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NASA Announces Crew for Artemis Iii; Trump Says Iran Show Down Apache Helicopter and U.S. Must Respond; Voters in Four States Head to Polls in Primary Elections; NY Law Requires Schools to Lock Up Smartphones During Class. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired June 09, 2026 - 14:00   ET

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

[14:00:00]

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: -- Station, logged more than 7,000 flight hours.

I want you to listen now to what he said about why this mission, even though it is in Earth orbit, remains critical.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RANDY BRESNIK, ARTEMIS III COMMANDER: We are certainly humbled as a crew to be -- able to be your crew that executes this Artemis III mission in space, being that unifying link between the phenomenal Artemis II mission we just had two months ago and the Artemis IV mission that will follow ours, where we'll again be the first to land humans on another celestial body, that celestial body being our neighbor in the sky at night, the moon.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MUNTEAN: Now this mission is interesting because it was to be a lunar mission. Now that will be done by Artemis IV in 2028. This mission to be flown next year and they will have wet dress rehearsals sometime later this year, a 14-day long mission in total.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": Should be very exciting. Pete Muntean, thank you so much for the update there. A new hour of "CNN News Central" starts right now.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": A downed Apache, President Trump says Iran is responsible for a U.S. Army helicopter downed off the coast of Oman. He's now vowing that the U.S. must "respond to this attack."

Primary day for voters in four states, none more closely watched than Maine, Democrats there deciding if Graham Platner is their pick for Senate despite questions about his character. And the World Cup just two days away, but it's already facing a controversy, a referee from overseas who's not being allowed into the U.S. We're following these major developing stories and many more, all coming in right here to "CNN News Central."

SANCHEZ: We start this hour with major Breaking News on the war with Iran. President Trump just a short time ago saying the U.S. must now respond after he says the American military helicopter that went down near the Strait of Hormuz was shot down by Iran.

Let's go straight to the White House with CNN's Kristen Holmes. Kristen, what more are you learning?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, we're still trying to understand if this was intentional. That's the big question now, if this was an intentional hit by Iran or if this was some kind of mistake. We have heard from sources that it was an Iranian drone that was responsible for shooting down this helicopter. And just a reminder, last night, when President Trump was asked about it, he said that it was still under investigation. Now, of course, it seems as though that investigation has concluded, at least what the cause was, which was again this Iranian drone.

So here's what we know so far about the incident itself. An Army Apache was patrolling regional waters when it went down near the coast of Oman. There were two crew members who were rescued by U.S. Forces in two hours and then, of ,course at the time that we got this readout that cause was still under investigation, we know at least part of that cause is that Iran shot it down, unclear on the intent.

So here's what President Trump posted. He said I have just been informed by our great military that last night, the Iranians shot down one of our highly-sophisticated Apache helicopters while patrolling over the Strait of Hormuz. He goes on to say the United States must, of necessity, respond to this attack. We don't have any insight yet as to what exactly he means by respond. I will remind you that it was just two days ago that Iran launched an attack on Israel. President Trump called the Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu and encouraged him not to retaliate, not to respond.

Now you have an incident involving U.S. troops. Again, we don't know if this was intentional or not, but President Trump is saying at least in some way, the United States is going to have to respond or retaliate. We aren't clear if this means military action. President Trump has been pretty clear for the last several weeks that he does not want any kind of increased military action in Iran. But of course, now he is citing this attack from the Iranians and saying that the U.S. must respond. So obviously, this is going to put everything that we have heard for the past 24 hours, including President Trump saying that a peace deal was two to three days away, into question.

SANCHEZ: Kristen Holmes, live for us from the White House, thank you so much. Brianna?

KEILAR: Let's continue to follow this Breaking News now with CNN National Security Analyst and former Deputy Director of National Intelligence, Beth Sanner. Beth, as we're looking at a response here to be expected, what could that look like?

BETH SANNER, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: I think it will be limited, probably in a more of a performative way. If it turns out that it was accidental and they decide that it was accidental, then maybe there's nothing. Because I think, you know, the only reason to respond is to re-establish deterrence and to make sure that Iran doesn't do that again. So President Trump could easily say like this is not what we want to do and we just want to move on.

But I think that, you know, we're just in this very, very dangerous unstable equilibrium right now and every day something like this could happen.

[14:05:00]

Plus, we have Lebanon heating up again, Iran setting new red lines and being willing to fight for them. So this is not -- this is moving us further from an agreement, I think.

KEILAR: How are you looking at the signals that Iran is sending about what happened?

