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Polls on Presidents' Legacies; Pete Souza Talks about Obama; Trump Says Iran Should Keep Missiles; Reflecting Pool Alge Troubles; Firefighters Rescue Cats Caught in Fire. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired June 18, 2026 - 08:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:32:59]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, you're looking at live pictures of me despite the fact that I'm supposed to say you're looking at live pictures of the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago. It is a dramatic image. One that we might be able to show you one day. There you go. The opening ceremonies of the Obama Presidential Library will begin very, very shortly.

Let's talk about the former president's legacy. With us now, CNN chief data analyst Harry Enten.

So, he hasn't been president for some time.

HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: No.

BERMAN: That may have helped.

ENTEN: That might have helped. Look, Barack Obama is a rock star when it comes to the living presidents. I mean, just take a look here. He's -- he blows every other living president out of the water in terms of their popularity ratings. Net favorability of living presidents. Look at this, Barack Obama at plus 25 points. The only other living president who's on the plus side of the ledger is George W. Bush, but he's way back there, plus nine points. The rest of them are all hovering around zero or negative. Bill Clinton at minus one point. Then you got Donald Trump at minus 21 points. And then Joe Biden takes the cake at the bottom, of course Barack Obama's running mate, at minus 24 points.

But the bottom line is this, we are now nearly ten years from when Barack Obama left the White House, and he is about as popular as he has been at any point since leaving the White House.

BERMAN: I got to say, he is on a different planet than these two guys down here.

ENTEN: Yes.

BERMAN: That's a 50 point difference there.

How about among Democrats? How do Democrats look at Barack Obama versus other presidents?

ENTEN: Yes. So, if Barack Obama is a rock star when we're looking at the overall electorate, why don't we focus in on Democrats? And, you know, just the bottom line is this, the president Democrats most admire. Barack Obama is the Democrats' current Abraham Lincoln. Because, look at this, 64 percent say among all of the presidents, the one that they most admire is Barack Obama. And I will say that this mirrors another poll in which you essentially ask, OK, who was the greatest president of all time? And the answer was, among Democrats, Barack Obama.

But look at this 64 percent. The next closest are, what, six, five and five. Barack Obama, simply put, on another planet when it comes to Democrats.

[08:35:03]

They absolutely adore him in a way that they don't do for any other president.

BERMAN: Really interesting to see that. Now, when we talk about his legacy, his legislative legacy perhaps, of course, there is one thing with his name on it, at least as history remembers it, which is Obamacare.

ENTEN: Yes. Yes.

BERMAN: The Affordable Care Act. At the time, you know, it cost him all kinds of congressional seats, cost him all kinds of popularity. What about now?

ENTEN: Yes, it turns out that distance makes the heart grow fonder. And as Obamacare and the Affordable Care Act has entrenched itself in our health care system, it turns out it's quite popular. It's quite popular. It's not just Obama that's popular, it's his legislative legacy that's popular.

Look at this, the net favorability rating of the Affordable Care Act. You go back to June of 2016, ergo ten years ago, it was underwater at minus two points. Look at where it is now, plus 23 points, which is about exactly where Barack Obama himself is in terms of net popularity. So, it's not just Obama, the man who is popular, it is his key legislative piece, that is the Affordable Care Act, which today, of course, is the major part of our health care system.

BERMAN: That is really interesting to see that swing. And I bet you it was even lower than minus two.

ENTEN: It was. And this, this is not even the lowest. It was well into the negative double digits at its worst. And now it is quite popular indeed.

BERMAN: Harry Enten, it's great to see you here this morning.

ENTEN: Great to see you.

BERMAN: Thank you very much for coming in.

ENTEN: Next time in Chicago maybe.

BERMAN: Let's do it. Let's do it.

ENTEN: Yes.

BERMAN: All right, and we are standing by for the grand opening of the Obama Presidential Center. That is where CNN's Jeff Zeleny is.

And I just want to point out, in case he doesn't say it, Jeff covered Barack Obama since like before the common era, for like 25 years, practically. You've been covering Barack Obama from the time he was a state senator. So, it's great to have you there because you really know the history.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: John, there is no doubt. And that's when this actual museum begins. And I am joined by someone who also has covered the president for that long, and that is Pete Souza. We worked together at "The Chicago Tribune" documenting his campaign.

But, Pete, you went on to become the White House chief photographer for President Obama for his entire eight years in office. When you walked into this presidential center, what moments, what images stood out to you from that time?

PETE SOUZA, FORMER CHIEF WHITE HOUSE PHOTOGRAPHER: Well, I think the ones that most people gravitate towards, hair like mine, which is young Jacob Philadelphia, touching the president's head in the Oval Office, and then probably --

ZELENY: And that was back in 2012 in the Oval Office.

SOUZA: That was 2009, actually.

