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Senate Intelligence Chairman Says Clayton's DNI Hearing is Off; Trump Cancels DNI Hearings, Urges Lawmakers to Pass Voter ID Bill; Serial Killer Rex Heuermann Gets Life in Prison Without Parole. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired June 17, 2026 - 13:30   ET

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

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[13:30:50]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": Confirmation confusion on Capitol Hill. About an hour, just one hour before it was set to start, Senate Intelligence Chairman, Tom Cotton announced that Jay Clayton's hearing to serve as Director of National Intelligence has been postponed. This move came after President Trump told Clayton not to show up.

The president posted on Truth Social that Bill Pulte, his controversial Acting Intel Chief, will stay in the job until Clayton's replacement as Manhattan U.S. Attorney is confirmed. Trump also vows that he will not re-authorize FISA. It's a critical U.S. spying power, of course, unless lawmakers attach his SAVE America Act, requiring proof of citizenship and photo ID to vote, an unrelated bill. He later doubled down on that.

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DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: That's all we want. It's not a lot. The SAVE America Act, and that can be passed any way they want to pass it, but I'm not going to sign FISA unless it's done. And this was like a rush act, and it was a rush act by the Democrats. All of a sudden, they want to get -- and why are they afraid of this guy? I mean, they're so afraid of him, they'll do anything not to have Pulte go in there. He's a very capable guy, and they're worried about that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Joining us now to discuss is former CIA Case Officer, Kevin Carroll. We should note that Kevin has an ongoing case against the DNI.

Kevin, what is your reaction to the president holding this up just an hour before the confirmation process was about to get started?

KEVIN CARROLL, FORMER CIA CASE OFFICER: I've never seen anything like it. I mean, occasionally there will be a congressional hearing where a witness from outside the government doesn't show up, and they'll put the nameplate up and you sort of criticize the guy in his absence to embarrass him. There have been cases where executive branch officials have taken the Fifth Amendment at a hearing, just a few of those, but I can't recall any confirmation hearing with the nominee being pulled back at the last second.

KEILAR: So with Jay Clayton as DNI, just him as that pick, if he does get a confirmation hearing, if he does proceed, what are your thoughts on him?

CARROLL: So he's qualified. You know, he headed the Sullivan & Cromwell law firm, which another CIA Director, Allen Dulles, had been a partner there back in the day. He headed the SEC. Another former SEC Chairman, Bill Casey, became CIA Director. And you know, then most recently he's been running the U.S. Attorney's office for the Southern District of New York, which does a

lot of national security work. So he's qualified for the office.

He's said some things as U.S. attorney which were pretty political, more than you'd typically get out of the Southern District, but he's certainly qualified.

KEILAR: So as I mentioned, this FISA re-authorization, it's mostly Democrats who have held up FISA Section 702, the re-authorization of it, over the Bill Pulte pick as Acting DNI. A lot of opposition concerns about Pulte there.

But the president is now saying he won't sign it unless this very controversial voting bill goes through. What are the national security consequences of that? And just linking these two things that are very unrelated, what concerns does that raise?

CARROLL: As you said, it's apples and oranges, right? You know, a voting bill versus re-authorizing the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. I think the president is taking a terrible risk. 60 percent of the information that's presented to the president in the president's daily brief comes from Section 702 collection, fully 60 percent. So he's just going to go dark on most of the intelligence that rises to the level of being presented to the president.

We're in a period of time right now where there's a high foreign terrorist threat. We have a very fragile ceasefire with Iran, which has terrorist proxies. ISIS and al-Qaeda have been, you know, really demolished over the past 25 years, thank God. But they still exist, right, and they're still plotting.

So you could very well have a situation where under Section 702, we could have intercepted a call from a bad actor overseas into the United States that we miss because there's not Section 702 authorization. So people responsible for letting that lapse only in order to try to get a totally unrelated voting provision passed are taking a real gamble with American lives.

KEILAR: The buck stops with him on that. I mean, that's -- it would be his responsibility, and he would be undercutting himself in not getting that information.

[13:35:00] What would that look like if, God forbid, something happened, and he was the one who'd said, you know what, I'm not even going to get that information.

CARROLL: I hate to use the phrase, there'd be blood on his hands. I mean, you know, there were phone calls between some of the 9/11 hijackers and the intended 9/11 hijacker and the al-Qaeda leadership overseas before 9/11 that were not intercepted because there weren't those kind of authorities back then. It's that kind of phone call that could be missed.

