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Polls Finds 52 Percent of Parents Track Their Adult Children; U.S. Intel Assesses Iran Can Weaponize Strait at Will; Five People Charged in Alleged Plot Against White House UFC Fight; Trump and Zelenskyy Meet on Sidelines of G7 Summit in France; Trump Says Russia Should Make a Deal to End War With Ukraine; Algae in Reflecting Pool Just After $14 Million Renovation. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired June 16, 2026 - 14:00   ET

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

[14:00:00]

SARAH CLARK, CO-DIRECTOR, C.S. MOTT CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL NATIONAL POLL ON CHILDREN'S HEALTH: -- what's going on, even though the likelihood is that your young adult child is out there handling their business and it's just a different routine that day.

So I think that should make parents maybe wonder a little bit. If they're using location tracking and having times where they're getting anxious, they might wonder whether it's time to have a conversation about some boundaries or maybe give that young adult a chance to explain how they are handling their business.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": Leah, I wonder, you are a young adult and I wonder how you are thinking about these findings. Maybe you can even share with us your personal experience here.

I mean, do your parents track your locations? Do parents track the locations of your friends? Have you talked to your parents about these findings?

LEAH BEEL, RESEARCH ASSISTANT, C.S. MOTT CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL NATIONAL POLL ON CHILDREN'S HEALTH: Yeah, so personally, I track my parents. They track me. Definitely a two-way street. Almost all of my friends that I know, keeping in mind that they're young adults, mostly female, almost all of them have their location -- their parents have their location. So I think it's definitely very common among people that I'm talking to.

I talked to my parents about this. They were also surprised it was only about half. They would have expected it to be higher. They say that because I'm over a thousand miles away from them, it does give them some peace of mind. But if I asked them to stop sharing, to stop having our location, they definitely would. So I think it depends on the situation. It depends on if you're OK, if these young adults are OK with their parents having their location.

KEILAR: At what point do you think it is time to say, OK, mom and dad, maybe enough's enough? What do you think? BEEL: I think if they're constantly checking it, the reason I'm OK with my parents having my location is because they honestly rarely ever check it. It's only if I'm traveling, going somewhere new. So I think it's situations where parents start to hover and they start to just constantly check. That's where I think it can become more anxiety producing for both the child and the parent.

KEILAR: Yeah. So important, I think, this discussion. I think that your findings here are going to get a lot of people talking about where are the positives, where are the negatives, when is it OK, and when is it time to maybe wrap up this practice.

Sarah Clark and Leah Beel, great to speak with both of you. Thank you so much.

CLARK: Thanks for having us.

KEILAR: A new hour of "CNN News Central" starts right now.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": Weaponizing the Straits, U.S. intelligence has assessed that Iran can effectively shut down access to the Strait of Hormuz at will. Ahead, we're going to break down the impact that could have on the global economy.

Plus, this is not video from St. Patrick's Day on the National Mall. These are big algae blooms on the newly renovated reflecting pool in the National Mall. So what is causing this issue and what's being done to fix it?

Plus, a new chapter in the Sorsby saga. One of the most controversial athletes in college football taking his talents to the pros. But will any NFL team pick up a player who's admitted to placing bets on his own team? We're following these major developing stories and many more, all coming in right here to "CNN News Central."

We start this hour with Breaking News as President Trump takes a G7 victory lap on his agreement with Iran. CNN is learning there is new concern among U.S. intelligence agencies over what they conclude is Tehran's powerful new ability to disrupt the global economy whenever Tehran wants. Multiple sources say U.S. intel officials recently assessed that because of the war, Iran has been handed de facto control over the Strait of Hormuz and can from now on effectively shut it down at will.

One source calling it, quote, "A weapon more powerful than any nuke." We're joined now by CNN's Zach Cohen leading us off with his new reporting. So, Zach, what more can you tell us?

ZACHARY COHEN, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: Yeah, Boris, these U.S. intel assessments do really underscore the lasting impact of President Donald Trump's decision to launch this war without really fully accounting for Iran's willingness to shut down the Strait of Hormuz.

And now that Iran did take that step and we've seen the impact of that asymmetric capability really countering U.S. and Israeli military operations, the U.S. intelligence community is now trying to figure out what might prompt Iran from closing the Strait of Hormuz in the future. And that is something that the U.S. intelligence agencies agree that is now viewed by Iran as a lever they can pull when they choose to.

And originally, they made the decision to close the Strait, one that surprised many within the Trump administration, even though Iran had been threatening to do that for years. The U.S. did not have the military capabilities in place to deter Iran from doing that. But now that threshold is not regime survival, maybe in the same way that it was at the beginning of this conflict. They've seen the way they've been able to disrupt the entire global economy just with a few missiles, drones, and the threat of mines in the Strait.

