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Israel Says It "Eliminated" Two Iranian Quds Force Commanders; New Strikes In Israel And Iran As Conflict Enters Second Week; Trump: Two Weeks Is "Maximum" For Decision On Iran Strike; Iran: 400 Plus Iranians Killed, 3,000 Plus Injured Since Start Of Conflict; Brutal Heat Dome Building, Sending Temps Soaring For Millions; Israeli Missile Hit A Residential Building In Iran, CNN Analysis Shows A Nuclear Scientist Lived There. Trump: Two Weeks Is "Maximum" For Decision On Iran Strike; Vance Defends Trump's Decision To Deploy Natl. Guard; Appeals Court Blocks Louisiana Ten Commandments Law. Aired 12-1p ET

Aired June 21, 2025 - 12:00   ET

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

[12:00:00]

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN ANCHOR: -- we have time for. Don't forget, you can find all of our shows online as podcasts at CNN.com/audio and on all other major platforms.

I'm Christiane Amanpour in London. Thank you for watching, and I'll see you again next week.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me this Saturday. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

And we begin this hour with breaking news out of the Middle East, where Israel and Iran are exchanging fresh strikes today as the conflict extends into its second week. Overnight, Israel says it killed two Iranian commanders of an elite branch of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The Israeli military also saying two Iranian drones managed to penetrate Israel's air defenses, which they rarely do.

Officials say one struck a northern town near the Jordanian border, but so far no casualties are reported. They say the other landed in an open area in the south.

And today, the New York Times is reporting that Iran's supreme leader, the Ayatollah, has named three senior clerics as candidates to succeed him should he be killed. President Trump says he will wait a maximum of two weeks for a possible diplomatic solution before deciding on U.S. involvement in the conflict.

So far, diplomatic talks in Geneva and Turkey have yet to produce any breakthroughs. In Istanbul, Iran's foreign minister told reporters that if the U.S. gets involved in this conflict, it would be, quote, "very dangerous for everybody". We've got a team of correspondents covering these developments. Betsy Klein is in New Jersey, where the president is spending his Saturday. Well, let's begin with Nic Robertson in Haifa, Israel.

Nic, bring us up to speed on the situation in Israel and the latest strikes on Iranian military commanders.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, Saeed Izadi was one of the main military commanders that the IDF targeted overnight, an intelligence-led operation, two other commanders. Now, Izadi is somebody that the IDF said was involved with supporting Hamas and Hamas's planning for the October 7th attacks in 2023, somebody that they said they've been wanting to target.

So what they have done here with the targeting of these three commanders is send not only a very strong signal that they can find the, you know, that they can find very senior Iranian officials, even this now 10 days into the war, that not only can they find them and locate them, but they can actually hit them. And that sends a very strong message to others in the Iranian leadership.

The IDF says 50 aircraft were involved in the sorties overnight. Isfahan nuclear facility was one of those other places that was targeted. According to the International Atomic Energy Agency, a workshop, a centrifuge workshop at the Isfahan nuclear facility was damaged.

But the broader picture, if you will, at the moment is the IDF trying to limit the number of airstrikes and missiles that are being fired into Israel, the ballistic missiles that are being fired into Israel. And they say that they believe that they've diminished Iran's launchers by about half of the original number.

And the IDF saying a much smaller number of those ballistic missiles fired into Israel overnight. What did get through, as you mentioned there, two UAVs coming in during the day. Again, no casualties there.

WHITFIELD: Nic, so how is Israel responding to the Iranian foreign minister's comments that Iran won't negotiate with the U.S. while Israeli bombardment continues?

ROBERTSON: Yes, comments that he made attending a forum with Arab leaders, Arab foreign ministers in Turkey today. No direct comment yet from Israeli officials on that. It's still the weekend here. Typically, we may see comment in a couple of hours as the day begins to wind down here.

However, I spoke to the foreign minister, Israel's foreign minister yesterday, asked him about the diplomatic efforts with the Iranian foreign minister, with European foreign ministers on Friday in Geneva. And he told me, look, we do not trust the Iranians at all. We think they're stringing President Trump along.

And it appears at the moment as if Israel has no faith in the Iranian negotiating position whatsoever. Don't trust them. The idea that Israel is going to stop its strikes, that doesn't seem to be on the cards whatsoever right now.

