Return to Transcripts main page

CNN News Central

All Three Mamdani-Backed Candidates Win House Primaries; Rubio In Middle East To Discuss Iran Agreement With Gulf Nations; USDA Reports 19 Animal Cases Of New World Screwworm In South Texas. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired June 24, 2026 - 07:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL)

[07:30:47]

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: And breaking overnight, Politico puts it this way, "There is a new king in New York" -- at least the king of politics. Democratic socialist Mayor Zohran Mamdani flexing his endorsement muscles just six months into his tenure and landing a clean sweep of election night victories across New York City.

It is a major inflection point for the Democratic Party as it tries to connect with voters and win back Congress in the midterms, and a potential wakeup call for the establishment on how the party will need to address America's relationship with Israel as well.

With me now White House correspondent of USA Today, Francesca Chambers. And Washington bureau chief for The Boston Globe, Jackie Kucinich. Thank you both for being here.

Starting with you, Jackie. How big of a shockwave was this to see all of the people that Mamdani endorsed win?

JACKIE KUCINICH, WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF, THE BOSTON GLOBE (via Webex by Cisco): I mean, truly, as Politico put it, there is a new king of New York when it comes to endorsements. I mean, just up and down the ballot from, you know, congressional races on down.

If you're Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer, you're really taking a tough look at this because truly, New Yorkers sent a message last night and with affordability atop of minds of Democrats this has got to -- this has got to rattle them going forward.

SIDNER: Yeah. Affordability was the -- was the word, right, that everyone was kind of looking at and using.

Francesca, I do wonder if this is a New York anomaly or do you see Zohran Mamdani's version of democracy as a harboring of things to come in potentially other places -- other states, other cities?

FRANCESCA CHAMBERS, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, USA TODAY (via Webex by Cisco): There's a more nuanced look if you go across the country. I mean, you have a state like Iowa where Josh Turek won, and he had a large establishment support. Even in looking in New York itself you have the race where Micah Lasher won and had been an aide to Gerald Nadler and had his support.

And so yes, certainly a progressive wave going on in New York and in other parts of the country for sure. But as Democrats are trying to figure out what kind of message works for them they're finding that in different states, particularly in red states and some of these purple states, that the message that might work for voters is going to be different than the one that works in a place like New York that's very blue. And they're having to figure out how to thread that needle as they start to look for a candidate who can try and bring all these different parts of the party together in 2028.

But as far as this idea of Hakeem Jeffries and Schumer, I did want to pick up on what Jackie was saying and say if you're -- you know, you're waking up this morning and you're Chuck Schumer and you're looking at that or you're Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez who is trying to figure out what she's going to do in her future, the progressive wave that we've seen last night leans, of course, in the direction of an AOC.

SIDNER: Yeah.

Jackie, as Francesca just sort of alluded to, as Republicans watch Democrats wrestle with their own ideological divisions how might this be used in the midterms in other places?

KUCINICH: That's the question. I think some of the -- some of the members who won in New York will be used as the new boogeymen as -- you know, as Republicans tried to do with Mayor Mamdani. Now, whether or not that works I think it depends on where you are. I mean, good luck trying to do that in a place like Texas, for example.

But, you know, it might work somewhere like Maine where they have a very progressive candidate running and -- or, you know, around the margins. Somewhere like Maine where you do have a candidate that is very progressive in Graham Platner.

So as Francesca pointed out this isn't a one-size-fits-all but I think as much as we talk about problems that Democrats -- that Republicans have, Democrats clearly have some of their own internally.

And the other really interesting thing that we're going to have -- we're going to see moving forward potentially into next year about Hakeem Jeffries is how he governs this kind of caucus that's moving very -- he's going to have a very strong vocal left wing potentially if they end up taking the majority or if they don't.

[07:35:05]

SIDNER: I do want to ask you Francesca about what's going to happen today. What you kind of see happening with the president heading to Capitol Hill to meet with Senate Republicans who, for the first time, voted to limit the president's war powers and blocking him from returning to active combat with Iran, although it is mostly sort of symbolic. The president kind of shrugged it off. But he's insisting -- the president -- that he wants them to pass the

Save America Act, and the Senate is saying we don't have the votes.

What do you see happening here today?