And they still have plenty of all of those in their arsenal, despite the fact that the U.S. has degraded their military capabilities significantly.

[14:05:00]

So this remains really a card that Iran not only has to continue to play in these negotiations, which obviously central to this framework agreement, but down the line. And U.S. intelligence agencies are really re-assessing and re-evaluating their understanding of how Iran could deploy this in the future.

Now, a senior administration official though telling us that in the short term, they don't believe that Iran really could hold on to the Strait much longer and they told us that they think the reason Iran is willing to make this memorandum of understanding, this temporary agreement is because they felt like that leverage was slipping.

But again, with those remaining military capabilities, with the regime intact and with the Strait of Hormuz effectively under their control, we're told that by sources that they can turn it on and off at will. It just depends on when they choose do that.

SANCHEZ: Well, it is notable given the discrepancies in the public statements about that memorandum being that the U.S. says that there is going to be the free flow of traffic. Iran says that they are going to charge for that.

COHEN: Absolutely.

SANCHEZ: Zach Cohen, thanks so much for that reporting. Brianna?

KEILAR: Newly unsealed court documents revealing alleged plans to attack Sunday's UFC event at the White House. Federal charges have been filed against five people accused of taking part in the plot. The suspects allegedly connected online and identify as ex-military and Christian-based.

According to the criminal complaint, the group discussed using drones and sniper positions in their attack. Roughly 100,000 people, including President Trump, attended the UFC event on the White House South Lawn and the Ellipse. CNN's Brian Todd is here with details on this. What are you learning, Brian?

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brianna, it's not clear right now just how far along this alleged plot really was, but the details from the criminal complaints are pretty concerning here. According to one criminal complaint, this alleged plot involved explosive-laden drones, as Brianna mentioned, and plans to use snipers to shoot people at the UFC event after those drones were detonated.

The Justice Department has charged five people now across California, West Virginia, Nebraska, and Ohio. One complaint says the mother of one of the defendants, that's 19-year-old Tycen Proper from Knox County, Ohio, you see him there, that his mother called police on June 10th, four days before the UFC event, and said she was concerned about her son because of his recent conduct, including firearms purchases and communicating with radical individuals online.

The complaint says when investigators interviewed Tycen Proper, he admitted to planning a coordinated attack with others against people at the UFC event. The complaint says Proper described a plan to stage a demonstration on the north side of the White House during the event, and that while that demonstration was taking place, they would fly drones laden with explosive devices, which would detonate over the north side of that UFC arena, that temporary arena.

Then the complaint says the intent was to force the crowd, including government officials and other VIPs, to evacuate to the south end, where snipers would then fire at them. It's not clear how much preparation for the alleged plot really existed beyond private messages.

The Secret Service Deputy Director said a short time ago, there are still other suspects at large who they're working to identify.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MATT QUINN, DEPUTY DIRECTOR, SECRET SERVICE: There are still suspects at large, and we're going to work it until everyone's been identified. It was a serious threat. We take all threats of a large nature very seriously, and we investigate them until we can validate a hundred percent that it's no longer a threat. It was an active plot, and it's ongoing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TODD: Now the charges here against these people include conspiracy to murder and conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States. As for this one defendant, Tycen Proper, the complaint does not say that he actually purchased any drones, but it does say he did purchase multiple firearms and ammunition. Proper has not yet entered a plea. CNN has tried to reach a public defender listed for him.

The details here, Brianna, pretty concerning. If they had been able to pull off even a little bit of a measure of this plan, it could have been disastrous. KEILAR: Certainly. Brian, thank you so much for those details.

Still to come, Ukrainian President, Zelenskyy meeting with President Trump on the sidelines of the G7 and walking away encouraged by what he heard. We have details on the weapons he says Trump may be able to help with.

And then later, rising flood dangers along the Gulf Coast, where a tropical system could become the first named storm of the Atlantic hurricane season. All of that and much more coming up on "CNN News Central."

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[14:13:45]

KEILAR: Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy is making the rounds at the G7 Summit in France, meeting world leaders while trying to secure more air defenses in his country's war against Russia.

President Trump spoke with Zelenskyy on the sidelines of the Summit, and before his arrival, Trump vowed to refocus his efforts on ending the four-year-long war now that he's reached a possible agreement, a tentative agreement with Iran. Ukraine has made major ground gains on the battlefield here in recent months. Russia has retaliated.

