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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees
CENTCOM: U.S. Struck Iranian Missile And Drone Locations; Reuters: Iran's State Media Claiming Iran's Forces Targeted Several Locations Of U.S. Army In Region; Vance: U.S. Honored Deal, But "Violence Will Be Met With Violence;" Trump Claims Democrats Becoming A "Communist Party"; Report: National Parks Funds Spent On Trump's D.C. Projects; Death Toll From Venezuela Earthquakes Rises To At Least 920; Small Aircraft Crashes Into Beijing's Tallest Skyscraper; Kim Jong Un Unveils Largest Warship Ever For North Korea; New Clues Taylor Swift May Wed At Madison Square Garden. Aired 8-9p ET
Aired June 26, 2026 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MIKE VALERIO, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: "Please Stand by." This is what happens when the government has information that it cannot control here in Mainland China. But back to our picture, Erin. It's already Saturday morning here in Beijing, as we push in ever so slightly, you can barely see that small gray square of damage. So tiny relative to the colossal scale of this building as it tapers out to the sky.
But, you know, this isn't, Erin, about just the security of millions of people who are spread throughout this metropolis. This is very much from China's point of view about the security of the upper echelons of its government about a half hour down the road, that's the communist party headquarters. How this plane was not intercepted? An unanswered question -- Erin.
ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: Absolutely incredible story. Mike Valerio, thank you so much. Reporting from Beijing on this Saturday morning. And thanks so much to you for joining us this Friday night. Anderson starts now.
[20:00:51]
ERICA HILL, CNN HOST: Iran says it's answering new U.S. strikes with attacks of its own. Anderson is off tonight, I'm Erica Hill.
The breaking news from Reuters citing Iran's Revolutionary Guard as saying their forces targeted several American Army deployments in the region.
Now, there's no indication yet that anything has or has not been hit. But this follows, of course, U.S. strikes along the Strait of Hormuz, which U.S. Central Command is calling a, "powerful response" to yesterday's attack on a commercial ship that was transiting the Strait.
American forces hitting coastal radar sites, missile and drone targets. Vice-President Vance posting tonight, "Iran signed a ceasefire agreement. We have honored it, if they have disagreements about how the MOU is being applied, they can pick up the phone," going on to say, "... but violence will be met with violence."
Now, the President has yet to weigh in at this hour. Earlier today, though, he did acknowledge Iran's capacity to cause damage in the Strait.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: We still have a fight, they have some capability, not much. They're not winning or anything, but they have some, they can still shoot.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HILL: A short time before that, but before the strikes were announced, Trump was asked how the U.S. would respond to that attack on the ship and his response at the time. You're going to have to find out.
Well, we now have found out. Joining us now with more CNN chief White House correspondent and anchor of "The Source," Kaitlan Collins.
So, Kaitlan, first of all, so we have this this claim tonight, right? Iran's claim that they're going to be targeting these cargo ships. What more are you hearing tonight?
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN'S CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT AND THE ANCHOR OF "THE SOURCE": We've checked in with the White House. No confirmation, no response yet on that in the immediate aftermath. So, I think we still have to wait to see if it's true, if it's accurate. And if it is, you know, the extent of the damage, because I think that could change the way through which were seeing this. You know, is this a one-off violation of the ceasefire?
As you know, the President has put it, the ceasefire has not been very ceasefire-y as this has been going on. And so, I think that's the question here, because if it is obviously the United States may indeed respond to that.
And so, the President seemed pretty exasperated by this earlier. He was calling it a foolish violation of the ceasefire that they've signed. I thought the Vice-President J.D. Vance's comments confirming it were also interesting because he was saying in a tweet earlier that Iran signed this ceasefire agreement that the United States had been honoring it. And he said if they have a problem with it, if they have any, you know, disagreements, as he put it, about how the MOU is being applied, they should pick up the phone. And then he said, but violence will be met with violence.
Now, the reason that stood out is because Monday, when the Vice- President was briefing reporters on this, he was talking about this back channel or direct channel they were setting up between the IRGC and CENTCOM, going through Doha, where they could have conversations about this. And clearly, obviously, that is not happening.
And so, I think it's an open question of where this goes from here in terms of is this accurate about Iran's claim? And if the United States responds, and where that goes from here. But I mean, the Strait of Hormuz has been the issue the whole time. And when they signed this preliminary agreement, it wasn't exactly spelled out what was going to happen here. And I think that's why there were so many questions. Despite the very optimistic assessments that were coming out of the White House.
HILL: So, there's also, so when we pull back and look to, I mean, to your point about what we had heard earlier in the week about a, you know, line of communication, essentially where we stand today, what is the level of concern in the White House about the impact of what we've seen over the last 24 hours on negotiations?
