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Israel and Iran Trade Strikes as Trump Weighs U.S. Action; Iranian Missile Strikes Major Israeli Hospital; Sources Say, Trump Souring on Gabbard for Being Off-Message on Israel-Iran Conflict. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired June 19, 2025 - 07:00   ET

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

[07:00:00]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Breaking overnight, CNN has learned that President Trump has reviewed attack plans for Iran. We've got new reporting on why he is holding off, launching a strike, at least for now.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: And as the world awaits Trump's decision, a new wave of attacks between the two countries, Israel saying Iran has crossed a red line as its missiles hit a Tel Aviv suburb and a hospital in Southern Israel. And the Israeli military says it has hit dozens of military targets in Iran.

Also, a huge explosion at SpaceX's star base facility as the company was preparing a Starship rocket for its tenth flight test.

Kate is out today. I'm Sara Sidner with John Berman. This is CNN News Central.

BERMAN: All right, the breaking news this morning, will he or won't he? A source tells CNN that President Trump has reviewed attack plans for Iran, but he is holding off for now to see if Tehran steps back from its nuclear program.

So, as the world waits for his decision, Israel and Iran launched new attacks overnight. An Iranian missile struck a major hospital in Southern Israel causing extensive damage there. Inside, patients and staffers scrambled for safety. Israel says Iran launched dozens of ballistic missiles with several hits on civilian areas. Officials there say at least 60 people were wounded in this latest wave.

And the Israel Defense Forces released video of its strike on Iran's Iraq heavy water reactor, a nuclear facility about 155 miles southwest of Tehran. The site is said to be inactive and Iran says no serious damage is reported.

President Trump indicated he has not made up his mind about striking Iran, as we said. He told reporters quote, I may do it. I may not do it. We just learned the United Kingdom foreign secretary is traveling to Washington to discuss this situation with Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

CNN's Alayna Treene is at the White House with the very latest this morning. Where do things stand, Alayna?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes. Look, John, in all of my conversations here at the White House with top Trump administration officials, I'm told that some of these discussions regarding the U.S. getting involved in a potential strike on Iranian nuclear facilities is really focused on -- some of those discussions are focused on, you know, wanting to not have the United States engage in a prolonged war.

And, essentially, what I've been hearing in these discussions is that the president specifically does believe that the United States can go in and strike Iranian nuclear facilities, try to aid Israel in their ultimate goal of wiping out their nuclear capabilities without having this breakout into a full scale war.

One of the sources I spoke with essentially told me that the president himself does not believe that a U.S. strike necessarily means the U.S. is trying to make this into a much bigger conflict.

Of course, we're hearing all of that as we know that many of the president's supporters, people in his own party are really split on how they believe that he should proceed. You have one side of them, of course, saying, you know -- and they're telling the president this too, I should say, one side of them saying, we should not get involved in another foreign war, the other side saying, we need to go in and support Israel in this endeavor and really try to directly ensure that Iran does not have a nuclear weapon.

Now, all of this comes, as we are told as well from a source familiar with some of this decision-making, that the president did review attack plans for Iran, but he's continued to try and hold off on that really to continue to see what Tehran does in all of this and whether they'll ultimately come back to the negotiating table with some major concessions.

And you kind of heard the present, when he was speaking with reporters in the Oval Office yesterday, referred to that, that he hasn't made up his mind on a final decision yet. Take a listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: I have ideas as to what to do, but I haven't made a final. I like to make the final decision one second before it's due, you know, because things change. I mean, especially with war. Things change with war. It can go from one extreme to the other.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TREENE: So, as you heard him say there, they can go from one extreme to the other. He's not going to make a final decision right up until it ultimately is going to happen one way or another. And so that's where the president's mindset is on this.

[07:05:00]

And, again, he is closer now John, than he has been in wanting to move forward and involve U.S. military in some of these strikes, but really still waiting to see if there is a way to potentially handle this diplomatically. All of those discussions continuing today as we're told that the president is expected to go back into the Situation Room with his national security officials at some point here at the White House today. John?

BERMAN: In the meantime, everyone very much on alert. Alayna Treene at the White House this morning, thank you very much. Sara?

SIDNER: All right. Thank you, John. The red line has been crossed, words from Israel's health minister After Iran's strike on the largest hospital in Southern Israel. The minister calling the attack a despicable war crime, at least 40 people inside the 1,200 bed hospital were injured. Staffers say it would've been much worse but they had preemptively evacuated patients to the basement.