CHAMBERS: But what a symbolic vote to come though on the eve of his already planned visit to go to Capitol Hill to speak to those Senate Republicans. Yesterday, reporters asked the president about the Save Act and about that meeting and he said that, you know, Thune needs to be a leader. He needs to show leadership here.

And this is the president's opportunity though to show leadership and to go speak to them. And he wants this bill to have some of these other provisions in it as well that have been rejected by House members and senators, especially the moderates. And, you know, it's on him to go sell it now.

SIDNER: Francesca Chambers, Jackie Kucinich, thank you both. A great analysis this morning. Appreciate it.

Be sure to stay with us. We will speak next hour with Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan, the authors of the brand new book "Regime Change: Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump" -- Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Secretary of State Marco Rubio is in the Middle East this morning working to get Gulf Nations on board with the agreement that the U.S. is right now trying to negotiate with Iran about ending the Iran War.

One issue that has become central is Iran's insistence that the fight between Israel and Iran-backed proxy Hezbollah in Lebanon be part of the broader U.S.-Iran negotiations. Marco Rubio saying those two things should be and will -- should be two separate issues.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARCO RUBIO, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: It's separate because Lebanon is a sovereign country. Now, there's an Iranian issue with regard to Lebanon and that is their support and sponsorship of Hezbollah. And so that'll -- that factor will be discussed as part of our conversations with the Iranians. But as far as the future of Lebanon, the future of Lebanon belongs to the Lebanese people through their sovereign elected government.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Joining me right now is CNN senior military analyst and former NATO supreme allied commander, retired Admiral James Stavridis. It's good to see you again. He's also the co-author of a new book, "2084: A Novel of Future War."

How future is future? I think we're going to see it well before 2084 though, my friend.

What do you think of this argument that Rubio is now trying to make considering that Iran has tried to link these two warfronts if you will since the very beginning of this conflict?

ADM. JAMES STAVRIDIS (RET.), CNN SENIOR MILITARY ANALYST, FORMER NATO SUPREME ALLIED COMMANDER, VICE CHAIRMAN, THE CARLYLE GROUP (via Webex by Cisco): Well, the senator is from my home state of Florida. I know him, and I think he's exhibiting a saying we have, at least in North Florida, which is "Sometimes you've got to be for what's going to happen anyway" -- meaning this problem is a fundamental challenge for the administration. And I think the only way they can parse it at this point, given the obstructed behavior of Iran, is simply to separate it and to try and make the case.

And I think he's fundamentally correct. It ought to be able to be resolved between Israel, Hezbollah, and Lebanon without the interference of Iran. However, if it's going to be linked to the broader agreement Kate, that presents a real problem as we get into 60 days of negotiation on even bigger issues like the nuclear stockpile of Iran.

BOLDUAN: Yeah.

And while they're trying to separate these two issues part of what we heard from JD Vance in announcing the memorandum of understanding and the progress from it involved the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah. Establishing this deconfliction cell or a deconfliction mechanism when things do flare up between Israel and Hezbollah. But what we've learned from it is the U.S., Iran, Lebanon, Pakistan, and Qatar created this. Israel is not part of this mechanism at all.

So how does this work, Admiral?

STAVRIDIS: Hard to see at this point to be honest, Kate. Let's face it. At this point the administration wants number one, to get the Strait of Hormuz up and operating. That's a tactical challenge. Number two, they want this war to simmer down so that they can get to number three, which is negotiating a conclusion to this nuclear stockpile. The problem is that middle thing and that is the conflict in Lebanon.

[07:40:00]

So I don't think these kind of mechanisms are going to be fruitful as long as Hezbollah keeps raining rockets and missiles on Israel. And they're doing that with the authority at the behest of Iran. And bottom line, Kate, Iran wants to drive a wedge between the U.S. and Israel, and they've discovered this is a pretty good place to do it.

BOLDUAN: Hmm, so interesting.

Admiral, it's great to see you. Thank you so much. Congrats on the new book -- John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Happening now, oil prices falling. Brent crude, the global benchmark, is now below $76 a barrel. You can see it right there. And this is notable. This is a milestone. This is the lowest level since the day before the war with Iran began four months ago. So basically, oil is now lower than it was at the time right before the war. And also, diesel has dipped below $5.00 for the first time since

March. E

Even with oil prices falling though and traffic slowly starting to resume in the Strait of Hormuz, there is a lot that needs to be done. And the latest problem facing ships, barnacles.

