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Supreme Court to Make Rulings at End of Term Today; Dangerous Heat Wave Across the Country; Meetings in Doha on Iran; Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL) is Interviewed about the Democratic Party and the Iran Talks. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired June 30, 2026 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:00]

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: She survived this. She reunited with those same responders to personally thank them. She says it is an absolute miracle that she survived.

And in Ariona, a nine-year-old boy just sold a very rare baseball card for nearly $75,000. And it was a card he happened to find while buying baseball cards at his local shop. The card, you ask, the first American Major League Baseball card of Chicago White Sox star Munetaka Murakami. The boy's family decided to auction it off. Why not? Not a tough decision, but they say it was.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I wanted to buy more cards with it and some of it I wanted to get v (ph) bucks.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, if you can take the value of it as is and put it towards the college fund, that's what we opted to do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: There you go. He's got some college money now, y'all.

A new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.

Today is the day the Supreme Court will reveal whether birthright citizenship is still a right in this country no matter where your parents are from or how they got here. That is just one of the four rulings we should get this morning on the final day of the Supreme Court before summer recess.

And this is not your average heat wave. This could be historic and dangerous. Millions face days of unending heat, including on the day we like to celebrate outside, the Fourth of July.

And no meeting today, but tomorrow delegations from the U.S. and Iran will take part in separate technical talks with mediators. The discussions coming some two weeks after the memorandum of understanding was signed.

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

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: And we are standing by for major decisions from the Supreme Court. This is a rare moment. We know what's coming and we know when it's coming on big, foundational questions, including a decision on President Trump's effort to end birthright citizenship. This is the constitutional provision that for more than 150 years has guaranteed citizenship to anyone born on U.S. soil, regardless of their parent's status.

We're also expecting a ruling on whether states can ban transgender athletes from girls and women's sports. More than half the states in the country have such laws. The court has already issued major decisions this week, expanding the president's power to fire employees of independent agencies, but also handing them defeats on mail-in ballots and the E. Jean Carroll case.

Want to get to CNN chief legal affairs correspondent Paula Reid, outside the Supreme Court.

Let's start with birthright citizenship, because in a way all decisions are constitutional from the Supreme Court. But this is really just on how you read the 14th Amendment, Paula.

PAULA REID, CNN CHIEF LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Yes. And whether the president can, through executive order, change what we have understood to be a right that if you are born here you are a U.S. citizen.

Now, look, John, I got to say that from the time the president signed this executive order, people within the Justice Department have been telling me they weren't sure that this was actually going to succeed at the Supreme Court. We saw in the oral arguments the justices across the political spectrum were skeptical that this is the way you would be able to go about this, overturning, you know, what we have understood in the Constitution and federal law. But we'll be looking to see how they decide this.

John, I've been sitting in this same seat over the past few years, at times when I have been really surprised. And the president's lawyers have even been surprised by how far this court has allowed the president to go in terms of flexing his executive power. So, we'll wait to see what they say. But based on what we saw in oral arguments, and, again, what's happened so far in the courts, it is not expected that the president will prevail on that case. We'll find out, though, in about an hour or so.

So, that's a big one that we're watching, especially since yesterday the court granted Trump this new sweeping power that effectively allows him to fire federal officials at dozens of agencies that the Congress had intended to be independent. That is a sweeping new power. And, yes, they did sort of draw a circle around the Federal Reserve, said if you want to fire anyone there, they need to be given process, a right to respond.

But yesterday it was really historic in the way they expanded the power of the executive branch. We'll see today. We don't expect it to go any further. But, John, you never know with these justices. They surprise you.

BERMAN: No. I was surprised just yesterday. A lot of people were on the ruling on the mail-in ballots.

REID: Right.

BERMAN: So, we will wait and see. Happening very soon.

Paula, great to have you there. Thank you very much.

Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, joining us right now is CNN's Supreme Court analyst Steve Vladeck.

It is really good -- I've been wanting to get your take on all of it.

Let's start with the today and then go back to the monumental day of yesterday and then the looking forward, if we can.

Birthright citizenship. Steve, what could the justices do here, in your view, and how fundamental and quickly could this change if they would go the way the president is asking?