SANNER: Yeah, so I mean, when you look at the parliamentary speakers' X posts just after this happening, it's basically like, you know, you reap what you sow, is the basic, how I would sum that up. That, you know, this is, you're doing all these things and so, you know, you're breaking the ceasefire, you're allowing Israel to break the ceasefire, so what do you expect?

This is what we're going to do and this is what we're good at. We're going to speak with the words, with the actions and violence as easily as we do with negotiations.

KEILAR: That's not exactly an 'oops, sorry.'

SANNER: That isn't an oops, sorry. And so this idea that it was an accident could maybe be in the eye of the beholder rather than what Iran intended, you know. I really don't know. But certainly, you can take away from this one thing. Iran is not appearing afraid. They are emboldened and they are united. This isn't the IRGC just popping off two days in a row.

KEILAR: They also, from our reporting from our colleagues Zach Cohen and Natasha Bertrand, were, last month, they reported a few weeks ago that Iran was essentially using several weeks of the ceasefire to reconstitute its drone abilities.

SANNER: Right.

KEILAR: And now, we see this drone attack. I wonder, at a certain point, is there a potential evaluation on the part of the president of the U.S. that, you know what, Iran's kind of maybe just drawing this out, using this time period to get itself in a better situation militarily. And now, look at what's happening.

SANNER: Sure. I mean, you know, I think that Iran always tries to draw things out. They want to push things. In some ways, they think time is on their side and the longer this lasts, you know, they're still getting some oil out and they're not broke yet. They don't care about the public.

So they think that we'll be under more pressure the longer it goes and the closer it gets to midterms. What they're trying to do is make sure that they get a deal that is for their terms. They do want to negotiate. Vice President Vance said that yesterday, they don't want to go back to a full-scale war, but there's no risk of that. And they know that.

This is the thing. Iran's power, superpower here isn't that they have this military, intact military. No, the president is right. It's been, you know, destroyed to a great degree. That's not their superpower. It's this asymmetric ability to cause pain. And they are doing that and they are willing to do that.

KEILAR: Yeah. Compare the cost of one of these drones of theirs to the cost of an Apache helicopter.

SANNER: Yeah, exactly.

KEILAR: Right. And you can rinse and repeat, and it shows you the asymmetry of it. The president keeps emphasizing Iran wants a deal. Iran really wants a deal. And if you say Iran in their estimation says, you know, the closer you're getting to the midterms, the more pressure Trump is under, they're right about that, assuming that he lets that pressure him.

But he does seem to be kind of having some agitation --

SANNER: Yeah.

KEILAR: -- as he's facing more pressure because of this work. Does Iran really want a deal right now?

SANNER: Yeah, they want a deal under their terms. They're not -- they're not sounding like capitulation, right? They want the deal with the money upfront and they want the deal to, yeah, they'll give up a little bit on the nuclear program down the road in a very long negotiation.

But you know, what they want is control of the Strait and money upfront, and they're putting pressure. And they want the Lebanese war, the threat against Hezbollah to stop. And they're linking these things and we're trying to de-link them.

KEILAR: It would leave them in a better position than when this war began. Just to be clear, wouldn't you -- wouldn't you assess that?

SANNER: Yes.

KEILAR: Yes, significantly. It's stunning. Beth, thank you so much. Really appreciate your analysis.

SANNER: Thank you.

KEILAR: Still to come, Decision Day. Voters heading to the polls for primaries in four states, including Maine, where Democrats are deciding whether to back Graham Platner for Senate, despite a wave of accusations about his past behavior. And then later, a referee from Somalia will not be taking the pitch at the World Cup after U.S. authorities denied him entry into the country. We have details on what they call vetting concerns. That and much more coming up on "CNN News Central."

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[14:14:30]

SANCHEZ: Right now, primary voters in four states are heading to the polls with key governor's races and control of Congress up for grabs. One of the most consequential Senate races is in Maine where Democratic candidate, Graham Platner is expected to win the nomination despite facing a series of public scandals in recent weeks. They include allegations in The New York Times about unsettling behavior towards some women that he dated, some of whom described their relationships as toxic.

Earlier, CNN's Manu Raju asked Republican Senator, Susan Collins, who will take on the winner of the primary in November, whether she believes Platner's denials. Listen.

[14:15:00]

SEN. SUSAN COLLINS, (R-ME): Allegations against Graham Platner are extremely troubling and serious, and he owes the people of Maine a detailed answer.

