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Soon: Trump Hosts "Big, Beautiful Event" to Push Agenda Bill; Hegseth Calls U.S. Strikes on Iran "Historically Successful"; Joint Chiefs Chairman Deflects Question on What Changed in Strike Assessment Timeline as Hegseth Doubles Down; WH: Intel Shows "Total Obliteration" of Iran Nuclear Program; GOP Forced to Drop Key Provisions from Trump Domestic Policy Megabill; Rep. Dan Meuser (R-PA) Discusses About Senate Vote and Bill. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired June 26, 2025 - 15:00   ET

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

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[15:00:59]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Ramping up the pressure on Republican holdouts, President Trump expected to give a speech this afternoon, rallying support for his big domestic agenda. But some Republicans are divided on it, even as the White House insists the President wants this bill on his desk by Independence Day.

Plus, Pentagon officials sharing new details about the U.S. strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities. Secretary Pete Hegseth calling it, quote, "historically successful," while the FBI is now investigating the leak of a preliminary intelligence assessment on the strikes.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: And after six weeks of testimony and 34 witnesses, closing arguments are underway in the criminal trial of Sean "Diddy" Combs.

We're following these major developing stories and many more, all coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

Today, President Donald Trump's "Big, Beautiful Bill" is hitting a big, gnarly speed bump as he ratchets up the pressure on Republican holdouts. We're just minutes away from what the White House is calling a big, beautiful event featuring everyday Americans that support the President's spending plan. The White House still wants the bill on the President's desk by July 4th, despite a major issue within Senate rules. Senate Majority Leader John Thune says that he does have a plan B and C if needed.

Let's take you now live to the White House with CNN's Jeff Zeleny. Jeff, walk us through today's event and how you would describe the White House's confidence in this timeline.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Boris, Senate Majority Leader John Thune may need more than A, B and C. He may need D and E, and here is why: A major blow was dealt to this legislation earlier today by the Senate parliamentarian. You may ask, why does the parliamentarian have a say in this? It's because it is a reconciliation bill. That means this big, sprawling package. We cannot even begin to describe in the time we have here to all of the details that are in this. It's a sprawling tax and spending bill.

However, it must be approved under specific rules, and that is that it cannot add to the budget because this is not a budget bill. This is a tax and spending reconciliation bill. So, that means the Senate parliamentarian is essentially ruling out of order, many of the things that the House did. You can see there are some of the priorities.

And, again, the bottom line is they are trying to extend the tax cuts, so Republican leaders in Congress have to find other places to make a room in the budget. And Medicaid is at the center of all of this. The Medicaid cuts are deeply worrying to many of the lawmakers on Capitol Hill, all Democrats and many Republicans as well. President Trump has vowed not to touch Medicaid, but this bill does touch Medicaid. There is no question about that.

However, the White House is still keeping the pressure on. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said they're still confident of a July 4th signing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: I know that there was a ruling by the Senate parliamentarian this morning. Look, this is part of the process. This is part of the inner workings of the United States Senate. But the President is adamant about seeing this bill on his desk here at the White House by Independence Day.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENY: The chances of that happening are very slim. Independence Day, July 4th, a week from tomorrow, the Senate has major issues with this bill. It's not a matter of twisting arms. It's a matter of changing policy. And, of course, after the Senate passes it, the House will as well. This is the President's big priority. That's why he's having an event in the next hour here at the White House. After so much focus on foreign policy, turning his attention back on domestic policy as well.

No one is saying this won't happen, but many changes will have to happen before it gets across the finish line. Boris and Brianna?

SANCHEZ: Jeff Zeleny, live at the White House. Thank you so much. Let's take you now live to Capitol Hill with CNN's Lauren Fox.

Lauren, Jeff sort of outlined a bit of this speed bump with the parliamentarian and the reconciliation rules.

[15:05:00]

But even beyond that, some of the actual substance of this bill could be problematic for lawmakers that are seeking re-election.

