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CNN's The Arena with Kasie Hunt
Trump Claims A Deal With Iran Could Be Signed This Weekend; Trump Nominates U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton To Be DNI. Aired 4-5p ET
Aired June 11, 2026 - 16:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:00:05]
DOUG BURGUM, INTERIOR SECRETARY: NOAA, which is part of Commerce and Interior, which manages all of the offshore leasing. So, plenty of evidence that destroys fisheries.
Number two is marine mammals, which Howard has in NOAA, it's affected. We've had more whales wash up on shore during the construction of these offshore things. So it's not -- it's not great for marine life, not great for fisheries.
We also have a report from Secretary Pete Hegseth, which conclusively, this is a national security threat. And we should understand, this was thrown out by the Democrats and said, no, it can't be a national security, they're just making it up. Other countries, including Sweden, have canceled offshore wind projects because of national security issues.
And all you have to do is pay attention to the way the wars are being fought today. It's autonomous on autonomous, a lot of it low altitude, these wind towers that President Trump has worked to try to stop. The towers themselves can be 600 feet. The blades are 250 on top of that.
You could launch an attack on the U.S. in the Northeast in our most populous area with a bunch of autonomous drones coming through a wind tower field which cover thousands, if not tens of thousands of miles. That level of attack would be undetectable until it came through because of the radar interference.
And then we know that there's autonomous undersea activity going on. Now that's happening in the Gulf with advances in technology on all sides. The sonar, the vibration running the wind towers affects the undersea sonar. So it's a huge national security threat, bad for marine mantles, bad for fish.
President Trump is going to keep fighting for what's right for the future.
REPORTER: Did you stop the blades right now? They're coming over from Asia right now. They're sending the blades to start installing them. So it's sort of pending.
BURGUM: Yeah, well, and on top of that, it's the most expensive electricity, it's weather-dependent, it's intermittent, and it's foreign-sourced, as you said.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Terrible. And they do affect fishing, and it's very bad, and everybody's against it.
Yeah, please?
REPORTER: Mr. President, on Iran --
TRUMP: Go ahead.
REPORTER: Mr. President, on Iran, how confident are you that there will be a signing this weekend? Because you have come close to sealing a deal, but at the last minute it has fallen to power.
TRUMP: It'll be soon. Maybe this weekend.
REPORTER: And has the supreme leader approved this deal, sir?
TRUMP: I understand the answer is yes.
REPORTER: And when this deal is signed, is the United States going to immediately lift the blockade?
TRUMP: Yes, that's true. That's part of the deal. Oil prices dropping like a rock.
REPORTER: And, sir, have you actually secured an agreement on the discussions about the nuclear material and the nuclear negotiations?
TRUMP: Yes, conceptually on that, and nobody's getting close to it because it's buried under a mountain, basically. Those B-2 bombers --
(CROSSTALK)
TRUMP: Go ahead.
REPORTER: But has Iran committed to not pursuing a nuclear weapon, or will there be more negotiations on that down the line?
TRUMP: They will not have a nuclear weapon. They've agreed to that. There will be no -- which is the whole reason -- which is a big part of the reason --
REPORTER: Is that going to be your agreement, sir?
TRUMP: They will not only not have. They will not purchase, develop in any way, any shape, in any way, shape, or form a nuclear weapon. They will not have a nuclear weapon.
(CROSSTALK)
REPORTER: Mr. President, a follow-up on that. You have said before that Iran and the United we're close to a deal. It has not happened yet. Why are you so convinced that this time is different?
TRUMP: Because they've taken a pounding. They've taken a pounding like very few people could take, and they want to make the deal a lot more than I do. And we could have had it done the other way, I guess, but it would have taken longer.
They got hit very hard recently, as you know. And I don't like to have to do things that way, but I felt it was necessary. It's a great deal for the United States and for the Middle East, and I think ultimately great for Iran because they'll be able to build up their country and -- their country.
I really believe it's a regime change because I find these people to be much more rational than the people that are no longer with us. We knocked out the first team of leadership, the second team of leadership. This is a different group, this is a different level, and I think it's, frankly, a smarter level, and it's a level that has reason.
And they've all approved the deal. Everybody has approved the deal. Now we'll get it finished up, and hopefully that'll be done.
We will not have Iran having a nuclear weapon, which is very important to these people behind me. We can talk about fishing. There won't be anybody to fish. The fish will still be around, I guess. They're probably going to be effective, too. We're not going to let it happen.
So Iran will essentially -- most important paragraph to me -- Iran will, in no way, shape, or form, have a nuclear weapon or purchase a nuclear weapon.
REPORTER: But is this just the concept of that agreement when it comes to nuclear? You said this was just the concept of that agreement. So is this just essentially setting the stage for deeper talks on nuclear?
TRUMP: It's a very strong memorandum of understanding. That is a little conceptual, but it's something that's going to get done. And if it doesn't get done for any reason, which I can't imagine that not happening, they want to sign it as much as I do or more.
