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CNN This Morning
Iran War Discussions at G7; CNN Poll on Independents; DOJ Probes Newsom; Christopher Hale is Interviewed about Vance's New Book. Aired 6:30-7a ET
Aired June 16, 2026 - 06:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[06:30:00]
CHUCK ROCHA, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: All the things that are coming out of this. Or understand wars. They understand large things. They understand nuclear bombs, bad. They understand genocide. They understand those things. But in American politics, for the first time in a long time, AIPAC, Palestine, things that are happening with Iran, gas prices, they're becoming a bigger part of issue sets that people care about. Affordability is still number one, let me be clear.
AUDIE CORNISH, CNN ANCHOR: Yes.
ROCHA: But it's still in the periphery.
CORNISH: You know, things being talked about here.
ROCHA: Right.
CORNISH: You see there, this is the G7. They're actually sitting down to lunch, the world leaders here.
ROCHA: And this will be on clips today in social media --
CORNISH: Yes.
ROCHA: That folks will see who are independents, who aren't following this every day, that it will just pop up in their algorithm.
CORNISH: Should Syria be involved now?
PENNY NANCE, CEO, CONCERNED WOMEN FOR AMERICA: Audie -- well, I don't know that. Audie, we are only three years past October 7th, and you have an entire country that's traumatized, 1,200 people died, over 400 people kidnaped around that, 12 Americans. The last one finally came home because of Donald Trump, who is the Neutra family, Omer Neutra.
And so this, to your point, became top of mind to the American people because it doesn't feel so far away when we know Americans were kidnaped, raped, murdered, and the horrific things that happened October 7th. And so --
CORNISH: But just to bring the focus around, just because October 7th -- NANCE: If -- if I could just finish.
CORNISH: Yes, no, but it was about Hamas. And right now I have -- we are listening to the president speak just moments ago saying that Israel has gone too far and where it's done with Hezbollah, not Hamas, in southern Lebanon.
NANCE: Which is --
CORNISH: And now asking another country to support. I just want to keep it focused on where we are right now.
NANCE: Well, OK. So, the point is that they are surrounded -- Israel is surrounded by people who hate them. If the president could be successful in getting Syria to fight their battles for them, to come to their defense, that would be great. I mean, we have -- they have peace with Egypt. They get along with the Jordanians. Like, things are better for them.
But the people in Israel, they're a sovereign nation. They have to protect themselves. Bibi Netanyahu is up for reelection before October 27th. There's a lot happening in that country. Listen, if he can do it, if he can bring Syria to the table to help out, that would be great. And I bet you Israel would be thankful for that.
CORNISH: Can I let my diplomatic person weigh in.
Joel.
JOEL RUBIN, FORMER DEPUTY ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE FOR OBAMA ADMINISTRATION: Well, I mean, what this shows is that the president really doesn't have a strategy for how to deal with the regional issues that are dogging this whole conflict. And I agree with you on October 7th, the calamity.
But, you know, the hope at the beginning of this fight was that there would be, not just the nuclear issue resolved, but also these other issues related to Hezbollah, regional proxy terror groups, the missile issue, that's all to the side now. That should be part of a diplomatic program to really hold Iran's feet to the fire. But he's left the heat -- he's taken the heat off. And so now he's flailing. And I fear that the Israelis are only going to read this as a sign they are on their own, which increases the likelihood of more fighting inside of Lebanon rather than less.
CORNISH: Here's what he had to say about his role and support for Israel. This was just moments ago.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Without me, there would be no Israel, because no other president was willing to do what I did. I've had a great relationship with Bibi, but now Bibi has to be more responsible with respect to Lebanon.
(END VIDEO CLIP) RUBIN: Well, that is -- that is crazy.
NANCE: I -- listen, I had 40 young Women for America leaders that were in Israel last week and had to go underground because of bombing and shelling.
RUBIN: Yes. Yes, but --
NANCE: So, they are actively in the middle of a war zone in Israel.
RUBIN: Yes.
