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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees
Votes Still Being Counted in Races for California Gov and L.A. Mayor; Trump Berates CNN's Kaitlan Collins in Oval Office; Interview with Rep. Jim Himes (D-CT); Republicans, Dems Raise Questions About Trump's Pick for Acting DNI; House Votes to Limit Trump's Iran War Powers; 60 Minutes Correspondent Scott Pelley Fired; Iran Attacks Kuwait's Airport, Bahrain; Trump Calls Netanyahu a Great Partner Despite Heated Call; Israel and Lebanon Agree to Implement Ceasefire, Contingent on Hezbollah Actions. Aired 8-9p ET
Aired June 03, 2026 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARY ELLEN CARROLL, SAN FRANCISCO DEPARTMENT OF EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT: They're becoming a default assistance -- roadside assistance for these vehicles, which we do not think is tenable.
KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Waymo told us in the last month they've reduced the number of Waymo initiated emergency calls by over 50 percent. No, technology is perfect, Waymo says in a statement to CNN. But unlike humans, Waymo takes community feedback and applies those safety learnings to our entire fleet. That has led to 13 times reduction in serious injury crashes compared to human drivers.
Kyung Lah, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: Thanks to Kyung and thanks to all of you for being with us. AC360 starts now.
[20:00:47]
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST, "ANDERSON COOPER: 360": We'll call it election night in America Continued. Good evening, thanks for joining us from the Newsroom. Primary votes are still being counted in California and races with potentially significant national impact in November on who controls Congress and two others, which are drawing a great deal of national attention.
These are live pictures from a counting station in Los Angeles County. We're awaiting more results in one of the most watched races to narrow the choices for the Los Angeles Mayor down to two candidates, that is still in flux at this hour. That contest could end up pitting the incumbent Mayor Karen Bass, against former reality star Spencer Pratt, whom the President said he'd like to do well.
Gaining ground, though from his left, L.A. City Council Member Nithya Raman. She's the race, though, remains too close to call right now.
Also, too close to call the governor's race with another Trump backed Republican, Steve Hilton, sharing the top spot with democrat Xavier Becerra. CNN's Elex Michaelson is watching the counting of the ballots come in. He joins us now with some new numbers. What are you seeing?
ELEX MICHAELSON, CNN ANCHOR, "THIS STORY IS WITH ELEX MICHAELSON": Well, Anderson, in California, there are 58 counties, but one out of four people live in L.A. County. Some 5.9 million registered voters here, which is more than 41 states.
Everybody's mailed a ballot. About 80 percent of people return their mail-in ballots and what you're looking at here is the process of signature verification. We just got some new numbers in the mayor's race. Karen Bass remains ahead; Spencer Pratt remains in second place. Nithya Raman, the councilmember, remains in third place. She made up about 3,000 votes into Spencer Pratt's margin, but she still trails him by 37,000 votes.
And so, we need to see better performance from her if she's going to overtake Spencer Pratt in order to get into second place. Let's talk about the Governor's race as well. We just got new numbers from L.A. County on that front, and you're going to look at the overall number for the state. Steve Hilton, Xavier Becerra remain in one and two. Tom Steyer, the billionaire who spent $200 million on this race has to get a really big number coming out of a place like L.A. County where one out of four voters live. He did not make up a lot of ground today.
So Steyer needs to find a lot of votes from somewhere quickly if he's going to get in the top two. Anderson, with Steyer telling his team is to make sure that your ballots were in, go through a process of verifying, make sure everything is in because they're trying to do something to make it close. But remember, California goes through a long process. It could take three weeks to count all the ballots before we truly get an answer -- Anderson.
COOPER: All right, Elex Michaelson, thanks for more on what the numbers may mean. Let's go to CNN's John King, who's on assignment in Pennsylvania. So, John, what more are you learning about California results?
JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Just a little bit. We may have 21 continued by the time if you get through this, if Elex is right and it takes three weeks, it'll be election night in America, continued, continued, continued, and so on. We are getting some modest new results, Anderson, but they're not moving the dial in any great way.
Just moments ago, a small number of votes came in in Republican Orange County, that's south of Los Angeles. It's about eight percent of the statewide vote. So, it matters. It especially matters to Steve Hilton, the Republican who is at the top of the statewide count right now. And he remains there out of Orange County.
That's what you're watching in the Hilton campaign. Is there anything fundamentally changing in the math? Are we going to at least right now, he's first. Are we going to stay in the top two, the Orange County results? It's a modest number, but Hilton ahead there, Becerra second, to Elex's point. Steyer running third again.
If he's going to change his dynamic in this race, he's going to have to start leapfrogging somebody as these results come in. Another very tiny amount of votes just came in from North Central California in Butte County, but it was only about 800 votes. But again, did it change the dynamic of the race? No, it's a Republican County, Hilton on top, Chad Bianco the Riverside County sheriff running second, and then Tom Steyer running a distant third there, but not enough votes there to fundamentally change anything big in the race. And as Elex noted, 25 percent of the population lives in L.A.
If Steyer is going to have some sort of a change, the race dynamic, it's going to have to happen or at least a large chunk of it is going to happen. In L.A. County, a modest number of votes came in today, and it didn't do anything to the fundamental premise of this race. Becerra, on top in L.A. County, Hilton second, Steyer third, a very close third, essentially a tie with Steve Hilton. But that's not enough right now.
