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Trump Heads To Mount Rushmore Ahead Of July 4th Celebration In D.C.; Trump To Speak At Mount Rushmore, Where Bill To Impose His Likeness Has Stalled In Congress; Dangerous Heat Wave Scorches East Coast On July 4th Weekend; Hours Away: Taylor Swift Expected To Marry Travis Kelce In NYC; Mamdani Delivers America 250 Speech At George Washington's Desk; Mamdani Touts Importance Of Immigration Rights In America 250 Speech. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired July 03, 2026 - 15:00   ET

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

ERICA HILL, CNN HOST: Now, just -- just move it a little bit closer. A little closer to your face. There you go. Well, I'll wrap up this live shot, so you can go back into the cooling center along with your crew. Danny, thank you.

DANNY FREEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Thanks, Erica.

HILL: A new hour -- a new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.

President Trump likes to say America is the hottest country in the world, boy is that spot on today. Summer temperatures hitting triple digits across multiple states. In fact, it's so hot the President's great American state fair just had to temporarily shut down.

As America prepares to celebrate its first 250 years as a nation, could the next 250 see the country establish a permanent city on the moon? I'll ask NASA's administrator about what the future in space looks like.

And hopefully they'll be together forever ever, ever, yes we're doing all the puns today. After months of speculation, the big day is reportedly here for Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce. We're following these major developing stories and many more all coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

Happy almost birthday America. The big 250 basically here at this point. Americans coast to coast preparing to celebrate. Many of you probably have the day off today. President Trump is preparing to make his way to South Dakota in a few short hours where he plans to deliver remarks at Mount Rushmore tonight. CNN's Jeff Zeleny just arrived to the spot where that speech will be taking place.

So, what more do we know about what the President plans to say tonight, Jeff?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Erica, the backdrop is certainly one of the most important elements of President Trump's speech. Just take a moment and look behind me here at Mount Rushmore. Obviously, President Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt, and Lincoln. And President Trump, of course, will be delivering a speech on the eve of the 250th anniversary of the United States.

He's been planning for this moment for so long. We have seen him, as he's tried to make these celebrations, somewhat about himself and his -- and his own legacy. But there is no doubt America has been celebrating its own Independence Day. We've seen parades in small towns as we've been traveling across the country.

But, of course, for the President, he has been here before. He came here on the eve of the Fourth of July in 2020, and he has talked openly about wanting his name on Mount Rushmore here. Take a look at this image here. He has sent this out on Truth Social, and he's been quite serious about this.

In fact, he once asked Kristi Noem, who at the time was governor of South Dakota and became his Homeland Security secretary, then later fired -- he asked her about putting his image on. There's been a bill in Congress about that. So, we will see if he mentions that here this evening.

But for all of that, there's no doubt that President Trump is eager to step into this moment of patriotism here. But like any Trump speech, I'm told this will likely also be talking about the differences with Democrats. We sort of know how these Trump speeches go. But they're leading up to the culmination of one tomorrow evening at the National Mall.

There's been some worry inside the White House about the weather back in Washington. I can tell you here today in South Dakota, it is warm and sunny, but actually quite pleasant, with a breeze blowing. So, when the President arrives here this evening, there'll be fireworks over Mount Rushmore here, of course flying on that new Air Force One. So, he is certainly basking in this moment of patriotism.

The question is, is he using this as a moment to unify the country? That's, of course, what we all remember from the bicentennial, or at least you and I probably do, Erica, back from 1976. President Ford, at that point, said he was going to unify the country after Watergate, after Vietnam. We, of course, were very young at that point. But President Trump has certainly tried to use this as a different kind of moment to build himself up and his party up four months ahead of those midterm elections. Erica.

HILL: Yes, there's certainly been a lot of comparison, right, to the summer of 1976, what it felt like. Full disclosure, I wasn't born until 16 days later that summer.

ZELENY: Right.

HILL: When we look, though, at what is coming from ...

ZELENY: Oh, my gosh, I'm so sorry.

HILL: You don't have to be. It's all right. I'm good. You're just old. I'm kidding.

When President Trump speaks tomorrow night, there is ... ZELENY: True.

HILL: ... as you -- you know, we're talking a lot about what's happening tonight, but this speech tomorrow and so much has been made about the -- the Great American State Fair, and will it be about the country and bringing people together? Will it be about the President, especially given that he's turned this into a rally? As they monitor the heat, is there any sense that the White House could actually change its plans because of the heat?

ZELENY: Unclear. We have not heard about any change of plans from the White House's point of view. Of course, we've seen cancellations up and down the Eastern Seaboard of other special events going on. But right now, we have not heard anything of the sort from the White House. The President has been anticipating this moment. But we do know that he's remarkably sensitive to crowd sizes, particularly on the National Mall.

