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Rep. Jennifer McClellan (D-VA) On U.S. And Iran Agreement To End War, Reopen Strait Of Hormuz; U.K. Announces Sweeping Social Media Ban For Children Under 16; Kennedy Center Says It Has Removed Trump's Name From Building. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired June 15, 2026 - 07:30   ET

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

[07:30:00]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: And then there's Israel announcing today that the IDF is not withdrawing from southern Lebanon even as Iran insists that the agreement with the United States includes an end to the conflict on that front.

Joining me right now is CNN senior military analyst and former NATO supreme allied commander, Admiral James Stavridis. It's good to have you here on a day where there is some answers and a lot more questions.

Admiral, can you characterize this moment for us in your mind? Like how close are they to ending the war do you think?

ADM. JAMES STAVRIDIS (RET.), CNN SENIOR MILITARY ANALYST, FORMER NATO SUPREME ALLIED COMMANDER, PARTNER, THE CARLYLE GROUP (via Webex by Cisco): I think it's like a car kind of chugging down the highway. It's been moving in this direction, Kate. You and I have discussed it over the last couple of months. We always kind of felt it was a 65 percent chance we'd get to an agreement. Here we are. So the car is chugging along.

Here's the bad news. There's a lot of sand in the gears. You mentioned a couple of them but tactically, I'll add another one, which is the mines. How many mines are in the strait? When do they get cleared? Who is going to clear them? Are there going to be escorts for those ships? Those are tactical concerns -- very real, believe me, to the mariners who are going to be asked to sail through the straits.

And then secondly, operationally, as you mentioned, it's Israel, Lebanon, Hezbollah -- that deadly triangle. Very much unfinished business certainly in the minds of the Israelis. So that's operational.

And then strategically it's the nuclear material. As President Trump calls it, the "nuclear dust." It's hardly dust. It's 1,000 pounds of highly enriched uranium. And there's no clear path to get that out of the country.

So the car is still chugging. The finish line ahead of us. Will we get there? I still think it's a two in three chance, but a lot of sand in the gears.

BOLDUAN: Let's go back to the tactical because I was going to ask you -- I was kind of in my mind thinking of it as like logistics. Like how challenging -- or maybe think about it this way. How quickly can the Strait of Hormuz truly reopen safely and fully to give the confidence not just in statements but just to give the confidence of the companies and the shippers, and the people who are going to be traveling through the strait that they can?

STAVRIDIS: We say in the military, and you put your finger on it, the amateurs are talking about all the warfighting and the missiles. The professionals are talking about logistics, meaning your point. We've got to clear the strait to a level of confidence for these mariners.

As you know, I've been through the strait at close to 100 times and it's tough navigation without all the missiles and the mines, and the small boats.

So to answer the question, I think it's probably not months and months but it's certainly weeks and weeks.

Here's something to watch. The president is about to land for the G7 in Europe. Can he get the Europeans on task here? I hope so. Europe ought to step up and participate with the U.S. in at least this phase of the operation. I think they will. Look for European minesweepers to help do that. It'll still take weeks before those mariners are fully confident in the strait.

BOLDUAN: This gets to another piece I wanted to ask you about. There's an aspect of the interview the president did with David Sanger of The New York Times over the weekend that I wanted to read. He wrote this, in part, about his conversation with President Trump.

"Speaking on his 80th birthday, as his family could be heard gathering in the background for a celebratory dinner, he [the president] praised two authoritarians -- Presidents Xi Jinping of China and Vladimir Putin of Russia -- for aiding in the settlement, or at least not interfering in the blockade of the strait."

You read that and then with that in mind -- what you just said -- that the president is about to arrive in France to meet with the G7 and it's just how much this Iran war has impacted or maybe reshaped the relationship with traditional U.S. allies.

STAVRIDIS: Indeed, it has, and not in good ways. And it's driven a kind of wedge between the two sides of NATO. You can feel that transatlantic bridge kind of creaking at the moment. So my message to the Europeans is here's an opportunity to show Putin and to show Xi that we, the West, can come together and can fulfill this mission together. I think it's an important moment for Europe in that regard.

And then finally, just a spot of good news is that this is bad news for Vladimir Putin because as oil prices come down, he has less money to finance his illegal, immoral violation of international law war in Ukraine.

