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Now: Trump Speaking At Mack Trucks Plant In Pennsylvania; Now: Voting Underway In New York Primaries; Downed U.S. Pilot: Iranian Drones Flew In "Jellyfish" Formation; Savannah Guthrie Makes Emotional Plea Amid New Details On Ransom Note. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired June 23, 2026 - 15:00   ET

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

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Workers are using these vacuum type devices to suck up the caterpillars and their nests, which also contain those toxic barbs.

And federal investigators say the high-rise condo that collapsed near Miami back in 2021 actually began falling weeks before the building came crashing down, killing 98 people. A final report blames a combination of the condo's design, which didn't meet building codes and alterations made over its 40-year history, along with corrosion. In the years since the accident happened, a judge approved more than a billion-dollar settlement for those killed and injured. Florida also enacted a law requiring condo associations to have sufficient reserves to cover major repairs.

A new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: The President's pitch to Pennsylvania. Donald Trump visiting the Keystone State, selling his vision for the country despite the economic headwinds facing many American families.

More barnacles, more problems. Four months of floating in the Persian Gulf has attached some big problems to ships and oil tankers. Time to bring in the bottom cleaners. And yes, that's what they're called.

And lions and stars and soccer. Oh, my. England and Ghana facing off at the World Cup. Both teams dreaming of another win to book their ticket to the next round. We are following these major developing stories and many more all coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

Happening now, President Trump is making his midterm sales pitch in Pennsylvania. But against the backdrop of high inflation and shaky peace talks with Iran, are undecided battleground voters ready? Are they to buy in to his message? CNN's Betsy Klein is live for us in the heart of the Rust Belt at a Mack Trucks assembly plant where the President is speaking.

Betsy, what are you hearing?

BETSY KLEIN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, President Trump making a rare appearance on the midterm campaign trail today. And this is something that we had expected to see almost weekly, multiple times a week in the spring and winter, but really becoming a very rare occurrence amid the efforts in Venezuela, as well as the war with Iran.

The President started speaking about 10 minutes ago. This event ostensibly made -- aimed at refocusing on the economy. The President talking about investments in Pennsylvania and jobs. He is highlighting his trade and tariff policies. But the President also talking about that deal he has reached with Iran, that memorandum of understanding to kickstart a broader negotiation on some of the thornier nuclear details. Let's know what he just said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: That's the most -- that's the most oil in the history of the Strait. It's never been any -- you've never seen anything like that. It's called an oil gush. And most importantly, we are ensuring one thing very importantly, because this is why I did it. I did it for this reason. Ninety nine percent for this, Iran will never have a nuclear weapon and they agreed to that..

But remember, this wasn't easy. We had 47 years' worth of presidents and other people, other countries, too. We're not the only one that haven't -- did anything. They were the bully of the Middle East. And now we're leaving Iran with no navy, no air force, no anti-aircraft, no missile capability, no nuclear program. We're leaving them without any nuclear capacity. And they've agreed to that. And we're getting along quite well. Although you read the fake news, you never know. Think of it the fake news.

They have no army. They have no navy. They have no air force. They have no anti-aircraft. We can fly over Tehran just that well. Nobody going to do anything to us. And then, I read the fake news that they're doing quite well. They're not doing quite well. These people, right? Now, look at all that was left than it was ...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KLEIN: Now, we are here in Pennsylvania's seventh congressional district, and this is going to be one of the major battlegrounds in these midterm elections just about four months from now. This congressman, Ryan MacKenzie, who spoke here a little bit ago, running against Democrat Bob Brooks, a firefighter. Brooks trying to tie MacKenzie to Trump, and MacKenzie here very supportive of the President.

While the President might have a lot of support in this room, his support in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is slowing down. And according to a new poll from Franklin & Marshall College, his approval rating is at 29 percent. That's about 10 points lower than it was just in March, Boris and Brianna.

KEILAR: All right, Betsy Klein live for us in Pennsylvania. Thank you, Boris.

