildings in southern Lebanon. Hezbollah is firing attack drones at Israeli forces in southern Lebanon. So the fighting is still ongoing.

And I think that today, actually, I think in 40 minutes at the State Department, Israeli and Lebanese diplomats will meet under U.S. auspices to try and actually consolidate the ceasefire and try to agree what does it actually mean and how do we actually make it work and not just stay as a Truth Social post.

BOLDUAN: To say the least, that would be necessary. It's great to see you, Barak. As always, thank you for bringing your great reporting to us. I appreciate it -- Sara.

SIDNER: All right, we've got brand new CNN reporting this morning. Why some former and current female Capitol Hill staffers say they are too afraid to report sexual harassment.

And new hope this morning in the treatment for one of the deadliest cancers. What we know about the new pill being used to treat pancreatic cancer. Those stories and more ahead.

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SIDNER: New CNN reporting this morning. Some female staffers on Capitol Hill say they still fear reporting sexual harassment despite multiple changes enacted in Congress nearly a decade ago. CNN spoke to more than a dozen current and former female staffers and nearly all chose not to report their cases.

Some say they feared retribution, losing their careers, and they pointed to a complicated system of seeking accountability. One former staffer told CNN, quote, "It doesn't really seem like the system is set up to benefit the victims."

CNN's Annie Grayer is joining us now. This is your reporting. It is disturbing that there are so many young staffers having to deal with this but also being terrified to even say something about it.

ANNIE GRAYER, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: That's right, Sara. What we learned through our reporting from talking to over a dozen women, current and former Hill staffers, is that they experienced forms of harassment, but for a variety of reasons decided not to report it.

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Whether it was fear of retaliation or retribution, fear that reporting against the lawmaker that they work for or their senior staff could hurt their job prospects, or fear that given that up here on Capitol Hill is such a small community, that if they were to report something, their anonymity might not be protected.

Now, the woman that we spoke to experienced things like being propositioned for a threesome, being texted asking for photos of another woman for their woman's underwear, or a senior staffer propositioning a young woman for sexual favors, offering to Venmo and pay that woman. Now, these were all things that the woman experienced but chose not to report it.

And as one woman told us, they said, quote, "We're not silent because the harm wasn't serious enough. We're silent because we know we work in an environment where silence feels safer than speaking."

Now, the woman for this story we spoke to, who did try and report the forms of misconduct, talked about how difficult the process is. Up here on Capitol Hill, it's not like corporate America. There is not one HR department. Each office operates as its own sort of fiefdom with its own set of rules and procedures.

And there's as many as five different offices that somebody could start bringing a claim to. One of which, of course, is the House Ethics Committee, which oversees all of member misconduct and is supposed to be the final arbiter for what happens to policing members up here. But we started reporting on this story because Congress is in the middle of a reckoning.

In the wake of the resignations of Eric Swalwell and Tony Gonzalez amidst sexual misconduct allegations with staffers, lawmakers and stakeholders are trying to find ways to reform the system. But as we learned through reporting this story and talking to the women who entrusted us with their stories, is that the problems just run so deep here and just shows how long of a road lawmakers have if they really do want to change how harassment is reported up here on Capitol Hill.

SIDNER: Clearly, they don't want to do it soon enough after all the things that have happened, not just now but in the past. And these are our supposed leaders, the leaders of their communities. Hearing this is just maddening.

But great reporting from you because it's important to get this out there. Thank you so much, Annie -- John.

BERMAN: This morning, survivors rescued from the cave they were stuck in for more than a week reunited with the divers who saved them.

And so what's the best way to attract new fans to sports? Show the games well after kids need to go to bed. Good job, basketball. Well, New York's mayor is proposing a creative fix.

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