NANCE: And Lebanon is a key issue. They --
CORNISH: But did they say, thank God for Trump, or what happened there?
RUBIN: Yes, but what -- Donald Trump is not responsible for the state of Israel's existence.
NANCE: No, but I'm just saying that it is absolute -- I'm just saying that I think that Israel has every right to protect themselves.
RUBIN: Yes.
NANCE: And I would say that we have to be very clear-eyed about the fact that what's happening in that entire region. And if we can bring other partners like Syria to help, why's that a problem.
CORNISH: Do you think that's what Trump just said. Trump just said, if it wasn't for me.
RUBIN: There'd be no Israel is what he just said, which I think that is --
NANCE: Well, and he has protected Israel. He brought the hostages home and --
RUBIN: That is absolutely counterfactual. There is no truth to that. Donald Trump did not create the state of Israel. He --
NANCE: Oh, obviously (ph).
RUBIN: He joined in a military action alongside Israel against Iran, clearly. But the state of Israel's existence is not dependent upon the president of the United States. We have a relationship, but the Israelis created their own -- the Israelis created their own country.
NANCE: It's dependent upon the United States.
CORNISH: But is the state of -- hold on one second, is the state of Trump's deal dependent on Israel?
RUBIN: Yes. Absolutely integrated. And this is the core -- this is an Achilles heel problem that we had in the Obama administration. When the Israelis were outside of that deal, that meant that there could always be problems that would have to be dealt with that weren't integrated.
The same thing is happening again. President Trump did not include the Israelis in this deal. He's not talking about the hot issues, like Hezbollah, until some later date. And so, it creates mischief and it create -- a potential for mischief and spoilers. And I think he's going to see that be very problematic for executing the next phase of negotiations.
CORNISH: Which could happen as soon as Friday.
[06:35:01]
Basically, the status quo is people are waiting to see the draft of this multi-point memorandum of understanding potentially between Iran and the U.S. And on Friday there could be a meeting about that which J.D. Vance and others will be in attendance.
Joel Rubin, we put you to work this morning. Thank you so much.
RUBIN: Right. Thanks, Audie.
CORNISH: Appreciate it.
And straight ahead on CNN, this just in, we've got new polling and it's showing that half of Americans now consider themselves independents. So, who benefits most in the midterms coming up?
And then there's Gavin Newsom of California claiming he's under investigation by the Trump administration. So, we're going to ask whether he is, whether this could somehow help him politically if he wants to run for president.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:40:12]
CORNISH: All right, we want to talk about this. A brand-new CNN poll just out this morning. It finds more Americans are identifying as politically independent. So, this poll is finding nearly half of you, 47 percent, do not consider yourselves a part of either major political party.
Here's the thing, that is up 11 points in just the last five years. Now, the remaining population, it's split pretty evenly, coming in at 27 percent for Democrats, 26 percent for Republicans.
So, what could these numbers mean for the midterms? Joining the group chat, Sara Fischer, CNN's senior media analyst and senior media reporter at "Axios."
So, on this show I often talk about independents. But my secret take is, they aren't real. That there's basically people who stay home, people who turn in --
ROCHA: (INAUDIBLE). CORNISH: Well, but they're actually all partisan. They actually do have a side. They're not just totally, I don't know, up for grabs. But you're the consultant. Tell me I'm wrong.
ROCHA: You're partly right. In an off-year election, it's much different than an on-year election. And what I mean, for those of you at home, we're coming up on a midterm election. The president's not on the ballot. And normally about 40 percent of the electorate stays home. The independents, when you ask folks, are you independent, they want to say, yes, I'm independent. But to your point, Audie, you're right, they run into a polling booth and they go, yes, I'm leaning a little more Democrat, oh I lean a little more Republican, and they follow kind of a wave or a shift or a vibe. But the independent movement is bigly, bigly, on the rise because folks out there --
CORNISH: Yes. Especially among men. I want to show male voters 18 to 44.
ROCHA: Let the non-college educated, cowboy hat wearing Mexican talk about this, which is, there's a frustration with folks out there right now because they don't feel either party is doing anything, even though they lean one way or the other.
