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Congress Gets Security Briefing in Wake of Minnesota Shootings; Attacks Continue in Israel-Iran Conflict. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired June 17, 2025 - 13:00   ET

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

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BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: We're following breaking news. State media says that Iran has launched a new wave of missiles towards Israel just minutes after President Trump said -- quote -- "We now have total control of the skies over Iran." We have a live report for you from Tel Aviv.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: And threats mounting. Lawmakers call for more protection after a briefing on their security just days after a state lawmaker and her husband were killed in Minnesota and another lawmaker and his wife were shot.

And spending hangover, Americans cutting back after rushing to buy big-ticket items to beat tariffs.

We're following these major developing stories and many more all coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

SANCHEZ: The Middle East is on high alert this hour as missiles fall across Israel and Iran for a fifth straight day. A short time ago, Iranian state media announced the launch of a new wave of attacks, air raid sirens sounding again today in Tel Aviv and other parts of Israel. Iran claims that it struck an Israeli military intelligence center in Tel Aviv.

We should note President Trump is now back in Washington after unexpectedly leaving the G7 summit a day early. He's convening his national security staff in the White House Situation Room today as the U.S. monitors this rapidly developing conflict.

Just in the past hour, in an extraordinary set of social media posts, the president announced -- quote -- "We" -- emphasis on we -- "now have complete and total control of the skies over Iran." Trump also issuing a veiled threat to Iran's supreme leader, claiming that "We," again, we, "know where he is hiding" and calling Ayatollah Khamenei a -- quote -- "easy target," but adding that he is safe for now.

CNN's Alayna Treene is live for us at the White House.

Alayna, what more are officials saying about this? ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes, I mean, as you said,

Boris, a very remarkable set of posts there from the president.

And we want to highlight as well, not only did he just say we know exactly where Ayatollah Khamenei, the supreme leader of Iran, is in hiding, but he said that we are not going to take him out. Emphasis, he said, kill him in parentheses, at least not as of now. And then he added that his patience is wearing thin.

And I can tell you, Boris, that's in line with the reporting I have now been hearing from multiple sources who have been familiar with the behind-the-scenes discussions on this escalating conflict between Iran and Israel. I would note that over -- in recent days, really, the president had been kind of fixated on and really pushing for a diplomatic solution to try and end this conflict.

He had said publicly, but I also know he said it in private conversations, that he'd been hoping that there could be some sort of deal to be worked out with the Iranians. But we are learning now in these conversations I'm having that the president is actually moving farther away from that idea, that he's -- kind of his desire to handle this diplomatically is beginning to wane.

It's still very much unclear, of course, what the U.S. is going to do moving forward. The possibility, I'm told, that the U.S. would go further than they have yet in aiding Israel in trying to wipe out Iran's nuclear capabilities is still on the table. Again, unclear, though, if they would actually go that far.

You mentioned this, but the president is meeting this hour. I'm told it's going to kick off any moment now, his meeting in the Situation Room with his top national security officials. That is the reason I was told that he ended his trip to Canada at his -- his presence at the G7 summit so abruptly.

He wanted to have these discussions in person, specifically, of course, as we're seeing this escalating conflict to grow even more tense. We know that the Trump administration has been hearing now from Israel that Israel is expected to really ramp up some of their attacks on the Iranians in the coming days. The president kind of alluded to that when speaking with reporters this morning.

All to say, we have seen an already very tense conflict become even more precarious. Hopefully, we can get you some of the new details we learn as this meeting in the Situation Room kicks off shortly -- Boris.

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SANCHEZ: Alayna Treene, thank you so much.

As Alayna was speaking, we got confirmation this meeting between President Donald Trump and his national security team is under way right now at the White House Situation Room.

Let's actually get you the latest from Tel Aviv with CNN's Nic Robertson as we monitor this White House meeting.

Nic, Israeli officials are warning of another Iranian attack that's looming right now. What's the situation where you are? What are you seeing?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Where we are in Central Israel, there has not been an alert. You would expect an alert perhaps about 10 minutes before the missiles would come in, and then a further alert when they were very, very close. That hasn't happened yet.

It doesn't mean that this perceived threat that's incoming from Iran isn't coming towards the center. Could go to the north. It could go elsewhere. And I think, at the moment, Israeli politicians, particularly in the leadership here, the defense minister, Israel Katz, earlier on this evening going out to the sites of one of Iran's attacks, one of Iran's missile impact areas, and talking about the decision that is being made -- the decisions that are being made in the United States right now.

