Return to Transcripts main page

CNN News Central

U.S. Forces Strike 3rd Tanker for Allegedly Violating Iran Blockade; Iran Says Strait of Hormuz Now Closed to All Vessels; Man Accused of Killing Minnesota Lawmaker and Her Husband Due in Court; First Up-Close Look at UFC Octagon Ahead of Sunday's Fight. Aired 8- 8:30a ET

Aired June 11, 2026 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:00]

JOEY JACKSON, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: ... intentional infliction of emotional distress, all fancy terms, the underlying issue is, was I in fear of being assaulted sexually? Was I actually touched in a way that was inappropriate? And in terms of the intentional infliction, was it such extreme and outrageous behavior that it detrimented me mentally.

And so these are issues which will be determined in a court of law at the appropriate time.

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN HOST: Yes, Joey Jackson, always appreciate the insight. Thanks for being here.

And a new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: For a second straight night, the U.S. launched strikes on Iran, Iran responding with strikes on U.S. allies and now threatening to turn the region into hell. We have new images coming in.

We're also waiting for new data on the economy this hour revealing how higher prices are impacting businesses right now as the president responds to that inflation report that inflation is hitting a three year high tossing out that he loves inflation.

And holy aviation, you could say the Pope takes to the cockpit leaving the flight crew, quote unquote, on cloud nine.

John and Sara are out today. I'm Kate Bolduan with Omar Jimenez. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

JIMENEZ: All right, breaking news this morning, U.S. Central Command says it disabled an oil tanker that was trying to move Iranian oil through the blockade in the Gulf of Oman. It's actually the third commercial ship disabled by U.S. forces this week. And it comes as the U.S. and Iran exchanged new strikes for the second night in a row.

And as President Trump is threatening to go even further, if there's no deal by tonight. He says the U.S. will quote bomb the expletive out of them. Iran accused the U.S. of blatantly violating the ceasefire and retaliated targeting U.S. bases in the region. U.S. allies, Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan activated air defenses as well with Jordan saying it intercepted 20 missiles launched from Iran. As Iran is also claiming the Strait of Hormuz is now closed to all vessels, quote, until further notice, end quote.

The U.S. military disputes that saying commercial ships are still moving through. Despite all of this, a diplomatic source tells CNN talks between Washington and Tehran are still on track.

CNN's Alayna Treene is live this morning at the White House. So where do things stand right now? Because a lot of factors at play.

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, Omar. And I think that's how question we are in a completely different phase of this war with the president really losing patience. That is what the conversations from my discussions with officials have said he has grown completely impatient and frustrated with how Iran has handled these talks.

He kind of said that yesterday in the Oval Office talking to reporters saying that they are tapping him along. And so now he's going to move forward with strikes. And we saw that second round of fire exchange between Washington and Tehran yesterday.

It all comes after the president claimed that Iran was playing the United States for suckers. The Pentagon, however, is casting these attacks as almost coercive diplomacy designed to force Iran to the table and to sign a deal. That is how Hegseth described it, almost as if they are bombing or negotiating, I should say, through bombs.

Listen to how he put it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETE HEGSETH, DEFENSE SECRETARY: You can see when someone's trying to tap, tap, tap on a deal. Instead, they're going to have tap, tap, tap bombs dropping on key facilities in Iran from the United States of America.

If we need to negotiate with bombs, we'll negotiate with bombs. And we're very good at it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TREENE: So what we are really seeing is the president and this administration now pivoting back to a war footing after weeks of really continually pressing pause on any sort of military action to try and give diplomacy the chance they believed was necessary. Now, I will say, despite all of what we've seen play out over the last 48 hours or so, Omar, U.S. officials say that the president is still committed to diplomacy and he still wants a deal. I'd remind you that, one, we are seeing Iran hit back with perhaps more military power than the White House has framed that they were even capable of doing.

