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CNN on Board the USS Abraham Lincoln; U.S. & Iran Trade New Strikes After Trump Says Ceasefire is Over; CENTCOM: U.S. Carries Out 170 Plus Strikes on Iran Over Last Two Days; Attorney: Trump Admin Aims to "Scapegoat" Hearn for Pool Failures 3-3:30p ET

Aired July 09, 2026 - 15:00   ET

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

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: ... as we go forward this week. Boris, Brianna.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Derek, sad to see that today you're not wearing a Boris and Brianna shirt the way that you were on the National Mall during that heat wave.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Or an inflatable eagle.

SANCHEZ: Oh, it was an eagle. Yes, that's right.

VAN DAM: I've already sent it off to -- yes, I already sent it off ...

KEILAR: He started inflatable (INAUDIBLE) ...

VAN DAM: ... to the museum to get it, you know, put up on the wall so.

SANCHEZ: Yes, very nice. Savor that forever the way we did our -- our sun and moon, right?

KEILAR: Right. Yes.

SANCHEZ: Yes, yes. Derek Van Dam, always great to see you, man. Thank you so much. A new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.

The U.S. and Iran again trading strikes after President Trump declares the ceasefire is over. After Tehran targeted ships in the Strait of Hormuz. We're going to take you to the region on board the USS Abraham Lincoln in the Arabian Sea for the very latest.

Plus, pleading not guilty, a U.S. Olympian appearing in federal court on accusations of vandalizing the Reflecting Pool.

KEILAR: And the World Cup quarterfinals are about to get underway. The latest from the pitch.

We're following these major developing stories and many more, all coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

SANCHEZ: We begin this hour with breaking news on the escalating strikes between the United States and Iran. The ceasefire that President Trump signed yesterday, he said that it was effectively over and it's now on the brink of utter collapse as sources tell CNN that mediators are scrambling to bring both sides back to the negotiating table.

KEILAR: Iran says that the U.S. hits several targets today, including this strike near a nuclear power plant on the Persian Gulf Coast. So far, U.S. Central Command confirms they've launched at least 170 strikes on Iranian targets here in the last 48 hours. CNN Anchor, Pamela Brown, is on board the USS Abraham Lincoln in the Arabian sea right now. She spoke with us just a short time ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR & CHIEF INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: Well, let me just set the stage. First of all, you're seeing what's called a walk to look for any debris. This is an exercise making sure that they pick up anything that could end up in an engine because we're here in the hangar. And these are some of the fighter jets that have been used during this conflict from very early on. So, this includes maintenance crews and pilots.

But Brianna, as we talk about this ongoing conflict, the last two nights of strikes, what I can tell you is here on the USS Abraham Lincoln, things are heating up. And those are the exact words from the captain here of the ship, Dan Keeler (ph). He said that the White House and the administration, CENTCOM, has told the ship to be on high alert. He says that's always the case. There is always a high state of readiness.

But the context here is that tensions are escalating. There's already been two nights of strikes. And there is uncertainty about what is to come, whether there will be more strikes or not.

Now, I want to show you this. As I mentioned, these F-18s and also the F-35s have really been fighter jet workhorses during this war. And I want to show you these symbols right here. These are drones right here that this fighter jet has taken out during this conflict that started five and a half months ago. These are missiles that have been taken out just by this fighter jet alone.

Every single fighter jet I've seen or just about everyone I've seen here in the hangar and up above on the flight deck has these symbols. They also have other ones like dropping bombs, how many bombs the fighter jets have dropped, as well as submarine buster stickers that they put on there if they've taken down a submarine. I saw one earlier today that had taken down an Iranian submarine.

So, they put these symbols on to mark what these fighter jets have done so far in the conflict. And people here on board the ship, Brianna and Boris, they know that this is not over. As one official told me, the ceasefire is at least temporarily seized. And we've now learned that in these last two nights, around 170 targets have been hit at Iran. And as -- as you all have been talking about, there's a lot of speculation and talk and -- and increased rhetoric about what's going to come next in this conflict.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KEILAR: Our thanks to Pam for that report. The U.S. started launching this new offensive just hours after

President Trump declared the U.S.-Iran ceasefire was essentially over.

SANCHEZ: Let's go to the White House now with CNN's Betsy Klein.