[16:05:05]
I would say they want to sign it more, maybe a lot more. But it's a very detailed memorandum of understanding, also agreed to by many other countries that have great influence over them, and everybody wants it done. So it's going to get --
REPORTER: Mr. President, you said yesterday that Iran may be tapping along the US those were the words that you used what makes you believe that they are sincere this time in wanting to pursue the --
TRUMP: Just level of enthusiasm for getting it done and we were hitting them very hard for the last three days. We're going to hit them even harder tonight. They knew that we told them exactly what we were going to do.
We explained it exactly because they had no navy. They had no air force. They had no any weapons of detection. They had nothing. And so we could tell them exactly what -- there wasn't a thing they
could have done about it. And we won this war militarily very early on. The only thing we didn't win was the fake news was, you know, no matter if they could have raised the white flag of surrender and the fake news would say, oh, they did wonderfully. They didn't do wonderfully.
But you know what? They've got a chance to build a country. Their country is largely demolished. Again, their navy is gone, their air force is gone, their anti-aircraft is gone. Everything's gone. Their leadership is gone many times over.
Even many people from this leadership is gone. But we found them to be rational, and they're going to make a deal.
REPORTER: Mr. President --
TRUMP: And I'll tell you what, it's a great deal. You know why it's a great deal? Because they will never have a nuclear weapon.
REPORTER: Is there a specific amount of time that has to pass between this memorandum of understanding and a final deal being done?
TRUMP: Well, we hope it's going to go relatively quickly, but it's --
REPORTER: Is there a 60 or 90-day deadline?
TRUMP: I mean, the streets are going to open immediately. It's one signing. Maybe it'll be Saturday or Monday.
REPORTER: Or is there a deadline, though, to get from this to a final deal?
TRUMP: We think it's going to go pretty quickly. I don't want to say a deadline because if I say a deadline, you'll say, oh, he didn't meet the deadline. You know, this is like, it's not going to matter much because it's going to get signed and the strait is open.
But the straits have been open for a number of months already and you just didn't know about it. You know, you as reporters weren't able to get it. I just announced yesterday that we brought a lot of ships through and nobody knew about it. I guess we did a pretty good job, Peter, right? But we brought many, many ships across, and millions -- hundreds of millions of barrels of oil were brought across. And there wasn't a thing that anybody could have done about that.
Yeah?
REPORTER: Is the Kharg Island operation off the table, and are you ruling out boots on the ground at this point?
TRUMP: Well, now, it would be. If we sign this agreement, it would be. They weren't so thrilled when they heard that that's what would have done. And I just don't think -- I like it great. Look at Venezuela, how well that's worked out. We paid for that war many times over, and many, many times over. We have millions of barrels of oil from Venezuela going to Houston,
and we're working great with the Venezuelan government. Couldn't be better.
It's a real -- it's a real good relationship, really good relationship. Venezuela has been amazing. This is a larger situation. Actually, less oil. Venezuela has a lot of oil.
But we think of it, we spend X dollars. We paid for it many, many times. When was the last time you heard that? Many times over we paid for it. You ever think you'd see that in this country, right?
We go to wars, we end up with always -- we end up with just blasting the hell out of people and we come home, nothing happens. Venezuela was amazing and this is amazing. Yeah.
REPORTER: Mr. President, are you considering using or drafting an executive order to extend FISA or to continue using Section 202?
TRUMP: Well, Congress wants me to do it, and let's see what happens.
REPORTER: The Republican leadership wants you to do it?
TRUMP: I put out a statement, sure. It's very important for our military.
REPORTER: Mr. President, on the State of America Act, you are now urging Republicans to add that to this third reconciliation bill.
TRUMP: Yeah.
REPORTER: What's your perspective on why election integrity matters so much for national security, from your perspective --
TRUMP: Well, we need for our lections. We need to have voter identification, which you don't have right now, on a national basis. We need it for -- and the voter ID is very important.
We need it for proof of citizenship. Do you believe it? The Democrats are fighting. They don't want you to prove your citizenship when you vote. You know why they want that? Because they cheat.
And we also wanted mail-in voting, where you have people that are sent seven, eight ballots, two ballots, four ballots. And a lot of them signed those ballots, mail-in voting. And we want to be very judicious if you're in the military and you're far away, or if you're handicapped, or if you're sick, or if you're on vacation that you have a -- but you're not going to -- millions and millions.
[16:10:04]
Look at California. They send out millions of ballots, tens of millions. They have no idea what's going on. Those elections are so corrupt.
So we have a mail-in ballot, and we have no men in, we had two more. No men in women's sports. We're talking about saving America, right? No men in women's sports, another one, very popular. I think it's 99 to 1. They say it's 80-20. I think it's 99 to 1.
And we have no mutilization of your children, for transgender purposes. So let's see, transgender mutilization of your children. Does that sound good with you guys, generally speaking? You're not into transgender mutilization.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not at all. Not at all, sir.
TRUMP: When your child leaves your house and they take your child from you, in some cases, think of it in six states. They take the child and do what they want to do. What they do is, I don't even want to talk about it. We add that no transgender mutilization of your children.
