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J.D. Vance on 'The View'; Iran in Permanent Control of Strait of Hormuz?; Trump and Zelenskyy Meet; Potential UFC Attack Foiled?. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired June 16, 2026 - 13:00   ET

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

[13:00:01]

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN HOST: And the nation's capital is seeing green.

Just days after it was repainted and refilled with water, the Reflecting Pool in front of the Lincoln Memorial is no longer blue. Algae has turned it green once again. The algae appeared just a few days after the nearly $15 million renovation spearheaded by President Trump was finished. It included painting the bottom of it blue.

An Interior Department spokesman calls it -- quote -- "residual algae" and says it's a normal part of refilling it. The more you know.

Thanks for joining INSIDE POLITICS. "CNN NEWS CENTRAL" starts right now.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Frank discussions. President Trump said to have been pressed by G7 leaders on a whole host of topics, including his agreement with Iran and the war in Ukraine. We will have the latest from the summit.

And plot foiled, multiple people arrested for allegedly discussing an attack on the UFC fight at the White House. The purported plan involved the use of armed drones.

And stuck in the middle. New CNN numbers reveal the highest level of partisan independents among U.S. voters in more than a decade.

We're following these major developing stories and many more all coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: This just into CNN: The Justice Department has charged five people across California, West Virginia, Nebraska and Ohio in an alleged plot to attack Sunday's UFC fights at the White House.

One of the suspects is identified as 19-year-old Tycen Proper. His mom actually called Ohio police, saying that she was concerned about her son's conduct, including firearms purchases, also that he had started interacting with an online group who said they were ex-military and expressed ultrareligious and anti-government sentiments, including corruption and the Epstein files. Proper faces four charges, including attempted murder of a federal

officer and conspiracy to commit an offense against the U.S. The court document says the group sought to use drones and sniper nests during Sunday's attack, where roughly 100,000 people were on the South Lawn and the Ellipse, including President Trump.

Let's discuss with retired FBI Supervisory Special Agent Richard Kolko.

Richard, thank you so much for being with us.

What's your reaction to hearing some of these details?

RICHARD KOLKO, FORMER FBI SUPERVISORY SPECIAL AGENT: Well, my reaction when I first heard about it earlier this morning was, I said this just sounds like a very grandiose plan. I'm not really sure that they would have the capability or ability to do this.

However, I did speak to a senior law enforcement official just earlier today. And he clearly said that the FBI, United States Secret Service and other partners stopped a potential attack from occurring this weekend. This was real, is what he told me.

SANCHEZ: Yes.

So I wonder when you hear about the group that this young man was allegedly communicating with, the mom says she doesn't know the name of the group, but that they express ultrareligious anti-government sentiments, specifically citing grievances about government corruption, the handling of the Epstein files, data centers taking up the water in communities and other government actions.

I mean, it sounds like this was a group coalesced around grievances against the federal government, not uncommon.

KOLKO: Yes, grievance collectors, everything that didn't make -- go their way made them mad, made them upset. They probably weren't successful in life, probably weren't getting where they needed to be. I know that some of them had served in the military, didn't have successful careers. A couple of them had tried to join the military, were not able to do as such.

And the FBI is going to be looking for the rest of them. They have identified -- there were more than 20 different names that they found in this chat room; 14 of those names have been identified. They have got five in custody. They're looking to fully identify the rest of them and we can expect more activity in this type of plot.

And even though this didn't happen this weekend, there is an anti- government task force within the FBI recently stood up that is working on this to try and track down these type of people that mean to carry out these types of attacks in various locations.

SANCHEZ: Yes.

I wonder when you hear that they were planning to use armed drones to attack an area like the South Lawn at the White House where airspace is perhaps the most restricted airspace in the world, right...

KOLKO: Oh, yes.

SANCHEZ: ... when you were questioning how realistic a plan like this is, how do they go about in the investigation figuring out what is bluster or spitballing ideas for a terrorist attack and what is actually something that they were trying to set in motion?