So, Anderson, what are we looking for as we go on and on and on through this count? I'll show you something here, follow the bubbles. The larger the bubble, the larger percentage of votes are the largest number, larger number of votes that are still out there.
And so, you see, the big circle in L.A. County. Again, that's 25 percent of the statewide vote. You see some big circles in these Republican counties in Southern California, and you see some decent- sized circles in the Democratic counties up along the coast. And then some of the Republican counties inland.
You also see the colors in those circles. It's mostly Hilton and the red places, mostly Becerra in the blue places. So, if that trajectory continues as we count the votes for days and days to continue, then Steyer has a problem. So, as we have this conversation tomorrow and the next day, that's what you need to look for as more votes come in, is Steyer fundamentally changing the math? And to do that, if we got to tomorrow and the next day, he'd have to be leading in some of these places, or at least moving into a better second place position in some of these places where there's still a lot of outstanding votes that are going to take days and days to count.
[20:05:59]
COOPER: John, I don't know if you like it, but I love that you now bring the Magic Wall wherever you go.
KING: It's the best, it allows you, especially if the count is going to take three weeks, Anderson, you can spend it in the studio, or you can spend it at a beautiful little community event here in Telford, Pennsylvania.
COOPER: That's awesome. Are random people coming up to you asking you to like look at various counties?
KING: Yes, a young girl just came up and asked if she could have my job, actually, and I'm thinking about it.
COOPER: All right, John King, thank you.
KING: She'll be ready in about ten years. She's so little.
COOPER: All right. I appreciate it, John, thanks. It's great to have you.
I want to get some perspective from both sides of the aisle. Joining me now, Republican strategist Brad Todd and democratic strategist Paul Begala. Paul, what's the takeaway so far in your view from the results in California.
PAUL BEGALA, CNN POLITICAL CONTRIBUTOR, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: The moderates are on the march, even in liberal California. It looks like Xavier Becerra will significantly defeat the darling of the left, Katie Porter, who by the way, is very smart, like Harvard trained lawyer or something. A very, very impressive talent in the media. She's under five percent. Xavier Becerra is at 25 percent. So, Xavier is more moderate, he defeats Katie. He's leading Katie, I should say, by over 20 points.
I see the same thing in the mayor's race. Karen Bass, more moderate, seems to be fending off Nithya Raman again a talented progressive by over 10 points, 12 points I think we've got on the screen right now. You're seeing that across the country and it's been making my head explode. And people say, well, because Zohran Mamdani won, it means the Democrats are moving to the left.
Mamdani won with 50.4 percent, 13 points below Kamala Harris, who is not the strongest candidate we ever had. And yet Abigail Spanberger in Virginia, Mikie Sherrill moderate in New Jersey, those two moderates far outpaced Kamala Harris, but nobody says they're the future of the party, they are.
COOPER: Brad, do you buy Paul's hypothesis? I mean, obviously, Republicans, well, say the party's turning to the left.
BRAD TODD, CNN COMMENTATOR, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Well, you know, I wish that this is a place where Paul knows this. This is a place where I wish Paul was right, that the Democratic moderates were on the march. In fact, I think if you look in places, I'm watching congressional races and in the 45th district, for instance, the Democratic leadership in Washington has been trying to get what they perceive to be the more moderate candidate Jasmeet Bains through. She's getting beat pretty bad by the far-left candidate.
I look also at the sixth district where Kevin Kiley left the Republican Party to run as an Independent. The other candidates going to qualify for this race is a Republican right now if trends hold, and that's a seat Democrats thought they were going to steal and redistricting. It looks like maybe two Republican or at least one Republican and a former Republican may advance.
So, I think democrats still have a huge problem on their left with people like Graham Platner. I'm looking at Karen Bass' number right now, she's at about 35, 36 percent. She was at 43, this time four years ago. And so, I think that, in fact, that you see a lot of weakness at the top of the ticket there for Democrats. But I do see Paul's point on Becerra, and I am glad to see Katie Porter lose.
COOPER: Paul, Karen Bass is the first sitting or did you want to respond to that, Paul?
BEGALA: No, I like Katie Porter. I'm not, she's not my wing of the party, but I'm kind of amused. I want to see Xavier Becerra. I think he's the strongest Democrat in that race.
COOPER: I mean, Karen Bass, though, is the first sitting Los Angeles Mayor since 2005 to fail to earn the 50 percent of votes required to avoid a runoff. What do you think that says about the electorate stands heading into November, at least in Los Angeles?
BEGALA: Yes, people are really angry and they want change. And Karen Bass has been the mayor during this disastrous fire in L.A. just disastrous. And a lot of people are blaming her for the handling of it and for the understaffed fire department, other things. So, she's a terribly wounded incumbent and so ripe for being picked off from the far left.
And yet again, this very talented city Councilwoman Nithya Raman, seems to be trailing her by double digits. It's because Democrats want to stay in the center. "The New York Times" poll last week, Siena College, they looked at Democrats and they asked them, do you think your party should move to the center or to the left? By two to one, 52-25, Democrats said, we want to move to the center.
So, this is the challenge I think Brad's party has is they've abandoned the center. Okay, they're somewhere out god knows where, but they've certainly abandoned the center. And so, the Democrats prudentially are claiming the center. And I think that's going to be the story of this election year.
