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Israel and Iran Fire New Wave of Strikes Overnight; Interview with Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR): U.S. Possible Involvement in Israel- Iran Conflict; Manhunt Ends for Man Accused of Shooting Minnesota Lawmakers, Their Spouses. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired June 16, 2025 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:00]

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Incredibly big flash flooding. You still have flood watches in effect not only for Virginia but scattered across some other mid-Atlantic states as well, even over into portions of Kentucky and southern Illinois. And that's because we anticipate having more rain into these areas as we go through the next 24 hours.

We already have some isolated showers across portions of West Virginia right now. But as we go through the afternoon and especially through the evening, you're going to see more of those showers and thunderstorms, typical summertime ones that will pop up and unfortunately it could be in some of the exact same places that had a lot of the heavy rain over the weekend. Then you'll notice even as we head into Tuesday, you have more clusters of showers and thunderstorms that will arrive into many of those same places.

So it's not just today, it's also tomorrow. And because of that, it's the multi day impact here. You have a slight risk of excessive rainfall and flooding for West Virginia, not only for today, but also into Tuesday.

So certainly going to hamper some of the recovery efforts, guys, as we go through the next several days.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Allison Chinchar, thank you so much. The water pouring from those windows. Some of the video we're seeing is just remarkable.

All right, a brand new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: More strikes, more death, more destruction as Israel and Iran trade strikes for a fourth night. Now both sides are widening their attack as President Trump says he wants to keep the U.S. out of the growing conflict, though he says it's a possibility.

Now the largest manhunt in Minnesota is now over after the arrest of a man accused of shooting two lawmakers and their spouses. What police found on the suspect after they say he crawled out of the woods.

Plus, prosecutors are preparing to call their last five witnesses in the Sean Combs sex trafficking trial. Then it all falls to the defense. What will happen in court as it resumes in the next hour? We will be there live.

I'm Sara Sidner with John Berman. Kate is out today. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

BERMAN: The breaking news. The conflict is escalating. The death toll is rising overnight.

Israel says at least eight people were killed there by Iranian strikes on multiple areas of the country. The missiles over Tel Aviv, part of the latest since Israel launched an unprecedented surprise attack on Iran's nuclear sites on Friday. Smoke billowed at the site of strikes near an oil refinery in the Israeli port city of Haifa. And new images showed damaged the buildings in Tel Aviv, the central part of that city.

The power grid in Israel has sustained some damage. According to the Israel Defense Forces, more than 120 of Iran's missile launchers -- that's a third of the total number in the country -- have now been destroyed in strikes, though, as you can see the damage in Israel, Iran still able to get salvoes off.

At least 24 people in total have been killed in Israel since the conflict began. That's according to the prime minister's office. Iran's Health Ministry says at least 224 people have been killed there in the last four days.

CNN's Nic Robertson has been on the ground at the site of one of these missile strikes in Tel Aviv. Good morning, Nic, what do you see?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, John, the statistics are really beginning to look big and look quite staggering. Israel says more than 370 missiles, ballistic missiles fired by Iran, and we're looking at the impact of one of those here in the center of Tel Aviv, and I can't stress again. This is the commercial district inside the center of Tel Aviv.

Sanjeev, show our viewers here. Look, what you're looking at, what's burnt out there, that's a hotel, and if you can tilt up, I know it's going to be into the sun, but the rest of that office blocks, 14 stories, but that's what took the blast wave. Sanjeev and I are going to walk up the street here a little more and give you a better sense of what's happened.

So we said 370 missiles so far, and Israel last night trying to take out more of those launchers on the ground, they said they were able to hit 20 missiles before they were fired. They say that Iran was only able to fire about 50 missiles last night, and you can see people here in the center of Tel Aviv, residents here coming down to take a look, to see what's happened in the heart of their city. This is not what people are used to here, far from it.

But we're going to show you now, John, just bear with me here. We're backing into this corner here. You get a sense of where the actual blast came down behind that dumpster there, that's where the missile hit. You see the intensity of the damage, ripping apart those apartments there, the blackened buildings you see here, that's storefronts.

What's happening is, city trying to make this location safe. Nobody killed here. Residents mostly safe, they say, because they took to shelters.

Now, just a couple of hours ago, the lead opposition politician came down here, Yair Lapid, his son lives here, he went into his son's apartment.

[08:05:00]

Fortunately, he says his son was taken shelter, but his granddaughter's bed, one-year-old granddaughter, he said, was showered with glass.

He was speaking with the intensity we're hearing from other politicians here about the need to keep the pressure on Iran to destroy its nuclear facilities. And on that, I asked him, does Israel want the United States support in that?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTSON: So what do you say to the U.S. right now and President Trump?