He said, we thank the United States for the support we have. They haven't been directly engaged. They are helping support us, defeat some of those incoming missiles. They haven't been offensively engaged, was his point. But we believe that the United States is going to make a decision that's in its national security interests.

And, of course, the parentheses behind that is, and we hope that they will join us in trying to further degrade and demolish Iran's nuclear capabilities. That's the hope. And I think, as President Trump has gone more public with his pressure and positioning on this warning, if you will, to the Iranian leadership to about-face and change their position, that fits with the direction Israel hopes that the United States will and President Trump will continue to take.

Obviously, they would like to see additional action that. But the question I think you will be asking, many analysts would ask at this moment is, will this verbal pressure from President Trump, will the military pressure from Israel change the position of the Iranian leadership vis their nuclear capabilities?

They say they want -- they want the ability to enrich for a domestic power-generating program only for military. That is not something that's widely believed or trusted, of course. But Iranian leadership typically does not bow down to this kind of pressure. And part of the reason is, it's a fragile leadership.

It controls the population. If they bow down to this kind of pressure, it becomes existential for them. Their population and mood is in flux. Many are fleeing the capital Tehran. And it's not -- it won't be clear to the leadership there what will happen if they if they decided to go along with this pressure and throw that -- through the towel in at the moment. This is a very, very high-stakes moment.

SANCHEZ: Nic Robertson, live for us in Tel Aviv, thank you so much.

There are new questions over Israel's justification for launching this surprise attack on Iran, which set off to now five days of deadly airstrikes. The Israelis insist that Tehran was very close to producing nuclear bombs, something that President Trump is echoing today. But there is new CNN reporting indicating that U.S. intelligence and the U.S. intelligence community had reached a different conclusion.

KEILAR: CNN's Zach Cohen has our reporting on this.

Zach, where is the U.S. intelligence assessment on that question?

ZACHARY COHEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: Yes, guys, it appears there is some daylight between the U.S. intelligence community and Israel as far as their view of the state of Iran's nuclear nuclear weapons ambitions and their nuclear program.

And, look, Israel, we have seen Israeli officials come out publicly and say privately that they believe Iran was sprinting towards a nuclear weapon. They have cast the nuclear ambitions of Iran as an urgent and important threat that needed to be preempted by these recent strikes that we have seen.

But sources telling me and our colleague Katie Bo Lillis that the U.S. intelligence community really did come to a different conclusion. In fact, they assessed prior to the strikes that there was no sign that Iran was working to build a nuclear weapon, in fact, that it would take up to three years for Iran to develop and produce a nuclear weapon and the system to deliver it to a target of their choosing.

And that second part is really key. That's the reason. That underpins this extended timeline. The delivery system is really the complicating challenge for the Iranians, according to this U.S. intelligence assessment. And, look, we know that the Iranians in the international community and the intelligence community here in the U.S. has assessed that the Iranians could enrich enough uranium and could have and has enough centrifuges to weaponize their nuclear program within a matter of months.

But, again, without developing a delivery system to go along with it, it could take years before that happens. So it really comes and contrasts with the Israeli message and does raise new questions about what Donald Trump and his senior officials in his administration are saying today as far as potentially hinting at U.S. direct involvement in the Israel-Iran conflict, Donald Trump really emphasizing that preventing Iran from getting a nuclear weapon is the motivating factor there, and he will do whatever it takes to prevent that from happening.

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SANCHEZ: Zach, talk to us about this apparent split between the president and his director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard. She insists that there is no daylight, but their statements contradict each other.

COHEN: Yes, back in March, Tulsi Gabbard testified before Congress and said unequivocally that there was -- the intelligence community assessed that Iran was not working to build a nuclear weapon. It was very clear testimony.

She did go on to say that there are signs that, if they chose to do so, Iran was relatively close to being able to have that capability, but, again, that testimony is sort of coming back to the forefront here in the context of the current conflict. Donald Trump was actually asked about Gabbard's March testimony today by our Kaitlan Collins.

And take a listen to what he said when confronted with Gabbard's past remarks.

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KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN HOST: How close do you personally think that they were to getting one? Because Tulsi Gabbard...

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Very close.

COLLINS: Tulsi Gabbard testified in March that the intelligence community said Iran wasn't building a nuclear weapon.

TRUMP: I don't care what she said. I think they were very close to having one.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COHEN: So, Gabbard today, asked about Donald Trump's comments, insisting that they are on the same page as far as Iran's timeline for obtaining a potential nuclear weapon.

But, again, kind of in conjunction with our reporting about the U.S. intelligence assessment prior to the Israeli strikes, it really does raise questions about where Donald Trump is or who Donald Trump is listening to as far as Iran's nuclear ambitions.

