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U.S. Stocks Open Higher Amid Ceasefire; New York City Votes in Mayoral Race; FBI Scales Back Immigration Crackdown; Prosecution Could Rest in Combs Trial; Supreme Court Rules on Deportation to Third-Party Countries. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired June 24, 2025 - 09:30   ET

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

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[09:31:17]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: This morning, authorities in California say they've recovered the last missing body from a boating accident in Lake Tahoe. Officials say eight people are confirmed dead after a boat carrying ten people capsized over the weekend. It flipped during a -- a sudden, intense storm that saw waves in the lake swell to more than eight feet -- look at that. Remember, that's a lake. The two survivors who were rescued on Saturday were taken to a hospital in unknown condition.

Amtrak passengers stuck for more than an hour in a tunnel near Baltimore after their train stalled without power. It happened right in the middle of record-breaking heat. Passengers were trapped with no air conditioning and just limited amounts of water. One passenger told CNN, quote, "I honestly thought I was going to collapse on that train." Amtrak eventually towed the train back to the platform and handed out snacks and water before getting everyone on their way.

Buy now, pay later loan payments could soon show up on your credit report. The government is rolling out new credit scores which look at how borrowers manage these short term loans. Experts say it might help some people build credit, especially younger borrowers, but it could also backfire if you take on too many loans at once.

So, just moments ago, we saw the opening bell on Wall Street. You can see there, a lot of green. Investors seeming to breathe a sigh of relief after they've been watching the developments in the Middle East and what seems to be a fragile ceasefire still mostly in place between Israel and Iran.

Let's get right to Matt Egan for the latest on what you are seeing.

Matt.

MATT EGAN, CNN REPORTER: Well, John, the mood on Wall Street has improved really dramatically over the last 24 hours or so. There had been significant fear that this situation could spiral out of control, that you could see oil and gasoline prices go to the moon. But a lot of those concerns have now been replaced by cautious optimism. So, that's why we're seeing U.S. stocks opened solidly higher. You see 300-point gain, almost 1 percent, for the Dow. About 1 percent for the Nasdaq, the S&P 500.

Veteran tech analyst Dan Ives, he even said he thinks that the latest developments opened the door for U.S. stocks to go to all-time highs.

Now, what's key here is what you're seeing on your screen right there with the oil prices. Oil prices plunging by nearly 5 percent. U.S. oil, that's WTI, plunging below $66 a barrel.

Some context. Oil prices are now cheaper than they were before Israel attacked Iran about 12 days ago. That is very telling, I think.

Not only that, but prices are down by about $12, $13 just since Sunday night when trading began after the United States hit Iranian nuclear sites. You can see how prices are just suddenly going down, down, down. And veteran energy analyst Bob Yawger, I talked to him this morning, and he said, look, yes, there could be hiccups along the way, but the market is saying that this is likely over. That this thing has run its course.

Now, we know, from just the last few hours, that this ceasefire is fragile, very fragile, and it's hard to say exactly what's going to come next. But clearly investors are very hopeful that the worst is behind us.

And this would be very good news for the economy and also for inflation. I mean, you look at gasoline prices, they've started to level out here. Gas prices did go up significantly as this crisis began.

[09:35:04]

They're about $0.05 cheaper than they were a week ago. But they've leveled out nationally at around $3.22 a gallon, and they're actually significantly cheaper than they were at this point last year.

So, again, John, I do think there's a lot of cautious optimism among investors that perhaps the worst is over. And there's hope that this ceasefire will hold.

BERMAN: That's what the oil markets are certainly saying, and that's what the stock markets are saying this morning as well.

Matt Egan, great to see you. Thank you very much.

All right, the breaking news, obviously, the ceasefire -- the fragile ceasefire seems to be holding over the last several minutes. Will they make it several hours or even days? Our breaking news coverage continues after this.

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[09:40:12]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: This morning, the polls are open in New York City, and voters are headed out for the final day of voting in New York's mayoral primaries. And what was seen at one point as a wide lead in the Democratic primary by the former governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo, is now viewed as a tight race with a political newcomer.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm looking for somebody other than Cuomo.

But I definitely did notice who AOC and Bernie endorsed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The black community, first of all, hasn't forgotten what Cuomo has done, not just his legacy of sexual assault and harassment, but also his failings with the black community.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If the women could forgive him about his transgressions, I ain't got a problem with him.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He was there for us when the pandemic came in. And he -- he -- he brought some sort of calmness to the community.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was a strong Cuomo. I'm voting for Mandani. I don't like the PAC money floating into his campaign.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: A lot of voter opinion there. And that's CNN's Gloria Pazmino speaking to voters there about how they were feeling leading up to today.

