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Prosecution Nears End in Combs Trial; Polls on U.S. involvement with Iran; GOP Members Clash over Next Steps in Iran; Job Corps Cuts Could Leave Students Homeless. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired June 18, 2025 - 08:30   ET

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

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[08:33:48]

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Happening soon, court resumes in the federal racketeering and sex trafficking trial of Sean Combs. The prosecution now winding down testimony from its final witnesses. After that, Combs' attorney says they expect to spend up to five days presenting his defense.

Today, Combs' former assistant, Brendan Paul, is expected to take the stand.

CNN's Kara Scannell outside court for us here in New York.

Kara, there -- there was some really interesting testimony yesterday that the jury listened to and saw that had to do with the financial records in this case. How important are these records? How important is proving the-- the finances and how this was all financed to the prosecution's sex trafficking and racketeering case?

KARA SCANNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. Sara.

Yes, the jury saw a lot of records yesterday, text messages, flight itineraries, credit card statements that were belonging to Sean Combs' American Express account, and then the bank receipts to show how those credit cards were paid off, going back to an account linked to Bad Boy.

And this all ties into the prosecution's theory of this case of a racketeering conspiracy, that's count one in the indictment, to say that Combs' business was helping perpetuate the sex trafficking operation that they allege had been taking place for all of these years.

[08:35:08]

So, these records showing that Combs himself was arranging the transportation of some of these male escorts. That also ties into the transportation to engage in prostitution counts in this case.

So, they're trying to wrap it up for the jury to put everything in perspective and connect the dots for them through the summary witness and the summary charts that they showed yesterday. I mean, in addition, they also showed a 20-slide timeline all around the Intercontinental Hotel, that surveillance video that we first exclusively published. They walked through text messages, records, the video when that all occurred, and then also Combs' text messages with one of the security guards, Eddie Garcia, who testified, going toward the bribery element of the racketeering conspiracy. So, the prosecution trying to tie it all up for the jury as we end up toward the end of this case.

Now, this morning, there will be the former assistant, Brendan Paul, who will testify. He worked for Combs up until last year. His testimony is expected to include his experience setting up hotel nights involving Combs' former girlfriend, who testified at the trial under the pseudonym Jane, as well as his role in procuring drugs for Combs. Drugs is an element of that first count of racketeering conspiracy. And he worked for Combs at the time. This is how the prosecution is trying to say that Combs was working with his employees. He was helped by security guards, by personal assistants and others who helped him carry out a number of alleged crimes, including sex trafficking, including drug distribution, including arson. If we remember the testimony involving rapper Kid Cudi's car.

So, this all coming now to the end. And then after Brendan Paul is on the stand, the prosecution, they will call one additional law enforcement witness who will also, as they call it, provide a summary of the witness of this, pulling together the final facts in this case, as the prosecution tries to convince the jury to convict Combs on all these counts.

And as you say, Combs' lawyer has signaled that they could call witnesses that could go -- last about five days. For now, they've highlighted about four witnesses that they expect to call. Their defense of this case could begin as soon as Friday. That's when the prosecution says they are expecting to rest the case.

Sara.

SIDNER: Wow. Yes, that's been six weeks this Friday. And then the defense will begin its job.

Thank you so much, Kara Scannell, for following every single detail of this case throughout this six weeks.

All right, this morning, President Trump could be considering U.S. strikes on Iran. But how do Americans feel about that possibility of the United States entering a war? We're running the numbers for you next with our Harry Enten.

Plus, flights to Bali disrupted this morning after a volcano in Indonesia sending a massive plume of ash six miles -- look at those pictures -- into the sky. The eruption alert there now set to the highest level possible.

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[08:42:32] SIDNER: This morning, sources say President Trump is warming to the idea of using the U.S. military to strike Iran's nuclear facilities. The American public, though, has made their feelings on the matter very clear about whether the United States should enter this war.

With recent polling, CNN's chief data analyst Harry Enten joining me now.

You've looked at all the numbers. Trump has said that Iran cannot possibly get a nuclear weapon. That is what this is all about.

How do Americans feel about that particular thing?

HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: Yes, look, I think it's a complicated picture overall. But on this particular question, and overall I feel like there's more support for Donald Trump's positions than is comically acknowledged.

Oppose Iran getting a nuclear weapon. I mean, look at this, 79 percent of adults agree on that. They agree with Donald Trump, Iran cannot get a nuclear weapon. Eighty-three percent of Republicans, 79 percent of independents, 79 percent of Democrats. When you get 79 percent of Democrats and 83 percent of Republicans agreeing on anything, you know that that position is the very clear majority in this country. And so, the American public is with Donald Trump. They definitely oppose Iran getting nuclear weapons.

SIDNER: So, this is a nuance here but, you know, Trump and Netanyahu both arguing that Iran is close to -- to being capable of making a nuclear weapon. If that is the case, what is the feeling of -- of Americans as to whether the United States should get involved in this conflict?

ENTEN: Right. If you buy Donald Trump's theory of the case, and I think that's important to note, this is polling from -- from April. If Iran's trying to make a nuclear weapon, look at this, overall, you get the slight plurality. I mean it's within the margin of error, but the slight plurality of Americans actually favor U.S. airstrikes compared to 47 percent opposing it.

Now, here's the other nugget I'll note, right? There's been a lot of talk online and on social media and in podcasts of a divide within the Republican ranks. But here, on this question, if Iran's trying to make a nuclear weapon, look at that, 69 percent of Republicans. The clear vast majority of Republicans favor U.S. airstrikes on Iran on their nuclear facilities. But there is this substantial minority, 27 percent, who oppose such an idea. So, it's not surprising you're hearing those other voices besides Donald Trump out there. There are plenty of them in the Republican ranks who oppose striking -- the U.S. striking Iran if they're trying to make a nuclear weapon. But the clear majority, the clear majority of Republicans are with Donald Trump if, in fact, Iran is trying to make nuclear weapons, they do, in fact, potentially favor U.S. airstrikes.

SIDNER: Do Americans prefer sort of military action here or a diplomatic solution when it comes to Iran? ENTEN: Right. So, you know, we're talking about, you can favor one

thing, but you could also favor another thing more. So, yes, the U.S. -- the U.S. public plurality and the vast majority of Republicans would favor U.S. airstrikes if Iran is trying to make a nuclear weapon.

[08:45:02]

But what do they prefer? To limit the risk of Iran making nuclear weapons, the American public prefers what? They prefer a negotiated agreement, 69 percent. Sixty-nine percent of the American public prefer a negotiated agreement, as compared to 14 percent who prefer taking military action.

I will note, Sara Sidner, that this 69 percent includes 64 percent of Republicans. So even there, even if Republicans, the clear majority, would, in fact, support airstrikes on Iran, U.S. airstrikes on Iran, they prefer a negotiated agreement.

SIDNER: And you've looked across the board, but we do need to mention that this was in May of 2025 that this polling was taken. We are now well into June, and these strikes are happening, and the United States is being sort of asked to come into the war by Israel.

ENTEN: We have polling now. We'll see where this polling takes us as the political sides make their arguments.

SIDNER: All right, looking forward to it.

Harry Enten, thank you so much. Appreciate it.

ENTEN: Thank you.

SIDNER: John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, with us now, CNN political commentators Shermichael Singleton and Bakari Sellers.

And, friends, you know, Harry and Sara just talking about a little bit of a divide within the Republican Party about support for military action against Iran. I just had Congressman Tim Burchett from Tennessee on. This guy didn't mince words. I was asking him about members of his own party that are supportive of U.S. action and what he would call them. Listen to what he said.

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BERMAN: Congressman, where do you come down on this? And Tucker Carlson has called some members of your own party "warmongers."

REP. TIM BURCHETT (R-TN): Yes. Well, I call them war pimps. You know, Lindsey Graham's a friend of mine. Ted Cruz is a friend of mine. I -- I just -- I -- look, I got a -- I got a daughter that just turned 18 last week on the same day as the president did and the United States Army. I don't want to see her go to war.

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BERMAN: Not warmongers, but war pimps.

SHERMICHAEL SINGLETON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: He didn't mince words.

