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Source: Firings Underway At Office Of Natl. Intel Director; Note Linked To Nancy Guthrie Disappearance Says She Died; New Data: Strait Of Hormuz Shipping Steadily Increasing. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired June 23, 2026 - 04:00   ET

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

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POLO SANDOVAL, CNN ANCHOR: Hi everybody. It's great to be with you here on CNN Newsroom. I'm Polo Sandoval live in New York.

And on the way, a major shakeup at the top U.S. intelligence agency is Donald Trump's acting spy chief begins some mass firings.

Plus, what a note received days after Nancy Guthrie's disappearance reveals about the fate of "Today's Show" anchor Savannah Guthrie's mother.

And later, remembering the life and legacy of music icon Clive Davis.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Live from New York, this is CNN Newsroom with Polo Sandoval.

SANDOVAL: We do want to begin this hour in Washington where critics say that moves by the Trump administration could weaken U.S. national security. First, sources are telling CNN that the acting director of National Intelligence, Bill Pulte, has begun mass firings. Democratic lawmakers are saying that that could jeopardize the organization's mission and leave the country vulnerable to terror attacks.

Second, sources are saying that the administration is threatening to withhold tens of millions of dollars in vital homeland security funding from states that don't adopt sweeping election changes. We'll have that exclusive reporting in just a moment. But first we do want to begin with CNN's Alayna Treene on those mass firings in the intelligence community.

Firings have begun at the office of the director of National Intelligence, a source familiar with the matter tells us. Now, they didn't give us a lot of details on who is expected to lose their jobs or really how many cuts are anticipated. But what we do know is that Bill Pulte who was named recently by the President to be the acting director of National Intelligence that he's really been eyeing hundreds of jobs to cut.

Now, a different source familiar with matter told us that the National Counterterrorism Center and the National Counterintelligence and Security Center were expected to be hit hard. Now, this all comes of course as we know that Trump has really given Pulte a director -- directive to essentially clean house. I know from my conversations with White House officials that really the President believes that many people in that agency which I should remind you it was created after 9-11 to oversee and kind of help coordinate many of the different intelligence agencies including the CIA and the FBI.

But that Trump doesn't really see that job as important and he believes that there are many leakers in there at the so-called Deep State. And this is actually what one source told our colleague CNN about the firings today. They said, "The Deep State firings have begun." Now also say that Pulte is someone who doesn't necessarily get along very well with many people in the West Wing, but he does have a direct line to President Trump and that was on, you know, display today when we saw the President when he was in the Oval Office for executive order signings.

He actually had Pulte in the room with him and again goes to show just how much you really have seen kind of Pulte's presence here much more so really than Tulsi Gabbard who of course Pulte is replacing in the interim. Another thing to note is that we were actually told that Pulte showed up a day early to this new job last week. He was supposed to start on Friday. He showed up at the agency on Thursday.

A lot of people saying he was eager to get in the door early to try and look at majorly downsizing these cuts. White House officials when asked about this pointed CNN to a statement that the President had made previously essentially arguing that his directive to Pulte is to try and really downsize the agency. But again, this is something that we've heard from many people on Capitol Hill, not just Democrats, but also Republicans who are very concerned about Pulte's role at such a high level of domestic intelligence given that Pulte doesn't really have intelligence experience.

And we also heard from some senators today that includes Mark Warner who sits on the Intelligence Committee in the Senate and then also Rep. Jim Himes, the Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee. They wrote a letter to Pulte encouraging him to not move forward with so many widespread cuts at the agency. But again, Trump is really the person around here who makes these final decisions. And for now, this is how he wants Pulte to proceed.

Alayna Treene, CNN, the White House.

SANDOVAL: CNN is learning more about another decision that's being made by the White House to essentially withhold federal Homeland Security funds from states unless they enact changes to their elections. Multiple sources and documents obtained by CNN are noting that it's part of the President's campaign to curb alleged voter fraud.

