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Music Industry Mourns Legendary Clive Davis; Vance Says Iran Agreed to Let Nuclear Inspectors Back Into Country; Trump Admin Temporarily Lifts Sanctions on Iranian Oil; Oil Prices Dip After Mediators Report Peace Talk Progress; Three Hikers Found Dead at the Grand Canyon ; L.A. School's Superintendent Resigns Amid Federal Investigation. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired June 22, 2026 - 14:00   ET

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

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[14:00:48]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": Give and take. The U.S. and Iran wrap up the beginning of talks aimed at ending the war as Secretary of State, Marco Rubio gets set to visit the Middle East. We've got the latest from the region.

And a nightmare for homebuyers, how million-dollar starter homes are putting the American dream out of reach for more people.

And a legend in his own time. Today, the music industry is mourning Clive Davis. We're going to speak to a musician who was helped to stardom by him.

We're following these major developing stories and many more, all coming in right here to "CNN News Central."

Round one of peace talks between the United States and Iran ended just a short time ago in Switzerland with Vice President J.D. Vance, talking up several points of progress that he says were made, including a key claim about Iran's nuclear program that Iran is now pushing back on.

Here's what Vance said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

J.D. VANCE, (R) VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: The Iranians have agreed to invite IAEA inspectors back into their country. That is a major milestone for the American people and the first step in permanently de-nuclearizing or permanently ending a nuclear weapons program in Iran.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Let's go now live to Switzerland with CNN's Nic Robertson. So, Nic, what is Iran saying in response to this?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Well, Iran is saying that there's a limit to what they've agreed to. The IAEA inspectors have been allowed on a limited basis under Iranian law to be able to go into the country, even after the 12-day war last summer when there was that big targeting of Iran's highly-enriched uranium, basically blasting the reserves of it below a mountain.

Look, I think it's good and helpful to step back from the IAEA issue. Remember -- and I say that because in the memorandum of understanding, Clause 8 says that the Iranians have agreed for the inspectors to come in. And both President Trump and the Iranian president both signed that Wednesday night last week.

So some days ago, J.D. Vance was clearly trying to explain the benefits of the overall agreement. The Iranians are pushing back, I think, on the style and way that it's done it, implying that it was something new that they could come. I think what we're seeing here is, and of course, President Trump has weighed in on Truth Social, saying actually the IAEA, as part of the memorandum of understanding, are allowed to come in.

What's in question here, and this is where I think the Iranians are picking up, is what will be the role of the IAEA inspectors? And by the way, the director general of the IAEA was there at the talks over the weekend. So, he was there to be involved because they are involved partly in implementing the MOU. It is going to be contentious.

And how it is handled, how many inspectors, how long their visas last, their freedom of movement, how much notice they need to give the Iranians before they appear at certain sites, how many sites they can go to, what sites they can go to. All of this in the 2015 deal, Iran controlled very, very tightly. And as the relationship over that deal worsened, they made it much harder for the inspectors to do their job, to get access, to get information, to get their cameras on sites working, to get visas to go to the country. Few of them were allowed.

So I think that's what we're beginning to see is it's a hot-button issue for both countries, how much access and what does it mean. I think that is why we're seeing the Iranians push back. And obviously, it's very important. This is a central issue for President Trump, Iran's nuclear enrichment programs.

SANCHEZ: Yeah, and the details of these visits are going to be critical. Nic Robertson, live for us in Switzerland, thank you so much. Brianna?

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": In response to the progress, the vice president says was made, the U.S. has temporarily lifted oil sanctions against Iran at least for the next 60 days.

[14:05:00]

Globally, oil prices have been dipping since peace talks began. There has been some relief at the pump. Today, the national average for a gallon of gas is $3.93. That's actually down $0.14 from last week. But prices are still more than a dollar higher than they were when the war started. I'm joined now by Kevin Book, Managing Director of ClearView Energy Partners. Thank you, Kevin, so much for being with us to talk about this. Everyone's interested as they fill up their car or their truck every day. So U.S. sanctions on Iranian oil sales lifted now for 60 days. Secretary Bessent called these productive talks.

What's the immediate effect on the global oil market and on prices that we're going to see here at home?

