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Iran and Europe Holding High-Stakes Talks in Switzerland; Trump to Decide on Potential U.S. Strikes on Iran in Two Weeks; Appeals Court Says, Trump Can Maintain Control of California National Guard. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired June 20, 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. The breaking news, a chance for diplomacy, high stakes meetings with the Iranians today, we have a key update as President Trump sets a new deadline for military action.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: And breaking overnight a win for Trump, a loss for Governor Newsom. A federal appeals court rules President Trump can maintain control of the California National Guard members He sent to Los Angeles to quell immigration raid protests. Now what?

Plus, how a decision by baby boomers is going to make it even harder for younger Americans to buy homes. It's not just about high prices and high interest rates.

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

BERMAN: All right. The breaking news this morning, high stakes talks expected to begin in Switzerland between Iranian and European officials. This opens a critical window for diplomacy, even as Iran and Israel traded new strikes overnight, and President Trump is trying to buy more time before deciding if the U.S. will directly join this fight.

Iran's foreign minister is set to meet in Geneva with his counterparts from the U.K., France, Germany, as well as the E.U.'s foreign policy chief. This face-to-face comes as Israeli Emergency Services responded to fires near a tech park that houses a Microsoft office. That's after Israel said it intercepted an Iranian missile. Israel's military also says it struck military targets in Iran overnight, including missile production sites and a nuclear research facility in Tehran.

Here in the United States, the White House says the president will make his decision about whether to strike Iran within the next two weeks, one of the president's favorite metrics of time, citing the, quote, chance for substantial negotiations.

Let's get right to Geneva this morning. CNN's Matthew Chance is there where these talks will take place. What's the setting? What's the expectation? What are you seeing, Matthew? MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CHIEF GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Hey, John. Well, you're right. We're in a sweltering hot Geneva where the foreign ministers of Britain, France, and Germany, along with the E.U.'s top diplomats have gathered in a building just across the road here. It's the residents of the German ambassador where they're going to be having lunch together, I'm told, and they're going to be discussing ideas that could potentially bring an end to the conflict between Israel, Iran, and certainly bring Iran back to the negotiating table.

They're not talking about specifics at the moment, at least not to us. But my understanding from senior European diplomats is obviously the crux is uranium enrichment. Has the time come for Iran to step back from its longstanding refusal to abandon its enrichment capabilities? Certainly, that's a red line for President Trump and the Trump administration.

Look, I mean, there is a window of opportunity here, a breathing space, in the words of one Western European diplomat who I spoke to ahead of these talks, for a negotiated settlement to at least take root because of that announcement by President Trump, that he would give two weeks or within two weeks, make the decision about possible U.S. military involvement.

There's caution, of course, being expressed here. There's been some skepticism about whether it will actually be two weeks or whether this is just a ploy by President Trump to further gather U.S. military forces in the region, you know, in the run-up to what they regard as what could be an inevitable U.S. joining with Israel in the attack on Iran's nuclear facilities.

But at the same time, it is this window of opportunity. The Israeli uranium enrichment facilities in its nuclear sites, in general, have been pounded hard over the course of the past week or so by the Israelis. And what the expectation is here, or at least the hope is here, is that there could be a recalculation on the part of the Iranians given they've been under such strong military pressure to possibly make a compromise.

We'll see as these negotiations unfold over the course of the day, John.

BERMAN: Yes. If it happens, it'll happen in that house just behind you there, Matthew. Remarkable to see diplomacy, the attempt at diplomacy there far away from Iran and Israel where all these explosions are happening. Thank you so much for being there. Keep us posted as to what you see. Sara?

SIDNER: All right. Inside the White House, there is renewed hope, as you heard John talk about, during President Trump's two-week negotiating window that Iran will agree to terms that it previously rejected.

[07:05:05]

The new deadline also gives the president more time, of course, to weigh the potential outcome of a US strike on Iran. CNN's Alayna Treene is at the White House for us. Alayna, what are you learning this morning?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes. Look, Sara, I mean, the world has been kind of watching and waiting to see exactly what President Donald Trump would decide about, you know, bringing the U.S. military into this and aiding Israel's effort into striking Iranian nuclear facilities.

And I can tell, you know, it's been very clear in my conversations with people here at the White House in recent days, particularly when he decided to abruptly leave that G7 Summit in Canada on Monday, that he was closer than he has ever been to wanting to do that.

However, it was also clear, and we've been reporting this as well, that he's really been struggling with this idea of potentially bringing the United States into more of a prolonged war. He is been asking his advisers, how can we avoid that? Can we do some sort of strikes without making this a much fuller scale conflict in the Middle East?