Betsy, the President said the war has been won militarily. So, is it clear what the objective of these strikes is right now?

BETSY KLEIN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, Boris, I think that's the biggest question. What is the endgame? So many questions for the White House about the path forward, the status of this ceasefire. The President yesterday on Air Force One told reporters that he believes Iran, quote, "wants to make a deal so badly." That is rhetoric that we have heard from him repeatedly over the last few months.

But now he says he doesn't know if Iran is worthy of making a deal and whether they are going to honor it. So, this ceasefire and 60-day negotiation period on some of the thornier nuclear -- nuclear issues, that was the main off-ramp that the President had.

[15:05:05]

Now, the question is, what happens going forward? Is there going to be a protracted conflict? Are they able to negotiate? What are the marching orders for Steve Witkoff, Jared Kushner and Vice President Vance who have been tasked with leading the U.S. side of negotiations here?

Now, the President is weighing a path forward now. And one thing that might impact the future of those talks is that the U.S. -- U.S. officials believe that there is division amongst Iran's most senior officials. So, that could all impact the path forward.

But reporting from our colleague, Alayna Treene, really indicates that the President has resumed the launch of these strikes in part because he was so angry that the Strait of Hormuz, that critical oil thoroughfare, was not fully reopened. He was also upset about Iran launching strikes while he was at that NATO summit. Trump has been frustrated by the pace of these nuclear talks. If you go back to the President's comments just a few weeks ago at the end of the G7 summit, he said as he was trying to justify this ceasefire agreement deal that he had reached that it was really aimed at avoiding what he said would be an economic catastrophe if the conflict moved forward. He said he did not want to be compared to President Herbert Hoover who, of course, presided over the Great Depression.

So, a lot of questions about what he does next. And we're already starting to see some economic impacts. The price of gas up $0.05 on the gallon just since yesterday. Of course, it's already significantly up from this point last year. But Americans have started to feel a little bit of relief. That is reversing.

Now, the longer this conflict goes on really does not bode well for Republicans in the November midterm elections, Boris and Brianna. KEILAR: And also, I'd be remiss if I didn't point out that sort of

optical illusion behind you. I almost thought I saw some light streaming through the columns of the North Portico. But then I saw that scaffolding and I think something else is going on there, Betsy. What do you think?

KLEIN: Yes, right behind my shoulder here, you can see this is a fake White House front and North Portico entry. The columns here, this is all a drape that was unfurled by workers. A few hours ago, obviously, we've seen the President been very fixated on these construction projects both at the White House and around Washington. Right now, they are doing stonework. They have set up all the scaffolding in front of the White House that made it virtually unrecognizable during reporters' live shots.

So, in the last few hours, they put up this drape with this fake White House behind me. So, you can see even the tree on the other side of that column is a fake tree. Just to avoid their -- pardon their dust, avoid the construction visuals.

So, the President really believes that this is the foundation of his legacy as president and continues to do these projects. We'll have to see what's next.

SANCHEZ: And we shall, Betsy Klein, thank you so much from the White House.

KEILAR: I just hope the birds don't get confused and run into the tarp.

SANCHEZ: Slam right into it? Yes. I mean, you could kind of tell because there's like indents in the fabric, right? Not sure if the birds will see it though.

KEILAR: The -- the sky is -- there's a wrinkle in the sky.

SANCHEZ: Betsy, thank you.

KEILAR: Oh, look, there we see. Okay. All right.

SANCHEZ: Ues/ Still to come, the U.S. Olympian accused of damaging the Reflecting Pool just appeared in federal court. He says he is not guilty. What his lawyer says about the charges he's facing.

Plus, deja vu for Democrats, the party replacing its Senate candidate in Maine just months before the midterms. We'll talk to an advisor who oversaw the campaign transition from President Joe Biden to Vice President Kamala Harris.

KEILAR: And then later, a member of Team USA reveals he fractured his leg during that match with Belgium. We have that and much more coming up on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

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[15:13:08] SANCHEZ: Back now with our breaking news. In the Middle East, the U.S. unleashing a blistering new wave of attacks on Iran. Iran says it is retaliating, launching strikes on U.S. military bases in the region. Key mediators are now scrambling to salvage their weeks-old ceasefire.