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, let's count the ways in which getting on that. Some of the actual substance of this bill could be problematic for lawmakers that are seeking re-election. LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, let's count the ways in which getting this through the Senate in the next couple of days is just a really steep hurdle for Republican leadership. On the one hand, they are still trying to hash out the exact language that they can use that would be acceptable under those strict Senate budget rules. That process is ongoing, I'm told. Republicans in their closed-door lunch made clear that they are working with the parliamentarian. They do feel pretty optimistic that they might be able to find a fix. But that process is playing out, and they don't control how quickly the parliamentarian makes these rulings. These are really complicated discussions.

The next step, of course, is then ironing out language that gets you the votes that you need. That process has been ongoing for the entire week, and they are still circling around some of the same major problems that they started with on Monday. One of those, of course, are concerns from some of these moderate Republican senators and some conservatives.

We should note that Hale from Medicaid Expansion states that this Senate bill just cuts too much to the bone of that program. They still have to win over people like Sen. Josh Hawley, Sen. Susan Collins, Sen. Lisa Murkowski, among others who are behind closed doors expressing concerns about those cuts. The other issue they're still trying to work through is finding some kind of compromise on the state and local tax deduction.

Obviously, this was really hard fought by a handful of Republicans in the House whose votes were contingent on getting an increase to how much individuals back in their high-tax states could deduct from their federal income tax returns when it came to state and local taxes. So, that issue is still also very much playing out, because Republican senators, frankly, want to do nothing on that issue.

But they know if it goes back to the House, which it's going to, they're going to need to get those moderate Republicans in the House on board. So, all of those issues are playing out right now. Obviously, it's Thursday. If they want to vote by the end of the weekend, that is a really tall order right now.

SANCHEZ: Yes, an enormous hurdle that the White House is seeking to overcome. And, Lauren, that's not the only focus of the White House today. They're also still answering questions about this leak regarding the Pentagon's intelligence arm looking into just how extensive the strikes on Iran over the weekend were and debilitating their nuclear program. Senators right now are receiving a briefing on the intelligence. What are you learning?

FOX: Yes, lawmakers are just beginning to file out of that briefing. Obviously, we may get more information about what specifically they were told. This is classified, so it's not necessarily that we're going to get those details. But it's the fact that we might get a sense of whether or not they feel like they're getting the information finally that they have wanted to receive.

Obviously, this has been something that Senate Democrats have been railing against for the last several days. The strike took place on Saturday. A lot of lawmakers have been arguing that they wanted to be briefed sooner than this. The first briefing on Tuesday was moved to today. So, there's so much anticipation around this. We're going to see whether or not lawmakers were satisfied as they come out of this meeting.

SANCHEZ: Lauren Fox, thank you so much for the update there. Brianna?

KEILAR: Today, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth says the U.S. strikes on Iran's nuclear sites were, quote, "historically successful." He forcefully criticized the media's reporting on a preliminary U.S. intelligence assessment that suggested the U.S. strike may not have obliterated core components of Iran's nuclear program, but instead set it back by a few months. Here it is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETE HEGSETH, DEFENSE SECRETARY: No one's under there right now. No one's under there able to assess, and everyone's using reflections of what they see. And that's why the Israelis, the Iranians, the IAEA, the U.N., to a man and to a woman who recognize the capability of this weapons system are acknowledging how destructive it's been.

KEILAR: CNN's Natasha Bertrand is with us now from the Pentagon. Natasha, what are the biggest takeaways from today's press conference?

NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, look - I mean, I think that it was a very interesting split screen between the more political defense of the military operation on Saturday and, of course, the kind of more operationally detailed explanation that we got from General Dan Caine, who's the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

From Secretary Hegseth, we got a lot of arguments about the kind of extrapolation of the capability of the weapon, and therefore it is clear that this weapon caused a lot of damage at these underground facilities.

But then Gen. Caine kind of laid it out in more detail. And essentially what he was saying is that over a decade of planning had gone into this military operation using those B-2s to drop that bunker buster bomb on Fordow. And he did focus specifically on Fordow, that one nuclear facility. He did not really go into any kind of detail about the other two facilities that the military targeted.

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But he said that because of how on target this operation was, and because, you know, these bombs were dropped at precisely the right moment at the right speed, on the right target, including those ventilation shafts that go deep underground into Fordow, then the military operation, they deem, was successful.