KEILAR: All right, Zach Cohen, thank you so much for that reporting. We do appreciate it.

Let's talk a little bit more about these developments, big developments, with Jason Rezaian. He's a writer for "The Washington Post." He's also the author of the book "My 544 Days in an Iranian Prison." We're also joined by retired Army Brigadier General Mark Kimmitt.

All right, let's take a look as we are trying to figure out where things are headed. And we know that there's a Sit Room meeting going on right now that President Trump is convening.

You have, Jason, the vice president tweeting that Trump may decide he needs to take further action to end Iranian enrichment. How are you reading this signaling?

JASON REZAIAN, "THE WASHINGTON POST": Well, I think that the reality on the ground is that Israel's capabilities are vast, but they can't reach that goal of taking out the underground facility at Fordow. Only the United States of America has the weaponry to do that. And I see that Benjamin Netanyahu is trying to force President Trump's

hand. President Trump did not want to get into a conflict with Iran. He made that clear multiple times, even after these missile strikes started. But it seems like the calculations might be changing.

SANCHEZ: General Kimmitt, I wonder what you make of Jason's assessment here. Do you think that Benjamin Netanyahu has sort of pushed Donald Trump into action here? Is it still the case that the United States may not get involved?

BRIG. GEN. MARK KIMMITT (RET.), FORMER U.S. CENTRAL COMMAND DEPUTY DIRECTOR FOR PLANS AND STRATEGY: Well, certainly, the United States may not get involved, but the question is, has Bibi Netanyahu taken the current situation and sold it to President Trump, not necessarily as a problem, but as an opportunity?

But the fact is that American policy for many, many presidents has been that Iran will not have a nuclear weapon. For many reasons, there seems to be an opportunity to put that policy into action. So I think that's the type of argument that's being used by Netanyahu.

KEILAR: Does it matter -- I mean, there's a debate here internally, right, General, about how far away Iran is from getting a nuclear weapon. Does that matter if this may be a singular opportunity to take out that capability?

KIMMITT: Well, certainly, the intelligence assessment of the Israelis and the United States is different. And, of course, you can imagine why.

Right now, even though we have mentioned some intelligence about not having the capability to deliver a nuclear weapon, that would require an intercontinental ballistic missile to be a threat to the United States. But if you put a warhead on a ballistic missile of the type that is currently being used by Iran to rain over Tel Aviv, Benjamin Netanyahu is going to have a completely different view of how soon the Iranians could not only produce it, but deliver it.

SANCHEZ: Jason, in response to that, when you look at Iran's options, whether it's the scenario that General Kimmitt laid out or it's perhaps reaching out to some of its allies in China and Russia, what can they do to respond?

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REZAIAN: I don't think that Iran really has credible capabilities of response. We have seen that in recent days, but also over the last year-and-a-half since October 7.

The Israelis have been able to take out military installations in Iran, nuclear scientists, and now this kind of stunning attack that's gone after much of the top leadership in Iran. But I also want to kind of bring the human element into this, right?

The reality is that, while the timeline of breakout capability or Iran's ability to build a bomb might be irrelevant, you see hundreds of people being killed right now. And the more missile strikes that there are on Tehran -- it's a city of 14 million people. Many of them have evacuated, but there are still the vast majority of them in the city.

I don't want to see these strikes continue because the devastation that's being wrought will have a drastic effect on this country for decades, for generations to come.

KEILAR: Yes, and you of all people certainly know that, having covered it for so long.

American citizens, this is -- we just have to be clear. This has all happened so quickly.

REZAIAN: Yes.

KEILAR: Talk a little bit about what they're facing in Iran.

REZAIAN: So I think this is a forgotten piece of the story. There's at least 12,000 American citizens at last count that reside in Iran. Those are people who've registered with the State Department previously. We don't know how many of them are still in the country, but probably thousands, along with many thousands more green card holders.,

They have no clear way of evacuating the situation. I think, if we're looking at this from an American first policy, something that we could do is try and impress upon the Israeli and Iranian authorities to help some of these people get out. But that doesn't speak to the larger humanitarian crisis that we're on the verge of seeing.

SANCHEZ: General, what do you see as the worst-case scenario, given where things stand right now? Is there an off-ramp via negotiation that you see as still available?

KIMMITT: Yes, I have often been thinking about 1988 when, at that time, Khomeini swallowed and drank from what he called the poison chalice in order to end the Iraq-Iran War.

Of note, the president of Iran at that time is the current grand ayatollah. So there is some precedence for Iran regretfully and only in extremis pulling back from what they would consider to be the kind of scenario that Jason discussed. I don't think that would come about. I believe the targets being focused on right now are military, and we're not going to see the firebombing of Tehran the way we saw the firebombing of Tokyo.