KEILAR: We're joined now by CNN Military Analyst, retired Air Force Colonel Cedric Leighton. And obviously there's been this huge uptick in strikes we've seen over the last couple of days. But we want to look specifically at some of the sites that we're seeing here. We've geolocated this video that appears to show the aftermath of U.S. strikes on a maritime control tower in the port city of Chabahar. This is on Iran's southern coast. Just explain the significance of this.

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Yes, Brianna, this is actually really important because what this maritime control tower was designed to do was to actually control the flow of traffic in the Strait of Hormuz. Now, the Iranians had that tower for many years is my understanding. But now with the Iranians exercising or trying to exercise control over traffic in the Strait, it would have allowed them to actually have a place where they could not only monitor who's going through but also collect tolls and service fees or whatever else they wanted to do.

So, what this tells me is that the Iranians are basically being struck in areas that are economically important. And the U.S. has basically said, okay, you want to do this kind of, you know, these kinds of efforts, you want to control the Strait in this way, we're going to make it hard for you, if not impossible, for you to exercise that type of control.

SANCHEZ: There were other strikes not focused on the Strait. There was at least one closer to northeast Iran. And we have a video of the aftermath of that. This was a U.S. strike on a railway bridge in Al Qala (ph) City. CNN has reached out to CENTCOM for comment on this. This is pretty far up in that northeast corner. What are your thoughts on why this particular railway bridge is being struck?

[15:15:10]

LEIGHTON: So, one of the things, Boris, is that it is the rail line that connects Tehran to Maribad (ph). And Maribad (ph) is the -- the city where the Ayatollah is being the last -- late Ayatollah is being buried. And so, the key thing here is this is a symbolic attack to prevent people from going there and to, you know, conducting the religious ceremonies associated with the burial.

The other aspect, though, is this, that line also connects to other Central Asian rail lines, which would allow Russia and China to resupply Iran with military hardware. So, this is a signal that we can cut those lines as well in -- within Iranian territory. And what this means is that potentially the U.S. is getting ready to further isolate the Iranians. They're using these targets in a different way than we saw before.

At first, you know, when you looked at what was happening around the Persian Gulf area, you thought, okay, this is more of the same. These are the kinds of targets that you expect, SAM sites, you know, drone launching facilities, things of that nature. But this is a bit more extensive than that. And so, it's a signal to the Iranians that we're going after areas not only along the coastline but deep on the -- really on the other side of the country.

KEILAR: Iran says it fired 10 ballistic missiles at a U.S. base in Jordan. Jordan says all of those were intercepted. But what is the significance specifically of this particular base?

LEIGHTON: So, this base is the Muwaffaq Base that is in Jordan, in northeastern Jordan. And it is used by the U.S. to stage attacks. In the past, we've used the (INAUDIBLE) base -- use this base to house F- 16s. And they were used to -- all the way back in the Iraq War -- to go after targets in Iraq during that period. Now, move forward to this particular point in time. And what this base is being used for is as a launching pad for attacks against Iran. And so, that is why the Iranians have this in their -- in their sites. And they are going forward and basically saying, okay, if you're going to use this as a launching facility, we're going to go after it. And that's why it becomes really critical from a U.S. perspective to have both our capability as well as the Jordanian capability to prevent missile attacks against it because not only would it affect equipment, but it would also, of course, potentially impact U.S. servicemen's lives.

SANCHEZ: Even if these mediators are able to get everyone back in the room, there's no guarantee that these strikes from the U.S. are -- are going to stop. So, as you look at the President's options, what do you anticipate other targets are going to be?

LEIGHTON: Yes, I think if, you know, if the negotiations, Boris, don't proceed and if the mediators aren't successful, what you're going to see is increased use of target sets that are more command and control related, more leadership related, going -- in essence going back to the types of targets that they hit at the beginning of this war.

So, if you do that, that then means it's going to be a much more intense air campaign. And I think what the idea is, is that instead of putting ground forces in there, what they want to do is they want to affect as much as they possibly can from the CENTCOM perspective in terms of, you know, the leadership type targets. They want to affect as much as they possibly can to prevent it, prevent the Iranians from using their forces to close the Strait of Hormuz or to launch attacks against U.S. facilities, especially U.S. ships that are in the Gulf and, of course, the various air bases that are throughout the region.

