Return to Transcripts main page

CNN News Central

Trump in Pennsylvania; Supreme Court Rules on Religious Freedom Case; Savannah Guthrie Speaks Out; CNN Reports on Downed U.S. Jet. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired June 23, 2026 - 13:00   ET

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

[13:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:00:30]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: A minefield in the air, a CNN exclusive. A U.S. pilot who was shot down reported seeing Iranian drones swarming in a jellyfish formation. We will explain what that means.

Plus: Bill Pulte's purge. The new acting director of national intelligence carrying out large-scale cuts to his own office just days after taking over, and with the timeline of his tenure still unclear.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: And a chilling message revealed. New details about a note connected to the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie, one that said the mother of "Today Show" anchor Savannah Guthrie had died.

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

SANCHEZ: We begin this afternoon with exclusive news CNN reporting on one of the most dramatic incidents from the war with Iran.

Sources say a U.S. fighter jet pilot described seeing a swarm of Iranian drones moving in unison, saying they appeared to be flying in jellyfish formation. The pilot was rescued by Special Forces after being shot down over Iran in April.

If that account is accurate, it would represent a major advance in Iran's drone capabilities.

CNN senior national security reporter Zach Cohen is with us with this exclusive report.

So, Zach, what else did the pilot describe and how are officials responding to this?

ZACHARY COHEN, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: Yes, Boris, we we're told by multiple sources that intelligence officials who debriefed this pilot after he was rescued back in April were surprised when he started to describe a what effectively amounts to a minefield of drones that were flying in the air at the same time.

And one source describing the pilot's account more specifically saying -- quote -- "Multiple drones interconnected and moving as one with smaller drones below the bigger drones like legs.

Quote: "Real alien stuff" is how they characterized it. And it looks literally like a jellyfish. That was surprising to hear by intel officials, because they had not been tracking Iran's pursuit or obtaining of this capability that would enable multiple drones to have this interconnectivity with each other, to have what's called mesh networking, which effectively allows one single drone operator to control multiple drones at the same time.

And so that's something that has sparked a debate within the U.S. intelligence community in the weeks since this shoot-down happened. And intelligence officials have gone back and forth to try to verify what this pilot told them in that debrief.

There is some evidence, though, that Iran could have achieved this capability, most likely, sources say, with the help of Russia or China, which have this capability on their own. And there is evidence to suggest that they have provided Iran with drone technology in the recent memory.

So that's one lead that intelligence officials say that they're tracking. But, in addition to this, though, the pilot himself, his account is a little bit fuzzy. He literally had a concussion after being shot down in this fighter jet. And so that is some where some of the skepticism comes into play here.

And it's one that hasn't been fully cleared up. Now, the initial report and the initial assessment of this shoot-down did say it was possible that this drone formation that he described could have somehow enabled Iran to shoot down the F-15 fighter jet, which would be a pretty remarkable feat, given that was the first manned U.S. aircraft to get shot down during this conflict.

SANCHEZ: Yes, a lot of questions still about the incident that investigators are trying to get to the bottom of.

Notably, one of the things we learned in this report is that this fighter pilot had actually gone down before in this same conflict.

COHEN: That's right. He's had a rough stretch of time here. He was also previously shot down in that friendly fire incident over Kuwait. You may remember when that occurred. And he was subsequently rescued from then as well, and obviously put back into the cockpit, flying this F-15 over Iran that was ultimately shot down again.

And -- but he was a rescued by Special Operations Forces, which really did perform a daring rescue mission to retrieve him and his weapons specialist after the fact.

SANCHEZ: And we certainly hope that he's recovering from that concussion.

Zach Cohen, thanks so much for that reporting -- Brianna.

KEILAR: Today, Savannah Guthrie is responding to the revelation that one of the ransom notes sent days after her mother, Nancy, vanished said that Nancy had died. The NBC anchor is now renewing her family's urgent plea for help, finding their 84-year-old mother who was kidnapped five months ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SAVANNAH GUTHRIE, CO-HOST, "THE TODAY SHOW": I don't have any comment on the story, and I'm not involved in our coverage. But I can't pretend I'm not here.

[13:05:00]

And so, since I am, I wanted to just take the opportunity to ask people, to -- really to beg people to come forward. Somebody knows something. And this is a new story today that is on your radar, but this is the life that my sister lives, that I live, that my brother lives, that our extended families live, that our children live every day.