CORNISH: Yes. Well, I'm looking at my notes. It says nothing about hats. But what it says is that these folks are younger than partisans. Sixty-three percent are younger than 50. They're more likely to live in a city than Republicans, but less likely than Democrats to live in a city. And then their incomes are a bit lower. Their annual household income falling below $50,000.
SARA FISCHER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA ANALYST: I think there are two trends at play. One is that, for younger generations they've lived through now a very inflation heavy economy where it's been hard to, for example, buy a home, make long term investments, both in the Biden administration and now in the Trump administration. So, you become disenfranchised with your economic opportunity with either party. And then, two, the University of Pennsylvania, their Annenberg School, puts out this incredible study every year on civic engagement. And what they found is just that year over year the broad trend line, sometimes there are anomalies, are that younger generations are just less civically engaged, meaning they can't name the three branches of government, they don't understand how government works. When you --
CORNISH: Yes, we're going to put up numbers of how frequently each group seeks out political news. Democrats, 42 percent. Republicans, 39. Independents, just 25 percent even looking for that news.
FISCHER: Yes, I think, well they have a lot of options. We talk about this all the time on this show. You know, when you have social media algorithms that are catering to your every want and desire, oftentimes that's not going to be political news. And if you're not somebody, like I said, that's already predisposed to civic engagement, news and information around how the government works and why you should care, then you're not going to be seeking that information out. I think that is very reflective in these numbers as well.
ROCHA: It's very important to mention that the groups that y'all are talking about have the -- both the least.
CORNISH: Yes.
ROCHA: The younger you are, the poorer you are, wherever you live. They vote -- they just don't vote at the same level old folks vote. That's why we -- all of our politics is geared towards old folks because they show up reliably, even in an off year.
CORNISH: Yes. But I think people cared because when you look at party identification, for instance, men under the age of 44, the number who are saying they're independents is up 11 percent, but it's down 12 percent for Republicans, meaning, Trump won those people. Those people are -- he's hemorrhaging those folks.
SABRINA RODRIGUEZ, POLITICS REPORTER, "THE WALL STREET JOURNAL": But we saw the president, I mean, in 2024, he made a very concerted effort to try and court these people. And part of the magic of Donald Trump throughout his rise in politics has been him bringing in people into politics who were not traditional voters, were not the people in the consultant models of who they send mail to and all those things. And, I mean, Chuck can talk about this all day.
ROCHA: Easy. Easy on the consultants.
RODRIGUEZ: But the point is that Donald Trump brought into the process people who were not traditionally engaged in politics. And for some of those people who voted for him in 2024, and what this gets at, it wasn't like, oh, and now suddenly I identify as a Republican and I have a loyalty to a party. It was an, OK, the vibes are right, I'm going to vote for him, and we'll see what happens. And we're seeing for some of those people, and we see it in his approval numbers, the disappointment.
CORNISH: Yes. It's weird to see these numbers right after the UFC thing.
ROCHA: I just was going to bring that up. Yes.
FISCHER: Well, I think one thing to note, when it comes to that sort of populist outreach, which is part of Donald Trump having the UFC at the White House, there is a misconception that those types of podcasters and those types of activities, the UFC, what have you, are Republican.
[06:45:09]
FISCHER: In reality, those hosts don't view themselves as political. They view themselves as populist. And I think that we are sort of recognizing where we got that wrong in terms of our analysis with these numbers. The people that we thought Trump was reaching were not diehard MAGAs. They were actually sort of disenfranchised populists who like the Joe Rogana.
CORNISH: Yes. Which we could have played tape of them disliking the Iran War as well.
FISCHER: Yes.
CORNISH: Like that's another aspect to this.
I want to turn to something else. California Governor Gavin Newsom saying he is being targeted by the Department of Justice.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM (D-CA): In recent days, federal agents have knocked on the doors of family, friends and former employees, not because they found a crime, because they're simply trying to find one. They're demanding records. They're abusing the grand jury process, digging through years and years of random documents. Donald Trump isn't just coming after me because of my mean tweets. He's coming after me because I'm considering running for president.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: OK, weird. Sources tell CNN that Newsom is not the subject of an investigation, but that his wife, Jennifer Newsom, is part of a greater investigation into tax crimes.
