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FAA Investigating After Close Call Between Planes at Miami Airport; Trump Official: U.S. and Iran Will Stand Down for Now After Strikes; Floods, Fires, Extreme Heat Wreak Havoc Across U.S.; 21-Year- Old Rescued from Rubble 5 Days After Venezuela Quakes; Luigi Mangione Returns to Federal Court for Pretrial Hearing. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired June 29, 2026 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:00]

DAVID SOUCIE, CNN SAFETY ANALYST: Well, first of all, Sara, I'd like to point out the fact that this pilot was heads up enough to see what's going on, to make it go around, to make sure that that didn't happen. That's a heads up move. It's looking directly and seeing what's happening.

And that is part of the safety system. Now, the FAA has made some great advances right now. A new system was just awarded to be developed called SMART, which is going to add AI into the intelligence of air traffic control and air traffic movements.

So we're going to see an improvement over the next few years about that. It may take two or three years at least for that to be in place, but it has been awarded and there's been some advancements. There's also been more air traffic controllers added.

So we have less stress on the system than we did before. But nonetheless, it still exists. It's something that has been a problem for a long time and will continue to be for a number of years.

So we have to rely on the pilot's awareness of what's going on as opposed, I think, to what happened at LaGuardia. I believe that that's still under investigation, but at the LaGuardia accident when they ran into the truck, that is potentially avoidable situation if everyone's heads up and knows exactly what's happened on that runway.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, all of that. Very important technology. So important, but also the situational awareness of the pilots themselves making a huge difference.

David Soucie, it is a pleasure. Thank you so much.

A new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: The deadly weather that could upend Fourth of July celebrations all over the country. Dramatic rescues from treacherous floods, wildfires raging out of control, and now days of brutal triple digit heat looming for New York, Washington, D.C., Boston, Philadelphia. You get the point. And this morning, President Trump announces new talks with Iran. Iran says, what talks? After days of renewed fighting between the U.S. and Iran, confusion over what happens next.

And on the scene as crews pick through the rubble, looking for people who may still be buried alive in the aftermath of these devastating dual earthquakes, praying that they can hear new taps.

I'm John Berman with Kate Bolduan and Sara Sidner. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: New strikes, mixed messages from President Trump and Iran about where things stand this morning, and whether talks in Qatar are still on. A top Iranian negotiator says that there are no technical talks scheduled this week on any major issue.

But President Trump posted just a short time ago that Iran has requested a meeting. It will take place tomorrow in Doha.

This confusion comes just after a Trump administration official says that the U.S. and Iran agreed to, the way they put it, is stand down for now from a weekend full of flare-ups near the Strait of Hormuz. Both sides exchanging fire.

Iran targeted U.S. military sites in Kuwait and Bahrain. A U.S. official says that no Iranian drones or missiles, though, hit their intended targets. But there are images that do show a residential building in Bahrain that appears to, obviously, very clearly, appears to have sustained heavy damage.

President Trump at one point this weekend threatened to fully resume the U.S. military operation against Iran, posting that the Islamic Republic of Iran will no longer exist. CNN's Julia Benbrook is live at the White House for us this morning.

What's the latest you're picking up now?

JULIA BENBROOK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, despite those recent comments from the Iranians, President Donald Trump himself has now said that there are plans for this meeting to take place in Doha, Qatar tomorrow. That matches what we had previously heard from an administration official. But as you pointed out, there are a lot of questions on this and how this plays out.

After all of the back and forth that took place in recent days really started on Thursday and escalated through the weekend, the main questions are what does this mean for the ceasefire agreement and what does this mean for the ongoing negotiations? A senior administration official tells me that the negotiations, the talks, will continue as planned. Going on to say nothing has been canceled.

Technical talks regarding the implementation of the MOU, the Memorandum of Understanding, are on track for the coming days as planned. And deconfliction channels are up and running after the Lake Lucerne Summit. Now, that's referring to just last weekend when Vice President J.D. Vance led the delegation to Switzerland for the high- level, high-stakes talks, really kicking off the technical talks here on the Memorandum of Understanding. And that agreement really is just a starting point. It kicked off this 60-day time period to work through some of the top issues related to Iran's nuclear program, like the fate of its stockpile of highly enriched uranium.

[08:05:00]

An official also tells us that the United States and Iran, both sides, have agreed to stand down for now to halt the fighting after all of that escalation that took place. But it was just yesterday, as you pointed to, that Trump really raised the rhetoric after U.S. Central Command had confirmed that it had launched additional strikes at multiple targets at the president's direction. Trump took to social media.

They were said that this was all in response to Iran's continued aggression. And Trump said that Iran may never learn. Adding this, "There may come a point when we are no longer able to be reasonable and will be forced to militarily complete the job that we very successfully started. If that happens, the Islamic Republic of Iran will no longer exist."

So, again, the big developments are here. Trump does say that meeting is taking place in Doha tomorrow. And administration officials tell us that there is a halt in fighting, at least for now.