But the question now, of course, is: What is the actual battle damage assessment from that operation? How much did it actually set back Iran's nuclear program? Were the underground structures completely destroyed or decimated, as is being asserted by President Donald Trump?

That is something that still remains to be seen, because it is very early. We're only about five days out from this.

General Caine, he was asked about that earlier today, given that Secretary Hegseth and Donald Trump have continued to say that these sites were obliterated. Here's what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What has changed? Would you use the term obliterated as well?

GENERAL. DAN CAINE, CHAIRMAN, JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF: Sir, like I said, we don't do BDA. I'll refer that to the intelligence community and ...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... with them. I mean, what changed in the past three days that make you so, you know ...

CAINE: Sir, I think I said ...

HEGSETH: I mean, I think I explained what changed. There was a great deal of irresponsible reporting based on leaks, preliminary information in low confidence and ...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERTRAND: Now, one of the central questions through all of this as well has been what happened to the enriched uranium, that according to this DIA assessment that was described to us by multiple sources, there were signs had been moved out of Fordow and out of these nuclear facilities prior to them being struck. And, of course, that enriched uranium is very key to Iran's nuclear program and their ability to create a nuclear weapon.

Secretary Hegseth said that he had not seen in the intelligence that he had read that anything was moved. But we also just got a statement in from the Israeli defense minister who said that as of right now, you know, there are no signs that the nuclear material was actually destroyed by the U.S. strikes and that the U.S. and Israel are actually asking for Iran to give it back. Brianna? Boris?

KEILAR: Really interesting. Natasha Bertrand, live for us from the Pentagon. Thank you. Boris?

SANCHEZ: Let's get some perspective from Michael Allen. He's a former special assistant to President George W. Bush for National Security and former senior director for counterproliferation with the National Security Council.

Michael, thank you so much for being with us.

MICHAEL ALLEN, FORMER SPECIAL ASSISTANT TO PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH FOR NATIONAL SECURITY: Thank you.

SANCHEZ: What do you make of where the intelligence stands right now? This preliminary report that indicates that Iran's nuclear capabilities were not completely destroyed versus the more fleshed out assessments that we're getting now from the CIA and other places.

ALLEN: Yes, I just think it's too early to tell. After Iraq WMD, the Congress and others insisted that we begin to state confidence levels of just how much we really backed a proposition that the intelligence community was asserting. We - this came about for good reason, by the way, because I think we relied on some intelligence for going into Iraq that wasn't Bonafide enough to have reached a intelligence community assessment.

So, what we've done here is they've said, listen, you're asking us, the Defense Intelligence Agency, for an opinion. It's early. Here's what we think. But we have low confidence in that judgment. What they need to do over time, the entire intelligence community will collect additional information. And I think they'll have a higher basis for making judgments. They may recruit spies that can actually go to these sites. We may intercept, for example, Iranians talking to each other who've just inspected some of these sites. And they may say, you know what, we can still get in or the HEU is still alive and well-accounted for.

So, I think it really depends over time. Once we get the full spectrum of U.S.-Israeli intelligence looking at the problems that we'll have higher confidence in what the assessment should be.

SANCHEZ: How do they then go about trying to figure out whether Iran has enriched uranium still in its possession or not? Because there were indications, even from the IAEA, that they may have had secret nuclear facilities that weren't struck.

ALLEN: So, I definitely think it's an intelligence question, first and foremost. Secondly, I think Donald Trump intends to get back into some sort of negotiation with the Iranians here. I might not have declared a ceasefire up until I'd gotten the Iranians to agree to turn over any original or residual HEU or maybe centrifuge crates that were at some site that was missed. But we are where we are. He's declared a ceasefire. He's indicated that he wants to get back into some sort of negotiations.

So, I think, as far as the United States is concerned, we'll ask for those back, maybe in exchange for sanctions relief. However, I suspect the Israelis are in an entirely different position. I think they're not afraid to go back in and bomb again if they were able to get intelligence on where the HEU was or a site that they missed.

