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America Votes; Interview With Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE); Trump Pick For Intelligence Director Stirs Controversy. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired June 02, 2026 - 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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BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Is intel experience necessary to lead the nation's intel community? Maybe not. More on the president's controversial new pick.

And from Los Angeles to Des Moines, voters heading to the polls today, casting ballots in some of the most closely watched races in the country.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: And a firsthand look inside Ebola's red zone. CNN's Clarissa Ward visiting a hospital treating patients in the epicenter of the outbreak.

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

KEILAR: The doctor is in. Former television host Dr. Mehmet Oz is the next administration official who is about to run the White House press briefing, and the CMS administrator is likely to face a lot of questions about why the president just appointed the federal housing director, Bill Pulte, to acting director of national intelligence.

That is despite having no known counterterrorism background.

CNN's Kristen Holmes is live from the Briefing Room.

Kristen, I think sometimes we have seen these kind of guest briefing situations that made sense, where the expertise overlapped with the news of the day. This is going to be a little bit different. Tell us what we're learning and what we might expect from this briefing.

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I mean, there's a lot of questions as to why they chose to have Mehmet Oz brief, in particular.

He's not a Cabinet member. He's not even connected to a number of the stories that are news of the day. So we're really going to see whether or not Oz is somebody who has been briefed before this briefing, is speaking for the White House on various topics, the way that most of these briefings have been. Of course, we have seen people who are generally involved in the news of the day, the vice president, J.D. Vance, speaking on behalf of the White House, Marco Rubio, secretary of state, speaking on behalf of the White House. So it'll be interesting to see how this plays out.

Of course, we know President Trump loves Dr. Oz. He thinks that he's great on television, so that could just be what it boils down to. Now, when you talk about Bill Pulte, that is going to be the number one question for most of the reporters in this room.

And I am told that, despite the pushback, we have even seen Republican senators saying, why him, he has no experience, that President Trump didn't really overthink it, that he wanted somebody in this job who is completely loyal to him, somebody who has been shown to move fast and break things, and that that was Bill Pulte, that he thought he could probably do what he did in terms of bringing charges or referring to investigations against President Trump's political foes.

I will remind you that Pulte was behind some of the biggest or most eye-popping decisions or pursues the Department of Justice made in the last year against President Trump's political foes. He referred Letitia James, Eric Swalwell, Adam Schiff, Fani Willis all to the Department of Justice for investigation into mortgage fraud.

All of them have denied that and only charges were brought against Letitia James, and they were later dropped. But I'm told that President Trump believes he can replicate what he did there in the DNI, in these various -- with these various intelligence agencies.

Remember, one of the things President Trump cares about most is this idea that the deep state lives within these intelligence agencies. So that's likely to be a big part of his agenda, as is trying to unseal or show any documents related to 2020 and the election in 2020, as we saw Tulsi Gabbard was doing before she resigned.

KEILAR: Well, incredibly alarming.

Kristen Holmes will be looking for this briefing. Certainly, as it begins, we will bring it to you. Thank you -- Boris.

SANCHEZ: We turn now to Secretary of State Marco Rubio in the hot seat on Capitol Hill today, facing lawmakers for the first time since the war with Iran began.

Earlier, the secretary telling Congress the administration will not immediately remove sanctions from Iran until a nuclear deal is reached, despite Tehran's latest demand that $12 billion in frozen funds be released as soon as an interim agreement is signed.

Here was Rubio:

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MARCO RUBIO, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: Iran is being sanctioned because they enrich uranium. Iran is being sanctioned because they have highly enriched uranium. Iran is being sanctioned because of their nuclear activities. If they agree to give up those things, there will be sanctions relief associated with their commitment and compliance with those agreements.

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SEN. CHRIS MURPHY (D-CT): But you will not give them sanctions relief just in exchange for reopening the strait?

RUBIO: No, that's not been discussed. That's not been offered.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Let's discuss with Democratic Senator Chris Coons of Delaware, who serves on the Foreign Relations Committee.

Senator, thanks so much for sharing part of your afternoon with us.

I wonder first if you agree with that policy from the administration that they would not offer sanctions relief to Iran for reopening the strait, given that it appears that we're now at a stalemate in negotiations and that, at least from the public statements the White House has made, the president is somewhat reticent to send more pressure against Iran?

SEN. CHRIS COONS (D-DE): Yes, Boris, I was just in that hearing.