KOLKO: Well, a lot of that will come from the forensic evidence, from the search warrants.

The online stuff, you're right, a lot of the planning, but do the guns exist, any explosives, any drones that have been purchased and test- flown? So they will -- all those things. Did somebody come here and do reconnaissance? Did they pull down maps and charts of the city of Washington, D.C., if they weren't familiar with it, and actually come up with a plan?

The ability to carry out the plan, I find that difficult to believe, but we have to understand that once somebody makes a decision to do something dangerous, to do something like this, they may not be able to carry out this plan, but there are certainly other things they could do.

[13:05:00]

They could stop at a pawn shop, pick up a handgun and shoot up a day care center.

SANCHEZ: Yes.

KOLKO: So it's making that mental transition to I want to do something, and then they go ahead and do that.

SANCHEZ: That's a really important point.

When you hear that it was the mom that called in this tip, I mean, that's best-case scenario, isn't it, see something, say something, right?

KOLKO: It came together exactly as it's supposed to. I mean, when you look at it, there's only about, I think, 13,500 FBI agents. That covers the whole country.

Take the management ones out, the ones at the academy. That's not a lot of FBI agents, only a couple thousand Secret Service agents, and most of them are in protective details. So the reality is, they need people to pick up the phone, to have a responsibility to keep not only themselves safe, but their community safe.

And, my goodness, this mom did the right thing, thank goodness.

SANCHEZ: Yes. Yes, no doubt. To what you were speaking to before about there being these grievance groups out there wanting to cause harm, obviously, in about a month-and-a-half, we have the nation's 250th birthday, a lot of festivities happening here in the nation's capital.

KOLKO: Yes.

SANCHEZ: What could be learned from something like this?

KOLKO: Those people are out there. I think I can I put that in one sentence. Those people are out there.

SANCHEZ: Yes.

KOLKO: They want to cause harm; 250th on the National Mall is going to be a prime target. And don't forget, probably every city in the rest of the country is going to have some sort of 250th event.

So law enforcement is going to be maxed out this summer getting ready. They have got FIFA going on.

SANCHEZ: Right.

KOLKO: They have got the 250 going on. They're busy with basketball, baseball, everything that's got law enforcement just running and gunning all the time, stressed.

A lot of law enforcement departments are understaffed these days from just the changing in policing. So if you go into an FBI office, it's called the special events coordinator and the crisis manager. They're the ones that help put together these protective plans. Usually, they fall under Secret Service authority, but they're going to be very busy.

And let's not forget everybody's getting ready for the 2028 Olympics

SANCHEZ: Right.

KOLKO: I mean, that's already started.

When we talked about FIFA, FIFA has been said to be the largest sporting security event in history. I'm taking the word sporting out of there. It's the largest security event in history, 100-something games, three nations, just very, very busy. And we know it's going to be a tough time for law enforcement going forward.

SANCHEZ: No shortage of soft targets this summer. We're thankful that they are out there and that this mom apparently spoke up when she did.

KOLKO: Absolutely.

SANCHEZ: Richard Kolko, thank you so much for joining us.

KOLKO: Thank you.

SANCHEZ: Appreciate it -- Brianna?

KEILAR: We do have some breaking news on the U.S. agreement with Iran. President Trump, during his second day at the G7 summit, facing new

pressure to release the full text of the tentative deal that he says he signed more than 48 hours ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

QUESTION: There's so much interest in the text of the document. Why not release the document?

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Oh, I will.

QUESTION: Why not release it before Friday?

TRUMP: Well, because I'd like to get a formal setting first before we do that. I will not only release it. I will probably have a press conference and read it to you word by word, so that the press covers it accurately.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: In the meantime, Tehran is doubling down on its stance when it comes to Lebanon.

During a speech, Iran's foreign minister said -- quote -- "Without the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the territories they occupied during this war, the termination of the war will not be complete."

U.S. officials said yesterday that Israel's withdrawal from Lebanon was not part of the agreement.