And we are in agony. We cannot be at peace. So, no matter how much I try to come out here every day and smile and find that joy, and I will -- I promise I will -- this is a moment to tell you that we need your help. We're begging for your help.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: CNN chief law enforcement and intelligence analyst John Miller is with us now.

This is a family in agony, John, and I think everyone watching this story is just hopeful that they will get some more information here. What are the details on this note? And why are they coming out now?

JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: Well, the note came to the family through a television station in Tucson that it was electronically sent to.

They shared it with authorities. Authorities shared it with the family. And the note essentially said that Nancy Guthrie had died, that she had died in the course of the kidnapping, that it was not their intent to harm her or kill her, that they were in it for the ransom, but that, in the course of the kidnapping, she had not survived.

Now, you will remember, Brianna, that there was blood on the front doorstep where authorities believe she was taken out. So there was a good deal of information pointing to the fact that there had been a struggle and she had been injured.

And this note essentially said that she had passed away and that the family would not hear from the kidnappers further.

KEILAR: And put this into context now the second message that the Guthrie children put out here, because they had said then that we got your message and we understand.

It's now sort of putting what they were saying at the time on this video message and perhaps even the investigation into some context here.

MILLER: Well, that's right.

And when they said, we got your message and we understand, we want to be reunited with our mother, so that we can celebrate with her, what that meant is, we want information about where we can recover her body, so that we can celebrate her life in a proper funeral with a body.

And that is a plea that the family put out in terms that the kidnappers would understand that we are told by sources was never answered by the kidnappers. And this wasn't revealed at the time for a number of reasons.

Number one, they had to verify that this second note came from the same source as the first note and that they believed it was really from the kidnappers. Number two, they also didn't want people to say, oh, well, she passed away, I guess the case is over, and to not continue to come forward with tips, when they were getting a lot of information.

And, number three, if they arrested someone and they asked them, what was in the first note, what was in the second note, they wanted something that hadn't been reported in the media that they could use to verify any claims that someone came forward with.

Right now, the family's hoping, at least with the story back in the news, with renewed interest, with this leaked information, that that person will come forward. They believe that there is someone out there who actually knows what really happened and who's behind it who maybe has been struggling with the idea of coming forward.

They're hoping this will bring that person forward.

KEILAR: And, John, you're learning about other notes that were sent. Harvey Levin of TMZ is now giving some details on a note that was seeking $100,000. What can you tell us about that?

MILLER: Well, Harvey Levin has received a number of notes. TMZ has given a lot of attention to the case.

Most of these notes have been from people either claiming to be the kidnappers or claiming to know where the body was.

But one particular individual who's been communicating with Levin through an untraceable electronic pathway has said: I know who did it. I can give you the information you need, but I am afraid of these people, and I need enough money, in the millions of dollars, to get out, set up a new life, and protect my identity.

The problem with that demand is, they want the money first in crypto before they give the information. And the FBI's position on it is, if the person came to us, there's plenty of reward money. We have the witness protection program, but we need to know that the information is real and that the person is real before we do any of that.

KEILAR: Yes, which is an understandable policy.

John Miller, thank you so much for the update. We appreciate it.

[13:10:02]

Still to come: the Supreme Court blocking a former inmate from suing prison officials who cut his dreadlocks, despite his Rastafarian beliefs. Ahead, what this could mean for religious protections in prison.

Plus: It's Election Day in America, and some of the most-watched races are happening in New York. Primaries there are testing just how influential New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is with voters.

And then, later: A.I. takes flight. We will show you how aviation officials are turning to artificial intelligence for help with air traffic control.

We have that and much more coming up on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:15:06]

SANCHEZ: Breaking news to CNN.

President Trump is taking questions on the tarmac in Reading, Pennsylvania, where he here arrived for an event later this afternoon. Let's listen.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: ... the Hormuz Strait.

Our stock market is through the roof, and oil prices are tumbling. We actually hit for a moment today -- in fact, I think it's going to break it -- $70 a barrel. That's lower than we were when we started. And it's been amazing.

And the big thing is, Iran will not have a nuclear weapon.

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: What's on your agenda for your tomorrow with senators (OFF- MIKE) about SAVE America Act?

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: Well, we're just going to talk about SAVE America. We have to get -- we have to pass the SAVE America Act, which is voter I.D., which is proof of citizenship, et cetera. We have to pass it.