CNN senior business reporter David Goldman is here. I feel like I have to make the pirate sound every time you mention barnacles, so arrr.

DAVID GOLDMAN, CNN SENIOR BUSINESS REPORTER: That's right. I think that, you know, there is an episode of "THE SIMPSONS" where they had smooth -- you know, soothing ship sounds and it was cawing and barnacle sounds. I think that's what I'm feeling right now.

This is a huge milestone John because, you know, when we are talking about well, this is up so much from the war, now we're talking about we're down from the start of the war. That's significant.

But this is going to be a problem. Look at this sea gunk. This is from our friends at Obsessive Compulsive Divers in Marathon, Florida. They have cooling intakes that these creatures get into. There's the underside of a hull that they get on. And they need to be removed because they make the ships less efficient. And oil is still pretty expensive and 50 percent of a ship's cost just to get out is fuel and you need to clean it.

And also there's invasive species that live there too. You have to get rid of those as well. So yeah, this is one of those things that you have to deal with.

There is a huge amount of ships that are anchored in the strait right now -- more than 600 -- and all of those are the size of three football fields. So you need to have five to six divers come with lances and power scrubbers and get rid of all this stuff before they can leave. It's actually not an insignificant problem.

But the good news is that the oil market doesn't seem to care about any of this stuff. They just want the strait to be reopened. They're happy that it is now. And so the big question is, is there going to be a change -- is there going to be any kind of, you know, rationale between paper oil -- the amount that traders are trading -- and actual physical oil? We're going to have to see.

BERMAN: And, of course, one of the reasons the barnacles are all there is because these ships have been sitting around --

GOLDMAN: Yeah.

BERMAN: -- for like four months.

GOLDMAN: Four months anchored. It's incredible the gunk that gets built up onto these ships.

BERMAN: All right. Well, boon for people who clean that stuff off. You know, full employment act for divers in the Gulf right now. GOLDMAN: Yes.

BERMAN: David Goldman, thank you very much -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: We have new video coming in showing a carjacker on a violent rampage, even driving into people on the street. What police are now saying about the person behind the wheel. We'll bring that to you.

And an urgent new warning from the world's top intelligence agencies. AI could breach governments and business defenses in just a matter of months.

(COMMERCIAL)

[07:48:00]

SIDNER: This morning the flesh-eating parasite known as the screwworm is back and present in Texas. And this morning data from the USDA shows new cases are on the rise. The agency is now reporting 19 animals, up from 15 animals infected with the parasite over the last 30 days. Officials say the fly that contains a flesh-eating parasite in its larvae came in from Central America. Livestock and pets alike are at risk.

Back in the '60s and '70s it caused hundreds of millions of dollars in damage and livestock. In 1971, the USDA reported 444 cases in Texas. The following year that number exploded to more than 90,000. Now ranchers are working to protect their herds once again.

Joining me now, Dr. Sonya Swiger. She is a professor and entomologist at Texas A&M AgriLife Extension. Thank you so much for being here.

Look, just hearing the word "screwworm" definitely gives chills down your spine because it is a flesh-eating worm. It sounds extremely alarming.

Give us some sense of exactly how problematic this creature is.

DR. SONJA SWIGER, PROFESSOR AND ENTOMOLOGIST, TEXAS A&M AGRILIFE EXTENSION SERVICE (via Webex by Cisco): Yeah. If left unattended, this insect, in a sense, can be really problematic and the larvae will feed on the flesh of animals and that can get distributed widely if we don't take matters into our own hands.

SIDNER: Look, the U.S. believed they had eradicated this decades ago. There haven't been, you know, a number of cases.

How did it return?

SWIGER: Yes. We did have it eradicated and it's been eradicated for almost 50 years from the United States itself and then the other countries below us down to Panama. Unfortunately, in the last couple of years movement of infested animals has allowed it to travel back out of Panama and now back up into Texas.

SIDNER: This worm doesn't just affect -- it's anything that's warm- blooded, right? It could affect pets. It could even potentially affect humans. Is that right?

[07:50:10]

SWIGER: It is correct. And, you know, we do call it the screwworm but it's actually a fly larva because that -- the fly has the ability to find multiple hosts and those can include livestock, wildlife, companion animals -- all types of pets -- and even humans in very rare incidences.

