Return to Transcripts main page

CNN News Central

Officials Confident Buckling NYC High-rise Stabilized; Oil Prices Spike, Dow Slides After Trump Says Iran Ceasefire is Over; U.S. Re-imposes Sanctions on Iranian Oil After Series of Strikes; Prosecutors Resume Presenting Evidence in Tyler Robinson Case; Death Toll From Venezuela Earthquakes Rises to at Least 3,685; Judge Dismisses Trump Media's $3.8 Billion Defamation Suit Against Washington Post; Egypt Questions World Cup Calls. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired July 08, 2026 - 13:30   ET

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

[13:30:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR ZOHRAN MAMDANI, NEW YORK CITY: I do continue to consider the conversion of office space into residential space as part of our answer to the housing crisis. I also consider that we have to do so safely and in a way that is fully accountable. And so, as soon as we answer the emergency questions around safety in this moment, we are going to be conducting a full investigation as to how we got to this point because this is not a necessary consequence of an office to residential conversion. This however is clearly a breakdown in that process.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Now Brianna, those smaller beams that are being used right now, they will eventually be replaced by much larger beams. They are on their way to this site right now. They have to be ordered. They have to be transported in They do expect to arrive this afternoon where they will be installed to continue the shoring up process. The city also announcing in the last few minutes that they have required this developer to hire an independent engineer that will have to conduct a forensic Investigation to try and figure out exactly what happened here, what led to the buckling of those weight-bearing columns.

And certainly, the big question here is how long -- how soon and if they can restart this building project again? So many housing units on the line and of course, the area around here in Manhattan continuing to be blocked off to pedestrians and some traffic the closer you get to the building. But it is Manhattan, so there is still a lot of activity and some businesses that have slowly started to open up. Brianna?

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": All right. Gloria, thank you so much. We'll continue to watch that story.

President Trump says the ceasefire with Iran, as he sees it, is over. CNN is in Tehran as traffic in the Strait of Hormuz comes to a standstill.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:35:59]

KEILAR: Back to our Breaking News, the breakdown of the U.S. ceasefire with Iran. Iranian politicians are making their own threats. They're responding to President Trump, saying the U.S. military may attack Iran's electric and desalinization plants, along with the key oil hub, Kharg Island.

A government spokesman posting online, quote, "Come, we are waiting for you and we promise that not a single American soldier will return alive." But what are everyday Iranians thinking? Our Fred Pleitgen is on the ground in Tehran and got some answers. And a note, CNN operates in Iran only with the permission of the government, but maintains full editorial control of its reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The Iranians are lashing out at President Trump after the U.S. president said he believes that the memorandum of understanding between Iran and the United States that, of course, guarantees a ceasefire between the two countries is, as he put it, over.

When an Iranian official that I spoke to said that he believed that President Trump's words as he announced all this were "disgusting." Other Iranian officials also ripping into the United States and into President Trump, especially after those overnight U.S. airstrikes and, of course, the U.S. also revoking those sanctions waivers for the export of Iranian oil.

In fact, the chief negotiator for the Iranians with the United States said that the time, as he put it, of bullying and extortion by the United States is over. As you can imagine, a lot of folks here on the streets in Tehran speaking about the events that have been unfolding over the past hours. Here's what they told us.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): I'm criticizing the authorities of my own country. When they were supposed to give the right response to those people overseas, they didn't do so. Negotiations were against the will of the nation. They will have wasted all the efforts of our armed forces.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): For the last 47 years, we have seen this type of threat so many times. And on the basis of these threats, day by day, we are getting stronger and more experienced.

PLEITGEN: It was a very kinetic night in the Persian Gulf area, with the U.S. accusing Iran of targeting several ships looking to transit the Strait of Hormuz, the U.S. then hitting several Iranian targets, they say around 80, around the Strait of Hormuz area.

For instance, in the port town of Bandar Abbas, the Iranians themselves then saying that they hit back at U.S. military assets in this region themselves, striking 85 targets, that according to Iranian officials. But one of the other things that makes all of this even more difficult is that, right now, Iran is still very much in a period of mourning as the funeral commemorations for the late Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, are still going on. In fact, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's body is set to be laid to rest in one of the holiest cities of Shia Islam in Mashhad in eastern Iran on Thursday.

And so therefore, the Iranians are saying this standoff at this point in time for them makes everything even more egregious.

Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Tehran.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KEILAR: Thanks to Fred for that report from Iran. The war is having an immediate impact on oil prices, one that we could all see at gas stations soon. Gasoline futures rose six percent today, which is the biggest one-day percent jump in three months.

So let's turn now to oil analyst Rory Johnston. He's the Founder of Commodity Context. Rory, thanks for being with us.

How are the markets responding to this news that the ceasefire may be over, that the Strait is effectively closed again? How does it compare to how they responded to other things in the past?

