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Vance In Switzerland Leading U.S. Delegation In Talks With Iran; Russia Reeling After Ukraine Launches Attacks On Refinery; Tropical Storm Remnants Fuel Flooding, Tornadoes On Gulf Coast. Aired 3-4p ET

Aired June 21, 2026 - 15:00   ET

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

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: John Locke -- John Jacob Astor I came over as a 20- year-old from Germany, son of a butcher and that gave him the ability to go and do the fur trading because animals being skinned and sold probably didn't smell that great, but he was kind of used to that from working in the butcher shop.

He must have been quite a gentleman to go up the Hudson River and deal with Native Americans, so it was probably a fairly hostile environment at times.

He made his first quarter million fur trading and maybe just saw a great land of opportunity which America has always been.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DANNY FREEMAN, CNN HOST: Absolutely fascinating. Watch two brand new episodes of "This Land" tonight at 9:00 P.M. Eastern, and the next day on the CNN app.

[15:00:49]

DANNY FREEMAN, CNN HOST: Hello and welcome. Thank you so much for joining us today. I am Danny Freeman, sitting in for Fredricka Whitfield.

And we begin with breaking news, critical talks between the U.S. and Iran that began today have stalled, according to an Iranian source, after President Trump appeared to threaten the Iranian delegates. The source added that backchannel efforts are being made, though, to get everyone back to the negotiating table.

We have full coverage of these major developments. Nic Robertson is in Switzerland and Julia Benbrook is here with us at The White House, but Nic, let's start with you.

Tell us, what are you learning about what went down today?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Vice President J.D. Vance came in with a real message of diplomacy about resetting potentially peace across all the Middle East and saying it was on a mission from President Trump to reach out to the Iranian people through diplomatic means and hoping that their leadership would want to make this Memorandum of Understanding work. That seemed to be a very positive opening message. There was just the Iranians weren't in the room when he gave it, but the Qataris and the Pakistanis, who the mediators were there. Then the talks got underway. The cameras weren't in the room.

And right around that time, that's when President Trump threatened, if you will, the Iranian negotiators here, that they wouldn't make it back to Tehran if they didn't open the Strait of Hormuz. Of course, the Iranians came in here wanting to get a ceasefire in Lebanon, but to try to make sure that they could do that, they closed the Strait of Hormuz. So there is high tension, high stakes in those talks.

But President Trump's threats to do that, and he told them to rein in their proxy Hezbollah in Lebanon as well, otherwise, he would restart attacks, really seems to have sort of put the talks on ice at the moment. The Iranians are not engaged in talking right now. The head of their team, Mohammad Ghalibaf, the Speaker of their Parliament, has said on

Twitter that the United States should be careful about its words because Iran will have a response.

This is not the diplomatic language that J.D. Vance was setting out would be what would move these talks along, and he wanted them to move along on the Strait of Hormuz. He wanted the talks to move along on the nuclear issues, the highly enriched uranium, the future enrichment or not, that Iran is going to commit to and under what terms? All of that is on hold.

And right now, we don't know if the talks will just stall out completely or will Iran be convinced by the Pakistanis and the Qataris who are used to doing this kind of behind-the-scenes diplomacy and used to, if you will, to use a phrase, talking the Iranians down off a ledge of anger over what they see President Trump saying, because this isn't the first time it has happened.

FREEMAN: Yes, so we are still waiting and seeing on a not ideal day one. Nic Robertson in Switzerland, thank you so much. We will check back in with you for updates later on.

But for more on this, let's bring in Julia Benbrook at The White House. Tell us, are you hearing anything from the administration about this reporting of the talks stalling?

JULIA BENBROOK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: President Donald Trump, he is going to be coming back to The White House soon. He has been at Camp David for most of the weekend, so we may have an opportunity to hear him speak with reporters. We will keep an eye out there.

But his team, led by Vice President J.D. Vance, Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, and his son-in-law, Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, they are there on the ground in Switzerland and Vance did speak with reporters. He said that conversations so far had been going well, but he also looked to set expectations, saying that he does not think that every disagreement is going to be solved immediately here.

He is expected to be on the ground for these talks for a day or two, and then the expectation, if things do get back going, would be that the technical teams would stick around and work through some of the details.