YAIR LAPID, ISRAELI OPPOSITION LEADER: Listen, President Trump will make up his own mind about what's good for America. But we are telling this is not only a threat for Israel, this is a word for a threat to the entire globe.

ROBERTSON: So you want them to come in now, the U.S., others?

LAPID: I think it will be in everybody's interest, the region, the world, the United States and, of course, Israel.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTSON (on camera): And the reason he says it's in everyone's interest is because if Israel has to try to deconstruct, destroy, demolish Iran's nuclear facilities, if they do it alone, it takes longer, the instability lasts longer, the destruction in Israel lasts longer, the loss of lives in Iran would be -- would be longer as well. And this is why there seems to be a push from Israeli politicians to get the United States and other allies involved, to speed this whole thing up. Far from clear if they're going to do that.

But the one message that emerged from him, he said, to be very clear, politically, Israel united right now, not divided, united in needing to destroy Iran's nuclear facilities -- John.

BERMAN: Yes, even as it is taking a toll clearly on Israelis in places like Tel Aviv where you're standing right now. Nic Robertson on the ground. Thank you very much.

Please stay safe -- Sara.

SIDNER: All right. President Trump is calling for a peace deal between Israel and Iran and says calls are underway working toward that goal now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think it's time for a deal and we'll see what happens. But sometimes they have to fight it out. But we're going to see what happens.

I think there's a good chance there'll be a deal.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: What is happening now, the strikes are continuing between the two. But sources telling CNN the president opposed an Israeli plan to kill Iran's supreme leader when a window of opportunity arose over the weekend. However, the Israeli Prime Minister, Netanyahu, is calling such reports false.

Now, CNN White House reporter Alayna Treene is joining us now. With all that is going on, what are you learning? We've just heard from President Trump about what he sees going forward, but he didn't rule out the possibility of getting involved in this wider war.

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes, and that really is the key question, Sara, and the question that both I and my colleagues at the White House have continually pressed Trump administration officials over the weekend on this.

Look, the way that they framed it to me in these conversations is that as of now, the president and the White House is very wary and skeptical of getting the United States further involved in this conflict. So far, we have seen the United States offer defensive, you know, capabilities and defensive help and aid toward Israel, particularly in helping them intercept some of the missiles we've seen in the strikes coming from the Iranians.

However, having further help, including trying to help them really destroy all of Iran's nuclear capabilities. Or as you just mentioned, you know, there was that potential opportunity over the weekend where Israel went to United States and said, we have a chance to try and take out Iran's supreme leader, the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. And we heard that the president told his administration to tell the Israelis he did not want them to do that.

And the key there to keep in mind here is that what the president wants to avoid -- and this is what we're hearing in all of our conversations -- is having this conflict break out into a much fuller and potential, you know, full scale war here. And that's really what the administration does not want. And we've heard that.

And you just played that clip from the president himself, where he says he thinks there's a potential good chance of a deal. You know, it's hard to see that happening right now with what is going on between Israel and Iran and the strikes, the tit for tat strikes. We're seeing them launch at each other.

But in my conversation, it is very clear that this administration and the president specifically believes that there is still a chance to have Iran come to the negotiating table on trying to reach some potential nuclear deal, even though we know that the president has been very frustrated. He has not been quiet about his frustrations with the pace and progression of those talks. He actually argued on Friday that that was part of the reason we saw Israel move forward and and launch those strikes into Iran.

But as of now, the president is very wary of bringing the U.S. into this further. And part of that, of course, as well. And we saw this with some of the talks around trying to take out the supreme leader and have this regime changes.

They do not want the Iranians turning their attention to the U.S. and trying to target them as well. So all of this in a very precarious position right now and still unclear if the U.S. will ultimately try to get involved further in aiding Israel -- Sara.

SIDNER: All right, Alayna Treene, thank you for all your reporting this morning. Appreciate it -- John.

[08:10:00]

BERMAN: Joining us now is Senator Jeff Merkley, a Democrat from Oregon. Senator, thank you so much for being with us. President Trump said -- he said it's possible we could get involved, but we're not involved at this moment.

Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid just told our Nic Robertson he thinks it'd be everyone's interest if the U.S. did get involved.

What do you think? Would you support the possibility of U.S. involvement?

SEN. JEFF MERKLEY (D-OR): You know, John, I strongly support President Trump's initial impulse, which is to to stay out of it. The U.S. is positioned now, since it's been held holding conversations with Iran over its nuclear capabilities, to play a diplomatic role and try to bring an end to this conflict. That certainly would would disappear if the U.S. got directly involved.