COLLINS: Well, I think the President is most irritated by this because he's been saying the Strait of Hormuz is open. It's safe to go back and transit there and obviously, this morning, he was the one confirming that they fired four drones. One of them actually hit one of the ships. He was saying it was a very big, expensive one. And that is important to him because that determines the market and the price of gas. And he's been frustrated the prices aren't coming down more.
And so, he's viewing it certainly through that lens and that irritation. But it also just kind of lends to what experts have been saying, which is this is not an easy problem to solve. Iran now realizes the control that it has with the strait of Hormuz firing one shot like this and actually hitting a boat is going to deter others, potentially from transiting the Strait of Hormuz.
So, all of this, I think, still remains to be seen in terms of where it goes from here.
[20:05:05]
HILL: Yes, absolutely, Kaitlan, appreciate it. Thank you. And of course, well see more of you of your reporting coming up in the next hour for "The Source". Among Kaitlan's guests tonight, TMZ's Harvey Levin on the search for Nancy Guthrie.
Joining me now, retired U.S. Army Lieutenant General Karen Gibson and former Deputy Director of National Intelligence, Beth Sanner. It's good to have both of you with us.
General, I'd like to start with you. So, in terms of where were at in this moment, Iranian State Media, citing the IRGC, now claims that they've responded to the U.S. attacks, which were, of course, a response to Iran. That can't be at this hour, independently confirmed by CNN. How much stock would you put in those claims?
LT. GEN. KAREN GIBSON (RET), U.S. ARMY: I think it's certainly feasible. Probably directed at one of our military bases, you know, perhaps fifth fleet base in Bahrain, in much the same way that we have attacked their military force in the littoral areas that could threaten ships. But if we go back to what started this latest round of tit for tats, you know, an unprovoked violent attack against a civilian vessel clearly violates the ceasefire and I think should put to bed any misconceptions that Iran is approaching these negotiations in a spirit of good faith and a desire to reach an accommodation through the MOU. HILL: So, if they're not approaching it that way, Beth, as you look at
it and as you look at this move by Iran and potentially what were also looking at in terms of these American deployments, what does this tell you about how Iran plans to continue to use the Strait of Hormuz?
BETH SANNER, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: They intend to control the Strait of Hormuz and the flows through there. And I think that the, you know, pretty dramatic strike, as Karen just said, against a civilian vessel, you know, right after Vance set up this whole deconfliction mechanism where an IRGC officer is going to be sitting with CENTCOM, not that they've arrived yet, but, you know, this whole idea that they're going to be part of this joint deconfliction, which would make them, you know, kind of an equal party to this. They're saying, not so fast. We want to do this in the way that works for us.
And so, you know, what happens within the 60 days matters. But what happens after the 60 days in terms of Iran really being able to apply its writ, its sovereignty as it claims over the Strait, is something that they're trying to set that up, which means, you know, down the road, maybe some tolls, you know, maybe insurance that's now being offered.
And, you know, and I think that we have very little ability in some ways to stop that after the 60-day period is over, after U.S. forces begin to draw down. So, we're going to have to see where this goes, but it's not great.
HILL: It's tough to see, right? Getting back to a pre-war state for the Strait of Hormuz, certainly at this point in the negotiations.
General, when you look at what has transpired over the last 24 hours, do you see this as Iran trying to exert control over the Strait or Iran trying to get the United States perhaps back into more active war?
GIBSON: I think my gut feeling would be it was to exert control of the straits. I think Beth makes some great points. They intend to play a controlling role. They do not intend for the traffic through the Straits of Hormuz to be free and unfettered, as it was previously.
Actually, what they desire is going to violate the U.N. Convention of Maritime Traffic. But that's what they desire to do. And I think they miscalculated. I think they were trying to send a message that they do intend to play this controlling role in what happens there, but I don't think, I think they miscalculated, thinking that if it didn't cause fatalities and if it didn't strike a U.S. Vessel, that maybe we wouldn't retaliate, that they were trying to send a message and clearly, they were wrong.
HILL: Beth, how is this playing with some of the other Gulf states? What we've seen over the last 24 hours and the support, whether they support, I should say, the U.S. response.
SANNER: Right, I mean, they just signed a joint agreement with the United States, the Gulf Cooperation Council. That's all the gulf states saying that Iran couldn't control the strait and that there would be no tolls.
And so, in a way, I think that, you know, Iran is saying, you know, well, too bad we actually are. And so, while I agree that, you know, they wanted to do this in a way that wouldn't escalate, I also think that Iran is not afraid to escalate because they think in the end, we will stop before going back to full scale war.
