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The Lead with Jake Tapper

U.S. Military Strikes Iran In Response To Downing Of Helicopter; Trump Family Business Deals Raise Conflict Of Interest Questions; NASA Reveals Artemis III Crew And New Mission Details; Serena Williams Makes Winning Comeback In London; House Passes $70B Bill For Homeland Security, ICE & Border Patrol. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired June 09, 2026 - 18:00   ET

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

[18:00:00]

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Welcome to The Lead. I'm Jake Tapper.

And we begin this hour with the breaking news in our World Lead. The U.S. military, CENTCOM, launching new strikes against Iran. This is in response to the downing of an Army Apache helicopter off the coast of Oman yesterday. Explosions have been heard this evening in several Iranian coastal areas, according to Iranian media. The news of these explosions comes as the Pentagon acknowledged that they'd launched the new wave of strikes against Iran just an hour ago, 5:00 PM Eastern. They said the mission is a, quote, proportional response to unjustified Iranian aggression, unquote.

Let's bring in CNN's Kaitlan Collins. She's at the White House for us. Kaitlan, what is the White House saying about these strikes?

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jake, the White House hasn't said much beyond the CENTCOM statement, but the president signaled this earlier today when he posted about the downing of this Apache helicopter, blaming Iran, saying that they had obviously -- they were responsible for this, and that he said, in his view, the United States must respond to what happened last night.

And then a few hours later, we saw these retaliatory strikes begin. We heard reports on the ground in Iran, and then CENTCOM confirmed it in that post, Jake, where not only did they say this was done at the direction of the commander-in-chief, CENTCOM also said that these were self-defense strikes, as they described them, against Iran. They said they started exactly one hour ago at 5:00 PM Eastern, and they said this is a mission that is a proportional response to the unjustified Iranian aggression, as we noted.

Now, Jake, there have been questions earlier about whether or not Iran had done this on purpose. We knew it was under investigation earlier today, but it also just widens the questions that we already had about what is going to happen next in this conflict. Because it's been a very busy 72 hours or so given the attacks that have been happening with Iran and Israel, given what's happening in Lebanon, and the president intervening yesterday to bring that to an end, and the president also predicting that there could be total victory in Iran, as he did to voters in South Carolina yesterday, saying that could come in the next two weeks.

And now this obviously added into that, Jake, raises a lot of questions about what is going to happen next here, and whether or not Iran is going to respond to this, and if this continues to move forward. Because, obviously, that ceasefire has been in place since April 7th, and the president has said, you know, it's not a complete ceasefire. He was saying last week to us in the Oval Office it's a little bit different given the activity that's been happening in the Middle East. But there are real questions about what the future of this is going to look like, and also the extent of these strikes that we're seeing here from the United States that are being conducted right now.

We don't know yet, Jake, the full scope of this, how expansive this is going to be, or if the president is simply trying to send a message after that helicopter was brought down about 24 hours ago.

TAPPER: All right. Kaitlan Collins at the White House for us, thanks so much.

And, of course, don't miss Kaitlan on her show, The Source with Kaitlan Collins. She'll be closely following the results from tonight's primary. Her guests include Democratic Congressman Ro Khanna, who endorsed Graham Platner in Maine. That's tonight at 9:00 Eastern and only on CNN.

Let's bring in Republican Congressman Carlos Gimenez of Florida who serves on the House Armed Services Committee. Congressman, the U.S. military says these are self-defense strikes in Iran in response to the downing of the U.S. Army helicopter off the coast of Oman overnight. What's your reaction to the strikes?

REP. CARLOS GIMENEZ (R-FL) : Well, I think that you know, we should strike Iran and strike them hard. I mean, the -- I heard your reporting saying that they were --

TAPPER: Are you there, sir? I'm sorry. Can you hear me?

GIMENEZ: Yes, but now I've got some other -- I've got something else on.

TAPPER: Somebody else is in the congressman's ear. So, whoever's in the control room in his ear, please get out of his ear. Congressman, I'm sorry. Please go ahead.

GIMENEZ: No, it's okay. So, look, we have to respond for the downing of the helicopter. It is a big deal. And I'm not crazy about proportional responses. If you're going to hit me, I'm going to hit you harder and demonstrate to the Iranians that we're serious. And so, you know, let's see what comes from this.

And I also don't believe for one second, you know, what the sources, Iranian sources are saying that it was a mistake. They don't make those kinds of mistakes. It was on purpose, and they tried to kill a couple of our pilots, and that's unacceptable. TAPPER: Before today's strikes, the top Iranian negotiator posted on X, quote, we prefer the language of diplomacy, but we speak other languages far more fluently. Break your commitments and we'll switch to what we speak best, that seemingly threatening escalation if diplomatic efforts collapse.