Now, all of this, of course, as we're now hearing from the president delivered via a message through his press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, yesterday, that he's going to make this decision within two weeks. Listen to how she put it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: I have a message directly from the president, and I quote, based on the fact that there's a substantial chance of negotiations that may or may not take place with Iran in the near future, I will make my decision whether or not to go within the next two weeks. That's a quote directly from the president for all of you today.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TREENE: Now, Sara, this is a tried and true timeframe that the president likes to do, two weeks. It's kind of nebulous. You know, it's not necessarily a very hard and fast timeline that he normally sticks to. We've seen him use similar timeframes when describing when he would make a decision on sanctions on Russia. That decision never came. We saw this a lot during his first term. Infrastructure week is one of those more famous memories of him using this. But all to say I do think this is a bit different.

And I think the context around what the president is kind of weighing behind the scenes is so important. Because you really do have a lot of people, including his own base, his own supporters, who are split on this decision. You have some of them who believe that the United States should not be entering another foreign war. And then you have those people, like Senator Lindsey Graham, who believe that the United States needs to back Israel fully into this effort to ensure that Iran never is able to make a nuclear weapon. So, all of this really weighing on the president, and our most recent conversations with people here at the White House, they say, really, the president is waiting to see how Iran responds. He had been waiting ever since those first strikes just over a week ago now to see if perhaps it would be in a more weakened position and come to the negotiating table, willing to really make some significant concessions. That is the key question as we watch kind of what will happen within this new two-week timeframe. Sara?

SIDNER: It really is a big, consequential decision that needs to be made here. Alayna Treene, thank you so much for your reporting from the White House for us this morning. John?

BERMAN: The skies of Tehran lit up overnight. CNN's team seeing the missiles fly. The first Western journalists inside Iran, we've got a report from the ground.

And breaking overnight, an appeals court rules that President Trump can control the California National Guard, at least for now.

And a nine-year-old girl is speaking out about the moment she was attacked by a shark, almost losing her hand.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was just snorkeling. Then I went up to breathe and then something hard bit me. I pick up my hand and it's all in blood.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:10:00]

BERMAN: Well, we got major breaking news overnight out of California, well, at least I was sleeping. A federal appeals court ruled that President Trump can keep control of California's National Guard in Los Angeles for now. The three-judge panel rejected a lower court's order for the president to return control of the Guardsman to California Governor Gavin Newsom.

With us now, CNN Senior Legal Analyst, former Federal and State Prosecutor Elie Honig. Counselor, thanks so much for being with us.

So, what did this three-judge panel say the president can do?

ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: John, so this is a win for the Trump administration, a setback for Gavin Newsom in the state of California. The core holding here is that the courts do have a role, but a very limited one in reviewing the president's decision to deploy the National Guard. The courts basically said, we the courts cannot reverse the president simply because we might disagree. We have to give the president, quote, broad deference, meaning we have to let the president do what he wants unless he has done something that is patently absurd or taken in bad faith. And then the court applied that very broad deference to this case, and they found that, well, one of the reasons Donald Trump gave for deploying the National Guard is it's necessary to enforce federal laws, and the court of appeals said, that's reasonable. That's within his power. Therefore, the power remains with the president to deploy the National Guard, as he has done here.

BERMAN: He can use them, in theory, in this case, to protect ICE agents during apprehensions and to protect federal buildings. Is it clear in this ruling how much more power the National Guard can have on the streets? Say, can they be involved in normal policing activity?

HONIG: So, John, that's exactly what's going to be discussed today. There's another hearing in this same case back down at the district court, back down at the trial court level. And the question you just raised is going to be the exact question the parties are discussing, which is what exactly can the National Guard do and not do.

[07:15:03]

Now, traditionally and under longstanding laws of this country, the military, including the National Guard, cannot engage in law enforcement functions. They cannot make arrests. They cannot engage in search and seizures or interrogations unless the president invokes the Insurrection Act, which he has not done here. And so the key question today is, well, can the National Guard keep perimeters around federal buildings? Clearly, yes.

The more contentious question is can the National Guard go out to arrest scenes with ICE agents and sort of form a perimeter to protect them while they're making arrests? So, the judge today and the parties are going to try to hash out where those lines are.

BERMAN: Now, again, this is -- no doubt about it, this was a big win for the Trump administration here and that the National Guard can be used in the way they are being used in Los Angeles right now, or have been over the last week. Things have died down there. California, how likely are they to appeal this, either the full Ninth Circuit or the Supreme Court?

HONIG: If I was in California's legal position here, I would tell the governor, you don't want to appeal this. You don't want to bring this up to the Supreme Court. Yes, you have the option to ask them to take it. That's your sort of last best chance here, but I think you're going to lose, California.

