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Mamdani Touts Importance of Immigration Rights in America 250 Speech; Chilling Audio From Civilian Planes Shot Down by Cuba 30 Years Ago; NASA Celebrates 250 Years of America with Artemis Moon Push; Cape Verde Takes on Argentina in Tough Test at World Cup. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired July 03, 2026 - 15:30   ET

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

[15:30:00]

ERICA HILL, CNN HOST: ... Is there a unified voice here? Who do you see as the leader in this moment of the Democratic Party?

MORRIS KATZ, SENIOR ADVISER, NYC MAYOR ZOHRAN MAMDANI: I think the Democratic Party right now is a big tent party, and that's what it should be. You know, we should be a party for every single person who, in the spirit of patriotism, who believes in an America where anything is possible for anyone and where we do not have to exist with a rigged economy and a corrupt political system. And I think you're seeing a broad ideological spectrum of Democrats say, we can do better.

We don't have to have a politics that's beholden to corporations or lobbyists. And I think it's really encouraging and hopeful. And, you know, while a lot of people have tried to kind of sow division here between different wings, I think we should be proud to be a party where there is room for Darializa and Claire Valdez and Brad Lander in New York and where there's room for James Talarico in Texas and Sherrod Brown in Ohio, because I think they all fundamentally believe that government should be working for working people and not just the wealthy and well-connected. And if we can agree on that, then I think, you know, there's a lot of other areas where there can be different opinions.

HILL: Quickly, before I let you go, when you talk about this being a big tent party in the wake of not only the victories for Democratic Socialists that we saw in New York City, who were endorsed, of course, by Mayor Mamdani, but also what we saw earlier this week in Colorado, there was some talk about -- there's been a lot of talk, which I'm sure you've seen, about the future of the Democratic Party, and even questions about what it means to be a Democratic Socialist and how that fits into being an American.

Rahm Emanuel talking about some Democratic Socialists don't love America. When you hear language like that, is there enough conversation happening behind the scenes when it comes to Democrats, no matter where you fall under the umbrella of this big tent, to make sure that you're actually aligned on your messaging? And if not, is that going to be a problem come November?

KATZ: I mean, look, I think there are a lot of people, Rahm included, who've made comments like that over the past, you know, week and extended period of time. And I would just say I think there's a fundamental lesson of the way to win elections is by addition, not subtraction. And so I think I'm far more interested in an electoral strategy that's about bringing more and more people in, and less so in kind of gatekeeping, who gets to call themselves a Democrat and who gets to love this country.

HILL: Morris Katz, appreciate you joining us. Thank you.

KATZ: Thanks so much for having me.

HILL: Still to come here, an exclusive look at the rare footage. And also, we have the chilling audio from two planes shot down by Cuban forces 30 years ago. Stay with us.

[15:35:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HILL: It's now been just over 30 years since Cuban forces shot down two unarmed U.S. civilian planes. In May, the Department of Justice indicted former Cuban leader Raul Castro for his alleged role in the deadly incident. Now, a former pilot is sharing rare footage and cockpit audio from the doomed flights with CNN.

The footage shows behind the scenes video of the Miami-based volunteer group called Brothers to the Rescue, attempting to find and assist Cubans who are trying to reach the U.S. CNN's Isabel Rosales has more in her exclusive story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ISABEL ROSALES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A guardian from above, saving lives at the core of Brothers to the Rescue. Reinaldo Martin, a former pilot with the group, now opening his personal archive only to CNN. Dozens of homemade VHS tapes capturing their history and some of the more than 300 missions Martin personally flew with the humanitarian group, which worked to find and help Cubans trying to reach the U.S.

On makeshift rafts, thousands of Cubans fled Fidel Castro's regime by sea. Many never made it. Then came February 24, 1996. The men he calls his brothers, Mario Manuel de la Pena, Armando Alejandre Jr., Carlos Costa and Pablo Morales, shot out of the sky by Cuban MiGs. An exhaustive investigation by the United Nations International Civil Aviation Organization concluded the unarmed planes destroyed over international waters.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are announcing an indictment charging Raul Castro and several others.