Gloria, now at one of the polling sites in New York City. What are you hearing and what -- what are things looking like today, Gloria?

GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Kate, you know, we spent the last few days out speaking to voters to really get a sense of what New Yorkers are thinking about this race. And as you can see there, they're really talking about a potential return to someone that they are very familiar with, former Governor Andrew Cuomo, or really looking to completely turn the page and elect someone different.

Now, there are 11 candidates in this Democratic primary. But in the last few days, this has become a two-man race between Andrew Cuomo and State Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani. He is a newcomer, a young legislator, who has gotten a lot of attention and has really energized young New Yorkers. He's run a very energetic, active campaign, especially on social media, and it's captured a lot of attention and volunteer support.

Now, another big sort of dynamic to look out for in this race is the fact that this is very much becoming a proxy war for the Democratic Party, especially on the national level, right? You have two sections of the party here, the establishment, which is lined up behind Andrew Cuomo, and then the liberal wing of the party, which has lined up behind Zohran Mamdani. And so the question here going into primary night tonight is where the voters are going to go.

Now, we have ranked choice primaries here in New York City, so it is unlikely that we're going to get a final result this evening unless one of those candidates gets to more than 50 percent.

Another big element to watch out for, Kate, it is very hot in New York City today. We are in one of the few polling sites that actually have air conditioning. But actually in the last few days, the governor, Kathy Hochul, signed a law making it legal to pass out water and refreshments on a poll -- at polling sites because it's going to be so hot today.

As I said, it's become a two man race. Take a listen at how Andrew Cuomo has been focusing his attacks on Mamdani, and how Mamdani has focused his attacks on Cuomo.

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ZOHRAN MAMDANI (D), NYC MAYORAL CANDIDATE: To Mr. Cuomo, I have never had to resign in disgrace. I have never cut Medicaid. I have never stolen hundreds of millions of dollars from the MTA.

ANDREW CUOMO (D), NYC MAYORAL CANDIDATE, FORMER GOVERNOR OF NY: He has never held a real job. He has zero accomplishments.

MAMDANI: I want to be very clear.

CUOMO: And now he thinks he's going to be ready to be mayor of the city of New York.

MAMDANI: The --

CUOMO: It is laughable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAZMINO: Cuomo has made the primary cornerstone of his campaign his experience, his long government record. And as you saw there, Mamdani has tried to focus on his sexual harassment scandals, which pushed him out of office in 2021, but also his record as governor.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: Gloria, thank you so much for your reporting, as always.

John.

BERMAN: All right, new this morning, the FBI is pulling agents off President Trump's nationwide immigration crackdown to focus on possible terror threats from Iran.

Let's get right to CNN's Josh Campbell with much more on this.

Josh, what are you hearing this morning?

JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, John, you know, one thing that we heard at the outset, whenever we reported on FBI agents being pulled away from other cases to support this ongoing immigration enforcement mission, national security, law enforcement experts have pointed out, but what about the other threats? What about those other cases? Because of the current hostilities involving Iran, I'm told that the FBI is now throttling back some of the agents across the country that they have dedicated to these immigration task forces. The exact number in the reduction is not yet determined, not yet clear. But I'm told that some field offices could see a massive reduction in the number of agents that they assigned daily to work this immigration mission.

[09:45:00]

I have to tell you that this has come as somewhat of a relief to a lot of people inside the FBI. You know, people say, well, I joined the FBI to go after violent criminals and criminal networks and to thwart terrorism. And so, a lot of them were surprised at the outset when they were pulled over to then obviously work immigration enforcement.

I've heard that the relationship with FBI agents and immigration officers hasn't been smooth sailing. There have been clashes, particularly as it relates to various tactics. Some of the FBI people tell me, for example, that the idea of going to a Home Depot and then, you know, essentially like racially profiling people based on how they look is anathema to the FBI that doesn't do that type of profiling. So, that's interesting.

But the final point I note is that the threat remains. There's no specific or credible threat officials say here in the U.S., but they want these FBI agents to be on guard. The FBI divides its work into various different threat priorities. The Iran threat spans them all, terrorism, counterintelligence, cyber and criminal. And now we're hearing -- excuse me, we're hearing that FBI agents will now be going back to work some of those threats. Again, no specific threat, but they'll be working just in case.

BERMAN: But big changes nonetheless.