The Gulf states, to answer your question, know that, right? They understand what the deal is right and the fact that Iran is willing to do that says it all, and it says it all to them. They are going to have to deal with Iran, and they know they can't rely on us 100 percent to prevent Iran from doing that.
[20:10:14]
HILL: As all of this is playing out, Israel actually signed a trilateral agreement earlier today with Lebanon and the United States. Prime Minister Netanyahu announcing Israeli forces would withdraw from two areas of Lebanon, transferring them to the Lebanese Army. General, what potential impact could this have on both the conflict in Lebanon and, frankly, U.S. negotiations moving forward? But could this derail any of that?
GIBSON: So, certainly every aspect of this conflict, whether it's, you know, the difficulties of just having normal transit through the Straits of Hormuz, you know, we haven't even, we're not even talking right now about eventually getting to discussions about the nuclear program and then the conflict between Lebanon and Israel or Lebanese Hezbollah and Israel. Each one of these is fraught with complications.
I think that, President Netanyahu's move here is diplomatically important in that it removes, at least for now, a barrier to discussion with Iran. I don't think it's militarily significant. He's not going to give up terrain that is important to the defense of Israel. He's not going to give up high ground or any kind of area that Hezbollah could use to launch attacks into Israel, and he's not going to give up terrain immediately adjacent to Israel.
So militarily, it doesn't change things, but it does buy some diplomatic space, and it removes one more reason for Iran not to negotiate with us, at least for now.
HILL: General Gibson, Beth Sanner, appreciate your insight. Thank you both.
Still ahead tonight, new reporting on where the money for some of the President's White House and Washington, D.C. projects. Where that money is actually coming from, including some of the projects which he claimed he was funding himself. And later Vice-President Vance at the Nixon Library says Watergate, it would be a nothing story today, suggesting that Richard Nixon, just like President Trump, was actually the victim in that story.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
J.D. VANCE, VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: And by the way, if you look at the story of how the deep state took down Richard Nixon, it's not all that different from what the same groups of people, the same institutions tried to do to Donald Trump in the first Trump administration. There is a parallel.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:16:36]
HILL: Keeping them honest tonight, rewriting history to suit the moment. In this case, the Watergate Scandal, which drove a President from office for the first time ever and sent his top lieutenants to prison for years and played out live, of course, on national television.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN DEAN, FORMER NIXON WHITE HOUSE COUNCIL: I began by telling the President that there was a cancer growing on the presidency, and if the cancer was not removed, the President himself would be killed by it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HILL: That, of course, is former Nixon White House counsel, John Dean revealing for the first time the scope and seriousness of Watergate, which began with a break in at Democratic National Headquarters in Washington. But in fact, encompassed far larger abuses of power and government by President Richard Nixon.
Exactly 53 years to the day, later, at the Nixon Presidential Library, no less, Vice-President Vance said Watergate would be no big deal today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VANCE: So, we were talking about this a little bit backstage, but I'm actually fascinated by Nixon as a character in history. I think that his historical legacy is enjoying a bit of a renaissance, but I think deservedly so. As I joked with Robert backstage, if Watergate happened tomorrow, it would be like a 12-hour news story. Like the idea that it would have taken down a presidency is crazy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HILL: So, before getting into what he said about Watergate being essentially a nothing burger, now, you may have noticed he also suggested it should have been a nothing burger then, which is odd considering that the Nixon Library, again, where Vance was speaking, certainly doesn't see it that way.
In fact, it devotes an entire exhibit to the scandal with headings like dirty tricks and political espionage and road to resignation. Now, the library was not always this forthright on the subject, but in its present form, it certainly is. And it was all there for the Vice- President to see. That's because Watergate was a big deal back then, and the vast majority of Americans across the political spectrum knew it. No one had ever seen anything like it. Now, yes, there were other scandals.
J.D. Vance's counterpart at the time, Spiro Agnew, allegedly took cash bribes while in office, in paper bags and resigned in disgrace. But Watergate stood alone. Today, it would not.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST, "THE SITUATION ROOM": Breaking news President Trump has just fired the embattled FBI Director, James Comey.
ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: The Justice Department tonight naming the former FBI Director Robert Mueller, Special Counsel, to take over the investigation into Russia's meddling in the 2016 election.
CNN CORRESPONDENT: Former Donald Trump campaign chair Paul Manafort surrendered to authorities this morning.
BLITZER: President Donald J. Trump is now impeached once again by the U.S. House of Representatives. The 45th President of the United States, as we say, becoming only the third leader since the founding of this nation to be formally charged by the full House of Representatives.
TRUMP: Frankly, we did win this election.