[15:05:02]

Think back to his inauguration back in 2017, when he was so furious about comparisons of his crowd size. So, we shall see if there are many modifications. But as for now, at least for this backdrop here tonight, it'll be lit with fireworks. And, Erica, apologies for making you as old as me. I've been around for a long time. Didn't cover these guys up here, but I've covered several presidents. But a spectacular day here today at Mount Rushmore.

HILL: No apology needed. We're really not that far apart in age, my friend. Don't worry, Jeff. Thank you.

ZELENY: And I was three. I was three back in 1976, I'm told.

HILL: See ...

ZELENY: So, yes.

HILL: See, there you go. You got three years on me.

ZELENY: Have a good day.

HILL: Well, of course, there is so much focus on the heat this Fourth of July ...

ZELENY: Take care.

HILL: ... weekend. Thanks, Jeff.

The sweltering celebrations, the heat dome really turning up the temperature for such a large portion of the country. We're talking about more than 150 million people who are dealing with these suffocating conditions, the triple-digit temperatures, as they look to celebrate the nation's 250th birthday. The Great American State Fair, which we've talked so much about this week in Washington, D.C., was actually shut down earlier this afternoon because of the heat. Now, there are plans to reopen it in a couple of hours. Of course,

we're going to keep monitoring the situation. In Philadelphia, the city canceled one of the largest Independence Day parades in the country to keep people out of that heat because it's just not safe. Amtrak has canceled at least 26 trains across the Northeast since Thursday, temperatures of course boiling up and down the Boston-to- D.C. corridor.

All of this as a new study claims the intensity of this scorching summer that we are all feeling would be virtually impossible without the impact of fossil fuel pollution.

Joining us now is John Morales. He's the founder of the weather consulting firm ClimaData and co-chair of Climate Power's Climate Urgency campaign. John, it's good to have you with us.

So, when we look at where things stand, according to the study that we just cited, if there was a similar heat wave 50 years ago, in June of '76, it would have been 6.3 degrees Fahrenheit cooler. What has changed in the last 50 years? Is it simply the fossil fuels, or is there more to it?

JOHN MORALES, CLIMADATA METEOROLOGIST: Well, I mean, it's the baseline, right, Erica? I mean, the fact that we're dealing with a planet, atmosphere, ocean combined, which is a good 1.3 degrees Celsius, that's about 2.5 degrees Fahrenheit hotter than it was before the Industrial Revolution. So, adding to the baseline, making that our starting point, and then having a heat dome like we currently have across the east of the U.S. meteorologically bring the conditions that would cause hot temperatures, well, now you've got a higher starting point, a hotter starting point, and we end up with these type of temperatures, which are truly remarkable and made five times more likely by climate change than they would have otherwise been.

HILL: So, how much worse could this get?

MORALES: Well, I'll tell you what. I am particularly concerned, Erica, about the -- the nighttime temperatures, right? So, not a lot of attention is being put on this, you know? Everybody is looking at the triple-digit heat that we're seeing right now, you know, thermometers between 100 and 105, but the feels-like readings, like you just showed on that graphic, you know, 110, 115 degrees.

But last night, Newark, no cooler than 87 degrees. That was the nighttime minimum at Newark. It is the hottest nighttime temperature ever recorded at a weather station that's been around for over a hundred years. Same deal with Washington, D.C. Same deal with Central Park, 84 degrees at both of those locations for the nighttime minimum. Those are all-time warmest minimum temperatures recorded.

And I bring this up, Erica, because when we talk about human suffering, when we talk about the possibility of people succumbing to this heat, oftentimes it's because they can't recover at night extreme daytime temperatures that they've lived through. So, this is particularly true for toddlers and -- and babies. It's also true for the elderly. They just simply -- their -- their bodies, their organs, just can't adjust as quickly. And when it doesn't cool down at night, and on top of that you have the hot daytime temperatures, that can lead to tragedy.

Heat is the silent killer in this country. We lose more people to heat than we do to hurricanes, floods, and tornadoes combined. Not a lot of people talk about it, but as it gets worse due to climate change, more and more people are going to be impacted.

HILL: Absolutely. So, is there a way to reverse this fossil fuel pollution effectively?

MORALES: Well, you know, we do need to bring things up to scale, right? We have a lot of solutions out there. Some of them are already being implemented. Think of the energy transition that's already going on, particularly in other parts of the world, as the United States of America gets left behind, right, by some of the decisions made during the Trump administration.