CNN's Nic Robertson is outside the medical center. We have seen these actions before of this preemptive move to get people down into the basement. What are you seeing and hearing around you this morning as you were right outside that medical center?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes. Sara, you might be hearing a lot of sort of shouting behind me. That's the fire crews here. They're pulling back some of their hoses. They've had them right up on the roof of the building behind me putting out fires inside -- seven hours since this blast -- since this strike happened.

Now, I spoke a little earlier with the director of the medical center and he described to me some of the things that have been happening here. Sanjeev (ph), if you're able to, take a look at the building there, take a look up there at the fifth floor. The medical director told me that that fifth floor, that's the urology and cancer unit up there, that's what he said, took a direct hit. He told me that they had 25 patients in beds up there just yesterday. And, fortunately, he said they'd moved them to the basement just yesterday.

Here's what he told me.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. SHLOMI KODESH, DIRECTOR, SOROKA MEDICAL CENTER: We evacuated this floor yesterday not because of any specific warning, just because we're in an ongoing process of trying to move as many patients as possible into more protected areas.

The damage across the medical center is extensive. All hospital buildings are affected with windows and ceilings being damaged, patient's hit by flying glass, stuff like that, across the medical center.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTSON: So, we've been walking around this medical center fairly extensively earlier, and you do see blast damages, glass blown out, and buildings more than a hundred yards away from where we are. I'm looking at a truck. This seemed to have been parked there at the time. The window at the front of it shattered over there, broken glass on the buildings where the children's center was. 40 people, the director told me, with minor injuries, just as he said there, from breaking glass.

We've also, while we've been down here, seen a lot of politicians showing up, Ben-Gvir, the hard right national security minister, the speaker of the Knesset, all very clearly blaming this on Iran as a direct, intentional hit, that's what they believe. And we're hearing, of course, the prime minister and the defense minister both saying that they're going to step up the attacks on Iran. This has taken a very political and potentially more escalatory step with the destruction here at the hospital. Sara?

SIDNER: All right. Great reporting from you, Nic Robertson, thank you to you and Sanjeev out there on the ground in Be'er Sheva this morning. John?

BERMAN: All right. And CNN is on the ground in Tehran this morning, the first western journalist to report from Iran since the conflict began. We've got an exclusive report inside the T.V. station hit by Israeli bombs.

And it is the only bomb, powerful enough to destroy a key underground nuclear facility in Iran. We've got new details about the bunker buster and how it might be used.

An off-message and out of favor, new reporting on how President Trump is growing increasingly frustrated with his director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard.

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[07:10:00]

SIDNER: All right. This morning, new CNN reporting taking us inside President Trump's frustrations with his top intelligence official, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard. Sources suggesting the president has soured on Gabbard as she has failed to carve out her place inside the Trump White House that crucially the president sees her as being off-message on the conflict in the Middle East happening right now.

Much of the issues stem from Gabbard's own testimony just back in March on Capitol Hill about Iran's nuclear capabilities. The president making it crystal clear this week what he thought about it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TULSI GABBARD, DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE: The I.C. continues to assess that Iran is not building a nuclear weapon and Supreme Leader Khameini has not authorized the nuclear weapons program that he suspended in 2003.

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

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: All right. CNN's Zach Cohen joins us now with much more on this. How long have these frustrations towards Gabbard sort of been brewing? We have seen what happened when President Trump was questioned, about her stance on the capabilities of Iran. He didn't like it at all and disagreed with her publicly.

ZACHARY COHEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: Yes. These frustrations have been simmering beneath the surface, according to our sources for a couple weeks now. But Trump's comments on Air Force One this week have really raised serious questions about Tulsi Gabbard standing within the administration at a time when a president would typically lean on his top intelligence official as a key adviser and source of expertise on the ongoing conflict between Israel and Iran.

Look, that does not appear, according to multiple sources, to be the case with Gabbard. She has sort of found herself on the outside looking in as Trump has sort of leaned more heavily into a smaller group of more experienced officials, top officials, like CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, and Vice President J.D. Vance.

But, look, the shift in tone is notable in part because sources described Trump's frustration as being rooted in the fact that he believes she's been, quote, off-message on the conflict in the Middle East. And as one senior White House adviser put it, that is something that rubs Trump the wrong way. This adviser said, quote, when the president thinks you are off-message, he doesn't want you in the room. So, it's hard to provide advice and intelligence briefings when you're not in the room.

So, look, the annoyance that Trump is a. Is allegedly feeling towards Gabbard really did peak though earlier this month as the conflict in the Middle East was really sort of speeding into center stage here. As that was happening, and as discussions in the administration really focused on the conflict, Gabbard posted a video where she warned that, quote, the world was closer to the brink of nuclear annihilation than ever before, went on to say and point the finger at the, quote, political elites and the warmongers for stoking fear.