We've seen them have the missile and drone capabilities to really retaliate to these U.S. strikes. We also know that inflation is now at a three-year high and higher oil prices erasing some of the wage gains under this Trump administration. All to say, add this all up and the continued closure of the Strait of Hormuz, this is not how the president and his team have wanted things to go at this point.

[08:05:00]

I think a key question, of course, is whether or not these talks will get fresh life because of the actions that the president is taking with this new bombing campaign. The Iranians have really pushed back in their statements arguing that this type of aggression is not going to bring them closer to a deal.

We'll see if that's actually the case. But the president continuing to argue that these strikes will continue until Iran makes a deal -- Omar.

JIMENEZ: Alayna Treene, on top of it all for us, appreciate the reporting -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: And joining us right now for more is CNN political and global affairs analyst, Barak Ravid of Axios. Thanks for coming in, Barak. I mean, I'm curious as to what you're hearing about as Alayna just played this stated approach now from the president and Pete Hegseth of, we'll negotiate with bombs if we need to. We're very good at that.

Is negotiating actually happening still?

BARAK RAVID, CNN POLITICAL AND GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Yes, actually, it is. Last night, very late last night, the Qatari mediators finished their talks in Tehran. Qatari official Ali al-Thawadi, who's also very close to the senior officials in the Trump administration was there for talks with the Iranian foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi and other Iranian officials.

And at the center of those talks was the draft MOU that the U.S. and Iran have been working on. And the Qataris, I think, are now basically driving this bus of the mediation and are trying to basically get the party to say yes to the MOU. I think that right now, the Iranian leadership, especially Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei still hasn't said yes.

And the reason for those talks in Tehran yesterday was to basically tell the Iranians, you need to give a response. It can be a yes, it can be a no, we would rather it to be a yes. But you need to give a response.

What happened the last two weeks is that the latest U.S. proposal just sitting on the table in Tehran with nobody from the Iranian government going back to the U.S. and saying, look, we like this, we don't like this. And I think that President Trump just got tired of waiting. And the result is what we saw over the last two nights.

BOLDUAN: Also raises the question, though, kind of this and continued two nights of exchanging fire of how and if, how and are the two sides returning to all out war? What are you hearing in terms of the appetite for that amongst the decision makers here?

RAVID: So the appetite is very low. The problem is that, you know, in war, what happens is not always what you want to happen. And that's one of the things that Trump's advisors have been telling him for a while.

And by the way, they've been telling this to the Iranians. They said every day that passes, there are either spoilers in the region, people or players, they don't want to see a deal between the U.S. and Iran that could do something. Some of the mediators, regional mediators, say that one of those spoilers is Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, or that there'll be just some incident on the ground like we saw with the Iranians downing a U.S. helicopter.

And you cannot control those things. And therefore, every day that passes there is more space for either spoilers or unintended consequences to happen and derail the negotiations. And I think this is exactly where we are right now.

The Iranians got a proposal, they did not respond to the proposal, and reality happened.

BOLDUAN: Yes. Iran said today also that the Strait of Hormuz was closed to all maritime traffic. President Trump, though, has made very clear that he says that he's been running secret missions to get commercial ships through for weeks now.

But also, Trump says, the president is trying to argue that the United States is in control of the Strait. I mean, again, this becomes to like definition of terms and perception versus reality. But what are you hearing around this very -- what has become a very critical point of negotiation?

RAVID: So first, I sort of like, I was a bit surprised by the Iranian statement last night, because they've been saying for three months now that the Strait of Hormuz is closed. So yesterday, maybe they closed it. They really, really, really closed.

[08:10:00]

But what has been happening -- what has been happening over the last two weeks was very interesting, because in the Strait of Hormuz, there is a northern lane, northern route and a southern route. The northern route goes between Iranian islands and is really controlled by the Iranians. The southern route goes pretty close to the coast of Oman.

