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Supreme Court Upholds Birthright Citizenship in Loss for Trump; Source: U.S. and Iranian Officials Hold Indirect Talks in Doha; Millions in U.S. Face Dangerous, Potentially Record-Breaking Heat. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired July 01, 2026 - 07:30   ET

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

[07:30:00]

ELI HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST, FORMER ASSISTANT U.S. ATTORNEY, SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK AND FORMER FEDERAL AND STATE PROSECUTOR: -- for the last 158 years, which essentially says, if you're born here, with very, very narrow exceptions, you are a citizen. If Congress were to pass a law saying, no, it's actually much narrower than that, that would not overcome the Constitution itself. You could no more do that than you could go pass a law saying, no more Electoral College.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Right.

HONIG: No, the Constitution says Electoral College or --

SIDNER: You have to change the Constitution in order to make it.

HONIG: You have to amend the Constitution if you want to change it. There is a mechanism, it's virtually impossible in today's reality. But no, a law will not overcome what's in the Constitution itself.

SIDNER: Let's now talk about this letter that was sent out to U.S. attorneys, this memo, because there is some precedent for this, is there not?

HONIG: Yes, it is, in my view, perfectly valid for DOJ to say, we want to step up our efforts to police criminality around what's birthright citizenship, right? So, birthright citizenship itself, the fact that babies born here get citizenship, that is sacrosanct now, you can't do anything about that. But if there are criminal schemes unfolding around this, birth tourism, which does happen, then yes, DOJ can and should investigate and prosecute it.

And this really goes back to the Obama administration, when DOJ started to make these cases in a major way. Most of this comes from Asia and from Russia, but what the crime is, is people who are coming here to have babies will lie on their immigration paperwork and say, oh, we're coming for tourism, we're only coming for a limited time, when in fact they're coming for a long time. That's a crime.

If you lie on your visa paperwork or immigration paperwork, it's a crime. Dozens and dozens of people have been charged and convicted. Cases that started under the Obama administration were carried through the Trump administration, the Biden administration, and now, no problem with them going after that.

SIDNER: All right. Let me ask you about something else that happened. The court did not take up the appeal for Donald Trump when it comes to E. Jean Carroll and the case where a jury found that she was sexually abused and that he defamed her. He is clearly working to not pay her, and they are demanding to be paid immediately. Is there something that he can usurp the court again and do?

HONIG: No. There are two different verdicts in the E. Jean Carroll cases. There's the one for $83.3 million. That one's still pending on appeal. He still has his appeal rights. But then separately, the case you're talking about was the $5 million verdict. The Supreme Court a couple days ago said, we are not taking this case. That means it is over. O-V-E-R. There is nothing you can do once the Supreme Court rules or declines to take a case. That's it.

So, I don't know what fantasy world anyone's living in to think that after the Supreme Court is done, there's no court above the Supreme Court. Legal lesson here. And so, he has to cut that check. There's nothing he can do now. He has to cut that check.

SIDNER: It's the highest court in the land. It would be interesting to see what happens if he decides to defy the Supreme Court. That will be a whole other conversation in this particular case and what can be done about it. We will see.

HONIG: Honestly, typically you would tap his account. You would take the money forcefully.

SIDNER: You would just take it?

HONIG: Yes, if you had to.

SIDNER: OK.

HONIG: Yes.

SIDNER: All right. And that has happened in other cases?

HONIG: Yes, absolutely.

SIDNER: Elie Honig, it is always good to have you to break all of this down for us. We need to have you on more and earlier. How about 6:45?

HONIG: You say the word. I am here.

SIDNER: All right. Thank you, Elie. Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: So, this morning, a diplomatic source is telling CNN that U.S. and Iranian officials, they are talking. Not directly, but talking through mediators in Qatar. President Trump's Iran negotiator, Steve Witkoff, Jared Kushner, they met with Qatar's prime minister yesterday to lay the groundwork. Officials for Iran and Qatar are also meeting today.

The Strait of Hormuz, at this point, is remaining a central focus now. Getting that fully reopened and finding their way through which, if any country, is going to exert control over that vital shipping channel moving forward. Sources tell CNN that Oman has now delivered a proposal to the United States and other allies on the Strait's future, including a plan for shipping companies to pay service fees to use the Strait, but they would not be called tolls.

Joining us right now, David Sanger, White House and national security correspondent for The New York Times. It's good to see you, David. Let's talk about just, honestly, David, what are you hearing is happening in Qatar right now? It seems oddly unclear, even for a negotiating process that's been marked by a lack of clarity.