And so a reminder that this Memorandum of Understanding that came together over the past week, that has been signed, it really is a starting point here because it opened a 60-day time period for negotiations to work out some of the details on some of the big issues, like Iran's nuclear program and the fate of its stockpile of highly enriched uranium.

[15:05:10]

But I want to play for you some of Vance's comments. He laid out what he thinks today will look like. Now, this was before the news that talks had stalled.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

J.D. VANCE (R), VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: What today really represents is the beginning of a technical negotiation. That's not going to solve every disagreement, but it is going to allow us to sit together as teams for the first time, really in history, to figure out what matters most to the respective parties, to settle those issues, to solve those issues and get to a better tomorrow.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BENBROOK: Now, according to sources familiar with the negotiations, some of those areas of focus today include Iran's nuclear program, the conflict in Lebanon, as well as the Strait of Hormuz and that is one area where Trump focused in today. He gave a roughly 20-minute phone interview to Fox News, and in it, he appeared to threaten the Iranian delegation.

I want to pull this up to give you his words, exactly as they have been reported by Fox. He said, "You close it," referring to the Strait of Hormuz there, "... and you won't have a country," adding, "... you won't even make it back to your effing country."

And Iran's chief negotiator appeared to push back against any sort of a threat there, calling those comments desperate and saying that Iran's military would be ready to act if there was a need -- Danny.

FREEMAN: All right, Julia Benbrook at The White House with the latest, thank you so much for that update.

All right, we are following new developments from a tragic incident in Texas where a Tesla driver crashed into a home Friday night, killing a 76-year-old woman inside. Officials say the driver told officers he was operating the vehicle with an Automated Driving Assistance System at the time of the crash, and neighbor's security footage obtained by CNN appears to show the vehicle traveling at a high speed, you can see right there before it drives out of frame. A crashing sound is heard seconds later.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS) FREEMAN: There you go. You hear it right there.

Now, officials say the driver showed no signs of intoxication and was cooperative during the investigation. CNN has reached out to Tesla for comment.

Still ahead, the official start of summer is bringing some severe storm warnings. Our weather team though is tracking those threats and flooding in the Gulf.

Plus, Democrats in Pennsylvania are focused on taking back the House. The key district there zeroing in on leading up to November.

And later on, today is a major tournament day with a World Cup quadruple header. Don't miss it. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:12:17]

FREEMAN: The high-stakes midterm elections are less than six months away, and CNN's John King traveled to battleground Pennsylvania to talk with voters in key congressional districts with races that could decide which party controls the House this November. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Welcome to Pennsylvania, and a journey through a critical slice of the midterm map.

KING (on camera): Right here in Eastern Pennsylvania, three districts that run 105 miles from just outside of Philadelphia up to the New York state border. If this stretch here flips from red to blue on election night, then the Democrats are taking the House, without a doubt.

KING (voice over): Stop one, Bucks County. Suburban, upscale, moderate. A short commuter train hop to Philly.

KING (on camera): Luckily, I read my "Gardening for Dummies" book last night.

MICHAEL PESCE, PENNSYLVANIA VOTER: Quick and easy, see?

KING (voice over): Michael Pesce likes his Republican congressman, yet he is almost certain to vote for his Democratic challenger.

PESCE: Big picture, Trump is the problem that I see. The President is not doing what I think a president should be doing. And that's disturbing to me. One more person in the Congress that is going to stand up to Trump, that's going to get my vote.

KING (voice over): Pennsylvania-1 is represented by Brian Fitzpatrick. He's in his fifth term, first elected in 2016. Fitzpatrick won with 56 percent in 2024, and he is one of just three House Republicans from districts won by Vice President Harris.

The first is Pennsylvania's most affluent district. The median annual income, $114,000.00 a year, and the median home value, $440,000.00.

Pesce was a Reagan Republican when we met three years ago. A registered Democrat now, because he won't be in Trump's party. A Coast Guard veteran, angry at the price of a war he says makes no sense.

PESCE: I fill up my tank once a week. I was filling it up for $35.00, now it's $60.00 to fill up my tank.

KING: Cold beer, yes, but the news and politics off limits at Boo's Brewing.