[09:05:01]

STEVE VLADECK, CNN SUPREME COURT ANALYST: Yes, so, Kate, there really are two different questions in the birthright citizenship case. Paula mentioned the constitutional question, the reality that since the 14th Amendment was adopted in 1868, it has been understood to not draw the kinds of distinctions that President Trump's executive order draws.

But, Kate, there's a narrower way out in this case, which is that in 1940 and in 1952 Congress enacted statutes that basically codified, that wrote into federal law the Supreme Court's earlier interpretation of this clause in an 1898 case called Wong Kim Ark. The court could say the executive order is inconsistent with those statutes without even getting into the harder constitutional question. It's part of why it's such an uphill battle for President Trump. He has to win on both of those claims. And as, you know, Paula suggested, the oral argument did not make it seem like he had five votes on either.

BOLDUAN: Let's talk about then the monumental day of yesterday, because the tail and fallout from that will continue. A big message from yesterday is that the justices gave President Trump sweeping new authority to fire executive branch employees at will, including those working for agencies that Congress intended to be independent agencies. How big of a deal is this?

VLADECK: I mean, Kate, I think it's an enormous deal. And it's an enormous deal, not just because of who the current president is. It's an enormous deal going forward because what it's going to mean is that presidents of both parties can basically clean house on day one. We might like that depending upon who that person is. But when it comes to agency expertise, when it comes to the authority we want the FDA to have over pharmaceuticals, the USDA to have over food inspections. I mean, you name it, presumably there's a reason why there's value in having career officials, long term folks who have the kind of expertise that will allow the government to regulate most effectively. If all we're doing is clearing house and putting in our friends and our political supporters, I think everyone's going to suffer in the long term because the federal government will become less effective at doing all the things we've come to depend upon it for.

BOLDUAN: And just the way that the federal government works, like, just like the brain drain and the loss of the continuity of the knowledge to make -- that is necessary if you want the federal government to continue working, is it -- it could be a real thing.

VLADECK: I think it is a real thing. And I think it goes back to a point that we don't often talk about enough, which is, we spend so much time talking about how dysfunctional Congress has become. Why doesn't Congress do x? Why can't Congress do y? A lot of times, Kate, the answer is because the Supreme Court has made it harder.

And so, when the question is, how can, you know, a legislative body like Congress give future presidents the kinds of authority we need to combat climate change, to deal with, you know, foodborne illnesses, to deal with the next pandemic? Now we have a Supreme Court saying, well, but, Congress, slow down, you can't actually put people in charge who could ignore the president. The president has to be able to dictate every single thing those folks do. That's going to have consequences that we might like or dislike in the short term, but that will redound in the long term to a more and more inefficient, politically captured government and a more and more enfeebled Congress.

BOLDUAN: Well, now broaden out -- I guess it kind of fits into the broadening out question I wanted to ask you on this final day of rulings. Great moment to assess with someone I respect so much like yourself on what's happened in this court term. What's your broader lesson that you take away from this term?

VLADECK: You know, I think by the time we're done today, folks are going to look at the top lines and say, oh, well, you know, Trump won some, Trump lost some. Some of the big rulings were conservative, some were liberal. I think that the real bottom line of this term, Kate, is a Supreme Court that has consolidated power really very much to itself. I mean even yesterday with slaughter (ph) and with the big ruling about the president's power to remove heads of agencies, it was the court that said, oh, but there's an exception for the Federal Reserve.

And so, what we really are seeing is across every kind of question, a Supreme Court that is very comfortable wielding power, a Supreme Court that is very comfortable, if necessary, even to stand up to this president, a Supreme Court that's very comfortable taking power away from other actors, including Congress. You know, that is a big story, whether you like the bottom lines or not. And it's not, I think, going to change based on what happens at 10:00 this morning.

BOLDUAN: That's super interesting. It's great to see you. Thank you so much. You've got another long day ahead of you. Appreciate it.

Sara.

SIDNER: All right, this morning, half of all Americans are bracing for a prolonged and dangerous heat wave. And it could peak at the start of the July 4th holiday -- sorry, guys -- right when many of us will be outside for parades and barbecues. The temperatures in some places in the eastern U.S. could be the hottest in over a decade.

CNN meteorologist Derek Van Dam here with the very latest.

The National Weather Service is telling us that this heat wave is different and to pay attention and be warned. What can we expect?

DEREK VAN DAM, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It's because of the humidity. The humidity is going to be off the charts. And that makes it so much harder for your body to regulate the heat and cool itself down properly.

