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New Details on Potential Iran Deal Trump Calls Great Settlement; Tornadoes Tear Through Midwest in Deadly Storm Outbreak; Epstein Survivors Announce Opposition to Blanche's A.G. Nomination. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired June 12, 2026 - 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: The breaking news, President Trump says they have a deal to end the war with Iran. Now there are details coming out about what's actually inside this framework for larger negotiations, and how Iran is responding today.

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Plus, breaking overnight, severe storms slammed the Midwest, spawning tornadoes, flashfloods, and triggering widespread power outages. One man was literally caught on camera stuck under the rubble of his home. We'll show you that video coming up.

And then Elon Musk's wealth set to skyrocket in a couple hours when SpaceX goes public, set for the biggest market debut ever, and it's expected to make Musk the world's first trillionaire on paper.

John and Sara are off today. I'm Omar Jimenez with Kate Baldwin. This is CNN News Central.

BOLDUAN: All right, let's get to that breaking news this morning. It has been a week of whiplash, no doubt, when it comes to the war with Iran. This morning, there's new reporting on details of the potential deal between the U.S. and Iran. The announcement from President Trump came as he canceled a new round of strikes against Iran, and now claims that the war is over.

Iran, however, has not confirmed any deal, and actually says that no final decision has been made. So, yes, the whiplash might be continuing, but we are learning more about what is in what the president is trying to call a great settlement, his words.

A diplomat telling CNN that under this deal, there would be a 60-day ceasefire on all fronts, including Lebanon. The Strait of Hormuz would reopen immediately, with Iran not charging any fees for passage. The U.S. blockade on Iran would also be lifted, and Iran would get sanctions relief as long as it keeps cooperating in good faith. And Iran would also pledge to never obtain a nuclear weapon.

One point there, of course, in the Iran nuclear deal of days old, you know, of the old days that Trump tore up, that was already written in that text. That was already agreed to, that Iran would not obtain or seek a nuclear weapon. CNN's Kristen Holmes is live this morning at the White House with details of where we stand today. What -- how would you describe where we are?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kate, U.S officials are hoping that this is not a Groundhog Day situation. I mean, for weeks, we have seen basically the same scenario play out, which is President Trump escalating threats, then saying that there was a deal that was imminent, only to have everything fall apart. We even, behind the scenes, had hundreds of U.S. security personnel being flown to Europe, maybe there's a potential talk, only to be then sent home.

But it does feel as though this signing, these talks, are materializing. We just heard from a Pakistani negotiator, just a reminder, they were a key negotiator, who used the term progress achieved, so step in the right direction. We also heard from mediators yesterday saying that they were cautiously optimistic, and crediting the Qataris, who had been in Tehran for these negotiations on Tuesday and Wednesday, for helping get through those sticking points.

So, here's what we know so far about the actual signing of this memorandum of understanding. It's not much, but it could happen as early as this weekend. It's likely going to be in Geneva, Switzerland. Just a reminder, those previous talks were in Pakistan. Now, they're looking at Geneva. And in terms of attendance, J.D. Vance, the vice president, as well as Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, who have all obviously been heavily involved in these negotiations, they would be present.

Now, the one thing to keep in mind here is that this isn't a peace deal that they are signing. This, again, is just the beginning of a peace deal. It's a memorandum of understanding that would essentially launch the process for greater talks about a peace deal.

But President Trump, I mean, yesterday he was sounding as though this means it is completely over, the war in Iran. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: I don't know if you heard, but we ended the war with Iran today, and they have agreed never to have a nuclear weapon.

REPORTER: Has the supreme leader approved this deal, sir?

TRUMP: I understand the answer is yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: So, that is a big deal there, that if the supreme leader did sign off. But I do think we need to give the caveats that we've been giving, you know, over the past several weeks, which is Iran has not signed off on this yet, or at least to our knowledge, they have not signed off on this.

[07:05:02]

And this is not the first time, nor the second, nor even the third that we've heard from these mediators, we've heard from President Trump saying that they're optimistic only to have a potential deal fall through.

BOLDUAN: That is absolutely right. Kristen, it's great to see you this morning. Thank you so much. Let's see what comes in the hours ahead. Omar?

JIMENEZ: Well, breaking overnight, tornadoes tearing through parts of the Midwest, destroying entire neighborhoods, turning homes into pile of debris across parts of Illinois and Indiana. Storm chasers captured one of the twisters on the ground in Streator, Illinois, about 80 miles south of Chicago, and it's also where a cameraman jumped into action to help a man that was trapped under debris.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh my God, are you okay?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think I got a broken leg.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You got a broken leg?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think so.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh my God.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I got her out.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Okay.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But I can't get out.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh my God.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I tried moving all this stuff. I can't get it out.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right, hold on. Let me help. Hold on. Hold on.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JIMENEZ: I mean, this is in the immediate aftermath. I mean, you can see he's trapped, pinned underneath his own home. Police eventually did arrive to pull him out. In all, at least four people in that town were taken to the hospital with injuries.