KAREN GIORDANO, PENNSYLVANIA VOTER: This is a place to escape. This is a place where people want to come and get away from all of that.

KING (voice over): Business is pretty good, but owner Karen Giordano says the math is harder of late.

GIORDANO: We're watching the cost of everything go up, of the propane that we need to cook for the meat.

KING (voice over): Giordano is not a Fitzpatrick fan and would love big change in Washington. But she rolls her eyes at talk this is the year the first district will flip blue.

GIORDANO: We thought that in the last cycle, right, when Trump was in, and that didn't happen. So I don't see it happening this time either.

[15:15:03]

KING (voice over): North now, the Lehigh Valley.

Bob Brooks is the Democrat running for Congress here. A firefighter looking to dent Trump's blue collar appeal.

GERARD BABB, PENNSYLVANIA VOTER: Not even five years old yet, you can write your name.

KING (voice over): Gerard Babb is listening. Babb works the assembly line at Mack Trucks, voted Trump three times.

KING: One of the arguments you're going to hear between now and November is elect a Democrat so the Democrats can take the House and stop Trump.

BABB: Yes.

KING: That would be stop the President you voted for.

BABB: Yes.

KING: Does that argument hold any sway with you? BABB: As of right now, President Trump is kind of -- he's acting like a regular old politician to me, and no --

KING: So do you think it would be a good idea then to have some checks on him from the Democrats?

BABB: Yes, no love lost, in my opinion.

KING (voice over): The congressman in Pennsylvania 7 is Ryan Mackenzie. He won his first term in 2024 with just a 4,000 vote margin. President Trump won the 7th by 13,000 votes. The 7th is more blue collar. The median income, $82,000.00 a year. The median home value, about $300,000.00.

Hispanic voters make up about a quarter of the electorate. It's the highest Latino percentage of Pennsylvania's 17 congressional seats.

(VICTOR MARTINEZ, RADIO HOST speaking in foreign language.)

MARTINEZ: Good morning.

KING (voice over): Allentown's "La Mega" morning show is feisty. And the host, Victor Martinez, is a Democrat. So consider the source.

(UNIDENTIFIED MALE speaking in foreign language.)

MARTINEZ: This is interesting. He voted for Trump. And the one thing that bothers him the most is the corruption.

KING (voice over): Still, calls to his daily political segment "Tell Martinez" big change is coming.

MARTINEZ: Everybody thought, all right, well, Biden is gone. Things are going to change. He promised he was going to fix it. Let's see. Here we are a year later and things are actually worse. And so, I think that's why people are pissed off.

KING (voice over): Two down, one to go.

KING: We started in Pennsylvania 1. We're in Pennsylvania 7. We're about to cross into Pennsylvania 8. Democrats absolutely have to get 7 and 8, or else they're not having a good night.

KING (voice over): The 8th is represented by Republican Rob Bresnahan. He's also a freshman, first elected in 2024 with 51 percent, a 6,000 vote margin. President Trump won the 8th with 54 percent, a 33,000 vote edge.

The 8th includes reliably Democratic Scranton, but then a giant swath of Republican-leaning small towns and rural areas. Its median annual income, just shy of $70,000.00. The median home value, $213,000.00.

Scranton is the birthplace of Joe Biden, and the city's mayor, Paige Cognetti, is the Democratic candidate for Congress. Biden and Democrats less popular as you move out to the rural areas.

Honesdale is the Wayne County seat, conservative. Trump won 58 percent here in 2024.

TOM FASSHAUER, PENNSYLVANIA VOTER: I don't know what's going on.

KING (voice over): Tom Fasshauer's father started this shop in 1948. Congressman Bresnahan rented his wedding tux here.

FASSHAUER: Four, five, 30, and 50.

KING (voice over): Fasshauer is a big fan.

FASSHAUER: I like him. I think he's doing a great job.

KING: Why?

FASSHAUER: We had an issue in town here a year or so ago where there was a tremendous amount of rain runoff that kind of went in the wrong place and caused a lot of damage. He was here, I think, the next day, physically helping to repair that damage. I think he cares about the people in this district.

TANNIS KOWALCHUK, PENNSYLVANIA VOTER: All right, hop in, John. All right, here we go.