[09:10:05]

Fifty million Americans or more will experience triple digit temperatures this week, leading into the Fourth of July holiday weekend. Terrible timing, mother nature. Why do we have to do it now, right? All of us want to be outdoors.

Here's a look at what Chicago looked like at sunset last night. I like to see people doing their activities late at night because, of course, that helps minimize the amount of sun exposure you get. But this is how warm it could feel today in the windy city, 104 degrees. Both Indianapolis and Chicago in the triple digits for the heat index. We're talking lower 90s along the East Coast, but that's going to go up. Let me show you why.

Look at the heat alerts. We've got 70 million Americans under alerts at the moment. These include warnings. So, excessive heat warnings. Saint Louis to Chicago and to Grand Rapids, my home city. But look what's headed into the weekend. That is a large density of population. Some of the largest density in the country, right along that I-95 corridor, that's going to be trapped under this heat dome. High pressure, depending on its exact position, can stream in the high humidity levels, and that is going to make it feel oppressive, downright dangerous.

Pay attention to this graphic because this is important from NOAA. That shading of purple. See how that shifts from the Ohio River Valley, eventually making its way into the mid-Atlantic by Friday and Saturday, coinciding with the Fourth of July. That's extreme heat risk. That means all populations are vulnerable to a long exposure in the sun outdoors.

So, you factor in the humidity, the high dew point levels, and this is what your body is going to be battling this week. And when we talk about temperatures skyrocketing to above 110, that is when you need to take it seriously, hydrate, find air conditioning if you can, and take prolonged breaks from the sunshine as you plan your outdoor activities for the big 250 birthday celebrations this weekend. By the way, Sara, I want to show you this, D.C., we should be 89 by

Saturday, the Fourth of July. That's 101 degrees. That's the actual air temperature. This could go down as the hottest Fourth of July ever recorded in D.C.'s history.

SIDNER: Dagnabbit on the 250th anniversary of our independence.

VAN DAM: And I'll be there.

SIDNER: That's really rough. But we will see you out there. Thank you so much, Derek Van Dam.

Also, you can stay indoors and cool and join CNN for America's 250th birthday with the biggest fireworks and stars. Anderson Cooper host CNN's "Fourth In America: Celebrating 250" live July 4th on CNN. You can stream that on the CNN app. John and I will be hanging out in different places, different places. He's going to, guess -- guess it.

BERMAN: The best city on earth, Boston, Massachusetts.

SIDNER: There it is. There it is, ladies and gentlemen.

BERMAN: A lot of people going to a lot of places. It's going to be super fun.

SIDNER: It's going to be really fun.

BERMAN: Stay cool.

SIDNER: So, you can stay home. You don't have to -- you don't have to get hot.

BERMAN: That's right. We'll be hot.

SIDNER: All right, thank you, John.

BERMAN: All right, breaking overnight, police announce arrest in a horrifying triple homicide that left a toddler, the toddler's mother and aunt all dead.

And this morning, new polling on who is proud to be an American and how much. The answers might surprise you.

And a traveler caught trying to sneak a grenade onto their flight by hiding it in a jar of peanut butter. There is so much wrong with this story.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:18:43]

BERMAN: All right, happening now in Doha, or we should say not happening now in Doha, no face-to-face meeting. Not today, at least. Presidential envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner will not be meeting with the Iranians in Doha today. That despite the fact the president said they would.

Now, tomorrow, delegations from the United States and Iran are expected to meet separately with mediators from Qatar and Pakistan. Also this morning, it seems like some lawmakers are preparing for the possibility that the war could start back up again. House Speaker Mike Johnson tells "USA Today" that President Trump could reset the 60 day clock for congressional authorization for the war if the ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran does, in fact, fall apart.

I shouldn't say they're planning for war. What Mike Johnson seems to be saying is, if there is renewed fighting, there does not need to be a new authorization. He thinks, his interpretation of the law is, it would be a whole new war, despite the fact it's against the same country in the same place.

Let's get right to CNN's Alayna Treene at the White House.

I think the important thing here is what talks are going on between whom in Doha right now.

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. And there's been a lot of mixed messaging, John, from the U.S. side and the Iranian side of what actually is taking place in Doha today. I spoke with a White House official this morning, John. They told me that the president's special envoy, Steve Witkoff, his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, both of them have arrived in Doha, and they are set to meet today with the Qatari prime minister, as well as other senior officials.