DAVID SANGER, CNN POLITICAL AND NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST AND WHITE HOUSE AND NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT, NEW YORK TIMES: Well, Kate, it does. And you know, if you think about it, if you go back two weeks ago when this 14-paragraph plan was put together, if you listened to President Trump, you would have thought, sign the plan, the Strait will open, commerce will resume, and then we'll turn to these, what they kept talking about as technical talks, or actually much deeper than that, about the nuclear program.

Basically, that has not happened. We had this period of time nearly a week ago where there was an exchange of fire back and forth with the Iranians basically showing that they control the Strait and anybody who doesn't go in the channels they designate and control would get fired upon, the U.S. retaliating. So, what we're doing right now is back just trying to get the Strait open and, of course, the Strait was open before the war went on.

[07:35:00]

In the interim, we've burned through two of the eight weeks that we're supposed to be involved in negotiating the nuclear program -- about the nuclear program and none of that has even really begun.

BOLDUAN: What are you hearing about this Oman proposal? I mean, it would seem to be, if implemented, a major shift from how the Strait of Hormuz has really operated, you know, pre-war.

SANGER: It certainly would. Pre-war, just to remind everybody, this was free and open passage, right? It was considered to be an international waterway, ran right through. Oman, which is just on the other side of the Strait from Iran, has put together this plan and has circulated it. The president has said publicly, privately, there will be no tolls. So, they've said, great, there'll be service fees to preserve the environment, to keep the ships the right distance apart, to protect the ships as they're going through.

And they've circulated that around, a story that was broken by several of my colleagues in the Middle East and elsewhere at the Times. And that proposal, the other Arab states tell me, and Secretary of State Rubio has said publicly, is not feasible. That Rubio has said very clearly the conditions are these goes back to the way it was prior to the war.

But if you read those 14 points, they were done so hastily that they actually do suggest that Iran at least will retain some control over the Strait. And I think that's the problem that we're seeing play out today.

BOLDUAN: Yes. Then there's -- I'm seeing new reporting in the Wall Street Journal that President Trump's now being briefed once again on options to return to all-out war in Iran, saying that the conversations have centered on whether the U.S. should abandon negotiations, resume full-scale attacks on Iran. The official said, a move that some of them describe as finishing the job while not making a final decision. Trump has told aides he believes another round of full-scale attacks would derail diplomacy and hurt Washington's chances of ultimately dismantling Iran's nuclear program. What do you think this signal?

SANGER: Well, at various moments, the president has threatened to go back and resume the attacks. In fact, last weekend --

BOLDUAN: Or just annihilation.

SANGER: -- he -- Truth Social in which he said. That's right. Annihilation, end of civilization, and so forth. The fact of the matter is the Iranians have calculated, rightly or wrongly, I think rightly, the president isn't going to do this and he's certainly not going to do this between now and the midterm elections. As soon as he did it, the price of oil would shoot right back up over $100.

And the fact of the matter is that 38 days of continuous war and then a couple of days in between when they did briefly resume it did not get the political results that the president set out before the war, which was end the nuclear program, turn over the nuclear material, end the missile program, everything he said on February 28th. And so, there's no reason to think that resuming the attacks would result in any different outcome.

BOLDUAN: Yes. It's great to see you, David. Thank you so much. John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Happy almost 4th of July, or should I say hot of July? I've got three numbers for you. 100, 100, 100. Three straight days of 100 degrees any way you stack it in some of our country's biggest cities. 150 million Americans under heat alerts today.

In Washington, DC, three straight days of 100 culminating in the 4th. Philadelphia, three straight days of 100 degrees culminating in the 4th. In New York, three straight days of 100 or close. That's hot.

With us now is Wopke Hoekstra, the European Commissioner for Climate, Net Zero and Clean Growth. You've been dealing with your own heat wave in Europe recently. What kind of strain, when you see days and days of temperatures like this in a row in huge cities like this, what kind of strain does it put on infrastructure?

WOPKE HOEKSTRA, EUROPEAN COMMISSIONER FOR CLIMATE, NET ZERO AND CLEAN GROWTH: Well, first, thank you very much for having me, John. And indeed, unfortunately, we see more and more of this type of events indeed putting strains on our societies, our economies, but also, you know, this is costing lives. And unfortunately, the bad news is this will get worse before it gets better.