KING (voice over): Damascus is as far north as you can go in Pennsylvania. That's New York on the north side of the river. The Willow Wisp Farm is 25 acres. It's mostly vegetables, but two strips set aside for flowers Tannis Kowalchuk crafts into bouquets for farmers markets.

KOWALCHUK: You want to just clip at the bottom.

KING (voice over): Of late, a $0.25 surcharge on every bouquet and every vegetable bunch to cover rising costs. To Kowalchuk, a Democratic House just step one in closing the Trump era.

KOWALCHUK: A country old or new needs a stable leader and we've lost that. Something's happened. He's stopped -- he's stopped being anything like a leader.

KING (voice-over): She is vastly outnumbered here. Trump won 68 percent of the vote in Damascus. Bresnahan won 67 percent.

KING: And what do you do? What kind of performances?

KOWALCHUK: Oh, plays that are --

KING (voice over): But this self-styled performer sees evidence a plot twist is brewing.

Kowalchuk built this performance space on the farm and also started a resistance choir for locals unhappy with Trump.

KOWALCHUK: Thirty people, 40 people coming to this choir in a Republican's town. It's interesting, you know.

KING (voice over): A step, she hopes, in a different direction. KOWALCHUK: They are hungry to say something and do something about it. They want change.

KING (voice over): One hundred and five miles as the bird flies from where we began. Three key pieces of the midterm puzzle.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[15:20:07]

FREEMAN: John King, thank you for that reporting.

All right, joining me now to talk more about the upcoming Pennsylvania midterms is Charles McElwee. He is the founding editor of RealClearPennsylvania.

Charles, always great to see you. Thank you so much for breaking all this down.

John King just talked about three districts in Eastern Pennsylvania, one, seven and eight. You know them well. They are currently held by Republicans. Let's start here.

Do you think it is actually possible that Democrats can flip all of those seats come November?

CHARLES MCELWEE FOUNDING EDITOR OF REALCLEARPENNSYLVANIA: It would be an uphill battle, Danny, because each district has its own composition, unique dynamics in play, and certainly with the first congressional district, Bucks County, that's really its own thing.

You have voters there who identify more with New Jersey than their own state, Pennsylvania, and Brian Fitzpatrick, the incumbent, he is really an Independent-minded member of Congress who really reflects his own constituency and has taken positions that align with his own voters, whether its foreign policy or economics.

The story is different in buzzing Northeastern Pennsylvania or the Lehigh Valley, though, because these are two regions that have experienced dramatic demographic change just since Trump narrowly won Pennsylvania back in 2016.

All right, I want to get to those two northeastern districts in a moment, but just to focus on PA-1 for a second, again, Bucks County, a county that flipped to President Trump in the presidential election. And as you noted, Brian Fitzpatrick, a moderate Republican, he is someone who has held off many Democratic attempts at taking that seat.

If Fitzpatrick falls, is that the signal that this is a blue wave year, do you think?

MCELWEE: Oh, it would signal really a situation reminiscent of 2006 when his late brother, Mike Fitzpatrick, lost that race to Patrick Murphy, a democrat who was the first veteran from the Iraq War to represent Congress back that year when he prevailed. So if Fitzpatrick went down, that would foretell a serious problem for the Republican Party and really, with Bucks County itself it is three-tiered. You have Upper Bucks, which is really an extension of the Lehigh Valley; Central Bucks, where you have a lot of those well-to-do suburbanites who are either Independent minded or are shifting Democrat.

But his base for victory would really be Lower Bucks, which was a historically blue collar Democratic area, really similar to other dynamics you see across Pennsylvania, whether it is in the West or Northeast. But those voters have shifted R in recent cycles and that would really be his red wall in a year like this one.

FREEMAN: So, Charles, let's talk about the demographic changes that you're talking about with Northeastern Pennsylvania, because when we are talking about this, we are talking about predominantly the Latino vote.

You wrote the canary in the coal mine piece back in 2024, that Latinos really would be decisive in the presidential race, specifically in that region of Pennsylvania. It came true. I guess my question for you, though, from your perspective, are Republicans holding on to that Latino support enough for it to make a difference in the midterms?