So, the group chat is back.
I wish I could show you, you know, an indictment or some investigatory question, but I will show you the number of people the administration has investigated that various people in the cabinet have deemed kind of enemies. Whether that is Jim Comey or Lisa Cook or whoever.
So, clearly, Newsom is trying to say, hey --
FISCHER: Yes.
CORNISH: My friends and family, my wife could end up on this list as well.
NANCE: He is loving this, by the way. It makes him more interesting. It brings him back into the news. He's having a great day today.
But the truth is what -- this started under Joe Biden. This whole investigation started. But the timing is really good for Gavin Newsom to announce it right now. And the issue is $3.7 million that went into the coffers of The Rep Project, which is a Jennifer Newsom project. By the way, I --full disclosure, served on a -- on a board with her.
CORNISH: Yes. But do you mind pausing because we don't have confirmation, and I do not know if this is true right now because we literally are not hearing anything. I don't want to be talking about Newsom's wife as though she has committed crimes when we have not heard this.
NANCE: OK.
CORNISH: And I want to understand, though, why Newsom would come out ahead of an actual investigation to talk about it. ROCHA: Presidential politics are about two things. It's about money
and votes. And he's working on both right now. He wants to get out and try to make himself be a victim. We've seen politicians, some of which may be in the White House, always want to be the victim of press or whatever investigation may be happening.
And Newsom is positioning himself politically to do that. And as, Sabrina, a consultant, it's a chef's kiss is what this is.
CORNISH: Oh, my God.
ROCHA: A chef's kiss of getting ahead of it on camera with the flags behind him. I'm surprised he hasn't run away to another country saying, I'm going to go into exile until Donald Trump leaves me alone and tweet it out.
CORNISH: Well, let's -- let's let people know, back in May, Emerson College actually did do a poll looking at people's potential choices, Democratic nominee for president. And Newsom was not the first name on it.
RODRIGUEZ: I mean, there's no question that Newsom is amongst the top contenders. He does come up as one of the --
CORNISH: Yes. I mean, I'm amongst the top contenders. Like, that list is so long at this point.
RODRIGUEZ: But, no. But he is certainly one of -- he has -- he has established himself under Trump's second term as like one of the leading people trying to take him on.
CORNISH: Yes. We'll post a sample tweet so people can see.
RODRIGUEZ: So, this furthers -- so this furthers that national profile that he's tried to build. I mean he has specifically, strategically, over the last year and a half, tried to take on President Trump consistently.
ROCHA: Prop 50 (ph). Prop 50 (ph).
CORNISH: Yes, redistricting. Yes.
RODRIGUEZ: Whether it's with redistricting, whether it was last year with the National Guard deployment in Los Angeles, he has, at every turn, tried to take on President Trump. And this does further that.
CORNISH: Yes.
RODRIGUEZ: And we do see it. I mean, he is already fundraising off of it and sending emails. So, it's clearly a position.
CORNISH: Right. And we just showed that tweet, not because we think it's funny, but because, to your point, Newsom likes to, quote/unquote, do online battle with the Trump administration in the language that they, quote/unquote, understand, so to speak, the language of memes and jokes and he's been at the forefront of that. FISCHER: And all of those contenders that you just put up on that
list, they're all following in his footsteps and launching podcasts and doing their own direct to consumer media and messaging. That's what this is all a big part of. Gavin Newsom doesn't want anyone to be reaching his potential voters except for him.
CORNISH: OK, Sara Fischer, thank you so much for being here.
FISCHER: Thank you.
CORNISH: Can't wait to have you back.