[12:05:01]

WHITFIELD: All right. Nic Robertson, we'll check back with you.

Let's go to Betsy Klein who's traveling with the president in New Jersey. So, Betsy, you know, what are the options that President Trump is mulling over now and inside this two-week period where he said he wants to consider some things before any possible U.S. involvement?

BETSY KLEIN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: That's right. I mean, President Trump made clear as he arrived here in New Jersey that that two-week self-imposed deadline for making a decision on U.S. military involvement in Iran is a hard deadline and is the maximum amount of time he could take to make up his mind. It could, in fact, be sooner.

Now, the president is weighing the possibility of U.S. using its unique bunker-busting capabilities to destroy Iranian nuclear facilities at the same time that the president is pressing his top lieutenants to continue to press forward on the possibility of a diplomatic solution with Iran. So that two-week reprieve really gave him some breathing room as he continues to hear from a wide range of allies, advisers and others who are advocating on two sides of this issue.

Now, you have the MAGA wing of the president's supporters who are largely advocating against U.S. intervention in this conflict, at the same time that there are some in the Republican Party that are really pushing toward the option of getting the U.S. involved. The president himself has said repeatedly that he believes Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon.

Now, there are also a few key aides that the president has been leaning on heavily during this conflict. That includes CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Caine, the general, as well as Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff. You will remember, of course, that Witkoff had been leading the U.S. in those diplomatic negotiations on a potential Iran nuclear deal five rounds before a sixth round of talks last weekend was canceled.

There is one official in particular, however, who the president is not listening to as closely, and that is Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard. Now, Gabbard testified to Congress back in March that the U.S. Intelligence Committee had assessed that Iran was not building a nuclear weapon. The president asked about that as he arrived here last night.

Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOCLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What intelligence do you have that Iran is building a nuclear weapon? Your intelligence community has said they have no evidence that they are at this point.

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, then my intelligence community is wrong. Who in the intelligence community said that?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Your Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard.

TRUMP: She's wrong.

(END VIDEOCLIP)

KLEIN: Now, this marks the second time that the president has publicly undercut Gabbard. CNN has reported that the president believes that she has been off-message on this issue. The president is set to return to Washington later today. He will hold a meeting with top national security officials in the Oval Office at 6:00 p.m., Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: Is there any knowledge as to whether she is going to be part of that meeting?

KLEIN: We don't know at this time. We'll be watching very closely as those officials arrive at the White House. We'll have cameras on all of that and get back to you.

WHITFIELD: All right. Betsy Klein and Nic Robertson, thanks to both of you. Appreciate it.

All right, Iran now says over 400 people have been killed and more than 3,000 injured since the start of this conflict. CNN Senior International Correspondent Frederik Pleitgen is on the ground in Iran and reports from inside a hospital in Tehran where he speaks to civilians who were wounded in Israeli strikes as well as Iran's deputy health minister.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: So while the Israelis say that they are only targeting military installations, the Iranians say the vast majority of people who have been killed and wounded are actually civilians. And we've been touring hospitals here in the Tehran area and we've been hearing the stories of some of the people who were wounded in Israel's strike and we're going to visit some of them now.

PLEITGEN (voice-over): Something exploded in front of me, Shakran (ph) says. It hit my head, my stomach and my leg. Somebody took me to a clinic.

My kitten went to the window and I went to grab it and there was a blast, Nasrin (ph) says. I was thrown and hit the wall. The whole building was empty. I just barely made it to the door. One of the neighbors called emergency services and they brought me to the hospital. I've had five operations in my abdomen area, my kidney, my liver.

PLEITGEN: Iranian authorities tell us well over 400 people have been confirmed to have been killed in Israel's strikes and thousands of people were wounded. They also say because the conflict is still ongoing and there could still be mass casualties that they're actually freeing up additional capacities in their hospitals of hospital beds.

At the same time, I was able to speak to the deputy health minister of Iran and he says one of the things that's helping them now is the experience many of their surgeons have with wounds from the Iran-Iraq war.

[12:10:00]

ALI JAFARIAN, IRANIAN DEPUTY HEALTH MINISTER: As you know, we had, you know, eight years' war with Saddam Hussein's regime. And in that period our surgeons, our physicians are very well trained for the trauma patients' management and, you know, I'm a surgeon too. And at that time I was a medical student and I was in the battlefield as a healthcare worker. So most of our surgeons are very familiar with the war trauma.