SIDNER: What's the trickledown effect here if -- you know, if this does -- this outbreak grows as wide as it did or even half of that back in the '60s and '70s? What does that mean not only for ranchers but also for people who consume beef?

SWIGER: Yeah. You know, as you mentioned, it was a huge impact back in the '70s and had a huge impact on our farmers that were trying to raise livestock at that time, and we would see the same thing again. We would also see a huge impact to our wildlife industry, which in Texas is a very big, multimillion-dollar industry. And then those animals would be impacted and that would take away from the food sources we have. Plus, it's more work for our farmers to have to take care of their animals and the cost on them directly, as well as everybody else.

SIDNER: Is it any surprise to you that some of the ranchers that we tried to get to talk to us about this didn't even want to be associated with this in any way, shape or form? Why is that? Is there a fear that if somebody thinks that there is a screwworm outbreak on their farm that, you know, nobody wants their beef -- their meat?

SWIGER: There could be some stigma to it. Luckily, most individuals I've spoken with in the state -- and I've had the luxury to talk to over 10,000 or so -- have not been that upset about it and have been wanting to learn and want to get educated. They want to be prepared.

One of the benefits of talking about it is getting help from the USDA so they can get their meat -- what they need to basically fight this fly, and that's the usage of those sterile flies.

SIDNER: Dr. Sonya Swiger, thank you so much for explaining all this. And for people that aren't aware of what happened in the '60s and '70s, it was devastating to so many farmers. I hope this gets under control. I do appreciate your time -- John.

BERMAN: All right. This morning a hit-and-run suspect is behind bars after cameras captured the driver crashing into pedestrians on multiple different occasions. Police say the victims range in age from 15 to 70 years old. No one suffered major injuries. The 45-year-old suspect is accused of stealing the car before slamming into the pedestrians. He led police on a chase through two cities before being arrested on more than a dozen charges, including attempted murder.

In Norfolk, Virginia a woman was rescued after her vehicle fell into a sinkhole. Police arrived to find the SUV partly submerged with the driver trapped inside. The woman was not able to open the door. A police officer did though and was able to get her out. Police believe the sinkhole was caused by a water main break in the area.

In Australia there is a new owner of the title World's Loudest Person.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOSEPH MCGRAIL-BATEUP, GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS' LOUDEST PERSON: My lords, my ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Canberra.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: So the 58-year-old is a professional air conditioner cleaner. Guiness said he yelled the word "now" at 122.4 decibels.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MCGRAIL-BATEUP: Now!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: All right. It may not have sounded like much but for reference that is in the noise range of a chainsaw, a jet taking off, an ambulance siren, and Kate.

BOLDUAN: Not me. I was waiting for it. But the best part is --

BERMAN: Had Sara been there I would have said Aunt Sara.

BOLDUAN: Exactly, exactly. It would -- the best part is his celebration afterward. He goes -- when they tell him he goes "Yes!"

BERMAN: But very quietly. He whispered it.

BOLDUAN: He did. I think it was because his voice was shot.

BERMAN: Oh, the irony.

BOLDUAN: Ah, yes.

Let's move from this to how about some World Cup. Return to what many would expect from Portugal and one of the best players in the world at the World Cup. They disseminated Uzbekistan, in part thanks to Cristiano Ronaldo.

CNN's Amanda Davies has the very latest. Hello. What has happened?

AMANDA DAVIES, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Morning, Kate. I'm all in for a CNN anchor -- loudest anchor competition. I think it would be a great battle.

But, I mean, if we're talking about Cristiano Renaldo, what a message. Write him off at your peril. Cristiano Renaldo hitting back in the way he knows best, scoring twice to help Portugal to a big win over Uzbekistan and declaring I'm back.

The 41-year-old had raised criticism after Portugal's opening game. Questions about whether the five-time Ballon d'Or winner should be dropped by Coach Roberto Montoliu as well. He started and took just six minutes to score. Look at what it meant to him -- his first goal in 11 major tournament games and one that meant that he became the first man to score in six World Cups.

He added another before halftime enroute to a 5-nil win for his side. And to those who were writing him off, he said, "I'm back. I'm back."