[15:10:10]

But other parts of the world are transitioning to green forms of energy. That solution is being scaled up. But there are other solutions that need scaling, too. You know, land use, ways to make agriculture less polluting in terms of carbon dioxide, you know, capping some of the methane leaks that are all over the world. These are solutions that are out there which are going to help slow down the rate of warming that we're seeing, and, yes, hopefully someday subtract from the warming that's already in place and that, unfortunately, is baked in for -- for quite some time.

HILL: Yes. Well, fingers crossed that we can get to work on some of that. John Morales, appreciate it. Thank you so much.

MORALES: Thank you.

HILL: Still ahead here, it was a speech earlier today from New York City. What the Mayor of this big -- big city had to say ahead of the nation's 250th birthday, touching on patriotism, the nation's ideals, and immigration.

Plus, a multi-day celebration underway in Manhattan. What we know about the big celebration for Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce.

And a bit later, can Cape Verde continue this fairy-tale run at the World Cup? They're about to go head-to-head with Argentina and Lionel Messi for the -- for a spot in the last 16. But you know what? Hope springs eternal, my friends. That and much more coming up on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:15:59]

HILL: Can you feel it? We're in the dawn of a new era, people. Sources say the wedding of Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce is just about two hours away at this point. A thousand guests are expected. A steady stream of decor and supplies has been entering Madison Square Garden for days now, including what would appear to be knobby tree branches. Boxes of lobster meat have been spotted. Plenty of excitement on the streets of New York City around Madison Square Garden.

And how about this? Dolly Parton sending out this message to the couple, who donated $26 million to various charities this week, including Dolly's Imagination Library.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DOLLY PARTON, COUNTRY MUSIC STAR & PHILANTHROPIST: Taylor and Travis, it's Dolly, and I was just told that you two are making a donation of $2 million to my Imagination Library. Thank you, thank you, thank you. I'm blown away and overjoyed with that gratitude. Now, it's evident that you two have made giving back a key part of your life. So, hey, when you have your first one, can I have it? Because that is going to be one special baby.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: CNN's Brynn Gingras has been braving the heat for us all week long there outside Madison Square Garden. Did you have to fight your way through Swifties this morning to get your live location, Brynn?

BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, kind of, totally, Erica. Actually, there's a bunch of Swifties lined up right now because we are at a very pivotal moment in the evening. We are so close to the beginning of the festivities. Let me get out of the way so you can kind of see what we're seeing. You see all of these people kind of -- with police -- we've seen people with tuxedos. We've seen event planners in their full black-tie affair.

And what we're really seeing are a bunch of SUVs with those tinted windows lining up on 7th Avenue, which has been shut down to any other sort of traffic, and doing exactly what we've been talking about all day, making that right-hand turn into in front of Madison Square Garden and basically going through the black curtains into the tent undetected.

As soon as that car drives in, those black curtains close, and that's where the guests are entering the party. So, we've started to see a steady stream of guests beginning to enter this party, which we're hearing is expected to start really in just over an hour. About 4:30, we're hearing, is the cocktail reception for this event, reportedly. Then, the wedding will take place on the arena floor of Madison Square Garden. How romantic.

It's not going to look anything like it did when the Knicks were playing, Erica. It has apparently been transformed into a major garden party. As you mentioned, those knobby branches we've been seeing stuff all -- few -- last few days long, knobby branches, gazebos, arches. It's got to look spectacular, of course.

And then after the ceremony, we're understanding, of course, dinner and dancing at every good party, and probably some musical acts until early morning, into July 4th. So, right now we're just keeping our eyes peeled on the fact that there is just SUV after SUV after SUV lined up, getting ready to go inside for what some people are calling our royal wedding.

HILL: Indeed.

So, I know you're trying to peer into those blacked-out windows of the SUVs, Brynn. Any more details about who made the cut for this guest list that we're told is about a thousand people?

GINGRAS: I have none. I'm sorry. I have not. I have been trying. I don't -- like, they -- they lower the window to, like, tell them what's going to happen next, and I'm just like, come on, give me -- give me something. Give me something. But no, we -- we don't know who's on that guest list. We believe about a thousand people are going to be in attendance for tonight's festivities. We have been hearing that there are going to be some musical acts by Stevie Nicks, Tim McGraw, maybe. We had heard Taylor Swift talk about how Ed Sheeran can't, you know, there's no stage he doesn't love, so maybe he'll perform as well, being one of her best friends. So, we can't wait to find out at all, Erica.

I'm sure you and I will get some popcorn. We'll sit down together and we will watch it all on a documentary together.

HILL: I would love to do nothing more with you, my friend. Anytime with Brynn Gingras is time well spent. Thank you again for braving the heat to you and your entire crew.