Earlier in the day, thunderstorms with 70 to 90 mile per hour winds slammed Iowa, killing a 54-year-old man who was hit by a falling tree.

I want to bring in CNN Meteorologist Allison Chinchar, who's tracking all of it. So, Allison, is this area in the clear now? What are you seeing out there? ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: We do still have some more storms that are going to be rolling through, but it's going to be shifting more towards the northeast, the mid-Atlantic, and then down towards the Gulf Coast as we go through the rest of the day today. But it's from the same system that produced this tornado that you can see here in Illinois.

Again, a massive wedge tornado there off in the background, but this was one of just many tornadoes that we have seen over the last few days. In fact, yesterday and the day before, the last two days, have both reached the top five in terms of total storm reports that have come in.

Look at this number. Again, you're talking more than 450 total, and it stretches from the northeast all the way back to Texas looking at least 17 tornado reports in just the last 24 hours.

Now, here's a look at what's left of that storm, still kind of moving through areas of the Mississippi Valley, now starting to slide into the southeast. The key component here is just the tremendous amount of lightning that is still active with a lot of these storms. So, could see some more power outages as we go through the next few hours, especially if you get some of those gustier winds up around 50, 60, 70 miles per hour. That's going to be one of the main threats as we go through the rest of the day, too.

So, basically, from Burlington, Vermont, all the way down through Charlotte, North Carolina, that's where your greatest threat is going to be today. Yes, you're going to see those damaging winds. You could also see some larger hail mixed into some of those storms.

Now, the vast majority of the storms that are going to fire up this afternoon and evening are really going to be focused across the mid- Atlantic and then down through the Carolinas. But you could still have some of those pop-up showers and thunderstorms across the northeast as well.

And one thing that's really fueling a lot of those storms is the heat and humidity that is going to be out there. Take a look. You have these heat alerts in effect, all that orange color pretty much up and down much of the eastern seaboard for the remainder of the day today.

And we're not just talking, say, five degrees above average, maybe even ten, but in many cases, you're looking at record-breaking temperatures. Every single one of those dots indicates a potential record high as we go through the day today. So, yes, the temperatures into the 90s, very close to the records, but also keep in mind the heat index is going to be several degrees higher than that.

JIMENEZ: All right. Allison Chinchar, I really appreciate it. Kate?

BOLDUAN: Deeply disturbed. Survivors of Jeffrey Epstein's abuse are speaking out about why they are now pushing to stop Todd Blanche from becoming the next U.S. attorney general.

And the fight night at the White House. Hundreds of thousands are expected Sunday to watch the event from the National Mall. Why then are some officials worried that the event could backfire? We've got some new reporting on that coming in this morning.

And one police officer shot, the other one fired, what's being described as horseplay with guns. Those two words should never go in the same sentence. And everything, of course, recorded on body camera footage.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:10:00]

BOLDUAN: So, there is new reporting into CNN today. A group of survivors of Jeffrey Epstein's abuse, they are speaking out, announcing their opposition now to President Trump's nomination of Todd Blanche to permanently become the U.S. attorney general. The group, 19 women, they are specifically concerned about reporting this week from The New York Times that highlighted Todd Blanche's participation in secret White House meetings on how to contain the political fallout from the Epstein files release. This coming out -- will be coming out in a new book by Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan. It was an excerpt that we had talked about this week.

So, this group of women now, they say that Blanche has, quote, consistently minimized legitimate concerns about the handling of the Epstein files.

CNN's Annie Grayer has the very latest on this. Annie, what more are they saying?

ANNIE GRAYER, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Well, Kate, this is a pretty scathing statement from this group of 19 survivors, where they're adamant that given that Todd Blanche was in these reported secret, classified rooms talking about strategizing around how to handle the release of the Epstein files, what potential political fallout there could be for President Donald Trump in those meetings.

[07:15:05]

That's all coming from The New York Times reporting. That because Todd Blanche was in those meetings and part of those meetings and part of those meetings, that the survivors don't believe that he is fit to serve as the top law enforcement officer in the United States, given his role specifically in overseeing the release of the Epstein files, which, as we know, has been marred in controversy in that there are millions of documents that still have not been released. There are some documents that are overly and heavily redacted, and then some documents that didn't have enough redactions on them.