Do you think this is a collapse of the U.S.-Iranian ceasefire? How did the U.S. and Iran come back to the table for peace talks after this?

GIMENEZ: Look, you know, I've said on another network that I'm afraid I'm starting to feel like Charlie Brown and Iran is Lucy. You know, they keep, you know, taking the football out. We're trying to kick it. We're trying to get a negotiated peace. I just don't trust the Iranians. I think that they're just trying to string us along, and I think it's going to take more action that that shows the Iranians are resolved, that they will never have a nuclear weapon.

[18:05:05]

I don't think that they believe us right now, and the only thing that they respond to is force.

We need to continue with the blockade, and then do everything in our power to open up the Straits of Hormuz without Iranian support, and show them that we can, you know, open up that strait regardless of what you do, and that you will never have a nuclear weapon. But we need to show them a little bit more strength than what we're doing right now. I think we're showing a little bit too much restraint right now and they're taking that as a sign of weakness.

TAPPER: Well, don't you think that President Trump has been conveying for months now how -- that he's very eager to have a deal to end this? I mean, he seemed -- you know, first of all, every few days, he says that we're two or three days from a deal, a deal is imminent. He said the war was only going to last four to five weeks. We're now, I think, at the beginning of week 14. He seems to be conveying, at least as far as the Iranians are concerned, but I think a lot of people think, that he's very eager for an off-ramp. Is that part of the issue here?

GIMENEZ: I think that is part of the issue. You know, you can't show your hand to your opponent. And so you have to show your opponent that you're willing to take this all the way, that you're going to -- you're ready to finish the job, and that it's in their best interest to have an off-ramp. And we'll be, you know, we'll be listening to you, but at the same time, this can't drag on forever.

And so, you know, this is -- what happened yesterday with the downing of that helicopter, at least to me, indicates that they're really not serious. I have never thought they were really serious. They really got to punch them in the nose, keep going, and then keep maximum pressure for them to come to the table in reality, and really come to the table. We've been seeing this game from them for 47 years, you know, and I'm not going to change my opinion about them until, you know, I'm proven wrong. And so far, I haven't been proven wrong.

TAPPER: President Trump said to The Wall Street Journal that it's not that big a deal that these Apache pilots were -- that the pilot -- that the helicopter was shot down because they're okay, the pilots are okay and uninjured. Do you agree?

GIMENEZ: No, I don't. I think it is a big deal that they try -- they actually successfully shot down one of our helicopters and put two American lives in danger. That is a big deal to me. And our response needs to be swift, which apparently it is, but also has to be overwhelming.

And so you want to punch us in the nose? No problem. We're going to take your head off, all right? And don't do that again. It can't be proportional. It has to be more. They have to suffer more than we did in whatever we do. Whatever they do to us, we have to do it three times, four times, ten times more than what they did to us in order for them to understand.

TAPPER: Republican Congressman Carlos Gimenez of Florida, thank you so much, sir. I appreciate it.

GIMENEZ: Thank you.

TAPPER: The world was captivated by the Artemis II moon mission. Today, NASA unveiled the crew of Artemis III, aiming to get one step closer to landing humans on the lunar surface once again. And those four astronauts are going to join us for their very first CNN interview coming up to share how they found out they were selected, how they're training for launch, and what they're most looking forward to in space.

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TAPPER: In our Politics Lead, new questions today about the many ways President Trump and his family are making a lot of money in ways that are related to the president's powers. Today, a Reuters investigation dug into the playbook that the Trump family's using to build a crypto empire between the Trump meme coin, launched just before the president was inaugurated in 2025, and the Trump-backed crypto firm World Liberty Financial and two other crypto projects. Reuters estimates that the Trump family has added more than $2 billion with a B to the family fortune.

And that Reuters reporter's going to join me to discuss in just a second. But I want to go into more on this because one example of those other crypto projects came also today from CNBC, which noted that a publicly traded company called Alt5 Sigma bought $1.5 billion in crypto tokens from World Liberty, and the Trumps were entitled to roughly $500 million from that. This is according to disclosures by World Liberty Financial.

Alt5 Sigma, on the other hand, is not doing that well. The company, which has a new name, quote, has warned investors it may not be able to stay in business much longer. Its share price has fallen more than ninety percent. It faces the prospect of being delisted by the Nasdaq, CNBC reported today. A spokesman for Trump-backed World Liberty Financial tells CNN, quote, biased media have conducted a smear campaign against World Liberty since the beginning, but despite their efforts, we are continuing to build and deploy market-leading and popular products like USD1, which helps defend the U.S. dollar as a compliant stablecoin backed by U.S. Treasuries with a $4.5 billion market cap, unquote.

