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CNN Obtains Draft Agreement; Rep. Brad Schneider (D-IL) is Interviewed about the Iran Agreement; Trump Cancels Clayton Hearing; Gilgo Beach Killer Sentencing. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired June 17, 2026 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:00]

MICHAEL RUBIN, FOUNDER AND CEO, FANATICS: World Cup press conference that has always been in the stadium of where the final is, so you would think it would be at Metlife, they actually moved it to Fanatics Fest for the first time in the history of the World Cup because they want to have the final press conference in front of tens of thousands of fans. Now, if this were a repeat of four years ago, you'd have Kylian Mbappe at the press conference.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Lionel Messi.

RUBIN: Messi at the press conference.

BERMAN: Yes.

RUBIN: In addition to the coaches and everybody from FIFA. So, it's going to be amazing.

BERMAN: Michael Rubin, great to see you this morning. Thank you very much. The enthusiasm is palpable. Appreciate it.

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

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right, breaking this morning, CNN now has a draft of that agreement between the U.S. and Iran to end the months long war. What it reveals about Iran, what it will get out of this deal immediately. But President Trump warning this is by no means, of course, a final deal. We are standing by to hear from him shortly.

And this hour, one of the nation's most notorious serial killers set to be sentenced, marking the end of a case that took decades to solve. You could also hear him speak in court.

And how a yoga event at China's Great Wall went horribly wrong for Lululemon.

Kate is out today. I'm Sara Sidner with John Berman. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

BERMAN: All right, the breaking news this morning. CNN has obtained a draft of the 14-point agreement between the United States and Iran. This is the draft agreement that the Trump administration has not made public, did not release to the world, despite the fact they said it was signed digitally days ago.

One big takeaway from this draft that we have seen is that Iran gets access to money, the ability to make it at least, right away. The draft calls for the U.S. to waive sanctions so Tehran can start selling oil on the global market. This is one of the few things that kicks in immediately, along with steps to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

On Iran's nuclear program, there are few specifics, little laid out directly. The draft broadly states that Iran, quote, "reiterates that it will never produce nuclear weapons." They've said that for years. That was in writing in the Iran nuclear agreement during the Obama administration. No details on how Iran's highly enriched uranium will be removed, if at all.

There was also a provision for a $300 billion development fund if Iran holds up its end of the bargain on nuclear negotiations down the line. Now, President Trump, speaking at the G7 Summit just a short time ago this morning, he said this could all still change, that it's not quite a done deal.

Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: No, it's not final. It's a memorandum of understanding. And if I don't like it, we'll go back to shooting at them, dropping bombs on their head.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: All right, CNN's Nic Robertson is standing by.

First, let's go to Kevin Liptak in Geneva.

Now that we've seen this draft, Kevin, what more do we know about what's been agreed to?

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: I think taken altogether, we have now a pretty good understanding of at least what the two sides are working from here. You know, this could change. There are going to be technical talks later this week, even before J.D. Vance comes here to Switzerland, up in Lucerne, to get this signed. So, the final language here could be different from what we're reading now.

But you get an impression of what they're working from at least. And so, you know, it's 14 points. It's going to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. And it lays out exactly what each side is going to do to get that underway.

And when it comes to the financial relief for Iran, it does get into some details here. Now, American officials have been explicit that Iran will need to fulfill the commitments that it's made in this deal in order to see some of that relief. But there is this one point, as you pointed out, that does seem to go into effect when this memorandum is signed. And that's waivers on some of its oil exports. That would allow it to reap monetary benefits essentially right away.

And I'll just read you the two points that directly relate to this. They're points nine and ten. Nine says that "the Islamic Republic of Iran and the United States agree that pending a final agreement, they will maintain the status quo. Iran will maintain the status quo on its nuclear program and the United States will not impose new sanctions on Iran or a -- or its region.

And then, number ten says that "the United States undertakes that immediately after the signing of this memorandum of understanding and until the date of the lifting of sanctions, the U.S. Treasury Department will issue waivers for exports of Iranian crude oil, petrochemical products and their derivatives, and all related services, including banking, insurance, transportation, and the like."

[09:05:06]

And so you do, I think, get an impression in here of what has brought Iran to the table to negotiate. And clearly, they would be able to reap the benefits almost immediately. You know, when this provision was reported yesterday, first by "The Wall Street Journal," it caused oil prices to plummet. And so, you do get the impression of how the market is interpreting this. When it comes to the nuclear program, it's a lot more vague. You know, it doesn't specify how exactly the stockpile of highly enriched uranium will be removed. What we've heard from U.S. officials is that they have received backchannel commitments from Iran on some of those more precise details, but it's not contained, at least in this draft document that we're going through now.

