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CNN Obtains Draft Agreement; Congressional Staffers go to Maxwell's Prison; Running the Numbers on Georgia; Harold Jones is Interviewed about Georgia Maps; Madison Mills is Interviewed about Interest Rates; Michael Rubin is Interviewed about the Knicks Championship. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired June 17, 2026 - 08:30   ET

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

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[08:31:26]

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right, our breaking news this morning. CNN obtained a draft of the 14-point agreement between the U.S. and Iran. And some critical details are nowhere to be found. The language states broadly that Iran, quote, "reiterates that it will never produce nuclear weapons." But what happens to Iran's stockpile of highly enriched uranium? The draft doesn't say. And there's a lot more to break down in all of this.

CNN's Kevin Liptak live this morning in Geneva.

Look, one of the things that I think stands out to a lot of us as you look at this agreement in Iran, upon signing this MOU, can start selling oil again. What stands out to you from the agreement?

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Right. And the text, and it is a draft text, and we have to emphasize that, the text specifies that the U.S. will put some waivers in place to allow them to export that oil as soon as this memo is signed. And I think it just gives you a sense of some of the topics that are included in here.

You know, the two sides they're going to meet this week. They are going to sign this thing formally on Friday. And so, it's entirely possible that some of this language is not final and that it might not be reflected in the final document that they will release after it is inked.

But it does give you a sense, essentially, of what they're working from here. You know, this is the 14 points. And I think when it comes to some of that financial relief, it does lay out, in some detail, what Iran can expect, including that $300 billion reconstruction fund that it would be able to access once it fulfills its commitments in this deal.

Now, we have heard President Trump repeatedly during his time here at the G7 kind of railing against that idea. And what U.S. officials say is that the United States would not put money behind that, that this would come from other countries. But it does, I think, spell out part of what Iran thinks it will be able to expect as part of this agreement.

Now, when it comes to the nuclear issue, and this is, I think, at the end of the day, the heart of why the president started this war in the first place. The draft text that we have obtained does not get into much detail about what Iran will commit to, besides saying that "Iran reiterates that it will never produce nuclear weapons." You know, it made that commitment in the preamble of the Obama era nuclear deal. So, that's something that it has committed to before.

But it pushes off some of the thornier issues. And in particular, what will become of Iran's stockpile of highly enriched uranium for these future technical talks. And, in fact, it doesn't really specify with any detail what will become of that stockpile. You know, President Trump has said that the United States will oversee its destruction, but that clearly is something that the two sides believe they will be working out over the next 60 days.

Now, we have been talking to officials about the text of this agreement. And in a lot of ways they're trying to downplay the language itself. One official told us that people shouldn't read too much into the language of the MOU. And they say that they have gotten backchannel commitments from Iran, not reflected in the language of the deal, that does give some assurances, for example, on the enriched uranium. And so that is why they appear so confident in it.

Now, President Trump just said in the last hour, this deal is not final. We'll have to see exactly what the text looks like when they release it on Friday. But this draft text, I think, gives us a better sense of what exactly is in play here.

Sara.

SIDNER: Yes. And ultimately it's an MOU. Of course it's not the final deal. There are so many details that have to be ironed out.

[08:35:03]

Kevin Liptak, thank you so much for your reporting through all of that and getting some new information to us.

John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, new details this morning about the federal prison camp in Texas where Ghislaine Maxwell is now serving out her sentence. Democratic members of the House Oversight Committee say they visited the camp personally and have reported back.

Let's get right to CNN's Annie Grayer, who has heard from them.

Annie, what are they saying?

ANNIE GRAYER, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Well, John, they left with more questions than answers here and are very frustrated by what they found. So, staff from the House Oversight and Judiciary Committee, the Democratic staff, went to visit the prison that Ghislaine Maxwell is currently serving her sentence. And they described this prison as sort of like a community college with lots of green open spaces. And they said that they learned, after talking to the warden, that Maxwell is the only woman who is a convicted sex offender at this prison of the more than 600 women who are currently also at that facility.

But these staffers apparently ran into a lot of roadblocks when they were trying to ask basic questions, like why Ghislaine Maxwell was transferred to this prison, or who made that decision.

Take a listen to the top Democrat on the Oversight Committee, Robert Garcia, what he told our team last night about his staff's visit.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ROBERT GARCIA (D-CA): We asked the warden today about Ghislaine Maxwell being a -- essentially a sexual predator, being a sex offender. He mentioned to us that she is the only of the 600 plus women that are there, she is the only convicted sex offender at that facility. And he could not answer and does not know why she was actually moved there.

