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Soon: Pentagon News Conference Amid Questions On Iran Strikes; Trump Media's Stock Sees Major Plunge; Bezos Wedding Draws A-Listers, Anti-Capitalist Protesters. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired June 26, 2025 - 07:30   ET

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

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[07:30:42]

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking this morning a much anticipated news conference at the Pentagon expected to get underway in less than an hour where Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is expected to again make the case that the U.S. strikes on Iran were a complete success.

It comes after CNN was the first to report on a preliminary assessment from the Pentagon's own intelligence arm that found those strikes only set back Iran's nuclear program by a few months.

Joining me now are CNN military analyst and retired Air Force Col. Cedric Leighton, and CNN global affairs analyst Kim Dozier. Thank you both for being here.

First to you, Colonel. Your overall reaction to what you're hearing. You've got Trump effectively disputing this early intelligence that's coming from the Pentagon. I mean, how reliable are these preliminary reports?

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST, U.S. AIR FORCE (RET.) (via Webex by Cisco): Well, there's always a great deal of truth in the old adage first reports are almost always wrong or at least they're inconclusive and they're not quite the final verdict on anything that has happened.

And this is particularly difficult target, Sara. This, you know, especially when you look at Fordow, this deeply buried, underground facility, hardened concrete. It's difficult to assess exactly what happened there because you get satellite images and they do show damage that is at least surface -- visible on the surface. But the other part of this is how much was this program actually damaged?

So the BDA reports -- the battle damage assessment reports are going to tell us some things. But even the most thorough BDA reports might not tell us everything we need to know when it comes to Iran's nuclear program, especially if they moved those 400 kilograms of enriched uranium away from the sites. So that -- if that is true then we -- and we don't know where those 400 pounds are, that may not be reflected in this battle damage assessment reports. SIDNER: Those are very wise words. We just don't know -- we don't know, right? The intelligence can only go so far because they're not on the ground, actually being able to assess it in person.

Kim, with the -- with the preliminary intelligence leak that goes against Trump's assessment for now that Iran's nuclear capabilities were annihilated, what does this do to confidence for other nations watching this all play out in public view?

KIMBERLY DOZIER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST (via Webex by Cisco): I think ever since Sunday when you had the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs say that it looks like there's been a lot of damage but we're waiting for the information to come.

But then you had Trump declare a complete success that most foreign officials looking at this said Trump needs this to be win for his base because he doesn't want to get involved in a war. He doesn't want to have a reason for either the United States or Israel to have to strike again. So he's going to declare victory and go home just as a matter of principle.

Whereas we know that the IAEA, the International Atomic Energy Agency, already said that they believe, as Cedric said, that the 400-plus kilograms of refined uranium have been moved. That Iran has revealed that it has other secret facilities. That if it has just a handful of centrifuges it can turn that 400 kilograms-plus into weapons-grade uranium, et cetera, et cetera.

They've got the know-how. They've got the will. It's only a matter of time if they want to restart their nuclear program.

And even Israel, prior to its weekend announcement that, yes, the U.S. accomplished much with its attacks had said they expected their attacks to only set Israel back -- sorry, Iran back about one to four years before being able to restart.

SIDNER: I'm curious, Col. Leighton, how difficult it is or would be for Iran to have moved that enriched uranium undetected and maybe if there is intelligence to show how and if they were able to do so.

[07:35:00]

LEIGHTON: Well Sara, it's kind of a 'have truck will travel' kind of scenario. So in other words, if they can back a truck up to the site, which they can, they could have moved some of that uranium or all of it even given enough time and enough forewarning or at least suspicion that an attack was coming. They could have done this, and it would have been fairly easy for them to do.

What they could not do easily and probably didn't do was move the centrifuges from a place like Fordow.

Now, they have other centrifuges, and we know that they do, in other places. So if those centrifuges are, as Kim mentioned, operable then it's going to be fairly likely that they can use that uranium to achieve some degree of weaponization. And, in fact, some estimates I've seen would get you up to possibly 10 weapons that they could potentially produce. It's 10 to 12, I think.

So that is something that we'd have to definitely look out for. And even the best BDA in the world -- the best battle damage assessment in the world is not going to prevent that from happening unless you have a full intelligence picture.

SIDNER: Yeah, and I think what we've gotten -- that CNN got first was the preliminary report.

