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Soon, House Receives Classified Briefing on U.S. Strikes on Iran; Trump Agenda Bill Hits Major Setback in the Senate; Soon, Defense Gives Closing Argument in Sean Diddy Combs Trial. Aired 7- 7:30a ET

Aired June 27, 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]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: House lawmakers are about to receive their classified briefing on the U.S. strikes on Iran this morning, after senators left their briefing still sharply divided over how much damage the strikes caused and what it all means for Iran's nuclear program.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: The uphill battle for President Trump's so- called big, beautiful bill just got steeper for Republicans. They are struggling to get on the same page after the chamber's rules referee struck down key Medicaid provisions in the bill. Can Republicans still meet the president's July 4th deadline?

And Brad Pitt's home burglarized. The LAPD says it's looking for three suspects who broke into the star's house? The latest in a string of break-ins in that wealthy neighborhood.

I'm Sara Sidner with Kate Baldwin. Berman is out today. This is CNN News Central.

BOLDUAN: This morning on Capitol Hill, House lawmakers will have their turn to get briefed on the U.S. strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities. Senators from both parties sat in the classified briefing yesterday leaving the same briefing, having heard the same intel and interpreting that all in, I know you will be shocked, two very different ways, leaving still sharply divided over just how far the bombings actually set back Iran's nuclear program.

Many Republican senators echoed comments that we have all heard from the Trump administration, repeating President Trump's descriptions of the nuclear program as being, quote, obliterated, those facilities obliterated.

Frustrated Democrats though say that many key questions went unanswered, and at least one top Democrat accused the president of deliberately misleading the public.

Lawmakers in the House, they're just set to get their briefing now this morning.

Let's get over to Capitol Hill, CNN's Annie Grayer is watching it all for us this morning. Compare what happened yesterday to what is going to happen today, Annie.

ANNIE GRAYER, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Well House lawmakers are finally going to get their classified briefing this morning after a long delay, and they're going to be briefed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs.

Now, this is the same group of briefers who came and briefed senators yesterday, and as you laid out, Republicans and Democrats walked out of the same room with very different views on the success of the strikes and what the future of Iran's nuclear capabilities are going to be. Take a listen to just a sampling of that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CHRIS MURPHY (D-CT): To me, it still appears that we have only set back the Iranian nuclear program by a handful of months. There's no doubt there was damage done to the program. But yet the allegations that we have obliterated their program just don't seem to stand up to reason.

SEN. TOM COTTON (R-AR): I believe that this mission was a tremendous success and that we have effectively destroyed Iran's nuclear program.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRAYER: So, how did senators who were in the same room getting the same briefing come out with such different information? This just raises questions. This is something we're going to be following with House lawmakers after their briefing today.

But now following CNN's reporting about the initial intelligence assessment, not of the U.S. strikes not completely obliterating the Iranian nuclear capabilities, at least in this initial assessment, President Trump is saying he wants to limit what kind of classified information can come to the Hill.

So, now there's this question of what the future of classified information on Capitol Hill is going to look like.

BOLDUAN: Yes. Let us see. That briefing for House lawmakers is coming up very shortly so we could have some word this morning on what they believe they have heard.

It's great to see you, Annie. Thank you so much. Sara?

SIDNER: And, you know, that is certainly not the only thing that lawmakers are grappling with this morning. Also, this morning, President Trump's domestic policy agenda hitting a major setback. The Senate parliamentarian essentially the chamber's rules referee struck down key provisions of his so-called big, beautiful bill, saying, they don't meet the strict standards to pass by a simple majority of 51 votes. That includes major changes to Medicaid. And it puts the president's deadline to sign the bill by July 4th, just a week from now, of course, in jeopardy.