KEVIN BOOK, MANAGING DIRECTOR, CLEARVIEW ENERGY PARTNERS: Well, so those are two very different things. The global oil market has actually gone from showing an acute scarcity. So if you look to not just at the price as you saw it day-to-day on the screen, but how it would look going out months into the future for contracts for future purchase, it used to be very steeply sloped like a double-black diamond ski slope going all the way down from the front month way down.

That shows scarcity, that's a scarcity premium. That curve has flattened a lot. That's the market looking ahead and saying we don't think we're going back to war. Now prices at home, because of the fall we've seen in crude prices, you probably have another $0.05 to $0.10 a gallon coming in downside just from the -- if the price holds.

KEILAR: The vice president is emphasizing that the Strait is open and that there is now a mechanism in place to make sure that it continues to be open. Is that how you are seeing it? Is that how companies are seeing it as they're making their assessments?

BOOK: Well, different players have different risk tolerances and so those with the highest risk tolerances have been moving through the straight already. Secretary of Energy, Chris Wright was on TV yesterday talking about how there are channels through the Strait that are open but there's also a channel that's been mined. So full throughput may not be possible just yet and some of those lower-risk tolerance players may be waiting still.

KEILAR: They may be waiting still. How are insurers who back these ships looking at this?

BOOK: Well, I think everybody wants to do business and so when you get right down to it, insurance is about managing risk and I think they're managing it.

KEILAR: So after Sunday's talks were over, at least for Sunday, Qatar and Pakistan said Iran and the U.S. had formed this line of communication for the Strait of Hormuz, so that they have this channel so that they can kind of de-conflict on this. Earlier in the weekend, the Iranian state media reported Iran's military said it would close down the strait on Saturday and Trump threatened that he would take it over if a deal can't be reached, charging tolls.

What does the future of the Strait actually look like when you see such kind of chaotic rhetoric going back and forth?

BOOK: Well, this is the sort of thing that keeps the Iranians from probably being able to fully monetize the sanctions relief they received today because actually to be able to sign the kinds of contracts that would allow them to go back above where they were in their pre-war export levels of 1.6, 1.7 million barrels per day, go all the way back up to 2.5 million barrels per day, not just the geologic recovery but also the market recovery is going to require some stability and that stability isn't there yet, not with a 60-day fuse and a lot of turbulence.

KEILAR: Oil reserves as well in the U.S. are extremely low. How are you seeing this? What is the timeline for getting that back to where it needs to be?

BOOK: Months. So we're looking at a point right now where you ask, well, the Strait is open, everything's gone back to normal, and the answer is, well, not quite actually. We had a $60 price in the Brent crude front month in January, the price the world mostly uses for oil trade. And we're looking at $78 a barrel now. That scarcity isn't gone because the inventories haven't replenished.

To do that, production has to recover, trade has to resume and then you have to have a surplus. That may not show up until the end of the year.

KEILAR: So Kevin, I have to ask you. It's the question that everyone wants to know, which is we talk about it dropping day by day a little bit here or there as there some progress, but then we talk about it $1 more than it was before the war started. People want to know when, assuming things continue to kind of go a little copacetically overall, when is when is gas going to be back to what it was before the war?

BOOK: Well, good news and bad news. Good news is, it is falling and if things stay the way they are and go peacefully into the future, you'll see continued falls. The bad news is that the second half of the year is globally when demand is much higher, summer is when gasoline demand is itself higher. And those refineries that have been supplying so much, actually keeping the price from being higher than it is now, are running very hard. Sometimes that leads to incidents and that can raise the price too.

So you might want to wait a few more months before you start thinking about the really, really lower prices of the -- maybe the yesteryear.

KEILAR: Few more months or are you talking 2027?

BOOK: Well, it could -- it depends a little bit on how the deal goes. It depends a little bit on how production goes. But the International Energy Agency sees the surplus by the end of the year and I think what you would call a sunny day case, that could be by the end of the year.

KEILAR: All right. Let's hope for a sunny day case in the winter if we can. Kevin Book, thank you so much. Really appreciate it.

BOOK: Thanks for having me.

KEILAR: So still to come, three hikers dying at the Grand Canyon and now, U.S. officials are warning visitors about potential danger. [14:10:00]

Plus, priced out of the American dream. A new report finds starter homes in hundreds of cities in more than half of the U.S. now cost $1 million. We're going to take a look at why.