REINALDO MARTIN, FORMER PILOT BROTHERS TO THE RESCUE: Yes, all right.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (through translator) A cordial greeting from Brothers to the Rescue.

ROSALES (voice-over): And deep in Martin's vast collection, one tape stands above the rest.

MARTIN: This is gold. This is actually Basulto's recording, the cassette that was recording his conversation and his airplane.

ROSALES (voice-over): Jose Basulto callsign Seagull One, piloting the only plane that made it home.

CUBAN AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL (through translator): Be informed that the area north of Havana is activated ...

ROSALES (voice-over): Cuban air traffic controllers warn the planes they're taking a risk by flying near Cuba.

SEAGULL ONE (through translator): Hi Charlie.

MARTIN: Exposed.

ROSALES (voice-over): But minutes later, the mood shifts as Cuban MiGs appear. The microphone attached to Basulto's headset captures the panic inside the cockpit.

SEAGULL ONE (through translator): They are going to shoot at us.

U.S. PASSENGER (through translator): They will shoot us?

SEAGULL ONE (through translator): They will shoot at us.

We have MiGs around us.

ROSALES (voice-over): Then, silence from Charlie.

SEAGULL ONE: Seagull Mike? Seagull One.

SEAGULL MIKE: I'm here. Any word from Charlie?

SEAGULL ONE: Negative.

[15:40:00]

Do you see that smoke to my left?

SEAGULL ONE: I don't see anything now, I did see smoke.

SEAGULL ONE: OK, we're looking to another flare. Another ball of smoke.

SEAGULL ONE: Seagull Mike? Seagull Mike? Seagull One.

MARTIN: They're both down. They shot both of the airplanes down, and Basulto's trying to get a hold of Charlie and Mike, and they're both gone.

ROSALES (voice-over): Then-Cuban leader Fidel Castro took responsibility for downing the planes, claiming the group previously and repeatedly violated Cuba's airspace when dropping anti-Castro leaflets over the island nation. MARTIN: What interference? We're in international waters.

SILVIA IRIONDO, SHOOT-DOWN SURVIVOR: Hello, welcome.

ROSALES (voice-over): Silvia Iriondo survived the shoot-down, a passenger inside Basulto's plane. It was her first flight with the group.

ROSALES: You've relied on memory up until this point. Have you ever heard your own words from that day?

IRIONDO: No.

ROSALES: This is the first time you're hearing this?

IRIONDO: That's the first time I hear the taping of Basulto saying, we are next. They're going to shoot at us.

CUBAN MIG (through translator): Target lock-on. Authorize us!

IRIONDO: To shoot unarmed, civil, defenseless airplanes in international airspace.

CUBAN MIG (through translator): We got him!

The other one is destroyed! They other one is destroyed!

ROSALES (voice-over): The families have all heard the tapes before, some directly from the FBI, others from when it was played inside a federal courtroom.

ROSALES: Hello, hello, hello.

ROSALES (voice-over): A Marine veteran, a New Jersey boy, a family man, and a former rescued rafter turned volunteer, four families bound by loss.

For Mirtha Mendez, metal prison bars, rather than a sheet of paper, is the key to closure. We can't have an indictment that sits in a drawer.

ROSALES: How would you see him come here at 94 years old?

MIRTHA MENDEZ: It doesn't matter. He's still up and about and giving orders. So if he cannot walk, a wheelchair, or if he cannot sit, a stretcher.

ROSALES (voice-over): Isabel Rosales, CNN, Tampa.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HILL: As the United States celebrates 250-year space exploration, in many ways, it's helped to shape the country's identity. So what is in store for NASA in the decades ahead? We're going to ask the agency's administrator next.

[15:45:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HILL: As America celebrates its 250th birthday, NASA is honoring the nation's legacy of exploration, looking to the future through its Artemis program. The agency's bold effort to return astronauts to the Moon, establish a sustainable lunar presence, and prepare for missions to Mars. You're looking at the launch of the Artemis II mission, the first crewed journey around the Moon in more than half a century.

