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U.S. B-2 Bombers Depart Missouri As Trump Weighs Military Options; New Strikes In Israel And Iran As Conflict Enters Second Week; U.S. Appeals Court Blocks Louisiana Ten Commandments Law; Palestinian Boy's Emotional Plea For Food in Gaza; A Call For Compassion On World Refugee Day 2025; More Protests Expected In Los Angeles Tonight; Disciplinary Action Against Dodgers, Padres After On- Field Tensions; How Andrew Cuomo And Donald Trump Are More Alike Than Different; Georgia Teen Shares Story Of Surviving Tornado. Aired 3-4p ET

Aired June 21, 2025 - 15:00   ET

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

[15:01:12]

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

And we begin this hour with breaking news. CNN has learned that multiple U.S. B-2 bombers have taken off from an Air Force base in Missouri and are heading west. The movement comes as President Trump weighs his military options over a potential strike in Iran. Those planes can carry bombs capable of striking an underground nuclear facility in Iran if President Trump decides to join Israel's conflict with Iran.

Trump says he will wait a maximum of two weeks for a possible diplomatic solution before deciding on U.S. involvement in the conflict. This happening as Israel and Iran are exchanging a fresh round of strikes today. And just in the last hour, CNN's team on the ground heard loud explosions east of Tehran. Overnight Israel says it killed two Iranian commanders of an elite branch of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

We have a team of correspondents covering these developments. Nic Robertson is in Haifa, Israel. Let's begin with Betsy Klein, who is traveling with the president in New Jersey.

Betsy, what more are you learning about the movement of these B-2 bombers?

BETSY KLEIN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, President Trump has given himself what he says is a maximum of a two-week deadline to make a decision toward the possibility of U.S. involvement in Iran.

Now, the president is weighing the possibility of using the United States Military's unique bunker busting bomb capabilities to target some of Iran's nuclear facilities. And what we have learned, according to a CNN analysis of flight tracking data, is that what appeared to be B-2 bomber planes have departed from Whiteman Air Force Base, heading west over the Pacific Ocean, potentially headed for Guam.

Now, these are the types of planes that could carry those types of bombs that I just mentioned. It's a move that could get them into place should the president make that decision. I want to caution that a decision has not been made according to sources. But this really presents the president with that option should he decide to move forward.

Now, at the same time, he is leaning on his aides to continue to pursue a diplomatic resolution with Iran. The president has made very clear that he does not want Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon, and he is hearing from a wide range of allies and advisers, including the more isolationist MAGA wing of his party and others in the Republican Party who want him to move forward with U.S. intervention.

Now that two-week reprieve giving him some breathing room there as the president has been relying on a few key aides throughout this conflict. That includes the CIA director, John Ratcliffe, as well as the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Dan Cane, and Steve Witkoff, the president's special envoy, who, of course, have been very closely involved leading the U.S. side of negotiations with Iranian officials over the possibility of a nuclear deal before this conflict got underway over the past couple of weeks.

Now, there's one official in particular who has been sidelined during all this, and that is director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, who testified to Congress back in March that the U.S. intelligence community believed that Iran was not producing a nuclear weapon.

Listen to the president.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: 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, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, then my intelligence community is wrong. Who in the intelligence community said that?

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Your director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard.

TRUMP: She's wrong.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KLEIN: Now the president is set to depart his New Jersey golf club a little bit later today. He has a 6:00 p.m. meeting with top National Security officials in the Oval Office to plot a path forward -- Fredricka.

[15:05:06] WHITFIELD: All right, Betsy Klein, have you learned any more about whether at that National Security meeting, will the DNI Tulsi Gabbard be there?

KLEIN: We don't know if she will be at this specific meeting, but she has been present at a number of these situation room gatherings the president has had over the past few days. So that's something we'll be watching closely, tracking those arrivals as they get to the White House a little bit later on.

WHITFIELD: All right. Betsy Klein, thanks so much.

All right. Now to Nic Robertson in Haifa, Israel.

So bring us up to speed on the latest developments there.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, a relatively quiet day across the country, although still far from normal. This area in Haifa would normally be bustling on a Saturday evening, and it isn't because people are worried about more strikes. There was a strike in the center of the city here just yesterday. But overnight last night there were a couple of Iranian missiles, ballistic missiles that were intercepted by the IDF, and the IDF described it as just a small handful, five or so ballistic missiles.

Two UAVs during the day managed to get through out of a barrage of around about 40 UAVs. One of them landed in an open area. One of them hit a house in the northwest of Israel, but the people in the house were in the bunker. Nobody injured there.

So in relative terms, today has been quieter. It doesn't mean anything I think is the takeaway for most people here. It can just mean that Iran is building up to an even bigger wave of missiles and drones. The picture from the Israeli perspective overnight, 50 fighter aircraft in the air. They targeted three top Iranian military commanders. One of them, Saeed Izadi, according to the IDF, a top member in the Quds Force, which is an elite part of the IRGC, which again is an elite military within Iran's military structures.