MCELWEE: I think this is the very demographic that will be a challenge for the Republican Party in Pennsylvania this year, because it is the ultimate swing vote in Pennsylvania.

Most cities east of the Susquehanna River in the past 20 to 30 years have become Latino majority or plurality and in the case of places like Hazleton or Allentown, you have Latino voters that are really reminiscent of, let's say, the Reagan Democrats back in the 90s, 80s and 90s into the 2000, let's say, second and third generation Italian, Eastern European Americans who started to shift toward the GOP.

But we are still open to the Democratic Party in the 90s, Clinton being the case. Fast forward, the Trump Democrats in Pennsylvania this cycle are those Latino voters who went for him in 2024, but they are really disillusioned with Trump over the economy, over foreign policy, and really the cost of living in places like Hazleton and Allentown and that's where it remains to be seen, will they show up to vote or will they vote Democratic?

FREEMAN: Yes, and again, I was in Allentown during the primary and just seeing those gas prices as high as they were, I mean, that's something that is going to impact a lot of those voters. You have to imagine.

Last thing, Charles, of course, the other thing that's happening this year in Pennsylvania, Democratic Governor Josh Shapiro, running for reelection after winning big in 2022. Everyone seems to say because of polling that he is favored to win in the fall. I am curious, though, if Democrats have a bad night in the congressional side and pick up, say, only one of these competitive congressional districts, Shapiro has really put his name on a lot of those races.

Do you think if they only pick up, say, one seat, will that hurt Shapiro's chances at a potential 2028 run?

[15:25:10]

MCELWEE: It could prove problematic because the challenge for Shapiro is engaging younger voters, so his base is really those well-to-do suburbanites in a state that is ever more suburban and he also has managed to do well among working class voters that he has engaged in places like Northeastern Pennsylvania.

But his approach is very reminiscent of a 2000s-like politician, and that bodes well for, let's say, the suburban boomer, but it may prove grating to the younger Zoomer, who they are just starting out professionally and they are living in places like suburban Harrisburg.

So it could prove a problem for him, especially with issues like data centers, which is really a top concern in Pennsylvania among voters of both parties. But as it stands, RealClearPolitics polling average has Shapiro at 21.5 points advantage over Stacy Garrity. For perspective, Danny, back in mid-summer 2022, Shapiro had a three-and-a-half point advantage over Mastriano, who went on to have the worst performance as a gubernatorial candidate since the 1940s.

FREEMAN: All right, certainly a race to keep an eye on, especially in the context of those congressional races as well.

Charles McElwee, great to see you, as always. Thank you so much for making some time on this Sunday. Appreciate you.

MCELWEE: Thanks, Danny.

FREEMAN: All right, still ahead, no fuel and no weapons. How Ukraine's new drone strategy, though, is impacting Russia's supply lines in their ongoing war. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:31:02]

FREEMAN: Ukraine drastically escalated its strikes on Russia last week, launching its largest attack of the war against its powerful neighbor. Dramatic video shows Ukrainian drones hitting oil facilities just a few miles away from the heart of Moscow. Look at that video right there.

The attack came as Ukraine's President Zelenskyy held talks with leaders including President Trump, at the G7 Summit in France just a few days ago.

With us now is Jill Dougherty. She is a CNN contributor and former CNN Moscow Bureau Chief, an affiliated scholar at Georgetown University, also written a great book about her time covering Vladimir Putin and Russia.

Jill, good to see you on this Sunday. Those videos were stunning.

JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN RUSSIAN AFFAIRS CONTRIBUTOR: Thank you.

FREEMAN: Can you tell us why this particular attack on the refinery was so significant for really, both Russia and Ukraine?

DOUGHERTY: Well, you know, it has been hit twice so far. So this is the third hit that we know of. And I think, you know, the video really, as you were saying, is really striking and even though the Russian media official, you know, government controlled media tried to shut that down, they had like a minute report, but it is all over social media.

And to see this in Moscow, I think this is the important thing. You know, Moscow is the most protected city in the entire Russia and to have it hit and then to see these billows of smoke that we are looking at right now was really, I would say, you know, a message, obviously, to Russians that the war has come to them and that's probably exactly what the Ukrainians wanted to do.