CNN HOST: These people who were involved in this insurrection, they broke the glass in the United States Capitol, and now they are climbing through the window. This happened moments ago on the grounds of the United States Capitol.
REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): The resolution is adopted without objection. The motion to reconsider is laid upon the table.
WILLIAM BARR, FORMER U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: I mean that the claims of fraud were bullshit.
TRUMP: All I want to do is this, I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have.
COLLINS: The 45th President of the United States indicted on state charges stemming from his and others efforts to overturn Joe Biden's election win in the State of Georgia.
BURNETT: The former President, Donald J. Trump has been indicted in Southern Florida by the DOJ and that it's seven counts.
KARA SCANNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The Manhattan grand jury has indicted former President Donald Trump in connection with the hush money payments scheme.
TRUMP: For those who have been wronged and betrayed, I am your retribution.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[20:20:38]
HILL: Now, there are a lot of stories, frankly, competing for attention. Whatever you might make of them, political observers on the left, right and center over the years have all noted that each new headline seems to crowd out the ones before it. If that's what the Vice President was referring to, he's certainly not alone in noticing it. There is a huge difference between then and now. However, his other remarks suggest that that's maybe not what he's getting at. Instead, he seems to be focused on what he sees as the similarities between then and now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VANCE: And by the way, if you look at the story of how the deep state took down Richard Nixon, it's not all that different from what the same groups of people, the same institutions tried to do to Donald Trump in the first Trump administration. There is a parallel.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HILL: So, keeping them honest, there would be, if what he said about Watergate were true, which it's not. Richard Nixon was not brought down by the so-called deep state. He was brought down in no small part for getting caught trying to use that so-called deep state. In reality, just public servants to abuse the office and cover up crimes. So, no parallel there and no similarities either, in that when it all came out, Richard Nixon did not want to be impeached even once, let alone twice.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RICHARD NIXON, 37TH PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I have never been a quitter to leave office before my term is completed is abhorrent to every instinct in my body but as President, I must put the interests of America first.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HILL: He was bitter, he believed he was unfairly accused. People differ then and now on whether he actually felt any shame for anything he did. But the simple fact is, he chose to leave office. This President chose to stay. So, no parallel there at all, and also none in that it was the Republican Congressional leadership back then, Nixon's own party, who ultimately told Richard Nixon he had to go.
Today, whatever you may think of this President or his policies or the many allegations against him, here's what today's Republican leadership is saying.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA): If he were to lose the midterms, heaven forbid, these Democrats, your impeachment is not even the big concern. They will turn every committee of Congress into an investigative body, and they'll go after the President's family, the cabinet, his donors and friends, half of you in this room will be targeted. I run the protection program. I'll take care of you, okay.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HILL: Let's get some perspective now from a previous director of the Nixon Presidential Library, Presidential Historian, Tim Naftali, and former federal prosecutor and bestselling author Jeffrey Toobin.
So, Tim, you actually oversaw the Watergate exhibit at the Nixon Library, which, as we noted, does not shy away from the scandal. What do you make of the Vice-President's effort to downplay it?
TIM NAFTALI, CNN PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: Well, initially I thought he was just pandering. It's something that you need to do if you're going to be part of the Trump administration. But then when I looked at his comments, I recognized that he actually believes what he's saying, which means that we have a Vice President, uh, a well-educated vice President who is minimizing the real crimes and abuses of the Nixon era.
And this would only be a matter of history if it weren't for the fact that this Vice-President, I believe, would like to be President, which means that he may have a theory of governance that is an abusive theory of governance. And I think it's a product of the sense of power and impunity that this administration has.
Let me tell you about the facts here. It's not a matter of interpretation. Richard Nixon taped himself a fatal error. You can hear him suborn perjury. You can hear him learn about White House money that's been used to pay for thugs to break people's bones. You can hear him be told that there's a covert operation against an American citizen designed to smear Daniel Ellsberg. You can hear him talk about how he wants a list of every Jewish person in the U.S. government so he can put a non-Jewish person over them, because every Jewish person in America is unpatriotic.
All of that is on tape. And if you don't believe the tapes, you can listen to oral histories that we did with members of his inner circle, all of whom, to some extent regret the abuses that that administration committed.
All of that is accessible. The Vice-President has chosen either to ignore it or to pretend it doesn't exist. And one of the challenges in our world today is that we are operating from different pools of data. One pool that is real facts, and one pool that is made up facts. And what the Vice-President said at the Nixon Library is a product of made-up facts.
