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Trump: U.S. Blackade in Iran Could Last Through Labor Day; U.S. Emergency Oil Reserve Falls to Lowest Level Since Jan. 2024; Rep. Gomez Denies Sexual Misconduct Allegations Amid Investigation. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired June 03, 2026 - 08:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:30:54]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, breaking this morning, a brand-new interview from President Trump with the "New York Post." They covered a lot on Iran. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), U.S. PRESIDENT: We're working on a deal, and if that happens, fine. If it doesn't happen, that's OK, too. We'll do it the other way. I think they've already agreed they're not going to have a nuclear weapon.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Have they?

TRUMP: Oh, yeah. They've agreed to that. I mean, now they can change their mind, but this -- that was one of the things they had to agree. They've agreed to that. That was the big thing.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So, you think the blockade will still be in place by Labor Day?

TRUMP: I don't know. I mean, I think it could be, but I think it's unlikely. I think that we'll have it. I think this will resolve itself fairly quickly.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: All right, with us now, I hope, Senator Jeff Merkley, a Democrat from Oregon, who is on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Senator, can you hear me? Senator Merkley cannot quite hear me, but he, of course, is on the Foreign Relations Committee, was following very closely yesterday Senator Marco Rubio's testimony on Capitol Hill, and a lot to cover with the senator if and when we do get him, in addition, obviously, to Iran, what happened with Bill Pulte, the Housing Chief who has been tapped to be the Director of National Intelligence. So, that's a preview of what we will discuss when we see Senator Merkley shortly.

In the meantime, may I present to you my friend, Kate Bolduan.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: We will get back to that. It's called a deep tease, guys. It's called a deep tease. Thanks, J.B. When that technical glitch is fixed, we will get back to it. Speaking of Iran, let's focus in on Iran. We have some new video that is coming in just out of Kuwait. I'm going to show you the absolute destruction here. Iran is claiming responsibility for overnight strikes that reportedly injured 63 people at Kuwait's international airport.

That marks one of the highest injury counts that we know of among the Gulf states hit by Iran since fighting began. And this is in the midst of negotiations or non-negotiations still over trying to get to a possible framework of a possible deal to end this war.

Joining us right now to discuss this is Amos Hochstein. He's former Biden White House Senior Energy Advisor. He's now Managing Partner at the investment firm TWG Global. It's good to see you here.

AMOS HOCHSTEIN, MANAGING PARTNER, TWG GLOBAL: It's great to be here.

BOLDUAN: It's great to have you in studio. OK, so it's really horrible video that we're seeing and coming out of Kuwait. You also have the president speaking on a new interview. It released today. We don't know -- I don't really -- it's not clear when he taped this interview.

One of the things that he said, and you and I talk about the global energy supply crisis that we're in the midst of a lot. He said that it is possible that the blockade could be in place until through Labor Day. When you hear that, what do you think?

HOCHSTEIN: We're -- that's beyond the deadline of when energy markets can actually handle the current state of affairs.

BOLDUAN: Really?

HOCHSTEIN: Yes.

BOLDUAN: So, that means that should be -- to me that means serious alarm bells.

HOCHSTEIN: If I'm trading oil or if I'm trading energy products or I'm trading on Wall Street, looking at the energy markets for the last couple of months or let's say let's say 40 days, the president's basically said we're very close to a deal. Yes, back and forth. I'll take another three days, another week. That's what the market think.

If the president now is saying, which he is, that we are going to have the Strait of Hormuz closed for another two, three months at least. To me, if I'm a trader in the markets, I'm saying that's the biggest red flag that we've seen since the beginning of the war.

BOLDUAN: If he's couching and saying doing kind of a Trump thing on it, which is like possible, unlikely, possible, unlikely, but Labor Day is possible. Does that change the view? HOCHSTEIN: Well, I think what's interesting here is Trump normally manages the markets. He doesn't want to.

BOLDUAN: Definitely tries.

HOCHSTEIN: Right. That's what he does. And he's done it very, very well by teasing the market. Don't bet against me because tomorrow there could be good news. And if there's good news and you bet today against me, you're going to be stuck with a long or short position that you can't cover. So, now what he's doing is so starkly different.

[08:35:02]

This is the first time that he said, actually, there are no real negotiations. We're not getting anywhere. And this could last for three months. I think that's the clearest sign that we have a problem in the negotiations.