So we're going to have to talk about that and many other things. A lot of good relations. (CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: The Senate majority leader, John Thune, has told you many times he doesn't believe that they have the votes to pass it.

TRUMP: That's what being a leader is about. He's a leader. John's a leader. And that's what being a leader is about.

Look, we have to be able to get proof of citizenship when you vote. Otherwise, we don't have elections. We have to be able to get voter I.D. So John is a leader, and hopefully he can get the votes.

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: Mr. President, on Iran, the Iranians are saying there's no scheduled visit for the IAEA inspectors. Is that part of your agreement?

TRUMP: They're wrong. They're wrong. They're wrong. They know they're wrong. They told us inside, and we have it down, 100 percent inspections.

And if they were right, I'd cancel the meetings right now.

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: From your view, Mr. President, when will those inspectors actually be on the ground in Iran?

TRUMP: At the appropriate time? At the appropriate time. There's no rush, but they will be on the ground at the appropriate time.

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: Israeli forces have opened fire in Southern Lebanon today, killing two people. Are you confident that the cease-fire is still holding in Lebanon?

TRUMP: Well, we will see what that -- look, they have been fighting each other for many, many years, decades, and we will see. But it's going to come along.

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: On Nancy Guthrie, there's a note that our Brian Entin reported on that says that she's dead, she's with nature. Is there any hope that the FBI and investigators find her?

TRUMP: I hope they find her. I mean, Savannah's gone through a rough -- that family's gone through hell, but I hope they find her.

QUESTION: Mr. President, on the Reflecting Pool, you mentioned yesterday that the Interior Department has video and photos. We reached out to them, and they haven't shared it with us.

Are you going to compel them to release it? TRUMP: Well, they will share. They have arrested, I think, six people

on the Reflecting Pool.

So the Reflecting Pool looks fantastic. I just got pictures of it. It's beautiful, but somebody went in with a knife and cut it. They cut it up good, and then they cut a 200-, 350-foot slit in the form of lots of little slits, real horrible stuff, and they destroyed the grass.

We put a brand-new big load of grass out there, and they destroyed it. So it's all being fixed, but it's a shame. So I understand five or six people are arrested. The Interior Department can refer to you on that. And I hear I hear that -- I hear they have six people under investigation.

QUESTION: Mr. President, you're about to speak to truckers. Truckers are at high risk of moving their jobs to A.I. because of the...

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: Well, now they're not. You can't get a job. Right now, we have the highest job numbers we have ever had in the country, the history of the country.

And I'm just with a couple of the great senators and congressmen. We're talking. It's actually hard to fill the job. Nobody's ever seen a time like this. We have right now so many jobs that are going to be available. And the biggest problem we have is getting the people. So we're really doing spectacular.

And this area in Pennsylvania for steel -- Eli Lilly just announced billions of dollars worth of plants. We have more plants being built right now in the United States than at any time in the history of our country.

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: What will you say to allies of yours like Senator Cruz who've been critical of the Iran deal?

TRUMP: Well, I think anybody that's been critical of it has to be educated, even if they're friends of mine, because we have Iran in a position that nobody's ever had.

This should have been done for 47 years by other presidents, and we have Iran in a position where their military has been totally wiped out, their leadership has been wiped out, their radar has been wiped out, everything's been wiped out. They have -- they have not a good negotiating position.

But despite that -- and money that we will be taking out of Iran is going to go to our for farmers to give corn, soybeans, wheat to Iran, because they have a hunger problem, they have a food problem, they have a medicine problem. They got a lot of problems.

And they have an inflation -- their inflation now just did 300 percent. So they have a lot of problems.

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: Mr. President, are you planning to do a federal takeover of D.C. soon since it looks likely a socialist...

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: So we have a radical left communist elected, I guess, soon to be elected mayor of D.C.

[13:20:02]

D.C. is now a safe -- you people know better than anybody. It's a safe, beautiful city. When I came here, it was an unsafe, unkempt, horrible city. It was horrible. The monuments and the waterfalls and the statues and everything were graffiti-ridden, hadn't been fixed in 50 years, cleaned.

Now it's beautiful. We did 52 statues, monuments, waterfalls, including the thing that -- where the vandals hit, the Reflecting Pool, but we will get that back very quickly.

In fact, I will say, this morning, I sent people over. They say it looks absolutely beautiful. But we're going to have to let a little water out and fix it, and then we will put the water back in.