BOLDUAN: Great to put a spotlight on that as it should return there now.

It's great to see you, Admiral. Thank you so much -- Sara.

STAVRIDIS: Yes.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Thank you, Kate.

[07:35:00]

Joining me now is the Democratic Congresswoman from Virginia, Jennifer McClellan. She is the first Black woman elected to represent Virginia in Congress. Thank you for being here.

As you're just listening to talking about what is happening the Strait of Hormuz, let me first just get your reaction to what was announced yesterday by the president. He is on his way, as he hopes, to sign this agreement. What do you make of the agreement?

REP. JENNIFER MCCLELLAN (D-VA): Well, so far, not having seen the details, I don't see where anything has changed since before the war other than, you know, we still have the same regime but with a younger, more militant leader in charge. And now Iran has shown that they can disrupt trade by closing the Strait of Hormuz and the impact that has had on gas prices that have gone up over $4.00 a gallon when they were less than $3.00 a gallon before the war. And we've had American soldiers lose their lives.

And I don't see what has been gained from this war -- this war of choice that the president started with no provocation.

SIDNER: You don't see what has been gained from before this but are you happy to hear about the possibility that the Strait of Hormuz will finally be open?

MCCLELLAN: Of course. I mean, it shouldn't have been closed in the first place and I'm hopeful that we are on the right track to end this conflict. You just saw Congress on a bipartisan basis in both the House and the Senate passed a war powers resolution to end this war and bring our troops home. So, of course, I am glad to see this chapter closing. But I still wonder was it worth the cost of getting involved in the first place.

SIDNER: I do want to ask you about a relationship that we have seen that's been very tight between President Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel. That is fraying over this deal. President Trump told Axios that the Israeli prime minister has no -- and he used the "f" word -- but "no f-ing judgment." And Netanyahu was clearly not happy that a deal has been made in this manner.

So my question to you us what do you think of President Trump's judgment of Netanyahu at this point?

MCCLELLAN: Well, you know, it's interesting to see by all accounts he entered this war in Iran at the behest of Benjamin Netanyahu, even though presidents before him have resisted that call based on their analysis of what could happen on the ground. So I'm glad to see he's finally coming around. We'll see if he can continues to show better judgment that he has as President of the United States. But so far, the jury is still out on that.

SIDNER: All right. I want to move now to the politics that are happening sort of locally, and all politics are local --

MCCLELLAN: Um-hum.

SIDNER: -- and talk to you about redistricting. There are as many as six Black members of Congress who may be pushed out because of redistricting.

Can you give me some sense as the first Black woman elected to Congress in Virginia what you are going to do about this and what you think needs to be done, and what your major concerns are?

MCCLELLAN: Yeah. This is a similar backlash to progress made in making the ideals upon which our country was founded true for everyone. We saw this backlash in response to reconstruction. We saw this backlash in response to the election of Barack Obama. But now the Supreme Court has gutted again the Voting Rights Act, and we see the South moving with all deliberate speed to weaken Black voting strength.

And so what I'm doing with the Congressional Black Caucus is very similar to what generations before us did. We are making sure that Black voters, despite any obstacles put in their way -- whether it is maps that dilute their power, whether in my parents' generation it was poll taxes -- my great-grandparents' generation it was literacy tests -- we're going to make sure that voters understand their vote is their power, which is why people are trying to take it away.

And that they are organized and mobilized and come out and vote in these critical elections that will determine whether the House becomes a check on the worst impulses of a president that is leading this country in the wrong direction. Who refused to address the cost of living crisis. Who is rolling back progress that we have made -- done in the past four years, not in the past 50 years, but in some cases 100 years on just about every issue we care about.

SIDNER: Congresswoman, thank you for being here this morning talking through a lot of different tough issues that the country is facing. I really do appreciate it.

MCCLELLAN: Thank you.

SIDNER: All right -- John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right.

And breaking over the night, the United Kingdom launched a sweeping ban on social media for children under 16, set to begin in 2027.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEIR STARMER, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: This is not something I do lightly and I will not present it as cost-free, as if social media has brought no benefits to young people because clearly, that is wrong. But government is always about choices and it's clear to me that a full ban is the right choice.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[07:40:00]

BERMAN: Again, a full ban, children under 16, a nation the size of the United Kingdom. How will this even be implemented? A lot of questions.