BOLDUAN: All right, Julia Benbrook at the White House for us. Thank you so much -- Sara.

SIDNER: All right. Breaking this morning, multiple life-threatening weather events happening right now across the country in Kentucky. A state of emergency remains in place after deadly flooding wreaked havoc across that state.

At least four people have been killed in those floods. A church, you can see, completely crushed in the rising waters. One local described what it looked like during the terrifying moments.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It was very devastating. It was very loud. A lot of glass breaking, a lot of, I mean, of course, wood popping.

The church, it was very loud when it broke.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: More than 60 water rescues and evacuations have been conducted and remain ongoing in Kentucky. Now, out west, wildfires scorching tens of thousands of acres. Three firefighters were killed battling the fast-moving Snyder fire on the Utah-Colorado border.

And as Independence Day approaches, millions of Americans are staring down stretches of dangerous and potentially record-breaking heat with consecutive triple-digit days expected. CNN meteorologist Derek Van Dam here with the very latest. I mean, this is actually a dangerous time as, what, 72 million Americans kind of hit the road to have fun on July 4th.

There's something to really be concerned about here, isn't there?

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, Sara, the timing here is impeccable, unfortunate, really. The messaging from the National Weather Service has been very consistent. This heat wave will be different.

One of the National Weather Services out of eastern Virginia saying that this could rival the heat wave from July 2012, where over 30 individuals perished in four different states because of the excessive heat. What you're looking at now is a forecast into the holiday weekend. We're showing this just to give you an indication of what we're up against, OK?

So the heat wave is building now, but as we make our plans, this is downright dangerous. It is oppressive. This is the feels-like temperature.

So as you step outside, the combination of the temperature and the dew point, it makes it very, very uncomfortable and dangerous to spend time in the sun without adequate ways to cool off your body. The other part about this heat wave is there won't be much relief overnight as well. Look at the millions of Americans under the heat alerts.

We've got warnings already in place from Chicago into my home state of Michigan, and then watches in place throughout the I-95 corridor as our heat dome builds over the eastern U.S. This is going to trap the heat from the sun, prevent it from escaping back into the atmosphere. That means we scorch here on the surface, right? And we have the potential for hundreds of heat records that could be set east of the Rockies.

Here's a look at your temperatures today, 96 in Atlanta as well as Nashville, 87 for the nation's capital. But again, it is the dew point that is going to add the misery into the atmosphere. We will feel like 101 in Atlanta today, 103 in Nashville, 100 degrees for Chicago.

And guess where that heat will shift? The temperatures will rise from the nation's capital northward into New York City. So many events planned on the National Mall into New York City, as well as into Boston, Philadelphia.

This is a heat risk map. Sara, we need to take this seriously. This purple does not get placed on maps lightly.

It means extreme risk of heat-related illnesses because of what's coming.

SIDNER: People really need to take heed. This is potentially a dangerous thing because we all like to be out standing in the sun and watching the, you know, all the activities. You got to be prepared.

Derek Van Dam, thank you for showing us all that. I do appreciate it -- John.

BERMAN: All right, we are just getting word in new video in. Oh, no, this is different. OK.

This is a miraculous rescue from the earthquake, a baby pulled from the rubble. But just seconds ago, we learned that a man was pulled from buried underneath the building. He'd been there for five days. We'll show you that brand new video just ahead.

[08:10:00]

A fire crew saves a driver trapped inside of a car that crashed into a pond.

And she's been rolling a 24-foot boat by herself for 39 straight days trying to get her name in books for a 2,400 mile journey.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

All right, breaking news. What an incredible moment. Venezuelan leader Delcy Rodriguez just posted this new video. She says this is a 21- year-old man being pulled from the rubble alive.

He had been buried since the pair of devastating earthquakes hit Venezuela five days ago. She says 106 hours buried. A 43-hour rescue operation.

[08:15:00]

Again, that dramatic new video you've just seen. This is the old video of what was happening when he was trapped. But that dramatic new video posted by the Venezuelan leader of someone being rescued five days trapped in the rubble.

The death toll has now climbed past 1,400. It seems likely to rise much, much further. There are still many people unaccounted for.

Let's get live to CNN's Stefano Pozzebon in Caracas this morning. Stefano, we just saw that new video from Delcy Rodriguez. A moment of hope as a man who had been trapped so long has now been pulled out alive.

STEFANO POZZEBON, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Yes, of course, a moment of hope. And frankly, this nation, John, fuels on hope. But this is what is images like that one are what are fueling the people that continue to search and rescue operations still despite the evidence has been.

We're entering now in the fifth day since the double earthquake. So the hopes to find someone alive are really running thin. But of course, all of the rescue workers that were spoken here and across the country have told us that they will still go on until everyone is accounted for.