PLEITGEN: So as you can see, there's a lot of people here in Tehran and other places who are still in hospital and the Iranians say they understand that this conflict is far from over.

Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Tehran.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right, still ahead, tens of millions of people in this country on alert as a dangerous heat dome brings sweltering temperatures to record-breaking highs.

Plus, a taser, gloves, rope and duct tape. Details on what police say they found in the car of a Tennessee man accused of trying to kidnap the mayor of Memphis.

And suspended and fined the same day ICE agents show up outside of Dodger Stadium. A bench-clearing brawl erupts between the Dodgers and the Padres.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:15:56]

WHITFIELD: All right, today, millions of Americans are getting hit with dangerously high temperatures. These folks everywhere in Chicago and beyond right there under a heat dome over the central U.S. and it's building and spreading east over the next few days, bringing record-breaking heat to just about all of us, right?

Tyler Mauldin is here in the weather center with much more. It's hot and about to get even hotter.

TYLER MAULDIN, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Which is fitting because this is the first weekend of summer.

WHITFIELD: True.

MAULDIN: First heat wave of the season, and it is a dangerous heat wave at that. So let's take a look at what's causing all of this. It's called a heat dome. Essentially, it's a high-pressure, thousands of feet in the atmosphere, putting a lid on the atmosphere. What happens under that is the air sinks. When it sinks, it compresses, and it heats up really quickly.

But unfortunately, because you've got the lid on top, it's not really going anywhere. Those temperatures are just heating up. So we have extreme weather alerts, extreme heat alerts up for millions across the country. Pretty much if you live east of the Rockies, you're going to be feeling this heat. Look at this in Washington, D.C., average high is 87 degrees.

Once we get to Monday and Tuesday, you're going to be above the century mark. When you factor in the humidity, it's going to feel well above that, too. This heat wave is going to linger through early next week on into midweek, and there are some indications it could last into the end of the week.

Here's the reason why we are so focused on this. I know it's summer, I know it gets hot during the summertime, but heat-related fatalities are the leading cause of weather-related fatalities in the U.S. 30- year average, on average, we see about 240 heat-related deaths every year.

Now, you take the actual air temperature, you combine it with the humidity, we start talking about heat indices, and the heat index in D.C. will feel like it's around 110 degrees. In Atlanta, it's going to feel like it's 100 degrees. So if you're going to be heading outside, ensure that you are in the shade, you're taking some breaks, and you're staying hydrated. This isn't just extreme heat. It's record- breaking heat, Fredricka.

Case in point, tomorrow in Hartford, Connecticut, the record high of 95 degrees set back in 1921 is in jeopardy. Hartford could beat that record. And going through midweek next week, Fredricka, we have a lot of records that are in jeopardy, and those records could certainly be broken.

WHITFIELD: Boy, and just getting started.

MAULDIN: Just getting started.

WHITFIELD: I mean, we're just inside of that first official day of summer.

MAULDIN: We have 90 days left of the season.

WHITFIELD: We've got a long way to go. Hydrate, hydrate, key.

All right, Tyler Mauldin, thank you so much.

All right, coming up, a new CNN analysis on some of Israel's strikes in Iran and the civilian toll next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:23:14] WHITFIELD: All right, we continue to follow breaking news out of the Middle East. Iran and Israel exchanging more attacks. Israel says it killed two key commanders of an elite branch of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in overnight strikes. The Israeli strikes have not only taken out top Iranian leaders, they've also caused civilian deaths.

CNN's Katie Polglase breaks down the human toll at the locations where top Iranian officials were targeted.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

KATIE POLGLASE, CNN INVESTIGATIVE PRODUCER: Hitting the heart of Tehran. Israel's campaign expands every day. CNN has been analyzing these Israeli strikes using satellite imagery, video and publicly available data. We found some were extraordinarily precise, taking out key regime members in their own apartments. While others destroyed whole buildings, killing and injuring civilians.

This video shows an apartment building hit by missiles in Tehran on June 13th. We geolocated it to this residential street in the center of the city. We then cross-referenced the location with a list of addresses of key political and military figures from a public database leaked by activists.

The address matched that of a nuclear scientist, Ahmad Reza Zolfaghari. Iran confirmed the scientist's death, but aftermath footage shows the human toll could be far greater than one person. A whole building turned to rubble.

