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Kennedy Center Orders Staff to Remove Trump's Name After Ruling; RFK, Jr. Seeks Access to Medical Records for Clues on Autism and Vaccines; Texas Governor Abbott Details Efforts to Contain Parasitic Screwworm; UFC Fighters will be at a Major Event at the White House on June 14. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired June 05, 2026 - 14:30   ET

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

[14:30:00]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: The Kennedy Center is about to get a new look again in a major blow to President Trump's bid to take control of it. The center's general counsel is now directing staff to remove Trump's name from the building by next Friday to comply with a recent court order according to a memo obtained by CNN. A federal judge made this ruling last week saying that only Congress can change the Kennedy Center name.

The judge also blocked the closure of the Performing Arts Center for a years long renovation. And moments ago on Air Force One, the president was asked how he planned to be involved moving forward.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Same way it is, I'm the chairman, so we'll just keep on going ... You know, we're going to spend a lot of money on fixing it, or making it, bringing it back to health, and the judge really made it very hard to do that. But I'm going to look at this ruling on that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Let's talk about this further with Kerry Kennedy, the niece of President Kennedy, who is also the president of the Robert and Ethel Kennedy Human Rights Center. Kerry, thanks so much for being with us.

And just to remind people, you had said that you were going to grab a pickaxe to take Trump's name off of the building once he left the White House. I guess you will not be doing that. It's your reaction to this court decision.

KERRY KENNEDY, NIECE OF PRESIDENT JOHN F. KENNEDY: It sounds like I won't be needing to because it's going to be done for me. But I thank all the people who offered to come and hold the ladder for me. But you know, imagine the Trump Lincoln Memorial or the Trump Washington Monument, or the Trump Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

[14:35:00]

Like all those, the Kennedy Center was established by Congress in 1964, as a national memorial to an assassinated President John F. Kennedy, my uncle, and renaming it would effectively erase or diminish that memorial designation, a solemn act of national mourning and remembrance.

So I think this is the right order from the judge. I'm incredibly grateful and I'm looking forward to its return to its original name.

KEILAR: I wonder how you expect President Trump to be involved moving forward because he did, as we heard moments ago, stress he is the chairman. And he talked about spending money to renovate the Kennedy Center and to do some work on it. It is a big building.

Of course, a big building does require maintenance, no doubt. But I wonder, since last week, he signaled that he would transfer control of the Kennedy Center to Congress, saying that while he was being treated unfairly, and he had no interest in continuing unless he was free to do what he wanted to do. How are you comparing kind of these two things that he said? And what are you expecting out of it?

KENNEDY: I mean, I think it's very difficult to predict what Trump will do or say at any moment, because he flips up so often. But I do know this, the Kennedy Center's artistic mission is nonpartisan by design. And as a federally chartered institution, the Kennedy Center exists to serve all Americans through the arts, across party lines, across generations, and attaching a living politician's name to it, or even his day to day imprint on it, politicizes a cultural institution that has deliberately remained above the fray.

So I don't think it should be renamed after the president, whose policies are inconsistent with millions of Americans, and would undermine public trust in independence and accessibility. By the same token, I don't think that he should be taking time out of his important work at the White House, stopping this crazy war in Iran to oversee the minutiae of running the Kennedy Center. Let's leave that up to the experts and allow him to do the job that we elected him to do.

KEILAR: I do also want to ask you about some new reporting from KFF Health News. This has to do with your brother, the HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is pursuing federal government access to Americans' medical records to research a link between vaccines and autism, which the medical establishment rejects after decades of study. This is detailed, identifiable patient information. We're talking about doctor's notes, prescription histories.

How are you seeing this? What is your reaction to this pursuit?

KENNEDY: I mean, to me, this is dangerous because I don't think any of us want our government having access to those records, to very personal records. And I think it can be very dangerous to people's ability to get a loan, to have employment, to be insured, and a whole bunch of other things. So I think that that's a dangerous precedent, I have to say.

I love Bobby with all my heart. I always will. I disagree with so very much of what he's done at HHS, and this is one more example of it. And I think that it's odd to me that Republicans are leading this charge, because I think when I was growing up, Republicans were skeptical of government, didn't want government interfering in their personal decisions, and I think this is a reversal of that.

But I have one more thing to say, just going back to the Kennedy Center. You know, I'm also on the board of the United States Institute of Peace. And on St. Patrick's Day 2025, DOGE forced its way into that building, also a congressionally designated building, and with the FBI forcibly removed its director and its staff and took over the building, affixing Trump's name to it on the marble facade, even though a judge ruled that takeover as unlawful. So this is not a Kennedy Center, it's not the first time, it's not the last time.

[14:40:00]

And we just have to assure that we are keeping an eye on what this president is doing and holding him accountable for his illegal acts.