Now, when it comes to questions about the Trumps making money, you might remember when Amazon paid $40 million for a documentary produced by and starring and about First Lady Melania Trump, a documentary critically panned, and it was a financial loss for Amazon. But most of us don't know the extent of the Trump family's less publicized financial ventures.

Frankly, they're often not easy to understand. Perhaps that's on purpose. The Financial Times reported this spring that back in August, the president's eldest sons, via something called a special purpose vehicle run by a subsidiary of Dominari Securities, they bought a stake in a construction group called Skyline Builders. That's August.

In September, a source told the Times that the president of Kazakhstan told President Trump he planned to award a major project dealing with the rare dense metal tungsten to Cove Kaz Capital. That's an American investment group.

In October, the Financial Times reports as a filing disclosed that Skyline would invest $20 million for a 20 percent stake in Kaz Resources with significant critical minerals assets in Asia.

[18:15:03]

Now, three people told the Times that Kaz Resources is a subsidiary of Cove Capital, which also controls Cove Kaz. The group expected to get that major Kazakh mining project. So, that's October.

In November 6, the announcement came. The National Mining Company of Kazakhstan and Cove Capital made a deal to develop, quote, the largest known undeveloped tungsten resource in the world. Cove Kaz will own 70 percent, the National Mining Company of Kazakhstan 30 percent.

In April of this year, Cove Kaz Capital and Kaz Resources agreed to merge with Skyline Builders. This whole deal, by the way, is going to be supported by the Trump administration. Up to $1.6 billion through letters of interest from the U.S. Export-Import Bank and the Development Finance Corporation, both of them federally funded agencies. This project, of course, could make billions of dollars.

Now, we should note, yes, there is a national security interest in American companies, not Chinese ones, controlling these rare minerals. And we should also note there's no evidence that we know of that either Don Jr. or Eric Trump knew that Cove was about to get the Trump administration contract, or that they influenced the awarding of the contract to Cove when they made their investment in Skyline three months before this deal was done, no evidence at all.

A spokesperson for Donald Trump Jr. told the Times in April, Don is a passive investor in American Ventures and has no operational involvement in the company. He does not interface with the federal government on behalf of any company he invests in or advises. A spokesperson for Eric Trump told me, quote, Eric Trump had no involvement in this transaction and has always been a passive investor with no management role in this vehicle. Any suggestion to the contrary would be both inaccurate and defamatory.

We are just laying out this timeline here for you. So, read their statements and what they specifically deny interfacing with the government or managing this investment. There are always other factors at play, of course. A White House spokesperson told CNN in a statement and into all our questions about a bunch of this, quote, this is the same tired narrative the Democrats have pushed against President Trump, his family, and his administration for a decade.

President Trump only acts in the best interests of the American public, which is why they overwhelmingly reelected him to this office, despite years of lies and false accusations against him and his businesses from the fake news media. There are no conflicts of interest, unquote.

Now, of course, the White House declaring that there are no conflicts of interest doesn't mean that there are no conflicts of interest. Let's take a look at a report from earlier this year from The Wall Street Journal, that before the second Trump inauguration, royalty in the United Arab Emirates purchased a 49 percent stake in World Liberty Financial.

Now, the report in the Journal says that the deal was signed off on by Sheikh Tahnoun bin Zayed Al Nahyan. He's called the Spy Sheikh. He not only runs the country's largest wealth fund, he is the government's national security adviser, and he happens to be the brother of the president of the UAE. This was, as the Journal stated at the time, quote, unprecedented in American politics, a foreign government official taking a major ownership stake in an incoming U.S. president's company, unquote.

And then guess what? A few months after that, the Journal report says, President Trump committed to a deal that would give the UAE access to about 500,000 highly advanced A.I. chips a year, despite U.S. national security concerns about that technology potentially ending up in the hands of China.

Now, remember, there was a time when presidents and their families would bend over backwards to avoid even the appearance of cashing in on the presidency. The most notable example being Jimmy Carter, who, before he took the oath of office in 1977, placed his family peanut farm and warehouse into a blind trust managed by an Atlanta law firm. We are a long way from 1977.

I want to turn in right now to Tom Bergin from Reuters, who just published that deep dive into the Trump family's developing cryptocurrency projects. Tom, people who are familiar with the Trump family's crypto ventures likely know about two of the main assets you highlighted, the Trump Memecoin and the Trump family-backed crypto firm, World Liberty Financial. But there are four that your report says follow the playbook. The Trumps risked little upfront.