That's something that one source said that Trump interpreted as a thinly veiled criticism of his willingness to potentially allow Israel to go forward with its strikes on Iran that he clearly interpreted that as something that did not align with his own intentions, hence the off-base sort of messaging from these White House advisers.

But look, ODNI, a spokesperson for Gabbard, really disputing that there is any daylight between Donald Trump and Tulsa Gabbard after those comments on Air Force One, where Trump was asked about her March testimony. This spokesperson went on to say that the director remains focused on her mission, providing accurate and actionable intelligence to the president, cleaning up the deep state and keeping the American people secure, safe, and free.

Ultimately, Tulsa Gabbard does not appear to be in jeopardy of getting fired at this moment. But as we know, things can change quickly in the Trump administration.

SIDNER: Yes, it's all interesting with what is happening in the context of what is happening right now, where you'd normally lean on someone in her position to try and glean the intelligence that you need.

Thank you so much, Zach Cohen, for that great reporting this morning.

Ahead, we're getting new information this morning on the growing split in the Republican Party on whether they believe they us should get involved in this conflict, as President Trump weighs his options.

And police are investigating a break-in that happened at the home of the Minnesota lawmaker who was assassinated. The new details we're learning this morning about that.

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[07:20:00]

BERMAN: All right. This morning, show time, big expensive show time, the Los Angeles Lakers being sold for a mammoth $10 billion. A source tells CNN. The Buss family has agreed to sell a majority interest in the team to Los Angeles Dodgers owner Mark Walter, big money in the Dodgers too. The deal was first reported by ESPN.

CNN's Carolyn Manno has all the details. Good morning to you.

CAROLYN MANNO, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John. Well, that $10 billion valuation that you mentioned represents the most lucrative deal in history for a North American sports franchise. You'll recall that the Celtics sold for just over six in March, which set the previous record.

This is really a significant move for one of the most iconic franchises in all of sports. The Buss family has had controlling ownership of the Lakers since 1979, but it will now be in the care of Mark Walter, as you mentioned, who's the chairman, the controlling owner of the Dodgers, also has interest in the WNBA, tennis F1, women's hockey. He acquired a 27 percent minority interest in the Lakers in 2021. He was given the right of first refusal at that time for a majority share should the Buss family decide to sell.

The Lakers have 17 NBA championships to their credit overall as a franchise. Ten of those coming under the family's famous patriarch, Jerry Buss, and then the team adding one more in 2020.

Meantime, Oklahoma City can clinch its first NBA championship tonight with a game six win over the Indiana Pacers. The big question mark, whether Indiana will have its star guard, Tyrese Haliburton, healthy. He has been hampered by ankle issues, a strained right calf throughout the finals, something that would surely sideline him in the regular season.

But with the season on the line, he was asked about how smart he needs to be in terms of managing that injury with the knowledge that things could get worse by playing in tonight's win-or-go-home game.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TYRESE HALIBURTON, INDIANA PACERS GUARD: I think I have to be as smart as I want to be. I have to understand the risks, ask the right questions. But I'm a competitor. I want to play. I'm going to do everything in my power to play. And that's just what it is.

SHAI GILGEOUS-ALEXANDER, OKLAHOMA CITY THUNDER GUARD: It's been fun. Now the cusp of winning is not winning. And the way I see it winning is all that matters. So, I don't -- it hasn't been fulfilling. We haven't done anything the way I see it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MANNO: And, John, with winning in mind, let's all take a minute to appreciate the Plight of Lord Stanley's Cup. The Florida Panthers have not stopped celebrating with the 131-year-old silver chalice since winning their second consecutive title on home ice Tuesday night. The party extending well into Wednesday afternoon.

At some point, the bowl of the famous trophy was cracked and the bottom was dented. So, the cups keepers plan to have it repaired by the time that the team has its celebratory parade on Sunday, certainly not the first time that it's happened, John.

[07:25:02]

I wonder how you would celebrate with the Stanley Cup. Would you take care of that thing? It's fragile. It's 37 pounds, but it's very fragile.

BERMAN: As well as it should be. It is a cup. It is meant to be, you know, a service device to provide, you know, cold, refreshing beverages. So, there is that aspect to, it for sure. And I'll just say this is hockey, right? I mean, if this -- you know, if this were a face, it would have no teeth. So, I see no problems having it dented.

MANNO: Fair enough, fair enough.

BERMAN: Carolyn, thank you, great to see you.

All right, only on CNN we are on the ground in Tehran with a CNN exclusive look at the damage left behind after an Israeli strike in a state-run news agency.

And the breaking news this morning, a source tells CNN that President Trump has reviewed attack plans for Iran. We are standing by this morning for his decision.

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