I think if you look at this opinion, it was a 3-0 unanimous opinion from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. You had two Trump appointees and a Biden appointee on that court. I don't see any way, any of the six conservatives on the Supreme Court say, sure, a trial level district judge can overrule the president on this issue just because he disagrees. I even think some of the liberals might join with the conservatives on this, as we saw with the Biden appointees.

So, it's an interesting strategic decision. If they do bring it up to the Supreme Court, California, and if the Supreme Court rules again in favor of the Trump administration, then that's going to be nationwide binding, an even bigger loss for California.

BERMAN: Might be possible the president actually expands his powers even more than they are already in that case.

Elie Honig, thank you so much for explaining it so well, I appreciate it.

This morning, questions about what exactly was going on at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. The Dodgers posted on X that ICE agents came to the stadium ahead of their game against San Diego yesterday. The Dodgers game against San Diego, not ICE agents game against San Diego. The ICE agents came and requested access to the ground. The Dodgers response was no.

Masked federal agents were seen outside Dodger Stadium hours before the first pitch. That triggered anti-ICE protests near the ballpark gates. The Department of Homeland Security says the agents were not from ICE, and this was not tied to any immigration operation. A Customs and Border Protection officials says, its vehicles were in a nearby parking lot and one had a malfunction that caused them to stay longer. Still a lot unclear here.

This morning, a Republican congressman says he was run off the road on his way to work by someone shouting death threats.

Plus benches clear in a baseball game. Also, later, Shohei Ohtani gets hit by a pitch.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:20:00]

SIDNER: Well, the NBA finals are going to a winner takes all game seven. That's because, of course, the Indiana Pacers denied the Oklahoma City Thunder the championship in a blowout victory in game six.

Joining me now is CNN's Sports Correspondent Carolyn Manno watching all these games. A lot of excitement, and now this is it.

CAROLYN MANNO, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Sara. You're right. And the biggest unknown was really how much Indiana was going to rely on Tyrese Haliburton in this game. He was questionable heading in because of that calf strain, but he only had to play 22 minutes because of how comfortable the game was for the Pacers as a whole. Indiana built this double-digit lead by halftime that led by as many as 31 at one point in this game in route to a 108-91 win.

Indiana's backup point guard, T.J. McConnell was really the star of the show. He put up 12 points, 9 rebounds, 6 assists, 4 steals. He was one of six pacers to score in double digits. Indiana made 15 threes in this game. They turned the ball over just 10 times. That's compared to the 20 turnovers that Oklahoma City had.

So, instead of sticking to this signature full court press, the Pacer's going for a half court trap, heavy approached defensively that really left the Thunder on their heels, turning the ball over a ton, and really needing to adapt, heading into game seven Sunday night at home.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TYRESE HALIBURTON, INDIANA PACERS GUARD: It's exciting, man. It's so, so exciting. As a basketball fan, there's nothing like a game seven. There's nothing like game seven in the NBA finals. I dreamed of being in this situation my whole life, you know? So, to be here is really exciting.

SHAI GILGEOUS-ALEXANDER, OKLAHOMA CITY THUNDER GUARD: The way I see it is. We sucked tonight. We have to learn the lessons. And we have one game for everything we've worked for. And so today, the better team in Sunday will win.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MANNO: And there is no love lost between the Dodgers and Padres, a hot tempered four-game series culminating with the ninth-inning brawl on Tuesday. The Dodgers down three runs in the eighth when they brought in Jack Little for his MLB debut. Not the smoothest for the nervous rookie. He allowed four hits, two earned runs a walk, but he hit two-time all-star Fernando Tatis Jr. on the right wrist, and that sparked this feud. Both managers came out, both were tossed, both benches cleared. Tatis is going to undergo some testing on his wrist later today.

And then Padre's closer Robert Suarez tossed in the bottom of the inning for drilling Dodger star Shohei Ohtani, who downplayed the retaliation. He waved off his bench. The Padres win at 5-4 after losing the first three games of the week.

So, this game, Sara, completely off the rails and a savvy move there from Ohtani to deescalate the situation. These two are going to meet again in mid-August, but a wild game last night.

[07:25:00]

SIDNER: We know why they get upset. We've got a specific person in here whose name I will not mention, who has been hit twice by a baseball and had an arm and his elbow broken. So, it's really serious when you get hit by one of those balls, especially one of those fastballs. It can be quite dangerous for the players. So, you can see why everybody got up in arms there.

Carolyn Manno, thank you so much. I appreciate you.

All right, still ahead, new CNN reporting on how the U.S. military is preparing in case it is ordered to attack Iran.

Plus a nine-year-old girl bitten by a shark while snorkeling, what doctors had to do to save her hand.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [07:30:00]