BERMAN: Talk to me about the specific health concerns that you've seen in Europe and we could very well see here in the United States.

[07:40:00]

HOEKSTRA: Well, the reality is that as climate change continues, the pattern of more heat waves, more droughts, more heavy weather, and of course also more floods is going up. And with this type of events, you know, continuing ever more frequently, you will see more damage. And you see now already that the heat is causing more deaths, particularly, of course, of vulnerable citizens.

But it takes little explanation that, for example, also more floods take more lives than if you don't have them. So, the pattern we're seeing, unfortunately, goes in the wrong direction. And that is not even taking into the equation the ever-larger economic damage that climate change, unfortunately, is bringing to our societies.

BERMAN: So, we have the benefit now, obviously, of pretty specific and sophisticated weather forecasting. When we get a forecast like this, when we know three straight days of 100 degrees or more is coming, if we know we're going to have a very hot summer and very hot summers for times to come, how can you mitigate that?

HOEKSTRA: Well, I mean, of course, there are certain things you can do, right? We know, for example, that particularly the south of Europe is much more vulnerable to wildfires. And therefore, we make sure that in the hottest months, there are more firefighters available in these vulnerable areas. You can also take measurements to protect vulnerable citizens. And of course, when you think about, for example, floods, there's quite a lot you can do in terms of preparing and building dikes.

The reality is that in order to fight climate change, you don't only need to make sure we pump fewer emissions into the air. The problem has already basically gotten at such a level that we also need to do more in the domain of resilience. And that is where we are in 2026.

BERMAN: Wopke Hoekstra, you've got your work cut out for you, not just this summer, but for some time to come. We appreciate you being with us and sharing your insight on this. Thank you. Sara.

SIDNER: All right. Speaking of hot, it's the hottest wedding on Earth right now. New details this morning about the biggest wedding since who knows when apparently about to take place just up the street at Madison Square Garden. Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce, CNN cameras captured Cruz wearing shirts that read Taylor Swift's Carpenters. So, far, only a few details have been leaked. And some fans are still wondering, is it just a distraction?

Maybe CNN's Gloria Pazmino outside of MSG, where they are working diligently. I mean, stuff is happening here. So, if this is a distraction, I mean, I guess she has the money to do it. But man, this is looking like the real thing, Gloria.

GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's going to be a lot of work for just a distraction outside of Madison Square Garden. Things are happening here around the garden, but things are always happening. This is one of New York City's busiest corners.

But, Sara, let's talk about what we know so far. Our sources tell us that the plans are set for Thursday and Friday. We have been speculating, guessing, wondering where is this big wedding going to be taking place? You know, this is the equivalent of perhaps our own royal wedding. And now, we know that it's happening right here in the heart of Manhattan, inside Madison Square Garden, where Taylor Swift herself has performed eight times.

Now, it'll start on Thursday afternoon. We are told that there will be a rehearsal with about 100 people. And then Friday, a big wedding celebration will follow. That is expected to include a thousand guests. We know in the past few days that street closure permits have been applied for. They have gone through all the motions that would be required to put on such a massive event. And we've seen the activity over the past few days, right?

Equipment being moved in and out of loading docks at MSG. The Carpenters T-shirt, which I think, you know, people are interpreting as another big clue. And this morning we have another major clue, this time from a potential guest, San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle, telling reporters about what he plans to wear to the wedding celebration.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE KITTLE, SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS TIGHT END: Yes, we'll be there.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We did, yes.

KITTLE: I'll be there. I'm wearing a blue suit, so that's all I got.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He is.

KITTLE: I have nothing else.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Shout out Stitch by Mitch.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is it MSG?

KITTLE: I have no idea.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, we don't know.

KITTLE: I actually asked Travis last night and he laughed at me. So, --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're excited.

KITTLE: I'm half expecting there to just be a jumbo jet on a runway and they put us on a plane somewhere.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[07:45:00]

PAZMINO: So, you see, even the guests are a little bit wondering what is actually going to happen. He also shared, and I think this is interesting, that Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce have asked their wedding guests to not bring any gifts to this wedding. I also should mention, Sara, you know, this is going to be happening over July 4th weekend, the nation's 250th birthday, inside this very famous venue on a very, very busy runway.

A very busy intersection of New York City during what is expected to be a potentially historic heat wave. So, I think over the next few hours and the next few days, we are going to be seeing a lot of activity along this stretch of New York City as Swifties and all the fans are certainly expected to descend right here on this area, hoping to catch a glimpse of the action. Sara.