Another sign is that he said that we are negotiating and the Iranians said we're not negotiating. And it clearly doesn't look like negotiations when you're sending missiles and striking Bahrain and Kuwait at the same time. And you saw the angry call between Trump and Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu.

So, all these put together means we're at a stalemate in the negotiations. And both sides are feeling pressure. But we're under real stress here.

BOLDUAN: Add to that, Marco Rubio just said yesterday that Iran has mined, his words were, quote, "large segments," put mines in large segments of the Strait of Hormuz. And that's being seen as really indicating that the threat and the problem there is worse and more widespread than they've really indicated publicly previously. Unclear how many mines, unclear where in the Strait. How important is this to unwinding this crisis?

HOCHSTEIN: So, you have two levels of problem here. One is, do you get a negotiation that gets to an actual deal? Problem set one. When you get to a deal, what people need to understand, it's not a spigot opening. It's not a switch flipping. It just means that now we can start clearing, start clearing mines.

Tankers could start going through, but that will take a really long time, probably two months or so, just to get to normal traffic because tankers and cargo ships have to go to the Middle East to pick up product and then leave. The mines, there are two problems. One is the mines that nobody knows where they are. And the other is the drones. So, right now they're not sailing through because they're both third of mines. And a drone can hit you. That's why the convoy that the president wanted to do doesn't work.

BOLDUAN: Yeah.

HOCHSTEIN: Because maybe you have a mine sweep, but what about the drones? So, we'll have to sweep all these mines and it's going to take a while. BOLDUAN: One of the focuses of the president, it seems to be very clear, that no matter what he gets in the end, he wants to make sure it is at least better than the JCPOA of 2015. You were involved in those negotiations. And since you know that deal better than most, what will this current negotiation need to achieve, or at least be presented as showing, for it to reach that level of being better than JCPOA?

HOCHSTEIN: Yeah, so I feel like we've gone from JCPOA to BTO, better than Obama, and that's the goal of the deal. The president has said one of the main things that he wants to achieve is that Iran will say they will never have nuclear weapons. They said that in the JCPOA.

So, that -- we walked away from that agreement that they made it, so now we're negotiating to get back to where we were in 2015. I think realistically what he'll look for is we had a 15-year sunset in the JCPOA, and now he -- and that's for low-level enrichment. And he'll say it'll be zero enrichment. And I believe that he can achieve that, zero enrichment for, let's say, 15 years.

So, you're talking about JCPOA either plus or redux, depending on how you end up there. But the problem for him is the battlefield, right, is where you get concessions. He's now in the negotiating room. The Iranians don't look like they want to make big concessions during this period of ceasefire, and the president doesn't want to go back to war. So, we're in this stalemate.

And in the meantime, our inventories of oil, of gasoline, of diesel are all going down, and they're now reaching 20-year-level lows. We're almost at the low of the 2022 of the SPR, but we're going much, much lower than that. The world is living on a buffer of inventories. They are finite. They're not renewable. When they're out, they're out.

BOLDUAN: Yeah, crisis now, crisis is about to unravel even more. It's great to have you here. Thanks.

HOCHSTEIN: Good to see you.

BOLDUAN: John.

BERMAN: All right. And with us now, Senator Jeff Merkley, a Democrat from Oregon. He is on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and a good sport to help us work out our audio issues.

Senator, good to see you this morning. I want to talk about Iran and where you think negotiations are and how satisfied you are with what you're hearing from the administration about what progress they are or are not making.

SEN. JEFF MERKLEY (D-OR): Well, I think the negotiations are paralyzed. It's become clear that Iran is saying, look, you want us to open up the strait. You need to unfreeze our assets. You need to get rid of the sanctions. And by the way, Israel has to stop bombing Lebanon. And, well, the U.S. doesn't have control over Israel. The president said he was shouting with obscenities at Bibi Netanyahu yesterday. But what we have seen is that shouting at Netanyahu doesn't achieve the desired outcome. In fact, Israel's kind of been the tail wagging the dog, if you will. And I think the president's getting a bit frustrated with that.

[08:40:05]

But all of this says that there is no immediate answer to unlocking the strait. And the negotiation, the immediate negotiation, is simply about getting back to the status quo before the war started.

BERMAN: You said Israel's the tail wagging the dog. Do you think the president has the influence over Netanyahu he claims to?

