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Details Scare As Trump Again Claims Agreement With Iran; Tornadoes Tear Through Midwest In Deadly Storm Outbreak; World Cup Kicks Off In U.S. With Massive Security Effort; CNN Speaks With NASA Chief On Artemis III Mission In 2027. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired June 12, 2026 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:00]

NOAH WYLE, AMERICAN ACTOR: Kiss of all time. When he gets off that horse and jumps down and comes over and holds you.

SALLY FIELD, AMERICAN ACTRESS: I don't even remember it.

WYLE: You don't even remember it? Oh, it's a great movie kiss. My goodness.

FIELD: Oh, gosh. Oh, gosh.

WYLE: Do you direct in the model of a director you'd want? Or do you have your own stuff? What is a perfect director for you when someone comes to you and says --

FIELD: Well, you know, from what you've been saying, of how you would -- how you approach actors, I think you might be the perfect director for me.

WYLE: Oh, I love it. I would love it.

FIELD: Yes.

WYLE: Let's do it.

FIELD: Why did you write some old woman in there with her dog?

WYLE: Well, who's going to play that?

FIELD: I don't know. There must be an old woman around.

WYLE: Not yet. Not yet, Sally Field.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ELIZABETH WAGMEISTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: As you see, there was a ton of mutual admiration between these two. It was really incredible to be on set because you can tell that they just love each other. And they are such fans of one another's work.

In fact, you heard there in that conversation that Sally Field said that she would like to guest star on the pit. And I have to tell you, I interviewed them both after. And they told me they would really love to make it happen.

And guess what? Noah Wyle is the one who can make it happen. So I'm saying it here, Sally Field on the pit.

Back to you guys.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking news overnight. President Trump is again claiming, again, the war in Iran is over. We have new details, though, on the proposed framework agreement, could this time be different? What could we see happening really as soon as this hour?

Also breaking this morning, tornadoes, flash floods, these dangerous storms that are still hitting huge parts of the United States has happened overnight. We're getting new images coming in, including one man being pulled from the rubble of his destroyed home by a storm chaser.

And minutes from now, history also in the making, SpaceX going public and what could be the biggest IPO ever. Will it rocket? Yes, I did it. Elon Musk to trillionaire status.

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

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: All right. Breaking news this morning, it's been a week of whiplash over the war in Iran. But now, we're learning new details about an interim deal on the table after President Trump canceled new strikes and claimed the U.S. has ended the war with a, quote, great settlement.

Now, we're told it includes an extension of the ceasefire, reopening the Strait of Hormuz and a pledge by Iran to never obtain a nuclear weapon.

That said, Iranian media is also reporting on a possible agreement, though some of the details are different and there's been no confirmation from Tehran's government on any deal.

And then earlier, Iranian officials said no final decision has been made. So, we're watching that space.

We should know, we've been here before, at least 38 times, in fact, that's how often the president has suggested a deal with Iran is imminent.

CNN's Kristen Holmes is live this morning at the White House. So, what is the latest you are hearing in this iteration?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: So, let's talk about what this is, because I think there's a little bit of confusion as to whether or not this is actually a peace deal or not. And it is not an official peace deal. This is just the beginning of a peace deal. It's a memorandum of understanding. Now, we did hear from a diplomat who's been briefed on the deal. So, let's go through some of the points that we expect to be in this deal. We have nothing from Iran or from the U.S.

But this would start a 60-day ceasefire, which would include everything. That would include Lebanon as well. The Strait of Hormuz would be opened immediately. They say that they believe that traffic would be back to pre-war levels within 30 days.

The U.S. blockade of Iranian ports would be open and some sanctions would be lifted with the caveat that Iran would have to keep negotiating in good faith. And the agreement, quote, satisfies all the U.S. requirements on the nuclear issue. This is also them pledging not to have any kind of nuclear program as well as dealing with the highly enriched uranium.

I do want to point out two factors that we have heard now from Iranian media talking about this deal, two of the things that they have said. And this again is coming from Iranian state media. So we have to be clear on the source there.

But two of the additional parts of this is that on Iran's frozen assets, the agreement would demand the release of $24 billion in Iran's frozen funds. That's going to be interesting space to watch because President Trump, at one point, said no money would be exchanged, unclear if unfreezing those assets counts as that.

And they say that on Iran's ballistic missile program and proxies, it just wouldn't be discussed anymore between the U.S. and Iran. So, we'll have to wait and see and get more details on what's actually in this memorandum.

As you noted, we've been down this road before. President Trump levies a lot of threats. Then he walks them back saying a deal is imminent and then a deal doesn't come through.

[09:05:08]

However, this time does feel different, talking to our allies, talking to negotiators, mediators, all of them seem to be moving forward in a way of real cautious optimism.