Israel, of course, would like to have some of the bunker busting bombs, the big bombs and the ability to deliver them on on larger U.S. planes. But I hope the U.S. keeps saying, no, you you began this. This is yours. We're going to stay out of it. I think Trump's initial sense of this was was the right direction.

BERMAN: What do you think Israel's endgame is here?

MERKLEY: That is the question, isn't it? I think it's multiple. One is certainly to significantly degrade the nuclear enterprise.

And the goal is to end up in a situation where where Iran completely abandons forever its pursuit of a nuclear weapon. It did, in fact, do that under the agreement that President Obama negotiated. Unfortunately, Trump pulled us out of that agreement and Iran started enriching to a much higher level.

Iran has said we are completely open now. They've said just in the last few days to an agreement that eliminates any potential path to a nuclear weapon. But we still want to enrich for domestic use.

Well, the distance between those two things is huge, between a 3 to 5 percent enrichment versus 90 percent enrichment. The U.S. is engaged in the details right now. Hopefully this can be resolved once and for all.

BERMAN: Your Democratic senator -- your Democratic Senate colleague, Tim Kaine, would like to introduce a measure calling on the -- you know, basically a vote in the Senate invoking the War Powers Act, a war powers resolution so that the Senate supports or denies U.S. military involvement in Israel or in Iran. Do you think there should be a vote and how would you vote?

MERKLEY: Well, certainly we should be debating the issue all about this going on. We've seen so often the U.S. get involved in wars in which the basic structure of the Constitution, in which it is Congress that decides whether or not we're engaged in a war, is bypassed. And the War Powers Act is all about saying no, Congress needs to assert its constitutional prerogatives.

I certainly would oppose any authorization for the U.S. to use force in this situation.

BERMAN: So President Trump has said some interesting and somewhat perhaps conflicting things about cracking down on illegal immigration over the last few days. On Friday, he suggested that we must protect our farmers but get the criminals out of the USA. Changes are coming.

In other words, bowing to some pressure to stop deporting people who work at farms, restaurants, hotels. And then overnight, he put out a statement saying he'd like to see a massive deportation of illegal aliens focused on cities that are the core of the Democratic Power Center. How do you explain this back and forth?

MERKLEY: That certainly is playing both sides of this argument. Apparently, he's trying to make sure that he affirms the agricultural community that they're not going to lose their workforce. Meanwhile, taking on saying that those who are working illegally in our city should be targeted.

Of course, he started out his immigration conversation saying this was all about people who are committing violent acts.

I must say, John, I really want to stress what the president is doing in L.A. is so wrong. He is pouring fuel on the fire. We saw this in my home state of Oregon in Portland during the first Trump administration, sending out folks who had no identification. They were throwing people into vans that were unmarked. It was very much reminiscent of a fascist state. And this is his distraction and the huge distraction going on from this horrific bill he's putting forward, this not so big and beautiful bill, this big, beautiful betrayal of working class America. Huge distraction from that. We have to remember what he is up to and that he is basically having a families lose billionaire strategy win, billionaires win strategy.

And the result is he wants to distract America from that. And then so let's -- let's keep pushing back that it is wrong to nationalize the use of our National Guard. It's wrong to send in Marines.

The local forces have this controlled. Quit pouring fuel on the fire and trying to create riots in America.

BERMAN: There was a state representative, Democratic leader of the state legislature in Minnesota killed over the weekend, a state senator shot.

[08:15:00]

How would you describe the current political atmosphere in this country this morning?

MERKLEY: I feel like Trump has really popped the lid off of the rhetoric and the sense of hate and violence and promoted this type of an environment. It's profoundly disturbing for all of us. We have seen increased threats across the country.

You're probably familiar with the pizza threats. We've seen more of that, where pizzas or other food is delivered to people's families that they haven't ordered. Just to say from the right wing, we know who you are. We know where you live.

I can tell you all of our families feel a greatly heightened sense. And just let me just say, my heart goes out to the families in Minnesota. How horrific, horrific for the whole country, but particularly we're holding the folks in Minnesota in our hearts.

BERMAN: And no place in this country for political violence of any kind. Senator Jeff Merkley from Oregon, thank you very much.

MERKLEY: Thank you, John.

BERMAN: Sara.

SIDNER: All right, breaking overnight, the key to how police captured the suspect accused of that deadly political violence against lawmakers in Minnesota. And new details about how one of his victim's children helped save their parents.

Plus, we are moments away from another day of testimony in the federal sex trafficking racketeering trial against Sean Combs, why the judge is now considering dismissing a juror.