But first, he credits Clive Davis with shaping his career. Grammy- winning saxophonist, Kenny G will join us live as we remember legendary record producer, Clive Davis.

These important stories and more, all coming up on "CNN News Central."

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[14:15:00]

SANCHEZ: Breaking news to CNN. A federal judge just blocked the Justice Department's efforts to subpoena Minnesota Governor, Tim Walz and other Democratic officials in an immigration enforcement probe.

KEILAR: Yeah, the judge really lashing out in this ruling, saying he found the, quote, "dominant purpose of the subpoenas was to coerce Minnesota officials into assisting the federal government with enforcing civil immigration law and to harass and retaliate against them for failing to do so." CNN's Katelyn Polantz is following this story. That is quite a lashing.

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME & JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: I don't know if I've seen an opinion take on the Justice Department in this way before from a federal judge, saying just explicitly that they believe that the Justice Department was using its authority for political means in exactly the wrong unlawful way. We've had a lot of hints of that in court.

This comes about -- this was something that happened months ago. Actually, there was that surge of 3,000 Department of Homeland Security officials by the federal government into Minnesota and St. Paul, Minneapolis to enforce immigration.

It led to quite a lot of civic unrest, protests. There were two protesters who were killed, shot by officials. And in that situation, what arose out of it was a subpoena to several different offices of local officials in Minneapolis and Minnesota, including the Democratic Governor, Tim Walz, who had run for vice president obviously, and then also the mayor offices of St. Paul and Minneapolis, including Mayor Jacob Frye, who really has emerged as a voice of opposition to the Trump administration.

After they received the subpoenas, the attorney general sent a letter saying that she needed those local officials to support ICE, the federal immigration authorities. And Donald Trump was out there posting on social media. It was a retribution and a reckoning day that was coming for people in Minnesota that didn't support the federal government.

What the Justice Department said at that time was that people like Walz, Frye, they were going to be investigated for impeding federal law enforcement. But this federal judge, Patrick Schiltz, in Minnesota, he finds that that is totally not what the Justice Department was doing.

And just a couple words he's used here, he says that the way they brought forth this criminal investigation into Walz's office, the mayor's offices, the attorney general's office in Minnesota, it was blatantly unlawful and unethical use of the grand jury process. He says that there was no doubt that these were grand jury subpoenas for documents that were meant to harass and coerce these local officials and that there was no plausible investigative justification. The unlawful reasons here were overwhelming.

Quite a shock to see it on paper from a judge in this federal case saying these guys, these grand jury subpoenas, they're not going to survive.

KEILAR: No plausible reason. That's really something. Katelyn, thank you so much for taking us through that.

He was said to have golden ears. Aretha Franklin called him the greatest record man of all time.

SANCHEZ: And next, we're going to be joined by Grammy-winning saxophonist, Kenny G, as we look back on the life and legacy of Clive Davis.

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[14:23:12]

SANCHEZ: Now to some of the other headlines we're watching this hour. The mayor of Los Angeles and Governor Gavin Newsom have declared an emergency as a fire at a cold storage facility shows no signs of stopping nearly a week after it began. The facility is packed with 85 million pounds of frozen food and the fire department says the sheer size of the building, along with its layout, is largely preventing crews on the ground from accessing it. Instead, they've had to rely on water drops from helicopters, something that is usually considered too unsafe for structural fires. Officials have not yet revealed the cause.

KEILAR: Also, the Supreme Court will not order a new trial in the infamous murder of Etan Patz, reversing a lower court decision that would have likely required one. Patz' disappearance in 1979 gained national attention after he became one of the first missing children to be featured on milk cartons.

Despite the publicity, Patz' body was never found and his case went cold until 2012 when a former bodega shop worker named Pedro Hernandez confessed to the killing. Hernandez's lawyers say his confession was false and caused by mental illness. His most recent appeal challenged the way the trial judge responded to a question from the jury about Hernandez's confessions. SANCHEZ: And the superintendent of the second largest school district in the country has resigned amid an ongoing federal investigation. Los Angeles Superintendent, Alberto Carvalho has been on paid leave since February when the FBI served search warrants at his home as well as the school district's headquarters. Carvalho has denied any wrongdoing and federal officials have not revealed the nature of their investigation or accused him of any crimes.