[20:10:19]
COOPER: Brad does that --
TODD: You know what, the mayor's race in L.A. though is not about the center, the mayor's race is not about the center, it's about confidence and Karen Bass has been an incompetent mayor. That's why Spencer Pratt has a running shot at this thing.
COOPER: Do you think, it is interesting to me, though, that that Spencer Pratt has gotten as much traction as he has? I mean, obviously there's a lot of anger about the fires, and he has been very vocal about that. Do you think that is the main source of his appeal, Brad?
TODD: I think it's about government competence in general. And, you know, I think he's shown that he's got a grassroots appeal around the country. Spencer Pratt is going to raise a lot of money from Republicans all over the country.
Karen Bass is sort of a poster child for failed Democratic governance. She wasn't a very good congresswoman in Washington, and she's not been a very good mayor. And I think Democrat, the way they've handled the major cities in this country, and that's part of why you saw Mamdani succeed in New York, is because even voters there were willing to embrace a crazy socialist just to hope for some change.
Paul's right, people are hungry for change, and nowhere is that more true than the big cities of our country.
COOPER: Brad Todd, Paul Begala, appreciate it. Thank you.
Just ahead, with the ceasefire strained to the breaking point, Congress issues a rare bipartisan rebuke to the President on the war with the passage tonight of a House War Powers Resolution could mean in limiting the President's further action against Iran.
Also, just a day after acting attorney general all but declared his so-called anti-weaponization fund dead, Mr. Trump suggests otherwise while singing the praises of the violent insurrectionists who might have collected from it.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:16:00]
COOPER: Today the President, when taking questions from reporters, including our Kaitlan Collins, defended his so-called anti- weaponization fund. What many Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill have referred to as a slush fund. The same $1.776 billion pool that his acting attorney general just yesterday essentially said was dead, telling lawmakers, "We are not moving forward with it, period."
Now, the President's latest comments are raising questions about whether it really is dead, at least in his mind. Kaitlan asked him just that and joins us now. So, what did the President tell you?
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN'S CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT AND THE ANCHOR OF "THE SOURCE": Well, Anderson, I mean, this is a real question because it potentially is going to be a pretty big blowup between Republicans on Capitol Hill as they're trying to pass immigration funding. But some of them want an amendment in that legislation that says the President is barred from moving forward with this fund because the language from the acting attorney general yesterday, for some Republicans, was not concrete enough saying that they're not moving forward with this $1.8 billion fund amid questions after the President said today in a podcast interview that it wasn't scrapped, just a court had ruled against it.
So, we were called into the Oval Office this afternoon. He was asked multiple times as we were trying to get clarity on whether or not it is permanently scrapped or if it's simply on hold because of this legal battle. And this is what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Excuse me, Mr. President, just to clarify, on what you were asked earlier, is the $1.8 billion DOJ fund dead or is it on hold? DONALD TRUMP (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: It's -- I'd have to ask the lawyers, I don't know. I know one thing, the weaponization, are you talking about the weaponization?
COLLINS: Yes, what's your decision?
TRUMP: The weaponization fund, as far as I'm concerned was a beautiful thing. It was something I was, I didn't make it, but I was, I heard that I thought that was the greatest thing because people like you have abused our people so badly. The fake news like CNN, like "The New York Times" and like others, have abused our people --
COLLINS: Well, Republicans are critical of it, Mr. President, on Capitol Hill.
TRUMP: Wait a minute. Be quiet, have abused our people so badly and you should be ashamed of yourself.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Now, obviously, this bill has nothing to do with press coverage that the President doesn't like about his allies. It's the argument that's been made by people who do support it is they believe there was over prosecution by the Biden Justice Department, and they want allies of this President to be able to submit and potentially get payouts from the federal government. And so, what happened, really, is the President stood by this fund. He defended it. He said he loved it. He seemed to distance himself from the comments yesterday from the attorney general saying they aren't moving forward with it, with the President saying that that is a question about the future of this fund, Anderson, that he says is up to the attorneys.
And we saw clarity on his position. He simply defended the fund, but didn't say anything about moving forward with it.
COOPER: All right, Kaitlan Collins. Kaitlan, thanks, we'll see you at the top of the hour for "The Source".
Before we move on, though, I want to show you another moment from that Q and A with the President, because the President did something completely unwarranted.
You saw some of it just now verbally attacking Kaitlan Collins. But I want to set the scene. He was answering someone else's earlier question, not hers, about his fund. She said nothing to him ahead of it at this point, she was simply standing there doing her job. Listen to his remarks. Defending the January 6th-ers. And then I just want to play what happened.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: These people, their lives have been destroyed. Their families have been destroyed, many of them. And I'm not just talking about a few people, many of them. I'm one of them. I look, they raided my house, Mar-a-Lago. That never happened, nobody ever thought of a thing like that. It turned out that it was a total fake. Everything about it was fake and corrupt. We have all the information. You know, the good advantage to sitting here is we can get information that you wouldn't get by what we have and what we are going to be showing over the coming weeks and months. You're not even going to believe some of you will believe it. Like CNN will believe it because they knew what was going on and they're crooked as hell.