That same night, this residential building collapsed after a strike. Though it's unclear if it was Israel's intended target or collateral damage, the building is here in Chamran, an upmarket Tehran neighborhood. And just 1,000 feet away is a military complex, multiple buildings, all belonging to Iran's Ministry of Defense, and still standing.

[12:25:08]

Once again, aftermath footage indicates the likelihood of a heavy civilian toll. Medical staff reported at least 40 people died in this attack, including as many as 15 children. By the second day of its assault, Israel claimed it killed over 20 members of Iran's security apparatus, including senior commanders.

Over the following days, they hit more key institutions, like this oil depot on the outskirts of town, and the Iranian state broadcaster, under fire while live on air. But throughout, the civilian toll grows, these strikes, which we geolocated here to Orkideh, a wealthy neighborhood in central Tehran, killed a young Iranian poet, along with her entire family.

The strike was likely targeting Abdolhamid Minouchehr, the head of nuclear engineering at a university, who, according to Iranian media, lived in the building. As rescue workers dug through the rubble of his home, his university confirmed he had been killed. Israel's recent strikes on Iran follow their operations in Lebanon and Gaza, that also took out key military and political leaders. Yahya Sinwar, the leader of Hamas, pictured here in Gaza in this now infamous drone video, seconds before his assassination. But the civilian toll, once again, prompts questions around Israel's proportionality and decision-making on striking targets in such densely populated areas.

Katie Polglase, CNN, London.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right, with me now to talk more about the latest developments in the Israel-Iran conflict is Retired Air Force Colonel Cedric Leighton. He is a CNN Military Analyst. Colonel, great to see you.

I wonder if this, you know, Israel taking out key Iranian officials, does this increase retaliatory threats against, whether it be advertently or inadvertently, against the 40,000-plus American service people who are in the region?

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: It's definitely possible, Fredricka, and it's great to be with you again. One of the key things with the way the Israelis have done this is they've clearly gone after what we call high-value targets, and every single member of that leadership cadre that the Iranians have is, you know, definitely a part of the target list that the Israelis had.

And the other part of it is, though, that the Israelis may -- excuse me, the Iranians may see this as being part of a combined Israeli-U.S. operation. It is definitely not that, but had it, you know, they might perceive it that way, and that could very easily put U.S. forces in danger. And as you have that map up, you're above 40,000 troops stationed in and around the Middle East, a lot of them in the Persian Gulf region, and that's not far away from Iran at all.

WHITFIELD: In the midst of President Trump's considerations within these next two weeks or so, military -- American military assets continue to flood the region around Iran. This is both for readiness and intimidation, right? So what kind of intelligence gathering is also happening in Iran right now with still, you know, remaining uncertainty about where all potential, you know, uranium-enriching facilities could be?

LEIGHTON: Yes, so there's a lot of intelligence gathering going on, and it's both inside Iran as well as on the periphery. And there are a lot of, in addition to human intelligence, which would be the type of intelligence that we traditionally think of, you know, with spies running around and, you know, figuring out what's going on or being placed in some position of responsibility within the Iranian government.

Those people are doing their work. On the other side of that, they are what we call national technical means, and that includes things like signals intelligence, imagery intelligence. And a lot of that can be collected from outside Iran or over Iran using satellites, for example.

So the type of targets that they're looking for from an intelligence standpoint, in other words, what do you collect against, that's going to include the Iranian communications networks. It's going to include, you know, what the military is doing. It's going to include what the nuclear scientists are doing and, of course, what the Iranian intelligence agencies are doing, plus the leadership of the country as a whole.

So, those are very big target sets, and they are definitely being prosecuted not only by U.S. intelligence but by allied intelligence services and not just the Israelis, but other allied intelligence services as well.

WHITFIELD: Among the things that the president is considering, the use of a bunker bombing arsenal the U.S. has if the U.S. decides to engage. Is it the case where there would most likely require the use of more than one bunker bombing arsenal if, indeed, it is employed. And since it hasn't been used in combat before, how confident should people be about its use?

[12:30:16]

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: So there are a lot of weapons that we use, you know, that we test first obviously but they are not haven't been used in combat before there's always the first time for them to be used in the GBU-57 the so-called bunker buster also known as the massive ordnance penetrator is one of those weapons that as you correctly said is something that has never been used in combat before.