And the clip that you just showed of Secretary Rubio misses the larger mark. He did not say that Iran has been sanctioned for its human rights violations, for its support for proxies like Hezbollah and Hamas, for its ballistic missile program.

Iran is under sanctions for a lot of bad things it has done. And despite that, this administration waived oil sanctions against both Russia and Iran in the recent months of this war against Iran in a failed effort to try and lower the price at the pump.

The average American is seeing, whether in what they're paying for gas or groceries, the cost of having the Strait of Hormuz closed in this ill-considered war that is now three months in. It is the costs of fertilizer that's gone through the roof. Fertilizer is critically dependent on oil and gas that transits the Strait of Hormuz.

And that's raising the price of groceries in the future and the price of the pump today, which around the country is about $4.40, $4.50 a gallon.

SANCHEZ: Sure.

COONS: So I agree with Secretary Rubio's general view that we shouldn't be giving Iran sanctions relief if they don't make any progress or any commitments.

But that flies in the face of the fact that the Trump administration did give sanctions relief to Iran to try and drive the price down at the pump. SANCHEZ: So, you're obviously in favor of reinstating those oil

sanctions.

I wonder what other levers you think the United States should pursue, perhaps even military pressure and reigniting hostilities, in order to get a deal that ensures that Tehran will cease enriching uranium and perhaps hand over the enriched uranium it already has.

COONS: Well, Boris, part of why I think this whole war was a mistaken idea in the first place was that, when President Trump said it was a war of regime change and then went ahead and killed the Ayatollah Khamenei, what happened is that there is ayatollah 2.0, his son, angrier, more isolated, more aligned with the extreme IRGC.

And we never had a strategy for defeating their robust supply of cheap lethal drones. Yes, militarily, we sunk their traditional navy, we hit many of their ballistic missile launchers, but, as Secretary Marco had to agree in the hearing we just concluded, they still have thousands of lethal drones.

And they're able to use those to attack our embassies, our bases, tragically to kill 14 Americans and injure hundreds more.

SANCHEZ: Right.

COONS: And so I have been pressing the administration on, why not embrace Ukraine, the country that is the best in the world at intercepting these cheap Iranian drones, and have them become our partner in protecting the Gulf and protecting our bases and our soldiers and protecting our homeland against Iran?

SANCHEZ: And, Senator, you mentioned Hezbollah a moment ago.

After Iran suspended talks, we learned that President Trump placed a call to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and also apparently through intermediaries spoke with Hezbollah officials or conveyed a message to them, effectively asking both sides to cease hostilities.

Obviously, Iran suspended talks because of Israeli attacks against Hezbollah in Lebanon. Do you support the president's use of pressure here, or do you view this as a concession to Iran? Because the reporting indicates that he used expletives to convey his displeasure with Prime Minister Netanyahu?

COONS: Look, I have lots of disagreements with Prime Minister Netanyahu and how he's conducted the war in Gaza and the war in Southern Lebanon.

I do support Israel and its right to defend itself. And Hezbollah does continue to shoot missiles into Israel. But this is a -- there's a critical change that's happened in Lebanon over the past year. There is a new government and there is a Lebanese armed forces that we support, that I support. And the tenet should be restoring peace in Southern Lebanon and driving out Hezbollah.

[13:10:01] Hezbollah is a terrorist proxy of Iran. And it is a tool of Iranian foreign policy and an aggressor against Israel and regional stability. So I understand why President Trump might be angry at Prime Minister Netanyahu. I'm angry at President -- Prime Minister Netanyahu for a number of his actions in the last few years that have really strained our relations.

SANCHEZ: Wow.

Senator, before we go, former first lady Jill Biden has been touring in support of her new book. You have been asked about it and made public comments about it. I was curious to get your thoughts on a stark update that she gave regarding her husband's health.

She said that former President Biden likely will live with cancer for the rest of his life. And I know you spent some time with him recently. Can you share any update on the former president's health and how he's doing?

COONS: Look, he was at our Memorial Day celebration recognition, and it was the anniversary of his beloved son Beau's death. It was great to have him with us.

He was surrounded by veterans and folks from our military and our community. And he spoke forcefully and clearly about the debt that we owe American men and women at arms who've made the ultimate sacrifice.

And I reminded the crowd at this event that it was under President Biden's leadership that we made the single greatest expansion in health care benefits for those veterans who've been impacted by their service overseas, the so-called PACT Act. It was a solemn day, but he was in good spirits, and I'm always glad to see him out and about in Delaware and around our country.