I do think it's worth noting that we had Trump going on social media saying this news conference that is ahead in just about less than a half an hour and he puts it this way -- "will prove both interesting and irrefutable." So we may be getting more information as this morning -- this very morning as to what actually happened there and if there is more intelligence. We will wait and see.

Colonel Cedric Leighton and Kim Dozier, it is always a pleasure to speak to both of you on these difficult subjects. Appreciate it -- Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Last year investors went really all in on Donald Trump's media company sending shares of the company soaring, fueled by the perceived odds of Trump winning in November. But since Election Day an interesting thing has happened. Its shares have lost nearly half their value.

CNN's Matt Egan is looking into this one for us. What's a media company to do, Matt?

MATT EGAN, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Well Kate, look, this is a stock that has just been left in the dust as the rest of the market races to all- time highs. Now, as you mentioned, since Election Day Trump Media, the owner of Truth Social, has lost nearly half of its value. Even if you just look at since Inauguration Day even more -- about 58 percent of its value.

And this is surprising because, as you mentioned, before the election this stock -- you can see it right here -- was going straight up. It was on fire. Traders were essentially sniffing out the fact that Trump was going to win this election and use Truth Social as the primary method of presidential communications. And they were right. Trump won and now he uses Truth Social to announce everything from tariffs and military strikes to ceasefire deals or even previewing today's press conference by the defense secretary.

BOLDUAN: Um-hum.

EGAN: The problem though is that much of this rise has really been based on hype and momentum, right? Not the underlying fundamentals of the business, which do look very modest, right? This is a company that brought in less than $1 million in revenue during the first three months of this year. That is very tiny considering it's worth about $5 billion.

Market strategist Steve Sosnick -- he told me that "By conventional measures, this stock is quite expensive. It's a money-losing company with negligible revenue."

BOLDUAN: Is -- on Truth Social, is it gaining traction given how as you -- I mean, you lay out all the way -- how often and all the important ways that the president has been using it?

EGAN: Yeah. So it is growing, right? It's -- if you look at daily active users on the app it is up more than 100 percent. It's more than doubled from a year ago.

BOLDUAN: Um-hum.

EGAN: And Saturday was actually the most popular day for this app since it launched. That was when the president announced those military strikes against Iran.

BOLDUAN: And when you look at that.

EGAN: But what the problem is --

BOLDUAN: Yeah.

EGAN: -- that -- look at this. It is a very, very tiny player still, right? Three hundred fifty-nine thousand daily active users in May, according to Similarweb. Look, that is just a small fraction of what X, formerly known as Twitter, has. It's much smaller than Threads, Reddit. And even Bluesky is 10 times bigger.

Now they're doing some other things to try to juice the stock price, right? They're buying back shares. They're investing in crypto. They're trying to buy Bitcoin and Ethereum. And they're also launching the ETF.

I should note that the company did respond in a statement. They accused CNN of politically motivated drivel, disparaging Trump Media, noting that they have $3 billion in liquid assets. And look, it is true they do have a lot of cash on their balance sheet, and they could do a lot of things to try to revive the stock and try to build the business. They could even acquire other companies.

But I think the market clearly is skeptical at this point.

BOLDUAN: Reporting on the very public, very obvious market value is clearly a touchy subject.

EGAN: It is.

[07:40:00]

BOLDUAN: Great to see you, Matt. Thank you very much -- Sara.

EGAN: Thanks, Kate.

SIDNER: I just want to fact-check. Matt never brings up drivel. I'm just saying you never do it. I may do it sometimes, but you never do it.

EGAN: Thanks, Sara.

SIDNER: All right, thank you.

All right. Democrats across the country may now be reconsidering what they think is a winning strategy after what has happened in the New York mayoral race. Former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo ceded the primary to Zohran Mamdani, a 33-year-old Democratic socialist.

His success leaves others in the party, as you might imagine, split. Some are stopping short of endorsing him over his more extreme proposals like freezing rent or opening government-run grocery stores. Others are flat-out calling him the wrong choice.

CNN's Isaac Dovere joins us now. Isaac, how could this development really impact Democrats nationwide when you see this win here -- and it was a decisive one -- in the primary?

EDWARD-ISAAC DOVERE, CNN SENIOR REPORT: It certainly was a decisive one and a bigger win than even Mamdani's campaign was expecting, Sara.

And look, what we saw after the election last year was a lot of Democrats trying to figure out what they should do differently. What they need to do and how they need to change. Not many of them would have said that the right answer was a 33-year-old socialist without a lot of experience in government being on track to be the frontrunner in -- to be the next mayor of New York City. We will see how this all plays out.