RORY JOHNSTON, OIL ANALYST: Yeah, so as you noted, prices are popping this morning. We're up almost $10 a barrel over the past week. And I think the important thing to note here is that we had seen a fairly aggressive resumption of oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz, particularly ships exiting, the ones that had been long stranded in the Gulf for over four months.

You were seeing a surge of supply to global markets. The challenge for Iran is that a lot of that flow was going through the southern, kind of what they call the Omani route and not inside Iran's so-called toll booth route to the northern edge of the Strait of Hormuz.

[13:40:00]

So it's been trying to kind of force ships to take this northern route and the only tool in its toolbox is effectively drones and missiles. And this is what obviously the United States is retaliating against. But the MOU is fundamentally unbalanced and unstable because both parties left that agreement with Iran believing that it had go forward control over the Strait and traffic through it, whereas the United States believe that we're going back to at least something more akin to the status quo and the markets were positioned for this to be over.

So what you're seeing is the dead stop of flow through Hormuz running up against a market that was positioned for this all to be over.

KEILAR: Yeah, they certainly would like for it all to be over. It's very clear that that is not coming quite soon. Trump said that he may re-impose the U.S. naval blockade on Iran but that it's, you know, it's just on Iran, everyone else will be free to move through the Strait. Is that true though? Is that how the markets see it?

JOHNSTON: No, not really because as soon as the United States re- imposes its blockade on Iranian traffic, Iran is going to fully attempt to clamp down on the Strait itself, you know, all other traffic and reclose the Strait. One thing that we've seen through this crisis is that Iran has proven very capable of closing the Strait even if it has not been as capable at trying to stick handle and manage flow through the Strait upon resumption.

But that is essentially what we're going to see now and you will likely see the United States continue the so-called, you know, Project Freedom attempts to try and ferry across dark transiting ships with their transponders off, to try and keep flow moving. But even at the peak of the pre-MOU flow, that was only around five million barrels a day relative to a pre-war flow of 20. We got up to upwards of 15 or 20 million barrels a day with that surge of exits.

But we're, you know, if this does actually go back to a blockade and a fuller resumption of warfare in the Middle East, we're going to see those flows crater again very soon.

KEILAR: Rory, how has the insurance market for ships that are moving through the Strait of Hormuz, how has that changed since the beginning of the war? What are companies paying now?

JOHNSTON: Yeah, so at the beginning of the war, you would have seen somewhere like 25 basis points, about 0.25 percent of a ship's value in insurance costs or war risk premiums. Those hit a high of more than five percent. So, you know, in multiple folds of -- you know, multiple -- you know, multiplications of where we were before, those had settled down a little bit. But I think at this stage, you're going to see those rise again.

The important thing here, though, is that while I think insurance was focused on as one of the key considerations in the early war, the profits to be made by transiting the Strait do largely cover those higher insurance costs. And the bigger concern is ship owners who worry about losing the functional use of their ship, given that shipping rates remain very, very high and they want to be around and able to capture whatever profits there are on the next side of this when this ends up ending.

KEILAR: Yeah, it's very interesting. Rory Johnston, thank you so much for being with us.

And next, prosecutors are about to present more evidence against the man that they say killed Charlie Kirk.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:47:57]

KEILAR: Testimony will soon resume in the preliminary hearing for Tyler Robinson, who is the man accused of killing conservative activist, Charlie Kirk. Prosecutors are expected to present new evidence, hoping to take this case to trial, and it could include a videotaped statement from Robinson's former roommate, a witness described as Robinson's romantic partner, who could be a key figure in this case.

Let's get more on today's proceedings from CNN's Jean Casarez. She's been watching this. Jean, what do we know about this evidence that is yet to be presented?

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is important evidence and there's a bit that prosecutors have to get in before this preliminary hearing concludes. There are seven counts in the charging document, along with aggravated murder, many more, and the two you're talking about would be tampering with a witness.

It counts five and six. And what the prosecutor is saying is that Tyler Robinson tried to tamper with a potential witness, his roommate, by saying, number one, I want you to destroy any texts that we have that have to do with this. And number two, if law enforcement comes and tries to talk to you, don't say anything. Don't tell them anything that we've talked about. And so those are the two counts.

Now, as far as this recorded statement, that's all we know at this point, that there was a recorded statement. We heard that in a hearing. It's important for prosecutors to get this in. Let me just give you sort of a summary of what is in the charging document of what we might hear in that statement. First of all, on September 10th, which was the day of the shooting, according to the information, the charging document, Tyler Robinson texted his roommate and said, "Hey, I want you to look under my keyboard."