[09:20:07]

And that's just today. And then tomorrow there will be separate technical talks taking place with people from the U.S. side and the Iranian side. But again, not those officials in the same room having these high-level direct talks. Instead, these are going to be low level talks with mediators from Qatar and Pakistan.

But this comes at a crucial time, of course, one, there's been so much confusion about what exactly this memorandum of understanding that the president signed in France around the G7, what exactly that is going to look like or how it will be implemented for a potential longer term deal. That's one part of this.

The other is, of course, we've seen fighting break out between the U.S. and Iran in recent days with these clashes over the Strait of Hormuz. Iran continuing to argue that they have authority over the Strait and how vessels transit that crucial waterway. The U.S., of course, arguing, that's not how they see this playing out.

Now, I will say as well, a lot of the thorniest issues that we know that still need to be resolved are what are likely to begin taking place in these talks today. That includes what is exactly going to happen with Iran's nuclear program and that highly enriched uranium in their possession. U.S. sanctions on Tehran, as well as the unfreezing of assets. All of that still needing to be hammered out during this 60-day technical period. And so, there's going to be questions about whether or not they can come together on this.

I'd remind you as well, we've heard from several of the top negotiators throughout this process. People like the vice president, J.D. Vance, arguing that there have been backchannel commitments, or what they said in the MOU specifically, was that there have been gentle agreements that had been reached between Washington and Tehran. What do those look like? All of those key questions.

And they come as well after we know that the secretary of state, Marco Rubio, and Steve Witkoff, briefed, had an all member briefing yesterday, was remote. But we did hear some pushback as well from the Senate minority leader, Chuck Schumer, essentially argue that the briefing was delayed and that essentially calling on Rubio to make a lot of these comments that he made in this briefing publicly. So, a lot of key questions still I think a lot of members have.

Meanwhile, you do have Johnson, as you mentioned, John, arguing that if for some reason combat operations were to resume, potentially that 60-day clock for congressional approval could restart. That's not the focus right now, but something I'm sure people at the White House are happy to have his support on.

BERMAN: All right, Alayna Treene at the White House this morning. Great to see you, Alayna. Thank you.

Sara.

SIDNER: All right, thank you so much, John.

Happening today here in the U.S., it's election day in America, specifically Colorado, where today's primaries are the next major test for the progressive movement after Democratic socialists made their mark in New York last week.

Joining me now to discuss this and much more, Democratic congressman from Illinois, Raja Krishnamoorthi. He sits on the House Oversight and Intelligence Committees.

Let's just go to Colorado first. Another Democratic socialist running against a very long-time Democratic incumbent. Here in New York, you know this as well as everybody else in the country, there was a sweep of three Democratic socialists winning their primaries. One of them, Darializa Avila Chevalier, is now facing questions about deleted tweets that were revealed saying that she's sympathetic to communism, to Soviet figures, criticizing interracial relationships, saying black and Arab men are both fetishizing ugly colonizer women and describing wiping her dirty hands on the American flag in lieu of a napkin.

Here is veteran political strategist James Carville, his advice to you Democrats as far as being a big tent party. Here's what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMES CARVILLE, POLITICAL STRATEGIST: I actually do think it's time for Democrats to talk the "s" word, "schism." I really do. And everybody has always said, no, no, we're a coalition, we're a big tent. And at some -- there's just some (EXPLETIVE DELETED) that I can't be in the same tent with.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: Do you think Democrats should keep their tent wide, or as Carville's suggesting, kind of close it off for Democratic socialists, depending on who it is?

REP. RAJA KRISHNAMOORTHI (D-IL): Look, we got to win a majority. We got to win the House and the Senate back and, obviously, change management at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. I think Donald Trump remains a much bigger threat to our way of life, to our democracy, and, quite frankly, to people's pocketbooks at this point. You just have -- you don't have to look further than the Iran War, which is a complete catastrophe, which you had just covered in your previous segment, and which I can talk about as well. But I think that is what unites us more than anything else right now.

SIDNER: Do you think we're in a stalemate when it comes to Iran at this point?

KRISHNAMOORTHI: Yes. I think -- well, it's a stalemate. I think that it is a -- perhaps advantage to Iran because they now have a chokehold over our energy supplies. They have leverage over us, which they didn't have before this war.