MERKLEY: Well, what we have seen, and we saw this under the Biden administration as well, is that Netanyahu has his own agenda. He is pursuing a greater Israel. That includes unleashing the settlers on the West Bank who are assaulting the Palestinian villages. It includes depriving Gaza of medicine and food and steadily taking more of Gaza and putting it essentially behind the line of Israeli defenses. It includes southern Lebanon. And that is Netanyahu's vision.

And it's a vision the U.S. is essentially complicit in at this point in time. And he has his agenda. And here is President Trump. Remember, President Trump, when the war first started, said, hey, I'm in this war because Netanyahu said he'd attack Iran. Iran would attack some of the regional outposts that would affect the U.S. So, the U.S. had to be involved. So, there's been this element of Netanyahu setting the agenda from the beginning.

BERMAN: The president tapped Bill Pulte, sort of the housing chief, to be the acting director of national intelligence. What do you think the impact will be on U.S. intelligence?

MERKLEY: Oh, this is really an obscenity. And I say that in the sense that this individual, when he was head of Fannie and Freddie, uses access to information to essentially execute attacks on Trump's enemies. He politicized a very nonpolitical position.

To put him in charge of intelligence and have access to all kinds of information, for a man who has been essentially very, very willing to take on Trump's agenda of attacking his political enemies and using the power of government to do so, is a horrendous mistake. And by the way, the law lays out that there are qualifications required for this position, qualifications that this man does not have. So, this is -- this is really unsettling. And it's another piece of this kind of authoritarian, Trumpian, strongman state world in which the normal checks and balances of our Constitution and the norms in which we operate are being violated.

BERMAN: Senator, Maine Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner was on Capitol Hill yesterday meeting with current Senate Democrats. Did you attend that meeting? And if not, why not?

MERKLEY: Yes, I did attend the meeting. And I must say that Graham Platner is dedicated to the prospect of defending our Constitution. Right now, we're in a situation where we see all the powers of Congress, the power of war, the power of taxation, the power of purse, and the oversight responsibility all being completely savaged. And to have a man who is willing to stand up to this administration is the type of voice we need in the U.S. Senate.

BERMAN: What about the stories that came out over the weekend? There were the text messages. "The New York Times" and "Wall Street Journal" reported that sexually explicit texts he sent to other women, his wife allegedly turned them over to the campaign and whatnot. There's the tattoo. I suppose the question is, is he the best choice for Maine? Is he the best you can do in that state?

MERKLEY: Well, this is a choice left to the people of Maine. Maine is going to, the citizens of Maine are going to decide, are they going to essentially maintain the status quo in which essentially they're sending an individual who is pursuing the Trumpian agenda, or are they going to send someone who's going to take on that agenda? Remember, Trump promised to end wars and lower prices, and he's raised prices and started wars, so that's the question that faces the people of Maine.

But I know where I stand, and that is we need to stop this authoritarian individual who's a wrecking ball in our U.S. government, who's harming U.S. interests around the world, who's alienating allies, who's undermining our Constitution. And at this moment, there's only one candidate in Maine willing to take on that challenge.

BERMAN: Senator Jeff Merkley from Oregon, thank you for your time this morning. Appreciate it.

MERKLEY: Thank you.

BERMAN: Sara?

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right, thank you, John. CNN exclusive for you this morning, another member of Congress is facing a House Ethics Committee investigation over sexual misconduct allegations. Three sources are telling CNN reporters now that the committee is now looking into Congressman Jimmy Gomez. The California representative is accused of kissing a congressional aide who worked for a different member of Congress back in 2023. He's also facing other allegations. Gomez acknowledged he's made personal mistakes, but says that kiss didn't happen and that he has not violated any House ethics.

[08:45:21]

CNN's Annie Grayer has been following and reporting on the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANNIE GRAYER, CNN CAPITOL HILL REPORTER: The House Ethics Committee is investigating Democratic Congressman Jimmy Gomez over allegations of sexual misconduct, according to sources.

Now, we're told from sources that this started initially as the ethics panel reaching out to individuals after a New York Post article alleged that Gomez was seen kissing the staffer of another member at a backyard party back in 2023. Now, a Gomez spokesperson at the time said that that New York Post story was not true and said that the alleged kiss never happened.

But we're told from sources that in the process of chasing down this "New York Post" story that the panel came across other allegations of sexual misconduct that it is now investigating.

Now, in response to our exclusive reporting, Congressman Gomez gave me a lengthy statement detailing that while he may have made mistakes in his life, he has not broken the law or violated any House rules. I'm going to read you a portion of his statement now.

