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Interview with Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD): Israel, Iran Launch More Strikes as Diplomats Meet in Geneva; Thousands Take to Streets in Iran to Protest Israel and U.S.; Trump Slams Non-Working Holidays on Juneteenth. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired June 20, 2025 - 13:30   ET

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

[13:30:00]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Israel and Iran exchange attacks. Do you think we've seen enough from Tehran over not only the last few months, but over decades to convince you that they're serious about diplomacy?

REP. JAMIE RASKIN (D-MD): Well, again, Congress has not entered into that analysis yet. And I was not in Congress when the JCPOA was reversed. Trump took down an agreement which was designed to keep Iran from developing a nuclear capacity.

And obviously Iran is in extremely weakened condition right now after the Israeli attacks and by virtue of their international isolation. And yet, you know, they clearly maintain some residual military power and they've killed dozens of people in Israel. So I think it's a complicated constellation of factors that exist right now.

But obviously it's within the interests of U.S. foreign policy to exhaust every diplomatic possibility before entering into a war. And that has always been the posture of the United States.

SANCHEZ: So what do you think the likelihood is that the Ayatollah would accept the path that European allies have laid out? No more enrichment, limits on missiles, ending support for terror groups.

Do you think the Ayatollah would accept that? And if he doesn't, would you support what some Israeli officials have called for regime change in Iran?

RASKIN: Well, we are not in session this week. We come back on Monday and I expect to have a complete briefing on everything, including the European overture to try to avoid an all out war. Hey, I'm I am for regime change all over the world where people don't have democracy, where you've got a theocratic regime or an autocratic regime, a dictatorial regime.

But generally, the way that has worked is through democratic struggle within the particular society itself. And so, you know, we should be doing everything we can to promote democracy and human rights in Iran, in Russia, to defend the people of Ukraine against Russia. And we should be supporting that all over the world.

But the question of war is obviously a different one. And, you know, that goes to the question of whether or not our national security interests are implicated in an emergency or exigent fashion such that we have to move now to do that, or whether there are diplomatic solutions to avoid a military engagement, which obviously must be a last resort in all cases.

SANCHEZ: It sounds like you're somewhat skeptical of the argument that the U.S. needs to intervene. I wonder more broadly, I understand that you haven't been briefed on all the details, but I wonder more broadly whether you think Netanyahu is exaggerating claims of Iran's proximity to a nuclear weapon in order to try and drag the U.S. into war.

RASKIN: I mean, again, I just have no factual basis upon which to render that judgment. And, you know, we would have to get that. And that's why the Constitution and the framers of the Constitution designed the process in such a way that, you know, the country is never hurtling into war but rather considering it in a serious way.

And I think that there's a bipartisan commitment to do that.

SANCHEZ: Understood. There is some disagreement over Israel policy generally among progressives. And notably, you defended your fellow Democratic congressperson Rashida Tlaib and her right to free speech.

She had used a chant that I'm sure you've heard repeatedly "from the river to the sea" that you personally have said that you oppose. Others have criticized that chant as being anti-Semitic. I wonder at what point you see free speech crossing into rhetoric that not only could potentially divide your party, but even fuel anti-Semitism and hate.

RASKIN: Well, look, we obviously have freedom of speech, which is a cherished right under our First Amendment. And I think those of us in public life should pay very close attention to the words we use and what their implications are. I think that a lot of the rhetoric that's been used during these days has led to a very tense political environment where there's been violence.

Most recently, we've seen it in Minnesota with these political assassinations and the political hit list drawn up for Democratic elected officials.

[13:35:00]

But the question of Rashida Tlaib's speech, of course, came up in the context of an effort to censure her. And the House of Representatives censures people for things like taking bribes, income tax evasion, going over to the Senate and beating up a U.S. senator, as Preston Brooks did with Charles Sumner before the Civil War. We've never censored someone for their political expression, much less the political expression that they had, as she did in a video, I think, that she played off campus. It wasn't even in the House itself.

So where would that lead us? And what I said on the floor was, you know, Speaker Mike Johnson thinks that gay people can be thrown in jail just for having a sex life. And, you know, he defends the old sodomy laws. Should he be censured because he has a position that is so far outside of the mainstream? Where does that end? So I think the correct antidote in Congress to speech you disagree with is to get up and to make a speech and explain why you deplore it, not to censure or, you know, suspend or expel the other person.