REPORTER: On DNI, Mr. President, do you intend to have Bill Pulte continue to serve as the acting director of National Intelligence? And do you think it's unreasonable that some Republicans have concerns that he has no intelligence experience, even if he's serving in this acting role?
TRUMP: But he's intelligent, unlike a lot of other people.
REPORTER: But do you think that's fair? No intelligence --
TRUMP: He's only there for a little while. He's running it for short while. Well, we got a very talented person, Jay Clayton. And as you know, Jay Clayton's an incredible talent, the head of Sullivan and Cromwell. He was head of the SEC. He's now Southern District. I mean, nobody has better credentials.
REPORTER: Do you want Clayton to --
(CROSSTALK)
TRUMP: Bill will run it for sure. Well, he's done a fantastic job, but Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac created tremendous -- it's probably worth a trillion dollars now, trillion. He's done a great job. He's a smart guy.
(CROSSTALK)
REPORTER: Mr. President, today is another example of you bringing these everyday Americans into the White House and listening to them.
TRUMP: Yeah.
REPORTER: How important is it for you to listen to everyday Americans when it comes to policymaking on a new basis?
TRUMP: These people built the country, not the complainers. The complainers didn't build the country. These people built the country, whether it's fishermen or farmers or anything else. Me -- guys like me, they built the country.
You know, I watch all these ingrates. They're always complaining, complaining. They didn't build anything. They couldn't build anything.
Look at what's happened in Minnesota. Somalia -- all these people came in from Somalia. They ripped off our system.
You have the woman who married her brother. She came in and married her brother. Isn't that wonderful? And she talks about the Constitution of the United States. She comes from Somalia.
They don't have constitutions in Somalia. They don't have police. They don't have -- all they have is people that run around shooting each other, and then she comes and tells us how to run our country.
I don't like it. These people don't like it, I can tell you. I think I can speak for you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah.
TRUMP: She comes in, Ilhan Omar. She comes in, she tells us how to run the United States of America. She comes from a place without anything, without anything, probably among the worst countries in the world, and she says, the Constitution of the United States protects me.
She shouldn't be protected. She honestly -- she was thrown out of the country. She's corrupt. And most of the people that came in are corrupt, and the whole voting system is corrupt in Minnesota.
I won Minnesota three times, easily. I won almost every county, but they didn't give it to me. It's a corrupt system. Very corrupt state.
The governor is terrible. The attorney general is terrible. They're all very corrupt people.
Yeah?
REPORTER: Well, sir, on the spending supplemental, do you think there's enough support from Republicans in Congress to pass it?
TRUMP: I hope so. I mean, any Republican that voted against it would be --
REPORTER: McConnell and Collins say they don't --
TRUMP: Well, McConnell is an angry man. You know, he got thrown out of his position. He's angry guy. You know, he should be very thankful to me because if I didn't win, he wouldn't have gotten to a point. I appointed the judges. He didn't.
He gets credit for appointing judge, he didn't appoint anybody. I did. You know how I did?
I won the election and then I picked judges and the judges ended up getting approved and they said, oh, doesn't he do a good job? He didn't do a good job. What the hell did he do? I won the election.
He's an angry man who's very disloyal to John Thune. John Thune's a good man. He was a loyal worker for Mitch McConnell. He worked for Mitch McConnell. He worked very hard. He was very loyal to him.
I disagreed with him a lot because Mitch McConnell gave so much money to Democrats. He gave them money. I had to go get the wall money from the military. I just took it out of the military because that guy wouldn't do anything. He gave it.
No, Mitch McConnell's a bad guy. And he's -- he's -- I thought he was lousy at his job. Lousy at his job. But when they gave him -- the only thing they gave him a lot of credit for judges. I'm the one that got the judges. You know why? I won the election. If I didn't win the election, he wouldn't have had any judges.
So, yeah.
(CROSSTALK)
TRUMP: Say it again?
REPORTER: When will you send the supplemental to a vote (ph)?
TRUMP: I didn't send the supplemental, but you have him. You have Murkowski.
I've done so much for Murkowski. You had the governor. I hear, Governor, have I done a lot for Alaska? Is there anybody done more for Alaska than me?
GOV. MIKE DUNLEAVY (R), ALASKA: You've been the best president for Alaska in our history, Mr. President. I've said that many times.
TRUMP: And Murkowski is terrible, terrible to us, terrible to the country.
REPORTER: Mr. President --
TRUMP: And, you know, I almost feel guilty. I do more -- probably done more for Alaska than any other state. Not because of her, because it's the right thing to do.
She's just an impediment. But she's there. She probably will be a negative vote. You have a couple of other.
I think Rand Paul's come a long way. Let's see what happens. I think Rand Paul likes Save America. So because Rand Paul's usually a negative vote, but I think he likes Save America. So that's good. I like Rand Paul, but you know, I hope he votes for us.
Yeah.
REPORTER: Mr. President, the president of the Kentucky Farm Bureau testified before the Senate about a month ago, middle of May. At that point, he said that the pricing and availability of fertilizer was a crisis for farmers, and he said the war was not helping that. And he said, we need the government to step in and provide economic help. Even if you do make a deal in the next couple of days, that was a month ago that farmers were saying they were in crisis. Do you think there needs to be federal aid specifically for farmers?