CNN's a very corrupt organization, but with a corrupt reporter standing right there, never smiles. She never sees a young, beautiful woman, never smiles. I never see a smile off her face. I see her standing there with hatred in her eyes, like she has hatred because we have borders, because we have a strong military. Because we cut our taxes. Because we do things that everybody wanted. And then we win our election in a massive landslide.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[20:20:20]
COOPER: I'm not asking Kaitlan about this because she's got actual work to do, and she doesn't need to be answering questions about this kind of behavior. That's the President of the United States in nearly 80-year-old man who has no problem commenting on her physical appearance and telling her she needs to smile. That doesn't happen to men. No one's ever said that to me in an office setting. She was there, like every other journalist doing her job, standing around with a bunch of non-smiling men, by the way, all behind her. I don't know if you saw that. She gets singled out.
Now, this, of course, is not the first time the President has focused on professional female reporters, Kaitlan included.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: You are the worst reporter. No wonder CNN has no ratings because of people like you. I don't think I've ever seen a smile on your face.
COLLINS: Well, I'm asking you about survivors and Jeffrey Epstein.
TRUMP: You are an obnoxious, a terrible, actually, a terrible reporter.
Are you stupid? Are you a stupid person?
You're a terrible person and a terrible reporter.
You ought to go back and learn how to be a reporter. No more questions from you.
REPORTER: If there's nothing incriminating in the files, sir, why not --
TRUMP: Quiet, quiet, Piggy.
(END VIDEO CLIP) COOPER: Joining us now is Tara Palmeri, host of the "Tara Palmeri
Show" on YouTube, author and writer of the "Red Letter" newsletter. I mean, I don't know why I'm surprised by this. I shouldn't be, but I just, I don't think guys, I don't think any guy would -- it's just bizarre that this is something he does over and over and over again. I mean, and I think people do it to women all the time.
TARA PALMERI, HOST OF "TARA PALMERI SHOW": Yes, absolutely. What you are seeing is a day in the life of a woman. She's a powerful woman and he's objectifying her and he's using a misogynistic comment about her appearance to belittle her. Because, in fact, when Kaitlan Collins is standing there, she is a woman with agency and she has a lot of power.
She represents the people of the United States of America, and she's holding him to account by asking him questions in the Oval Office. And he does not like that, and he does not like that the vessel of a person who is asking them that those questions, that challenge him is a woman, because he's used to women being around him that are people pleasers, who are smilers, who are secretaries, who are Cabinet Secretaries. As we've seen from the various, you know, hearings that we've actually watched on T.V. and the deference that they show him.
But also, this is a man who owned beauty pageants, who was a judge in modeling competitions, who's used to seeing women have to smile and please him to advance in life. Kaitlan is not that woman. She is a woman who has made her way in life on her own as an independent woman, challenging his authority on behalf of the American people.
COOPER: And I mean, I think a lot. Maybe there are some folks out there who would say, well, what's the big deal? You know, what's so wrong about a guy saying, oh, yes, you should smile more. I'm sure there's some guys who would be like, oh, I wouldn't mind if somebody said that to me. Theres a Yale professor named Marianne LaFrance who studies this sort of thing extensively. She wrote a book called "Why Smile? The Science Behind Facial Expressions".
She says that men in these situations laugh. She said, "laugh it off as though it's a male prerogative to tell a woman what to do with her body." She also says, "Females are supposed to smile more than men. It's not just that they do, but there is a prescriptive stereotype that they should somehow."
I'm wondering what you make of her assessment.
PALMERI: It's absolutely true. I mean, to smile is to please the other person. Unless you are doing it out of pure happiness and you are feeling it yourself. But when you are doing it in deference, which is what he wants, he wants her to be happy about his policies. That's what he's saying to her. You should be smiling for what I'm doing for you.
You know, he sees her as someone who cannot challenge him. I think she really challenges his worldview when he talks about Make America Great Again. He's talking about a female archetype that Kaitlan Collins is not. He is talking about a woman from the time when he grew up in the 1950s, in the 1960s, who worked in a role as a secretary or an aide to a powerful man where men decided women's fate. Women couldn't even open credit cards at that point in their lives. You know, you went to college if you could, and you immediately tried to get married.
Kaitlan is none of those things. And if anything, President Trump keeps trying to bring back these glory days when men had more power over women, and the only way for them to advance was to be beautiful and to smile. Maybe they could be models. Maybe they could be in a beauty pageant, and maybe they could have a little bit of power during that short period of time when they were beautiful and could smile.
COOPER: Yes, it's incredible to watch an entire press corps of men who are not smiling, standing around the President, asking him questions, looking very glum. And it's the women he focuses on to, to belittle and besmirch. Tara, appreciate it, Tara Palmeri, thanks so much.
As we said, apart from his attacking Kaitlan Collins, President Trump made news in the Oval Office for his full-throated support for the Justice Department's so-called anti-weaponization fund, nearly $1.8 billion in taxpayer money earmarked to pay out January 6th Rioters and other allies of the President.
Mr. Trump said he didn't know whether the fund had been officially scrapped, even though his acting attorney general said as much during congressional testimony yesterday. Joining us now, the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, Connecticut Democratic Congressman Jim Himes. Congressman, it's only taken a day for the President to put in doubt something that his acting attorney general just said yesterday. How much stock do you put now in what Todd Blanche said that it's been shut down?