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: He said that this --

COLLINS: And I haven't heard that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: We should note, Platner has denied that he physically intimidated anyone in those relationships. Let's discuss with Michael Shepard. He's the Politics Editor for Bangor Daily News. Michael, thanks so much for being with us. Are you expecting a significant number of Maine Democratic voters will cast ballots for Janet Mills, the governor who's still on the ballot even after suspending her campaign?

MICHAEL SHEPARD, POLITICS EDITOR, BANGOR DAILY NEWS: Yeah, I think there will be a significant amount. We saw a poll yesterday that had her at about 15 percent -- with 15 percent or so undecided. I think if we go above, let's say, 30 percent and certainly up toward 40 percent, I think that shows a little bit of Democratic leakage around Platner.

Obviously, it doesn't set his campaign back formally, but it's just something that adds to the pile of what's next for this guy. That has been a problem for him over the past two weeks.

SANCHEZ: Have you seen any noticeable shift from voters you've been speaking to since The New York Times reporting last week with his exes describing these volatile relationships, who, again, we should note, disputes some of these claims?

SHEPARD: Yeah, I think it's been subtle. I haven't met many Democrats who are in the sort of operative lawmaker class who say that they are going to not vote for him or going to vote for Susan Collins. I think it's making them recalculate how they think the middle of the electorate is going to react to Graham Platner, who has led every poll, but has seen the margins tighten a little bit since these sort of controversies have unfolded.

So I think it's not so much that Democrats themselves are leaving him. I think they are starting to think that he's going to be harder to elect in the middle of the electorate that Susan Collins has succeeded in winning over the past several cycles.

SANCHEZ: And we just heard some of what Collins told Manu Raju. Do you have a sense of how she's going to approach a potential race against Platner?

SHEPARD: Yeah, I think we're starting to see it. There were fresh ads out from some of the PACs that are supporting her that are just pointing people to Reddit and the controversies that befell his campaign back in October that he powered through to become the nominee, elbowing Governor Janet Mills out of the way, right? So I think we're going to start to see what that looks like with sustained tens of millions of dollars in advertising, kind of one by one by one.

And this has been the theory of Mills' case during the primary, that Republicans were going to "make mincemeat" out of Graham Platner, very New England phrase there. So I think that we're going to see that. We're going to see the theories of this case be tested, right? Is Graham Platner able to win the argument with these voters, or are they going to have skepticism of him going into November?

SANCHEZ: I wonder how many of those you've spoken to raise the prospect of him winning the seat over Collins as outweighing any of the personal baggage and allegations.

SHEPARD: Well, I think with Democratic voters, no question about that. And you're starting to see that from national Democrats as well. I mean, they are riding with him because Maine is just so important to the path outside of the sort of the four toss-up states.

But outside of Maine, it's kind of hard to see a path for Democrats to take back the Senate. So the stakes are so high for the party and I think that's one of the reasons you see Chuck Schumer sort of being quietly with Platner, right, over the past few weeks. It's probably not something he sees as an ideal situation, or certainly lots of Democrats here.

But Graham Platner won this campaign on the strength of his message and his personality as well. If indeed he wins tonight, which we think he's going to, right? So I think that Democrats are sort of locked in at this point. Obviously, he can drop out of the race if he wants to, if something else comes out down the line, but there's only about a month to do that.

So I mean, the reality is that he's going to be the Democratic nominee, barring some radical shift in this race.

SANCHEZ: Michael Shepard of the Bangor Daily News, thank you so much.

SHEPARD: Hey, thank you.

SANCHEZ: Of course. Still to come, oil stockpiles hitting their lowest level in decades. What this could mean for gas prices through this summer. And the results are in. Hear how things have changed at one school after banning cell phones. That and much more, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:24:16]

KEILAR: It's been a year since New York implemented bell-to-bell cell phone restrictions in state schools, and we're now hearing how it went. CNN's Clare Duffy visited a middle school in Brooklyn to see how things changed there.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DIANA COLLADO, 8TH GRADE ENGLISH TEACHER, PHILIPPA SCHUYLER MIDDLE SCHOOL: So, as usual, when I call your name, just go put your phone away.

CLARE DUFFY, CNN BUSINESS TECH REPORTER: What was your first reaction when you heard that this phone ban policy would be going into place this year?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was kind of expecting it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The phone ban was kind of inevitable.

RYAN DUONG, 8TH GRADE STUDENT, PHILIPPA SCHUYLER MIDDLE SCHOOL: I wasn't really bothered by the rule.