ZELENY: Oh, it was? OK.

SOUZA: It was in -- it was in May of 2009. So, early on in his administration. And Jacob had come in with his family. His dad was being sent to a foreign post, worked for the National Security Council, and young Jacob said his -- told the president that his friends had told him that his haircut was just like Barack Obama's. And with that, President Obama bent over and said, go ahead and touch it.

ZELENY: And that became an iconic moment there. Actually, the pictures of that are actually hanging on banners as we were walking up to the center here.

But obviously the museum here, you know, features much of his legacy, including serious topics, like the capturing and killing of Osama bin Laden.

Take us back to that moment in the Situation Room as you snapped those photos. SOUZA: Well, you have to look at it -- the way I tell people is, you

have the most powerful people in the executive branch of our government, all gathered in that little, tiny room, in the Situation Room complex. And they can -- there's nothing they can do about what's unfolding in front of them. I mean they've made their decision. Now it's completely up to those guys, special forces guys on the ground.

So, you could just feel the tension and the anxiety. I mean I could feel it. I was the one kind of non-participant. I was the one observer. And to see their faces and recognize the anxiety, it made me feel, because we didn't know for certain that it was going to be successful.

ZELENY: How it would turn out.

I mean, I remember when you took the job to become the president's chief photographer. You said that you wanted -- you had one request basically to have access and to have Oval Office access. Why is it so important for these moments of history to be documented in this way?

SOUZA: Yes. Every single picture that I took during the Obama administration is now at the National Archives. It's a great, historical record of his presidency. I think every presidency should be like that. I think LBJ's photographer was really the first one to establish that level of access. And others have followed.

It's -- I think it's important for history. I think it's important for 50 years from now and for 500 years from now to be able to go back and get a -- almost a birds-eye view of an administration by looking at all the photographs of all the -- all the meetings, what took place, behind the scenes.

[08:40:09]

You can see the president's emotion, highs, lows, in-betweens.

ZELENY: Was there ever a time when he did not allow you to take a photograph?

SOUZA: There was never a time that he didn't allow me. There were times when I would give him some space. If he was having a private conversation with one of his daughters, I would try to, of course, make some pictures, but I wouldn't -- I wouldn't hang out there the whole time.

ZELENY: Yes.

SOUZA: Let him -- so, that's just more intuitive. But he never said anything to me. It just -- it was just the way I felt was appropriate in some situations.

ZELENY: And you stand alone in the sense that you really have witnessed history long before Barack Obama became president. You were also the chief photographer for Ronald Reagan. Were there any comparisons that you could make to President Obama from seeing President Reagan, who was so sharp and wise with the power of an image? Did you see any similarities between the two?

SOUZA: You know, the one -- the one main similarity is, is more about their personality in that both of them, both Reagan and Obama are -- were very even keeled, and had that kind of disposition. They didn't blow up over every little thing.

I saw both of them get mad at times, but it would take a lot for both -- for either one of them to get to that level. For the most part, they just had a very even keeled disposition, which, you know, is probably a pretty good attribute to have if you're going to be president of the United States, because, you know, every day so much is thrown at you, you don't want to be blowing up over every little thing.

ZELENY: So much has changed in terms of how media works and how images work. During the Reagan administration, obviously, it was the evening news and the power of individual photographs. Now, obviously, through social media, these moments do not require news photographers to capture it. What do you think are the -- are the lessons from that in terms of how social media has changed the presidency?

SOUZA: Well, I don't know. I mean, I don't know if I'm the right person to answer that question. I know for, you know, I happen to be the photographer. Barack Obama happened to be the president when social media really exploded.

ZELENY: Right.

SOUZA: I mean Instagram didn't -- wasn't even existing until 2010 till the second year. So, you know, this administration utilized my photographs, not necessarily in very real time like today where it's like in the next 30 seconds.

ZELENY: Instantaneous. Right.

SOUZA: But, you know, we did -- we did post behind the scenes pictures every month on Flickr Photostream. That had never been done before.

ZELENY: Right.

SOUZA: So, that was a, you know, it gave people an inside view of the Obama administration within, you know, within a month of the, you know, from the previous month. Whereas with President Reagan, you know, most -- honestly, most of my behind the scenes pictures weren't seen until after he left the office.

ZELENY: Right. Well, Pete, it is great to see you here today and to see all your images, of course, for history.

And, John, we'll send it back to you.

BERMAN: That was such a great conversation. So much history just between the two of you there.

This morning, President Trump facing backlash over the agreement he signed with Iran. Much of it coming from Republicans. And one of the criticisms over something not in the text. It's over the president's apparent reversal on Iran's ballistic missiles.

Listen to what he said yesterday. Then listen to what he and his top officials, his advisors, have been vowing and saying after the war began.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If other countries have them, it's a little bit unfair for them not to have some. A ballistic missile is not the same thing as what we're talking about when we talk nuclear. But if Saudi Arabia and Qatar and they all have some, I would say, in relative proportion, I think it's OK.