[15:05:01]

SANCHEZ: Also happening now, voters in New York are hitting the polls for primary day with a handful of House seats up for grabs this November. Democrats are closely watching to see how much sway an endorsement from Mayor Zohran Mamdani brings as he backs three progressive candidates. Two of them are trying to unseat Democratic incumbents. They are Congressman Dan Goldman from New York's 10th District, also Congressman Adriano Espaillat from District 13.

We're joined now by former Democratic congressman from the state's 11th District, Max Rose. He's now a senior advisor for VoteVets.

Thank you so much for being with us, Max. What do you think of Mayor Mamdani endorsing against these incumbents?

MAX ROSE, (D) FORMER NEW YORK CONGRESSMAN: Look, the -- the whole thing is confounding because Mayor Mamdani has largely found himself in a lose-lose situation. As a consequence of his decision, he either wins these races and his colleagues don't trust him again, or he loses these races and his colleagues do not trust him again.

But as we look specifically at the Claire Valdez race and the Chevalier race, we can understand why Zohran Mamdani is doing what he's doing because both of those individuals are registered members of the Democratic Socialists of America. That is, in fact, the only distinction between them and their opponents.

You have Antonio Reynoso in New York-7, who the incumbent member of Congress Nydia Velazquez endorsed. She was one of the early endorsers of Zohran Mamdani. Antonio Reynoso is a tremendous progressive politician.

Then, you have the CHC chairman, Adriano Espaillat, who again is a highly established, renowned progressive. If -- if anything, both of those members deserved a challenger who was a conservative Democrat, that would have been an ideological clash. So, the real question we should be asking ourselves is, is Zohran Mamdani making this decision or is he just following the orders and the dictates of the Democratic Socialists of America? The latter explanation would make much more sense.

SANCHEZ: Wow. I -- I also should note some of these races are pitting the endorsement of Mamdani against the endorsement of the minority leader, Hakeem Jeffries. Which of the two New Yorkers do you think has more influence over the party right now?

ROSE: Look, ultimately, these races are going to come down to highly impactful local dynamics amongst very accomplished politicians. So, I don't think anyone's endorsement ever really has a reigning impact in New York City elections. But we will see the consequences of this election in New York City for months and potentially even years to come here.

Politics, no matter how much technology you introduce, is still a very old school profession where people's word matters. And certainly, the mayor had given his word to both Nydia Velazquez and Adriano Espaillat that he would be following their lead in terms of their preferences in this congressional race. Remember, Nydia and Adriano had endorsed the Mayor in the general

election. If they had not done that, Mayor Mamdani would not be mayor today. So, again, this is why I began this by saying I cannot see how the New York congressional delegation will trust the Mayor after this, irrespective of the outcome of these races.

SANCHEZ: I -- I also want to ask you about Israel policy, because it's become seemingly a litmus test for some Democrats. AIPAC (ph) has drawn immense criticism, including from Mamdani, who -- who doubled down on -- on that criticism. I wonder what you thought of that and how you would like to see Democrats handle the issue more broadly.

ROSE: Look, the -- the issue is undeniably a defining issue in this race. What would be ideal if members could actually separate justified criticism of the conduct of the Israeli government in wartime, by the way, criticism that could largely be representative of critiques leveled against the United States government at the height of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, be able to separate those critiques from the absolute essential relationship or the essential need for Israel to be a Jewish democratic state and the importance of that to not only Jewish Americans, but underlying to the Jewish faith.

[15:10:01]

And I -- I believe that that disassociation between the two has become a real serious problem in our dialogue that somehow critiques honest, justified critiques of the Israeli government have now shifted to it being politically okay, sensible for elected officials and candidates to deny the right of Israel to exist in and of itself. And that, in my personal opinion, is a line too far and not one that even has political returns.

SANCHEZ: Former Congressman Max Rose, great to get your perspective. Thanks for joining us.

ROSE: Thanks.

SANCHEZ: Still to come, a CNN exclusive. What a U.S. fighter jet pilot said he witnessed just before being shot down over Iran, why quickly has set off a firestorm of debate within the U.S. intelligence community.