Nada Bashir joins us this morning from London. This is a giant deal.

NADA BASHIR, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, John. This is being described by the British government as watershed moment and it comes after months of consultations being held with parents, with industry leaders, with students as well. According to government data from those consultations, they received responses from more than 100,000 people within those fields, and more than 80 percent believe that the positive benefits of this outweighed the negative.

So this is a significant landmark regulation. It is set to be put before Parliament before the end of the year and it will be fully implemented, according to the government, early next year.

And on the whole, we've been hearing from parents, we've been hearing from adults, and clearly, the messaging we've been hearing at this point is that this will only be a beneficial development.

Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't think kids need that kind of stuff right now, you know, especially at a young age. I didn't have social media until I was 16. I loved life before that and I think like a lot of insecurities I had were from, you know, interacting with stuff online. So I just don't think they need it right now.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, I think it's a great idea. I feel like -- I mean, I've got a 2-year-old so I just kind of think about the future and I feel like it's probably a really good thing to kind of put that ban in place.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASHIR: Now, of course, John, there have been measures taken by social media industries to try to protect children using social media platforms. Meta, for example, has introduced a series of child protection measures for their platforms.

But this certainly takes things a step further in the United Kingdom. Its focus on social media platforms, including the Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, for example, but it's also focused on livestreaming platforms as well and other platforms that allow young people to speak with strangers online. So this is really focused on enhancing child protection measures and

also ensuring that there is some sort of regulation around protecting children's mental health as well while using these social media platforms.

It does follow other countries like, for example, Australia, who have taken similar measures. And it could be expanded. The government has said it is also looking at potentially introducing measures such as curfews for those under the age of 18 to prevent constant scrolling at night -- John.

BERMAN: Yeah. Again, questions about how it will be implemented. But it does seem to have support. We will see. And we'll see if it spreads beyond the United Kingdom.

Nada Bashir, thank you so much for that report -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: Six people are dead now after two helicopters collided in Brazil. We have new details about the American singer and comedian killed in that crash.

And the incredible moments an officer rushes into a river to save a missing child it truly seems in the nick of time.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL)

[07:47:25]

BERMAN: This morning The Kennedy Center says it has removed President Trump's name from the building. We're still waiting to see it. Crews put up a tarp Friday when they began to work to take down the letters in his name. That tarp is still up. But presumably, behind it, no more words that say President Donald Trump.

With us now CNN senior legal analyst Elie Honig. Counselor, I thought it was a good moment to sort of take stock of where we are with some of the things -- the building projects that the president and the White House have tried and some that have been clawed back, and some that haven't.

First, just sticking with The Kennedy Center, what does it tell you or what should we glean from the fact that ultimately a judge did say take it down, but that also the letters were up there for a pretty long time?

ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST, FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR, FORMER ASSISTANT U.S. ATTORNEY, SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK: Yeah, John. Well, you've heard the expression possession is nine-tenths of the law, and what that means is that oftentimes the practical and physical realities on the ground will dictate the result. And this has been a defining feature of Donald Trump's approach to executive power throughout his second term.

Now, in some cases, the law is just so clear that even that legal approach will not prevail. Here, for example, there is a specific law passed by Congress in 1964 after the Kennedy assassination that creates The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. And that law specifically says you cannot rename this place unless Congress says so. There's just no wiggle room. But even with that, John, it took seven months from the time Donald Trump renamed it until those letters came off this weekend.

So as you can see, this is -- this can be an effective legal strategy whether you ultimately win or not.

BERMAN: I mean, you're right. The law is very specific. Nevertheless, those giant letters were up there regardless of what the law says.

OK. So what does this mean then for, say, the White House Ballroom if ultimately the courts did order the letters to come off The Kennedy Center? Does this mean the courts are going to step in and say you can't build the ballroom without congressional authorization?

HONIG: This is a perfect example of the strategy at work because where we are right now is a federal district court judge -- a Bush nominee -- has ruled that the construction of the ballroom is illegal. It is improper. It does not comply with the Administrative Procedures Act. A court of appeals now has heard argument. They've not ruled yet, but it seems like they agree. It seems like they are probably going to rule also that this construction is illegal.