FREEMAN: Well, let's talk a little bit more about that. I mean, when you think about what Ukraine was trying to achieve with this particular attack, was it really a message that we can get this close to Moscow in the heart of power in Russia, or was it actually a strategic attack on that oil refinery?

DOUGHERTY: Well, you know, if you go back like about a year, maybe a little bit less, Ukraine has been hitting oil infrastructure. The production infrastructure, and a lot of that idea was to control or limit Russia's ability to produce oil, to get it for export, et cetera.

But now, what they are doing is they are going after and this one in Moscow was exactly that, facilities, a refinery that is meant to refine petroleum like gasoline, as Americans would call it, petrol, that average Russians use. And that, I think, is a significance.

So, initially, yes, there is obviously the message of cutting back on exports, but her I think it is more a message to the Russians that the Ukrainians can hit Moscow, the capital and many other cities and that is a pretty, you know, potent message from the Ukrainians.

FREEMAN: Yes, and not just hit them, but hit them in a really stunning way. Again, to the point of that video.

Jill, another question here. We saw Zelenskyy meet with President Trump at the G7 the other day. Is he making any progress with repairing this at times frosty relationship with President Trump?

DOUGHERTY: Well, it would appear, you know, if you look at what the G7 came up with, they came up with more financial aid for Ukraine and they also are strengthening sanctions and that is important, and the United States went along with that.

So I think you could say that is some progress. No question. Who knows about the personal relationship. That's very hard to gauge. I think Zelenskyy has a better understanding of how to deal with President Trump.

And so, you know, you would think that this is getting better, but that doesn't mean that we are getting closer to the end of the war or to some type of ceasefire and that's the sad part about it.

FREEMAN: Yes, Zelenskyy really has seen all types of relationships with President Trump over several years now.

Jill Dougherty, thank you so much for, as always, sharing your expertise after a potentially consequential week in the war with Russia and Ukraine. Appreciate it.

[15:35:05]

All right, and still ahead, a close call between two planes at a busy airport. We are going to tell you what we are learning about the FAA investigation after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FREEMAN: You're taking a look at live pictures right here. President Donald Trump just landing back at Joint Base Andrew after spending time at Camp David. You see the President right there waving.

Let's see if he goes directly into The Beast. Yes. There he goes.

We're going to monitor this in case President Trump takes any questions from the press. Until then, we will hold off on that for now.

All right, moving on along. It has been a long week of deadly flash flooding and tornadoes for the Southeast and for parts of the Gulf Coast. More, though, is still to come.

Remnants of Tropical Storm Arthur brought a months' worth of rain in a matter of days, killing at least three people in Texas and Mississippi and two additional people in Georgia. The system also churned up tornadoes in Southeast Louisiana, ripping homes apart.

CNN meteorologist, Allison Chinchar is tracking all the storm threats for the week ahead.

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Nearly a hundred million people are under the threat for flooding today, and it is a very widespread area. You can see Houston all the way up to Cleveland and back over to parts of Nebraska and Iowa and Missouri -- all of these areas are looking at that excessive rainfall.

Now, part of that is because the ground is already saturated from a lot of rain we've had the last few days, and now we are going to be adding more on top of it.

But the threat is not just for today, even as we transition into Monday, you'll see another wide swath of populations impacted by the potential there for flooding. A lot of these storms have already been ongoing, even since this morning. They will continue through the evening hours.

By about 9:00 to 10:00 tonight, the main focus is going to be for places like Detroit, Indianapolis, down through Saint Louis, and stretching back into portions of Oklahoma as well.

Through the overnight, that system will continue to spread East and South, so more of the Southeast is going to get additional rainfall on top of the many, many inches they have had over the last week. We are also going to start to see some Northeastern and mid-Atlantic cities start to see another round of showers.

Now, what has been fueling a lot of these stronger thunderstorms has been the heat and the humidity, and you can really see that across areas of Texas and Oklahoma. Take Amarillo, for example. The average high this time of year is 91. It is officially summer now, astrological summer, but it is even hot for some of these places.

The temperature, 102, is the forecast for today, 96 again on Tuesday, but Lubbock, Shreveport, Oklahoma City, Little Rock, all of these places are looking at temperatures well above where they normally would be even in the summer, and it is not just the Southern places that we are looking at, even the Pacific Northwest is going to be looking at temperatures above average, especially Monday and Tuesday of this week.