[20:25:55]
REP. JIM HIMES (D-CT): Yes, well, Anderson, look, I think as a practical matter, it's been shut down. I mean, when you have, you know, the majority or at least a substantial number of Republican Senators saying this is toxic and we will vote yes on an amendment to make sure it never sees the light of day. You know, what we're seeing here, of course, is just sort of chapter two of what you were just talking about, which is the President's essential character, which is that he can never gracefully admit that on this one I lost. And, you know, let's move on to the next thing.
He just always needs to win everything, even when it's as absurd and hideous, frankly. And, you know, you may recall I was one of the last people out of the chamber on January 6th. I had a very personal experience with the just awful people who were defecating in the Capitol, who attacked police officers who were determined to stop the peaceful transfer of power. And now, he's trying to get us all to believe that these people were, in fact, the victims.
So, again, it's just, you know, another, another Wednesday in in Donald Trump's world.
COOPER: Does it say anything to you that the acting attorney general told Congress he would not be putting anything in writing as to the fate of the fund and also the fact that the President and his family still get the break of something which may be valued as much as $100 million, to not have any more pursuit by the IRS against them.
HIMES: Yes, we're going to work on that, too. You know, we're going to work on stopping that as well. But no, I mean, does it surprise me one bit? Of course, it doesn't. Look, we've seen this movie over and over and over again, which is that anybody who decides to compromise their own soul and their own integrity by becoming a servant of Donald Trump, must forever, you know, try to both live in the real world, which involves a lot of Republican Senators absolutely pissed off about the toxic quality of this fund, but also to never, ever do what Donald Trump would never do, which is to admit defeat and say, no, were moving on.
Todd Blanche can't do that. If he does that, he gets fired. Now, why people decide they want to be Todd Blanche. You know, power, I guess, is fun. He's got cars and a big office and stuff, but, you know, he can't. No cabinet secretary can, you know, in any way countermand or even steal the spotlight from Donald Trump.
COOPER: You're the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee. I just want to play something. One of your Republican colleagues in the Senate, Thom Tillis, said about President Trump choosing his Housing Finance Director Bill Pulte to be the acting Director of National Intelligence, who has no actual experience in intelligence.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. THOM TILLIS (R-NC): I think he's the worst form of sycophant and advisor to the President. That is going to hurt the Presidents legacy and his ability to continue a great agenda, of which I support the majority.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: What do you think of this person, even just on an acting basis being the DNI? What does it mean for National Security?
HIMES: Yes, well, I mean, look, as much as I appreciate Thom Tillis unchained, you know, it's worse than just being a sycophant. You know, as we were just discussing, being a sycophant is the price of entry to have a position anywhere near Donald Trump. What's worse than that is that Bill Pulte as this obscure and esoteric chairman of FHFA, you know, making himself chairman of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. I mean, believe me, corners of the government don't get a lot more obscure than that.
He used that position for the sole purpose to go after the Attorney General of New York, Letitia James, who Donald Trump didn't like, Adam Schiff and Lisa Cook, a governor of the Federal Reserve Board. So here is a guy who has shown that he has no interest in his job. All he wants to do is go after the President's political enemies. And the reason you take some pause is because, quite frankly, sitting on top of the Federal Housing Finance Administration, you do not begin to have the tools and the power that you do atop the $90 billion American intelligence community.
So, his appointment is not just insane. It's quite likely to put a bullet in our ability to reauthorize something that the President says he wants to reauthorize, which is the, you know, the FISA 702 Surveillance Program. So, I mean, again, you just look at this stuff and say, who's minding the shop? Who's keeping this five-year-old under control?
COOPER: Yes, Congressman Himes, thanks so much, I appreciate it.
Coming up next, with breaking news on the war for the first time, Republicans joined Democrats in passing a measure telling the President he cannot continue without Congressional approval.
Later, the firing of Scott Pelley at "60 Minutes". How CBS characterized its actions last night in Pelley's response, telling his former bosses they cannot, in his words, gain the trust of the remaining staff with lies. More on that ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:30:30]
COOPER: For the first time since the start of the war, House lawmakers have passed a measure blocking the president from conducting further strikes on Iran. The War Powers Resolution passed with four Republicans joining Democrats in voting yes. But even if it makes it through the Senate, it is not clear lawmakers could force an end to the war.
Shortly before the vote, the president spoke at length about the conflict to what lately seems like a ceasefire in name only between the U.S. and Iran.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I'd say, in that part of the world, ceasefire is when you're shooting in a more moderate manner.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[20:35:00]
COOPER: More moderate as in Iranian strikes on Kuwait and Bahrain overnight, including on Kuwait's International Airport, which killed one person and injured many more. Also, American reprisals against Iranian targets and heavy Israeli air operations in Lebanon.
Late today, what Tehran says was a naval attack, which Central Command disputes, on a CENTCOM facility in the region. Now all that said, the president was upbeat on the peace process.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: The negotiation itself is going very well, actually. Very well.
It could happen -- I mean, if it happens, and it might not happen, you know, who knows, but if it happens, it could happen like over the weekend.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Well, statements like that always call for caution. He said words to that effect about many weekends before this one. Earlier today, he even told the New York Post he hoped to meet with Iran's new supreme leader "at some point." No sign of any willingness from the man in question, whose father was killed in the war and who has not been seen in public for months.
The president also acknowledged the phone call he recently had with Israeli Prime Minister, Netanyahu, during which he reportedly called him F-ing crazy and asked him regarding Lebanon, quote, "What the F are you doing?"