KEILAR: There are some Republicans who do have their own issues over the law, mostly because of privacy. Talk to us about that.

CARROLL: Sure, and Republicans have a legitimate complaint too. FISA was misused in the original counterintelligence investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

As you know, that's been investigated by Special Counsel, John Durham and also by the DOJ Inspector General, the investigation of the investigation. The one person who pled guilty was an FBI lawyer who lied and altered a document that was submitted to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. So Republicans do have legitimate problems with the way that FISA has been abused in some instances in the past.

KEILAR: So the way it was going to proceed, Bill Pulte was only going to serve for a very brief time here, maybe a day. That would change now if you don't have Clayton coming in. What would that look like for the DNI? As there was an expectation that, and Trump had previewed it himself, that he wanted to fire a bunch of people.

I mean, obviously, either of these people could do it, but Pulte kind of has some expertise in cleaning house. So, what do you think that might look like for the DNI?

CARROLL: So the thing I'm really -- would be really worried about, about Pulte being in there, is when he was Head of the Federal Housing Agency, he improperly took mortgage loan documents of Democratic officials, falsely claimed that there was fraudulent statements on those, referred it to the DOJ for prosecution, and none of those prosecutions went through. So I would be worried about Pulte asking for any intelligence holdings on prominent Americans who President Trump doesn't like.

A lot of times the intelligence community has stuff that they don't disseminate and they don't retain because it's not proper, you know, it's not legal to do so. I worry that Bill Pulte might misuse some raw intelligence.

KEILAR: That's a big concern. Kevin Carroll, thank you so much for being with us. Appreciate it.

CARROLL: Thank you.

KEILAR: Still ahead, a notorious serial killer sentenced, marking the end of a chilling case that took decades to solve. We'll have the latest from court.

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[13:41:52]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": Rex Heuermann, the Gilgo Beach serial killer, was just sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. But before learning his fate today, the families of his victims gave emotional impact statements about how his crimes changed their lives forever.

Back in April, Heuermann admitted to killing eight women over a 17- year period. But watch what happened in court today as the judge lashes out at him.

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REX HEUERMANN, GILGO BEACH SERIAL KILLER: There are no words I can say. I'm responsible for what was said in this room today. The words I would say have no meaning.

JUDGE TIMOTHY MAZZEI, SUFFOLK COUNTY COURT: I assume that you're sorry for what you've done to your wife and children. Are you a little bit sorry for what you did to these poor, innocent women? Eight women that you strangled to death? At least eight that we know of? Are you at least a little bit sorry for that? Yes?

HEUERMANN: Yes, I am.

MAZZEI: You know what? You've been described as a very big man. But you're a disgusting and despicable small man, if you're a man at all. And you're a coward. Get him out of here.

(CROWD CHEERING)

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SANCHEZ: CNN's Jean Casarez joins us now. Jean, cinematic moments there in the courtroom.

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, today was the sentencing, but it was all about these families. I mean, Boris, this has been decades ongoing. And these families lost a mother, a sister, a daughter, and they didn't know what happened to them. From one moment to the next, they were just gone into thin air. And they had no answers whatsoever.

Now they have answers. I want you to listen to Megan Waterman's sister, Liliana Waterman. She spoke outside of court right when it broke and they all came out. Listen to her.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LILIANA WATERMAN, DAUGHTER OF VICTIM MEGAN WATERMAN: I just want to thank everyone who spent time on this case, listening to our voices and giving my mom and all these other ladies a chance to have their voices heard.

This has been a long day coming. And from this day forward, stop saying his name. Stop putting his face everywhere. Put the girl's face. Put their names. And make it known that we are the ones who live on for them. Rex will never matter and he is nothing to us. And he should be nothing to any of you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CASAREZ: And this was the daughter of Megan who said that she never knew her mother. She couldn't remember her. She was far too young. The sister of Maureen Baynard Barnes said in the courtroom she was not just murdered. She was a victim of a predator, a serial killer. This was a calculated, unimaginable evil. And the judge allowed them to speak directly to Rex Heuermann.

Judges don't always do that. Rex Heuermann sat there, stoic, didn't look at them, hands in place. One of the victim's family members said, are you going to look at me? And he looked up for a second, but that was it.