(CROSSTALK)
TRUMP: Yeah. No, it's fair. I gave the farmers $28 billion in my first term because they were taken advantage of by China. And I charged China for it. I put tariffs on and China paid us hundreds of billions of dollars, and I took $28 billion out of the tariffs from China and other countries that treated our farmers very badly. I gave them 28 billion and I'm looking at that actually.
The war is the primary impediment which is now going to come down from Ukraine. You know, a lot of it comes out of Ukraine and other things but other places. But no, the farmers have a problem with fertilizer but that's all coming down now and your fuel is going to be -- I think it's going to be lower than it was four or five months ago. Four or five months ago, we were doing unbelievable remember this. If you look at Biden, his oil prices without saving our country, saving the world by going out and saying to Iran, you cannot have a nuclear weapon.
If I ask these people about Iran having a nuclear weapon and they're going to have to go through some pain, I mean, I don't think I hate to really do it because it's a little dangerous. Every one of these people are going to say, you cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon because they'd use it.
You want to see turmoil? You want to see death and destruction? Let Iran have a nuclear weapon. So -- but I am looking at doing a form of help because of fertilizer. But fertilizer is going to come way down as soon as this is over.
REPORTER: Next week, there's a big run-off race in Georgia for U.S. Senate. You notably endorsed a candidate for governor there. You haven't endorsed for U.S. Senate between the two Republicans. Why not?
TRUMP: I may do that, but, you know, every time I endorse, they win. It's been a pretty amazing track record. I was 18-0 this last week.
REPORTER: Do you regret endorsing Randy Feenstra?
TRUMP: What?
REPORTER: Do you regret endorsing Randy Feenstra in Iowa?
TRUMP: The man running against him was all Trump. And the only one out of hundreds of races, hundreds, I'm glad she brought it up. You know, she's got to bring it up.
There's a gentleman in Georgia that I endorsed who was much less Trump than the other man that won, as you know. And had I been given the proper information, which I don't think I was, I probably would have endorsed the other person, or not endorsed at all, but I would have endorsed the other person. The other person was much more Trump, as you know, than Randy.
REPORTER: Mr. President, here in Washington, D.C., there's a Democratic primary for mayor. One of the two leading candidates, Janeese Lewis George, is running a Zohran Mandate campaign. So --
KASIE HUNT, CNN HOST: All right. President Trump making some major news, taking questions from reporters there, saying he, quote, "understands" that the supreme leader of Iran has approved of a deal to end the war with Iran, that the Strait of Hormuz will open immediately after the deal is signed, and once again claiming Iran has agreed not to have a nuclear weapon.
Let's get off the sidelines, head into THE ARENA. My panel is going to be here, but we're going to get started with CNN senior White House correspondent Kristen Holmes, who has been listening to the president along with us.
Kristen, the president both seemed to want to claim, as he has, that the Strait of Hormuz is actually open, but he acknowledged very directly, the quote was, "The Strait is going to open immediately upon signing this deal."
The bigger question, the longer-term question, I should say, is whether or not Iran will agree to what the United States wants around its nuclear program. The word conceptually was used. Why? What else stood out to you?
KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: I mean, that conceptually stood out to me because it was about enriched uranium, which was something that we know has been a sticking point between the United States and Iran.
[16:20:04]
I specifically asked if they had agreed on anything definitively regarding that enriched uranium. He said that conceptually they had come to an agreement but that no one was getting it anyway because it was buried so deep underground.
I think the thing we have to make clear here is that this is not a final peace deal. This is the memorandum of understanding that essentially sets off the process to a final peace deal. And he was very clear about that throughout these kind of remarks that he was giving about the various aspects of this, which is why he's using the word conceptually, except -- instead of actually finalized.
We also heard him say that it was very detailed. He said that he expects it to move quickly from this memorandum of understanding to a peace deal, but he would not give a deadline on that, essentially saying if you put something down and then surpassed it, that people would call him out for it. So he didn't want to give an actual timeline on when this memorandum of understanding transitions into an actual peace deal and what has to go into that.
It was fascinating though to hear, he said -- as you noted -- that he believed the supreme leader had approved this deal this memorandum of understanding.
And he also said he had spoken to a number of leaders after he made that announcement deciding or saying that he had decided to call up those strikes including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The reason why that is so critical is because we were hearing from sources close to Netanyahu that he was unaware at the time of this post of any kind of impending agreement with Iran when President Trump had said that Israel had already signed off on it. Now we are told that he has spoken to Netanyahu.
He said that he hoped that this was going to go quickly. He hoped that this was going to be signed by this weekend, that he wouldn't be attending. It could be in Europe, but he said he would be sending Vice President J.D. Vance along with Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner.
But a lot of details here, and we are hearing behind the scenes as well U.S. officials are very optimistic that this is where they want it to be, and President Trump saying that it was the final draft was pretty much done here.