Plus, "Today" show co-anchor Savannah Guthrie making an emotional plea after new details emerged about a note linked to her mother Nancy's disappearance.

And later, a big World Cup matchup between England and Ghana kicking off with a spot in the knockout round on the line that much more coming your way in just moments.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:15:34]

KEILAR: CNN has exclusive new reporting surrounding a U.S. fighter jet pilot whose F-15 was shot down over Iran back in April. Sources say the pilot described seeing a swarm of Iranian drones moving in unison, saying they appeared to be flying in a jellyfish-like formation.

The pilot, who was rescued in a daring Special Forces mission, also described seeing a minefield of drones in the air. If the account is accurate, it would represent a major advance in Iranian drone capabilities. Let's talk about this now with retired Army Major General Randy Manner. He's a former Deputy Commanding General for the U.S. 3rd Army in Kuwait.

General, thanks for being with us on this.

And I should say, there is some sort of debate on how to interpret what this -- this crew is telling officials here in the U.S. But first, let's just take it on its face, what we're understanding was described. What does that tell you about the capabilities of Iran?

MAJ. GEN. RANDY MANNER (RET.), FMR. DEPUTY COMMANDING GENERAL, U.S. 3RD IN KUWAIT: So, the concepts and the technology behind swarms of drones is something that has -- has actually been explored for many years. The question is, of course, whether or not, how to weaponize it in some form. It is interesting that the pilots detected it while their aircraft was moving somewhere between 800 to 1,500 miles per hour, because they certainly weren't going slow. So, the question is, exactly what were the conditions?

This is something that the Chinese have, we have limited capabilities as well, to be able to literally send dozens, if not hundreds, of -- of drones using artificial intelligence that are synchronized to be able to do some type of infiltration or to be able to attack some -- some target.

I doubt seriously that that -- that capability was used to down the F- 15, but it is an amazing bit of intelligence if the Iranians have it.

KEILAR: Okay, so one of the remarkable parts of this story is that this pilot had previously been shot down in that friendly fire incident with Kuwait. So, shot down twice here, right? In the second shoot down, he was concussed and U.S. intel officials reportedly disagreed on how to interpret what he described. What kind of questions does that raise for you? What do you think about this difficulty in interpreting what he's describing here?

MANNER: Well, I'm very grateful, first of all, that the pilot is extremely fortunate and lucky to have survived two aircraft destructions that he was flying. So, good for him and his family. That's number one.

Number two is, I do not doubt the pilot's observations. This is something that does exist. The question, of course, is how do the Iranians -l- how do they have it? Do they buy it from the Chinese? Do they develop it on their own? Is this something they are keeping in reserve to be able to use against U.S. forces at a later date? A lot of uncertainty here about that.

I think this is also very important to understand that despite the President's statements in Pennsylvania today that we have complete air superiority over Iran, we do not. The Iranians have a very capable defense against us. That's why we are not flying sorties on a routine basis. This is something that we need to continue to investigate and obviously to continue to invest in our own technology development as well.

KEILAR: Well, and speak about that a little bit. China and Russia are believed to have this capability. You mentioned China there. Is the U.S. keeping up with this?

MANNER: Well, that's a great question. And I don't have access to the most recent classified reports. I would hypothesize the Chinese are well ahead of us. The reason is because they have the ability to invest literally hundreds of millions of dollars in this technology in artificial intelligence. We already know that they, quite frankly, steal much of it from corporations in the United States through cyber- attacks and so on.

So, I believe the Chinese are, if not equal to, they are more superior to us in this area. It's very disconcerting. We need to move forward. This is why an aircraft carrier between Taiwan and mainland China would not survive. It would -- it would be -- it would go down very quickly. And if we are in a situation with China, you'll see those aircraft carriers kept on the other side of the strait, far away, to be able to be a little more protected.