John.

BERMAN: All right, Kevin Liptak for us in Geneva.

Let's get to Nic Robertson, standing by, looking over these 14 points.

Nic, and there's a difference between what's concrete, very little, other than perhaps opening the Strait of Hormuz and Iran being able to sell oil, and what is more ephemeral, or should I say possible, which is agreements on the nuclear program down the line.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, to be adequately addressed. I mean that's the only framing that's really given to how they discussed the highly enriched uranium, how Iran's nuclear programs go on in the future. And by the way, Iran did get a bonus if -- point on that, if you like there. They got an agreement that the status quo would remain in force for the duration of the 60 days for the duration of the talks on the status quo of Iran's nuclear program. So, no deconstruction committed to, no dismantling of facilities. So very, very opaque and unclear.

There's some interesting -- look, there's no doubt here for Iran, if it does what J.D. Vance has said and behaves like a responsible country, gets treated like a responsible country, gets to the final agreement in the -- in the words of this MOU, if they get there, then they get the, not just the immediacy of the waivers to get the energy products sold now, they get the permanent sanctions relief, all sanctions relief, and the potential of that $300 billion investment fund, which is pretty big by anyone's assessment.

But there's a lot that's not in there. There's nothing in there about Iran's proxies like Hezbollah. There's nothing in there about Iran's ballistic missiles. Theres no commitments there. And there's some very interesting language where you can just see the sequencing of the conversations here are going to get so tied up. There's a sort of catch 22 built into one of the -- to one of the points there, point 13. Point 13 says, to get to the final agreement, you have to have progressed on point four, point five, point ten and point 11.

What do I mean by catch 22? Basically, the Iranians are being told, if you want to get your frozen assets, $12 billion, $24 billion back, then you have to get into the final agreement part, which is very likely the thorny issues, the nuclear issues. But the next part is, we're not going to talk about the final agreement until we get those frozen assets back. So, you know, what comes first here, the cart or the horse? This is -- there's a lot of ambiguity still in this. So much in it to discuss and tease out.

BERMAN: Yes. And the big question is, how much incentive will Iran have? I mean they have a lot of financial incentive down the line, but will a lot of that be satisfied once they start selling some of their oil on the open market right away? Will that help ease some of the economic pain, and will that be enough for them, perhaps, to hold out, you know, threats to the United States beyond that?

Nic Robertson, thank you very, very much.

Sara.

SIDNER: All right, to discuss further, Democratic Congressman Brad Schneider of Illinois. He is a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

Let's get to some of the details that we have learned in this draft. We should make clear, it is a draft. There are 14 points we have seen. And one of them is, as soon as the MOU is signed, Iran will be able to begin selling its oil again, but the Strait of Hormuz will be reopened. What do you make of that detail?

REP. BRAD SCHNEIDER (D-IL): Well, I think Iran's getting immediate relief. That's one of the paragraphs. The very next paragraph says Iran also gets access to its frozen assets around the world, which is anywhere from $60 billion to $100 billion. So, Iran is looking at this deal, and it is a draft, but it's also supposedly been signed by the president, vice president and Iran. So, there is some final aspects to this. Iran is winning every aspect on this deal. What the United States gets is the Straits of Hormuz reopened that were open on February 27th.

SIDNER: I do want to ask you about the difference between the deal that Obama brokered, knowing that that deal was a final deal that took two years of negotiations, and what you're seeing so far in these negotiations, what's being negotiated over.

[09:10:02]

Do you see any difference in the details that you've seen so far about what the Trump administration is willing to do with Iran then you saw back when there was the JCPOA in place?

SCHNEIDER: There are a lot of differences. And first we have to remember that to get to the JCPOA, which was 11 years ago, there was a year's long process. It involved not just the United States and diplomats from our administration, but you had France, U.K. and Germany, China and Russia, the six countries working first to bring Iran to the negotiating table, which was hailed as a breakthrough to begin the talks. Then you had the outline of the agreement that came out in the spring of 2015. And then a long, detailed 150 plus page document that came out on July 14th in 2015. There was a lot of detail to that and a lot of flaws with it as well.