But Democrats across the country are asking a lot of these questions now. I talked to a lot of them yesterday in the wake of Mamdani's win and in the reporting that I've got up on our site on cnn.com you see Democrats really trying to process this and think what is it that was working beyond just the policies or the viral videos. The speaking frankly about things and really speaking about the economy.

Chris Murphy, the senator from Connecticut, said to me, "This feels like a shock to the system, but it's really not rocket science." He said, "Mamdani has -- was talking about economic things. He is dynamic, and he is a new voice." He said to me, "Check, check, check."

And you see that being processed through even as Democrats say they are a little bit concerned that Mamdani, as a Democratic socialist, and all the things that he has proposed -- some of them that you just went through -- will be used to tag them in races that are full of voters who might be a little bit more centrist -- a little bit even more right-leaning than the New York City Democratic primary electorate.

But Paige Cognetti, the mayor of Scranton, Pennsylvania, said to me "If 2024 wasn't a wake-up call this one certainly should be."

SIDNER: Yeah. It is fascinating. It's looking at whether it's how he delivered the message, the message itself, if that's going to work. New York is a very unique place as well. There are a lot of things that Democrats are considering this morning.

Isaac Dovere, thank you so much. Great reporting for us this morning -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: Let's talk about this. Joining us right now is Marc Short, former chief of staff for Vice President Mike Pence, and so much more. And Democratic strategist Meghan Hays, and so much more. Thanks for being here, guys.

Meghan, if 2024 was not a wake-up call, as Isaac was saying, this one should be.

What is the lesson here? What's the Mamdani message, if you will, for the Democratic Party, do you see?

MEGHAN HAYS, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST, FORMER BIDEN WHITE HOUSE DIRECTOR OF MESSAGE PLANNING, DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION CONSULTANT: That Democrats across the country want new and different leadership. They want someone younger. They want someone who is authentic. They want someone who is going to take a stand and use their voice.

They may not agree with his policies. His policies are not going to work in places like Pennsylvania or Michigan or Wisconsin. But you know what? At least he's standing on principle. He's standing for what he believes and he's standing for something different. You don't have any question of where he stands, and I think Democrats are looking for that strength.

BOLDUAN: What does Mamdani mean for the Republican Party, Marc?

MARC SHORT, FORMER CHIEF OF STAFF TO VICE PRESIDENT MIKE PENCE: Well, I don't doubt the Democrats are looking for a new generation of leaders, but I don't know if that means embracing somebody who has more or less embraced the Columbia riots against Jewish students and has said he doesn't believe that Israel has a right to exist.

So I think that creates a lot of openings for Republicans, Kate, and I think they'll try to lift him up. I think there's a lot around this election. He was running against a candidate in Cuomo who probably was a pretty flaw candidate.

So whether or not this is where the whole Democrat Party is going, I don't know. But I certainly think you'll see Republicans lift him up because then Democrat leaders have to say either yes, I stand with him, or no, I don't. And if they don't it creates division in the Democrat Party. And if he does and you can tag him and say he supports -- they support these policies too.

BOLDUAN: And I'm also -- I'll play devil's advocate for, I don't know, grab if you will on this. Often when we talk about -- let's just throw in, like, a special election, guys. Whenever we bring up a special election, I get a very smart Marc Short and a get a very smart Meghan Hays who say you can't really extrapolate too much to broader races and the broader party of this and that on one special election race.

Why are neither of you saying that here, Marc?

SHORT: Well, I would tell you that I still think the midterms will be a referendum on Republicans. I still think that's the case, Kate. If you have Republicans control the House, the Senate, and the White House that's what voters will be voting on.

Having said that I still think that this particular radical candidate creates a challenge for Democrats about whether they defend his policies or not. I think it does create an opening for Republicans in the national conversation but I'm not sure it's going to carry into the fall of 2026.

[07:45:00]

BOLDUAN: Do you agree, Meghan?

HAYS: You know, I don't disagree, but I also think that we as a party don't fall in line with everything.

BOLDUAN: I like that line very much. Do you agree? I don't disagree. I'm going to use that forever.

HAYS: But, you know, Democrats don't need to fall in line like Republicans do. It's OK to have differences with people who are running for office. And again, what works in New York City, people understand that's not going to work, perhaps in Scranton, Pennsylvania.

BOLDUAN: Yeah.