However, it has been thoroughly tested and the U.S. Air Force has pretty high confidence actually, I would say very high confidence, that it can actually be effective against a target like Fordow which is that deeply buried hardened enrichment facility that the Iranians have.

Now when it comes to would one do the job and then everything would be done, probably not. Because Fordow lies very deep, you know, probably around 300 feet or so below the earth's surface at least a large portion of that installation.

Plus, it's a fairly -- fairly, you know, very large built -- large built complex that has centrifuges that has those entrances that are vulnerable and it's very clear that it would probably take at least two but I would bet probably more bombs of that type plus other ordinance that could be used in a way that would destroy a large portion of that facility.

But even with all of that it would probably not eliminate Iran's nuclear program and that is I think one of the questions that the President is wrestling with right now.

WHITFIELD: The Europeans who are meeting in Geneva, you know, are urging diplomacy so they are meeting with Iranian officials. What kind of leverage does this kind of meeting have as it pertains to the U.S. in the considerations that it's making on whether it should engage with Israel or -- or go alone on Iran et cetera.

LEIGHTON: Yes. So there -- there is some impact that clearly and depending on how successful the Europeans are to diplomatically pave a way for there to be a solution to this conflict, you know, basically being between Iran and the U.S. Israel and Iran would not be talking directly in any situation like this.

But what would basically happen if the Europeans are successful in doing this that would open the way for direct negotiations between Iran and the U.S. Now direct may mean that they're in separate rooms and there might be some nuances to that but they're still talking to each other which is the important part.

Now, the most likely scenario is, you know, given the fairly dismissive comments by President Trump yesterday about the European effort most likely scenario is that this will not work. However, it does, you know, it could be a mechanism that the U.S. then jumps off of and uses that to re-engage with the Iranians.

So I would put some hope into the European effort but don't be surprised if -- if things don't go quite the way the Europeans want in this case.

WHITFIELD: All right. Colonel Cedric Leighton, thanks so much.

LEIGHTON: You bet Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right. Coming up, Vice President J.D. Vance putting cities on notice after an appeals court clears President Trump's control of California's National Guard.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[12:33:32]

J.D. VANCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If you let violent rioters burn great American cities to the ground then of course we're going to send federal law enforcement in to protect the people the President was elected to protect.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. Welcome back. The Vice President leaving an impression on his visit to Los Angeles yesterday. J.D. Vance seen here shaking the hands with U.S. Marines sent to Los Angeles to deal with protests against the Trump administration's immigration raids.

Vance used the visit to accuse California Democrats of encouraging the demonstrations while he defended the President's decision to deploy troops there.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VANCE: The President has a very simple proposal to everybody in every city, every community, every town whether big or small. If you enforce your own laws and if you protect federal law enforcement, we're not going to send in the National Guard because it's unnecessary.

But if you let violent rioters burn great American cities to the ground, then of course we're going to send federal law enforcement in to protect the people the President was elected to protect.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Let's talk further on all this now. I'm joined now by Morris Levy. He is a political science professor at the University of Southern California and an expert in attitudes on immigration. Professor Morris great to see you.

MORRIS LEVY, POLITICAL SCIENCE PROFESSOR, USC: Thanks for having me.

WHITFIELD: Or Professor Morris Levy I should say. All right. So what do you see is, you know, behind this vice presidential visit?

LEVY: Absolutely. I think that the fundamental issue is that a lot of what the Trump administration has started doing on immigration is quite unpopular. That's the fundamental thing at issue here. Rounding up people who are not criminals who are here to work who may have family -- families that include U.S. citizens is not a popular program even if people are fed up with the situation at border.

[12:40:03]

And so to deflect attention from that program, J.D. Vance is dispatched to Los Angeles to call attention to a different framing of the issue which is law enforcement against rioters and order against disorder and also sanctuary cities against enforcement of the law. So I see this as a strategy to try to reframe the issue away from a largely unpopular immigration program that the Trump administration has begun pursuing.