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman joins me now. It's good to have you with us. That was quite a moment earlier this year, so much of the country excited, enthusiastic, rallying around Artemis II, as we know.

As we celebrate the nation's 250th birthday tomorrow, what role do you think space exploration has played in the shaping of America's national identity?

JARED ISAACMAN, NASA ADMINISTRATOR: Well, it's absolutely great to be here and talk about NASA, the contributions we've made as an agency to America's proud history, what we're working on today, like the Artemis II crew and their amazing mission around the Moon. Just so you know, they are here in our nation's capital. They're going to be throwing out the first pitch at the Nationals game.

They're going to be on the stage tomorrow night as we celebrate the nation's 250th birthday. And they're going to be talking about passing the baton to where we go next. Artemis III crew, we announced them just a couple weeks ago.

They'll be flying into space in 2027. And they're going to set up for Artemis 4 when American astronauts return to the surface. And this time, we're going back to stay.

We're building a Moon base and we're continuing to make a lot of progress in that sustainable presence on the lunar surface.

HILL: A lot of great things coming. NASA, I know, did get a big funding boost in the Big, Beautiful Bill for the Artemis Moon exploration program. There's not a big increase in funding earmarks for the Moon base.

I know you said this first phase could cost $10 billion. So how much more funding would NASA need to make all of this a reality?

ISAACMAN: We have all of the resources that are available to us. I don't think NASA's performance should be measured on how quick we can pay -- spend taxpayer dollars, but on the outcomes. The $10 billion plus up we have in President Trump's signature legislation, the Working Family Tax Cut Act, the One Big, Beautiful Bill, is the resources not just to start building the Moon base, but the entire Artemis III mission that's launching next year, we can directly attribute to that funding.

So NASA being back in the business of launching powerful Moon rockets with frequency and being able to go back to the lunar surface and do other things. We're going to launch the first nuclear-powered spacecraft in 2028. We're also drawing on resources from the One Big, Beautiful Bill to do that.

America will finally get underway under nuclear power, and that is a step in the direction of NASA astronauts going to Mars.

HILL: Before we get to Mars, there's a lot of talk about getting back to the Moon, which you were just touching on, and certainly a lot of excitement about that because of what we saw with Artemis II earlier this year. There are also questions about who's going to get there first. Are you confident the U.S. can beat China back to the Moon?

ISAACMAN: I am confident now. President Trump's national space policy, which he signed on my first day on the job after I got sworn in, plus the Working Family Tax Cut Act, that's the policy, the resources, and we have bipartisan support from Congress, not to mention the best and brightest from across the agency that's done this before. Yes, I believe we now have an achievable path back to the lunar surface, and this time it's an entirely different ballgame.

[15:50:00]

We're going to have the infrastructure there so we can stay and master the skills for where we go next, which is Mars.

HILL: Blue Origin suffered a setback in May when its rocket exploded on the pad. It sounds like NASA may be looking at possibly launching the company's lunar lander, Blue Moon, on a different rocket because of that. Can you give us a little insight into the thinking there?

ISAACMAN: Well, I would say for sure Plan A is still to continue to use Blue Origin. You know, they have moved incredibly quickly. I mean, this isn't just a NASA assessment, by the way.

The Space Force and others that have been watching the team at Blue Origin work at Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Space Force Base, we've been observing how quickly they're moving. Now, we're providing resources, subject matter experts, to help get to root cause, to help with pad rebuild. But most importantly, we've decoupled the lander from the launch vehicle, meaning we are helping them continue to move very fast with the lander development so that when their rocket is back up and running, we'll be able to get it to the moon.

Now, of course, there's Plan B's and C's. This is the healthiest launch market in the history of America's space program. So we will ensure outcomes are achieved.

Plan A is going to use Blue Origin. There, of course, will be Plan B and C. And then obviously there's SpaceX.

SpaceX making very quick progress on their vehicle, fully reusable, the booster and the upper stage. That's what's going to allow you to put lots of mass efficiently on the lunar surface.