Congressman Gomez said, quote, "Years ago, I made personal mistakes outside my marriage that have caused real pain to my wife and family. Although my actions were consensual in nature and haven't violated the law or House ethics rules, that doesn't diminish the impact that these mistakes have made on those I care about the most. I take full responsibility and have committed myself to working through the pain privately with my wife and family. I am deeply sorry for the pain and embarrassment that I brought into our lives."

So, that is a portion of Congressman Gomez's full statement, where he also says he plans to comply with any ethics panel investigation that unfolds.

Now, the existence of this investigation provides a window into how the House Ethics Committee is trying to rapidly address any allegations in a moment when Capitol Hill is facing a reckoning.

In the wake of the high-profile resignations of Eric Swalwell and Tony Gonzales over their alleged misconduct with staffers, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are grappling with how to better address reporting structures on Capitol Hill and make changes so that people feel comfortable coming forward with any allegations that they may have.

Annie Grayer, CNN, reporting from Capitol Hill.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SIDNER: It is just so gross. These are the leaders of our communities doing this. All right.

Now, coming up for you, we've got former Vice President Mike Pence, who's going to be speaking to our Kate Bolduan. So much to discuss. We will get into all of it.

Also this morning, Variety's Actors on Actors is back featuring two "Friends" stars. We have a preview of Jennifer Aniston and Lisa Kudrow's discussion. Those stories and more, ahead.

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[08:52:33]

BERMAN: All right, tonight, I'm not sure that you or anyone in here in this studio is aware, but it is Game 1 of the NBA Finals. The San Antonio Spurs host the New York Knicks. Now, there are security concerns. Federal authorities have been

boosting security. Let's get the details on that, seeing as Mark Morales has the latest. What are you learning?

MARK MORALES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, when you look at it, this is the first time in 27 years that the NBA Finals will be at Madison Square Garden right behind me. And when you think about it, a lot has changed since the last time the Knicks made the NBA Finals. We're talking about a pre-9-11 world to now. A lot's changed when you consider the threat picture. So, in response to this, there's going to be a lot more police in the area, a lot more restrictions, a lot more resources committed to keeping everything inside the garden safe as well as outside. And again, this is in response to the threat environment, which has increased since not only October 7th, but also the war in Iran.

And when you think about what's also been going on here, there's also been incidents here in New York. You had two guys that were arrested after they threw IEDs outside of the mayor's residence a few months back. And just two weeks ago, an Iraqi national was arrested and taken into custody after authorities said that he was trying to orchestrate an attack on a synagogue.

Now, I sat down with the FBI director here in New York, and he said that guys like him and plots like these are exactly the kinds of things that they're trying to stop. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMES BARNACLE, FBI ASSISTANCE DIRECTOR, NEW YORK FIELD OFFICER: We are constantly looking, and we are constantly putting tripwires in place, you know, red flags, if you will, for us to further explore. It could be looking at chat rooms or social media exploitation. It could be talking to partners, overseas partners or domestic partners. It's boots on the ground. It's going out and finding cooperators and sources, confidential human sources, talking to people. Our job is to talk to people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MORALES: And it's not just the NBA Finals. It's the World Cup that's happening nearby in New Jersey, SAIL 250, the July 4th celebrations. And the other thing to consider is that it's the security plan that's still being tinkered with is sort of a moving target because we're still trying to figure out about getting the president here for one of these games.

A law enforcement official that I spoke to said that this was an unprecedented event, that they're still working out some of those details. But again, the NBA Finals will be here at Madison Square Garden starting next week. Tonight you'll have a watch party inside, so you'll have a lot more police presence and barricades here.

[08:55:11]

John? BERMAN: A lot going on in New York over the next several weeks. Mark Morales, Mark, thank you so much for that.

Sara?

SIDNER: I think we could afford the tickets for the watch party. Not the game, obviously.

(CROSSTALK)

BERMAN: Honestly, I'm not even sure. I like the ticket prices. They're so high. You might be right.

SIDNER: You might be paying $1,000 to watch it on a screen. You can do it at home. All right.

Basketball fans will have to shell out, speaking of which, big bucks to see the Spurs and Knicks face off in the NBA Finals. Ticket prices for games have hit record highs. And in some cases, it may be cheaper for New Yorkers to travel to San Antonio instead of seeing a game at home.