BERMAN: I'm not sure if that's a -- if that's a more mild thing there. But what do you think of this divide? And it's not just Congressman Burchett.

SHERMICHAEL: Well, look, I think it's a healthy divide when you think about everything we learned from our previous incursion in the Middle East, Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, thousands of U.S. troops killed, thousands more wounded. I believe $1.4 trillion or $1.6 trillion of American taxpayer money spent.

And what was the net result? The Middle East is far worse than it -- than it is, I would argue today. Look at the Taliban back in control of Afghanistan. Syria is a complete mess.

And so, I agree with the president that we should support Israel as our ally with indirect resources. We can do that. Control the airspace. Allow Israel to continue to take military -- strategic military attacks against their military installations in Iran.

But -- but the question becomes, should the U.S. directly involve itself? And if we do, and Iran decides to respond by attacking some of the bases in the region, killing American troops, we will have no choice at that point but to involve ourselves way more than I think the average American would prefer.

BERMAN: You know, and Bakari, one of the things that I was referring to with Congressman Burchett right there was this conversation that Tucker Carlson, who was vehemently opposed to U.S. military action --

BAKARI SELLERS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes.

BERMAN: Had with Ted Cruz, senator from Texas, who is supportive of the U.S. getting involved. And I just want to play a little bit of that.

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TUCKER CARLSON: How many people live in Iran, by the way?

SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX): I -- I don't know the population.

CARLSON: At all?

CRUZ: No, I don't know the population.

CARLSON: You don't know the population of the country you seek to topple?

What's the ethnic mix of Iran?

CRUZ: They are Persians and predominantly Shia.

CARLSON: What percent?

CRUZ: OK, this is cute. OK.

CARLSON: No, there's no -- it's not even -- you don't know anything about Iran. So, actually, the country --

CRUZ: OK, I am not the -- the Tucker Carlson expert on Iran who says --

CARLSON: No, no, no, but you're a senator who's calling for the overthrow of the government --

CRUZ: OK, you're the one who claims --

CARLSON: and you don't know anything about the country.

CRUZ: You're the one who claims -- no, you don't know anything about the country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: I mean there's theater there, Bakari, but it is an interesting political situation where you do have some of the most conservative supporters of President Trump now in some vague agreement with some members of the Democratic Party. I wonder how Democrats navigate this.

SELLERS: Well, I mean, I think, first and foremost, Shermichael was right on the point that we have to support our ally, Israel, and there is a way to do that strategically. I think that when you're talking about Iran getting closer to a nuclear weapon, that should terrify us all. But the fact is, we had an agreement in place in 2015, and Iran was in compliance with that agreement, and they were further away from nuclear capabilities than they are today.

Bibi Netanyahu and MBS convinced Donald Trump it was the easy mode to convince him to pull out of the nuclear agreement. And when he did that, Iran is now moving further and further towards a nuclear weapon. That's a fact. By pulling out of the Iran nuclear agreement, we're here now where you have to make a decision about, are we going to put U.S. military boots on the ground?

The answer to that is no. The -- since Donald Trump has gotten elected, the Middle East is on fire, as we had images on the split screen now, the Ukrainian-Russian war has gotten further out of hand, and these were things that he was going to solve on day one, but have become more and more complicated in his leadership.

[08:50:02]

We had an opportunity to have a diplomatic resolution to this. But Bibi Netanyahu, MBS and Donald Trump made the decision that was not in American interest to pull out of the Iran nuclear agreement. And here we are. BERMAN: You know, it is interesting, you talk about Iran getting

closer and closer to getting a nuclear weapon. Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, in her confirmation hearings, or in hearings before the Senate, basically said she was not under the impression that Iran was very close to getting a weapon. And President Trump was asked about that by our Kaitlan Collins. Listen.

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

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I don't care what she said. I think they were very close to having one.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: The, I don't care what she said, Shermichael, aside from all of these considerations about Iran, it's not something you want to -- if you're the director of national intelligence, you -- something you want your president saying about you.

SINGLETON: So, the agency, the international agency that's tasked with following these sorts of things, did release a study, I believe, a week ago, an analysis --

BERMAN: Yes.