So we'll see what happens. They say a deal could be signed as quickly as this weekend in Geneva.

JIMENEZ: And again, as you lay out, this is just to get to a place where a deal could move forward. So, a long process here as we monitor some of these factors.

Kristen Holmes appreciate the reporting as always.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: Joining us right now is Democratic Congressman, Johnny Olszewski, of Maryland. He sits on the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Thanks for being here, Congressman. Do you believe this is finally the deal that will end up bringing -- eventually bringing this war to an end?

REP. JOHNNY OLSZEWSKI (D-MD): Well, color me skeptical, Kate, but I have seen this show before. And as CNN has reported, this is maybe the 40th time the president has announced a deal with Iran.

And so obviously I want to see a deal, but this is a deal to have a deal. And those announcements have fallen flat before. So, I look forward to seeing the details, if we actually have an MOU put forward and signed, but I have a lot of questions and concerns still as to whether or not this will be lasting.

BOLDUAN: What do you think -- what's your view on lifting sanctions for Iran as part of this?

OLSZEWSKI: Well, you know, you have to keep in mind, this is a president who ripped up a deal that we already had in place that accelerated the Iranian nuclear program.

And so I'm open to the idea of lifting sanctions if we actually are ensuring that Iran does not have nuclear capabilities and the Strait of Hormuz is opened up.

We know that there have been incredible costs to this war that the president acted on without congressional approval or a plan. We've lost service members. We are paying more at the pump in the grocery store. And we've paid tens of billions of dollars to do it.

So, the deal has to actually accomplish those ends. And I'd be open to lifting sanctions if a deal actually does just that.

BOLDUAN: One of the things -- um, one of the most recent threats that the president made was that they're eventually going to -- United States is eventually going to move in and take Kharg Island, that key oil hub for Iranian oil exports.

And at the same time, the president says that this will not be an endless war. He has said that actually yesterday that it -- the war was -- he had ended the war.

Still, there are even some Republicans who are edging towards saying that this may be reaching endless war status.

I want to play for you what Senator Kennedy of Louisiana said yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN KENNEDY (R-LA): I'm worried about the move on Kharg Island. I'm not saying the president's wrong, but this is -- this is how it started in Vietnam. Committing troops is -- it's very, very, very dramatic step.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BOLDUAN: Hearing a Republican senator make -- draw the line between what could be happening in the Gulf and the Vietnam War is quite something.

I mean, when do you think this hits endless war status?

OLSZEWSKI: Well, it's quite an admission from a Republican senator. And I'll say I absolutely agree and have concerns about putting boots on the ground.

I think if we were to commit soldiers on the ground, that certainly would move us towards endless war status.

And what we know is that this is a really long-standing war that, at this point, is as unpopular as both the Vietnam War and the war in Iraq.

And so in many ways, it's starting to feel just as if it is one of those endless wars that Americans don't want. And that is harmful for us back here at home.

BOLDUAN: The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, FISA, this key intelligence authority used to stop terror attacks, many lawmakers see it as a critical tool in U.S. national security. Others -- you know, there's a lot -- big conversations about reforms though.

Still, many Democrats, most Democrats and some Republicans voted against extending that law just yesterday. And now it is set to expire for the first time at midnight tonight.

I want to play for you what the Republican House Speaker said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA): The questions are for the Democrats in the House and Senate. Why they're willing to jeopardize the lives of millions of Americans to make a political point? Because they have a -- a disagreement about someone that the president has appointed for a short-term position? It is absurd. There is no way to defend it. They just jeopardize the safety of every American citizen.

I pray. I'm going to be praying that we do not have -- we do not have an event on our shores. There will be -- there will be a lot to answer for if we do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Congressman, you're one of the Democrats who voted against extending this law. And he says this is now on your shoulders. What do you say?

OLSZEWSKI: Well, I think the Speaker should talk to members of his own conference who also voted against this extension.

[09:10:01] Look, this is an important law. I want to see it reauthorized. I want to see it extended because it can and has saved American lives, but there are both very real concerns about spying on Americans.

And to be clear, this is a crisis that President Trump created by appointing Bill Pulte outside of the law that requires extensive national security expertise and experience.

And that was made clear when he made an appointment right after the vote failed. And so I'm ready to move back to Washington immediately if we can get a deal that puts on those sensible guardrails supported by Democrats and many Republicans, and we can have a conversation about a long-term director for that agency as well that actually meets the criteria and the qualifications.

BOLDUAN: Do you think Jay Clayton is that guy?

OLSZEWSKI: I think it's certainly an improvement. But what I have concerns about is that he has been on making the rounds on national television, both stoking election deny -- election fraud fears that the president has been parroting. And he also has been defending this awful, ridiculous IRS settlement.