We are going to destroy their missiles and raze their missile industry to the ground. It will be totally again obliterated.

PETE HEGSETH, DEFENSE SECRETARY: This operation is a clear, devastating, decisive mission, destroy the missile threat, destroy the navy, no nukes.

MARCO RUBIO, SECRETARY OF STATE: We're going to destroy their navy. We're going to destroy their air force. And we are going to significantly destroy their missile launchers so they can never hide behind these things to get a nuclear weapon.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: From destroy their missiles to it's only fair if they have some.

With us now, CNN political and national security analyst David Sanger of "The New York Times" and CNN global affairs analyst Karim Sadjadpour.

Gentlemen, I'm going to disappear, if I can, because there are no two people I want to hear from more than you two on this.

[08:45:01]

And I mean that.

David, you noted in your analysis overnight that President Trump had been calling for Iran's unconditional surrender. This 14-point agreement, how close is it to that?

DAVID SANGER, CNN POLITICAL AND NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Oh, it's no place close. This is not a surrender document. It's not a peace accord. It's a declaration that there will be a 60 day ceasefire, during which time Iran promises to engage in serious conversation on the nuclear program. Interestingly, the clips you just played, there's no mention of missiles at all. And one of the most remarkable things about this, John, is that when President Trump was going after the Obama era agreement, the one signed in 2015, one of his biggest critiques was that it didn't address the missile threat.

And, you know, if you wanted to go back and find a perfectly fair way to judge what the president has accomplished and what he hopes to accomplish in the coming negotiation is to go back to his May 2015 -- 2018 speech when he pulled out of that deal. And he described all of his shortcomings. And many of them seem to be in place here. Now, maybe that'll change in the next negotiation, but the Iranians are under more pressure now than they will be once that oil revenue starts up.

BERMAN: Karim, unconditional surrender by the Iranians?

KARIM SADJADPOUR, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: I think, John, it was much closer to an unconditional surrender by President Trump. This document, if you read the 14 points, at least nine or 10 of them are favorable to Iran, perhaps three are neutral and really only one is asking for concession, a nuclear concession from Iran. I -- in my view, John, what happened here over the last four months was President Trump made a big gamble four months ago that American military action will either change the behavior of Iran's leaders or perhaps change the regime itself. And now the administration is making a different gamble, that American inducements, American incentives may bribe Iran's revolutionary leaders into changing their longtime identity. I'm also skeptical that this gambit is going to work.

BERMAN: One of the few concrete things, Karim, and I'll stay with you here, is the opening of the Strait of Hormuz. That happens immediately. Also, Iran gets oil revenue almost immediately here. But on the Strait, and this wasn't clear with some of the leaked versions of this plan, after initial period, how possible is it that Iran actually improves its position in the Strait and collects fees?

SADJADPOUR: Well, my reading of the MOU is it only said that the Strait will be open for 60 days, and after 60 days there will be a discussion about Iran perhaps exercising administrative control over the Strait. That's certainly the Iranian takeaway from this MOU. There -- they have already pocketed that concession. They believe that the Strait of Hormuz is going to be under their administrative control. And it's going to be both a fixed revenue stream for the future in Iran and a source of deterrent -- deterrence to prevent and deter future American and Israeli action against Iran.

BERMAN: David, I was genuinely surprised by two things the president said yesterday. One of them was about the Iranian missiles, that it's only fair, he suggests, if they have missiles. The other thing was suggesting that he signed this because he didn't want an economic catastrophe. Didn't want to go into a depression. Which seemed to me more than a tacit acknowledgment that Iran's economic strategy was working. So, you know, when Iran hears that, what should they think?

SANGER: Absolutely. I mean, he uttered two words you rarely hear president -- presidents talk about, Herbert Hoover. He said, he never wanted to become the next Herbert Hoover. And what president would.

And yet the Iranians figured out, early on in this war, just around the time that the president was guessing that the war would only last a few days and that Iran would collapse, their best strategy was not to take on the U.S. military frontally, but rather to trigger so much economic chaos, so much oil disruption, that the U.S. would have to go give in. And so they targeted petrochemical plants. They targeted desalinization plants. They targeted American air bases and gulf air bases. And, of course, they closed the Strait.

And guess what? As the president himself acknowledged, that tactic worked. And so suddenly it was the president who had to decide, could he take the pain anymore? And he blinked.

[08:50:09]

BERMAN: All right, gentlemen, I really appreciate you being here. I look forward to speaking with you again over the next few days, because what happened next or what happens next really will dictate, I think, maybe how this will be viewed. And if it doesn't change, it'll be interesting to see what the reaction is from Republicans. Appreciate it.