HILL: Jared Isaacman, appreciate you joining us. Thank you.

ISAACMAN: Thank you very much. Have a great Independence Day. HILL: You too.

Still to come here, Argentina, Lionel Messi set to take the pitch against Cape Verde. Can the small African nation eliminate the reigning World Cup champions and continue this Cinderella run?

I mean, why not?

[15:55:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HILL: It is T-minus about 30 minutes until what we're told is the start of the cocktail hour for Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce. You can see some people coming in here on foot.

There has been a long line of SUVs down 7th Avenue, as I have heard from my colleagues there on the ground, before they turn in. There you go. All gussied up.

Some folks making their way to the big event. Lots of interest, of course, around this wedding. A lot of people on the streets around Madison Square Garden in these sweltering temperatures.

And the streets around the garden have been shut down to get the guests here. I have to be honest, my knowledge of all the guests is not as good as some of my colleagues. But as we're looking at them all come in, ready to go on a hot summer's day, I'm sure they will be happy to get in there into the air conditioning.

For the SUVs that are pulling up, we've shown you earlier, but they basically have a setup where the cars can pull in. They will close the curtains behind them. So you see the line of cars here.

I think it looks like that's 7th Avenue right there. And they're going to take a right and turn to go into the entrance to Madison Square Garden. If the cars do ultimately make that turn, they go into an area where then curtains are pulled behind them so the guests can get out.

You see these are some of the cars coming out of that area. All these privacy measures so that they don't have to be captured by cameras. Although, of course, we just saw a few, some of them choosing to get out a little earlier and maybe walk the remaining half a block or so.

If only they would turn around so we could see who they were. It would be very helpful. So we'll continue to monitor all that activity for you.

Really just a couple of blocks from where we sit here in our CNN studios.

We are also very closely watching all the developments in the World Cup, people. It is a true David versus Goliath story, and one that so many of us have loved in this tournament.

The smallest country to ever make it to the knockout round in the World Cup versus arguably the greatest player in the history of the sport. We're talking Cape Verde, Argentina. The match is set.

CNN's Don Riddell joining us from Atlanta. I mean, there's always a chance, right?

DON RIDDELL, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: Maybe one in a million, right? That would be a chance.

HILL: Still a chance.

RIDDELL: Yes, these guys might have about a 5 percent to 11 percent chance. That's the stat I've seen described. But the way this tournament is playing out, I mean, I really do think anything could happen.

But, you know, we've been looking at the history books today, trying to figure out what kind of an upset this would be. The USA famously beat England in 1950. That was a massive upset.

North Korea against Italy in 1966. That was massive. People still talk about those two games.

But I think if this tiny island nation of barely half a million people on their World Cup debut could somehow topple Lionel Messi and Argentina as the defending champions, we would never have seen anything like it.

And yes, there is a chance. There is a chance. It'd be amazing if they could pull it off.

But clearly, Argentina are the favorites.

HILL: If nothing else, it'll be a fun match to watch. So last night, a big match. Cristiano Ronaldo, Portugal advancing to the last 16.

There was a controversial decision, though, in the match.

RIDDELL: Yes, very controversial. It was an incredible match, particularly the second half. And it was full of highlights and headlines.

This is Cristiano Ronaldo scoring his first ever goal in the knockout round of a World Cup tournament, despite the fact that this is his sixth World Cup. This turned out to be the winner, Goncalo Ramos, with a very late header for Portugal in the 94th minute. But in the 13th minute of stoppage time, Croatia thought they had got an equalizer.

And of course, they went absolutely nuts, only for the game or for the goal to be called back because of offside. And it's all because of the player Igor Matanovic, who got a header. And we only knew he had the header because there's a microchip in the ball.

HILL: Oh, that was really something. Oh, talk about the range of emotions for Croatia. All right, Don, good to see you. Appreciate it. Thank you.

Thanks to all of you for joining us this afternoon. "THE ARENA" with Kasie Hunt starts right now.