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MIRANDA DEVINE, COLUMNIST, NEW YORK POST: Did you speak to him in those terms?
TRUMP: I did. I wouldn't say angry. I was a little bit perturbed at his constantly fighting with Lebanon, you know, at some point as it may be, we're going to stop this, we're going to stop it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: The prime minister was also asked about the call and the president's characterization of it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SARA EISEN, CNBC ANCHOR: President confirmed that he that he said you're F-ing crazy. How did you react to that? What really happened in that call?
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: Well, I'm not going to get into details of our conversations. We've had thousands, well, a lot, a lot of them. And if you think this is a crisis, you should be in some other conversations, but we've always found a way.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Well, one other item on Israel and Lebanon, shortly before airtime, the two countries announced that they have agreed to what they're calling the implementation of a ceasefire, comes with several catches. It's contingent on a complete end to attacks by Hezbollah and the removal of all Hezbollah operatives from southern Lebanon.
Joining us now, CNN Global Affairs Analyst, Karim Sadjadpour, also CNN Military Analyst and retired Air Force Colonel, Cedric Leighton.
So, Karim, does it feel like this is a ceasefire in name only and what does it say to you that Iran is still willing to target other countries in the Gulf?
KARIM SADJADPOUR, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: It does indeed feel like a ceasefire in name only. It's a temporary pause, perhaps. Iran cannot -- it's not powerful enough to retaliate against the United States, so it goes after U.S. allies and partners in the Gulf. Most recently that was Kuwait.
The goal is to continue to try to spike the price of oil, try to show Americans that this war is ongoing and obviously, impact American public opinion as we saw with that congressional vote today.
COOPER: Colonel Leighton, I mean, the attacks from Iran came after a U.S. fighter jet disabled an oil tanker that was heading to the Iranian port on Kharg Island. What does their response tell you from a military's perspective? Was it proportional? Are they showing a willingness to escalate? How do you read it?
COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Yeah. In this particular case, Anderson, I'd say it was a willingness to escalate because it's one thing to strike an oil tanker. It's quite another to go after an international airport, and it's not even a U.S. international airport. It's a third country airport, Kuwait.
Of course, the Iranians see Kuwait as an ally of the United States and will do what they need to do, in their opinion, to limit the effectiveness not only of the U.S. presence in the Middle East, but also our relationships with our allies such as Kuwait.
COOPER: Karim, President Trump said in a recent interview that in regards to negotiations with Iran, quote, "I don't care if they're over, honestly," he said. He also said the discussions had, quote, "started to get very boring."
I mean, there's no doubt that I'm sure negotiations are incredibly boring with Iran. The negotiations for the, you know, the agreement in the Obama administration went on for, you know, years and years of planning and, you know, years and months of talk. Do you think Iran is intentionally drawing out negotiations in order to wear down the U.S.? Or, I mean, they seem fine with it being boring.
SADJADPOUR: So the Iranian foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi wrote a diplomatic memoir that came out last year, in which he talks about the Iranian negotiating style. He calls it the bazaar, the marketplace negotiating style. It's constant repetition, repeating the same demands until your adversary becomes bored and they essentially want to end the negotiations and consent.
Now, we haven't seen that impact on President Trump. On the two occasions he's been frustrated with the pace of negotiations with Iran, he's taken military action. But here, Anderson, President Trump doesn't have any clear-out cards. He's been trying to get a deal. The Iranians have been driving a tough bargain.
[20:40:00]
The threat of military action and actual military action hasn't moved them. And he can't walk away either because he's opened up a Pandora's box in which Iran is now badly hurting the global economy, and its nuclear program and its missile program are an ongoing threat to U.S. national security. So he doesn't have any clear exit strategies.
COOPER: Well, also, Karim, I mean, the president has tried to -- I mean, I think he's -- it seems like a while -- in more recent times, he's kind of realized he needed to say, you know, he's not feeling pressured by the economy, that it's -- that's not a metric he's using, that he'll keep going as long as is needed. Do you think the Iranians really believe that?
I mean, it seems like if he's saying it's boring, doesn't that play into kind of their strategy of make it as boring as possible and just wear your opponent down?
SADJADPOUR: So if you want to stick with the carpet bazaar metaphor, which is what the Iranians evoke, you know, the counter to that is to say, OK, if you're not interested in lowering your price, we're going to leave the shop. And he has threatened that on multiple occasions.
But I think the Iranians know that so long as they're controlling the Strait of Hormuz and that's blocked, and he doesn't have their nuclear material, they maintain that the highly-enriched uranium, that's a bluff for him to say, I'm just going to walk away. They know that, you know, he cannot leave this issue unresolved.
COOPER: Colonel, Iran's foreign minister said in an interview with a Lebanese station that if Israel attacks Beirut, the result will be a return to war and threatened to attack Israeli forces directly. Do you think that's a bluff? Do you think Iran would attack Israel if the ceasefire announced today fails?
LEIGHTON: I don't think they have the capability to attack it in a conventional sense. But what they can do, Anderson, is they can, of course, lob missiles and drones against Israel, which they've done several times, as we know, in the past.
And the other thing that they're going to do is use their proxies. The remnants of Hezbollah are going to be quite effective as far as the Iranians are concerned in really tying down the Israelis and, by extension, tying down the United States. So the way the Iranians see it, Israel is connected to the U.S. Anything that the Israelis do to violate a ceasefire or to not even engage in a ceasefire, that to them is fuel for any effort that they have to go back to conflict.