So the roommate, according to the information, looks under the keyboard and there's a note. And it says, I had the opportunity to take out Charlie Kirk and I'm going to take it. So the roommate then replies in text to Tyler Robinson saying, "You're joking, right?" And then Tyler Robinson says that he's stuck in Orem for a while, but it won't be long before he can come home, but he's got to get his rifle.

[13:50:00]

He's got to grab that rifle. And he said, this is Tyler Robinson, that he had hoped to keep it a secret until he died of old age. The roommate responds, "You weren't the one who did it, right?" According to the information, Tyler Robinson responds in text, "I am. I'm sorry."

Roommate says, "Why did you do this?" Tyler Robinson, according to the information, says "I had enough of this hatred. Some hate cannot be negotiated on." And then he focuses back on his rifle, that he hopes he can grab the rifle, got to get the rifle.

"How long have you been planning this?" the roommate asks. He says, "Oh, about a week." And he says again about the rifle, I got to get it because my old man's going to be upset because it's grandpa's rifle. And he says the only thing I left was the rifle wrapped in the towel. And I have to tell you that the DNA came in yesterday on the towel. And it's 1.7 octillion times more likely if the roommate and Robinson are contributors to the towel than if the roommate had an unaffiliated person as a contributor.

So we've got to get more DNA. The rifle, we don't have that yet. But the towel and the screwdriver that was found on the roof where the shooting took place both came back 1.1 octillion and 30 quintillion times that it would be the roommate and Tyler Robinson's DNA.

KEILAR: Octillion and quintillion, I mean, that is going to be very decisive in this.

CASAREZ: And the defense is fighting that, saying that the DNA can be incorrect. It can be subjective in nature. Different tests give different results and can be operator error.

KEILAR: That will be a tough argument to make with those kind of numbers. Jean Casarez, thank you so much. Really appreciate it.

CASAREZ: Thank you.

KEILAR: Now to some of the other headlines that we're watching this hour. Charges have been dropped against a man who drove his car off a northern California cliff with his family inside. A judge dismissed attempted murder charges against Dharmesh Patel after he completed a two-year mental health diversion program as required by law.

The 45-year-old radiologist was accused of trying to kill his family. His wife and two young children survived the 2023 crash. Patel received mental health treatment instead of standing trial after defense attorneys argued he suffered from depression and hallucinations.

Also, Venezuelan officials say last month's devastating earthquakes have now killed nearly 3,700 people. About 17,000 others are injured, while even more people have lost their homes or been displaced. Many of the dead, and you see some of them buried here, grave after grave, many of them still have not been identified, which is prompting one cemetery to dig 150 new burial plots.

Authorities say each unidentified victim receives an individual grave marked with a code, potentially making it easier for families to find their loved ones in the future.

And Trump Media's multi-billion dollar defamation lawsuit has just been dismissed. A federal judge in Florida throwing out the case against The Washington Post, saying that Trump Media failed to present evidence that The Post published defamatory statements with actual malice. At issue was a 2023 story that a trust linked to a porn- friendly bank could gain a stake in Truth Social. The Post tells CNN they are pleased with the court victory.

A spokesperson for Trump Media has not responded to a request for comment, but they told The Post they are evaluating whether to appeal the ruling.

And next, Egypt questions Argentina's miracle comeback. We have the latest, right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:58:16]

KEILAR: Egypt is firing off multiple accusations following its controversial World Cup loss to Argentina. In a post-match news conference, Egypt's head coach blamed its defeat on several refereeing decisions, saying the team has been treated unfairly and that they "suffered injustice."

CNN's Don Riddell is with us now. Don, tell us about this. What exactly is Egypt questioning here?

DON RIDDELL, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR & CORRESPONDENT: Well, a number of things. I mean, first of all, it was an absolutely extraordinary match. It was a thrilling end and many people are just so thrilled that Lionel Messi played a huge role in it.

But the Egyptians are absolutely furious. And you're right, their coach and a number of their players definitely had some things to say after the game. So, I mean, just to quickly recap, Egypt had a 2-0 lead in this game and they blew it in the 79th minute.

Now, this is one of the key plays because this would have been Egypt's second goal. But there was a foul at the other end of the field in the buildup to that. And it was a foul, as you can see a player stepping on the other foot.

Now, the referee had no issue with it at the time, but the video referee called for a replay. And that's why the goal was overturned. And then what you're seeing now allowed the Egyptian team to point to some inconsistencies because late in the game, when it was 2-2, they felt as though they might have had two penalty calls.

The ref waved them away and the video referee did not get involved on that occasion. So they're basically saying, well, you can go to the video referee when you want to rule out something good for us and when it might be something good for us, you're not prepared to look at it. So that's the inconsistency.

Egypt, you know, beyond all of that, will be concerned with perhaps what Gianni Infantino, the FIFA President, said to a reporter after the game. He said, tonight I suffered with Argentina, but I'm neutral, he added --