HUNT: All right, Kristen Holmes for us at the White House. Kristen, thank you very much for that.
And joining me now is Republican Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana. He sits on the Senate Banking and Judiciary Committee.
Senator, grateful to have you on the program today.
SEN. JOHN KENNEDY (R-LA): Uh-huh.
HUNT: I want to start by just getting your reaction to this news just in. The president of the United States saying that they have a memorandum of understanding that is conceptual in some ways, he acknowledges, but one that when signed could reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Your reaction.
KENNEDY: I want to read it. I listened to the president's interpretation. I appreciate that. He's there. I'm not.
But I trust -- I trust the leadership, the political leadership in Iran like I trust a rest stop bathroom. They're not rational people. It's like dealing with Charlie Manson. They all think they're on a mission from God. They learn to lie before they learn to talk.
Do I believe even if they put it in writing, that they will never attempt to develop a nuclear warhead? No.
So the balances and the checks in this document are going to matter. I also want to know how much money we're releasing to Iran. The blockade -- I know this from both classified and unclassified information. That blockade is hurting them. It's hurting the military and the elite, but it's also hurting the people. And they're desperate for cash.
And if all we get in return for giving them some of the money is their promises, I'm not saying that's the case, but that's going to get my attention.
Look, I hope the president's right. He's worked hard on this. It sounds like good news. But how can I put this? I play poker every now and then with my friends. But they're all my friends, but I cut the cards every single time. I want to read this document.
HUNT: So you're saying that your fear is this might be a bad deal?
KENNEDY: I don't know what to think. I haven't seen it, Kasie. I just know who we're dealing with.
Now, we went in to Iran for one reason. I know there's been some revisionist history. Now, we went in to Iran for one reason. I know there's been some revisionist history because our intelligence showed that Iran was putting together a massive stockpile of conventional weapons, and once they had that stockpile completed, were going to turn to America and Israel and say we're going to start developing a nuclear warhead. If you bomb us again like you did last June when we bombed their nuclear facilities, Iran was going to say you can go ahead and do it we've got the missile technology and number of missiles to destroy the Middle East. And by the way, our missiles can now hit Berlin and London and Paris.
And we couldn't let that happen. And that's why we went in. And we have achieved that purpose. We haven't destroyed all of their conventional weapons, but we were destroyed about two-thirds. It'll take a trillion dollars in 20 years for them to recover. And we have our intelligence is now so good that if they ever start to develop a nuclear warhead, we can go back in.
I consider that to be the good news. I hope this is further good news, but I got to see it in writing.
HUNT: So, speaking of intelligence, we learned the president plans to nominate Jay Clayton to be the permanent Director of National Intelligence, the DNI.
I want to play a piece of an interview he did recently on CNBC, and we'll talk about it on either side. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAY CLAYTON, U.S. ATTORNEY FOR THE SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK: On the integrity side, we're doing an absolutely terrible job. and the American people are right to question it.
I am not speculating about fraud. I'm not saying there is fraud, okay? I am saying that the opportunity for fraud makes no sense to me when we can run a much better system.
There are a lot of people who look at this and say there is no fraud, okay? I don't think that they're right either.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: Senator, is the president focused on the DNI because of his focus on United States elections as opposed to foreign intelligence?
KENNEDY: I really don't know, Kasie. I mean, that's just -- and I don't want to speculate. That's as honest an answer as I can give you. I know Mr. Clayton well. I sit on the Banking Committee. He did an extraordinary job as head of the SEC. He was a great -- he's
a great lawyer. he's got good judgment he exercises power materially. Am I -- am I -- do I prefer to have him over there in the place of Mr. Pulte? Yes, I just honestly and I don't want Mr. Pulte but I think Jay will be a quicker learner and I think he'll play better with others.
HUNT: Do -- can he get confirmed?
KENNEDY: I'm sorry?
HUNT: Do you think he can get confirmed by the Senate?
KENNEDY: Yeah. Well, yeah, but we're going to have to saddle up and ride. I think my colleague Senator Schumer has given his colleagues on the Democratic side instructions to vote no on everything, so I don't think it's going to be unanimous. But I think we could have him confirmed in two to three weeks.
HUNT: And do you think that there is a sense of urgency among -- from you and among your Republican colleagues that putting Clayton in would get Pulte out? Sounds like you don't want Pulte to remain.
KENNEDY: Well, I don't know why Mr. Pulte was sent in, or is going to be sent in. I sense the president said he wants him to fire some people. I think what the president means, but I don't know, I haven't talked to him, is he wants the agency, if you will, reorganized. If that's the case, at least that's the positive perspective, I think Mr. Clayton knows how to do that, and he can do a good job.
What gives me a lot of comfort is that we still have John Ratcliffe at the CIA, and he knows what he's doing. Our intelligence services, they're best in the world. I think they're better than Israel's, and Israel's pretty damn good. And we'll be okay. We'll be okay.
But -- and I know the president has a lot of confidence in Mr. Pulte. I don't know the man. And he's the president, and he gets to pick and choose who he wants to give him advice.