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Under the new rules, states would have to make a number of changes, including phasing out some electronic voting systems by moving backwards to paper ballots. It would also include mandatory use of a controversial citizenship verification database. A DHS spokesperson is telling CNN that changes to grant requirements aren't official until they are formally announced and published. A former Justice Department official also telling CNN that the new requirements are likely to be blocked in court.

Now to a heartbreaking update in the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie. Investigators are confirming that a note that was sent to CNN and another media outlet in February said that Guthrie had died soon after she was abducted from her Arizona home. It was sent right after a ransom note demanding millions of dollars in exchange for Guthrie's release. CNN's Nick Watt bringing us the latest.

NICK WATT, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Nancy Guthrie disappeared nearly five months ago. Now new details from a ransom note sent just five days after she disappeared suggests that Nancy Guthrie is in fact dead.

So the first ransom note was sent February 3rd, classic ransom note, demanded millions, set deadlines. Then another note that investigators believe came from the same person that arrived February 6th at a local news station in Arizona. And in that message, the person writes that Nancy Guthrie is dead, that she died shortly after the kidnapping, and that the kidnappers did not mean to kill her.

Now, is this plausible, feasible? Yes. Nancy Guthrie was 84 years old when she vanished end of January, beginning of February after having a dinner with family nearby. She was 84 years old. She did not have the medication that she needed with her when she disappeared. We also know from her phone records that at 2:28 that morning, February 1st, her pacemaker disconnected from the app on her phone.

So could she have died shortly after kidnapping? Could she have died by accident? Maybe they didn't mean to kill her. Yes, that is all feasible. Now, interestingly, authorities did not want this notion that she was dead to be released on February 6th because they wanted to be able to authenticate future communication with this person, this potential kidnapper.

Now, about 10 days after Nancy Guthrie disappeared, of course, we saw that doorbell video of the man standing on her porch, masked, wearing a backpack. Listen, investigators managed to get a pretty good description of him. They got the brand of the backpack. Everybody thought that was going to be a breakthrough. It was not. Still, five months later, we still don't know exactly what happened.

But interestingly, Savannah Guthrie, just before she went back to the "Today Show," she gave an interview in which she said, you know, most of the ransom notes we thought were garbage, but two, the two we responded to, we do believe they are true. One of those, we believe, is this note that said Nancy Guthrie died shortly after the kidnapping.

Now, Pima County, the local sheriff's department investigating this, they say that the investigation into Nancy Guthrie's disappearance is, "Active and ongoing." Back to you.

SANDOVAL: Our thanks to Nick Watt for that. President Trump's top diplomat is heading to the Middle East to discuss the agreement with Iran. Secretary of State Marco Rubio will be traveling to the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Bahrain, all key U.S. allies in the region. He will also meet with the Gulf Cooperation Council, that group expected to play a key role in implementing elements of that signed memorandum.

Meanwhile, there are now conflicting statements from the U.S. Vice President and from Tehran on if nuclear inspectors will be allowed back into Iran. Iran's state media reporting that Tehran did not discuss the nuclear issue during negotiations in Switzerland and that it did not accept any new commitments.

Let's go now to CNN's Eleni Giokos joining me from Dubai. Eleni, what is the latest when it comes to these negotiations?

ELENI GIOKOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, so what we're hearing is that there is encouraging progress in all the diplomatic efforts that we've been seeing occurring over the last few days. But of course, there are sticking points. And you mentioned, you know, allowing nuclear inspectors into Iran, where there seems to be very different understanding from the Washington side and what Tehran is saying.

So these, importantly, the nuclear inspectors would be heading into Iran, inspecting those nuclear sites by the International Atomic Energy Agency. Iran is disputing this, saying that they have not agreed and committed to that. And in fact, the president of Iran, Masoud Pezeshkian, posting this on X, he says the effectiveness of the talks depend on full commitment to the agreed obligations and their precise implementation.

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He says progress on this path will be measured by practical adherence to accepted responsibilities. Statements outside the agreed text do not help advance the negotiation. So Iran clearly pushing back on this, but in terms of the other sort of contours of the memorandum of understanding, we know that the United States has already lifted sanctions, creating a waiver for the selling of Iran oil, as well as any crude products for Iran for the next 60 days.