WHITFIELD: Vice President Vance not only criticized California Democrats saying both the governor and the mayor of Los Angeles had encouraged the protest. He also referred to the arrest of Senator Alex Padilla during a press conference held by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. I want you to listen to what he said including getting the senator's name wrong.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VANCE: I was hoping Jose Padilla would be here to ask a question but unfortunately I guess he decided not to show up because there wasn't the theater and that's all it is. You know, I think everybody realizes that's what this is. It's pure political theater. These guys show up, they want to be captured on camera doing something.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: It's Senator Alex Padilla and the two have served together in the U.S. Senate before he became -- J.D. Vance became Vice President. So what do you think is going on here? Was this a slip of the tongue an honest mistake or was it something else?

LEVY: Well, I'm not an expert in Freudian psychology so I can't say whether it was a slip of the tongue or -- or an honest mistake. But I think the broader tone is -- is the thing to focus on without getting bogged down in the particulars of this back and forth. And that is that what J.D. Vance is doing with this visit and -- and that kind of rhetoric is trying to make the issue these versus ours.

He's trying to capitalize on polarization at the partisan level. And again, this is an effort to reframe the issue away from the underlying controversy which is about what the country should be doing when it comes to immigration and illegal immigration. And when you have an unpopular set of policies the temptation is going to be to try to turn the attention to something else. So you perhaps pick a more partisan fight that divides the country more evenly.

WHITFIELD: You know Professor Levy given your -- your background in political science studies, you know, the White House mobilized the National Guard which is customarily the governor's decision. But a federal -- a federal appeals court did weigh in and is allowing the President to carry on with the National Guard. So did the L.A. protest in your view warrant this kind of military response and mobilization?

LEVY: In my own view, no. On the other hand, I do think that -- that and I think this has been acknowledged by the LAPD there were some shortcomings in the local and state response to the protests. And although the protests have been largely peaceful there have been instances of rioting and other bad behavior.

And the truth is that whatever people engaging those activities think they're accomplishing what they're really doing is -- is giving an opening to the Trump administration to excuse this kind of overreach to -- to pursue a policy that's really been quite tragic for our city. I'm not blaming the protests by any means for -- for this -- for this response.

But -- but it is something to keep in mind. And -- and I think that that largely people support peaceful protests. The polling shows this and -- and that peaceful protests would be a much more productive way to accomplish the goals that that are popular that -- that the protesters wish to accomplish.

And I -- I also think that, you know, it would be good if the mayor and the governor had been more prepared to deal with -- to deal with the -- the isolated instances of -- of bad behavior.

WHITFIELD: Immigration has shown itself to be a -- a rather polarizing issue but seemingly even more so now with arrests and detainments caught on video, deportations without due process being challenged in court and workers from farms to restaurants not going to work because of fear. How do you see the divide over immigration changing?

LEVY: I think what you're seeing is -- is a rather predictable shift. Both parties are somewhat out of step with the -- the mushy middle on immigration. We saw a response, a reaction of disenchantment to the Biden administration's policies. And subsequently, we've seen the Trump administration overreach quite drastically in ways that are -- that are -- that are extremely unpopular. Deporting people without due process, rounding up people who -- who -- who are not involved in -- in any way in crime but are here just to work, these are all quite unpopular things.

[12:45:09]

I think the public often gets a bad rap on immigration. My own studies show that -- that the last thing most Americans are on immigration is closed-minded. People generally support immigration. They prefer legal immigration to illegal immigration. But they don't support mass deportation that involves people who are not here causing any kind of trouble and working and raising families.

At the same time, the public is quite receptive to increasing immigration in various ways if they can be assured that immigrants integrate, learn English, get jobs and become self-sufficient. So I don't actually see the polarization here as coming from the public. Rather it's coming from the parties and their -- their activist bases.

WHITFIELD: Professor Morris Levy, great to have you. Thank you so much.

LEVY: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right. Coming up on an issue of church versus state, quote, unconstitutional, the new ruling on the Louisiana law requiring schools to post the Ten Commandments in classrooms.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:50:54]

WHITFIELD: All right, to Louisiana now, where judges have struck down a state law requiring the Ten Commandments to be posted in public schools. The ruling a major win for civil liberty groups who say the mandate is unconstitutional and isolate students who are not Christian. The legislation was the latest attempt by Republicans to incorporate religion into classrooms.

Some saying the Ten Commandments are part of the foundation of U.S. law. Rafael Romo is here with more on all this, so tell us about the ruling.