[20:25:33]
HILL: Well, and when you talk about these differing set of facts, I mean, Jeff, just weigh in for me in terms of any evidence that you see of Vice President Vance's claim that it was a "deep state" that took down Richard Nixon. JEFFREY TOOBIN, FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR AND BESTSELLING AUTHOR:
Well, it was not but in a perverse way, I think he's right because of how much the world has changed. You know, in in 1974, Democrats and Republicans watched Walter Cronkite. There was a shared sense of reality of what the news was. And today, that is no longer the case. If Watergate took place today, Fox News would minimize it. And the Republican party would unify as it unifies around Donald Trump, who has done things just as bad as Nixon did.
I mean, you know, a big part of the Nixon abuses was targeting his enemies. He had an enemies list, you know, seeking the IRS on his enemies. We have True Social posts of President Trump telling his attorney general to prosecute his enemies and those enemies have been prosecuted. But because the news media now is no longer, is so splintered and the Republican Party is so enthralled to this President, you don't have what you had in Watergate, which was Barry Goldwater, Hugh Scott and John Rhodes. Three major leaders of the Republican Party, saying to Nixon, you have to go. That's impossible today.
HILL: That's not happening. It's also important to note one of Nixon's attorney generals resigned instead of carrying out his orders. That is also a big difference today, Jeff.
TOOBIN: That's right. You're talking about the Saturday Night Massacre when Elliot Richardson resigned rather than fire Archibald Cox. Again, another parallel. What came out in the Mueller investigation is that, is that Trump told his White House counsel to fire Robert Mueller.
Now, he didn't do it. The White House counsel didn't do it. But the parallels and abuses of power are so clear in both Trump's first term and second term. And what's different is the reaction of the Republican Party and the difference between the Republican Party of the 70s and of today.
HILL: Tim Naftali, Jeffrey Toobin, appreciate the perspective. Thank you both.
Still ahead here, the President unveiling a new passport for the country's 250th birthday. Not to honor the U.S., but to honor himself. And next, his attack on a slate of New York Democratic candidates who won their primaries this week. President Trump calling them godless communists and claiming that those communists would, "kill your people".
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:32:36]
HILL: This afternoon at the Faith and Freedom Conference, the President attacked a number of Democratic candidates who won their primaries this week, calling them, quote, "Godless communists." So a point of fact here, two of the candidates are Democratic socialists, not communists.
The President then warned of the dangers of communism across the globe, and offered this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: They will close your churches in this country. They go communist, and they're trying to. They will kill your people. And that's what they're about. They want to end religion.
They have to end religion, because their ideology doesn't work if you have strong religion. People like you that are so incredible and love our country so much, and love God. This is the greatest threat to our country since its founding, in my opinion, 250 years ago.
What's happening right now? It's the greatest threat. People don't look at that. Oh, three people were elected. No, no, it's many more than three people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HILL: Joining us now, Republican strategist, Shermichael Singleton, and Democratic strategist, Meghan Hays. So, Shermichael, look, there are plenty of areas where a number of people may disagree with Democratic socialist policies, but claiming they're communists who want to, in the words of the President, close your churches and will kill your people. Are you comfortable with that from the President?
SHERMICHAEL SINGLETON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I mean, historically, he's not wrong when you're talking about communism. Now, the Democratic socialists in New York and Washington State and Washington, D.C., going to that extreme of communism as a philosophy, not quite, but I think one can make the argument that Democratic socialism, enough, the ideology, enough, should be concerning to all Americans as the tenants are not in sync with --
HILL: That's a big difference though that the ideology should be -- let me stop you there. The ideology should be concerning --
SINGLETON: Yes, yes, sure.
HILL: -- versus what the President is saying. The President is saying they are going to close your churches and they will kill your people. That's a big chasm (ph) between the two.
SINGLETON: Yes, but that's a historical -- it is different. But if you read about communism, philosophically speaking, you read the countries that had leaders that were practitioners of communism as a political force, that is exactly what they did.
Now, are the Democratic socialists communists? I'm not willing to go that far just yet, but Democratic socialism alone, by itself, is enough, in my opinion, for Americans to be absolutely concerned about. Again, the tenants of their belief systems are not in sync with what we believe as Americans, economically, culturally, our customs and behavior are not in sync with Democratic socialism.
[20:35:04] Yes, you put the Democratic in part of the socialism, but it's still very close to its origins. And so that alone, I think, is concerning enough. I think Republicans can run on that, drawing the contrast between being pro-capitalism, small government, less taxes, as opposed to increase in taxes. Because if things are going to be free, you've got to pay for it somehow. A bloated government, more government control, that, to me, is far enough to make the case and draw the contrast to the American people.
HILL: So talking about those things, obviously very different than what we heard from the President today. So, Meghan, when it comes to the President, right, saying something that is not based in reality, that then gains traction, it would not be the first time should this gain traction, how do Democrats need to engage?