Russia has killed and injured more civilians in May than any other month since the spring of 2022, shortly after it launched its invasion, according to the U.N. Before his meeting with Zelenskyy, President Trump said this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Look, Russia should make a deal. Russia has lost tremendous amounts of people, and so has Ukraine. It has no impact on us, other than we sell weapons. We're thousands of miles away.

But the only reason I'm in, I don't like to see 25,000 young people die every month. The whole thing is ridiculous. So, yeah, I'm going to do whatever I can.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Let's talk about this now with former U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine, Bill Taylor. And first off, let's kind of put the battlefield gains of Ukraine into context here, so we can talk about what Zelenskyy's position was going into this meeting with Trump.

[14:15:00]

WILLIAM TAYLOR, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO UKRAINE: So, as you indicated, Brianna, they've taken back more territory in the last month and a half than the Russians have gained. They have fired more weapons deep into Russia than the Russians have fired into Ukraine and the Ukrainians have frankly killed or badly wounded more Russians than the Russians can recruit.

So the battlefield and the war is actually going better for the Ukrainians. We're not talking about a big breakthrough yet, but it's certainly going better. The Russians are on the back foot and the Ukrainians are on the front foot.

KEILAR: That's really interesting. And Zelenskyy, I think he feels that going into this meeting that he's had here, right? He said he got a positive response from Trump when he asked about missiles. He wants licenses so that Ukraine can actually produce Patriot missiles for air defense. If Ukraine does get what it needs, considering how it's doing right now on the battlefield, is that something that could maybe be more of a turning point or a breakthrough?

TAYLOR: It could be. That's their big vulnerability. That's Ukraine's big vulnerability right now. They cannot -- they don't have enough of these Patriot missiles to shoot down the ballistic missiles coming in from Russia. And so, you see that every night and you just report the number of civilians being killed. That's all that the Russians can do. They can target civilians.

They targeted the Pechersk Lavra, this monastery in Kyiv overnight. That's what they can do. The Ukraine is doing well on the battlefield. They do need Patriot missiles. If they could manufacture them, that would be good. They're working on their own version of Patriots, both themselves and with some of the Europeans.

KEILAR: When you see Russia responding as it does, I mean, in a very heinous way targeting civilians like that, does that factor into how President Trump sees this conflict in your experience or no?

TAYLOR: Hard to say what factors into President Trump's consciousness, but he just says he doesn't like to see people killed.

KEILAR: He said young people, right? So he seems to be talking more about the soldiers who are fighting.

TAYLOR: And he uses 25,000. It turns out actually that there are more than 25,000 Russians killed and wounded every day. There are probably 30,000 to 35,000 Russians killed every day. He doesn't want to see that, but he doesn't want to see the Ukrainians. Ukrainians are losing people too, not as much, but so maybe he has some concern about people dying.

KEILAR: These are unbelievable numbers though, right? And he certainly does want to be seen as a leader who is bringing peace. He'd love to broker a deal. At the same time, there is this Iran War. There is a memorandum of understanding, that is true, right? We've seen the big fighting reduce, but so many air defense munitions have been spent in the course of this war. Does that affect this ask by Ukraine or what help the U.S. can provide?

TAYLOR: You know, I think it could, Brianna, it could. I mean, there were a large number of these Patriot missiles going to the Middle East, going to Iran and going to defend in Iran, but also to allies. That, we can assume, demand for those missiles is down, and that should free up some to go to where the people are really dying because of these missiles coming from Russia. So maybe that frees up some of these weapons to go to Ukraine.

KEILAR: Ultimately, this may come down to how President Trump wants to help Ukraine, right? Or doesn't.

TAYLOR: We, the United States, President Trump, the Trump administration, frankly, is less important to this, to the outcome of this war than was true a year ago. A year ago --

KEILAR: Explain that. That he sort of abdicated that role a bit?

TAYLOR: He -- there's been nothing going on in negotiations. He is not providing any weapons. He's allowing Ukrainians and Europeans to buy weapons from U.S. manufacturers, but the U.S. is not playing a big role now. The people playing big role are the Ukrainians and the Europeans, and they're going to have a bigger say, I think, than the Americans on how this war ends.

KEILAR: Ambassador Bill Taylor, always great to have you to talk about this. Thank you so much.

TAYLOR: Thanks, Brianna.

KEILAR: Still to come, what's going on with the newly renovated Reflecting Pool on the National Mall. We're going to get to the bottom of that stubborn algae problem that's making the water green instead of blue.