Trump family members, notably the president's oldest sons, Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr., hyped the venture. The Trumps raked in money as the investors piled in, and those buyers lost big when, for various reasons, the prices of their Trump-related crypto assets later tanked, unquote. How much have the Trumps won, and how much have investors lost? Did you come up with an estimate on that?

TOM BERGIN, INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER, REUTERS: We did indeed. We approached this in a conservative way, Jake. And we excluded certain things that we weren't confident that we could count with accuracy.

[18:20:02]

And just looking at the amount that we felt comfortable with publishing, which we think is a conservative one, we estimated that the Trumps have made $2.3 million -- sorry, $2.3 billion in cash terms. This does not include unrealized gains in any shares they hold or any sort of paper gains in theoretical value of cryptocurrency. This is actual cash that they will have been entitled to as a result of the sale of -- largely the sale of crypto tokens and related equities.

Now, on the other side of the coin, as you noted earlier, most of these things have not done well. Indeed all four of these businesses have done poorly for investors. The total of losses so far, actually this is up until the end of April, was $2.3 billion. The prices of those equities and the cryptocurrencies involved have continued to fall, so by this stage the losses are probably a bit higher than that.

TAPPER: The White House says there's no conflict of interest here. President Trump is always acting in the best interest of the American people. For this piece, you talked to 27 individual investors in Trump family crypto ventures, people who lost their savings, years of income investing in these projects. What did they tell you?

BERGIN: Well, they told us some pretty sorry stories. These investments, they are -- well, sorry, the cryptocurrencies, they're sold in a sort of a gray area certainly recently because we're waiting to get clarity as to how they would be treated in under new securities rules. But, basically, you know, people, they're technically being marketed as not investments, but most people who buy them do hope, seem to hope to make money.

We didn't come across people who said they bought them just to show loyalty to the president or his family. So, people who are purchasing these things, and particularly the equities in the two companies, they're listed on Nasdaq A.I. Financial, previously known as ALT5 Sigma and American Bitcoin. They bought these hoping to make some money in an area they thought was hot. They thought generally that the president being involved, and he is involved because although some of these assets are being managed by his sons, the primary beneficiary financially of this is the president himself.

So, they thought that, you know, given that background, that these were, you know, reasonably good bets to make. And they've been quite disappointed by the performance of the crypto tokens they've bought and also the equities they've bought.

And, you know, we spoke to some, but it's a very large number. I mean, the disclosed equity shareholders of the two listed companies, there's over 200, you know, asset managers, large and small. And indeed even the Wyoming Sovereign Wealth Fund has an interest in one of these companies. So, it is really quite wide the way in which exposure to the Trump ventures has seeped out through the economy.

TAPPER: Tom Bergin, thanks so much. I appreciate it.

Politicians in Washington have been talking about draining the swamp to end corruption in politics for decades. Trump used to say, drain the swamp. Today, two Democrats are introducing a bill to try to make it happen. Congressman Greg Landsman from Ohio and Josh Riley from New York are here with me now. Thanks so much for being here, guys. Sorry about that long preamble to this interview, but I wanted to make sure people understood some of what we're talking about here.

Today, you two introduced the Drain the Swamp Act, a whole host of reforms ending -- aimed at ending political corruption. Like what?

REP. GREG LANDSMAN (D-OH): So, it goes through almost everything that we've seen. It bans members of Congress, the president from trading stocks. No one who's getting a government salary can participate in the predictive markets. It reins in the presidential pardon power because there have been reporting -- there's been reporting that he is selling pardons.

You know, there's some evidence of that. It creates ethics reform for the Supreme Court term limits for members of Congress and the Supreme Court voter protections, ending partisan gerrymandering, banning dark money. It is arguably the most comprehensive anti-corruption bill in American history because we're seeing unprecedented corruption, and it's the kind of corruption that will destroy the country, our economy.

TAPPER: Yes. So with all due respect, you guys, not you two, but Congress can't even ban your own members from the stock market, right? Yes. I mean, I've seen effort after effort after effort, the STOCK Act.

[18:25:00]

What makes you think you'll be able to get something like this through the House and the Senate and then have a president sign it?

REP. JOSH RILEY (D-NY): Yes. People want this. There aren't folks -- you know, we just went through that long timeline of all that corruption. I think it's really important for everybody to remember there's a direct line between the corruption in this place and the struggles folks are having at their kitchen table right now. There are families who are getting hit with the utility bill, hit with the grocery bill, and having tough conversations with their kiddos about whether they got to cancel summer vacation.