So, victims were already questioning Todd Blanche, but this latest reporting has really changed their tune. Take a listen to what one of the survivors on the letter told Jake Tapper yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LIZ STEIN, EPSTEIN SURVIVOR: It's really concerning to us because at the end of the day, at the end of the day, we're victims of a crime, right? And what is the message that we are sending to Americans in this country about how victims of crime should be treated? This is an issue that has been laden with a ton of political emotion. But if we can't count on our government to prosecute crimes, then we're in big trouble.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRAYER: Now, victims of Epstein's abuse have been meeting with members of Congress regularly, and we're told from sources that they met with House Oversight Chair James Comer earlier this week. Comer is leading the Congress investigation into Epstein, and Comer said he wants to have a public hearing with victims at some point, and that there's still a lot for victims to share on this matter.

Comer said he wants also to hear from Todd Blanche specifically. He made those comments before The New York Times reporting came out. Now, there's even more questions for lawmakers to ask Blanche.

BOLDUAN: Yes, it sure sounds like it.

Annie, thank you so much for bringing us that. I really appreciate it.

Still ahead, we could see a historic day on Wall Street. The SpaceX IPO and the move that could make, will likely make, Elon Musk the world's first trillionaire.

And the U.S. Men's National Soccer Team kicks off their World Cup run tonight. How cities across America are preparing for what is the biggest sporting event in the world.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:20:00]

JIMENEZ: Trading is set to begin shortly on what is going to be a historic day on Wall Street and for the commercial space industry. SpaceX is ready for liftoff on the NASDAQ, launching what is expected to be the largest IPO on record.

Joining me now is CNN Business Senior Reporter David Goldman. All right, so how significant is this here and how did they get here?

DAVID GOLDMAN, CNN BUSINESS SENIOR REPORTER: Yes. This is an enormous IPO. It's actually the biggest ever by a factor of three. By the numbers, we're talking huge numbers. It's selling for $135 a share. Actually, that's the price last night. Remember, the IPO happened already, and today you can get your chance to buy shares. It raised $75 billion last night. And that values it at $1.7 trillion. That is bigger than Tesla.

So, this is now going to be already the seventh largest company in the entire world. And then when it starts trading, it could become even bigger.

So, how big is this company? It makes a ton of money. I mean, $18.7 billion, again, in sales last year, and that was up 33 percent. This is a pretty mature company. Remember, this has been going on for a long time. It's just going public. That's the change here.

But it's losing a ton of money. It has lost $4.9 billion in 2025 alone, and then in the first three months of the year, it lost another $4.3 billion. Why? What's going on? It's because it's paying for A.I. It has spent $12.7 billion last year alone for its AI ambitions, and then this year, just in the first three months, another $7.7 billion.

What's going on? Why is it spending so much on A.I.? I thought it was a space company. Well, it wants to launch data centers into space. Why do that?

JIMENEZ: Why not?

GOLDMAN: Yes, because why not?

JIMENEZ: Why not? Yes.

GOLDMAN: Because you get free cooling and you get free electricity in space, and it has the Starlink network. It can beam all that signal back down to Earth.

But that's not where the ambition lies. It also wants to set up a colony on Mars, it wants to set up a colony on the moon. And if they do both of those things, Elon Musk makes another trillion dollars. And I said another trillion dollars because, congratulations to Elon Musk, he is the first trillionaire. Well, actually, he is worth $970 billion this morning. But as soon as that starts trading, what's $30 billion between friends? He will be the first trillionaire.

I fought off a rat this morning in my basement, and I spilled coffee all over myself. He's a trillionaire. You tell me, who's having a better morning, Omar?

JIMENEZ: You know what? We're having the better morning.

GOLDMAN: I think you're right.

JIMENEZ: Because we're together, you know? Yes, we're just like building through the news together, and whole lot of Bs in this segment. I guess, it'll be a T pretty soon.

GOLDMAN: That's right.

JIMENEZ: David Goldman, I appreciate the breakdown.

GOLDMAN: Thank you so much.

JIMENEZ: Good to see you.

All right, breaking overnight, we've got brand-new details on a deal between the United States and Iran according to the White House. But the big question, will it get signed? We'll bring you the details.

And then the UFC heads to the White House this Sunday, but now some Republicans are worried the big fight night could backfire on President Trump for the midterms.

[07:25:06]

We'll explain.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BOLDUAN: So, this morning, we're learning new details about what's in this latest proposed deal to end the war with Iran. But it has been a week of whiplash and getting even right here, and the whiplash may continue.

In an NBC interview that aired Sunday, President Trump said that this is not a big war for the U.S., even suggesting that he wouldn't call it a war.

[07:30:00]

And then let's take us through the week. Then early on Tuesday morning, after the Knicks game, the president said a deal would be two or three days away. Then came Wednesday, the U.S. launched.