That is an important element, which means that Iran will be able to receive revenues in U.S. dollars. And of course, the other big flashpoint is what happens in the Strait of Hormuz. And we're looking very closely at vessel traffic, specifically over the weekend. And this, of course, when Iran declared the Strait of Hormuz closed once again after Israeli strikes into Lebanon, it's now open, 71 vessels, Polo, were able to transit over Saturday and Sunday.

If you dig into those numbers, only eight of those took the International Maritime Organization routes, 29 of those went dark or unknown routes, and the rest of them used the Iranian route. Now Iran has been trying to sort of solidify its control, its formalization of a transit in the Strait of Hormuz. And interestingly, the Persian Gulf Straits Authority, this authority that was created a while back to try and sort of formalize any transits, they posted on X, a form that needs to be filled in. They say they will allow shippers to transit within 48 hours of completing this form.

So you've got this sort of push by the Iran side to try and formalize. And of course, the United States saying it is open. There's also a hotline now that has been created. This is the announcement from the Iranian side saying that this is going to be an operational effort to try and ensure any misunderstandings or work through with the United States in terms of transit through the Strait of Hormuz in the coming days. And importantly, this is also a line that the shippers are able to use as they try and transit.

In terms of the transit that we saw yesterday, around 35 ships were able to pass through. That is according to Kpler data. We're monitoring this very closely. And other experts that I spoke to said what is going to be prioritized here is LNG vessels, GTL vessels, any crude vessels needing to transit. And this is why we're starting to see a little bit of pressure coming through on the oil price front, where oil prices have, of course, lost ground in anticipation for increased traffic through the Strait.

SANDOVAL: And as you as you were speaking, we're also showing some of those numbers across the board, those Brent crude oil prices on the decline right now. I'm so glad you could point out all the different signals to be looking out for, especially with this mixed messaging from both sides.

Eleni Giokos, thank you so much for joining us there from Dubai. And earlier, I did speak with Nabih Bulos. He's a Middle East bureau chief for the L.A. Times. I asked him just how much progress there's actually been in this initial phase of negotiations. Here's what he said.

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NABIH BULOS, MIDDLE EAST BUREAU CHIEF, LOS ANGELES TIMES: Well, I think it is worth noting that the JCPOA took about 600 days for it to be finalized. So let me just put this in context. We're expecting this to be done in 60 days, this iteration of the agreement, when the original one, the one that was torn up, you know, by Trump in his first term took 600 days.

So, I mean, we just have to sort of be realistic about what is possible right now. And of course, there are a lot of issues that have to be nailed down. Now, I mean, with that being said, there have been encouraging noises from both sides, right? We have heard of this tranche of $6 billion each being released.

We've heard a situation of, for example, some of the stuff being used to buy basic products, et cetera. So there is, I suppose, well, I suppose there are the trappings of movements, but we haven't seen anything concrete yet. But it is early days, to be fair.

SANDOVAL: Yes, you know, and adding to that list, there's that so- called hotline that's been established to resolve any sort of issues in the Strait of Hormuz, this monitoring structure that they talked about. But ultimately, I'm glad you mentioned the JCPOA, too, Nabih. What's your understanding right now of those sanctions? How does this sanctions relief for Iran under the Trump administration compare to what we saw in the Obama JCPOA that you just mentioned? Does it seem that with this new deal, Iran gets these, you know, this relief almost up front before adhering to any sort of concessions?

BULOS: Well, so, you know, again, we have to see what's going to happen in the coming days. Let's be clear, right? All this stuff can basically be done in a certain fashion. But, you know, until it's actually approved and implemented, it could be a long ways away. And again, I'll compare this, for example, with Syria, where the sanctions were in place for a long time, and then the Trump administration had the desire to remove them, and it took quite some time to actually implement that removal.