And the Iranians, they can target ships that go through that route, but they have less control over it. And what the U.S. military, CENTCOM, has been doing over the last two or three weeks, is basically first, try and clear any maritime or naval mines that the Iranians have deployed to this area, and give coordinates to ships and to tankers that will allow them to go through the southern route in the safest way possible. And many, many ships started moving and every night over the last, I think, 10 or 12 days, there were somewhere between 10 and 20 commercial ships going through the southern route, which, and I think this was part of the reason that the Iranians started getting very, very nervous, because the more ships went through the southern route, the less control or the less leverage they had in negotiations with the U.S.

BOLDUAN: Yes, absolutely. Still not fully, obviously, to the level of traffic before the war, but it's not, it's not zero. I always thank you, Barak --

RAVID: No, no, the strait is not open, OK? The strait, you know, the strait is not open. This is not what we had before the war.

But what I'm saying is that what happened is that the Iranians had less control over who's going out of the strait. Going in is a whole different story.

BOLDUAN: Exactly. I was going to say, I thank you always for your reporting in time, Barak, but in light of this, I really, really, really thank you. It's good to see you.

I appreciate it -- Omar.

JIMENEZ: Well coming up, new developments this morning in the case of the man accused of killing a Minnesota lawmaker and her husband. Why federal prosecutors will not be seeking the death penalty? We'll explain.

Plus nearly 500 porta potties and a $60 million price tag. We're getting our first close up look at preparations for the big UFC fight at the White House.

And then a burglar caught on camera breaking into a minimart before taking off with bologna and Lotto tickets. We'll, we'll break you into that story. Coming up.

[08:15:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JIMENEZ: Soon the man charged with the politically motivated killings of the top Democrat in the Minnesota House and her husband is due in court. Vance Boelter is expected to plead guilty after striking a plea deal with prosecutors.

Now police say Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark were killed last June when a man disguised as a police officer came to their home and shot them. Boelter also faces charges for the attempted murders of state Senator John Hoffman and his wife.

I want to bring in CNN's Whitney Wild who joins me now. So Whitney, what are you learning about this plea deal?

WHITNEY WILD, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT: We don't yet know the details, Omar, but we are watching very closely. We've tried to reach out to the U.S. attorney's office in Minnesota to see if we can learn what he's agreeing to and what DOJ is going to ask for as far as sentencing goes here. This, it cannot be overstated how big of a case this was for the state

of Minnesota. This was the largest manhunt in Minnesota history. There were hundreds of law enforcement, local state, federal agents and officers on the ground searching for Vance Boelter for 43 hours. He was finally taken into custody in a rural area when he was effectively surrounded by law enforcement. He basically army crawled in the dirt as they took him into custody after negotiating with him for some time.

Again, it is a huge case. There had been a question about whether or not DOJ was going to seek the death penalty. It was a question we were asking up until yesterday when the Department of Justice let the court know that they were not going to seek the death penalty. They sent a letter to the court that said this, "The attorney general has authorized and directed the government not to seek the death penalty against defendant Vance Luther Boelter in accordance with the terms delineated in a proposed plea agreement."

Vance Boelter faces charges for murder, attempted murder, stockings and firearms offenses. Again, we hope to learn more about what the conditions of the plea deal are at a change of plea hearing at 10 a.m. Central today -- Omar.

JIMENEZ: But as you mentioned, such a closely watched case, not just in Minnesota, but across the country as well. I know you'll be on top of it. Whitney Wild, appreciate the reporting.

All right, we're also standing by this morning for another key inflation report, new data on a wholesale prices and what they tell us about the state of the economy.

Plus, I sit down to chat with Knick's superfans, Spike Lee, as the team sits just one win away from quenching the NBA title.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIMENEZ: Would you trade your Oscar for a Knicks championship?

SPIKE LEE, KNICKS SUPERFAN: Yes.

JIMENEZ: Wow.

LEE: There's no hesitation. I got, I got two.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[08:20:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BOLDUAN: All right, so happening now, we are getting a first up close look at the Octagon, the claw, all the things, all the names for that giant structure that is being constructed at the white house for the big UFC fight that is scheduled for this Sunday, which also matches with President Trump's 80th birthday. A lawsuit aiming to stop that fight from happening is also underway -- an effort to stop the event before it starts. The justice department though saying that the lawsuit was filed too late.