SIDNER: Look, two things are going to happen here. There will be fans that are just dying to see her and so excited and just like burning in the sweaty heat and don't care. And then there will be New Yorkers who are screaming their brains out about the closures and being really upset about it. Those two things will occur at the same time. And frankly, if I was a betting person, this thing's happening on July 3rd at MSG. I'd put money on it, but I won't, but I would. All right. Thank you so much, Gloria. I appreciate it.

Still ahead, a slew of major changes kick in today for federal student loan borrowers. What you need to know. And a man pops a wheelie and speeds away right in front of the police. What happens? I'll let you imagine it until we can tell you after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:50:00]

BOLDUAN: It is a win or go home time for Team USA. They haven't won a knockout game since 2002, but this time could totally be different. How's it looking? Let's get over to CNN's Patrick Snell with more. What are you seeing?

PATRICK SNELL, CNN WORLD SPORT: Hi, Kate. Yes, good morning to you. Yes, Bosnia and Herzegovina, I think they're going to make it tough for Team USA. Remember, this is a nation that also eliminated four- time world champs Italy from the qualifying playoffs just to even get to this year's World Cup.

That said, Kate, America's star player Christian Pulisic now fully recovered from that calf injury. And the AC Milan man hoping to inspire his teammates to get to maybe, who knows, the last 16 where they would face either Belgium or Senegal.

The U.S., though, this is a concern if you're an American player. The U.S. have lost their last 10 against European opponents. They did make history recently, though, by winning their first two group stage matches for the first time since 1930 before that 3-2 defeat to Turkey.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SERGINO DEST, USA WINGER: It's a knockout round, and if you want to win this trophy, the World Cup, you've got to beat everyone, you know, and be able to beat everyone. So, if it's from Europe or Africa, it doesn't matter. We just want to win.

FOLARIN BALOGUN, USA FORWARD: We know we're going to need to be creative. We know we're going to need to be intense like we have been, you know, so far. And, you know, there's no doubts we can go out there and win.

GIO REYNA, USA MIDFIELDER: We have very high expectations for ourselves for the rest of this tournament. And, yes, we don't want this to be over.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SNELL: I can just tell confidence is high there. All right, another of the co-hosts, Mexico, looking really good right now. A fourth straight win for El Tri. Still no goals (INAUDIBLE) Julian Quinones there with a sensational strike for the opener against Ecuador. And two in nine minutes. How about that from Raul Jimenez with a stunning strike again. And afterwards, nobody, it seems, had more fun than CNN Correspondent Valeria Leon right there.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VALERIA LEON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (through translator): This is the celebration of Mexico's victory over Ecuador. Thousands of far are screaming "long live Mexico."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SNELL: Oh, the party scenes there. Norway through to the round of 16 after beating the Ivory Coast on Tuesday. No prizes for guessing who grabbed the winner. Erling Haaland with just four minutes to go. Not the cleanest of strikes, but they all count. Haaland now up to five goals in three matches. He moves to within one goal of Lionel Messi. And Kylian Mbappe in the race for the tournament's golden boot prize for top scorer.

And speaking of Mbappe, Kylian netting twice for Les Bleus who saw off Sweden 3-0 in New Jersey. The Real Madrid man with an absolute peach of a goal there on the stroke of halftime. And then he broke the record in this match for most goals in World Cup knockout games with his tenth now with just over 15 to go. He now has 18 World Cup goals in total, just one behind Lionel Messi's leading mark of 19. But I do feel there are so many more goals left in this World Cup for these superstars of the game. Right back to you.

BOLDUAN: It's quite something to watch. A peach of a goal. Next is going to be a nectarine just because it's seasonal. And I can't wait for what comes after that, Patrick.

SNELL: It was a peach.

BOLDUAN: It was a peach. A peach of an anchor. John Berman and Patrick Snell. Thanks, Patrick.

BERMAN: So, much soccer, so little time.

BOLDUAN: I mean --

BERMAN: I can just watch these goals all day long.

BOLDUAN: The joy on your face is something to remember.

BERMAN: Well, I would say I could watch it all day long. But in fact, I do. I do watch it all day long. That's my job right now.

All right. A slew of major changes kicking today for federal student loan borrowers. This is part of the president's so-called Big Beautiful Bill Act. One of the biggest changes, the end of the Biden- era repayment program, SAVE. 43 million Americans, about, have $1.7 trillion in outstanding federal student loan debt.