[09:25:03]

I think that the situation is chaotic and confusing. You know, Iran says we're not talking. We say we are talking. And as a consequence, I think that we are kind of in this mess and you don't have to go further than your gas pump to understand why. And this has got to end right now. It's an illegal and unconstitutional war.

SIDNER: Let me ask you about something President Trump said, which has nothing to do with the war, or maybe it does, it has to do with affordability and this hugely bipartisan bill that is supposed to make housing more affordable. Here's his thoughts on that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REPORTER: Will you sign that housing bill?

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I have not -- it hasn't been sent to me yet. It's coming, I understand. And then I'll make --

REPORTER: Will you alone?

TRUMP: Then I'll make a --

REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE)?

TRUMP: Here's what I would like to sign, much more than a bill that, big deal, it's a yawn. Some people say it's wonderful. to me, compared to the SAVE America Act, just about everything is a big yawn.

(END VIDEO CLIP) SIDNER: Compared to the SAVE American Act, the president says everything is a big yawn. And you say?

KRISHNAMOORTHI: I think that is crazy to say that. I think that if you just ask any average American out there what they think about the importance of affordable housing, affordable food, being able to afford education and health care, those are paramount. Those are the most important things to them, and they are not a yawn. And I think that just shows you how much Donald Trump is out of touch with the average American right now.

SIDNER: We had you on last week, as you, along with your colleagues, were preparing to question billionaire Leon Black, who had a long relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. He hired him at one point, fired him at another point. He even paid him $150 million for what a report said was for accounting and estate planning from Epstein. Did you get any answers from Black? Anything concrete that you think is useful in your investigation of the Jeffrey Epstein case? Or did you feel like you were getting stonewalled?

KRISHNAMOORTHI: We were getting stonewalled. And that's why, on a bipartisan basis, we handed him subpoenas to appear for a deposition under oath in a couple weeks. And you're absolutely right, he wasn't willing to answer questions with regard to nondisclosure agreements that he signed with various women that he's accused of having sexually harassed. But even greater of importance to me is the $158 million in payments that he made for supposed tax and estate planning advice to Jeffrey Epstein, which are just -- that's just a laughable reason on its face given that Epstein was neither an accountant, nor a lawyer, nor a tax expert himself.

And so, we need to get answers. Following the money is at the heart of understanding, you know, who actually paid whom for what in this ghastly sex trafficking ring. And, as you know, more than a thousand then girls now middle-aged women have yet to receive a single measure of justice because we haven't been able to find out who their -- who the -- all the perpetrators are and hold them accountable.

SIDNER: The victims certainly want answers and as do a lot of Americans. We will have to wait and see what happens next.

I do want to quickly just ask you about, as we prepare to celebrate 250 years of American independence, there's some new polling out showing an upsetting trend that about 50 percent of Americans say they're not proud to be American. And that's really changed, because I think the last time there was polling was around 80 percent of Americans felt proud of this country. Who or what is to blame, you think, for this?

KRISHNAMOORTHI: Well, look, I think that right now we're kind of in this situation where I think a lot of Americans feel under tremendous pressure, whether it's their inability to afford the cost of living or basically to, you know, have a shot at the American dream. They are on such unequal footing with people who are making out like bandits. Whether it's, you know, people who haven't been held accountable for crimes, or the Epstein class, which we just talked about, people like Leon Black and others. And so, I think that a lot of people fear that we are kind of sliding in the wrong direction under this president because people aren't being held accountable, and he's not focused on those issues that matter to people. He calls it a yawn, while people, you know, basically view that as fundamental to their well-being.

SIDNER: Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi, thank you so much and have a really happy Fourth of July, but don't forget about the heat out there. It's going to be a brutal one. Do appreciate your time this morning.

KRISHNAMOORTHI: You too. Thank you.

SIDNER: Kate.

KRISHNAMOORTHI: Thank you.

SIDNER: Kate.

BOLDUAN: There have been remarkable stories of survival that are coming out of Venezuela right now after the earthquakes, including new video of the moment a 12-year-old trapped under the rubble is brought out and rescued.

[09:30:01]

And also right now NASA astronauts are venturing outside the International Space Station. What we know about this mission.

We'll be right back.

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