That is outrageous. This is a cover up. And Todd Blanche should explain who directed the move and why she's in this facility.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRAYER: Now, all of this hangs over Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche. He was the one who interviewed Ghislaine Maxwell. And then shortly after that, Maxwell was transferred to this lower security prison.

Now, Blanche is currently trying to be confirmed to be -- to permanently serve in the role of attorney general. And former Attorney General Pam Bondi, when she was interviewed by the House Oversight Committee, said that Blanche should be the one to answer questions about Maxwell's prison transfer. So, Democrats want to hear from Blanche. And we'll see if this comes up in his confirmation hearing.

BERMAN: I bet you it will. I bet you it will. I'm taking the over on that.

Annie Grayer, on Capitol Hill this morning for us, thank you very much.

I also bet that the acting attorney general, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, will be prepared for those questions.

All right, we're getting some late-night election results from Georgia in the race for Senate there. Republican Congressman Mike Collins will face off against the Democratic incumbent, Jon Ossoff, in November. Collins won the primary last night. And in the race for governor, Rick Jackson won the Republican nomination. He will face former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, a Democrat in the general election in November.

But let's talk about Georgia. CNN chief data analyst Harry Enten is here. Because I spent a lot of time at magic walls -- HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: Yes. Yes.

BERMAN: Talking about Georgia for the last six years. It really has been, in some ways, the most representative state in the country, the most interesting state in the country. Let's just talk about the odds for the Democrats going into November there, which would be holding a Senate seat, flipping the governor's mansion.

ENTEN: You know, this may be the most promising year for Democrats in a midterm cycle since I was at least yay high, the longest since I was in middle school, the longest for this entire 21st century.

What are we talking about? Well, we're talking about the fact that if you look at the chance that the -- that the Democrats win both governor and Senate, look at that, Keisha Lance Bottoms, you mentioned, a 52 percent chance of winning the governorship there. And then Jon Ossoff, a clear favorite on the Senate side, an 82 percent chance. Remember when he won back in 2020. his first term, into 2021. He won in the runoff in 2021. It was a real fight. This is indicating that he is a clear favorite. He is the first Democrat to be a clear favorite for a Senate race in a generation.

BERMAN: I was up all night counting those numbers on the magic wall.

ENTEN: Yes.

BERMAN: And it was five votes here, five votes there. Now an 82 percent chance to win there. It's been a long time since Democrats won both a Senate seat and a governor's mansion in the same election.

ENTEN: Yes. So, you know, you see blue here. This is a close race. This is a toss-up. But the mere fact that Bottoms has a real shot of winning. And then Ossoff being a clear favorite here.

You know, I had to go back through the record books. The last time that in the same year a Democrat won both the governor's race and the Senate race in Georgia was 36 years ago. It was 1990. You had Sam Nunn winning reelection. You had Zell Miller being elected governor for the first time.

[08:40:02]

Of course, Zell Miller became considerably more conservative down the road. But what we are looking at right now, the potential is for an historic election in Georgia for Democrats. The first time potentially since all the way back in 1990 in which they won both the governor's race and the Senate race in the same year. Georgia looking a lot more blue than at least during my lifetime and usually is (INAUDIBLE).

BERMAN: It was a very different Georgia back then.

ENTEN: Very different.

BERMAN: These were very different candidates back then. And you can almost see that change or the change shifting blue over the years in Georgia, Harry. ENTEN: Yes, you know, when I was a kid, people would refer to Georgia

being, you know, a blue state back in the day, but I only remember it being a red state. I'm going to make this a four right here. How much more Republican that Georgia leans than the U.S. and presidential elections? Back in 2012, Georgia was 12 points more Republican. 2016, seven. Then four. And then just one this past cycle. Georgia is moving to the left as migrant patterns take place in the United States, as white college degree folks around the Atlanta suburbs move to the left, Georgia becoming more and more purplish, dare I say blue this cycle. And that is why it wouldn't be surprising to me if you get a twofer. Democrats winning both the governorship and the Senate races because Georgia is moving left. You see it on the presidential level quite well.

BERMAN: Just as representative of the country. In some ways, as Georgia goes, so goes the nation there.

There's one other number that may factor into this Senate race, at least in Georgia.