One last comment, if I could, because I just came from a classified hearing with the CIA director, where we were supposed to have the acting director of national intelligence join us. Bill Pulte has just been announced as the acting director of national intelligence.

SANCHEZ: Right.

COONS: He is wildly unqualified. He has no previous experience.

The only thing that might qualify him in the eyes of Donald Trump is his enthusiasm for going after his perceived political enemies, something he has done in his role as the head of the mortgage financing agency.

So, given that the DNI position, Boris, was created after the intelligence mistakes that led to 9/11, this is an important role that is supposed to synthesize all the different intelligence streams and make sure that policymakers are prepared to defend our nation.

It is, I think, a huge mistake to put a partisan person into that role, and it will put our nation at risk. And I hope my Republican colleagues will join in speaking out against this choice to succeed Tulsi Gabbard.

SANCHEZ: Senator Chris Coons, we have to leave the conversation there. Appreciate you sharing your time and perspective.

COONS: Thank you, Boris.

SANCHEZ: Of course.

Happening now, voters are hitting the polls in six states. We're going to break down the critical primaries and their impact on the midterm elections.

Plus, protests mounting over allegations of inhumane living conditions inside a detention center used by immigration enforcement in New Jersey. Local officials taking new legal actions, as they push for access to that facility.

And, later, new video showing a complex tunnel system stretching from the U.S. to Mexico. We're going to show you what investigators found on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

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KEILAR: It is a big day of primaries.

Or, actually, let me tell you what we're keeping an eye on here, as I'm looking at the monitor. We are watching the White House press briefing. You have the administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid, Dr. Mehmet Oz, who is sitting in, as Karoline Leavitt continues her maternity leave.

We are going to continue to monitor this press briefing. There's a lot of news today, with an acting DNI being named who is certainly going to be -- or, I should say, a DNI being named who will need confirmation and is controversial. So we're going to monitor this. We will bring it to you as we see what is happening there.

But, in the meantime, it's a big political day. It's a huge day when it comes to primaries across the country. There are millions of Americans across six states who are heading to the polls casting their votes. And the most closely watched race may be the battle to replace Gavin Newsom as governor of California.

The top two vote-getters are going to advance to the general election in November. And the latest polls show three candidates who are leading the field. There are two Democrats. You have former Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra. You have billionaire businessman Tom Steyer. And they are joined with Trump-backed Republican candidate Steve Hilton.

The other marquee race in California is, of course, that for Los Angeles mayor. And this is a wild one. You have the incumbent, Karen Bass. She's in a tough reelection fight. She has challenges on both sides here from L.A. City Councilmember Nithya Raman, who is a Democratic socialist, and then from former reality TV star Spencer Pratt, who has tapped into major discontent over Bass' response to last year's devastating wildfires and the city's homelessness crisis.

The top two finishers in this race also advance in November -- to November, I should say. In Iowa, all eyes are on a high-stakes battle to replace retiring GOP Senator Joni Ernst. Two Democrats, Paralympian and state Rep. Josh Turek and populist state Senator Zach Wahls, they are vying for the right to face the GOP nominee, most likely Representative Ashley Hinson.

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President Trump carried Iowa by 13 points in 2024, mind you, but Democrats are hoping for a revival in rural America. So we're watching that race to see if what they're betting on is going to come through for them.

CNN senior political analyst Ron Brownstein joins us now.

What a day. This is very exciting.

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes.

KEILAR: And you're joining us from California.

So, as our resident Californian, let's start there with the governor's race. The top two finishers, as I mentioned, they are going to advance to the November general.

So you have potentially two Democrats or you're going to have a Democrat and a Republican. Tell us what you're looking for here and what we should be looking for.

BROWNSTEIN: Yes.

Only a few months ago -- excuse me, Brianna. Only a few months ago, people were worried that two Republicans would finish one, two, and lock out Democrats. Now there's some concern among the Republicans that the two Democrats might finish one, two and lock out the Republican from the general election.

I think the key dynamic here, as you said, you have got three candidates, Xavier Becerra, who is kind of a mainstream, more or less centrist Democrat, Tom Steyer running to his left, this kind of a born-again Bernie Democrat, Steve Hilton to his right.

Three candidates, there's only room for two of them in the finals. The thing that I think is going to be most important for people to understand is that, in California, if your ballot is postmarked today, it can be counted up to seven more days if it's received in the next seven days.