[07:05:03]

CNN's Jeff Zeleny is at the White House this morning for us, I hope. Jeff, there you are. President Trump held an event to make his case to try to push this bill through. But what are you learning, because there is a lot of jostling going on and a lot of concern, particularly among Republicans?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning, Sara. We are here at the White House. President Trump is as well, and we are learning. He is planning to spend the weekend here in Washington, a rare weekend in Washington because he wants to stay close to the Senate as he is urging and pushing Senate Republicans to pass his sweeping tax and spending bill.

It's really the signature piece of legislation that really touches every corner of American lives. There's no question though, there are some hurdles. You mentioned the referee in the Senate. That's the Senate parliamentarian. They're ruling that many of the key provisions are out of order. So, it's back to the drawing board for some of these key provisions on Medicaid spending that really have a deep impact on rural hospitals and many other programs.

But the president had an event here at the White House late yesterday. He had this to say about any Republican holdouts.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: I shouldn't say this, but we don't want to have grandstanders where one or two peoples raise their vote, we are, we don't know, and they do it to grandstand. That's all. Not good people. They know who I'm talking about, I call them out, but we don't need grandstanders.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENY: What may be grandstanding to the president are actually deep policy differences to many of the Republicans in his own party.

The bottom line is right now Senate Republicans do not have the 50 votes they need because of some of those key provisions on Medicaid cuts. You can see right there several other things are also in this, but the debt ceiling increase, that is one huge part of all of this that is needed.

But the reason for all of these cuts to many safety net programs is to find enough revenue to extend the Trump tax cuts. So, that is what is at issue here, Sara. The there's no question this will pass at some point. Obviously, Republicans control the Senate as well as the House. But once the Senate does pass it, it has to go back to the House to approve all these changes. So, there are many tough days ahead and it's unclear if they'll meet the president's July 4th deadline.

SIDNER: You've been doing some great reporting on just how these Medicaid cuts could directly affect families. What did you learn? ZELENY: Sara, we often talk about Medicaid cuts here in the aggregate, but we spent some time in Missouri, obviously a red state, but where these Medicaid cuts are having deep effects on people's lives, there is real concern.

We met a mother named Courtney Leader whose nine-year-old daughter Serena depends on Medicaid funding, and she explained why.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COURTNY LEADER, DAUGHTER RELIES ON MEDICAID: It is not a luxury. This is not a luxury thing, like I am not -- I do not have my daughter enrolled on Medicaid so that we can have fancy things. I have my daughter enrolled in Medicaid so that we can keep her alive.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENY: So, this is just one of the many stories we heard, and we'll bring more of that to you in the next hour. But it's one of the reasons Republican Senator from Missouri Josh Hawley is one of the Republican senators who are raising objections to this.

So what the president calls grandstanding actually has real world effects on people's lives, but rural hospitals across the south, across the country, really are at risk because of the potential cuts in some Medicaid. That is why many Republican senators, from Tom Thillis in North Carolina to Susan Collins in Maine, are raising deep questions about this. So, that's why it's back to the drawing board, trying to make some fixes on this legislation. Sara?

SIDNER: Jeff Zeleny, great reporting and we do look forward to seeing more of it coming up in the next hour. I appreciate it. Kate?

BOLDUAN: And also still ahead for us this morning, the defense team for Sean Diddy Combs beginning closing arguments today in his federal sex trafficking and racketeering trial. And we have new reporting from inside the courtroom Diddy's body language, very different yesterday when the prosecution was offering its closings, than it has been the entire trial.

Also ahead in Venice, the wedding weekend everyone is talking about, Jeff Bezos sets to tie the knot with Lauren Sanchez, the A-List celebrities are there, and so are the protesters.

And a dramatic dash cam video showing the moments a semi-truck slams in -- oh my God -- slams into an electrical worker in a lift, leaving him hanging upside down. How he is doing this morning.

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BOLDUAN: This morning, the defense team for Sean Diddy Combs has their big moment, set to deliver their closing arguments in his federal racketeering and sex trafficking trial for nearly five hours yesterday. The prosecution, it was their turn offering their closing, summing up the case against Sean Combs describing the disgraced music mogul as the leader of a criminal enterprise who they say used power, violence, and fear to get what he wanted.