[07:55:00]

So, what happens now? CNN senior business reporter David Goldman is with us. It's a lot of money and a lot of people.

DAVID GOLDMAN, CNN BUSINESS SENIOR REPORTER: Yes, and a lot of changes, too. I mean, they're adding two new repayment plans that are completely different from anything that you've seen before. The one that I want to talk about most is this repayment assistance plan, because this is really going to change the way that a lot of people think about their student loans. Out are the half a dozen or so other repayment plans that you used to be able to use. And the most important is this SAVE plan. That was the one where you didn't have to pay anything if you had income low enough.

The thing that you need to remember about this is that if you have an income that is sort of, you know, below that that threshold that would give you zero payment, you now need to pay. And it's going to be between 1 percent and 10 percent of your income. And that could mean that you have to pay hundreds of dollars more if you were on one of those plans.

Now, there are advantages to this repayment plan, including the fact that you have loan forgiveness. But that kicks in at 30 years before 20 or 25 years. That's a long time to hold your student loan debt. No one wants to hold it for that long.

But there are other options, too. This is a new plan as well. You can now have a tiered plan where between 10 and 25 years you have to pay over -- pay off these loans. The more you owe, the longer it is that you have to repay it. But this is the only plan available for parents right now. So, if you had a payment assistant plan as a parent, that's going to be gone as well. This is the most controversial thing. Lending limits for grad school. So, there were always lending limits for undergrads. But for grad school, now you only have $100,000 in federal loans. And that's not going to cut it.

BERMAN: Because that's almost -- if you're going for two years, that's not enough.

GOLDMAN: Exactly. If you're a doctor or a lawyer or a professional, you do get $200,000. That's also not going to cut it. And that is really controversial because a lot of people say, well, how am I going to afford this? You're going to have to go into the private sector to get your loans. Because those can be really, really expensive.

The last thing I think that people need to understand is that there were 7 million people in Biden's save plan. All of that goes away. And as you said, $1.7 trillion in student loans. This affects a lot of people.

BERMAN: People are going to need to make some serious adjustments very, very quickly. It impacts a lot of people. I know personally how hard student loans can be to pay off over time.

GOLDMAN: It sure is.

BERMAN: Well into my 30s. All right. David Goldman, thank you very much for that. Sara.

SIDNER: All right. Thank you, guys. On Our Radar for you this morning, police dash cam catching quite the show off. A Lewiston, New York officer was cruising down the road when a motorcycle passed his car, popped a wheelie, and then took off. Unfortunately for that guy, didn't get too far. Check out his hoodie. Don't get caught. Whoops. That's exactly what happened. It helped lead to a positive I.D. And now, he's under arrest and facing multiple charges. Kate.

BOLDUAN: Oh, my goodness. So, a reversal from the Trump administration in its ongoing tug of war with A.I. leader Anthropic. The company now says that the government has lifted controls on its most advanced A.I. models, Claude Fable 5 and Mythos 5.

It was just last month, you remember, that the Commerce Department issued an export ban that had forced Anthropic to suspend all use of these models by foreign nationals, including even Anthropic's own employees. At the time, the government said they needed to address a security risk.

CNN's Clare Duffy has the very latest on this. What happened?

CLARE DUFTY, CNN TECH REPORTER: Yes. So, this is a big move for Anthropic, obviously. It said that today it is going to start restoring access to Claude Fable 5 and Mythos 5, its most advanced A.I. models. Yesterday, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick posted about this, saying, quote, "Over the past two weeks, we have worked closely with Anthropic to analyze and improve Fable 5 to ensure alignment across the U.S. government and strengthen America's leadership in A.I."

That is technical speak, essentially to say that they have addressed some of the cybersecurity risks and concerns that they had around these models, which is, of course, where this all started. Mythos 5 is Anthropic's most advanced A.I. model that even the company said could come with cybersecurity risks as well as benefits because it is so good at finding vulnerabilities in software.

So, that is why the U.S. government last month ordered this export ban on this technology, saying that Anthropic had to restrict access to all foreign nationals. The company at that point just restricted access to the models altogether.

Then just a few weeks ago, June 26, the U.S. government said that said Anthropic could start to allow a limited access to this model for U.S. government agencies, again, supposedly to address these cybersecurity risks.

BOLDUAN: But what changed? Is it clear what changed?

DUFFY: Well.

[08:00:00]