I have a fish tank, so I have some thoughts, and I'll share them ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:23:47]

SANCHEZ: After touting the renovation of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool and spending more than $14 million, the White House is now facing a problem that has haunted previous administrations, algae. This is what the pool looks like today. It's bright Kelly green. Crews and waiters have been cleaning it, and the Interior Department says it has installed a state-of-the-art filtration system known as the ozone nanobubbler. Workers have also been seen pouring gallons of hydrogen peroxide inside.

KEILAR: But in the meantime, take a look at this picture from the air that we have captured. Let's zoom in here, Dennis, if you will. And OK, you say, oh, look at this beautiful patch of grass. No, that is the Reflecting Pool. It's green. OK? It should be blue. All right. It's not blue.

This is blue. This part of the airplane. OK, that is blue.

This is blue.

SANCHEZ: That looks like a hot dog. KEILAR: That is green. OK? That is very, very, very green. And that is not what you want it to be, because keep in mind, this is happening just days after the pool reopened. It's not what visitors may have expected after such a big overhaul.

But I don't know, maybe our next guest, Steve Goodale, who is a swimming pool and spa expert, also known as "Swimming Pool Steve" on his YouTube channel.

[14:25:00]

I don't know, Steve, maybe this is and we thank you so much for coming on to talk about this -- maybe this is what you expected a week after this. They're saying it's residual algae that came from supply lines that had sat dormant during the renovations. Does that make sense to you?

STEVE GOODALE, SWIMMING POOL & SPA EXPERT: Well, thank you for having me. Yes, I would say it definitely is a concern. It was something that you would hope to not happen with a project like this, but the reality is, is you're dealing with an open-air environment here and a massive one at that. And when you deal with things like rain, unusually high levels of heat, this alone could easily cause green water in a shallow water environment like this that's just open to, you know, all manner of organic debris that will blow in and pollen, duck poop, all this stuff is certainly going to supercharge the growth of any algae, and getting in front of that is very important.

And I think maybe it's most likely a situation here where algae existing in the existing lines from before the renovation would be a contributing factor, but even more so, I would say the weather conditions, the hot weather, the rainy weather, these things certainly didn't help.

SANCHEZ: Yeah, so again, the Department of Interior says that they installed this state-of-the-art filtration system, the ozone nanobubbler. They say the algae is dead and being vacuumed up as we speak. Help us understand what that nanobubbler is, what it means. Does it make a difference if the algae is now dead and being scooped up?

GOODALE: Certainly, the nanobubbler system is a really interesting technology. What the average person might equate this to would be like an ozone system, very popular for a residential swimming pool. But the nano aspect is interesting because the limiting factor of an ozone system is contact time with the water. You make a bubble of ozone and it passes through the water and then escapes, and hopefully it contacts some bacteria or organic debris along the way.

A nano system like this designs a bubble that's so tiny that it's neutrally buoyant. It remains perpetually in the water, doing its job oxidizing any contaminants that are in there. But the fight against algae is such that once the algae gets started, it really grows prolifically, especially if you give it the right conditions like really warm weather and a bunch of extra contaminants like rainwater. And that's the situation I think that we're dealing with here. SANCHEZ: Yeah.

KEILAR: Yeah, let's give you June in Washington, D.C. and a whole lot of sunlight here going into the solstice, right? OK, so you have this nanobubbler and a lot of people were noting that workers were pouring gallons of hydrogen peroxide in the pool this morning. Is that something that will fix the problem here?

GOODALE: Yeah, potentially that it could -- it could. I mean like it's going to come down to the amount that they're adding. This is some 6.5 million gallons of water we're talking about here. So that's a lot of bottles of anything that you'd have to add, but the hydrogen peroxide is an oxidizer itself in the same way that the nanobubbler system is.

So the two systems are essentially the same thing, just a different approach to it. One being a liquid that's physically added to the water. So kind of like a turbocharge button to get some of that oxidizing action happening here. And it is definitely a legitimate process for dealing with an open-water environment like this where you can't use something that would be more harmful like chlorine, which you would find, you know in a residential swimming pool.

But that wouldn't be good for the local wildlife. So that's not the kind of system that you would use here.

KEILAR: This is fascinating, Steve. And we thank you so much for being with us. We're going to see if they get a handle on this.

GOODALE: Thank you.

KEILAR: And I suspect that Swimming Pool Steve, you will be joining us again soon, if you don't mind coming back.

GOODALE: Oh, wonderful. Absolutely.

(LAUGH)

KEILAR: All right. We'll see you soon. We'll see you soon then. Thanks to you.

SANCHEZ: Appreciate you, Steve.

(LAUGH)

GOODALE: Thank you.

KEILAR: Still to come, President Trump warning Israel to rein in its operations in Lebanon. What this could mean for the tentative deal with Iran.

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