ENTEN: Yes, one other little nugget. Who has raised the most money for any Senate nominee in the entire country? It's Jon Ossoff with $60 million. I think he might be a prolific fundraiser, maybe something he might be using down the line in 2028 if he runs for president. Georgia may be telling for the future, at least for this gentleman.

BERMAN: That's a lot of money.

ENTEN: It's a lot of do, re, mi.

BERMAN: All right, Harry Enten, thank you very much.

ENTEN: Thank you, my friend.

BERMAN: Sara.

SIDNER: All right, thank you both.

Sticking with Georgia. In a few hours, lawmakers are set to return to the Georgia state capitol for a special session that could have a major impact on the peach state's voting maps. Republican Governor Brian Kemp called the session to withdraw congressional maps across the state in the wake of the recent Supreme Court decision that weakened key protections for many Americans, particularly black Americans, under the Voting Rights Act. This special session will also address how votes will be counted in future elections.

With me now, Democratic lawmaker Harold Jones, the Georgia state senate minority leader.

Thank you so much for being here.

Look, you just heard us say Governor Kemp says this special session is about bringing Georgia's maps into line with the Supreme Court's recent ruling. So, if these changes are passed, are there winners and losers even before a ballot is cast? HAROLD JONES (D), GEORGIA STATE SENATE MINORITY LEADER: Absolutely.

That's exactly what the Republicans are trying to do is basically cheat and steal future elections. The fact of the matter is, we actually do have maps that are actually being litigated right now. They're in the 11th Circuit. They're still being litigated. The 11th Circuit actually told those litigants, hey, now that a Cali (ph) decision has been done, basically go back and brief that decision and come back and tell us what you think.

So, basically, the lines that we've had, they are being litigated but the Republicans don't want to wait. And that's very problematic. There is absolutely no reason for us to be here today talking about redrawing lines.

SIDNER: Let me ask you about what just happened in these elections yesterday. What is your biggest takeaway from what you saw? Because many of the people that President Trump endorsed actually won. And then you have this huge battle between two people, the incumbent, your Democratic senator, Jon Ossoff.

JONES: We think that Jon has a great opportunity to win. I saw one of your graphics say 82 percent. We -- basically 100 percent. We also think Keisha Lance Bottoms has a terrific opportunity to win. The fact of the matter is, we believe we will win statewide races this year. Quite frankly, we will win the United States Senate race, we will win the governor's race, and actually other down ballot races, too.

And that's part of why we're actually here. Although the redistricting lines won't affect those particular races, you can see that we're actually trending towards going towards more Democrat, going towards more progressive values, actually doing things that are good for Georgia's families. And that is why we're here actually talking about redrawing districts. It's an opportunity for republicans to try to actually cheat and still come back in 2028.

But the fact of the matter is, we're concentrating on November, and we think we're going to be able to win in November. It is going to take a lot of work, but we're -- at the end of the day, we believe that we will be victorious.

SIDNER: I do want to ask you about why you think Georgia is such a focal point, because the Trump administration also sent federal agents in to take -- pick up ballots from 2020, accusing Georgia of cheating there, though there is no evidence to show that. Why do you think Georgia is such a pivotal point, that so much money is going to be pouring into the state in these battles with the president? And this is video of that day when they went into Union City and took some of those ballots.

First of all, what's happening with that and what is your concern and what are your thoughts on why Georgia is such a focal point?

[08:45:06]

JONES: Still litigation on those particular ballots about what can be seen and not seen. But I think the focal point is because Georgia basically is going to dictate how other southern states are going to go. We have kind of like a history about that. You know, Georgia was actually the leader in the civil rights movement. And I think if Georgia actually goes more democrat, you'll see even more southern states go that way, too. I think that's part of his obsession with Georgia. And the fact of the matter is, I think this state being as diverse that it is, it's a good bellwether about where not only the south can go, but also the rest of the country.

So, I think that is one of the reasons why you see this obsession by the president over Georgia. And we realize that's actually going to make it more difficult. But we're ready for the fight. And we're ready to start fighting today and into next week all these maps. And at the same time, we'll go into November and fight to and actually win.

SIDNER: Yes, there are a lot of fights happening in the courts first before we get to November. We will be watching and I know you will be, Senator.

Thank you so much, Senator Harold Jones, for coming on early this morning for us.

JONES: Absolutely.

SIDNER: All right, a major decision today for the brand-new chairman of the Federal Reserve. Will he side with the president on interest rates? We are standing by to find out that answer.