People know that the challenges they have in a rigged economy are directly related to the corruption of this place. People want term limits. They don't want folks taking corporate PAC money. So, we need people to get out and get behind this.

TAPPER: Well, you talked about term limits. There's a provision in your bill that would do 18-year term limit for Supreme Court justices. Do you think there should be 18 years for members of Congress?

LANDSMAN: Yes, it's in there, too.

TAPPER: That's in there, too?

LANDSMAN: Yes. I mean, we tried to make this, again, as comprehensive as humanly possible, but --

TAPPER: 18 years for members of Congress is what it is, just total?

LANDSMAN: Total.

TAPPER: Yes.

LANDSMAN: That there's got to be, you know, an end. You can't just be there forever, because you see way too many members of Congress there forever. And the issue is --

TAPPER: Or they go -- or they retire and they become lobbyists.

LANDSMAN: Also a huge issue. I mean, what we're hoping to do, appreciating that this Congress is not going to act on this, the president --

TAPPER: I think that's fair.

LANDSMAN: The president is not going to sign this into law, but we have elections. This is a democracy. If we want to keep our democracy, we have to agree to a couple things, including ending the corruption. You got to say members of Congress, the president of the United States, they get their salary. That's it. They can't make any more money. If they have stocks, you know, as I did, sell them, put them in a blind trust, mutual funds, this is fine. But you can't be doing the kind of business dealings that this president's doing or trading stocks the way some members are.

Then you just keep pushing and pushing with the American people to elect people who are going to actually drain the swamp. And now we have a vehicle, a bill that is comprehensive, includes everything, and hopefully every voter will ask whoever's running for Congress or whoever's running for president next, will you vote for the Drain the Swamp Bill? Will you pass the Drain the Swamp Bill and end corruption in America?

TAPPER: And you also have a provision to end participation in prediction markets.

LANDSMAN: Yes.

TAPPER: There's all this stuff out there, and we don't know who it is, but, you know, they'll bet on something. There was one arrest having to do with the Maduro raid in Venezuela, where obviously somebody in the military is being charged with that. But there do seem to be all these reports about somebody bets on something like an hour before the president takes action, nothing tying the president to it but maybe somebody knows something.

RILEY: And people already distrust this place enough, and for good reason. I mean, we've got career politicians who are more focused on their next election than doing right by the folks at home. Policy around here gets set by the corporate PACs who are the highest bidder. And now you have this situation where the insider trading, you're an upstate New Yorker, you look at what's happening here, you're struggling to get by, and you see all the money these politicians are making using inside information, and it just reinforces that the economy's rigged and the politics are corrupt, and this is a comprehensive way to fix it.

TAPPER: All right. Well, thank you so much to Congressman Greg Landsman and Josh Riley. I appreciate your time.

LANDSMAN: Thank you.

RILEY: Thank you.

TAPPER: Today, NASA revealed the four astronauts who will be on the next Artemis mission, a key flight that will pave the way to put astronauts back on the moon. Those four astronauts join The Lead. That's next.

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TAPPER: In our Out of This World Lead, the world was captivated and excited by this year's Artemis II mission around the moon, and today NASA introduced the crew of Artemis III, the next step towards returning humans to the lunar surface.

In just moments, I'm going to talk to the crew in their very first CNN interview. But let's start with CNN's Pete Muntean to show us how this mission is going to unfold.

Pete, we learned a lot of new details today. What stood out to you?

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: So many new details here, Jake, and NASA officials essentially gave us a big timeline of what will come in the Artemis III mission and what it will really entail.

I just want to bring you up to speed here. Artemis I in 2022, an uncrewed mission around the moon. Artemis II just happened, April. A crewed mission, four on board, around a lunar orbit, the furthest humans had ever been from the Earth, which brings us to Artemis III, which was supposed to be a lunar landing. Now that's been moved to Artemis IV. This will be the mission in 2028. There'll be a crewed surface landing and an exploration of the lunar south pole region. The keystone now is Artemis III. NASA reshuffled this timeline, and this will be a mission in low Earth orbit, crewed demonstration to demonstrate the systems needed for a lunar landing. This is what's going to happen. This is what has already been to space. This is the Orion capsule. This is the European service module. What will happen here is that the Orion capsule will dock with what will be used to ultimately land on the lunar surface. They'll do something called testing interoperability, essentially how the hatch will work and how astronauts will pass from one vehicle to the other. Essentially, will these vehicles play nicely with each other?