Next on CNN THIS MORNING, we're going to talk more, a little bit, about 2028. We've got J.D. Vance reflecting as he sets up a potential bid.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
J.D. VANCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES (July 2021): We're effectively run in this country via the Democrats, via our corporate oligarchs, by a bunch of childless cat ladies.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: Now, that was back in 2021. We're going to talk about why Vance is now saying that that moment was one of the dumbest things he's ever said.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:53:07]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
J.D. VANCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES (February 28, 2025): I recognize very much that I am a baby Catholic. That there are things about the faith that I don't know.
If you ever hear me pontificating about the Catholic faith, please recognize, it comes from a place of deep belief, but it also comes from a place of not always knowing everything all the time.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: OK, that was just in 2025, I think, at the National Prayer Breakfast. Vice President J.D. Vance admitting, look, he's new to the Catholic Church.
At the same time, he has also made it a central part of his political identity. It's the main topic of his new book. And CNN obtained an early copy. It's out today. It's called "Communion: Finding My Way Back to Faith." In it Vance talks about his conversion to Catholicism, but also his conversion from Trump critic to Trump's vice president.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) J.D. VANCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: There's this sense that God was always looking out for me. Even when I strayed from the path, even when I called myself an atheist, that faith that my grandmother had sort of imbued me with was always there in the background and, of course, is an important part of the way that I go about my duties today. But it's just an important part of who I am. It fundamentally illuminates everything else about me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: Joining us now in the group chat, Christopher Hale, publisher of "The Letters from Leo" Substack.
We've been talking to you a lot because every time Vance or the Trump administration has gotten sideways with Pope Leo, we call you up and we're like, what's -- what gives?
What about this book strikes you about how he talks about his Catholicism and how it informs how he thinks about governing?
CHRISTOPHER HALE, PUBLISHER, "ETTERS FROM LEO" SUBSTACK: You know, I think the first thing that I think is remarkable is not -- what's not in the book. I mean, so that speech he talked about where he said he had made some mistakes. Really, the first week of his administration, he said two things about the Catholic Church. He accused the Catholic bishops of getting rich off migrants' resettlement in the United States and he --
[06:55:01]
CORNISH: Which I think he actually ended up apologizing for.
HALE: He did. He --
CORNISH: Yes.
HALE: He apologized the Cardinal Dolan for it. And then he said that he gave his theological expose on ordo amoris, a good Latin phrase from Saint Augustine about the order of love. And he got smacked down. One of the last acts that Pope Francis did was write this letter to the bishops of the United States talking about what it means to have an order of love. That letter was actually ghostwritten by an American cardinal named Robert Prvost, who became Pope Leo XIV. These weren't in the book. And I think that's -- I think that speaks a lot that he would --
CORNISH: Meaning, he didn't do a story of, like, here's what I learned when I actually dealt with popes and when I talked publicly. It's about his personal, past journey.
HALE: Absolutely. And I think that for Catholics who he -- of course, he converted to Catholicism in 2019. He's the only Catholic I know who's gotten rebuked by two popes in one year.
CORNISH: Well, he's just the most high profile. There's also the zeal of the convert, right? HALE: Sure.
CORNISH: He brings that energy.
HALE: And, you know, the church loves converts. We have -- we have places for converts. But like any, any tradition, when the new guy comes in and tells you you're doing things wrong, there can be issues there.
CORNISH: OK. One thing about getting things wrong, because I doubled checked this three different ways. Like, I'm not sure this is true. That the church on the cover of this book is not a Catholic Church. And it's worth mentioning. The publisher actually issued a statement to "USA Today" saying that this church comes from the part of the country where Vice President Vance grew up. "He was raised protestant and in evangelical churches, and he talks about Christianity in an ecumenical sense throughout the book."
Penny, I think you said you're familiar with this area.
NANCE: Yes. Yes, I actually grew up -- I --
CORNISH: But would it -- I may -- I'm from Massachusetts. I feel like you kick a rock, you hit a Catholic Church. Was there not one?
NANCE: Not many.
CORNISH: OK.
NANCE: No. I mean, you know, I'm proud -- I'm a proud hillbilly. And I'm not actually at all surprised that he wrote this book. And if you understand where he grew up, you understand that he was very impacted by the faith of his grandmother.