MEGHAN HAYS, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: I mean, look, what he's saying is just so gross and so disgusting and so mischaracterized. I don't think Democrats or the American people need a lecture from Donald Trump on faith and religion. This is an administration that took away the Good Friday services at the Pentagon this year.
This is a man who was lecturing people on Easter Sunday. So this isn't someone that I think people are taking their lessons in faith from. So I'm not sure that we're all speaking on the same terms of reality here when it comes to this conversation.
HILL: So when it comes to the conversation, right, Shermichael laying out where he thinks Democratic Socialists could have a tough time on a broader stage, right, not in New York City. Van Jones last night on this program did warn that some of the far-left policies of candidates like those in New York City he felt could hurt Democrats come November.
This was before those claims from the President today, right, that they wanted to kill people in closed churches. But do you share any of Van's concerns about how the views of some of these candidates could impact the rest of the country in races?
HAYS: Well, absolutely, because they're not Democrats. They are socialists. Like Shermichael said, they don't have the same economic values. They also say things that are really abhorrent and anti- Semitic and say that America deserves 9/11, which is also just gross and disgusting.
So I just think that they are not Democrats. They don't represent Democratic values. And frankly, the Democratic Party should not be represented -- they should not be allowed to represent Democrats in their elections.
So, yes, I also share Van's concerns. But I would also say that these are people who won in very blue districts making other districts bluer. They are not people who are going to win swing districts. They are not people who are going to help Democrats take back the majority of the House. Those are people in New York 17 and Michael -- Mike Lawler's district or in Utah 1 who also won on Tuesday with very normal, moderate Democrats that hold values of the Democratic Party. HILL: Meghan Hays, Shermichael Singleton, appreciate it. Thank you.
SINGLETON: Erica, (INAUDIBLE).
HILL: Still to come here, shocking video of a small plane flying into Beijing's tallest skyscraper. Many wondering now how it managed to even fly through one of the most secure airspaces in the world.
Plus North Korea's largest warship ever is now active. What leader Kim Jong Un says is the first in a planned fleet of new vessels which he hopes will raise the country's naval might.
And the real question you want answered. I know this is it. Are Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce really getting married at Madison Square Garden? Turns out we have some new clues. I'll let you be the judge.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:42:48]
HILL: New developments tonight in President Trump's ongoing effort to remake Washington in his image. And this time, we mean that literally. The President just released a rendering of a new U.S. passport, which, as you can see here, prominently features an image of himself above his famous Sharpie signature.
Now, according to the State Department, this new design is a limited edition intended to mark America's 250th birthday. It will also be the default option for passports renewed in person in Washington, D.C. Other options will still be available elsewhere and online. There's no example of a sitting president ever before appearing on American passports.
In making the announcement on social media, Mr. Trump said, quote, "The USA's new passport, which says, "Welcome, but be good!"" U.S. passports, of course, are carried by American citizens traveling to and from other countries.
The President isn't just putting his touch on passports, of course. There is new reporting from The Atlantic tonight revealing that some of the President's White House redecorating priorities are not fully paid for with donations, nor with his own money, as he has claimed, but instead with tax dollars. Some of that taken from funding that was set aside for the National Park Service.
Meantime, parks like Yellowstone, Yosemite, Acadia, they're seeing their budgets and their staffing cut dramatically.
Michael Scherer is on the byline for The Atlantic and joins me now. Michael, you lay out in this piece how millions of dollars in funding, which was allocated for hundreds of projects across the Park Service, things that included crucial repairs, dealing with safety issues, that money has instead now gone to some of the President's projects. Where and how? Talk to me about how those taxpayer dollars are actually being used. MICHAEL SCHERER, STAFF WRITER, THE ATLANTIC: Right. So I was given a number of internal budget documents from the National Park Service. They showed that the National Capital Region, which includes the White House, the National Mall, things like that, has had about a 90-plus percent increase this year in project funding.
If you look outside the National Capital Region, all the other regions of the National Park Service, you have, you know, a 68 percent decrease in project funding. And the actual decrease is much larger than what's come to D.C. We're talking more than $800 million down everywhere else and about $100 million up in the D.C. region.
A lot of this is the stuff we've heard about in D.C. The reflecting pools coming out of this budget, the fountain beautification efforts.
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And some of it is the stuff that I reported on today that the President has previously said he's paying for or donors are paying for. That includes the walkway at the West Colonnade. He replastered the wall outside the Oval Office. He had claimed he was doing that himself.
The mechanism is, you know, some of this is just coming from revolving maintenance accounts. They're using it to work on the White House. Some of it is coming from park service fees. So when you go into Yellowstone Park, any park you have to pay a fee for, typically what happens is 80 percent of that fee stays with the park and 20 percent goes into a national fund.