I did not support the agreement at that time because it didn't permanently close Iran's path to a nuclear weapon, didn't deal with ballistic missiles and terrorism support, didn't empower the Iranian people to free themselves from the shackles of this oppressive regime. This is far less than all of that. And it gives Iran immediate economic relief, allows them to start selling, not just oil, but petrochemicals and other allied products, bringing revenue into the country, strengthening the regime.

You know, on February 28th, when President Trump addressed the nation in the middle of the night, he closed saying finally to the Iranian people, this is your chance. When we are done, you will have your country, take it back. And the administration is walking away, leaving this regime entrenched and more powerful, more wealthy and more capable to wreak havoc around the region and around the world.

SIDNER: The president is claiming that the people that he is speaking with are -- that are being spoken with in these negotiations are sort of more moderate. He said the word "nice" as they're going through it. Is that how you see the regime that is still in place in Iran?

SCHNEIDER: What I see -- what I see is a regime that has been strengthened. The people who were taken out on February 28th, in the initial strikes, have been replaced by people who are considered to be more extreme, more radical, more committed to the Iranian revolution that started in 1979. This is not a group of folks who say, oh, we want to rejoin the family of nations. We want to rejoin a region that is on the rise economically.

Iran attacked more than a dozen countries over the last three months, from UAE, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran -- or Kuwait and, in particular, Israel. Iran hasn't changed its goals or intentions. I think the Iranians have outplayed this administration. There's a saying that Iran has never won a war and never lost a negotiation. And from the draft that's been released, if this is the MOU, Iran has clearly won this round.

SIDNER: I want to bring you back home for the very last question. You're in New Hyde Park, Illinois. Your district, it covers some of the suburbs of Chicago. And there is a presidential library that is going to be opening up on Thursday there to much fanfare for President Obama. Will that make a difference in the area of south Chicago?

SCHNEIDER: Yes, well, I'm in Highland Park, on the northern suburbs. But the library is opening up tomorrow on the south side of Chicago. And it's going to make a huge difference. It's an historical commitment to the city of Chicago, to the communities in Chicago that too often have been overlooked. I think it's going to be an incredible site that people from around the world will want to come and visit. And it will have an impact, not just on the south side of Chicago, but the entire region, and will be a tribute to the presidency of President Obama and an example to the rest of the world of what we can do when we work together.

SIDNER: Congressman Brad Schneider, it is good to see you. Thank you so much for coming on.

John.

BERMAN: All right, breaking overnight, President Trump throwing a giant wrench in a key Senate hearing that was supposed to happen today for his pick to be permanent director of national intelligence, Jay clayton. Instead, the president says Bill Pulte, with no intelligence background, will stay on as acting director for now.

Want to get to CNN's Lauren Fox on Capitol Hill for the latest.

This is all pretty complicated, and the president said he was canceling the hearing, which, by the way, he's got no power to do. But he can effectively keep it from happening, no doubt, Lauren. So, bring us up to speed what's happening here.

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I mean, John, you can't have a congressional hearing to approve a nominee without that nominee showing up. But, obviously, this puts a huge wrench in what Senate Democrats and Senate Republicans had been working toward, which was to have a really expedited process for Jay Clayton to be approved. And it was really not clear how quickly this was going to move, but it was going to move fast.

[09:15:02]

And that is because Senate Democrats were united with Senate Republicans that they did not want to see Bill Pulte in the job for very long, if at all, in an acting role. That meant the Democrats would have to agree to move this process along in quick order.

Now, I talked to Senator Mark Warner repeatedly yesterday, both in the morning and the afternoon, and he was working with some of his Democratic colleagues to try to potentially move this nominee on the Senate floor as soon as tomorrow. Obviously, now that is all in question given the fact that this hearing may not even take place at all this afternoon.

Look, Jay Clayton is seen on Capitol Hill as someone who has the experience needed for this job. Yes, this confirmation hearing needed to play out. Chuck Schumer, the Democratic leader, didn't want to make any commitments about what he would be willing to do to speed this up yesterday when he was pressed on that question. But at the end of the day, there was such an emphasis and such an important piece of this that had to do with keeping Bill Pulte out of the job that lawmakers were willing to work together to try to get this across the finish line in quick order.

Obviously, now we are waiting to see whether or not this hearing can come together potentially this afternoon, or whether this is the final word, and it is not going to take place today. If that is the case, there's a looming question on how quickly this may happen next week or what Donald Trump may want in exchange in order for this confirmation process to unfold here on Capitol Hill.