So -- and all the evidence is that Democratic voters have tended to keep their ballots longer this year because of uncertainty about this field and, frankly, a lack of enthusiasm about anyone in the field. So it is entirely possible that it will look best tonight for Steve Hilton as it's going to look, and then we will kind of move away from him as it goes on.

And you can imagine what that kind of blue shift might pump from the -- a certain voice in the White House, who tends to take -- who tends to look at these things pretty carefully.

KEILAR: OK, so let's take a look at the L.A. mayor's race.

I suspect you are not a huge watcher of "The Hills," but I was. And if you had told me when I was watching this reality show that Spencer Pratt would one day have a shot at the -- in the mayor's race in L.A., I would think that you were kind of nuts.

But here we are. He is sort of running this insurgent campaign. And he is focusing on this dissatisfaction with Mayor Bass' response to those apocalyptic wildfires and also the city's homelessness crisis. Tell us about these issues and whether they could actually propel him to a win here. What do you think?

BROWNSTEIN: Well, first of all, the geometry, right, is very similar to the governor's race, where you have a kind of older mainstream Democrat who doesn't inspire a lot of enthusiasm in Karen Bass, the incumbent mayor, and you have an insurgent challenger to her left in Raman and an insurgent calendar challenger to her right in Pratt.

If Bass can get to the general election, I think she's the favorite against each of them, either of them. Pratt faces the limits of running in a city as blue as Los Angeles as a Trump supporter. But there's no question that each of them are tapping into a lot of dissatisfaction with her record, particularly over the response to the fires.

Not only was she gone when they broke out, but everything has been hard. People in the Palisades will tell you, people in Altadena will tell you every aspect of this has been hard, dealing with insurance companies, dealing with permitting, dealing with rebuilding.

Homelessness is actually probably a little better than when she came into office, but obviously still not good enough that people feel that it is under control. Again, if she gets to the general election against either of them, I still think she's the favorite, but she does have the risk of getting squeezed out in a left-right pincer.

KEILAR: And talk to us about the balance of the Senate here, because we're obviously keeping our eye on Iowa, Montana. But right now we're really watching Maine, right, because Graham Platner, who is the Democratic Senate candidate, he's going to be meeting with Democratic senators today in D.C.

And he's in the middle of this reporting that he exchanged sexually explicit texts with multiple women during his marriage. There's been the issue over his tattoo. You have had Democrats who have come out with concerns about him or saying that he is disqualified.

This was such an opportunity for Democrats to flip a seat. Where does this stand?

BROWNSTEIN: Indispensable opportunity.

Look, the big way to understand what's happening in the Senate is that it's become almost much more difficult for either party to win Senate seats in states that usually vote the other way for president. There are 19 states that have voted three times against Donald Trump for president. Susan Collins is the last Republican senator left in those states.

So it is indispensable for Democrats to get to the all 38 and win in Maine. She was the only Republican during Trump's first term who won in a state where, according to the exit polls, his approval rating was net negative.

This is an indispensable opportunity for Democrats. It isn't precluded that Platner could beat her, but he sure is making it complicated. Now, when you get beyond that, there are 25 states that voted three times for Donald Trump.

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Right now, Republicans have all 50 of their Senate seats. Obviously, that makes it pretty hard if you're spotting 50 seats to the other side when -- as you start the race here. So, Democrats ultimately this fall have to break into those states.

In order, their best opportunities in those states are North Carolina, Alaska, Ohio, Iowa, Texas. And so Iowa tonight, they will get a chance, a lot of blue-collar white voters there, the core of Trump's coalition, but they have soured on him in national polling, gives them at least an opening still, uphill.

Montana, same kind of story. Strange case in Montana, the Democrats are really putting their money on an independent candidate. You have two Democrats running in the primary, one who will probably drop out for the independent, one who would not. So it's kind of a strange choice in front of Democrats.

But, ultimately, for Democrats to get back into a Senate majority, they're going to have to break the Republican vice, vice-like grip on the all 50 sentencing from the 25 states that have voted three times for Trump.

KEILAR: All right, big day to watch here.

Ron Brownstein, thank you so much.

And don't miss key primary races across the country. Get election results all night here on CNN, also on the CNN app.

Still ahead: the mayor of Newark, New Jersey, calling for the immediate closure of a controversial ICE detention center that's been the site of chaotic protests. We're following the latest there.

Plus, some new polling showing what a whopping 83 percent of Americans are that -- I should say, that a whopping 83 percent of Americans are living with financial stress and uncertainty. We're going to show you the main factors that are driving that anxiety next.

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