KEILAR: Kerry Kennedy, thank you so much for being with us. We appreciate it.

KENNEDY: Thank you.

KEILAR: We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Today, Texas Governor Greg Abbott accelerating efforts to contain and wipe out a parasitic fly that just turned up in the state. The USDA confirming a case of the flesh-eating screw worm that was detected in South Texas earlier this week. Its larvae feed exclusively on the tissue of warm-blooded animals like livestock, and an infestation could cost the economy billions of dollars and raise beef prices if it spreads further.

They were actually declared eradicated in the U.S. decades ago.

[14:45:00]

Here's Abbott explaining how they'll try to eliminate them again.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. GREGG ABBOT (R-TX): It involves the release of sterile flies. It breaks the pest's reproduction cycle. The prevention requires the release of millions of sterile flies in targeted regions.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Let's discuss with Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller. Commissioner, thank you so much for sharing part of your afternoon with us. I personally was not aware of the New World screw worm until it was detected a few days ago.

I don't know that most ranchers are familiar with them. Help us understand what we're dealing with and why a single suspected case is reason for alarm.

SID MILLER, TEXAS AGRICULTURE COMMISSIONER: Well, ranchers are fully aware of the screw worm. It's been around a long time. They've tried to eradicate it with sterile flies, which doesn't work.

The only way we've eradicated it in the past is using a fly bait in conjunction with the sterile flies. This is a fly that lays its egg in a wound. It could be something as simple as a tick bite on your dog.

The larvae hatch out, turn into maggots, and eat living flesh. They're called screw worm because they just keep burying deeper and deeper into the flesh. So it's a nasty, nasty putrid smell, puss, it's not -- I don't know how to describe where it sounds good, because it's not. It's a nasty, nasty thing.

SANCHEZ: Apologies to any of our viewers who might be trying to eat some lunch right now. Commissioner, how quickly could this spread? What could it mean for consumers?

MILLER: Well, it can spread pretty fast. We had it 20 months ago in southern Mexico. Even though we released seven billion sterile flies, it marched 1,100 miles through Mexico and is now in Texas.

That's insanity, doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. We need to change our tactics. That's why I'm promoting a fly bait.

USDA developed this fly bait back in the 70s and 80s, and it completely eradicated the screw worm fly. So finally, I've given them this information three times. They've ignored it.

Finally, the Chief of Staff, Brooke Rollins, reached out and called me this morning. We're actually talking about it for the first time.

SANCHEZ: Yes, I was going to ask you about that because you've criticized the USDA for a slow and incomplete response. What did you want the government to do? Is it as simple as these traps?

What should they do now?

MILLER: Well, the traps are for detection. They don't actually kill the flies. We put out traps so we know where the fly is.

What I wanted the USDA to do, and for them to tell Mexico, is use the SWAS system that the USDA came up with. SWAS is Screw Worm Adult Suppression System. It consists of a bait. You put it out, it kills 95 percent. There's no environmental downside to it. It doesn't harm any other insects or wildlife or livestock or humans.

So we're giving up on that. I'm launching that myself. We're going to do it in Texas.

Texas will lead the way without the federal government's help if we have to. It looks like we're going to.

SANCHEZ: Well, I saw you put out a statement calling on President Trump to take control of this response. If this case was discovered Wednesday night, and as you said, it's been traveling north through Mexico now for some 20 months, why hasn't this system been deployed yet?

MILLER: That's a good question. No one can give me a straight answer on that at USDA. They knew about it.

It's not some trial. It's not some pilot program. They've launched it, used it, I think, six to eight different times, and it worked perfectly every time they used it in the '70s and '80s.

We had 29,000 cases in Texas in '76. We used the SWAS system, the bait, followed up by sterile flies. The next spring we had 47 cases.

29,000 cases to 47. That's how effective it is.

SANCHEZ: As you said, I heard that you're in communication with the Secretary of Agriculture's office. Please keep us posted when you have any developments. We'd love to keep up with you on this story.

Sid Miller, thank you so much.

MILLER: Thank you, sir. God bless.

SANCHEZ: Of course. Same to you.

So President Trump taking aim at farmers today in a key swing state. What we're learning about his visit when we come back.

[14:50:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: Are you ready to rumble? UFC fighters will be at a major event at the White House on June 14, part of the lead up to the country's 250th anniversary celebrations.

KEILAR: Yes, some 80,000 people are expected to descend on the White House for this fight, and it's the focus of a new "THE WHOLE STORY" episode this Sunday at 8 p.m. CNN's Sara Sidner has an inside look at the decades-long relationship between the UFC and President Donald Trump. Sara spoke with Dana White, the President and CEO of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, about many subjects, including the confluence of sport and politics.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: If you go back in history, you see sports has in time has been used by authoritarian governments like Mussolini to show power, to show strength, to show control. Do you worry about the confluence of this sport in particular and the Trump administration sort of being intertwined?