Seattle, for example, average high 72. You're looking at mid to upper 80s both Monday and Tuesday. Portland looking at 90 the next three days before we finally start to see things calm back down by the end of the week as rain showers return.

FREEMAN: Allison Chinchar, thank you so much for that forecast and we will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:47:28]

FREEMAN: World Cup time: Spain crushed Saudi Arabia in today's first of four group matches in this FIFA World Cup, and now Belgium, one of the group's top seeds, is chasing its first victory of the tournament against Iran.

CNN's Rafael Romo is watching all of the action from the Atlanta Fan Zone. Rafael, we talked about Spain in the last hour. Are the fans hanging out, though, to watch the rest of these matches today?

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Oh for sure, Danny. Although not as many. And let me tell you, the game between Spain and Saudi Arabia was played earlier today. I like the way you defined it, a crush. It was a very convincing four to zero victory for La Roja. The game between Belgium and Iran started this hour. It is almost -- the first half is almost over. It is a match generating interest for reasons that go beyond soccer.

And there are also two additional World Cup games for tonight here at the FIFA Fan Fest at Atlanta's Centennial Olympic Park, things are looking great. It is hot, but not too hot. It is sunny, but not too much. Fans tell us it is the second best thing to be in at the stadium itself, with food, fun and activities for all ages, and it is also a very international party. We are seeing people from all over the world here. Yes, many fans from Spain who are proudly wearing their national teams red jersey. There are also fans from Saudi Arabia, although not as many. We've also seen fans from Mexico, Colombia, Scotland and other countries, but undoubtedly, Danny, the happiest fans today are those from Spain after their team's win.

This is what a couple of them told us after La Roja's game against Saudi Arabia.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALEJANDRA GOMEZ, SPANISH FAN: We feel excited. We've seen them play very good. We feel like they're cohesive, they're doing their best and we are going to win. We are going to win for sure.

We just won the Euro Cup. We are the favorites there. We are going to win, that's for sure.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: From the match on Monday, I lost all my faith. But today, I think we can win.

ROMO: What do you think about Lamine Jamal and his performance today?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He is absolutely perfect. So young and with that ability, it is amazing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMO: And Danny, I was -- you figured it out already. I was asking this fan about Spain's teen sensation, Lamine Jamal, who is 18 years old and is already one of the top soccer players in the world. By the way, he scored the first goal in today's game. He turns -- listen to this -- 19 on July 13th, only six days before the World Cup's final game. Can you imagine, Danny, what a sweet birthday present it would be if Spain currently ranked at number two by FIFA wins it all.

Now back to you.

[15:50:14]

FREEMAN: Rafael, I can barely imagine like kicking a soccer ball without pulling a muscle, but that is incredible. We can't wait to watch what he does as the tournament continues.

Rafael Romo, good to see you. Thanks so much.

Now, historically, the U.S. Men's teams have struggled in their quest for the trophy in the past. But there have been some notable moments so far.

CNN's new Flash Doc, "Chasing Soccer Glory: America's Long Game," takes a look at how the game has evolved, and some celebrated players that have inspired today's team. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) PAUL TENORIO, SENIOR WRITER, THE ATHLETIC: When we talk about U.S. soccer history, because this team is still not at the level of the best teams in the world, there have to be these points where you rally around individual brilliance. And that truism has never been more true than in 2014 in Brazil, with Tim Howard in goal.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 2014, Tim Howard became the hero, smothering shot after shot in one of the most valiant performances in modern American sporting history.

TIM HOWARD, U.S. MEN'S WORLD CUP TEAM, 2010, 2014: I had a really good tournament, as did our team.

MATT FREESE, U.S. MEN'S WORLD CUP TEAM, 2026: Sixteen saves against one of the best teams in the world. He was, you know, maybe the best goalkeeper at that World Cup.

HOWARD: I wish I'd have made 17 or 18, won the game, but I'm proud of that moment.

TENORIO: What the National Team represents is what can I do, right? A kid watches and says, I can do that. Oh, you're American like I'm American. I can go to the World Cup and win those games like I saw on television. That job gets a lot harder if the U.S. bombs out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FREEMAN: I remember those matches so well.