CORNISH: Yes, this was in "Hillbilly Elegy" as well.
NANCE: Who was a Evangelical Christian. And there's not many Catholics in Kentucky in the area he grew up. In Ohio, it tends to be a much more evangelical area. But people of deep faith. And despite what he went through in college and all the trials that he lived through as a child, his mother's drug use, faith was always there. He departed for it briefly -- from it briefly, but came back.
CORNISH: And I think --
NANCE: And what this book is about, I think is about how he got back to his faith.
CORNISH: Yes. And that story feels familiar for those of us who grew up in the George Bush era as well, of kind of like church can bring you.
I want to talk about one other thing, though, in this book about communion. He talks about a comment he made on Fox News five years ago.
Let me play it for you.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
J.D. VANCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're effectively run in this country via the Democrats, via our corporate oligarchs, by a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they've made, and so they want to make the rest of the country miserable too.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: He doesn't need to, in this very personal book called "Communion," go to a political fumble. Why do you think he did?
ROCHA: Because he wants to run for president, that's why.
CORNISH: OK.
ROCHA: That's a. B --
CORNISH: Because he -- no, but he called it one of the dumbest things I ever said, boneheaded.
ROCHA: But he's also -- he's also, look, I'm not going to sit here and defend J.D. Vance. The only thing we got in common is we both had a mamaw (ph). But the reason he wrote the book, he wants to run for president, and he's trying to get in touch with a very important part of the electorate. I'm not saying that he's not Christian or not theological or all the things out there, but he's trying to become a real person and have a little bit of a redemption story. And as somebody who loves a redemption story, because I am a redemption story, I can respect that. And the church is in Tennessee, just FYI.
CORNISH: Wait, which, the picture of the church?
.
ROCHA: Not -- Virginia. The one on the -- on the book was in -- it's in -- yes, it's in Virginia.
CORNISH: On the cover. No, no, we've got to -- we've got to verify.
Oh, yes, Elk Creek, Virginia. There you go. Mount Zion UMC, shout out to y'all because you got a bunch of attention you didn't think you were going to get.
ROCHA: Yes. And it's lovely.
NANCE: Yes.
ROCHA: Absolutely. It's a beautiful backdrop.
CORNISH: We do group chats, and you're new, so what's in your group chat?
HALE: So, keep me on the same beat with the pope. Spike Lee, last November, saw Pope Leo XIV and he asked for a miracle. He wanted the Knicks to win their first NBA championship since 1973. And he did.
CORNISH: Yes.
HALE: And so he was paraded through Fort Greene, Spike Lee, on -- after game four. They were down 29 points and they came back in victory. And if you look at him on his little vehicle, he kind of looks like the pope at Fort Greene.
CORNISH: I was about to say, why is Spike Lee in a Popemobile? Like, what happened? There's like a Knicks pope. He's -- his little head's popping out of the car.
HALE: I -- he saw Leo's Popemobile and he wanted the same thing.
CORNISH: Well, that's another spike in popularity for the pope if he's responsible for this. He's going to have both Chicago and New York in his corner.
Can I ask you, Penny, because you haven't been here for a while, what's in your group chat?
NANCE: I would like to remind everybody about HHS' new program, moms.gov. It's a great place for women who are needing help to find out where the local pregnancy care centers are, what services are available for them, and just -- it's called moms.gov. It's all indexed by your zip code.
[07:00:00]
So, we'll just say, if you know someone who needs help, that's a great place to go.
CORNISH: And thy holy political consultant, what say you?
ROCHA: Today in Washington D.C., is election day.
CORNISH: Oh, of course.
ROCHA: Go vote if you can get out and go vote in election day today in D.C.
CORNISH: Yes.
ROCHA: And stop sending me mail. Today is -- the election day is over. I don't need any more mail. I voted four weeks ago.
CORNISH: OK. The good reminder, there are still these elections going on, and we'll soon be talking about a new mayor of D.C.
In the meantime, thank you for being here. Thanks for waking up with us. We're going to have the headlines coming up next.