SANCHEZ: That gets to my next question, which is, if Iran indeed still has some nuclear capacity or some enriched uranium hiding somewhere, what's the likelihood that the United States has to return to using force?

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So, I think it would have to be something that only the United States could do, like last time, like Fordow, where we had to put a massive ordnance penetrator, 12 of them, into a particular site. I think as long as the Israelis - and by the way, I don't think Donald Trump wants to go back in. I think he wanted to show that this could be a one-and-done, not-an-endless war, no ground troops, no repetition, et cetera.

But I think the Israelis are highly motivated. If they feel like they need to go back in, even though we're in a ceasefire, I think they're going to do it. By the way, that's what they're doing with Hezbollah and Hamas and everybody. They declare ceasefires, but if they see a gathering threat, they go after it, and I think they'll do the same here in Iran.

SANCHEZ: What do you make of the Ayatollah and other Iranian officials declaring that their goal of enriching uranium is not something that they're going to give up? Does that give you hope for diplomacy?

ALLEN: Not really. I mean, I think that they - this is in character with the regime. They're a revolutionary regime. They're aggressive. They feel like they need nuclear weapons, I believe, anyway, to force their longevity over a longer period of time. So, I'm not surprised to hear, especially when they were just so humiliated, some bravado about, we're not giving it up. It's our right, sovereign right as a country.

But I think over time, we'll have to either go back at sanctions, which, by the way, I think could still work. We can continue to tie things tighter in Iran and get them to bend. But also, they got to contend with - like I said - with the Israelis.

The Israelis will get back in and use force. So, we're just going to have to see how they react to pressure in coming days.

SANCHEZ: Michael Allen, thank you so much for the point of view. Appreciate it.

ALLEN: Thanks so much.

SANCHEZ: Still plenty more news to come this afternoon. More on President Trump's push to get Republican lawmakers behind his "Big, Beautiful Bill." We're going to discuss with Republican Congressman Dan Meuser. Plus, a controversial new group of vaccine advisors to the CDC just voted to recommend flu vaccines that are free of a preservative, despite no evidence that it could actually cause harm.

And later, closing arguments are underway in the federal sex trafficking trial of Sean "Diddy" Combs. We have perspective from inside the courtroom when we come back.

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KEILAR: In just a few minutes, Republicans will gather with President Trump at the White House as he pushes them to pass his "Big, Beautiful Bill." But today, there was a major setback on Capitol Hill. The Senate's parliamentarian struck down several key provisions that did not meet the Senate's strict budget rules, including changes to provider taxes that could have raised $200 billion to pay for other parts of the President's sweeping policy agenda.

Some Republicans have been wary of that portion of the bill, saying that the changes would gut rural hospital funding. Now, it's unclear if the Senate can make the necessary adjustments before the GOP's self-imposed July 4th deadline.

With us now is Republican Congressman Dan Meuser of Pennsylvania.

Congressman, great to see you. Thanks for being with us.

This is - as you look to the other side of the Capitol, a big speed bump in the Senate. Are these votes and this bill now going to be delayed?

REP. DAN MEUSER (R-PA): Hi, Brianna. It might be delayed slightly, but we certainly believe, and I feel as if I'm very confident that it will be signed by July 4th. These are a couple of speed bumps. There's no question. Nevertheless, they're going to begin working on the language. They're going to be looking at the root of the law for Medicaid, for instance. Was it designed for those who are here that are non-citizens? There are some that do not think so.

So, look, I hope the parliamentarian was just doing their job. I don't believe there was necessarily any bias. So, we need to work through it. We need to study the language. We need to write the language perhaps better. So, it's more reflective about budgetary focus as opposed to policy changes. And that's what the Byrd Rule is all about.

KEILAR: So, the - and on the timing of this, so you're confident about the July 4th, that you're going to hit that deadline. But it sounds like maybe the votes, a Saturday Senate vote, a Tuesday House vote, that may be up in the air to you at this point. But the last time that you and other members of your conference voted for this big, beautiful bill, many later learned of some of the things that were actually in it that you didn't like. Do you think you'll be able to actually read the bill and know what all is in it before you vote on it and before it's signed?