They don't always spend that money every year. About $100 million of that money has gone now to Trump's projects around D.C.
HILL: Some of this sort of reallocation, I guess maybe we call it, has also been tied to the America's 250th celebration. So you even document how some staff has been relocated. This, of course, is happening against the backdrop of staff being greatly reduced at a number of parks as well as their budgets.
SCHERER: Yes, so there was a reduction in staff across the federal government when President Trump came in and hit the park service. Total staffing is down about 25 percent. If the President's budget for 2027 goes into effect, which it's probably not going to, it would drop even further next year.
So you already have a park system that's working at reduced staff. Earlier this year, park service employees got a memo from their director saying, you know, you may not be able to go on vacation in the middle of the summer this summer because we're going to have an incident, referring to the 250 celebrations in Washington, D.C. that we're going to need to staff.
And some of the documents I reviewed showed that right now, well more than 400 people from parks around the country are dispatched, basically, to Washington, D.C. They're still being paid mostly by their home parks, but then additional costs are being shouldered by the park service nationally. And they're working all around -- I mean, they're working at the State Fair that's happening on the National Mall. They'll be working at the fireworks on July 4th.
Some of that is typical. It's just a -- it's a much greater scale than we've had in the past.
HILL: I also find it notable you point out in your reporting that a lot of these projects, these are not a one-time spend, right?
SCHERER: Yes.
HILL: These are projects that are actually going to require continued maintenance. I know you reached out to the White House. I mean, what do they have to say about all of this, especially given that the President had claimed some of this was being paid for by donations or his own money?
SCHERER: Yes, I sent a pretty detailed email to them and to Interior asking, you know, showing what I'd found. They didn't respond to the details. The White House response was mainly focused on the need for federal funding. They're now seeking to do the East Wing reconstruction, what we talk about as the ballroom construction.
Trump said that was going to be paid for taxpayer-free. It's true he's raised about $300 million that's been transferred to the Park Service, but the actual cost of that facility, if you deal with what's in the basement, which is a military facility, other parts of it beyond the ballroom, is probably closer to $600 million. And he's tried now several times to get Congress to give him the money for that, and so far, the House and the Senate are not playing ball.
HILL: Yes. Michael Scherer, it's important reporting. Appreciate it. Thank you.
SCHERER: Thank you.
HILL: We're going to turn now to the pair of massive earthquakes that rocked northern Venezuela this week. The death toll there is now at least 920 people, according to Venezuela's National Assembly President Jorge Rodriguez, who also said the tremors had injured more than 3,300. We know at least 172 people are believed to be trapped under the rubble of collapsed buildings.
The earthquakes affected some 383 buildings, 13 hospitals, 25 shopping centers, and more than 1,000 other structures. That's according to officials.
We're also following news out of China. Terrifying video, frankly, of Beijing, which shows aircraft debris raining down from the sky after a small plane appeared to hit the city's tallest skyscraper, it's known as the CITIC Tower. CNN colleagues on the ground actually witnessed people being evacuated from the building.
Several emergency response vehicles on the scene, but officials so far, they haven't released any details on the crash, including how many people were on board or what could have happened with the pilot. It's also really important to note here, the city's airspace is one of the most secure in the world. Drones and planes are highly restricted.
This week, North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un oversaw the commissioning of the country's largest ever warship. This is a 5,000-ton naval destroyer. Military analysts say the new ship could give Pyongyang's adversaries something more to think about in a time of crisis.
And while North Korea claims it built the destroyer on its own, experts say it could have some of the hallmarks of a global power player -- Russia. Will Ripley has more.
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WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): North Korea's largest ever warship, the Choe Hyon, can fire a salvo of nuclear-capable missiles in seconds, state TV says.
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As seen in this multi-camera, cinematically shot demonstration earlier this year. A carefully choreographed show of military might, starring North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and his daughter and rumored successor, believed to be in her early teens, Kim Ju Ae.
She did not join her father at this week's grand commissioning ceremony, also broadcast on North Korean state television. Kim donning a Panama hat in classic strongman style, inspecting his new destroyer's big guns. Crew members smile for a photo with their supreme leader.
But nobody was smiling just over a year ago when a similar destroyer partially capsized during launch. Satellite images showed a catastrophic failure. One side submerged, parts of the hull draped in blue tarps.
Worse still, Marshall Kim was watching from shore. He called the botched launch a criminal act that brought shame to the nation. They arrested shipbuilders, engineers, and military leaders, but never disclosed their fates.