But I think that there is room for negotiations, but the leverage that Iran had at one point I think has disappeared.

SANCHEZ: General Mark Kimmitt, Jason Rezaian, thank you both. Appreciate the perspective.

Still ahead: Capitol Police ramping up security for members of Congress who they say were impacted by the shootings in Minnesota. We're going to speak to the former U.S. Capitol Police chief about what that looks like.

KEILAR: And consumers cut back sharply on spending last month, retail sales showing its biggest drop in four months.

What this all means for you, we will have that ahead on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

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SANCHEZ: Just minutes from now, House Democrats will receive a security briefing in the wake of the shootings involving two Minnesota state lawmakers and their spouses. A bipartisan briefing was held for senators earlier today.

And, afterward, Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said that more protection is needed and that threats against officials has -- quote -- "drastically increased."

Watch this.

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SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): When political opponents are treated like enemies, when leaders encourage the kind of protest that can lead to violence, it increases that violence. So it's the responsibility of all leaders, especially President Trump, to not just unequivocally condemn hatred, but to stop the violent and regressive language against political opponents.

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SANCHEZ: Let's get some perspective with former U.S. Capitol Police Chief Thomas Manger.

Chief, thanks so much for being with us.

Now that the Minnesota suspect is in custody, he had a list of targets. I wonder if you think those officials are safe. Do you have concerns about them?

TOM MANGER, FORMER U.S. CAPITOL POLICE CHIEF: Well, one would hope that they're safe.

They -- after speaking to the suspect, I think they have a little bit more information. One of the things that law enforcement has to do immediately is to determine whether this was just a lone actor or there are other people assisting him. And, of course, once they are able to make that determination, then we will have a better idea of whether the rest of the people on that list are safe or not.

SANCHEZ: You heard Leader Schumer there. I wonder if you think Capitol Police have the resources at this moment that they need to protect the elected officials.

MANGER: In large measure, they do.

But just a couple of months ago, I was testifying in front of the Senate Appropriations Committee, and I was talking about the additional resources that we needed. And it went directly to the number of threats against the members of Congress, that we got nearly 10,000 last year, threats that we investigated.

And Capitol Police have nationwide jurisdiction, nationwide responsibility for investigating those threats. And so I talked about the additional resources that would assist us in that endeavor.

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SANCHEZ: When the FBI special agent in charge of Minneapolis says that they are in close coordination with Capitol Police, what does that entail?

MANGER: Well, I know that I actually spoke with him and have spoken with him over the past couple of years on different events that occurred in Minneapolis.

And the coordination between law enforcement and certainly between the Capitol Police is relentless. I mean, we are entering into memorandums of agreement with sheriff's departments, police departments all over the nation, so that they can assist us when the member of Congress is in their home district or when they're traveling, when they're not on Capitol grounds.

There, we have got it. I mean, they're as safe as they can be on Capitol grounds. But once they have to travel, once they go back to their home districts, we want to make sure that their safety and security is as good as it can be. And working with those law enforcement agencies around the country help us do that.

SANCHEZ: Chief, I know part of the job, part of your duty is to remain apolitical, so I hope you don't interpret this as a political question, but I'm sure you have seen some of the rhetoric online, including from Utah Senator Mike Lee, seeming to make false statements or at least statements without substance at this point about the shooter in Minneapolis.

Does that kind of rhetoric make things more dangerous for lawmakers?

MANGER: It does.

I mean, and it's not just members of Congress. I mean, it's social media in general, where hate thrives. And, unfortunately, the -- if you look at the political atmosphere, if you look at the threat environment that we're in right now, it's elevated and has been elevated for years. And it has been a gradual process, and it is not getting any better.

I think the lack of civility, the vitriol that goes on between elected officials just encourages hate, encourages people to think, well, gosh, if I don't do something, then my country is going to go in the wrong direction. So this is the kind of thing that gets folks that are -- whether they're dealing with mental health issues or whether they just get to a point where they feel like they have to do something, and they cross that line into criminal activity.

It does not help when elected officials are engaging in this kind of rhetoric.

SANCHEZ: They set the example, right?

MANGER: They do. And you would expect -- one would expect more of them.

SANCHEZ: Chief Manger, great to get that message. Thank you so much for joining us.

MANGER: Thank you.

SANCHEZ: Appreciate it.

Still plenty more news to come this afternoon on the escalating conflict in the Middle East, Iran warning Israel against expanding this into the wider region.

We have new details coming your way in just moments.

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