HAYS: So I -- you know, I think that Democrats are being very open here and very honest that maybe his policies aren't going to work, and they don't believe that, but they do believe his campaign and the way he was campaigning and the method in which he was doing it will work for Democrats.

And so I think that you -- two things can be true here.

BOLDUAN: What? That's not allowed on TV.

Marc, what -- let's lean on your many years of experience, you old man, of being a liaison on Capitol Hill and trying to push the Trump agenda from the first term -- from the first term over the line when it came to legislative affairs.

Why does the tax and spending bill, at least politically, seem a hot mess right now?

SHORT: I think it's one giant bill. I think that's part of the challenge, Kate, is when you have something that is really the vehicle for this year then you're going to have a lot of issues that are entwined in it. You have immigration and border funding. You have, obviously, Medicaid programs. And you have the tax extension.

I think ultimately the prospect of fore and aft trillion-dollar tax increase and $2,100 tax increase on working families is something that's going to unite Republicans. And so I think that some of it is the way that any big bill works its way out, and I think that it still continues to inch forward.

BOLDUAN: You think -- you think Thune's line -- I think it was yesterday -- in the end you're not going to let the enemy -- the perfect be the enemy of the good will win out in the end on this?

SHORT: I think there's only one Republican senator has stated he's against it in Rand Paul.

BOLDUAN: Yeah.

SHORT: And I think candidly, that's in principle. He said he doesn't --

BOLDUAN: Yeah.

SHORT: -- support raising the debt limit $5 trillion in this bill. And -- but others are still negotiating. And so I think, again, the reality of the prospect that Republicans are not going to want to see a massive tax increase and so they're going to be supporting the bill in the end.

BOLDUAN: Meghan, I'm wondering from a Democratic perspective, is there more opportunity here for Democrats to -- let's just say as it works its way in the Senate and then makes its way back to over to the House and they've got to figure that out -- and that's no small feat -- is there more opportunity in seeing if you can get things through your district in this bill and make it the best you can for your district or in just sitting back for Democrats politically and watching Republicans struggle to fight over this?

HAYS: Well, I think that Democrats have really owned the messaging on this, right? Most of the American people do not agree with this bill. They -- the polling is showing that and focus groups are showing that. And so I think nobody wants to be cutting Medicare of Medicaid and food assistance programs for children at the benefit of rich people and billionaires getting tax cuts. So I think that they have won the messaging more.

But I think that Democrats are really smart to fight for what they can in this bill, and then they're going to make Republicans take hard votes on this. Those hard votes are going to impact the '26 election and it will also impact the '28 election. And Democrats are not dumb in this, and they are playing their politics correctly. And they have been unified, which is not something you always see with Democrats, from the beginning on this bill.

BOLDUAN: That's a good point. Not something you often see.

Real quick, you -- there is a history of President Trump claiming victory when it comes to legislative achievements before it has occurred. What's happening this afternoon is slightly different, right? He's holding a -- he's holding an event at the White House to rally support and pressure senators and Republicans that might be holdouts to get on board.

Do you think it's a smart move on the part of the White House to be doing this today?

SHORT: I do. I think the reality is that for reluctant Republicans they need to know where the president is on this and he's going to go to battle over this bill. And I think that there's still a lot of fear in Republican politics about the president primarying anybody who goes against his agenda.

And so, yeah, I think that it's going to need his pressure campaign at the end to get it across the line.

BOLDUAN: We shall see part of it play out very shortly.

It's good to see you, guys. Thank you so much -- Sara.

SIDNER: All right. This morning tech billionaire Jeff Bezos and his fiance, former journalist Lauren Sanchez, are in Venice ahead of their lavish multimillion-dollar wedding. Guests include their famous friends, as you might imagine, and celebrities, like the Kardashians. And big names in politics and finance as well who have been flying in private jets.

But those are just the fancy guests because there are some very uninvited guests showing up. The wedding is drawing large protests across the city, including a life-size Bezos mannequin clutching an Amazon box floating through Venice. You see it there. Not flattering as you might imagine.

CNN's Melissa Bell report for us from Venice and the site where the marriage is going to take place.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MELISSA BELL, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It is a historic Venice but also in extreme weather conditions -- temperatures of up to 90 degrees -- that this wedding is going to take place over the course of the next few days.

[07:50:00]

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos marrying, of course, Lauren Sanchez in what we expect to be -- even if the details have been kept very secret so far -- a star-studded and very glitzy, lavish wedding ceremony over the course of three days.