[15:20:10]

KEILAR: Yes, but I mean, I wonder though, even with that, right, as we -- as we look at bombers being flown around the world and refueled, and we look at how -- what are they going to do with drones in that capacity, right? I -- I just wonder, as you were looking at this kind of technology and thinking about the not-too-distant future, are the things that we consider cutting-edge for the military here in the U.S. becoming kind of obsolete?

MANNER: Yes. The idea of these -- now don't get me wrong, you have to have a mix of different capabilities to be able to exercise the national security needs if diplomacy fails. So, having long range bombers and fighters is obviously very important. At the same time, the investment in very large, very expensive platforms, are -- that means they're also very vulnerable.

We should be diversifying our investments in many of these other technologies that a country like Iran, as -- despite what the President says, they can shut down the Strait at any point using drones similar to these. Again, it's something where Iran does not need to develop a nuclear weapon because this president has given them a weapon far more powerful than a nuclear weapon, shut down the strait and cause economic harm to the entire world. They have that capability which they had never exercised before the attacks of three months ago. So, we need to be able to be looking at deterrence and capabilities for our own nation as well.

KEILAR: General Randy Manner, thank you so much for being with us.

MANNER: Thank you. KEILAR: Still ahead, "Today" show anchor Savannah Guthrie renewing her

plea for help finding her missing mom after a new report about one of the ransom notes sent to media outlets after Nancy Guthrie was kidnapped. We'll have details on what it said when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:26:41]

SANCHEZ: This morning, "Today" show anchor Savannah Guthrie spoke of the agony her family is still enduring some five months after their mother was kidnapped. Her tearful comments during the broadcast follow revelations that a ransom note sent after Nancy Guthrie disappeared said the 84-year-old had died shortly after she was taken captive.

Sources tell CNN that law enforcement at the time could not verify that note. Investigators also feared that they might get fewer tips if they went public with that detail. CNN Chief Media Analyst Brian Stelter joins us now. So, Brian, what did Savannah Guthrie say about this earlier on today?

BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA ANALYST: Yes, a really emotional segment on the "Today" show. Savannah saying that this reporting is a chance for her to remind everyone that her family still needs help, is still desperately seeking some form of closure and needs people to call the FBI tip line with information. You know, Guthrie's been back at work at NBC for several months now and most days are normal for her as normal as they possibly can be on the air.

But today, NBC was reporting on this new development. And to be clear, it's not a new development for the Guthrie family. The family knew at the time about what this note said, but it was held back by investigators and by some news outlets, including CNN at the time, because there was a concern that investigators would not receive as many tips if the notes details were made public.

So, Guthrie knew about this at the time, but now the rest of the world knows. It was reported by the website Air Mail the other day and now confirmed by NBC and CNN and other outlets. So, Guthrie use this opportunity on the "Today" show to remind people that tips are still needed. Here's what she said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SAVANNAH GUTHRIE, "TODAY" SHOW HOST: I can't pretend I'm not here. And so, since I am, I wanted to just take the opportunity to -- 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 and we cannot be at peace.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STELTER: It's a reminder, a really hard to watch, reminder that somebody can look like they're holding it together most of the time. But then, of course, what is the most important story in her life, the most important mystery in her life? It comes right back front and center in a way that is really hard but important to watch. So, Guthrie sharing that on the air today and hoping that maybe this latest burst of news coverage will make a difference.

SANCHEZ: And when it comes to the investigation, Brian, what's the latest there?

STELTER: Well, the Pima County Sheriff's Department told CNN earlier this week that the investigation remains, quote, "active and ongoing." And that's about it. And unfortunately, the idea that it's active means that there is no indication that the -- the investigators are close to any concrete information or any concrete suspects.

Clearly, the wish of the family is to have a body that can be brought home for a burial. A source close to the family said to me today that this family still needs the public's help. There is a million-dollar reward being offered. And that FBI tip line remains out there, 1-800- CALL-FBI.

SANCHEZ: Brian Stelter, thank you so much. Again, if you have any information that could help investigators, please call that number. It is 1-800-CALL-FBI.