CNN's Alayna Treene is live in Geneva, Switzerland, covering the president's trip.

And, Alayna, the president criticized Israel several times today.

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it was actually remarkable, I think, Brianna, to see the present use such sharp language when discussing the Israeli prime minister.

Look, from what I have been hearing in my conversations with White House officials, some of them here on the ground in Europe, is that the president is extremely frustrated with Netanyahu. He felt like he was working in some ways to undermine the deal, particularly in the hours before that memorandum of understanding was signed digitally on Sunday, the attacks from Israel in Southern Lebanon on Hezbollah targets really threatening this fragile period for this agreement.

I want you to listen, though, to what the president said publicly about Netanyahu today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Without me, there would be no Israel, because no other president was willing to do what I did. I have had a great relationship with Bibi, but now Bibi has to be more responsible with respect to Lebanon. No, I'm not happy with the way Israel has handled themselves with

Lebanon and with Hezbollah. They should have been able to do the job faster. It just goes on forever. And when that happens, it throws a negative light on the big deal, and that's the deal with Iran.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TREENE: So, clearly, you can hear some of that frustration.

Look, I was also told that the president's team, the people who have really been negotiating this, they do believe ultimately Israel will get on board. But many of them have also told me -- and this is a conversation, Brianna, I have had for weeks now -- that at some point they recognized inside the West Wing that the objectives between the U.S. and Israel were likely to diverge.

[13:10:08]

Trump has always felt that Netanyahu would end the war when he wanted to, when the president wanted to. We're starting to see really some of those tensions kind of come out publicly now amid the backdrop of this G7.

KEILAR: The president met on the sidelines with Ukrainian President Zelenskyy. That was a key moment. What more can you share with us on this, Alayna?

TREENE: That was really interesting because actually there was a question -- an overheard conversation actually earlier in the day between the French president, Emmanuel Macron, and Zelenskyy, where it was clear they were trying to organize some sort of meeting between the Ukrainian leader and President Trump.

They ultimately did meet. Look, before that meeting, you heard the president say that he believes Russia needs to make a deal and that it's on Russia now to really come to the table. Zelenskyy emerged from this meeting saying that he had a positive talk with President Trump.

One of the things he said they discussed was air defense systems. He said essentially, Zelenskyy, that every single G7 leader was supportive in that effort, but really it's on the United States, they have the production, and that he needs assistance from President Donald Trump.

But he believed, he said, that they had a positive conversation that could potentially lead to that, all of this, though, really important, given Trump has even admitted that his mind has not been on Russia and Ukraine. It has been on Iran.

But it comes at a time when we know that Ukraine is doing pretty well and taking back a lot of land that Russia had gained in this war. According to the U.N., from the U.N. Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, at least 274 civilians were killed and 1,763 injured last month, essentially also noting that it's took back more land than Russia seized for the first time since August 2024.

So, clearly a big part of this summit that many G7 leaders really want to focus on our next couple of days, Brianna.

KEILAR: All right, Alayna Treene, thank you so much for that report.

Ahead, we have some new details about that deadly airplane crash at Edwards Air Force Base. We have now learned that eight crew members were on board that B-52 bomber when it went down.

And then, later: Is it OK to track your adult child's location? Why many parents admit they do it. We will talk about it.

That and much more coming up on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:16:30]

KEILAR: Turning back now to one of our top stories, U.S. intel agencies have assessed that Iran can effectively shut down access to the Strait of Hormuz at will from now on.

This essentially hands to Iran a powerful new ability to hurt the global economy as a result of the war, according to three sources familiar with the findings.

Let's talk about this with Mark Esper. He's the former defense secretary under President Trump. He's a partner at Red Cell Venture Capital.

What do you think about those findings, considering -- and, again, we do not know the text of whatever this memorandum of understanding is -- but considering that the president is touting that the strait will be toll-free and that traffic will be moving again?

MARK ESPER, FORMER U.S. DEFENSE SECRETARY: Well, good afternoon, Brianna.