This is a keystone of what is to come for these lunar missions. And also a big competition is taking place between commercial space companies to be the winner of this competition that will pick the lunar lander. SpaceX has its HLS, its Human Landing System. Also, Blue Origin has its Blue Moon Mark II, which is currently being tested right now. One of these will land on the lunar surface first.

It seems likely that it'll be the SpaceX entrant into this competition, in large part because of what happened just ten days ago, this explosion of the Blue Origin New Glenn rocket on the launchpad at Kennedy Space Center. So, now Blue Origin has some ground to make up.

Ultimately, this will be a 14-day-long mission.

[18:35:01]

Blue Origin's rocket will launch first, along with the Orion space launch system. Then the Orion will dock with Blue Origin, and then dock with SpaceX. This is really key, a linchpin for our return to the moon, the first time in more than 50 years.

TAPPER: And, Pete, what's the timeline for this mission?

MUNTEAN: Well, 2028 is when the Artemis IV mission will take place. 2027 is when the Artemis III mission will take place. And we will see some wet dress rehearsals, essentially test runs, later this year. So, this is coming on very quickly, and we'll see some pretty big movements here by NASA soon.

TAPPER: All right. Pete Muntean, thanks so much.

In just moments, we've got the interview you don't want to miss. I'm going to be joined by all four of the astronauts who make up the Artemis III crew for their very first CNN interview since they were announced. Stick with us.

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TAPPER: The Out of This World Lead in the highly anticipated announcement today of the next group of astronauts who will advance NASA's mission to the moon.

And joining me now for their very first CNN interview as the crew of Artemis III, Commander Randy Bresnik, Mission Specialist Frank Rubio, Mission Specialist Andre Douglas, and Pilot Luca Parmitano from the European Space Agency.

[18:40:09]

Randy, how did you find out you were going to be part of this mission, and how did your family react?

RANDY BRESNIK, ARTEMIS III COMMANDER: We got a call from the chief of the astronaut office that called us all together and walked in the room and said, congratulations, you're the Artemis III crew. And at that moment, we were bonded for life. We had a little discussion, and then all -- you know, it took a while to absorb all that, and then starting to come together now and getting ready to start training up here in the next week.

For my family, certainly, they were excited. You know, they know that I've been working a long time in the astronaut office, you know, to be able to help bring our -- everything that leaves low Earth orbit into fruition, whether that's the suits, landers, Orion. And so to be able to put all that experience and knowledge into an actual flight with a, you know, phenomenal crew like this they were very happy. And having my kids being older this time is really going to be special because it's a totally different perspective for them as young people.

TAPPER: And, Frank, I can imagine any assignment like this is just an unbelievable honor and thrill. But I also just wonder, like is there any difference in reaction given how much anybody wants to be on the moon landing mission being part of a low Earth orbit test mission, or is it just all an incredible honor?

FRANK RUBIO, ARTEMIS III MISSION SPECIALIST: Yes, Jake. You know, it's a very natural question. I think obviously all humans would love to go to the moon, right? I think -- well, maybe not all of us but a whole lot of humans would love to go to the moon, us included.

You know what's funny, though, is I think as much as we would love to be on the surface of the moon, I think the people who end up going to the surface would love to do the test portion, right? I think we're all wired in a way that we want to help design, we want to help develop, we want to help test, and then we want to go do the mission.

And the reality is just not a single person can do all of those things, and so you have to attack it as a team. You have to pass that baton, as you've seen us do today several times. And so, no, it's honestly just a great honor to know that we are contributing to the mission.

TAPPER: And, Andre, this is going to be your very first time in space. What do you think the first moment's going to be when you see the Earth from orbit?

ANDRE DOUGLAS, ARTEMIS III MISSION SPECIALIST: Man, that is going to blow my mind. I've seen the beautiful pictures that these guys have taken from space, and then I heard about how, you know, there's a 3D aspect because you're going around the Earth so fast you can see it from one angle and then another angle. So, I'm just -- I'm looking forward to it. It's going to be very awesome. So, man, it's also going to be really big. I think there's this thing called the overview effect that I've heard so much about. I feel like I got a little bit of overview effect just from the launch that we did together, just taking our minds and realizing there's something bigger than us out there, right? And when you see it physically, that's just going to be crazy.

TAPPER: And, Luca, you got a little emotional during your speech at today's ceremony. What does being assigned to this mission mean to you?

LUCA PARMITANO, ARTEMIS III PILOT: Well, in many ways, it's a dream come true. I'm very happy that for the past few years I've been saying that Artemis III would be an incredible mission for somebody with my background as a test pilot, and I'm glad that those words didn't grew old really well because now that I'm here in this mission, it is a test pilot's dream mission.