What's always worried me about Mr. Pulte, he doesn't have a real deep background in intelligence.
HUNT: All right, Senator John Kennedy, I appreciate the spring fashion choices that you've brought here to THE ARENA today.
KENNEDY: Hey, it's summer.
HUNT: Always wonderful to have you, sir, and I hope to see you soon.
KENNEDY: Summer's here, and adventurous call.
(LAUGHTER)
KENNEDY: I think -- I think that's a lyric in a Meat Loaf song or something.
[16:30:01] I don't know.
HUNT: I don't know. You've got me. But either way, I enjoy it, and I always enjoy having you. So please do come back soon.
KENNEDY: Thanks, Kasie.
HUNT: All right, we'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HUNT: All right. Welcome back.
The United States intelligence community will soon be without one of its most powerful and controversial surveillance tools. And President Trump's announcement of a new director of intelligence is unlikely to change that. Today, the House failed to pass an extension to what's known as Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which you'll hear people shorthand as FISA.
[16:35:01]
It allows the government to collect the phone calls, text messages, and emails of foreigners located outside the United States. The reason that vote failed? This man, Bill Pulte. As we just discussed with Senator Kennedy, Pulte is President Trump's pick to be the acting head of America's intelligence community. Pulte has no intelligence, national security, or military experience, but he does have a lot of experience investigating the president's perceived enemies.
Then this afternoon, the president nominated U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton to fill the role of DNI on a permanent basis. But as long as Pulte's still in the mix, Democrats say they will not reauthorize FISA.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. MARK WARNER (D-VA), VICE CHAIRMAN, INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE: If there was a path that -- you know, I've never been a big fan of Tulsi Gabbard, but that Tulsi Gabbard would stay in place until Mr. Clayton was confirmed, we'd have a path out, but --
REPORTER: So it's still no because Bill Pulte will be acting?
WARNER: Yeah, there was -- Bill Pulte is a national security threat.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: Pretty blunt.
My panel's here in THE ARENA. CNN legal analyst, former federal prosecutor Elliot Williams; political reporter Molly Ball; CNN political commentator and Democratic strategist Paul Begala; and former Republican congressman of Michigan, Peter Meijer.
Welcome to all of you.
Thank you so much for being here.
Congressman, I actually want to start with you because you've had to look at this issue as a member of Congress. And --
PETER MEIJER (R), FORMER MICHIGAN CONGRESSMAN: Actually didn't.
HUNT: You never were there for a FISA re -- lucky you, lucky you.
MEIJER: Yeah, yeah.
HUNT: Well, forgive me. Forgive me for that.
But this -- this -- the reality is for people on the Hill, right, FISA is one of those things that often requires a bipartisan -- always requires a bipartisan coalition no matter which party is running the House because there are elements in both parties that are opposed to it and it can be threatening a very narrow needle.
What Senator Warner said there that Bill Pulte is a threat to national security, he's the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee. He's not someone that's known for hyperbole. He is someone who comes from the business world and is known for working across the aisle. It is a pretty remarkable statement for him to say that.
I mean, what is the way forward here considering and what do you think is at stake if 702 is not reauthorized because of all of this?
MEIJER: Yeah, and there have been temporary lapses in the past. I think the challenge is if that's a very long-term lapse, then there is, consistently stated by the intelligence community, this is a valuable tool that we need and it would allow terrorist networks or adversaries we would lose insight that we need into their operations if we don't have this.
Now, the other element of 702, as you noted, there is bipartisan opposition, there's bipartisan support. On the right, it's a lot of more civil liberties-focused individuals, and on the left as well. You know, President Trump spoke out against 702 when he was a candidate, came into office, didn't necessarily implement the same reforms.
So it's kind of one of those, if you're looking at the issue, you appreciate and respect it. When you're on the other side of it, you take major issue with those elements and the potential for it to be abused, because that was a tool that was used against some elements during the kind of Russia-gate investigation. That was where it drew the president's ire, and now obviously some he's very much supportive of continuing to authorize.
HUNT: Right. I think it was Paul Ryan who was the speaker of the House when the president basically blew up the FISA reauthorization with a tweet on maybe a Friday afternoon, which really, really doesn't go over well with members of Congress.
Molly Ball, let's talk a little bit about Jay Clayton, because this is, of course, the president's nominee as of today to fill this role on a permanent basis. I want to play a little bit of what he has said about Jay Clayton in
the past. This is someone who previously was at the SEC. So let's watch some of what President Trump has said about Clayton before.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Jay did a fantastic job in deregulating so much of the SEC.
With Jay Clayton, we had no scandal, zero, nothing whatsoever.
Jay Clayton was just approved in the Southern District, but he was so good. Came down here with Securities and Exchange Commission, ran it for four years during my term, like impeccably beautiful job. He did an incredible job.
You can't pick a better person than Jay Clayton. He's truly one of the most respected people in that world. He's a highly respected, one of the most respected people in the country in terms of law and law enforcement.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: And, Molly, we've also played for Senator Kennedy a recent clip of Clayton talking about the election results in California.