But some other interesting things that the district attorney of Suffolk County said today.

[13:45:00]

First of all, that during this time that he was free, they believed he continued to be a predator, that he would look at torture videos, dismemberment videos of women. He would Google on the Gilgo murderers and want to know more about them. He thought he had it all.

He thought that he was able to get away with this, Ray Tierney said. But he was not. Also fascinating here, and we can't forget it, he's now a convicted felon. His DNA is going to go into CODIS, the national database around this country, that they look at unsolved homicides to see if there's a match. This is the first time his DNA has been put in CODIS. And a number of the victims said in court today that they believe there are many more victims out there.

So let's see what the future holds at this point. Very soon, he's going to be custody of the Department of Corrections in New York.

SANCHEZ: And hopefully, those steps might bring closure to other families out there. Jean Casarez, thank you so much for that reporting.

So today is the first big test for the president's new pick to lead the Federal Reserve. We're set to hear from Kevin Warsh as the central bank makes its decision on interest rates, a decision that is just minutes away. We'll bring it to you live.

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[13:50:22]

KEILAR: In this week's Home Front, the quiet cost of war. We don't hear about it often, but many military families are suffering from the financial strain of having their loved ones deployed to the Middle East. In a piece yesterday in the Tampa Bay Times, my next guest writes, quote, "When Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth visited U.S. Central Command at MacDill Air Force Base, I couldn't help but wonder, did anyone take him to tour the food pantry at Base Chapel, serving military families facing food insecurity? The constant uncertainty, rising costs, family stress and inadequate support systems are taking a toll on us, leaving us vulnerable to physical, emotional and financial harm. Mission first should never mean family last."

Those words are from Marla Bautista, a military family member whose partner has served in the Army for 24 years and is now at MacDill Air Force Base. And she joins us now from Tampa, Florida.

Marla, thank you so much for being with us. That line, "mission first should never mean families last." Tell us what you're seeing about the costs of war that are being borne by military families.

MARLA BAUTISTA, MILITARY FAMILY MEMBER, FREELANCE WRITER & SPEAKER: The cost of war is astronomical. In our community, we have people suffering from food insecurity, financial insecurity, housing insecurity. All of those things add additional stress on top of the stress that we already face as military families who are suffering through current wars, unexpected orders, family changes and all of the other things that come with military life.

KEILAR: You've been doing this for a minute, right? You're very committed to what you were doing as a military family member, as so many military family members that we speak to are. Talk to us about family stability as families are committed to this mission and how you say it is key to mission readiness. What do you mean by that?

BAUTISTA: Yes. So a lot of times we see these big House floor debates talking about budgets needed for military weaponry and for training and for, you know, expansion of this base or that base. But what we aren't talking about enough is how this is impacting military families, what we're gaining and what we're losing as military families.

If you remember, around Christmas time, the president offered warrior dividends to military service members, which was in the amount of $1,776 and that money actually was allocated for something else. It was originally allocated, $2.8 billion was allocated to military housing. We lost that money from housing and it was put in the hands of service members.

Now, while that's a good thing and we appreciate the money, it could have been better used for housing. We've had housing issues for decades and we've asked for support in getting them fixed and it's still being ignored.

KEILAR: We hear about a lot of issues that affect military families, whether it's spouse employment, child care and access to it, food insecurity, as you mentioned in your column for the Tampa Bay Times, and housing. These are things that -- the out of pocket costs for moving. We hear about these things time and again. If you could speak with military leaders, if you could speak with members of Congress who -- and there are a number of them on the Hill who are looking at military family lifestyle issues, what is the first request that you would say, Hey, this is what you need to be paying attention to?

BAUTISTA: I think the first thing that I would say is stop asking questions. We don't need another DoD survey. You guys have the data. You know the challenges that we face because we've faced them for decades. We've asked for support for military families for decades.

What I will ask is that you put more effort into thinking of military families when you're talking about war, because there is no war. There is no military without people. We are the ones that make this happen. And we are the ones that suffer the consequences for every single decision that you make.

KEILAR: Yeah, there's a family behind every warrior, a proud family, but a family that is certainly there paying for these decisions with their support. Marla Bautista, it is great to see you again.

[13:55:00]

And thank you so much for being with us.

BAUTISTA: Let's do this again. Thank you.

KEILAR: We are minutes away from a Fed decision on interest rates. We're going to bring that to you next.

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