First of all, you raise the immediate question of what's in the text, which we don't know. And I think it's important that we all see that soon before commenting too much.

But it is true that President Trump said there will be no tolls, but the Iranians have said there will be fees for things such as insurance and for monitoring or managing traffic in the strait. So we need to see what that says, because that will be a very important issue, the sovereignty of the strait.

Now, with regard to the second issue, with regard to -- I'm sorry. I lost track of your question with regard to the broader point.

KEILAR: Oh, no, the -- just the issue of that they're essentially saying that Iran still has control of the strait.

ESPER: Yes.

KEILAR: I mean, if they're opening it at this point, it's because they can say later at any point, we're going to close it. I mean, that's -- I suppose that's to be expected, but that's

incredibly concerning.

ESPER: Yes.

And that is true. I mean, we have had anonymous reports coming out of the intelligence community that have made their way into the press saying that, while the U.S. military has done a whole lot of damage to their convention of military, they still retain a significant supply of missiles and drones and other things, like small ships, small fast boats and naval sea mines, that can threaten or attack commercial shipping.

And so, in some ways, while this whole four months of conflict started with the aim to prevent Iran from eventually obtaining a nuclear weapon, in some ways, they have achieved a nuclear option.

And that is they now know that by threatening the Strait of Hormuz or even shooting missiles at our -- at the Arab states, attacking their oil infrastructure, they can threaten and blackmail others in the region, which is really a big purpose of having a nuclear weapon, is to blackmail, more than is to use it, in many ways.

And so they have achieved that. They know they can use it, and they can use it more than once over and over based on what is happening. So, in some ways, we may have to adapt to this new normal with regard to how we deal with Iran going forward, not just us, but Israel, the Arab states, et cetera, because they could at any point in time threaten to close up the Strait of Hormuz and knowing what that would entail.

So this is a new development. This is going to be a negative consequence coming out of this conflict that we're going to have to learn to deal with.

KEILAR: Yes, it's a Damocles sword now just sort of hanging over everyone here.

Barak Ravid of Axios has new reporting overnight that CIA Director Ratcliffe told the president that, based on intel evidence, there are doubts about Iran's willingness to make the nuclear concession that the U.S. is seeking. The president has said that the next phase of negotiations with Iran will be easier than the initial round that led to the recent announced memorandum of understanding.

[13:20:02]

How are you seeing this?

ESPER: No, I think the next round will be far more difficult. It'll be very technical. It'll get to the heart of what Iran wants to do, which is preserve the ability to develop and break out a nuclear program, which is what many Republicans, myself included, had concerns about the JCPOA.

And, already, we know that President Trump, within I think 24 hours of the signing of the deal on Sunday, said, well, we will allow the Iranians to retain some degree of civilian enrichment of uranium. Well, that allows them to continue to do research and development and refine their skills.

So, look, I am convinced, after studying and watching Iran now for 20, 25 years, that they will work hard to retain their advantages and options in the agreement and that the agreement really won't be worth much unless we have inspectors on the ground, inspections on a moment's notice, snap inspections, cameras, all the monitoring that will give us some degree of confidence that the Iranians are abiding by whatever agreement comes out of this.

Because, otherwise, we have no reason to trust them whatsoever.

KEILAR: I wonder how you're seeing the Israel piece of this, because the president said this morning that Netanyahu needs to be more responsible with respect to Lebanon. He's obviously taking on Hezbollah in Lebanon.

He also suggested that Syria might do a better job, that's how he put it, in dealing with Hezbollah than Israel. What's the message that he's sending there?

ESPER: Yes, I think the Israeli conflict in Lebanon against Hezbollah is the immediate spoiler today and in the coming weeks with regard to this agreement.

I think this -- what brought us to the table again over the last week was the fact that Israel was striking targets against Hezbollah in downtown Beirut. That's when Iran said, the deal is off. They paused. President Trump, I think, got Bibi back on the plan, and then Iranians came to the table.