We have we have a fantastic crew with a lot of experience in testing equipment, testing procedure. We have a fantastic spacecraft, two landers to test with procedures to develop. And I just -- I could not imagine a better way at this point to contribute to this incredible endeavor that is going back to the moon. That is true for me as an individual, it's true for me as an Italian, part of the European Space Agency, and it's a very fantastic chance for us as European Space Agency to demonstrate that we are strong supporter, strong reliable partner for NASA.

TAPPER: And, Frank, if NASA does end up being able to launch this mission next year, that's a quick turnaround time. The Artemis II astronauts got to train for three years. Do you feel like you're going to have enough time to train for Artemis III?

RUBIO: I do. I think we have a fantastic training team. We've got a great crew. I think we're all willing to work and do whatever it takes to help the mission succeed. Because, ultimately, as a nation, we have a goal to get Americans back on the moon, and our part needs to get done for that part to be the next one. And so we're going to do everything humanly possible to help us succeed.

TAPPER: And, Randy, I can't help but notice there are no women in this crew of Artemis III, and there is a group of female military test pilots with similar qualifications as their male counterparts. I know you guys weren't in charge of who picked who but I wonder was it intentional not to pick women, or just that's just the way the dice rolled?

BRESNIK: No, certainly not intentional. I mean, you can look at our astronaut office and see the wide, you know, diversity within the office whether that's gender or background or nationality or heritage.

[18:45:07]

And certainly, the boss had to pick the crew for this flight that he had available that had the skill sets that he needed. But certainly, just look at our ISS missions, where we had -- our recent crews with Anne McClain and Nichole Ayers were the commander and pilot. We've got the crew 13 coming up with Kayla Barron and Chris Burch, you know, as a commander and pilot.

So the office gets what it needs when it needs it, and we'll certainly have all these other people that you mentioned are, you know, female military test pilots or. just other female astronauts that are going to be picking up on the fall on Artemis missions, and we're here to carry the fire so that we can hand off the torch to them.

TAPPER: And, Andre, as has been referred to, we heard from the Artemis II crew today Commander Reid Wiseman officially passed the baton to you guys. What does it feel like to follow in their footsteps? They were so successful, so inspirational to so many of us.

ANDRE DOUGLAS, ARTEMIS II MISSION SPECIALIST: Yeah, I think their ceiling that they hit, that's going to be our floor. We're going to go to that next level. And hopefully our ceiling becomes our -- crew four's new floor, right?

And that's the whole thing with this baton. We're just linking the chains of success together. And so, I mean, it was great to see how that crew operated. I'm very excited to see how we're going to operate as a crew. We're going to learn from what they've done, right? And we're going to just build upon that and then pass it on to the next. So it's super exciting to be able to do that with these folks here.

TAPPER: And, Luca, the Artemis II crew members, they named their Orion spacecraft "Integrity". Have you guys thought about what you'd like to name your craft?

LUCA PARMITANO, ARTEMIS III PILOT: We haven't had a chance to work on that yet. It's going to be fun. We have so much background. We have a lot in common. We have a lot of differences.

It's -- I think it's there in that Venn diagram that overlaps but it's also very varied that you find great ideas coming up. So I'm just looking forward to everything, creating new traditions and also carry forward the ones of those that came before us and come up with new names, a new patch. a model for us. That's all part of what's going to make this next year very, very fun.

TAPPER: Well, it's so exciting, and we're all so inspired and excited for you. Randy, Andre, Frank, Luca, congratulations on your new mission. We can't wait to see you carry it off. Godspeed.

PARMITANO: Thank you. Thank you so much.

BRESNIK: Go Artemis III.

TAPPER: Tennis legend Serena Williams made her return to the sport today after stepping away for four years. We're going to break down her comeback performance just ahead.

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[18:51:27] TAPPER: In our sports league, the legendary Serena Williams, triumphant return to competitive tennis after stepping back four years ago. The queen of the court, just 44 years young and her doubles partner, 19-year-old Victoria Mboko, winning today's match in straight sets. The pair now advances to the HSBC Championship quarterfinals taking place in London.

CNN sports analyst and "USA Today" sports columnist Christine Brennan is here.

Christine, good to have you back.

So Serena looked great out there. She looked confident, aggressive, quickly anticipating her opponent's moves. It looked like from my vantage point, what stood out to you?

CHRISTINE BRENNAN, CNN SPORTS ANALYST: A-hundred-sixteen-mile-per-hour serve as she had two aces and then a winner, a serve that could not be returned to finish the match. It's doubles. It's not singles. It's not Serena's bread and butter, the 23 Grand Slam titles she has as a singles player, although she has 14 Grand Slam titles as a doubles player, many with her sister.