Plus, a deadly shooting at the No King's Rally in Utah, what we know about the confrontation that left a bystander dead. Those stories and more ahead.

[08:20:00]

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SIDNER: This morning, the Justice Department is weighing possible federal charges against the man suspected of shooting two Minnesota lawmakers and their spouses. Vance Boelter is expected in court this afternoon on state murder and attempted murder charges. Investigators say he crawled out to SWAT teams late last night after they managed to surround him in a rural wooded area near his home about an hour south of Minneapolis.

Boelter is accused of killing Minnesota State Representative Melissa Hortman and her husband. He's also been charged with the shooting of State Senator John Hoffman and his wife. Both of them managed to survive.

Authorities say Boelter had at least two hit lists with the names and addresses of dozens of other lawmakers.

Joining us now is CNN's Senior National Security Analyst Juliette Kayyem. I want to start here because the charges were meted out this morning.

The suspect dressed and acted like a police officer. This gives us kind of a sense of how this was planned and premeditated. So I guess the question is, he's being charged right now with second degree murder, not first degree murder. Why?

JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: I think that at the time that they wanted to get him under arrest, they are, it's absolutely clear that he was the perpetrator. Premeditation, which is the first degree, will be found. We think we already have it.

They're just putting the case together. So in terms of, will there be an amended series of indictments? Absolutely, yes.

This is, at least from what we know, what's coming out publicly, this was premeditated, preplanned, the hit list, the police -- the fake police car, all of it. So I think we just anticipate further state charges. And then behind it potentially could be federal charges.

We do know from last night's press conference, the DOJ is also looking at potential federal charges.

SIDNER: Looking at his history and his background, where his friends and family, you know, say, look, he would go to Africa to be a preacher. He was an evangelical Christian. And you look at some of the other things that he has done and what people are saying about him in his life.

Does he fit a profile neatly that would be someone prone to doing something like this?

KAYYEM: Well, there are some gaps. And I mean, first of all, sometimes I don't believe the family members. I'm just going to be honest here.

How does someone go from just being a preacher and a security guard to now being sort of a hit list assassin against Democratic lawmakers? So there may be more evidence coming out. Family members tend to protect their husband or friend.

The second is what's consistent across his career is he's performative and he's a want to be. He is looking -- and this is consistent with radicalization. He is looking for something that is going to give him notoriety.

He's a top security official, yet there's no sign of it. He's a preacher and goes to Africa, but we don't know what his training is. He's a PhD and we don't have any background on that. That's at least how he represents himself.

So that sort of want to be bigger and the political violence, the political discourse in our country right now gave him that meaning that he had been looking for in other parts of his life earlier. And that's the scary thing about radicalization.

It's not, you know, it is -- there's lots of people looking for meaning and they find it in violence against our democracy and our politicians.

SIDNER: You know, there's some evidence that was found. You talked about the notebook and a list of other targets. And you're saying, look, it is very possible someone could know about this.

[08:25:00]

Do you think that there will be potentially more arrests? Or what are police doing at this hour to try and look at the bigger picture here?

KAYYEM: Right. So there's I think there's two big pictures. One, of course, is this case specifically and exactly what you said, Sara.

Were there people who knew or should have known that he had extensive weaponry in the car. Had he told a friend there's a roommate or a friend, a former roommate or a friend sort of working about his wife, although she's been described as cooperative. All of those people will be questioned to determine what did they know and did they assist him.

Although his arrest and the way he was arrested suggested he was acting alone. He was running. He was hiding.

The second is the larger piece that is important for us to discuss publicly, which is just this violence as part of our democratic disagreements.

We know everybody in positions of power, senators, a White House, both sides of the aisle. Everyone needs to shut this down.

There's no trolling it. There's no laughing about it. There's no both sides doing it. This is a Pandora's box that has been opened over the course of years now. And I see, you know, honestly, I see Republican senators sort of trolling this. And I I sort of gasp. I mean, at this stage, we cannot normalize this.

It's going to impact Democrats and Republicans alike. And we got to we got to close this off to the extent we can and everywhere and every way that we can.

SIDNER: There's always worry about copycats are worried about a lot of things. And lawmakers have expressed that they are afraid. Juliette Kayyem, thank you so much.

I really appreciate your time this morning.

KAYYEM: Thank you.

SIDNER: OK, we're just minutes away from another day of jury deliberation and the murder retrial of Karen Read. We are live from outside the courthouse there.

Plus, a deadly collapse at a popular tourist destination in India. You see the pictures there. Several people are dead and dozens more injured after that bridge you're seeing there fell into the river. That story more ahead.

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