COOPER: Karim, how do you see it?
SADJADPOUR: I think that's absolutely right what Colonel Leighton said. So this is an example, Anderson, in which U.S. national interests and Israeli national security are in some tension here, because the Israelis say, listen, so far as we have this militia on our border lobbing missiles at us, we're going to continue to have to fight back against them. But Iran has made a ceasefire in Lebanon a condition to any deal, and that's what President Trump is seeking, and hence that tension between him and Prime Minister Netanyahu.
COOPER: Karim Sadjadpour, Colonel Leighton, thanks as always. Appreciate it. Coming up next, new details on the firing of "60 Minutes" Correspondent Scott Pelley and the pushback that he is giving the network. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:47:48]
COOPER: Well, "60 Minutes" Correspondent Scott Pelley has been fired. Pelley has been at CBS for more than three decades. CNN's Chief Media Analyst, Brian Stelter has more.
BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA ANALYST (voice-over): CBS News is in crisis mode following Scott Pelley's firing, with CBS staffers and viewers wondering, is this about culture or politics?
SCOTT PELLEY, HOST OF "60 MINUTES", CBS NEWS: Those stories tonight on "60 Minutes."
STELTER (voice-over): Pelley says politics are at play, claiming the new owner of the network is apparently trying to, quote, "curry a moment of favor with the Trump administration."
BARI WEISS, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, CBS NEWS: I'm Bari Weiss, Editor-In- Chief of CBS News.
STELTER (voice-over): Weiss' allies deny Pelley's charge. They say she's trying to reform the culture of "60 Minutes," a famously insular show that she believes needs to be dragged into the digital age. Last week, Weiss ousted several top producers and two correspondents amid her controversial efforts to overhaul the entire News Division.
Pelley shouted out one of his fired colleagues during a recent Emmy ceremony.
PELLEY: I see Sharyn Alfonsi there in the audience.
(CROWD CHEERING)
STELTER (voice-over): And he was incensed by the firings days later.
On Monday, he tore into new "60 Minutes" Executive Producer, Nick Bilton, a former tech reporter with little TV experience. In front of the staff, Pelley depicted Bilton as unqualified for the job and said he'd never be welcome here. Pelley also accused Weiss, who was not in the room, of murdering "60 Minutes."
The comments leaked and became national news, even on CBS.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: According to CBS News management, efforts were made to see if both sides could reach common ground. Pelley met with senior management of CBS News last night, and no agreement could be reached.
Pelley was then informed by "60 Minutes" Executive Producer, Nick Bilton that CBS News and "60 Minutes" would have to part ways with Scott. He was terminated for cause.
STELTER (voice-over): In a letter justifying the firing, Bilton wrote that Pelley "hijacked my first meeting with staff to disparage me, my qualifications and my intentions with remarkable incivility and contempt."
Pelley has no regrets. He says, quote, "The leadership of 60 Minutes is no longer recognizable. The principles I hold dear are gone, and so I must leave as well."
[20:50:00]
On Wednesday, he disputed Weiss' version of events, saying Weiss misled the staff when she said that CBS tried to "find a way back" and keep Pelly at the network.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
STELTER (on camera): So Pelly's not going down without a fight, and he has lots of support from CBS News veterans who say the show does not need fixing in the first place. They point to the high ratings and the stacks of awards. They fear that this overhaul by Paramount is an attempt to appease President Trump. At the same time, Paramount needs Trump administration approval for its deal to buy CNN and the rest of Warner Bros. Discovery.
My sources close to CBS News management reject that. They say this is not about politics. It's about culture change. Ultimately, viewers are the judges. Viewers get to decide if brands like CBS are living up to their storied legacies and valuable reputations.
Brian Seltzer, CNN, Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
COOPER: Coming up, the latest from California, where votes are still being counted in primary races for governor and Los Angeles' mayor. We'll check in again with John King (ph).
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:55:39]
COOPER: Back to our Breaking News on the California primaries, as we mentioned at the top of the hour, votes are still being counted in a number of key races, most notable for Los Angeles mayor, the incumbent Karen Bass not crossing the 50 percent threshold she needs to avoid a runoff. Her close --
ANDY COHEN, CNN HOST: Happy Birthday, you Gemini stud. How are you doing, my man? Happy Birthday, Anderson!
COOPER: I just texted you in the commercial break.
COHEN: I know you did. Forget about these, L.A., election. Enough, we've heard it all.
(LAUGH) COHEN: My man, it's your birthday. It was mine yesterday.
COOPER: It was your birthday. I remember that, yeah.
COHEN: Yes, it was. Happy Birthday to you.
COOPER: Thank you.
COHEN: I'm so happy to see you.
COOPER: You dressed up, wow.
COHEN: I did. I love your newsroom.
COOPER: Yeah, thanks.
COHEN: Gorgeous, blow out your cake.
(LAUGH)
COHEN: Yes. Make a wish.
(LAUGH)
COOPER: Yes. I did.
COHEN: OK. Very good. How's the broadcast going?
COOPER: It's going all right.
COHEN: Very good.
COOPER: We got about three-and-a-half minutes.
COHEN: Great.
COOPER: Yeah.
COHEN: You have hate in your eyes. Do you know that?
(LAUGH)
COOPER: Is that what -- is that what the president said?