And meet Merlin, Mexico's most famous duck and unofficial World Cup mascot. Oh, what a cutie.

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[08:50:30]

SIDNER: Later today it is interest rate decision day in Washington. The Federal Reserve widely expected to keep interest rates steady for the fourth consecutive meeting. However, all eyes will be on new Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh. President Trump appointed Warsh with a hard push for him to lower interest rates. Investors and economists will be listening closely for any clues on what Warsh's approach to monetary policy will be.

Joining me now is Madison Mills, senior reporter for "Axios."

So, initially we were reporting that the Federal Reserve is expected to sort of keep things the same. But is it? Because we know that, you know, Trump has been pushing and pushing and pushing and pushing. And one of the reasons why he wanted the former Fed out is because he wouldn't do Trump's bidding.

MADISON MILLS, SENIOR REPORTER, "AXIOS": Yes, exactly, Sara. And Kevin Warsh has to do the challenging job of sort of putting all of these factors together, right? You have a Federal Reserve that, to your point, had come into today with what we call an easing bias. What do we mean by that? Just the idea that they are looking at the possibility of cutting interest rates. But then you had all of these factors happening in our economy since

the Fed has signaled that easing bias. Obviously, this new chairman, you've got the war in Iran spiking energy prices, which the Fed hasn't weighed in on yet, and you also have the continued massive amount of spending from tech companies fueling more of a boom in our economy than a bust. And that's an inflationary pressure. And then, by the way, we've got hiring picking up. So, there's not a lot of dynamics to point to for Fed members and the chair himself to point to cutting interest rates, which, of course, is exactly what the president has been pushing for. So, it's a challenging dynamic for the Federal Reserve.

Of course, my sources would continue to reiterate that this is why you don't want a politicized Fed, because they should be making choices based on the actual state of the economy and not based on the wishes of anyone in any administration. But it's definitely a challenging tightrope for them to walk for sure.

SIDNER: It's very challenging because this is one of the places where the president is very outspoken and very pushy.

I do want to ask you about the agreement that we're hearing talked out. We've just gotten a look at a draft of the 14 points of this agreement. It is just an MOU. It is not the final deal. The president making that very obvious. And it was obvious to anyone looking at the sparse details in the -- in the information that we got. How are markets responding to all this?

MILLS: I mean, what's been fascinating about covering the stock market the last few years is that it continues to be so dogged in its focus on this A.I. rally and nothing else has really mattered that much. Yes, we've seen stocks moving ever so slightly off the back of energy spikes, for example. But earlier this week we had the market hitting its biggest high since April. SpaceX just surpassed Amazon as one of the top five biggest companies in the U.S. just days after going public. So, the focus of the stock market is very -- and investors is very much on this A.I. buildout and investors wanting to make sure that, OK, even if there are geopolitical tensions, even if there's inflationary pressures that the Fed is dealing with, investors don't want to miss out on this A.I. rally and they're willing to stay invested in spite of some of those other challenges that are coming up more broadly.

SIDNER: Yes. At other times in our history, if these, you know, gas prices and what's happening in the war, there would have been a major, major hit to the stock market. But A.I. has definitely impacted that and kept things really, really high with the stock market, over 50,000 now.

Madison Mills, it is always a pleasure. Thank you so much for coming on. Appreciate it.

All right, a Florida man on our radar tonight because -- today, this morning, because we just can't help ourselves. We always have to go to Florida, make it look bad. Arrested after he was caught on camera doing wheelies on an ATV with his eight-year-old on the back. This happened during an ATV street takeover back in April. Authorities identified the driver and arrested him just this week. Officials say they will continue investigating and arresting those involved in these street takeovers.

All right, the U.S. State Department says it is trying to help the mother of Cape Verdes goalkeeper to get to the United States so she can watch him play in the World Cup. Vozinha, who was the man of the match in Cape Verdes' shocking draw with Spain on Monday says his mother wasn't able to attend. I mean he was really upset about this because she could not afford the bond payment for a U.S. visa. Cape Verde is one of the 50 countries whose citizens are required by the U.S. to pay a bond of up to, get this, $15,000.

[08:55:10]

The Trump administration says the high price is due to high rates of people overstaying their visas.