[07:55:05]

Well, the England boss Thomas Tuchel called on their fans not to lose belief after a frustrating goalless draw against Ghana in Group L. One of the tournament's top favorites -- the had 79 percent possession but couldn't break down the Black Stars. Nico O'Reilly with the best chance hitting the crossbar. They do stay top of the group but will need to play for all three points against Panama on Saturday.

It is a big day though. Get set for Neymar, Brazil's all-time top scorer. The 34-year-old has been declared fit and 100 percent available for their game against Scotland in Miami. The former Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain superstar was recalled to the squad by Coach Carlo Ancelotti after nearly three years away from the national team. But he's yet to play at this tournament because of a calf injury.

And one thing is for sure. Scotland's fans are up for that game against the five-time world champions after those epic scenes in Boston. Tens of thousands of members of the Tartan Army have now made their way to South Beach.

Captain Andy Robertson was asked the big question of the day in the pre-match press conference.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REPORTER: Do you think that there is a chance Miami could run out of beer?

(Laughter)

ANDY ROBERTSON, SCOTLAND CAPTAIN: These are the questions I like. These are the questions I get bored with. You know, if we manage to beat Brazil -- like, I'm using your words now. If we manage to beat Brazil, then I'm sure maybe a couple of beers will be drunk by the time. I mean, that's for sure.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DAVIES: I mean, if there's one thing Scotland brings it's the party, win, lose, or draw, Kate.

BOLDUAN: Yeah. I mean, they drank all the beer in Boston, so they had to move on to the next city. I'm just loving this. The Scots just taking over America. Just drinking everyone's beer. I love it.

Amanda, it's great to see you. Thank you so much -- Sara. SIDNER: Just so you know, in Miami it would be the patron. I'm just saying it wouldn't be -- the beer will run out but -- for sure. Then they'll move on to something stronger, which Miami has plenty of patron. Just -- I don't know how I know that.

BOLDUAN: We're happy to join in if they need any assistance.

SIDNER: Oh, the things I know. Ah, that's sad. Thank you so much, Kate.

New this morning, international intelligence agencies are warning us all about the potential dangers of artificial intelligence. A group known as the "Five Eyes," which is the U.S., the U.K., Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, say AI models are advancing so quickly they could overwhelm government and business defenses in just months, not years, as previously predicted.

The warning comes after the Trump administration ordered AI giant Anthropic to cut off foreign nationals' access to its most sophisticated AI models.

CNN tech reporter Clare Duffy joining me now. This is a warning from all of these different intelligence agencies and yet, AI is zooming along.

CLARE DUFFY, CNN TECH REPORTER: Yes, Sara. This is a really stark warning. They're essentially saying here that it is not if, but when AI models become capable enough to launch these really damaging cybersecurity attacks that we are just not ready for right now.

And we have been hearing escalating warnings of this type. You had Anthropic's co-founder just a few weeks ago saying that the world needed to agree on a way to pause AI development if it became too risky.

Then you have the U.S. government, as you mentioned, directing Anthropic to cut off access to its most advance models to foreign nationals. The company ended up pausing access to those models entirely.

But this is, of course, not just a one company problem. You have many big companies that are on the frontier here not just in the U.S. but around the world. And that is why these agencies are warning of this risk.

In the statement they said, "Frontier AI models are anticipated to exceed current industry expectations, fundamentally transforming both offensive and defensive cyber capabilities." They said the timeline is not years, but months.

And the concern here too is that this technology has now become so widely available that you could have relatively unsophisticated actors who are able to put out these really damaging attacks on folks like small and medium-sized businesses who are potentially the most at risk here. Now, this was not just a warning, but they called it a call to action.

They want government and business leaders to be doing more in these coming months to prepare for this risk to understand and monitor AI evolutions. To adopt layered cybersecurity practices -- so upgrading old systems, patching faulty software, limiting who has access to their security systems.

And then they really urge people to use AI for cybersecurity, not just efficiency like we've heard lots of businesses talking about but really using AI to detect vulnerabilities and patch those before this technology advances to this place where it could be really damaging.

SIDNER: That's a really good idea for anybody. For a consumer and for regular folks like us. Because if this is going to affect us too, all of those sort of two-factor authentications and all those things you would use with your bank -- who knows what AI can do with those.

I do want to ask you who is going to force them to slow down. I mean, I get it. Anthropic did this and said OK, we're going to -- we're going to slow down. But there's a lot of different companies out there and there are different countries working on this as well.