So because of the protests you've seen these last few days -- not just those protesting Jeff Bezos' extreme wealth but there are climate activists. There are those that object to the Disneyfication, as they call it, of Venice. Many of them have been taking to San Marco Square to the Rialto bridge with their big banners saying "No space for Bezos." And they had threatened to jump into the canal for the last parties on Saturday, which is why we understand those events had to be moved.

What we understand from city officials is that several locations have been booked and that whether or not they'll take place in those locations will be dependent upon some weather and protesters.

What we understand so far is that this may be one of the locations of the early events here this Thursday. The Madonna dell'Orto church, a 14th-century structure with the private cloisters next to it. You can see things appear to be being set up. Vegetables and fruit arriving. We've seen security guards milling about here over the course of the last day.

But again, everything very much shrouded in secrecy in order to try and keep protesters at bay, Sara.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SIDNER: All right.

And this comes on the heels of a great report from our Erica Hill who talked about just how frustrated people in Venice were with people coming in droves. The tourism and what it's doing to their ability to afford to live there.

So there's a lot of things at play here. We will be watching it and bring all of the details to you when we get them.

All right. Moments away we are standing by for a news conference from the Pentagon on the U.S. strikes on Iran's nuclear sites and just how much damage they truly did. That is ahead.

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[07:56:05]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

BOLDUAN: All right, we're watching -- the breaking -- the breaking news this morning is the room you're looking at right here. We're standing by for a press conference from the Pentagon. It could start any minute now.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs both expected to be in the room -- as you see there are two lecterns set up right there -- to discuss the U.S. strikes on Iran's nuclear sites. And also, of course, face questions about what they know about how much damage really was done.

President Trump continues to insist the strikes totally obliterated those sites. That is as CNN and others are -- reported on a preliminary intel assessment coming from the Pentagon's own intelligence arm that found the strikes set back Iran's nuclear program by a matter of months, not years. The assessment also, as described to CNN, said that key components of the nuclear program were still intact.

Again, this was an early assessment, and more intelligence agencies are all still gathering class -- more information to put together a full picture. We may get more of that this morning.

Also this morning the head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog says the centrifuges at Iran -- at Iran's Fordow nuclear facility are "no longer operational" after the strikes.

We're showing you a before and after look at satellite imagery from the site, which is dug -- well, into a mountain and also deep underground.

Also this morning Iran's supreme leader making his first public comments since the ceasefire between Israel and Iran went into effect. There have been a lot of questions about where he was and how he was doing.

And now he says in these remarks, in part, that the United States "did not gain anything in this war." And that President Trump has made clear, according to the supreme leader, that the U.S. ultimately seeks the surrender and defeat of Iran. He called that unacceptable.

Much more to come on that.

Joining us right now to discuss is Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia. He's a member of the House Foreign -- not House -- Senate Foreign Relations and Armed Services committees. Senator, thank you so much for coming in. Apologies. My brain is moving too fast for my mouth today.

SEN. TIM KAINE (D-VA): You bet, Kate.

BOLDUAN: What are -- you are also --

KAINE: You have the last (INAUDIBLE).

BOLDUAN: -- importantly have this now rescheduled classified briefing coming up in the -- in the Senate. Pete Hegseth is -- and the Joint Chiefs chairman are going to among the briefers this afternoon.

What are your key questions going in?

KAINE: Yeah, Kate, we're going to have this briefing at 2:00. It was supposed to be on Tuesday. And then we're going to have a vote on my war powers resolution later today or tomorrow that says the U.S. should not be at war without a vote of Congress.

The questions are many. Was Iran close to getting a nuclear weapon or not? Did we set the program back years or weeks? Were -- are we trying for diplomacy or are we using diplomacy as a ruse to just drop more bombs? There are all kinds of questions that we're going to be asking the briefers this afternoon.

But the key is this. We should not be at war on the say-so of one person.

You saw President Trump yesterday put up a video on his Truth Social account -- a comical quote, "Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran" video.

This is not the way our sons and daughters should be sent into war. It should only be after careful deliberation about whether Iran, for example -- a war against Iran makes sense for the nation.

BOLDUAN: And Senator, now that we have this reporting that -- after the leak that it seems the White House and the administration suggests may have come from Capitol Hill because the leak occurred of this preliminary assessment just after it was posted to the system used to transfer sensitive information to Congress -- that they are now going to pull back and limit the amount of classified information and detail that they offer even you all in a classified setting.