Now we know today the Iranians are saying, hey, look, this deal is in jeopardy unless Israel pulls out Lebanon. I don't see Israel pulling out Lebanon at all. I mean, they are -- Iran and Hezbollah present an existential threat to Israel. And so Bibi cannot afford to pull out, and certainly not while they're shooting missiles and rockets and drones into Northern Israeli towns and cities and villages.

And if you look at politically, 60, 70, 80 percent of the Israeli people want to continue the war, are concerned about Hezbollah on the northern border in Southern Lebanon. So, look, I think a lot of pressure is being put on the Israelis. I think it's fine to get them to moderate their behavior to some degree.

But I think we should be putting a whole lot more pressure on Hezbollah and, in fact, demanding that they live up to U.N. Security Council resolutions and other agreements going back 20 years that said that they would disarm, that they would pull back north of the Litani River, that they would do other things that they have always failed to live up to.

So, in my mind, Hezbollah is the big spoiler here. Actions in Lebanon, I think Syria having a role is a nonstarter, given the history there. So, to me, this is the place to watch is Israel, Lebanon and Hezbollah in the coming days and weeks.

KEILAR: Yes, it just illuminates what a difficult point this negotiation really is at, not an easier one here.

Secretary Esper, thank you so much for being with us.

And coming up: the vice president going on "The View" and admitting to being a -- quote -- "conspiracy theorist" when it comes to Jeffrey Epstein.

Plus, it was supposed to be American flag blue, but the newly refurbished Reflecting Pool has visitors seeing green. What the Trump administration says about what has happened here and about when this will be resolved -- ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:27:00]

SANCHEZ: Today, Vice President J.D. Vance faced some serious tough table talk as he made his debut on "The View."

The vice president was promoting his new book, "Communion," on finding his faith. He initially tried to use humor to break the ice with the hosts, several of whom are liberal-leaning. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

J.D. VANCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This is a show of MAGA Republicans, right? That's what my media team told me.

(CROSSTALK)

(LAUGHTER)

VANCE: OK. Good.

WHOOPI GOLDBERG, CO-HOST, "THE VIEW": Well, we will find out.

(LAUGHTER)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: "The View" hosts then grilled the V.P. on issues of the day, starting with affordability and inflation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANA NAVARRO, CO-HOST, "THE VIEW": ... said he loves the inflation.

VANCE: What he said, Ana, what he said is that he loves the fact that the inflation is going to come down when this war is over. That's what he said.

(CROSSTALK)

GOLDBERG: That's not what he said. That's not what he said. But that's OK.

(CROSSTALK)

JOY BEHAR, CO-HOST, "THE VIEW": Wait. Are you his interpreter or are you his vice president?

(LAUGHTER)

BEHAR: Come on.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: CNN chief media analyst Brian Stelter joins us now.

Brian, a lot of laughter on that set. What were your takeaways?

BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA ANALYST: What a rarity in today's politics. It was really refreshing. It was the vice president stepping into hostile territory, fielding questions from co-hosts of "The View," who are daily critics of the Trump administration's actions.

But it was mostly a civil conversation. And that's all too rare on American TV these days. We try to have it here on CNN. It happens on "NEWSNIGHT" every night, but it almost never happens elsewhere on television. So it was refreshing to see Vance field these questions.

He was able to defend the administration's record on some answers. He was able to dodge other questions. And as you heard from Joy Behar, there was some of it about misinterpretation or interpretation. And there was a lot of interpreting going on.

One of the most telling and newsworthy moments came in a conversation about Jeffrey Epstein, Vance confirming some of the details in Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan's forthcoming book, "Regime Change," where the book indicates that Susie Wiles described Vance as a conspiracy theorist when it comes to the Epstein files.

Here's what Vance said, basically confirming that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VANCE: There are things that are true, things that are false, and things that are totally missing context.

SUNNY HOSTIN, CO-HOST, "THE VIEW": What part of it is true?

VANCE: Well, here's what I will say.

So, number one, I am, frankly, kind of a conspiracy theory on the Epstein stuff.

(END VIDEO CLIP)