Do you -- how do you see this pick from the president? And is Clayton, who is I mean, we just ran down a lot of the president, ran down a bunch of his resume. How does it line up with what it takes to be DNI?
MOLLY BALL, POLITICAL REPORTER: I think that is really the big question. Look, if your problem with the Bill Pulte nomination was that he has been sort of the president's bagman, then this is obviously an improvement from that perspective.
[16:40:01]
But if your problem with the Bill Pulte nomination was that he didn't have national security experience, Jay Clayton also doesn't have an extensive resume, as far as I know, of the kind of experience that is described in the statute as a requirement for the Director of National Intelligence. So I think what you heard Senator Warner express was trepidation about Pulte being anywhere near this job ever, even in an acting capacity.
But then I think there are also going to be questions about what, if any, qualifications Jay Clayton brings to the role besides just being a deeply respected human being that people like, which also was not necessarily the case with Bill Pulte.
ELLIOT WILLIAMS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Yeah, I'd say something similar. It almost smacks of, remember the Matt Gaetz nomination in the beginning, after that imploded for attorney general. Then everybody after that seemed like a better choice, even folks who weren't competent or qualified for the role.
There's no doubt that Jay Clayton, I would agree with the president, has a stellar legal resume and was a top attorney in private practice. He runs the most -- one of the most important prosecutor's offices in the country, but he simply doesn't have the national security experience that the statute lays out.
Now, you can look as you Is he a smart guy? Certainly, that's the case. That's something senators should ask him about. But he doesn't come from the intelligence community. He does not.
MEIJER: The Southern District of New York, I mean, that is where the vast majority of national security cases, as they're pursuing international operations.
WILLIAMS: Sure.
PAUL BEGALA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: That's not true. The Eastern District of Virginia takes a lot more.
WILLIAMS: Well, they both --
(CROSSTALK)
BEGALA: -- I'm sorry, with respect to New York, with respect to New York, which is going to lose San Antonio.
WILLIAMS: Well, I think -- I'm still thinking, I don't want to do that in New York.
HUNT: Hold on, I want to give Paul the time.
BEGALA: It's -- this is like the greatest political philosopher ever was Henny Youngman. He asked him, how's your wife? He said, compared to what?
Okay, how is Jay Clinton compared to what? Okay, he's not a nepo baby home builder, but he's not qualified to protect my life. If your biggest threat is like insider traitors from Bear Stearns or whatever it is those big shots do at the Southern District of New York, that's fine. That's not what this job is.
Our lives are on the line. We are at war with the chief sponsor of terrorism in the world, Iran. And he wants to put-- this is better. And I'm with Mark Warner, right? I mean, I think if that's good enough for Mark Warner, it's good enough for me.
But it's not really what the job is designed to do. Our lives are at risk. There's a real terrorist threat in this country. And we're going to put a great Wall Street lawyer in there that's better than a nepo baby homebuilder, but not much.
HUNT: All right. On that note, coming up next year in THE ARENA, the president suggests a deal with Iran is imminent. Iran says that's not true. We'll talk with Democratic Senator Chris Coons about who's telling the truth and what's next for the war.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TRUMP: The documents are in pretty final shape, so we'll see. We'll see. Very good. Should be done. That should be done pretty quickly. They want it every bit as much as everybody else wants it, and I think a lot of good relationships can ensue from this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:47:26]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: The documents are in pretty final shape, so we'll see. We'll see. Very good. Should be done. That should be done pretty quickly.
They want it every bit as much as everybody else wants it, and I think a lot of good relationships can ensue from this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: All right, back to our top story. President Trump says the U.S. and Iran have reached a great settlement that could resolve the war, suggesting it would be finalized in the coming days. This just hours after the president vowed to seize Iranian territory.
Joining me now to discuss Democratic Senator Chris Coons of Delaware, who sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Senator Coons it's always wonderful to see you. Thank you very much for being here.
The president of the United States says that there's a memorandum of understanding a deal of some sort that's about to be signed. Iran says that that's not the case. What is your understanding of what is true?
SEN. CHRIS COONS (D-DE): Well, I'll believe it when I see it, Kasie, because in the hundred days since President Trump launched this war of choice against Iran, he's changed once, twice, three times. What's the goal of the war? And in the last few weeks, he's announced we were on the verge of a peace deal once, twice, three times.
So I no longer believe President Trump when he says we are about to close a deal with Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz. My core questions, if there is a deal, will be how much money is being transferred to Iran out of its frozen assets? What sort of security are we getting that their nuclear enrichment program is genuinely under control? Because both of these things were and -- excuse me and is the Strait of Hormuz permanently open with no control by Iran, no right to charge tolls, no sovereignty recognized?
Look, that would get us back to where we were before this war started. And President Trump said repeatedly this was a war launched to change the regime. We did, in fact, kill much of the leadership, but Ayatollah 2.0, the son of the former Ayatollah, is in power now, as is the IRGC, and more brutally repressive of the people of Iran. Iran has demonstrated their willingness and ability to launch missiles and drones at all of our Gulf allies and to hit our bases and our embassies.