All right, you've heard of Messi, of course. How could you not? And Ronaldo, of course. But have you heard of Merlin, an unexpected star of the World Cup stealing the show. Merlin the duck, the unofficial mascot for Mexico's World Cup run went viral after waddling the streets in his tiny Mexico jersey and custom duck sauce -- socks. I'm sure that he put those on himself. A street vendor says that the attention has been absolutely surreal. What started as a normal day turned the duck into a superstar. So cute, man.

BERMAN: It does beg the question, how does a duck get a shirt on and off, right?

SIDNER: I mean, yes. They're -- no arms. Like, this is complicated.

BERMAN: No arms. No arms. Try it. You just try to get that shirt on.

All right, thank you very much for that.

So, happening now, Knicks fans, they are in final preparations for the parade that will be in Manhattan tomorrow. This, by the way, is the first time that any basketball team has ever won a championship, or that there will ever be a parade. No, I jest, it happens every year. But this time it seems that it's different, right? At least from the coverage. At least from the interest. This was the highest rated finals in decades on TV. And Fanatics says the Knicks are now their top selling overall sports champions ever.

And with us now is Fanatics founder and CEO, Michael Rubin.

Great to see you this morning.

You know, I go to your site and order a kit all the time. Not for the Knicks, but for other teams.

Just quantify for me the interest in the Knicks. How you saw it as it was -- as it was happening.

MICHAEL RUBIN, FOUNDER AND CEO, FANATICS: Astronomical. I mean New York Knicks fans are the greatest. They are so passionate. I mean New York sports fans are incredible. They love their sports teams. But this is, you know, more than 50 years of desire and want. And you know what? When I saw the crying faces Saturday night when I took a jog to the NBA store that we own here in New York City Sunday morning and saw just thousands of fans inside, outside, buying anything they could get their hands on, you see why these are the greatest fans in the world.

And from a size perspective, this is the biggest, hot market we've ever had by a mile. This will be close to $100 million hot market for the New York Knicks. Far surpassing the Chicago Cubs when they won, surpassing the Eagles from a few years ago, surpassing the Dodgers. I mean, New York Knicks fans have shown up in the biggest way possible.

BERMAN: It was just like click, click, click, click, click, click like the minute that they won?

RUBIN: I think we did, in the first 24 hours, close to $50 million in business online alone. Forget about what we did in all the stores we have because we own Lids, we have the NBA store. So, that's just online sales only.

BERMAN: That is -- that's incredible. Is it because New York's just bigger, or is it more than that?

RUBIN: Look, I think Knicks fans are incredible. New York's an incredible sports town. And you've got more than 50 years of pent up demand. I mean, I was out at a watch party at my friend's club called Zero Bond and there were -- there were probably hundreds of people there. And I just -- after they won, I just looked around and so many people were literally like hysterical crying, so happy. The joy that people felt, it made me realize why I'm so lucky to do what I do every day.

BERMAN: Was there -- is there a best-selling product? Are they going for one thing over another?

RUBIN: I think championship t-shirts. Amazing. Many of the Mitchell and Ness products are doing incredible. Certainly hats to celebrate. You know, championship hat. Jerseys are always great. That -- some of the Topps trading cards from the different great moments of the Knicks winning have been incredible. And now we're really excited about having all the New York Knicks coming to Fanatics Fest July 16th to the 19th.

BERMAN: Yes, talk to me about Fanatics Fest, which will actually be going on during the World Cup. The finals are like July 19th, right? So, it's going to be happening at this sort of sports cosmic apex.

RUBIN: Yes. Well, we designed it that way. Normally Fanatics Fest is the weekend after Father's Day. And that's the best weekend on the sports calendar to do it each year. But here, with FIFA having the World Cup final in New York, we thought there was no better time to do this than July 16th through the 19th.

Now, this is the biggest sports festival in the world. It's one of a kind. There's nothing like this anywhere else in the world. We've done it two years prior. It's had three days. Now we're moving to a fourth day.

And I'll tell you, after we did this the first year, I was like, this is one of the coolest things we've ever done. Year two blew away year one. And when I just went through the content schedule last week, I'm like, I've never seen anything like this. You've got 400 of the biggest athletes, celebrities, artists, stars, all showing up at Fanatics Fest. You've got every sport in the world coming to Fanatics Fest. We're taking over all of -- in a lot of ways, all of New York, right in the middle of the World Cup final with so much excitement.

[08:59:58]

And by the way, the World Cup press conference that has always been in the stadium of where the final is, so you would think it would be at Metlife, they actually moved it to Fanatics Fest for the first time in the history of the World Cup because they