DANA WHITE, UFC PRESIDENT: I don't think like that.

SIDNER: People might say, look, Trump's using the same playbook as a Mussolini or a Putin, right? Who Putin's into judo, right?

[14:55:00]

And he uses this as a way to show he's the strong man.

He's the man. Do you see Trump using that same playbook or no?

WHITE: In politics, that's the way it's always worked. It's not just Trump. It's been like that since the beginning of time, and it will be till the end of time.

It's not just one guy or one administration. It's everybody. And yes, sports has been used, you know, politically, you know, forever.

SIDNER: And your mixing is pretty obvious. There is a mix there with one group of people because of your friendship.

WHITE: Well, that's not true. I've been friends with this guy for 25 years.

SIDNER: Yes.

WHITE: It's not like every election. There I am with the Republican Party saying, all right, let's do it. It's not true. He was my friend when nobody thought he was going to win the election.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KEILAR: And Sara is with us now. So Sara, White seeming to downplay his role in politics. But there's no question that this would not be happening if it weren't for these two men and their relationship.

SIDNER (on camera): Oh, he's really clear about that. I mean, had it not been for the fact that these two have been friends for more than two decades, this never would have happened. But because they are and also the truth is, is that President Trump loves this sport.

I mean, he enjoys it. He knows who the fighters are. He has some of his favorites.

Some of them are going to be there on fight night coming out of the White House and ending up right there in the cage on the South Lawn. But, you know, we talked about a lot of different things. That was some of the more serious conversations that we had about the confluence of sports and politics.

But we talked about a bunch of things. I mean, I don't know if you know this, but Dana White used to be a boxer himself. And I asked him about CTE and like if he was worried, because one of the reasons why he stopped fighting is because he saw someone who was punched drunk, who had been hit in the head too many times.

And he's like the minute I thought, oh, my God, what if that happens to me? I knew that I wasn't ever going to be a big time fighter.

SANCHEZ: The president first announced this fight would happen about a year ago. It was unclear how serious that was, if it was actually going to happen. Was Dana White surprised that it actually came to fruition?

SIDNER: No, because I think as soon as they figured out that this is something they want to do. By the way, it was, you know, the president has been involved in a lot of this. He's been involved in a lot of the machinations of it, how it's going to happen. But if you see this plan that they have, I mean, you can already see the apparatus, who a lot of people are looking at that apparatus.

The thing that you see that big thing that is hanging over -- what it looks like hanging over the White House, that's actually where you're going to put all the lights so that when the TV cameras get this fight and send it out live, you'll only see bright lights on the cage and the fighters. And then behind it will be the view of the White House. You can't get a venue like that.

And I also got to meet some of the fighters who are going to be there on fight night at the White House. And they have incredible stories about their families, why they fight and the kind of training they do, guys, is unreal. Unreal.

I'll give you an example. One of the fighters, Steve Garcia, he is telling me how much he trains and that to get his shin strong, because you can kick, you can punch, you can wrestle, but you can do any kind of sport to try to get your opponent down. He uses a baseball to crack his shins just a little bit to give him little fractures on his shins so that his shins calcify and get harder and harder so that it hurts the opponent or at least stays intact if you get kicked in the shins.

That's the kind of commitment that you're getting from these fighters.

KEILAR: Is that what you did, Sara, as part of your mixed martial art fighting lesson that I know you also did?

SIDNER: Steve Garcia did give me a lesson. But we stayed up here. We stayed with the fists.

And after about, I don't know, five minutes, he's like, no, no, no, you've got to shift your weight. You've got to punch. And at first, I was like, the mechanics of this is harder -- they're harder than it looks. And then I started to get it. And then I was getting into it.

I was like, come on, let's go. But it turns out that I was tired after five minutes.

SANCHEZ: Don't miss Sara's episode of "THE WHOLE STORY WITH ANDERSON COOPER," UFC at the White House. It airs Sunday at 8 p.m. only on CNN.

KEILAR: Elmo is finding himself in some trouble over his neutrality in the NBA finals. On Wednesday ahead of the game -- game one, Elmo posted on X. "Elmo hopes both teams have fun!" Because, of course, he loves to talk about himself in the third person.

Well, as you can imagine, Knicks fans called Elmo out because, hello, Elmo is a New Yorker with, and we're debating this here, but I strongly am committed to this position, a New York accent that he has. The fictional Sesame Street, of course, is located in Manhattan.

SANCHEZ: After the backlash, Elmo finally responded saying, "KNICKS that last message Elmo didn't mean to SPUR you on." Still kind of a Switzerland play there by Elmo. The Knicks currently lead the series. Game two is tonight. We're ...

END