And in fact, it's still ongoing at some level. So again, this will take time. Now, as for the sea change, as we're talking about here, I mean, the biggest deal is that Iran will be able to sell its oil at world prices. It's important to note that in the past, I mean, there was no lack of oil with Iran, right? The issue was that it couldn't sell its oil at market prices because of sanctions and things of that nature, right? This would be a true sea change if it was able to sell its oil at a fair market price. That would actually be a big deal for its coffers.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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SANDOVAL: All right, so let's take a look right now at some of the global numbers right now when it comes to stock markets and selloff. And some of the biggest names in tech appears to be dragging the markets down, way down, especially when you look at Korea's KOSPI there, showing a nearly 10 percent decline, a clear plummet there. And then you see some of the other numbers too across the board in Japan, about 3.5 percent.

Also, in terms of Wall Street numbers, we do want to show you some features on where those sit. And again, this amid those ongoing negotiations right now in the Middle East to end the war in Iraq. You see some of those features on the decline ahead of the stock market opening bell. We'll be monitoring that.

And on the way, we do have much, much more for you, including Argentina's soccer sensation, Lionel Messi. He's already, he keeps shattering these records. It's absolutely incredible to watch. Still ahead, how fans are reacting to his elite World Cup performance so far.

And World Cup tourism reignited the debate over tipping culture in the United States, leading some business owners, you know, owners of bars and restaurants to make some big changes for the sake of paying their workers. Stay with us. You're watching CNN Newsroom.

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[04:20:35] SANDOVAL: We do have reports of a major trade in the NBA just one day before the draft. Sources are telling not just ESPN but also the AP that the Milwaukee Bucks are sending Giannis Antetokounmpo to the Miami Heat. The deal reportedly includes Bobby Portis heading to Miami. Well, in exchange, the Bucks are getting Tyler Herro, Jaime Jaquez Jr. and two other players, at least three future first round draft picks. Giannis, at 31 years old, is now a two-time MVP, 10-time all-star and also led the Bucks to an NBA championship in 2021.

All right, everybody, it's on to the World Cup group stages that are heating up as teams look to solidify their rankings. Earlier, Algeria kept their tournament hopes alive, mounting a late comeback against Jordan. And this is despite trailing at halftime, Algeria found a second win, pulling ahead in the 82nd minute to win, two to one.

In other action on Monday, superstar Kylian Mbappe helping France secure a spot in the knockout stage. There's this incredible goal scoring a brace against Iraq despite thunderstorms and a weather delay in Philadelphia. France did finish strong, shutting out Iraq three nil. And Norway topping Senegal three to two, a pair of second half goals from star striker Erling Haaland. That was enough to hold off Senegal's late game push.

And arguably the biggest story so far from the group stages is this world-class performance from Argentina's Lionel Messi. Just look at his performance with two goals against Austria. Messi becoming the tournament's all-time leading scorer. Monday's two-nil victory also making Messi the new record holder for all-time World Cup wins. And the thing is, the tournament isn't even over yet, which is just incredible.

We also want to tell you a little bit about what's in store for later today. Portugal and Uzbekistan, they get things started off in Houston as Ronaldo looks to secure his first win of this tournament. Then it's a showdown in Boston between England and Ghana. And across the U.S. border, Panama will be facing Croatia in Toronto and Colombia, taking on the Democratic Republic of Congo in Guadalajara, Mexico.

And the World Cup has brought a new wave of international visitors to the U.S. in various cities that are hosting these games, giving local bars, pubs and restaurants a major boost. But there are also many of those visitors who may not be quite familiar with American tipping culture. So to avoid problems, some restaurants, they are automatically adding gratuity to the bill. Owners saying that it's a simple way to ensure that their servers and their bartenders who rely heavily on these tips, that they're not left short-changed.

With me now is Cathal Reynolds. He's a bartender at Garvey's Irish Pub here in New York City at Times Square. Cathal, thank you so much for taking the time to join us. We know it's busy out there.

CATHAL REYNOLDS, BARTENDER, GARVEY'S IRISH PUB IN TIMES SQUARE: No problem. Yes, thanks for having me on, though, for a few short minutes.