But here is the problem. I don't know what the ultimate ruling is going to be, but I promise you they're not going to say you have to fill in that hole with a bunch of dirt. And I promise you the old East Wing is not going to be magically reconstructed.

[07:50:05]

So the fact that Donald Trump just acted first, knocked down the East Wing, and dug the hole in the ground, I don't know what the courts are going to be able to realistically do here even if they ultimately find that the way he did this was procedurally illegal.

So if you want a poster case for the notion that possession is nine- tenths of the law -- shoot first, ask questions later -- this is going to be it.

BERMAN: What lessons then are there -- let's start with what lessons there might be for people who oppose these types of things. Do you have to be faster? Do you have to file like the second something is even discussed?

HONIG: Yes, and the perfect example of this is the unsuccessful challenge to try to stop the UFC fights that happened this weekend.

We talked about this on your show last week, John, and I said there's two problems with this case. One is what you just said. There is a principle in the law that if you're going to challenge something you have to do it pretty much as soon as you know about it. You can't sit on the case and then spring it at the last minute. That's what happened with the UFC challenge. It's been known publicly for months that this UFC fight was going to happen. The lawsuit was not filed until about a week before it happened. And one of the reasons the judge rejected the lawsuit is he said you waited too long.

The other big problem, and this runs throughout these cases John, is what we call "standing." You can't just sue to stop something because you don't like it, because you are offended by it. You have to be able to show that you have some concrete, distinct economic or physical or other injury.

The people who tried to stop the UFC fight alleged that they were civilians and they had "aesthetic injury," meaning I don't like how it looks. That's not going to cut it. I told you that last week. The judge agreed. The judge said no, that's not enough. You don't have standing.

So it can be hard. Even if something is illegal it sometimes can be hard to find an actual plaintiff who has what we call standing. So yes, standing and timing are two key factors in all of this.

BERMAN: And what lessons might there be for the courts, right? The third branch of our government? Might this spur them to act more quickly or is it just not in their DNA?

HONIG: Well, I have to say it's hard to fault the courts here because I think they generally have recognized the need for speed. And you've seen, for example, with the UFC lawsuit that was filed way too late -- ridiculously late -- seven days before the event -- that judge got it done. He said OK, I want briefs in two days from one side and two more days from the other side. So courts have done a good job.

Look, courts cannot go out on their own and address problems. There's no judge who can initiate a lawsuit. It's only plaintiffs who can do it. So I think courts have handled themselves quite well here, but it can be difficult for plaintiffs to find the right plaintiff and to get their act together in time to challenge these things.

BERMAN: And look, the lesson going forward for every administration might just be, you know, break ground. Go ahead. Put that shovel in the ground the minute you have an idea because you may have some success no matter what the courts ultimately say.

Elie Honig, good to see you this morning. Thank you very much -- Sara.

SIDNER: All right. Thank you, John.

On our radar for you this morning, an American singer and comedian is feared dead following a helicopter crash in Brazil. Singer Oliver Tree was listed as one of the passengers on board that helicopter, which crashed near Rio de Janeiro. Tree posted a video of himself playing soccer in a Brazilian neighborhood just a day before that crash.

The video shows the aftermath of the scene. Officials said two helicopters ended up colliding, killing all six people on board. An investigation is, of course, underway to determine the cause of that collision.

A road rage incident on a Colorado highway. A driver gets out of his car in the middle of the road to confront the person behind him. That person responds by stepping out and smashing the other back window, shattering it in one punch. Both drivers were located by police and issued summons for disorderly conduct.

Now to Texas. Body camera video showing the moment an officer sprints towards a river because look, he sees a little child there. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

POLICE OFFICER: Hey, buddy. Hey, buddy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: Oh my goodness. Fort Worth police say officers were searching near the park when they spotted a flash of yellow along the shore. That's when they found the child partially submerged, drifting into the water. An officer jumped in and ended up being able to pull that child to safety before he drowned. Amazing -- good work there -- Kate. I know.

BOLDUAN: Stop. Thank goodness he was there.