It's not a disciplinary matter.

SANCHEZ: I also want to get your reaction, Congressman, because you mentioned violence toward lawmakers, Republican Congressman Max Miller allegedly getting run off the road by someone who is shouting death to Israel and claiming that they were going to harm him and his family. What did you make of that news?

RASKIN: Oh, I'm hearing it for the first time from you. I mean, that's outrageous and it sounds criminal. I mean, it sounds like I don't know all the facts, but obviously to run someone off the road is an incredibly dangerous thing to do and could be anything from, you know, road rage if there's a criminal statute in the state that governs that or attempted murder, you know, or attempted assault.

So, you know, that's precisely the kind of thing we want to get away from. I wrote a letter this week to Attorney General Bondi and Kash Patel, the head of the FBI, and Secretary Noem because the Trump administration has been systematically gutting the anti-hate crime, anti-terrorism infrastructure of the country, taking down task forces, firing personnel, the experts in this field. It's a shocking thing when you look at everything they're doing to gut our capacity actually to monitor and intervene and stop hate crimes and terrorism in the country.

So I think we need an immediate explanation of what's going on and then we should reverse those policies that are essentially rendering us defenseless against terroristic and hate crime attacks.

SANCHEZ: Congressman Jamie Raskin, we have to leave the conversation there. Appreciate you joining us as always.

RASKIN: You bet.

SANCHEZ: Coming up, Iranians taking to the streets to protest Israeli airstrikes. CNN will bring you a report from Tehran when we come back.

[13:40:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: As the Iran-Israel conflict enters its second week, thousands of Iranians are taking to the streets today to protest Israel and the United States.

Ahead of today's demonstrations, residents were reportedly urged to take part in these nationwide marches of so-called wrath and divine victory following Friday prayers. CNN's Frederik Pleitgen and his team are in Iran, the first Western journalist to enter the country since this conflict began. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Massive crowds have turned out here in central Tehran to protest against Israel's strikes against Iran, but also against the policies of the Trump administration as well. Many of them were chanting death to America, were chanting death to Israel. We saw them burn American flags and burn Israeli flags.

PLEITGEN (voice-over): We will punch the United States and Israel in the mouth, he says.

Trump, you are threatening my leader, this woman says. Don't you know my nation believes death is sweeter than honey?

What do you have, Israel, he says. You have nothing. You are occupiers, unreligious. You're killing people, killing women. You kill everyone. You're terrorists.

PLEITGEN: So you can see that anger here being voiced by many of the folks who are walking here in this protest, whereas the Iranian government has said that as long as the Israelis continue their bombing campaign of sites here in Iran, there will be Iranian missiles flying towards Israeli territory.

They're calling on President Trump to try and end this direct confrontation. Otherwise, they say there could be a direct military confrontation between Iran and the United States. The Iranians say it's not something they want, but they also say it's something that they're ready for.

Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Tehran.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Our thanks to Fred Pleitgen for that story. We're joined now by Jason Rezaian, who is a writer for The Washington Post. He's also the author of the book "Prisoner, My 544 Days in an Iranian Prison."

Jason, we should note that there are exiled Iranians who I think certainly would like to see some of the anti-Iranian regime sentiment be seen there in Tehran. But these protests that we're seeing put them into context for us so that we can understand them. How do you see them?

JASON REZAIAN, WRITER, THE WASHINGTON POST: Brianna, thanks for asking. Thanks for having me. Well, look, I mean, this kind of manifestation, anti-American, anti-Israeli manifestation has been part of this regime's identity for its entirety.

[13:45:00]

Every Friday, there are events where the American flag, Israeli flag are burned. Those have waned in popularity over the years. But when the regime faces these sorts of existential threats, they mobilize their supporters. Those supporters are fewer and fewer in number than they've ever been. But we can't say that they don't exist.

At the same time, there is no opportunity. There is no mechanism by which people, the millions of Iranians who are opposed to this regime, could organize such a protest or demonstration, especially without fearing or risking arrest or worse. So, you know, I do believe that the vast majority of people that are suffering from this war inside Iran would like to see the war end, would like to see the missiles stop.

I don't know anybody who is saying, you know, bring it on. But I would not take these images to represent the majority of Iranian sentiment about their own system that's ruling over them.

KEILAR: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel may create conditions that may help Iranians oust their government. That's essentially what he said. But as you mentioned, while many Iranians are not in step with their leadership, they are upset about what's happening with the Iranian economy, with politics in Iran right now. The opposition is divided.