DUFFY (voice-over): The students at Philippa Schuyler Middle School in Brooklyn aren't the only ones who had to get used to a phone ban this school year. It's a trend that's gaining steam around the country. But for these students in the nation's largest school district, the policy is getting an A+.

[14:25:00]

DUONG: The phone ban has made us a lot more socializing, because normally the phone would actually provide a distraction. But now, when students are bored, they have no option but to talk to each other.

JAEL RICCIO, 8TH GRADE STUDENT, PHILIPPA SCHUYLER MIDDLE SCHOOL: A lot of students were still a little bit skeptical about like putting their phones in the lockbox, but it definitely provides a better learning experience.

DUFFY: Do you feel like that you have made better friends this year?

JULIA PORTER, 8TH GRADE STUDENT, PHILIPPA SCHUYLER MIDDLE SCHOOL: I would say in Ryan's and I class, like everybody is just like family and it's just like we got so close to the point where we don't even need our phones to socialize with each other.

JANIE BRUCE, PRINCIPAL, PHILIPPA SCHUYLER MIDDLE SCHOOL: I've been in the system long enough to know there was a time when that was never a problem, right?

DUFFY: Right.

DUFF (voice-over): The law signed by Governor Kathy Hochul last spring requires schools to store smartphones and other internet- enabled personal devices from bell to bell. And longtime educators say they're seeing an impact in the classroom and in the lunchroom.

BRUCE: What happens in the cafeteria is the kids are sitting together. When you have a cell phone you are single user, you are on your own, and the only thing that matters is what's in front of you in your hands. When you now have just humans interacting.

(LAUGH)

DUFFY: Do you see this having an impact on academics as well?

BRUCE: Oh, for sure. I can tell you from last year to this year to this past year, my ELA scores went up, my literacy scores are up. So literacy has to do with reading, writing, listening, speaking. Taking away the phones allows you to do all of those things.

COLLADO: They're speaking to each other. The few minutes before class begins, prior to the cell phone ban, they would be on their phones until we said, OK, now we're going to start teaching, now we're ready to learn.

CARLA HOYTE, 7TH GRADE ENGLISH TEACHER, PHILIPPA SCHUYLER MIDDLE SCHOOL: You get to see the interaction and how it's changed over the years.

DUFFY (voice-over): The ban was initially met with some opposition, largely from parents who argued that being able to keep in touch with their children at school was a matter of safety.

HOYTE: There's still anxiety there from the parents. They still want to be able to get in contact with their child throughout the day. It's always that what-if scenario.

DUFFY (voice-over): To address those concerns, the law requires schools to provide a way for parents to get in touch with students in case of emergency.

MARK RAMPERSANT, CHIEF OF SAFETY AND PREVENTION PARTNERSHIPS, NYC DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION: For every one of our schools, there's a designated number where you get a direct person, a live person in the event of an actual emergency.

DUFFY (voice-over): Other concerns included how schools would keep kids off their phones. A report published by the National Bureau of Economic Research in April found schools that used yonder pouches to restrict phones did cut down on screen time, but schools initially saw disciplinary incidents rise and reports of student well-being fall, although those trends reversed in later years. They also found little evidence that the restrictions benefited test scores.

Philippa Schuyler switched their approach this year.

DUONG: With the yonder pouches, there were only three stations across the entire school where you could unlock it, so when it was actually time to go, the places were so crowded.

DUFFY (voice-over): New York is one of 35 states that now ban or limit cell phones in classrooms, a trend many students at Philippa Schuyler support.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I believe we can collaborate better without phones.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I believe that more students are more engaged in learning, classroom discussions, better grades. Like I used to get like 80s, now I get like 90s.

PORTER: You do gain more friendships and build better bonds with like your friends and people around you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DUFFY (on camera): Now, I also asked the school whether they saw disciplinary incidents rise as a result of this new policy and they said, look, middle schoolers will be middle schoolers, especially early in the school year. They did see students try to skirt this ban, but what's really interesting is that time went on. Students were actually holding each other accountable, helping to enforce this rule and saying, look, if I locked my phone up in that box, you shouldn't have yours out either, and that is in part because students really saw the benefits of this program. As you hear them talking about, they're more social, they saw less bullying, they saw their academics getting better and therefore wanted to participate in this policy.

KEILAR: Yeah, I love the buy in there and I love that you talk to the students, Clare, to see how they feel about it. It's just such a fascinating report. Thank you, Clare Duffy.

Still to come, President Trump saying this afternoon, the U.S. must respond after he says Iran shot down an American helicopter near the Strait of Hormuz. We'll have more details ahead.

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