Joining us now to discuss this, senior writer for "The Athletic," Paul Tenorio.

Paul, great to see you. Thank you for joining us today. As we saw in that clip. Listen, it hasn't been always smooth sailing for the USA Men's soccer teams when it comes to World Cups of the past. Is there a new sense of hope in the air for this year's team?

TENORIO: I think there is no doubt after the way that they've played in the first two games that they've built belief up in this country. I certainly could feel it in both SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles and at Lumen Field, up in Seattle, and especially in that game in Seattle. The way the crowd was reacting, it is energy being transferred back and forth between the crowds and the team.

And I think we are seeing that translate all over the country with people watching a team that's fun to play, that plays exciting and attacking soccer and that's winning games back-to-back games in a group for the first time since 1930.

Yes, this team is definitely inspiring people to believe that maybe this year, maybe this World Cup can be something different, can be something special.

FREEMAN: Yes and by the way, at least for the second game with one of our star players having to sit on the bench, hopefully for not much longer, though. We will get to that in a second though. But I am just curious, can you talk a little bit more about this? You've been traveling with the team for these matches. What is it actually like on the ground to see the energy, not just with the team, but again, how, as you were describing, how the energy of the fans really fuels these guys?

TENORIO: Yes, I mean, it is something different than I've experienced covering this National Team and I've been covering them in some form or fashion since 2007. You know, I've been in some of the stadiums, the smaller stadiums, like in Columbus or Cincinnati when the U.S. has played Mexico in World Cup qualifiers that our MLS Stadiums that fit 25,000 and it is amazing atmosphere.

But when you're in front of 70,000 people and they are singing and chanting, when the Seattle Stadium sang the National Anthem acapella and the helicopters went overhead as patriotic as that felt like, it is something new, it is something different. And these young players certainly haven't experienced it before and it gave -- you know, they talk about the fact that it gives them goosebumps or in certain moments in the game when the tempo of the game itself is slowing down and suddenly a USA chant breaks out among 70,000 people, it urges the team forward.

It pushes their energy forward. It has been a lot of fun, frankly, and I think everyone in the Stadium feels it. It creates this emotional moment between everyone that is in the venue and I think it certainly is playing a big role, a big role in what this team is doing so far.

FREEMAN: Well, but here is the other side, Paul, does being or does playing rather in your host country provide more pressure for these players?

TENORIO: You know, in some ways you'd think that and we even wrote about it in the lead up to the tournament, especially for certain players like Christian Pulisic, to carry the weight of expectation that typically isn't around a U.S. Men's National Team going into a World Cup, right? There usually aren't expectations; but when you play at home, there are, but I don't think it has been pressure because of that first opening match, that four-one win over Paraguay, I think, allowed this team to settle into an optimistic territory, a celebratory one, one where they could enjoy the moment and enjoy the back and forth with the fans, and they're going to get another opportunity because they won again, right? They beat Australia, which means this third match is a dead rubber.

[15:55:03]

And so they are not going to have the pressure until the round of 32 game on July 1st. And we can talk about the importance of that game on Thursday. And, you know, needing to maintain some of that momentum and keep getting results so that people keep believing. And I think that is true.

But right now, the atmosphere around the group is one of optimism and belief, which is what Head Coach Mauricio Pochettino has been trying to preach and instill since he took over. FREEMAN: Yes, I think you're absolutely right that that first game, winning it and winning it decisively really planted the flag for our team. And I hope Pulisic really gets better and gets on the pitch soon, because he is going to be electric when he is back and healthy and on the field.

Paul Tenorio, thank you so much for joining us today. Really do appreciate it.

And of course, be sure to tune in to the new CNN Flash Doc "Chasing Soccer Glory." It airs tonight at 8:00 P.M. right here on CNN.

Coming ahead in the next hour, deeply divided voters in Colombia head to the polls to choose their next president. CNN is going to be live from the scene there. Plus, a new study reveals that devices at dinner are ruining the connection between parents and their children. The study's co-author joins us.

And it is going to be the largest maritime gathering in U.S. history to celebrate America's 250th. We have details on the upcoming "Sail Forth 250" coming up in just a moment.

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