SANCHEZ: Colonel Cedric Leighton, appreciate the expertise. Thank you so much.

LEIGHTON: You bet, Boris. Thank you so much.

SANCHEZ: Coming up, the former Olympian accused of vandalizing the Reflecting Pool, pleading not guilty in federal court. Can the government prove its case? What evidence do they have? We'll discuss after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [15:23:18]

SANCHEZ: Today, defense attorneys accused the Trump administration of using a former Olympian as a scapegoat for the problems plaguing the Reflecting Pool after a $14 million renovation. Lawyers for David Hearn made the remarks after he pleaded not guilty during his arraignment in D.C. this morning. Hearn is facing a felony charge for allegedly causing more than a thousand dollars in damage to the pool, which has been suffering from a peeling bottom and algae in the water.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NORM EISEN, HEARN'S ATTORNEY: If Mr. Hearn can be charged with a felony for touching the Reflecting Pool, every American is at risk. And every American should be alarmed about this prosecution.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Hearn's attorney told the judge today that the prosecution's case is weak. Last month after his arrest, the former Olympian canoeist explained to CNN his version of what happened.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID HEARN, FORMER U.S. OLYMPIAN: I took my left hand glove off and reached down into the water and sort of felt the end and bent it around a little bit.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: With us now, former federal judge John E. Jones III. He's the president of Dickinson College.

Judge, thank you so much for sharing part of your afternoon with us.

So, when Hearn's attorney calls the government's evidence weak, is that a fair assessment? Well, Boris, first of all, it's good to be with you. We don't know at this point. Maybe Norm Eisen, who's an exemplary lawyer, knows more than I do or we do about the case. But the government has a pretty high burden here to convict Mr. Hearn of a felony crime. And you would think that if there was some kind of smoking gun evidence, we would have seen it already.

[15:25:06]

They're claiming they have a lot, but we've not seen it. Now, they're going to have to turn that over, obviously, to the defense.

SANCHEZ: Yes, I -- I wonder what kind of evidence would bolster the government's argument here that he caused more than a thousand dollars' worth of property damage.

JONES: Well, they've got to show a couple of elements, Boris. One is that, obviously, per the statute, it has to be malicious or hostile. So, it's done with intent to damage. In this case, the coating. And it has to be damage of over a thousand dollars. And I'm really not sure how they're going to be able to prove that. You know, you and I may not have dipped our hands in the pool and -- and -- and, you know, grabbed a piece of the coating that came off. You know, something that might not be a -- a good act by somebody is -- is not necessarily a crime, obviously. And this is a serious crime. It's a felony crime under the D.C. Code.

And Mr. Eisen, I'm quite sure, and I know Norm Eisen, he's a very good lawyer, as I said, he's going to fight this tooth and nail, and he's going to put the prosecution to the test in this case. Other defendants might plead it out. He's not going to plead this one out. He's going to take it to the mat, so to speak.

SANCHEZ: To your point about the seriousness of the charge, it -- it could carry a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison if he's convicted. I mean, if he is convicted, and as you said, we haven't seen evidence from the prosecution yet, so that is a step that is further down the road. But if he is, do you anticipate he would serve any time behind bars?

JONES: I can't imagine. He apparently has a very clean record. He's an upstanding citizen. A lot of people went to the hearing today and spoke up for him. And again, you know, Boris, to talk about the crime, you've got to show that he showed up at the -- at the Reflecting Pool and -- and formed an intent to peel off a piece of the coating, which, you know, by every account was coming off anyway. And he -- he did that with the intent to damage the Reflecting Pool and that the damages were above a thousand dollars.

Now, if that piece was off already, pretty tough to prove any damages. And, you know, Mr. Eisen is saying that it's a scapegoat. At first blush, it certainly looks like that. So, the government has quite a lot that they're going to have to prove in this case.

SANCHEZ: Judge John E. Jones III, thank you so much for joining us.

JONES: Thanks, Boris. Good to be with you.

SANCHEZ: Of course, always.

So, Graham Platner bows out of the race in Maine, potentially handicapping his replacement in the process. It's a very messy situation that Democrats have found themselves in. We'll discuss after a quick break.

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