All right, let's turn to this right now. New this morning Axios is reporting that senior staff from the leading AI company Anthropic -- they're heading to Washington. The goal, it appears, is to try and clean up a new feud with the White House.

Their visit comes after Anthropic suspended access to everyone to its Mythos 5 and Fable 5 models, the company's most advanced AI systems yet. That move was prompted when the U.S. government, Friday, blocked foreign governments, companies, and individuals from using those models. Anthropic said that the government had cited national security issues but did not provide specific details about what the actual worry is.

[07:55:12]

Now this is the latest twist in what has become a fraught and tense relationship between Anthropic and the Trump administration starting earlier this year with that fight between -- with the Pentagon over Anthropic wanting some limits put on how the military can use its revolutionary technology in war.

But now this, and they're headed to Washington to try to figure it out.

And joining me now is Maria Curi. She's tech policy reporter for Axios. It's good to have you here and have you back.

What are you learning about these meetings and these conversations that are set to take place now over these latest Anthropic models and the United States banning the exports of it? MARIA CURI, TECH POLICY REPORTER, AXIOS: Right. So today we are tracking meetings with the White House, with the CIA, and with the Commerce Department. There are senior technical staff from Anthropic in D.C. to discuss how they can honor this cyber-executive order that was recently signed, Kate, which essentially was a voluntary agreement for AI labs to make sure that their models are tested by the government. Their most advanced models are tested by the government before they're released into the public.

Now, Anthropic would tell you they already did all of this testing and received explicit approval from the Trump administration to release these models.

And so what we have been reporting on too is how personality differences have also led to this clash between the Trump administration and this company once again.

BOLDUAN: And once again, exactly -- because that was a clash of personalities when we were talking about the Pentagon specifically, for sure.

What I was reading about this is that this started on Friday with the ban -- Trump banning foreign governments and companies and individuals from using these models. But this also came after researchers at Amazon had raised concern to the White House over Fable being able to evade some safeguards.

What -- is it clear what those researchers at Amazon saw?

CURI: So those researchers were essentially able to jailbreak Anthropic's models by prompting the model to override its own safeguards. But this is something that is typical from most models. You know, you had more than 40 cybersecurity experts this morning pointing out that this is something that could be done with ChatGPT's most advanced -- or OpenAI's most advanced model, ChatGPT 5.5.

And so this is not necessarily unique to Anthropic but Anthropic is the company that is facing sweeping export controls not just on foreign adversaries but foreign allies.

You know, you have the European Union now scrambling to figure out how they are going to get access to this model again. They're facing a competitive disadvantage because of this decision from the Trump administration. And also foreign nationals within the U.S., including researchers at Anthropic that no longer have access to this model.

BOLDUAN: Oh, I didn't even think about that aspect of it.

And to your point, a group of cybersecurity experts wrote this letter and here is one quote. They basically argue that the Trump administration's move here was the wrong one. The quote is that I saw -- "This action has taken the best models away from defenders, created market uncertainty, and risked America's AI leadership without any real risk to justify it." Which then just gets back to if maybe it's the unknowable right now,

which is what the resolution or solution could be here to get everyone comfortable with releasing these models.

CURI: I think that Anthropic would tell you and lot of cybersecurity experts would tell you that having a perfectly jailbreak-resistant model is impossible to achieve if that is the goal. You know, Mythos and Fable might be offline for a while. But it might come down to, you know, being able to talk to each other in way where there is understanding and an attitude fix if you will where the administration feels like their concerns are being taken seriously and are not being dismissed by this company.

BOLDUAN: It's so interesting.

It's great to have you. Thank you for walking us through this -- the latest wrinkle in this relationship. Let's see what happens now.

A new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.

SIDNER: Breaking overnight, the president heading to the G7 summit right now after making a major announcement -- a major diplomatic breakthrough with Iran that could open the Strait of Hormuz. But major hurdles, like Israel's cooperation, remain.

Also breaking this morning, the deadliest skydiving incident in decades. NTSB investigators expected there today to begin searching for answers.

And a major alert for parents of newborns. The FDA issuing a recall on a brand of formula after multistate botulism outbreaks.

I'm Sara Sidner with John Berman and Kate Bolduan. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.