COOPER: Something like that, yeah.
COHEN: Yes. Kaitlan Collins was on my show last night. She was outstanding.
COOPER: I heard she did great.
COHEN: She was so great. She was talking about all the summer house news, which I'm sure you've already covered.
COOPER: Yeah, we've covered that -- that show. I loved it.
COHEN: Yes. Of course. You know what I'm excited for?
COOPER: July 3rd.
COHEN: July 3rd.
COOPER: What are we doing? So here's the deal. So Andy and I are doing July 3rd. There's a ball drop for the 250th anniversary. And it's very exciting for America. Andy has not allowing me in any of the meetings because I really don't contribute to anything.
COHEN: Yes. We're doing a --
COHEN: So I have no idea what we are doing.
COHEN: -- summer ball drop, which sounds outstanding. And here's Breaking News. Anderson, we will be drinking beer. America's --
COOPER: Is that right? Really? OK.
COHEN: Yes. We will be drinking beer. This is the Breaking News.
COOPER: All right.
(LAUGH)
COHEN: All night long. And I'm told that we have access to a potty for the first time.
COOPER: Oh, it sounds fair.
COHEN: Which is great.
COOPER: That's unheard of.
COHEN: Yes, which is huge.
COOPER: Yes.
COHEN: Because, of course, you drink enough beer and you need to -- yes.
COOPER: OK. (Inaudible).
COHEN: But anyway, we've got a lot of fun surprises coming. We're going to be counting down and most importantly --
COOPER: When do I get to be included in on what's happening?
COHEN: Whenever you want. We are going to be celebrating this country that we love so much --
COOPER: Yes.
COHEN: -- in so many ways.
COOPER: Yes. COHEN: And I'm really excited.
COHEN: I am too.
COHEN: And I get to spend a summer evening with you in Times Square.
COOPER: I known like a hot summer in New York.
COHEN: Yeah.
COOPER: Yeah.
COHEN: That's what I love.
(LAUGH)
COHEN: Hot summer nights in New York.
COHEN: I'm schlepping in from the beach for our ball.
COOPER: Oh, wow, that's so great.
COHEN: You know what, by the way? This is a co-anchor duo. This right here.
COOPER: I know.
COHEN: Me now (ph) like that.
COOPER: By the way, someone just said to me in my ear, Andy's birthday. Jack Gray just said to me, Andy's birthday was yesterday.
COHEN: Yes.
COOPER: I know. Happy Birthday.
COHEN: And you wished me Happy Birthday.
COOPER: What did you do for your birthday?
COHEN: I went out for dinner. I had a lot of fun stuff with the kids.
COOPER: OK.
COHEN: My kids were so excited it was my birthday. Were yours excited?
COOPER: Yes. They came in, they woke me up this morning. I'd normally wake them up. They woke me up this morning with a pecan pie.
COHEN: Oh.
COOPER: Because it's my favorite.
COHEN: Is it?
COOPER: Yeah. I love it.
COHEN: Is pecan your favorite nut, would you say?
COOPER: No, I wouldn't eat a pecan normally, but in a pie --
COHEN: But you like pecan pie.
COOPER: -- In pie form, I just think it's glorious.
Yeah. I think it's incredible.
COHEN: You know what I think is glorious?
(LAUGH)
COOPER: What?
COHEN: You.
(LAUGH)
COHEN: I really do. I think you're great.
COOPER: Jesus. Wow.
COHEN: You're a great anchor man. You're a great newscaster.
COOPER: OK. We got another minute.
COHEN: The context that you give to everything.
COOPER: Yeah. You know, Kaitlin comes on right after me.
COHEN: I know, "The Source with Kaitlan Collins." I promoted it like eight times last night.
(LAUGH)
COHEN: On Bravo, actually. Very kindly, if I do say.
(LAUGH)
COHEN: God knows she was chilling (ph) for Bravo last night. (Inaudible) I'll tell you that much.
(LAUGH)
COOPER: Yeah.
COHEN: Anyway.
COOPER: So what happened to -- yeah.
COHEN: What happened to what?
COOPER: What is this Summer House thing? COHEN: Oh, sweetie. We have one minute left.
(LAUGH)
COHEN: And you want me to explain this. It's like the hottest, Summer House and Love Island are the hottest unscripted shows.
(CROSSTALK)
COOPER: I thought it was a British thing.
COHEN: Well, there's an American version and it's on Peacock and it started last night.
COOPER: Oh, I see. OK.
COHEN: And it's quite sexy if you're up for it after your show. Yeah.
(LAUGH)
COHEN: Good wind down activity.
COOPER: Yeah? OK.
COHEN: Yeah.
COOPER: All right.
COHEN: Absolutely. Anderson, I cannot wait for our Summer Ball Drop on July 3rd.
[21:00:00]
COOPER: Me too.
COHEN: And you know what?
COOPER: What time is it at?
COHEN: It starts at eight o'clock, I believe.
COOPER: OK.
COHEN: Until about 12 something.
COOPER: Good.
COHEN: And we're going to be there. It's going to be awesome and --
COOPER: All right.
COHEN: Yeah, happy birthday.
COOPER: Thank you very much.
COHEN: You're the best. COOPER: Thank you.
COHEN: (Inaudible) warm.
COOPER: That's it for us. The news continues. "The Source with Kaitlan Collins" starts now.