BERMAN: It's odd politics, right? It's unclear to me exactly who's feeling this pressure or what they are willing to concede. Not much, I think, when it comes to a lot of these issues.

Lauren Fox, thank you very much. Keep us posted.

Sara.

SIDNER: All right, ahead, new, stunning video this morning of witnesses racing to save people from the burning wreckage of a plane that crashed on a Texas highway. What we know about the survivors this morning.

Plus, the biggest takeaways from last night's primary election, including how President Trump beat one of his long time adversaries in a Georgia primary battle.

And we are just moments away from one of the country's most prolific living serial killers learning his fate. His sentencing is ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:21:17]

SIDNER: After years of mystery, soon the Long Island serial killer is set to be sentenced. Rex Heuermann is expected to spend the rest of his life behind bars without the possibility of parole. Heuermann pleaded guilty back in April and admitted to murdering eight women over a 17 year period.

CNN's Jean Casarez is here.

What are you expecting at today's sentencing?

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A lot of emotion. There's going to be so much emotion, Sara, because there's going to be eight victim impact statements. And by the way, this is going to start in about ten minutes.

SIDNER: Right.

CASAREZ: So, we're getting very close.

He admitted to murdering seven, and I'm talking about pleading guilty to the indictment.

SIDNER: Right.

CASAREZ: One more he admitted murdering. So, there's eight altogether. There's going to be eight victim impact statements, about ten minutes each. Prosecution and defense can both speak at the sentencing.

The defense attorney has hinted that Heuermann himself may speak at the end. Normally that's begging for mercy. But there's only one sentence here.

But, Sara, this case is going down in legal history. This will be a historic case in this country. As you've said, a serial killer, notorious serial killer. 1993 to 2010 is when he took working women, young women, at night and lured them into, it's believed his home is where he murdered them. But by day, he's a big, successful architect. New York City, Fifth Avenue, family, wife, children.

But then, in 2022, they developed a task force and they looked at financial records, computer records, cell phone records. They got a suspect, Rex Heuermann. They realized he had his office on Fifth Avenue. They needed DNA from him at this point. So, they surveilled him. And they found him eating pizza outside of his architectural office. And they got the crust because he didn't eat the crust. So, they got his DNA. And they remembered what the Gilgo Four, those four young women whose remains were found in 2010, they were wrapped in burlap. There were hairs that were attached to the burlap. They took those hairs, along with the unknown DNA from the pizza crust, and did sophisticated, brand-new testing, genome testing, and they found that there was consistency between the hairs and Rex Heuermann. And he was arrested after that a very short time later.

SIDNER: And here you have him now admitting to all of these murders. It is a terrifying prospect and so hard for these families over this 17-year period. There's going to be a lot that is going to be said, and it's going to happen in the next few minutes now.

CASAREZ: One thing they can be proud of, though, never before in New York has forensic testing of hair DNA analysis be allowed in the courts. This judge was going to allow it in the trial. So, it's not the appellate level, but the precedent has been set for hair analysis to come into trials to help convictions. And those families can be proud of that because it all happened because of the sacrifice their loved ones made.

SIDNER: Jean, thank you for covering it. And I know you'll be watching in the next few minutes it will begin.

Now, a private plane crashes on a Texas highway. And look at this video. It captures the moments bystanders, as well as, of course, firefighters and police, they're all there trying to break the passengers out of the wreckage. We'll tell you what happened in the end here. And a super-charged storm bringing dangerous weather to a huge part of

the southern U.S. Some areas in Texas are already under water. Those stories and more, ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:29:22]

SIDNER: A tale of two primaries for President Trump in the peach state. That would be Georgia. In one of the most highly anticipated contests, the Georgia GOP Senate primary, CNN projects Republican Congressman Mike Collins defeated former college football coach Derek Dooley in Tuesday's runoff. Collins now advances to face Democratic incumbent Senator Jon Ossoff in the November midterms. He got a last- minute endorsement from President Trump. The president getting a win over Georgia Governor Brian Kemp, who had recruited Dooley to run.

Speaking of Georgia governors, billionaire businessman Rick Jackson has won the GOP gubernatorial nomination. A major upset over Georgia Lieutenant Governor Bert Jones, who was endorsed by Trump and Kemp.

[09:30:05]

Jackson will now take on former Atlanta mayor, Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms.

CNN's