So, it's why we have a confirmation process. I trust the Senate will do a full and thorough vetting. And we'll see where the votes land on that issue.

BOLDUAN: You've been pushing a bill. We've talked about it previously. But you've been pushing a bill to impose term limits on Supreme Court justices.

And I was just saying that the governor of Kentucky, who's seen as a 2028 contender, has picked that up and is now pushing kind of that as, you know, an issue that he wants to see happen as well.

If Democrats win back the House, do you have buy-in from leadership to actually move on this bill?

OLSZEWSKI: Well, we are talking with leadership. I'm proud that we are picking up co-sponsors every day for this legislation.

I think this is a common sense reform. And I'm -- I welcome the support of Governor Beshear on this important issue.

It's supported by strong majorities of Republicans, Democrats, and independents. This is an issue that I think can and should be bipartisan.

I think that a lot of Republicans would be hard pressed to vote against it if we're given a chance to put it on the floor.

And so I look forward to continuing to talk to Democratic leadership on any event and when we take back the House this November.

BOLDUAN: I am interested to see if this picks up steam if you guys -- if -- if you take back the majority. It's good to have you on, Congressman, as always. I thank you for your time.

Omar.

JIMENEZ: New video this morning showing the devastating impact of tornadoes across the Midwest. Twisters slamming both Indiana and Illinois overnight, destroying homes and sending multiple people to the hospital.

This man was found pinned underneath the debris of his own home. You can see him here. A photojournalist, actually helped remove some of the weight before police eventually arrived to pull him out. But this is an immediate aftermath of the damage from these storms.

In the same town, some residents realize it wasn't just one tornado on the ground.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It already hit (INAUDIBLE) I heard.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's a tornado right there, Mary. (BLEEP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Get in the house, you guys.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, my (BLEEP) God.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dude, what's the (INAUDIBLE) backyard?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, my (BLEEP)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JIMENEZ: And finding out there's another tornado by seeing it, just terrifying.

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 been tracking all of this for us.

So, Allison, what's next for this area?

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, much of the same. You still have that line of storms moving through portions of the Midwest, but it's going to gradually make its way off to the East as we go through the day.

Now, this was from yesterday. Again, this taken from Livingston County, Illinois. You can clearly see the wedge tornado right there in the frame, but this was one of many tornadoes that we have had the last few days across numerous states. In fact, when you go back and look at the number of storm reports that we've had in just the last two days, each of them have been in the top five for total storm reports so far this year, looking at more than 450 total storm reports in just the last 24 hours.

You can see a large cluster of them, say in the mid-Atlantic, the Northeast, but then also a pretty large cluster here into the Midwest. And that's kind of where we're still wrapping up right there through the Ohio Valley and Mississippi Valley.

You still have some of those ongoing showers and thunderstorms lightning has been the real main impact from these, again, just a tremendous amount of lightning in both of these clusters as that line of storms continues to slide south and east next, looking to hit in -- and impact Nashville over in the next 20 to 30 minutes.

Now, here's a look at the rest of the forecast for the remainder of the day today. Again, you can see from Burlington, Vermont, all the way down to Charlotte, North Carolina. That's where the main threats are really going to be.

Now, you're looking at damaging winds and also the potential for some very large hail. The vast majority of these storms are really going to fire up later on this afternoon, so that heating of the day is really what's going to help a lot of these storms get going.

That heat, even if you don't get terrible storms out of it, is just going to be lingering there. So you're talking temperatures well above average and the humidity. So you've -- that's why you've got a lot of these heat advisories out up and down much of the eastern seaboard.

And again, we're not just talking, say, five, 10 degrees above average. For some of these areas, it's more than that. It's record- breaking.

[09:15:08]

Every single one of these dots you see here on this map indicates an area that has the potential to break a record. These high temperatures, many of them in the mid to upper 90s, that feels like temperature expected to be even higher.

JIMENEZ: Allison Chinchar, appreciate it.

All right. Coming up for us, today is the first day of World Cup matches that begins on U.S. soil. Law enforcement though on high alert. We'll bring you some of the key preparations that are going in place, including drones.

And then dramatic rescue caught on body cameras. Officers pulling people out of their burning apartments in the middle of the night. We'll show you what happened.

And then Dolly Parton pours a cup of ambition. We'll have the details about her new "9 to 5." Sorry, guys.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:20:00]

JIMENEZ: Fans from every corner of the globe are converging on Los Angeles today for the U.S. opener of the FIFA World Cup.

But behind the celebration, we've got a staggering security operation already very much underway, with 78 matches spread across 11 cities in the United States. And the unprecedented scale is really pushing federal law enforcement here.

The Department of Homeland Security is already making the stakes crystal clear calling it a quote zero fail mission.