All right, breaking overnight, the Department of the Interior says that the algae infested green water in the Reflecting Pool is now crystal clear. So, let's get an update on all this.

CNN's Betsy Klein is at the White House with the latest.

No one knows more about this than you, Betsy. So, what have we learned?

BETSY KLEIN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE PRODUCER: Well, John, yesterday we brought you a report about how the Trump administration was deploying the latest technology in algae remediation at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, where President Trump's promised American flag blue was beset by algae and, in fact, a murky green color.

So, we saw crews at that Reflecting Pool wearing waders, going in and vacuuming up that algae. They were also pumping gallons of hydrogen peroxide to try to clear this up. Then the Department of Interior said that they installed a state of the art filtration technology known as an ozone nano bubbler. Today, we have an update for you from the Department of Interior press team. They say in a statement, quote, "the advanced nano bubbler technology very effectively killed the algae that has plagued every Lincoln Reflecting Pool reopening, most infamously Obama's reopening, since 1922. The Reflecting Pool water is crystal clear, and our National Park Service team is now vacuuming up the dead algae resting on the bottom of some parts of the Reflecting Pool, just like the destroyed Iranian navy resting on the bottom of the Persian Gulf."

Can't make that up. They say that vacuuming will take a few more days.

And we went to see it for ourselves. The conditions do appear to be improving. They are deploying two simultaneous pumps. That is the ozone nano bubbler technology. Now this $13 million tax funded -- taxpayer funded project was a big priority for President Trump, who personally went there to inspect its progress. The Interior Department says that the nano bubbler, combined with full time maintenance from U.S. Fish and Wildlife, will make these fixes more permanent.

John. BERMAN: Update this morning then appears to be more clear, at least as

of now. We'll see how much longer that battle goes on.

Betsy Klein, thank you so much for the update.

All right, in Riverside County, California, firefighters rushing to the scene of an apartment fire. They worked hard to save some cats and some pretty dramatic developments there.

CNN's Ryan Young has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CAPT. MARK LEWAN, RIVERSIDE COUNTY FIRE DEPARTMENT: So, these are the two units that were on fire. The fire basically was in both of these units when we arrived here. And so, both of these had fire coming out of it.

RYAN YOUNG, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): This past March, as firefighters in Riverside County, California, were getting an active apartment fire under control, it suddenly became apparent that not all the residents were accounted for.

DAVE COLOMBO, RIVERSIDE COUNTY FIRE DEPARTMENT: One of the neighbors said, there's four cats. Two were the homeowner's cats, and then two were -- she was cat sitting. So, they weren't even her cats. So, she was really stressed out and she was yelling, hey, can you get our four cats in that apartment?

YOUNG (voice over): Firefighters Dave Colombo and Ray Guillen rushed back into the building, still filled with smoke.

RAY GUILLEN, RIVERSIDE COUNTY FIRE DEPARTMENT: As soon as I looked underneath the bed, I could see two eyes. And I said, OK, there's one cat. It was a black cat. It was looking right at me. So, I went to go grab it. As soon as I grabbed it, it fell over.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come here.

YOUNG (voice over): As they gathered up the unconscious cats and got them outside.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come on.

YOUNG (voice over): Captain Lewan's paramedic training immediately kicked in.

LEWAN: I saw the gray cat. He wasn't breathing very well at all. I didn't know if he had a heart rate or anything, but you could tell he was towards the end of his life and made the decision and I give him mouth to snout.

Start rescue breathing for the cat, hoping to revive him or get him to start breathing again. YOUNG (voice over): After relying on the same CPR techniques used on

infants, they turned to the oxygen mask, which required some quick adapting.

LEWAN: Their snout is no bigger than my thumb. So, that -- I stuck his snout in there, therefore that the oxygen was coming right out of here and going straight into his snout.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, squeeze it on.

LEWAN: I just did it on the fly right there.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come on. I know.

LEWAN: In the video he opens his eyes and is shocked that, like, who are you guys and what am I doing here?

When I handed the cat to the owner and how grateful she was after watching us resuscitate the cat, she was very happy and, you know, just makes you feel good that something like that happened.

[08:55:02]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Look at that.

LEWAN: I think the public puts us as heroes, but this is the job we do, even when there's cameras not rolling. This is what we get paid to do.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: That's nice to hear.

All right, a trail of destruction left behind after a tornado outbreak tears through the Midwest. And the threat's not over yet and spreading to different parts of the country.

Kevin Bacon looking for a new name. Why he wants to go from Bacon to "bean" for a day.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: All right, we're only halfway through 2026, but "Rolling Stone" has put together a list of the best songs of the year so far.

[08:59:59]

Charli XCX took the top spot with "SS26." A lot of initials there. Bruce Springsteen's "Streets of Minneapolis," which was released after the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal agents, came in the number.