The capsized ship was eventually re-floated, launched again, and began sea trials this month. Now, Kim is declaring a new chapter in North Korean naval history, an end to over 70 years of stagnation. He said, "In terms of military hardware, the Navy was the weakest of all the services of our armed forces. Things have changed."
Sanctions were supposed to stop Kim from building warships like this. Instead, North Korea says it built this destroyer entirely on its own. Outside experts are not so sure. How did they build a warship this sophisticated this quickly?
Some analysts suspect Russian assistance. Pointing to Kim's growing military alliance with leader Vladimir Putin, neither Moscow nor Pyongyang has acknowledged any such help.
Some experts also point to similarities between North Korea's new warships and Russian naval designs. Kim says he wants to build two of these 5,000-ton destroyers, or bigger, every year for the next five years. As Kim sets sail on his quest to build a nuclear-capable navy, whether North Korea can actually match those ambitions remains to be seen.
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RIPLEY (on-camera): North Korea is still no match for the naval power of South Korea and the United States, but this destroyer does mark a turning point. For decades, Pyongyang relied on submarines, fast attack boats, and coastal defenses.
Now, Kim Jong Un is trying to build a blue-water navy, capable of operating in deep ocean much farther from home and carrying his nuclear ambitions with it. Erica?
HILL: All right, Will, thanks for that.
We'll speak now, or forever hold your peace. So where do you think Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift are actually going to tie the knot? The rumors, the speculation, and the clues, next.
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HILL: Ever since Taylor Swift announced her engagement to Travis Kelce in this post last summer, writing, "Your English teacher and your gym teacher are getting married." Swifties everywhere have wondered when and where? Well, it turns out tonight we may have some answers, with hints that what is being called the wedding of the century could actually be happening right down the street from our studios at Madison Square Garden.
Here's Elizabeth Wagmeister with more.
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ELIZABETH WAGMEISTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Leave it to this showgirl to create folklore over the love story of the decade.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Some are calling it the wedding of the century, and it hasn't even happened yet.
WAGMEISTER (voice-over): We already knew Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce were getting married. We didn't know where, until maybe now.
MAYOR ZOHRAN MAMDANI, NEW YORK: We are used to big events.
WAGMEISTER (voice-over): Earlier this month, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani dropped, in so many words, that he's welcoming the wedding of a generation over the July 4th weekend.
MAMDANI: We know it coincides with July 4th, America 250, Taylor Swift's wedding all happening at the same time, and we are so excited to welcome the world here. WAGMEISTER (voice-over): Swift's publicist did not respond to CNN's request for comment on the mayor's possible slip of the tongue. But new evidence points to Madison Square Garden, of all places, as the site of the wedding.
While Taylor won't speak now, here's what we know. CNN has confirmed through city and law enforcement sources that an application was filed to hold an event in the vicinity of the garden. It asked for a tent or canopy to be set up outside the Arena, and the permit would allow street closures around MSG between July 2nd and 4th.
Swift and Kelce weren't named, but the application was filed by a company that handles major productions, including high-profile weddings.
JESSICA TISCH, NYPD COMMISSIONER: NBA Finals, World Cup, all as potentially Taylor Swift's wedding. I'm kidding.
WAGMEISTER (voice-over): While New York officials drop hints --
GEORGE KITTLE, 49ERS TIGHT END: She's warming up for the wedding.
WAGMEISTER (voice-over): -- so is Travis Kelce's friend and fellow NFL tight end, George Kittle, who told Entertainment Tonight he's on the invite list.
WAGMEISTER: Is it MSG?
KITTLE: I've no idea.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, we don't know.
KITTLE: I actually asked Travis last night, and he laughed at me, so, no. I'm half expecting there to just be a jumbo jet on a runway, and they put us on a plane somewhere.
WAGMEISTER (voice-over): The garden wedding would come on the heels of the Knicks' first NBA championship in decades, where we all saw Swift seated courtside. The poetry of that moment is, for now, just poetry. Because until Swift confirms the MSG wedding, the rest of us are left in the tortured poets' department.
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WAGMEISTER (on-camera): Madison Square Garden does not have any windows, and that can keep the paparazzi out. Of course, Taylor and Travis do not want photos leaking out of this event. There's also underground parking, which could discreetly bring in all of the famous A-list wedding guests, again, that keeps the paparazzi out, but more importantly, can keep the venue safe and secure from any security threats.
Now, of course, no one other than Taylor and Travis actually know where this wedding is happening, so maybe it won't happen at Madison Square Garden at all. We will have to wait and see.
Erica?
HILL: We will be watching very closely. Elizabeth, thanks.
Thanks to all of you for joining us tonight. I'm Erica Hill.
The news continues. The Source with Kaitlan Collins starts right now.