Today, the music industry is mourning the loss of a legend, Producer Clive Davis, dubbed the man with the golden ears, has passed away at the age of 89.

[14:25:00]

Davis helped launch and guide the careers of dozens of music icons.

KEILAR: That's right. That include Whitney Houston when she was just 19 and became perhaps his most famous discovery. Her powerhouse vocals drew Davis in and can be heard in the remake of the song "I Will Always Love You." "The Bodyguard" soundtrack it appeared on was produced by Davis and Houston.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

Whitney Houston performing.

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KEILAR: Davis worked across music genres with top talents including Janis Joplin, Barry Manilow, Alicia Keys and saxophone great, Kenny G.

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Kenny G performing.

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KEILAR: And Kenny G is with us now, which is so exciting for us. He has been playing for us a little bit here, which sort of I think shows us the talent that Clive Davis recognized. He collaborated on a reported 20 albums with Clive Davis, selling 750 million records -- and no, I did not misspeak. Kenny, thank you so much. I mean, that's incredible. Tell us about -- I mean, this is someone who made such a difference in your life and the lives of so many, and for all of us who enjoy wonderful talents like yours.

How are you reflecting on his passing, the impact he had on your career, and his legacy in general?

KENNY G, AWARD-WINNING SAXOPHONIST & CLIVE DAVIS COLLABORATOR: I mean, well, he took a big chance on me because back in the '80s, there was no radio or any outlet for instrumental music, really. And for some reason, he just saw something in me that just struck a chord with him.

And he came up to me one night and said, hey, I'd like to start making albums with you. Of course, I said, yeah, let's go. And that was 1982 was my first album. And I've just got to say, I wouldn't be standing here if it wasn't for him taking chances on me and going out of his way for me. He really treated me like a family member that he really cared about.

And I think it took it personally to make something happen with this instrumental music that no one had heard before.

SANCHEZ: Kenny, what was his secret? Because you were one of so many artists and we outlined some of them that he worked with, Simon & Garfunkel, the Grateful Dead, Whitney Houston. He helped to revive Aretha Franklin's career, helped her get back to number one. So what made Clive Davis so good?

KENNY G: You know, he just has really good instincts. He knows when to participate and when to step back and let the artist do what the artist does, like with my instrumental stuff. Fortunately, he realized that he's not a saxophone player. So he's going to let me pretty much have most of the say so on how things go.

Now, with singers, he was much more involved and he knew when to get involved. So with me, he would, let's say, he would call Diane Warren and say, hey, can you write a song that would be a duet with Kenny's saxophone and Michael Bolton, for example? And then we did a great song together. And Clive knew that that was something that would be -- something that the people would really love, as well as knowing when I'm playing "Songbird". You know what? Let's just let Kenny decide how that song goes and I'll stay out of the way.

KEILAR: Yeah. And you have a treat for our viewers. You mentioned "Songbird." But let's hold that for just a moment as we will hold that for going into break. In the '80s, it is so interesting. You said, yeah, he took a chance on you. But this was someone who sort of, you know, he just -- he did all the things, right?

He expanded into country music in the '80s. He expands into hip hop in the '90s. In 2000, he was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Why do you think he was successful across genres like that?

KENNY G: You know, he was just really open minded and he also recognized talent. So if it was rap music, let's just say that Clive probably doesn't know that much about rap music growing up. But he knew talent when he saw it.

And so he would sign these artists or the country artists that he didn't probably know that much about country music. But he knew talent and he just knew, you know, if he was involved, he had instincts about like songs. He was really the guy that would find a song for the singer.

Didn't really have to find my instrumentals, but he did find the vocal duets that I did that were really impactful. We did Toni Braxton. I played on one of Whitney Houston songs. The list goes on. Barry Manilow, et cetera, et cetera. So, you know, he just -- he knew when to combine things. So it's really good instincts. And his ears were, obviously, like he is the guy with the golden ears. He knew hits. He knew what song would be a hit. And he also had the power to make radio play the songs that he wanted them to play, like "Songbird." He wrote handwritten letters to the radio programmers across the country when they did not want to play this instrumental. It did not fit their format. And he wrote a letter and said, you have to play it. And then they did.

SANCHEZ: He also knew how to throw --