CNN's Matt Egan is joining me now. We were just talking about this. You blew my mind with the cost of the tickets. What's this differential here? Should we be getting tickets to go to San Antonio or what? I've got good memories, by the way. San Antonio is where the Gators won the national championship, so I'm just saying I wouldn't mind.

MATT EGAN, CNN BUSINESS REPORTER: Well, Sara, look, I really should ask the guys to bring chairs out because you should be sitting when you look at these ticket prices.

SIDNER: Oh, no.

EGAN: Let's just talk about the cheapest seats. Say you don't care where you're sitting. In Texas tonight, Game 1, $755. That's not cheap. But look at this. It is a small fraction of the cheapest seats to go to Games 3 and 4 here in New York.

SIDNER: What are we doing?

EGAN: What is this? $4,000 apiece even to hit.

SIDNER: Who can afford that?

EGAN: Who can afford that? And that's to sit in the nosebleeds, and you don't even know if they're going to win. So, look, this is happening, of course, because the Knicks haven't been in the final since 99. They've been 1 since 73. We are talking about Madison Square Garden. But to your point, this is so expensive that fans might as well get on a plane and travel to Texas because it would actually be cheaper. Let me break that down for you. Right? So, $600 for a four- night stay in a hotel in San Antonio, $700 for round-trip airfare.

You could actually go to not just Game 1, Sara. You could go to Game 2 in Texas, and you would still come out ahead versus the almost $4,000 cost to go to a game here in New York. And it looks like some fans are actually doing this.

According to TickPick, which is an online marketplace, they found that about 30 percent of the tickets sold for Game 2 of the NBA Finals in Texas, 30 percent that's that purple chunk of this chart, that's from New York zip codes, and another 11 percent across the river in New Jersey, another three percent in Florida --

(CROSSTALK)

SIDNER: Look at Florida representing. OK.

EGAN: A lot of transplanted New Yorkers there, a lot of Knicks fans there. So, that actually adds up to well more than the zip codes in Texas. It's just crazy. And I talked to a 25-year-old who's from Manhattan who says that he was really disappointed about these sky- high prices in New York. So, he's hopping on a plane Friday night. He's going to Game 2, and he's not spending anything close to these sky-high New York prices.

SIDNER: OK, you don't know how I travel. It would be one night in a hotel. I would just stay up all night the night of the game.

OK, this tells you, though, 30 percent and 11 percent, that's 41 percent. That means there are going to be more people likely there who are Knicks fans.

EGAN: There's going to be a lot of Knicks fans.

SIDNER: Then there are people who are -- that stadium is going to be cray-cray. It's going to be fun. But San Antonio is such a great city. This will be a lot of fun.

EGAN: We'll have to see what happens. And Knicks fans can go and explore the city while they're there.

SIDNER: Very cool.

EGAN: Thank you, Sara.

SIDNER: There's going to be a lot of economic boom there for a minute there.

EGAN: Absolutely.

SIDNER: All right. Thank you, Kate.

BOLDUAN: So, it was a scary scene on a flight out of Puerto Rico after a passenger tried to open both the cockpit door and an emergency exit door. Video shows passengers on the Frontier Airlines jet, Frontier Airlines jet, restraining the man. He's been identified as 51-year-old Juan Reyes. It all started just 45 minutes into the flight when Reyes allegedly said that he wanted to get off. The arrest affidavit says that he was prevented from opening the exit door and then started ramming into the cockpit door. And there is more. He was then taken to a seat where an off-duty

flight attendant offered to sit with him. And that is when officials say Reyes tried to take the man's bag and eventually tried to choke him. Other passengers then jumped in and helped the flight crew restrain him. Reyes is facing an assault charge now. CNN has reached out to see if he has an attorney.

John?

BERMAN: All right. This morning we have a preview of some pretty incredible video. Variety's Actors on Actors, where some of the biggest celebrities on Earth sit and ask each other questions. The first episode is something of a friend's reunion. Lisa Kudrow and Jennifer Aniston.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JENNIFER ANISTON, ACTRESS: Remember when you sent me and Courtney a picture of you and Jimmy?

LISA KUDROW, ACTRESS: On stage 24.

ANISTON: Stage 24, which is where the "Friends" show. How did you even walk onto that? How did that happen?

KUDROW: Oh, my God. So, we were looking at stages and Warner Brothers offered stage 24.

ANISTON: Stop that. Just coincidence.

KUDROW: Well, maybe. Or they intentionally offered stage 24, which was really nice. We needed a big stage.

ANISTON: Yes.

[09:00:00]