SINGLETON: Stating that Iran was a lot closer than they had realized. So, I think there's been some changes, potentially in the intelligence that the president has seen. So, I would sort of back away and say, I want to give the president some room here.

With that said, though, you know who's the biggest winner of all of this, John? The Chinese. The Chinese are backing Russia. They're backing Iran because they buy a lot of oil from Iran, which has enabled Iran to continue with their military operations or continue with their nuclear weapons program, continuing to fund terrorist groups, proxy groups, around the region.

By stretching the United States and our military capacity, we're essentially giving the Chinese an opportunity to continue to expand their military technology, their advancements, to continue other encroachments across the globe. This, to me, is not just about Israel, it's not just about Iran, it's about who will be the global superpower for the next 50 to 100 years. The Chinese are making some steps that I think we're not really focused on. That's why I'm really, really cautious and against U.S. involvement directly, that is, in that region.

BERMAN: Well, we'll see what happens. 8:51 a.m. right now. We're waiting to hear more from the White House.

Shermichael Singleton, Bakari Sellers, thanks so much for being part of this discussion. SINGLETON: Thanks, John.

BERMAN: Really appreciate it.

Now we are getting some breaking news, which plays into this and is interesting. We just learned that Israel has decided to ease some domestic restrictions today, calling it a message of victory over Iran. So how should we read that?

Much more just ahead.

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[08:56:40]

BERMAN: All right, new this morning, a huge new study of medical data from nearly 200 million people finds that using marijuana could double the risk of dying from heart disease. Those who use marijuana also had an almost 30 percent higher risk for heart attacks compared to non- users. While the study did not ask how the marijuana was consumed, researchers say smoking was the most likely in most cases.

Sara.

SIDNER: All right, on our radar for you this morning, convicted sex offender R. Kelly is accusing prison staff of trying to kill him. The singer is serving two federal sentences at a correctional facility in North Carolina. Last week, his attorneys requested an emergency release from the facility, stating that Kelly believed workers were plotting to have another inmate kill him. He was moved into solitary confinement. Two days after that, Kelly accused prison staff of giving him more medicine than he normally takes that threatened his life. He was rushed to the hospital after losing consciousness. The government is calling his claims a fanciful conspiracy.

All right, take a look at these pictures. Wow. A volcanic eruption, you're seeing here, in Indonesia, sending ash spewing more than six miles into the sky. That ash is now spreading over the tourist island of Flores. Dozens of people in nearby villages have to be evacuated, and dozens of flights to and from Bali had to be canceled. Officials enacted the country's highest alert and are urging tourists to please stay away.

John.

BERMAN: That's a big ash cloud.

SIDNER: Sure is.

BERMAN: All right, new this morning, the opportunity for a safe place to live for thousands of students in limbo. For six decades, Jobs Corps helped millions of young Americans find housing, work or get an education. Now, some of those students are facing an uncertain future after the Trump administration ordered the program's operations to be paused as part of the White House larger budget cuts aimed at trimming federal programs. CNN's Sunlen Serfaty with this new reporting from Washington.

Sunlen, what are you learning?

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, this is a very serious situation for many young adults and teenagers who are part of this program and who rely on this program as a place to live at the most basic need. This would affect over 21,000 students who were in the program back in May, 20 percent of which would be homeless if this program was closed.

Now, that is what the Trump administration is trying to do here, essentially. Back in May, they announced that there would be a pause on the program. Essentially, they want it wound down completely by the end of this month. They cited security on campuses, low graduation rates, and also the cost per student. This is all part of the DOGE cuts that are taking place across the federal government.

But this has since been challenged in court. There is a series of restraint -- temporary restraining orders that have been put in place, essentially pausing the pause, pausing the closure of the program.

But what this has done, it has really plunged the program into a constant state of uncertainty over the past month since the Trump administration announced the closure of the program. I talked to a source within Job Corps. They said that 8,000 students since May have left the program potentially on their own. They have cited that this -- they feel that they're in a state of limbo. They have gone to homeless shelters. So that clearly not good for the program, John.

[09:00:01]

And certainly kids who rely on this program as -- as their place to live. One student I spoke to, 21 years old.