[15:20:06]

Still ahead here, New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani marking America's 250th birthday with a rebuke of the Trump administration's policies. Is that a message that extends and is heard far beyond New York City?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:24:56]

HILL: Earlier today, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani delivering what his office billed as a major address ahead of America's 250th anniversary, sitting behind a desk used by George Washington, surrounded by recently naturalized U.S. citizens.

The Mayor criticized what he called powerful Americans.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR ZOHRAN MAMDANI (D-New York): The powerful have always known their answer. America, in their view, is an arena of supremacy, where only a select few are allowed freedom, where not all are created equal. America, if you ask them, becomes less the more people it welcomes. America, they will tell you, belongs only to those with the right accent or the right shade of skin. The rest of us, they insist, should be grateful for merely being allowed to visit.

(END VIDEO CLIP) HILL: The Mayor also talked about what he thinks is the great fabric of New York City, right, which is a lot of the immigrants that have come through, his experience as well.

Joining us now is Morris Katz. He's a senior advisor to Mayor Mamdani and also a partner with the political consulting firm Fight Agency.

So, Morris, why did the Mayor want to give this speech today?

MORRIS KATZ, SENIOR ADVISER, NYC MAYOR ZOHRAN MAMDANI: Look, I think the Mayor is stepping up into a role of leadership, uh, for New York and across the country. He's showing every day that government is something that can fundamentally deliver for people, that can make people's lives better, and that when we have, when we use the tools of government to improve people's lives, what we see is there's no longer an excuse to turn people against each other. And, that's so much of the rhetoric we see coming out of the Republican Party today.

And what the Mayor is showing is a different kind of politics where, instead of turning people on their neighbors, we take on bad landlords and we deliver for working people so they can stay and afford -- they can afford to stay in the place they love, in the place they call home. And that's a large universe of people in New York and across the country.

HILL: We actually just got some new reporting from our team at the White House about what the President plans to talk about tonight in his speech at Mount Rushmore, and we're told that part of what he plans to address is he'll -- he'll deliver a major address to make clear what the world already knows: the U.S. is the greatest, strongest, and most exceptional nation in history.

I have to say, the word "exceptional" stood out to me because Mayor Mamdani talked this morning about American exceptionalism, and -- and he talked about what he saw as an irony in it, saying the story of America has so often been written by those who were told that they were anything but exceptional. He talked about his vision is that -- that exception -- what makes it exceptional is that nothing is fixed. Basically, the work of determining who and what the country can be is happening in real time. How much is this moment about him really looking to capitalize on this rising wave of -- of democratic socialism in the country? Is that what he's hoping to harness?

KATZ: I think what the Mayor is hoping to harness is a government that works for the people and the politics that belongs to the people. And I think that that is where the exceptionalism lies, as he kind of discussed. You know, there's -- there's something exceptional in people, with everything being stacked against them, rising to the occasion time after time, and shaping a different kind of politics.

And what we're seeing in New York, what we saw, you know, a little over a week ago in New York, is there's something exceptional about a process in which you can take on the powerful and immediately have a different kind of representation, where you can have a union organizer who once worked at Taco Bell, where you can have a, organizer who was raised by a single mother, who was a tenant, go into the halls of power. That that's where the exceptionalism is. And I think it's important that we combat this idea that exceptionalism is somehow something that should just be said over and over again, even while people deal with inflation and corruption and an American Dream that feels even further out of reach.

HILL: In recent years, Republicans have really leaned in hard and have pushed a narrative of overarching patriotism, and there are Democrats who have lamented the fact that they feel the party has, in some ways, ceded patriotism to the GOP. Is this a moment that you see that offers an opportunity to take that back? Is this an attempt to do so, to reframe patriotism?

KATZ: Yes, I think you absolutely -- I think we should also hold Republicans accountable for -- in no way being patriots. You know, it's not -- there's nothing patriotic about trying to turn Americans against each other. There's nothing patriotic about selling out what's supposed to be a prized institution of our government for their own personal profit and for the gain of their donors and the corrupt interests that they're beholden to.

There's nothing patriotic about sending young American men and women to die in wars that they're fighting for personal political grievance and to improve the stock portfolios of their donors. And there's certainly nothing patriotic about using U.S. taxpayer dollars to fund wars in other countries and to enrich themselves and their families. And so, that's not patriotism. And when they say that, it is a lie and I think we should, as a Democratic Party, should call them out on it aggressively.

HILL: You talk about "we as a Democratic Party." There are a lot of questions about who actually fits the bill when it comes to the Democratic Party these days. Who is the voice? Is there a unified voice here? Who do you see as the leader in this moment of the Democratic Party?

[15:30:09]