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It's an incredibly interesting case because it strikes at the very heart of what's constitutional and what's not, Fred. And it was just over a year ago that Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry, a Republican, signed House Bill 71 into law. Approved by state lawmakers in May 2024, it mandated that a poster-sized display of the Ten Commandments with large, easily readable font be in every classroom at schools receiving state funding from kindergarten to university level.

But on Friday, only a day after the law's first anniversary, a panel of three federal judges at the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans ruled unanimously that the law is, quote, plainly unconstitutional. The court ruled that under the statute's minimum requirements, the Ten Commandments posters must be indiscriminately displayed in every public school classroom in Louisiana, regardless of class subject matter, adding that those displays will cause an irreparable deprivation of the plaintiff's First Amendment rights.

Supporters of the law say that the Ten Commandments are part of the foundation of U.S. history and law, as Governor Landry stated when he originally signed the bill into law last year.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOVERNOR JEFF LANDRY (R-LA): Because if you want to respect the rule of law, you got to start from the original lawgiver, which was Moses.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMO: But opponents of the bill have argued that a state requiring a religious text in all classrooms would violate the Establishment Clause of the U.S. Constitution, which says that Congress can make no law respecting an establishment of religion.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MANDIE LANDRY (D-LA): Religion in the classrooms, that seemed like that was decided a long time ago. It's definitely a religion period and promoting Christianity. And not everyone, not every kid, you know, subscribes to those religions.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMO: American Civil Liberties Union Staff Attorney Heather Weaver called the ruling a resounding victory for the separation of church and state and public education. She added that the Fifth Circuit has held Louisiana accountable to a core constitutional promise. Public schools, she said, are not Sunday schools and they must welcome all students, regardless of faith.

This legal battle is far from over. Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said after the ruling that she believes it only applies to school districts in the five parishes that were party to the lawsuit, adding that she will appeal the ruling all the way to the Supreme Court if necessary. So I have a feeling this is not over.

WHITFIELD: It's not over.

ROMO: Not even close to being over.

WHITFIELD: Not at all. And you're going to bring us the updates as it happens. Thank you so much, Rafael. Appreciate it.

[12:54:03]

All right. Coming up, police say they have foiled a plot to kidnap the mayor of Memphis, Tennessee. What we're learning about the suspect in custody, next.

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WHITFIELD: All right. We're learning new details today about the man Memphis police say attempted to kidnap the city's mayor. Police say he climbed a wall and went to the mayor's home. And when he was arrested, they found a taser, gloves, rope and duct tape in his car. Trenton Abston is charged with attempted kidnapping, stalking and trespassing. WHBQ reports he told police that he wanted to talk to the mayor about crime in the city. It comes just days after the targeted killing of a Minnesota lawmaker and her spouse. Here's Jenn Sullivan.

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JENN SULLIVAN, CNN REPORTER (voice-over): Authorities are investigating a kidnapping plot. The target, the mayor of Memphis, Paul Young. Police arrested and charged 25-year-old Trenton Abston with stalking and attempted kidnapping, among other charges of the Democratic leader Wednesday.

This photo taken from video captured on a ring doorbell of suspect the standing outside the mayor's door. He and his family were home at the time.

BENNIE COBB, PUBLIC SAFETY EXPERT: It is absolutely scary that somebody has this ability to get this close to the mayor.

SULLIVAN (voice-over): Even more disturbing, police say they found a taser, gloves, rope and duct tape inside Abston's vehicle when he was arrested Wednesday.

[13:00:06]

COBB: I believe that this will have some prior planning to know how to get over the gate, to know exactly where the mayor lives.

SULLIVAN (voice-over): Police say he was angry about crime in the city. Mayor Young opening up about the incident on Instagram, saying in part political violence and intimidation, whether threatened or enacted, simply cannot be our norm.

The attempted kidnapping comes less than 48 hours after a man in Minnesota shot two state lawmakers and their spouses inside their home Saturday morning. Democratic Minnesota Representative Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, were killed. Democratic Senator John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, were shot multiple times and underwent surgery.

Police charged 57-year-old, Vance Boelter, with federal and state charges in connection to the shooting. He had a long list of intended targets, including some congressional leaders.

SEN. CHRIS VAN HOLLEN (D-MD): We do need to increase security. We had a Senate meeting, bipartisan Senate meeting just last week to discuss additional security measures.

SULLIVAN (voice-over): I'm Jenn Sullivan reporting.