I want to bring in CNN's Marybel Gonzalez who joins us from the fan zone in Los Angeles. Marybel, what can you tell us about what you're seeing there?

MARYBEL GONZALEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Omar. Well, security is tight and there's so many precautions to take into account.

Lots of challenges too for the security here, starting with the sheer size of these events. We're standing at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. This is where the fan festivals are taking place.

And here alone, yesterday, it was at capacity at 38,000 people. We know at SoFi stadium which is just a few miles away from here where the matches are happening, the World Cup matches, that stadium holds up to 70,000 people, so that is the biggest challenge.

Also, it's harder to track all of these matches. These are happening across several cities, across several weeks. We don't know which teams will be playing in which cities in later rounds.

And then, of course, there's the geopolitics of the -- the sport. We know that with the Iran team is playing here in the U.S. amid ongoing conflicts abroad.

Now, top World Cup security concerns, those include drones, artificial intelligence, lone wolf actors and, of course, violence amongst the fans themselves. We know these types of events are highly publicized, highly attended. Those attract a lot of security issues.

Now, the FBI is saying that there are no specific or credible threats, but they're still taking lots of precautions just in case.

We know that here at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, hours ahead of the event itself, we saw LAPD on site accompanied by members of the FBI bomb squad with dogs. They were sniffing out the area, making sure that everything is safe before the thousands of fans make their way here in matter of just a few hours.

JIMENEZ: Necessary precautions, but all so that people can have a good time.

Marybel Gonzalez, thank you for the reporting. All right. Coming up for us, we are minutes away from a rocket launch on Wall Street. SpaceX set to go public when markets open, sending Elon Musk to trillionaire status, with a T.

And Taylor Swift's viral Knicks t-shirt is getting a lot of attention, but there's a secret behind it. We'll explain, coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:25:08]

JIMENEZ: Some exciting news as we journey one step further into the great beyond. NASA has unveiled the crew for the Artemis III mission set to launch next year.

The four-man crew will lead humanity on the next step into space. It has been subject to some criticism with NASA facing pushback after four men and no women were selected to helm the mission.

But NASA has insisted that the crew members were selected strictly based on their extensive experience. We've got a lot to talk about here.

Joining me now is NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman. Thank you so much for being here.

You know, we now know the crew for Artemis III which is designed to be a precursor mission to an actual moon landing. But that was also generally speaking the mission for Artemis II. So, how is this one different?

JARED ISAACMAN, NASA ADMINISTRATOR: Oh, thank you very much for the question, and -- and talk about exciting, right? I mean, we're just a couple weeks away or a couple -- it's just been a couple of weeks since the Artemis II crew returned from their incredible voyage around the moon. And now we've announced the Artemis III crew.

Now, this -- this mission is very different. Artemis II is testing out the Orion spacecraft in deep space. That's why we sent them around the moon. It also was the first flight test of the SLS rocket.

Artemis III is going to be all about the lander. And it is going to be an incredible show. So in 2027, in a -- in a very short span of time, you're going to see the three most powerful rockets in the world.

You're going to see the Blue Origin rocket go up and put their lander into Earth orbit. You're going to see SLS, the same rocket used on Artemis II, launched the Artemis III crew into Earth orbit. And then you're going to see the SpaceX Starship launch.

And -- and it's all going to converge in low Earth orbit where the Orion spacecraft will rendezvous and dock with both landers.

I mean, this has never been done before. This is -- this is a very much a test and developmental mission. We're going to get very comfortable and learn as much as we can about the interoperability of the lunar landers in Earth orbit when you're close to home.

We're going to take that data back, roll it into Artemis IV in 2028 where American astronauts will return to the -- to the surface in the moon.

JIMENEZ: So, what would you say is the most significant conclusion from the Artemis II mission that will be informing sort of this next phase of Artemis III?

ISAACMAN: Great. So, it's an excellent question. And this is why we -- we -- we -- we are back in the business of launching these rockets with frequency to continue to learn and inform the next mission.

What did we learn about Artemis II? We learned that the SLS rocket is -- is crew rated and performed incredibly well. That was the first time crew were ever on that powerful rocket with 8.8 million pounds of thrust.

We learned an awful lot about the Orion spacecraft. It wasn't perfect. It was -- it was very good, though. So, there are improvements that we have to make to the software, to the hardware. There's some valves we're updating.

This is what we expect. This is why you get, again, in a cadence of launching big rockets with some frequency.

We are taking those improvements. We are rolling it in Artemis III, but now, we're shifting the focus to the lander.

Artemis III is all about the landers in Earth orbit. It's very Apollo 9-esque. Learned as much as we can about those landers close to home before 2028 where we go to the surface of the moon.

[09:30:07]

JIMENEZ: You know, a few months ago, you unveiled a vision that included.