MEUSER: Well, Speaker Johnson is committed to the 72-hour rule. And there'll be - if there are any changes, which there very well will be, as we're seeing, there'll be minimal. So, we will know about what 96-, 97 percent of the bill is. So, it's just those nuances, those - some of those Senate changes we may have to look at.

But, you know, what's interesting? Everything that was pulled out by the parliamentarian, and they have reviewed the House bill, was what was put in by the Senate. So, we may have gone through the Byrd bath without losing any of our provisions, which of course we preferred. We passed it through the House.

So, I'm more optimistic than I am pessimistic, but I like to be a realist. So, I would say it's probably going to be put off a little bit past Tuesday, but before the 4th.

KEILAR: It's a big concern from some senators in your party that the bill would hit rural Americans and middle class and poor Americans, a number of whom voted for President Trump in big numbers.

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What do you say to that?

MEUSER: Well, we're not going to let that happen, and I don't believe the congressional bill does that. There's a number of provisions that counter any potential reductions. Like for instance, we did not have allowing for an - no - an increase in the provider tax. That would have reduced, by theory anyway, some funding for rural hospitals.

But as you probably know, the Senate had a provision to add some rural hospital subsidies funding to compensate for that. So, look, our message really remains the same on it, right? We want to pass these taxes that are so very important for small business, families, and our economy. We want some of the energy provisions. We want to codify some of the portions of the border, and yes, we do want some savings, but responsible savings, and some of them from Medicaid are simply based upon those who are not eligible, waste, abuse and fraud. That's the focus. That's my focus, and that's where that remains.

KEILAR: Of course, there are people who don't think that those Medicaid cuts can be so deep without affecting people who rely on those benefits, including Trump supporters, and then they look at the tax cuts, and they say, hey, these mainly benefit the wealthy when you're looking at this bigger and permanent deduction for pass-through business income, the higher threshold for the estate tax. What do you say to that?

MEUSER: Well, look, I mean, the estate tax is so very important for the rural communities, particularly farms. The income taxes are just going back to where they were before. This tax relief, if it doesn't pass, it will cost families - regular families, that make $68,000, which is the average in my district, $3,000, perhaps $4,000 a year, and the math is obvious. And small businesses, if this doesn't pass, will face a 14, 15 - their taxes will go from 20 to 34, 35, so it is sustaining the taxes that led to a lot of growth opportunities within our economy, that's so very important, and then put in there the bonus depreciation, things of that nature.

Look, we need to invest in America, and that's what a big part of this bill is all about, pro-growth, some savings, fiscal responsibility. And again, you know what, Brianna, this is just the beginning. There are other actions that are going to be taken as we move along to grow our manufacturing, grow our economy, sustain families' incomes ...

KEILAR: And I'm sorry, you said fiscal responsibility, Congressman.

MEUSER: ... and yet deal with some of the savings.

KEILAR: Can you just address the CBO estimate of the House-passed version? You say there's this Byrd bath. You're hoping that this, ultimately, the end result reflects more the House-passed version, which, according to the CBO, increases the deficit by almost $3 trillion over the next decade. MEUSER: Well, without this bill, the debt would go up a lot more, right? I mean, this thing has some savings. You can't say, hey, there's savings, but it's still going to stimulate a higher level of deficit spending. It would be worse had we not passed this bill. But it's - it doesn't cure, it doesn't reverse the curse, if you will, of the high level of excessive spending that takes place, but it's a start.

And as you well know, we cannot put discretionary spending in - reductions in this bill, so we will do that come the budget on September 30th. This is the beginning, and yes, Brianna, we have a very serious spending problem. We've - spending has gone up 57 percent. We had the COVID spending. It's never been ratcheted back. We need to be a lot smarter about how we spend the taxpayers' money, and that's putting it mildly.

KEILAR: Congressman Dan Meuser, thank you so much for being with us.

MEUSER: Thank you.

KEILAR: And ahead, prosecutors are delivering closing arguments in the sex trafficking trial of music mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs, we'll have the latest on the trial and how soon jurors could start deliberations next.

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