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: ... on ODNI...

TRUMP: But just so you understand, so our country is doing really well, and we're going to keep it that way.

And any senator that didn't vote for all of the things we need -- because we're making an amazing deal with Iran. We're making a deal that's going to keep our country and the world safe, because we're not going to let Iran have a nuclear weapon, and they know that, and they agree to that.

Thank you very much.

SANCHEZ: We have been listening to President Trump as he arrives in Pennsylvania for an event highlighting Mack trucks later today.

The president there making news on a number of fronts, notably dispelling accounts from Iran that they are allowing U.N. inspectors into their nuclear facilities. Just yesterday, we heard Vice President J.D. Vance said that there was a major milestone that had been reached over the weekend, that Iran had allowed these IAEA inspectors to go in.

After that, officials from Tehran said that those reports were inaccurate. Today, the president just now saying that Iran is actually wrong about that. So it's more of the U.S. said/Iran said regarding nuclear inspections. The president also saying the big thing is that Iran will not have a

nuclear weapon. Important to point out, going back about 10 years to the JCPOA that was signed in 2015, Iran had already committed to not developing nuclear weapons.

So it seems the U.S. is trying to get back to a point at which it already was.

KEILAR: Yes, for that agreement, certainly.

And we should note, as he's talking, he's heralding the price of oil, which is a price that is a response and kind of built on a hope that this Iran deal will continue to see progress and that this will continue to hold. But anyone who has filled up their car or their truck recently knows that the price of gas certainly hasn't rebounded.

So he's saying the price of oil has tumbled. But the promise has been that the price of gas was going to tumble. We're not at that point yet. So there are still a lot of financial pressures on families all across the country. And, certainly, the president is very aware of that, though he didn't mention the price of gas.

We're going to get in a quick break. We will be back with much more.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:27:34]

KEILAR: With just days left in their highly consequential term, the Supreme Court is handing down more opinions and one of the cases today involving a man who was trying to sue prison officials in Louisiana after he was forced to have his dreadlocks cut off.

SANCHEZ: CNN chief legal affairs correspondent Paula Reid is with us.

Paula, this was a 6-3 ruling that will ultimately make matters more difficult for believers that are behind bars, no?

PAULA REID, CNN CHIEF LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, to sue under this specific law.

We were watching this really closely, because this conservative supermajority has been doing a lot to try to protect religious freedoms. And, here, you have a prisoner who's a Rastafarian, and he wanted to be able to sue prison officials for violating his religious rights after they cut off his dreadlocks that went down to his knees.

And he was trying to do this under this law that was passed in 2000. So this was ultimately settled on a technicality. Here, Justice Gorsuch, writing the opinion for the majority, said that he cannot sue under this specific law.

So that was a little bit of a surprise. But what wasn't really a surprise is that this was a 6-3. Four of the five cases that we got today all fell across that 6-3 conservative-liberal split. And now we're just waiting to see what they do with the rest of these cases. But this was one of the big ones that we were watching for.

KEILAR: And then there was also this other ruling on a case today involving ExxonMobil and property that was seized in Cuba after Fidel Castro took power nearly seven decades ago. What's that about?

REID: So, what's so interesting about this is that this decision comes. It's the second big Cuba case we have gotten this term. Cuba's very hot at the High Court right now.

And it comes as the administration has taken a more aggressive stance towards Havana. Now, as you just noted, here, they're allowing ExxonMobil to sue state-owned oil companies over the confiscation of property that occurred after Fidel Castro's regime seized power.

So we're talking about something that happened roughly 70 years ago. This lawsuit will now be able to proceed, but, again, it comes amid another sort of just a flurry of activity that we have seen in this administration.

Several weeks ago, I was actually down in Miami with the acting attorney general, Todd Blanche, when he announced the indictment of Raul Castro. The president has also said -- quote -- he might have "the honor of taking Cuba."

So it's interesting that we also see the Supreme Court green-lighting this lawsuit. And we saw another Cuba lawsuit earlier.

SANCHEZ: Yes, it also comes as the secretary of state announced more action against GAESA, the corporation that effectively runs the government in Cuba, works alongside the government to run the country.

We only have a few days left before July.

REID: Yes.

SANCHEZ: And the court has some major decisions that are coming down.

REID: They're just like us. They're procrastinating.