CNN's Betsy Klein joins us now from the South Lawn of the White House. So you are all basically heading into the Octagon. What is happening?

BETSY KLEIN: Good morning from the White House, Kate. I am right in the center of that claw structure and building a sporting event that can accommodate a hundred thousand people without any existing arena infrastructure is a complicated task.

Doing so at the White House adds many layers of challenges. It costs $60 million and 900 subcontractors with specialized knowledge to build this set up here. When the president first announced this back in Iowa in July of last year, he said there would be about 25,000 people.

But those court documents, as you mentioned from this lawsuit filed against the Trump administration to stop this fight, now revealed that we are expecting about 125,000 here at the White House on the Ellipse to watch this fight card on Sunday night.

[08:25:00]

Now the documents more broadly revealed that this has been a major undertaking by the UFC, bolstered by support from the federal government to build this brand's signature Octagon from the ground up and plan multiple days of programming. All of this culminating in the president's 80th birthday televised fight night.

Now it's cost the UFC that $60 million for promotion, production, labor and construction. While the federal government is supporting things like first aid and security. This load in and build process began on May 20th and every day since then, 20 to 30 trucks filled with UFC equipment have been screened here at the White House and moved in for this build. And this setup has also required extensive security features.

There are anti-scale fencing, bike rack barricades and other screening facilities. Plus, planning for things like food and beverage along with details like at least one porta potty for every 300 people.

And just as quickly as it came up, this is going to be torn down. According to those court documents, the breakdown will start the very next morning, Kate.

BOLDUAN: All right, well it is quite something seeing all the activity going on around you. And it's something that we can see like, can you walk us around? Like are we allowed to?

I'm guessing not, but it would be. Can you, can you?

KLEIN: Yes.

BOLDUAN: Are you? Who are you with?

KLEIN: I want to get us out of here. So we're -- I'm with Nick Leimbach and we are walking now to the Octagon and I will show you exactly how this is going to work. You've got about stadium seating for about 4,000 people in here. This is that storied Octagon, that structure where the fight will take place. It's not entirely clear where President Trump is going to be seated.

But you know, right now we are seeing lots of chairs set up, tables right at the base of this Octagon. There is also set up for staging for a band. We are expecting performances from military bands, as well as Zac Brown Band having a concert here on the South Lawn.

So much coming up in the next couple of days, Kate. We'll be watching all of it very closely.

BOLDUAN: Absolutely. I have to say, just because obviously we're all seeing this in real time for the first time. The structure is huge. The actual cage if you will --

KLEIN: It's enormous. I mean, look, look up here. Just how sprawling this thing is.

BOLDUAN: It is wild to see.

KLEIN: It is custom built from Belgium. It took many, many days. Interestingly, they actually built it in Philadelphia, broke it down and then drove it here to set it back up. It's pretty crazy.

So pretty amazing setup that we're going to see and all celebrating the president's 80th birthday.

BOLDUAN: Pretty well. And then you turn from the cage and then you see that you see the portico of the White House. Oh, say tell Clyde, I say hi behind you. It is great to see you guys in all of your glory. And it's like a hundred and a black 50,000 degrees today, isn't it?

Like it's going to be really hot.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: White House press. White House press.

KLEIN: Yes, it is extremely warm and it's going to be very warm this weekend. We are also expecting maybe some scattered thunderstorms, weather in the 90s, so.

BOLDUAN: I have tested everyone's abilities to walk and talk enough. You guys are the best. Thank you so much to the best White House team of all time.

Walking, talking, octagoning, all of the above. Betsy, Clyde, it's great to see you guys. Thank you so much.

All right, much more to come from the White House, of course, but also other sports. We are tracking the World Cup officially here. How Mexico City is preparing to host the first match of the world's biggest sporting event.

And we are minutes from the release of new and important inflation data. We're going to bring those numbers to you just ahead. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:30:00]