So what what do you see happening if the government is further weakened, if it even falters?

REZAIAN: It's not so much about the opposition being divided. It's more that the opposition has never had a chance to organically coalesce. There's no space within Iranian society on the ground for people to oppose the system.

And by definition, those that are are not on the ground are unfamiliar with the current realities and the realities of recent years. So it's really, really difficult to see how regime change scenario, the likes of which we tried to pull off in Iraq, would work here at this moment. I think, you know, when when Prime Minister Netanyahu talks about regime change or creating the the conditions for which the Iranian people could then (INAUDIBLE) system, it sounds really good from far away, but the realities don't necessarily match up.

I mean, I think what they're going for here is regime annihilation. I'm no fan of the Islamic Republic. I would like to see a free and democratic Iran. I just don't think we have a lot of historical examples of societies that were bombed into that.

KEILAR: Yes, and obviously, if there were to be an opposition that was coalescing, they need a way to do that. And on Wednesday, Iran imposed this temporary, as they put it, nationwide Internet restriction, citing security concerns.

What's the effect of that near total Internet blackout right now?

REZAIAN: Well, I think the first and most immediate effect is that people don't have access to information, even when the Israeli government is sort of telegraphing to Iranians what neighborhoods to evacuate. They don't have access to that information. So that's the first and most immediate impact.

But to your point, this is also designed to make it difficult for people to organize, for people to communicate with each other. And as we've seen over and over and over again over the last five decades, when the Iranian system is under the most threat externally, that's when it represses the people inside Iran even more. So we have Iranians being arrested still, people being accused of all sorts of national security crimes.

And as long as the judiciary, the law enforcement, the intelligence apparatuses still exist, you can assume that more and more Iranians will be arrested and joining their fellow political prisoners in Avin and other prisons around the country.

KEILAR: Jason Rezaian, we appreciate you coming on. Thank you so much for taking the time today.

REZAIAN: Thanks.

KEILAR: Coming up, President Trump takes a moment on Juneteenth to rip non-working holidays. He says they cost the country billions. But is that true? We crunched the numbers.

[13:50:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: As the nation marked Juneteenth, celebrating the end of slavery, President Donald Trump complained about there being too many non-working holidays. It was part of a post on Truth Social where he claimed it's costing our country billions of dollars to keep all of those businesses closed and that things must change.

[13:55:00]

CNN Business and politics correspondent Vanessa Yurkevich joins us now. Vanessa, is Trump right about holidays costing the U.S. billions of dollars and hurting the economy?

VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Well, yes and no. Here is why he is partly correct here, because there is lost productivity when workers aren't showing up for work because of holidays during the week. The estimated and probably conservative numbers about lost productivity is about $200 million every federal holiday.

And there are about 11 every single year, except for an inauguration year. And that totals to $2.2 billion each year. So he is right that there are losses in productivity to the tune of billions of dollars every year.

However, when people are not working, they are usually spending, especially at retailers. Think about all the holidays where people are traveling, spending money on airfare at hotels, restaurants, car rentals. So you are seeing this made up in the spending that people are doing when they're not working. And consumer spending is a huge driver of U.S. GDP. And of course, a lot of people were not working, for example, yesterday on Juneteenth. But there were a lot of people who still were.

I know the two of you were I was working yesterday, but you also have people in industries like the hospitality industry, people working in restaurants, hotels, doctors, nurses and hospitals, law enforcement and the agriculture industry as well. So there's still a lot of people driving the economy on these federal holidays.

And also employers have actually found that by giving their workforce time off, including on federal holidays, it has helped with productivity.

Just look at this. Eighty one percent of employers believe that there are benefits that are extremely important or very important to giving people leave. PTO or time off reduces the chance of people quitting by 35 percent. And for every 10 extra hours of vacation, employees performance improved by 8 percent.

So, Boris, yes, there's no productivity on these federal holidays, but it's made up for on other days. And really, people are happier when they can take time off. And I just don't think you can put a price on that -- Boris.

SANCHEZ: That is a good point. Vanessa Yurkevich, I think we've earned a few days off. Thank you so much.

YURKEVICH: I agree.

SANCHEZ: When we come back, talks between European and Iranian officials just wrapped up in Geneva as another barrage of missiles hit Israel. We have the latest just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)