And that's caused a lot of disruption, not just in the Persian Gulf, but in the world. And Americans are seeing a price at the pump and the grocery store that's a result.
Obviously, I hope there is a successful end to this war.
[16:50:01]
That would be a positive thing for the American people and the world economy. But at what cost? Tens of billions of dollars. more than 13 Americans killed and many hundreds wounded. And bluntly, we may be no better off than we were in 2017 when under Obama's nuclear deal we had an open Strait of Hormuz, inspectors in Iran, and real limits on their nuclear program. I hope we will at least get back to that point with whatever deal President Trump agrees to.
HUNT: All right. I also want to ask you, sir, about Jay Clayton, the president's announced pick to be the head of the director of national intelligence. Would you consider supporting his nomination? Is he someone who is qualified for this role?
COONS: Well, look, he does not meet the statutory requirement of having significant experience in intelligence and national security. I voted against him as head of the SEC. He is a seasoned and capable Wall Street lawyer and is currently the U.S. attorney in one of the most important national security-related districts, the Southern District of New York.
So he may not be as bad as Bill Pulte, but Bill Pulte is wildly unqualified, and his only qualification was a willingness to weaponize confidential mortgage data against President Trump's perceived enemies. An initial search for Jay Clayton just in the last few minutes have been trying to get up to speed on what he's been saying about elections and about Trump's perceived enemies.
And I believe he has spoken positively about the $1.7 billion weaponization fund, which was also the cause for bipartisan pushback. So I am open to looking at his record. But we should not have Bill Pulte as the interim or acting DNI. That is a terrible idea.
The deputy DNI, the person who was Tulsi Gabbard's deputy, should be the acting. He's actually a career professional with real intelligence experience. And given the first topic we were just discussing, that we're in the middle of a war with Iran, the world's greatest sponsor of state terrorism, we are at a heightened risk for an attack on the United States.
The whole reason the director of national intelligence position was created after 9/11 was to coordinate all the streams of intelligence across the 17 other intelligence agencies to make sure that we see a future attack coming. This is not a time for us to play fast and loose and for the president to keep throwing different names at the Congress to try and placate the bipartisan opposition to Bill Pulte. I will give Jay Clayton a close review, but in the meantime, we must
have someone as acting DNI who's got the relevant experience and is not a partisan hack.
HUNT: Sir, fair enough. I also wanted to ask you about politics, because so much, of course, depends on control of Congress here in the fall. And we saw Maine voters make a choice on Tuesday and select Graham Platner as the nominee in Maine to run against Susan Collins.
Are you willing to campaign with Mr. Platner this fall?
COONS: Look, Kasie, I've got my own reelection campaign to focus on. And I have lots of current colleagues who I am helping and supporting, whether it's Sherrod Brown, who is seeking to return to his seat, or others like Mark Warner, who I am campaigning with and supporting.
I know Susan Collins. I've worked with her.
And I understand and respect why the voters of Maine have chosen someone who is an outspoken, forceful progressive, someone who is a combat veteran and brings a new direction for the state of Maine if he were to be elected. But I've had real concerns about his tattoo and his story about what he thought or didn't think about this Nazi- affiliated tattoo and some of the allegations about his personal conduct.
At the end of the day, I think the voters of Maine made it pretty clear that they wanted national Democrats to stay out of their primary and make up their own minds. They pushed back on Janet Mills, I think, because Democrats in Maine perceived her as having been supported by the National Democratic Party.
So I think I should stay out of Maine politics and focus on my own state and my own region.
HUNT: Sounds like your schedule's a little too busy in the fall for Mr. Platner. That's kind of what I took away from that.
All right, Senator Chris Coons, it's always a pleasure to have you on the show, sir. I hope you come back soon.
COONS: Thank you, Kasie.
HUNT: All right, we'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HUNT: All right. Thanks very much to my panel. Really appreciate y'all being here. And thanks to those of you at home for watching as well.
We have a little bit of time, though. Jake Tapper is standing by for "THE LEAD".
And, Jake, I mean, let's be honest, like, the only story anyone in America is talking about today is the Knicks game last night -- JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST, "THE LEAD": That game, that game.
HUNT: And that final play. It was incredible. You were there. How was the garden?
TAPPER: Insane. Insane. Packed. Obviously, you know, Taylor Swift and Ben Stiller and Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David and Patrick Ewing and on and on.
HUNT: And Jake Tapper.
TAPPER: Me, I was there, Spike Lee. I mean, it was just incredible. I had really good seats because of a wealthy friend of mine.
And look, I'm not -- you know, I'm a Sixers fan, but it was just so electric. And obviously, you know, coming from 29 points behind and winning in the last few seconds, insane. Just an experience of a lifetime.
HUNT: It's an incredible end to a game.
TAPPER: Oh, Howie Roseman was there. I should note. Howie Roseman from the Eagles and Charles Barkley, of course.
Anyway, thanks for asking, Kasie. I could talk for three hours about it. We'll look for more tomorrow in THE ARENA.
HUNT: See you soon.