SANDOVAL: Yes, of course. Listen, anybody who's traveled outside the United States knows that tipping isn't really customary in many countries outside of the U.S. But here in the U.S., it certainly is, for the most part, central to the pay for many in the service industry, including cities hosting the World Cup right now.

So just curious if we could start with maybe where you stand on this whole World Cup tipping dilemma and these reports of some restaurants and bars in the U.S. tacking on an additional 15 to 20 percent tip during the World Cup. What do you think?

REYNOLDS: I agree with it. I think that they should be doing it because, you know, a lot of people out there, you know, could be their only source of income and that's how they get paid, how they pay their rent, they pay their bills. So I think, yes, 15, 20 percent, I think it's OK for them to hold on it because usually people from Europe and stuff like that, they're not used to tipping and it's not part of their culture. So I think, like, when do people do come to the U.S., they should indulge in the culture and they should, you know.

SANDOVAL: Yes. And just for viewers watching around the world, just a quick number for them from the U.S. Department of Labor, just to give them really a sense of what we're talking about here in the service industry, wages before tips, they usually range from $2.13 to $17 an hour. So because of that, as you just mentioned, so many of these workers rely heavily on their tips. So do you think that international visitors should basically take that into account when they're closing their tabs?

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REYNOLDS: Absolutely, they definitely should because it's just, as I said, you know, they'll be their only source of income.

SANDOVAL: Give me a sense of how much you rely on those tips to make a living.

REYNOLDS: Yes, yes, because this is my only job. I work here nearly five, six days a week, and it's how I pay my bills and pay my rent. And yes, it's a lot.

SANDOVAL: Yes. You know, I always ask myself too, just what people's perception of U.S. tipping culture is like in other parts of the world. I can see in some cases where they might be sort of taken by surprise the idea of having to tack on another 20 percent on top of something that they thought they were already paying for. But do you think ultimately it's just these cultural differences to explain why there's that kind of shock value with some of the folks who are visiting the U.S. right now for the games?

REYNOLDS: Yes, yes, 100 percent. But I still think, like, if you travel over to Europe, you know, like, you take in their culture, you know, and you'd be like them. I think they should do the same when they come to the U.S. You know, it's like a vacation, too, you know, like, get in with the culture, you know, have a good time. It makes your experience a lot better.

SANDOVAL: Tell me a little bit about what you've been seeing in your bar, where we're already well over a week into these games. We've seen watch parties really all over the country. What's it been looking like for you?

REYNOLDS: Oh, it's been absolutely, absolute madness in here. It's just busy, morning, night, noon, and day. And I love it, too, because it's fun, you know, like, I'm a big soccer fan, and I love just seeing all these different people, like, cultures coming in, too. And they're all so passionate, like, watching them coming over. Spending a lot of money, too, to come over to America and watch their country. It's not the cheapest, you know? But I'm loving it. It's having a great time and having great fun in the bar, too.

SANDOVAL: Perhaps we can close with your message to folks who may be in another part of the world, packing right now, getting ready to travel to the United States. I mean, we still -- here in New York, the final isn't for another, like, over almost four weeks. So people will still be traveling in. What would be your message to them as they, you know, go enjoy some of the restaurants and bars throughout the country?

REYNOLDS: Just take it all in, you know? Like, it's a very unique place, America. It's no other place like it. And just take it all in, you know? And enjoy yourself. Obviously, be respectful. And, yes, enjoy your time here.

SANDOVAL: Well, Cathal, we hope that you get to enjoy some of it, too. I know it's quite busy, and you and the rest of the good folks are working very hard into the night. Cathal Reynolds, thank you so much for joining us here on CNN.

REYNOLDS: No problem. Thank you very much.

SANDOVAL: Still to come on CNN Newsroom, it is Election Day here in New York, also in Maryland and Utah. We'll look at Manhattan's crowded Democratic primary, where eight candidates are competing for one single House seat.

Plus, Britain's revolving door of prime ministers taking yet another turn. Coming up, what Keir Starmer's resignation means for the ruling Labour Party, and for the future of the U.K.

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