The government also said that Combs was able to commit crime after crime because of his money, power, and influence.

CNN's Elizabeth Wagmeister has been in the courtroom throughout the trial and she also notes a very noticeable difference in Combs' during the prosecution's closings yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ELIZABETH WAGMEISTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: Sean Combs' body language was a bit different than it has been for the rest of the trial. I noticed him looking down, slumped over at times. But he was very engaged, he was passing notes to his attorneys, as he has done throughout this seven week trial.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Joining us right now, CNN Legal Analyst, Criminal Defense Attorney Joey Jackson. This is a big day for the defense team, well, for the entire trial, let's be honest. Let's start with closings to bring us up to speed where we are.

[07:15:00]

What did you hear as really the closing argument from the prosecution?

JOEY JACKSON, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: All right. So, Kate, good morning. So, this is the essence, criminal enterprise, and there are all of these acts that go to establish it, like what? Like the kidnapping, like the arson, like the drugs, like all of the other lawless behavior that he engage in, which would establish, ladies and gentlemen, the criminality of this enterprise over an extended period of time, which he was able to do because of his power, money, and influence. And, by the way, as it related to the sex trafficking, prosecutors say, this was coerced behavior. And it only takes one instance, say, prosecutors with regard to his coercion to establish that they were trafficked.

And finally, the crossing of state lines with respect to engaging in prostitution, you got it, receipts records, all indications that he was doing it. That was the narrative that they gave the jury yesterday in the over four hours of information that they delivered.

BOLDUAN: I mean, you sum it up as you always do very well. But, I mean, it was over four hours that they were trying to link it together. But the burden of proof is on them, and so that is part of it, of course. Then it comes to the defense team, their term to present. I mean, they basically didn't present a case in court as they didn't call a single witness of their own. What does that mean for the task ahead for them today?

JACKSON: So, what they did, and I think they're banking on is that issue, you mentioned it, the reasonable doubt and the burden, right? The defense doesn't have to put on the case. The burden lies with the prosecution. They are confident, the defense is, that they've laid out the reasonable doubt through what they've talked about through the whole trial.

So, what will they say? What they will say is that this is a legitimate business. This was private conduct. These were long-term relationships. And the fact of the matter is that this is not and doesn't amount to any criminal enterprise at all.

And, by the way, as it relates to this issue of criminal enterprises, usually you'll see a rat. You know what those are? Those are people in your inner circle who come and say, we agreed to do something illegal. Where are they, ladies and gentlemen? How do you engage in a criminal enterprise for RICO where there's no conspiracy? Did you hear one witness come in here saying there was an agreement with Mr. Combs to engage in criminality? No. Well, then he's not guilty of RICO.

And with respect to the issue of this sex trafficking, these were longstanding relationships. The government came up here yesterday during their closing, and they said, take one, it only takes one instance, but yet they have the nerve in their narrative to tell you he was doing things for over a decade of sexual exploitation. Which one is it? The reason they said you only have to choose one is because they don't have the goods, never had them, and they misled you because of the fact that these were willing participants. They will focus on that.

And at the end of the day, if they're able to establish, the defense, that there is doubt with respect to criminality, legitimate, private conduct, nothing to do with the business, complicated relationships, certainly unconventional with regard to how he lived his life, but domestic violence, finally, you saw a lot of it, they need to embrace it. Domestic violence, we're not here for that. We're here for racketeering. We're here for sex trafficking. And at the end of the day, they have not established a defense will say the elements of the crime charge. Our client is not guilty.

BOLDUAN: And remind everyone part of this whole thing is how hard it is to prove or to lay out the case for RICO.

JACKSON: Sure.

BOLDUAN: It's just -- there's a lot of elements to it. I know none of it other than every time we cover a racketeering trial, it's always in depth complicated and the bar is very high.