And there are still tens of thousands of Venezuelans and other nationals missing because of that earthquake. Here in Caracas, by the way, we're here and you can probably see appreciate that a lot of people are on the streets. Not because today is a Monday and it's working. Of course, the whole nation is still in a state of shock. The reason is that we've just experienced yet another aftershock, a 5.1 tremor that was recorded in the northern coast of Venezuela. So a lot of people had to get out during the morning coffee, maybe having breakfast and are still out on the street.

Of course, a lot of people are looking up at the buildings like these two gentlemen here looking at the scars of that double earthquake that hit last Wednesday. Of course, all of this building, we didn't have the time to put them into safety. So you can see this one is an office building, John, with furniture.

There is a fridge I can see over there and stacks, office cabinets, a toilet is up on the fifth floor. And of course, whenever there is an aftershock, and we have experienced several since arriving here in Venezuela, the majority of the population, everyone comes to the street and start looking up at the window, of course, because there could be debris falling or for the tremors after. It's a nation that is still, that has been a standstill since that double earthquake back on Wednesday.

We are now in the fifth day, of course, the search and rescue operation are still going on, even though unfortunately for every miracle life saved, there are hundreds that have been lost. And the nation still is trying to understand how to move forward now, unfortunately -- John.

BERMAN: Stefano Pozzebon in Caracas. Again, the news we just got in and hopefully video we can keep showing you all morning long is a 21- year-old man pulled out alive from the rubble after five days buried there. Just remarkable images that we're now seeing from there.

BOLDUAN: Five days being pulled out.

BERMAN: Five days, 106 hours, took two days to dig him out once they located him. Just a remarkable outcome.

BOLDUAN: I heard another woman, an elderly -- I think is an elderly woman. They found her, but then it took 11 hours to try to get her out.

BERMAN: It's such a delicate operation.

BOLDUAN: With how that's pancaked down those buildings. We're going to continue to follow this clearly. Those rescue efforts urgently continue.

Today, Luigi Mangione returns to court with a big question lingering now. Is there a possible plea deal still on the table? We have some new details coming in this morning. We'll bring those to you.

And the FAA launches an investigation after a close call this weekend at a major airport. What we're learning today.

We'll be right back.

[08:20:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BOLDUAN: The man accused of killing the CEO of United Healthcare is due back in court today. And sources now tell CNN that Luigi Mangione's attorneys, they have discussed a possible plea deal agreement with federal prosecutors. But there's a big question around that still lingering today.

CNN's Kara Scannell is tracking this one for us. What is expected to happen in court? And what are you hearing about the discussions around a plea deal?

KARA SCANNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So today's court appearance in federal court is supposed to be discussions about the schedule and jury selection because this federal trial is supposed to follow the state case, which starts in September. Now, sources tell CNN that Mangione did have negotiations with federal prosecutors about potentially pleading guilty to some charge in that case. But those discussions have ended.

So we'll see if that comes up today. If the judge inquires as part of this whole question of scheduling. But also it comes as in his state case, that one is chugging along, expecting to go to trial in September. We did learn that his lawyers in that case initially said that they were going to pursue this defense where Mangione would admit to killing the United Healthcare CEO but saying he did it because he was in a state of extreme emotional distress that could lower that potential charge.

They then said they weren't going to do that, but they could still bring that back. They just would not be able to use an expert witness if they chose to. So this seems like there's a lot of legal strategic decision-making happening right now as the clock is getting closer to September.

And kind of underlying all of this is that state prosecutors have said that they think that Mangione's lawyers are trying to double jeopardy them out of this case. And so if he did reach a deal with federal prosecutors, it's possible that could happen and the state case would go away. But these are all a bunch of balls in the air, and nothing has been really decided at this point other than that he is still scheduled to go to trial in September.

BOLDUAN: Yes. We know he will be in court today. We know right now there is a trial set for September.

But what could come out in court could give some really interesting new insight into kind of these discussions going on behind the scenes. So that's where we'll watch it so closely today. It's great to see you.

Thanks so much -- Sara?

SIDNER: All right, thank you, Kate. So what will prices at the pump look like for you if you just happen to be one of the 72 million people who are expected to hit the road this July 4th weekend?

[08:25:00]

Also the world's most famous tennis tournament getting underway today as Wimbledon welcomes back the sport's biggest star. Yep, there she is in all her glory.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: All right, new this morning, President Trump just wrote, "Iran has requested a meeting. It will take place tomorrow in Doha." But a top Iranian negotiator says there are no technical talks scheduled with the U.S. This follows renewed fighting between the United States and Iran over the weekend.

With us now is Congressman Ami Bera, a Democrat from California. He sits on the House Foreign Affairs and Intelligence Committee. Congressman, good to see you.

I'll discuss the negotiations and talks that may or may not be happening in just a moment. First, this renewed fighting, what does it tell you about the state of the ceasefire?

REP. AMI BERA (D-CA), FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEES: Yes, it tells me that it is very tenuous, the ceasefire, that we will probably see this back and forth if things seem a little bit quiet in Lebanon. But again, I expect that to flare up periodically as well. So this is going to be a long process.