But she looked terrific. She looked absolutely great. It's the power game that she's always had. Combined with the savvy, combined frankly with every -- every part of her game. The fact that she's been sitting on a couch as she says getting bored -- she's been doing much more than that -- for four years and comes out and looks that good -- I mean, here comes Wimbledon I am sure.

TAPPER: And she -- you know, obviously, she chose who her doubles partner would be, because when you're Serena Williams, you can pick your devil's partner. She picks a 19-year-old from Canada named Victoria Mboko.

Why?

BRENNAN: That's a good question. They knew each other, and she was aware of how she's playing. She's the number one, Victoria's number one player in Canada. Born in North Carolina, raised in Toronto, will turn 20 about the same time that Serena is turning 45. So that's a 25- year age gap.

But I think she definitely wanted a younger player, she wanted an up- and-coming player. Mboko finished, made it to the fourth round of the Australian Open. So she's a player on the rise and now in the top 10, 15 of the world in women's tennis.

And I think that Serena, smart mentor that she is looked at this and said, I can do, obviously I need a partner. I need someone who's playing very, very well right now, but also I can bring her along and help her. And that's what Victoria talked about post-match, about how important it was and what it meant to her to learn from Serena.

TAPPER: You hinted at Wimbledon. What do you think is next for Serena? BRENNAN: Yeah, this is obviously one of the warm-ups for Wimbledon. It's in London. So, in a few weeks, Wimbledon gets started. I would be shocked, Jake, if she doesn't appear at Wimbledon. And I will go out there and say, I think she'll play singles at Wimbledon. And I think that will be the best thing to happen to this tournament.

I think with Alcaraz injured, the women's game before, it's the men's game, and there's plenty of interesting characters, but no one likes Serena Williams. She enters, if she does play at Wimbledon, she becomes the biggest name -- at the biggest tournament at a perfect time for Wimbledon with Alcaraz injured, with obviously some of the older names in the men's game are now gone or exiting. I think it's a terrific boost for tennis and it's great for Serena and who doesn't love another Serena story?

TAPPER: So before her return to competitive tennis, she started promoting GLP-1 weight loss medications appearing in ads for Ro. What kind of -- what do you think that's about? What do you think that message is about? Is it about normalizing these miracle drugs? Work for most people, but not for everybody. What do you think it's about?

BRENNAN: You know, Serena's always been so honest. She is always just -- showed us exactly what she looks like and what she thinks when she gave birth. Her daughter, by the way, is now eight.

TAPPER: Oh, wow.

BRENNAN: Yes. So her doubles partner is closer in age to her daughter than she is to Serena.

[18:55:00]

But she came right back, wore that cat suit, had obviously the weight that is being a mom and giving birth. And she said, I'm going to show people what it looks like to be a mom, a working mom and coming back to the office, in this case, a tennis court. She's always been about honesty -- and also, she's a smart businesswoman.

TAPPER: Yeah.

BRENNAN: So the fact that she's a spokesperson for another product, she's making more millions. Obviously, that's great for her.

TAPPER: Good for her. We worship her here.

Christine Brennan, thanks so much. Appreciate it.

A new report says your hard-earned Social Security money will be in trouble sooner rather than later, how this time being could impact you and an upcoming election. That's next.

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[18:58:46]

TAPPER: Our last leads start with breaking news from Capitol Hill. The $70 billion reconciliation bill is on its way to President Trump Resolute Desk, ending a four-month stalemate. The bill fully funds the Homeland Security Department and notably Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE. It passed along party lines, 214 to 212 in the House. It will fund DHS for the rest of Trump's second term without going through the annual appropriations process.

The bill has been a top legislative priority for Republicans after Democrats blocked ICE funding over demand for reforms in the wake of federal agents killing two U.S. citizens in Minnesota, Renee Good and Alex Pretti.

In our money lead, a new report out today warns tens of millions of retirees could see smaller Social Security checks in six years if lawmakers do not shore up the program's finances. Social Security's trustees say the retirement trust fund is expected to be exhausted by late 2032, meaning recipients would get only about three quarters of their usual payments. This means this could be a serious issue in the 2028 election as the money would dry up in the next president's term.

And our health lead today, the FDA approved the new sunscreen ingredient for the first time in 20 years. Many medical professionals believe that bemotrizinol is a safer option than many chemical ingredients that our sunscreens currently contain. The ingredient has been used safely in Europe for decades. Doctors say it's better at protecting against UVA rays, which can cause premature aging and contribute to skin cancer.

"ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT" starts now. I'll see you tomorrow.