JACKSON: So, absolutely. So, as it relates to the whole sexual, you know, exploitation and traveling from one state to another, that's clear cut. But when you come down to RICO, what you're talking about is a pattern of behavior over a decade-long, where you're engaging in criminality, where you're doing all of this other lawless activity. But most importantly, there are people with you in your enterprise who are agreeing with you.

And when you see these situations, Kate, it's these mob bosses, and then you have this underboss that comes in and they testify and they say, he helped me do it. He did it. We didn't see it here. Defense will exploit that today. Let's see how far it takes them.

BOLDUAN: Joey Jackson's performance of what the underboss looks like is quite something.

JACKSON: You like that, huh?

BOLDUAN: I do. I would like you to do that more often because it's on a very serious matter. It actually rings some levity. It's very good to see. Thank you. Let's see what happens today.

JACKSON: Always.

BOLDUAN: Coming up for us. It was the first meeting of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s new team of vaccine advisers. The end result, they voted to recommend real changes to flu vaccine.

And the highly unusual, to say the least, presentations made to scientists at the CDC and the one scientist in that panel who tried to push back and raise serious questions.

And new details this morning on a break-in at Brad Pitt's house, what police are saying about the suspects, they say, ransacked it.

[07:20:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SIDNER: Health and Human Services. Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s brand new panel of vaccine advisers held its first meeting since the previous panel of 17 experts were dismissed earlier this month. Yesterday's unprecedented meetings spent much of the day focused on long, debunked anti-vaccine ideas, and those once fringe theories may now guide health policy in the United States.

CNN's Meg Tirrell has more on the story.

MEG TIRRELL, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, this two-day meeting of this newly assembled group of vaccine advisers to the CDC concluded with probably the most controversial topic that was on the entire agenda, and one that had been added as kind of a last-minute addition by this new group of advisers.

And it concerns a preservative in vaccines called thimerisol. This was actually taken out of vaccines about 25 years ago from most vaccines over theoretical concerns that there may be a safety risk, because it contains a form of mercury. But no risk had ever been seen from this preservative, and no one has actually been seen since.

However, it became a focal point of people who believe that this vaccine preservative could be linked to neurodevelopmental issues, like autism, and decades of research and multiple studies have found no link.

[07:25:08]

But people like Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. have focused on that. And he actually published a book about this vaccine preservative in 2014. And so this new panel of advisers that he handpicked added this to the agenda and they took a vote recommending that people in the United States not receive vaccines with the preservative thimerisol in them.

We should note that it's still only in very few vaccines, multi-dose vials of flu vaccines, and only about 4 percent of influenza vaccines given last season actually contains this preservatives.

Still, there was concern around this vote including from one of the panelists, Dr. Cody Meissner, who's a pediatrician at Tufts, and probably the best respected panelist when it comes to vaccine expertise by peers in public health. And here's what he had to say about it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. CODY MEISSNER, CHIEF OF PEDIATRIC INFECTIOUS DISEASES, TUFTS CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL: The risk from influenza is so much greater than the non-existent, as far as we know, risk from thimerisol. So, I would hate for a person not to receive the influenza vaccine because the only available preparation contains thimerisol, I don't -- I find that very hard to justify.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TIRRELL: He was the only panelist to vote no on this recommendation.

We should also add that groups like the American Academy of Pediatrics worried about the addition of this topic to the agenda, saying that, quote, false information and faulty science about thimerisol are frequently used to mislead parents in an attempt to scare them out of vaccinating their children.

The American Academy of Pediatrics has typically participated with this panel in terms of guiding vaccine policy in the United States. But this week, they were breaking with that saying that they were concerned about its scientific integrity.

Meg Tirrell, CNN, Atlanta.

SIDNER: Wow. All right, still ahead, new CNN reporting on secret diplomatic efforts by the White House to try and bring Iran back to the negotiating table.

Plus wedding bells ringing in Venice today, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez's wedding, bringing big names to the floating city and protests. We're live with the very latest.

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[07:30:00]