All right, Josh Campbell, great reporting. Thank you very much.

Happening now, the federal sex trafficking trial of Sean Combs underway this morning in New York. And we are learning that Combs will not testify in his own defense.

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[09:50:51]

BOLDUAN: It has been one of the bigger questions surrounding the trial of Sean Diddy Combs. And now a source tells CNN that he is not planning to testify in his own defense as the federal criminal trial nears a close.

CNN's Kara Scannell is live outside the courthouse in New York.

Kara, what are you learning -- what could today look like, and what's the very latest.

KARA SCANNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kate, this case is in the homestretch. The prosecution is expected to rest today after calling 34 witnesses. That final witness, an agent with Homeland Security, is on the witness stand. Cross-examination is about to resume for today.

Now, this witness yesterday testified trying to help the government connect the dots as it relates to Combs's former girlfriend, Jane, as they try to prove that he had sex trafficked her, that he had transported prostitution for her, and that also that he was part of this RICO conspiracy. So, through this agent they are trying to tie the pieces of evidence together, including travel records, including hotel records and including text messages.

Some that the jury saw yesterday involved Combs himself in contact with escorts directly, and also with members of the agency that arranged some of these escorts for him. Him even complaining at one point about the price. In one text message he said, "stop raising my rates. I'm a long timer." So the prosecution hoping that will convince the jury to find him guilty.

Now, once the cross examination is finished, the prosecution will have a chance to do redirect. That is normally fairly short. And then the government will rest its case as we're now in the seventh week of testimony. There will be arguments over motions. That's normal. And then the defense will begin their case. His lawyers say that they are just going to read some messages into the record, including text messages and other exhibits, and then they will rest their case. That could also be as soon as today. The judge saying closing arguments could begin as soon as Thursday.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: Wow. It's amazing how long this has taken and then just how quickly this is going to be wrapping up.

It's great to see you, Kara. Thank you so much.

John.

BERMAN: All right, the Supreme Court says for the time being the president can deport migrants to countries other than their homeland, and that deportations can be done with short notice. The court's six conservative justices handed down the ruling without providing an explanation.

CNN chief Supreme Court analyst Joan Biskupic is here with the latest on this.

Joan.

JOAN BISKUPIC, CNN CHIEF SUPREME COURT ANALYST: Good to see you, John.

Yes, this is yet another endorsement by the Supreme Court of Donald Trump's aggressive anti-immigration agenda. And this one, as you say, you know, we've had a series of rulings from the Supreme Court. This involves those third country removals. Normally, when someone is here unlawfully and needs to be deported, the individual goes back to either his country where he has citizenship or where he has recently had a residence. And this involves migrants who have been shipped to places like South Sudan. And a lower court judge had said that the administration had not given these individuals sufficient time to challenge their removal, saying, you know, there's, you know, enough violence, strife, threat of persecution or torture there that they need a little bit of time to just challenge the fact that maybe that should not be the country they could go to because of the threat they face.

You're absolutely right, that the justices did not explain at all why they were siding with the administration. And, John, as you know, because you've watched this court so long too, often on these emergency orders the justices don't. But this would have been a good case just to have a couple lines of explanation, because the dissent came back with a 19-page rebuttal to what the administration did.

It was signed by the three liberal justices. Sonia Sotomayor wrote it, joined by Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson, saying, you are enabling the Trump administration's lawlessness because lower courts had tried to block this removal program just so that the migrants involved, the people who are here unlawfully, could at least challenge these third country deportations.

And what they said is that, you know, this is part of a pattern that this court has done. And as you remember, the Trump -- the Trump administration recently won cases allowing it to lift protected status for Venezuelans, had allowed them to roll back humanitarian parole that the Biden administration had instituted.

[09:55:14]

And Justice Sotomayor had -- had a very compelling dissent that went on about, you know, this is -- this is inexcusable and incomprehensible when the majority doesn't provide any explanation. And she said, "rather than allowing our lower court colleagues to manage this high-stakes litigation with the care and attention it plainly requires, this court now intervenes to grant the government emergency relief from an order it has repeatedly denied." She said she did not want to join the gross abuse, and those were her words, John, the gross abuse of the Supreme Court's discretion.

John.

BERMAN: Joan Biskupic, thank you very much for that.

Before we go, one quick word. I just want to say that my producer, Anna (ph), is moving on to bigger and much better things, and just want to say we will miss her, but most of all we will miss her cat.

Thank you all for being with us this morning. This has been CNN NEWS CENTRAL. "THE SITUATION ROOM" up next.

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