And this Izadi, the IDF say that he was very close to Hamas, sort of a principal liaison with Hamas, responsible in part for the planning, they say, of the October 7th attacks. And that's why they wanted to target him. The fact that they can have even now, almost 10 days into this conflict, precise intelligence that they're able to execute on a number of these leading military --Iranian military figures, again, I think speaks to what the IDF is hoping to achieve here, which is instill a level of fear in leading political, scientific and military circles inside of Iran.

And later -- and during the day today, the IDF saying that they struck a military base inside the west of Iran, as well as the Isfahan nuclear facility there. The IAEA, that's the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog, if you will, they say that an enrichment workshop at that facility was damaged in the strike. So the IDF landing precise strikes, it appears, on nuclear facilities, leading military figures and a military airfield in the west of Iran. WHITFIELD: All right. Nic Robertson, Betsy Klein, thanks to both of

you. Appreciate it.

All right. Joining me right now to talk more about these developments is Victoria Coates. She is a former deputy National Security adviser to President Trump during his first term.

Victoria, great to see you. So you just heard Nic talk about, you know, significant damage to some installations in Iran. You know, credit going to the Israeli Defense Forces then. Does this help establish that perhaps this is a country that could go it alone in reaching its objective to cripple Iran's nuclear capabilities?

VICTORIA COATES, FORMER DEPUTY NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: Well, good to see you, too, Fredricka. I mean, certainly what the Israelis have done now over the last eight, nine days is extremely impressive and a credit to the security cooperation between the United States and Israel that now goes back decades. President Trump has always seen that assistance to Israel, that support for Israel, as in a way, our kinetic arm in the region.

So, you know, I think everyone in the administration has been very supportive of how Israel has just systematically targeted strategic assets for the Islamic Republic in Iran. They're doing this with impunity. As Nic reported, flying, you know, 50 planes a night, going around the country, taking out individuals, taking out facilities. And in a curious way, I think this actually strengthens the president's hand for diplomacy because it increases his leverage. And that's why he's continuing to leave that door open.

WHITFIELD: So perhaps you can help us understand what are the components of diplomacy that the U.S. president might be considering, while CNN is also learning of reporting that B-2 bombers are on the move, have left an Air Force base in Missouri, heading west to position itself for whatever potential conflict there is.

[15:10:05]

So what are the considerations that this president might be making to try -- in furtherance of diplomatic measures?

COATES: Well, his bottom line all along, and this goes back more than 10 years, is that Iran must not get a nuclear weapon, that the possibility that they might use it against particularly the United States, is simply too high to allow that kind of proliferation. We don't need another North Korea on our hands. And so, you know, that has been his red line. It hasn't been about regime change or anything like that.

It has been about preventing them from getting a nuclear weapon. And so he would prefer, from my understanding, to do that diplomatically. There is an outline of a deal that would stop their enrichment, remove the enriched uranium and plutonium from the country, dismantle the apparatus that only exists to potentially pursue a nuclear weapon. And I think also address the terrorist proxies, although Israel is doing a pretty good job taking care of them on their own. So this is out there. If the regime in Iran feels threatened that

their stability might be at risk, they might take that deal. That's the sort of deal the previous supreme leader took in the 1980s to end the Iran-Iraq war. He referred to it as draining the poisoned chalice. Well, they may wind up in a similar situation here where relinquishing the nuclear program is the only way they can stay in power. And the president would, I think, be comfortable with that exchange.

WHITFIELD: So containing the nuclear program for Iran was the objective of the 2015 nuclear agreement that the U.S. and five other countries embarked upon and managed to shape. Trump dismantled it. Biden put it back in place. So if you see the Trump administration reaching a deal, will it be a very similar deal just simply rebranded?

COATES: Oh, I don't think so. Not at all. The problem with the so- called Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the JCPOA, from 2015, is it didn't dismantle anything in Iran. It just delayed their progress. And yes, President Trump did cease compliance with the JCPOA in 2018. But what we saw was after 2021, this extreme acceleration of their nuclear activities, the increase in centrifuges, the raising the percentage of enrichment of uranium and plutonium, which is what makes this situation so dangerous now.

But with those previous negotiations, Fredricka, the United States had to tempt Iran to the table with concessions in terms of sanctions relief and other incentives. Now, the position is reversed. If the Iranians want to get President Trump back to the table, they're going to have to start making concessions. They're going to have to enter a real deal that may well allow them to keep a civil nuclear capability, but not a military dimension to it.

WHITFIELD: So later on today, our reporting is Trump will be meeting with National Security advisers at the White House once he leaves New Jersey. We have seen reportedly that there's a difference of opinion between Trump and the DNI, Tulsi Gabbard, as it pertains to the readiness of Iran's nuclear capability.

Do you see that an effective meeting could take place at the White House without the DNI, Tulsi gabbard being present?

COATES: Well, there are various circumstances that can prevent a cabinet member from being present. DNI Gabbard is also still in the National Guard. She can have obligations on those fronts that would prevent her from attending. But it's really important that President Trump wants a range of views. This has always been his method, is to listen to all of his advisers. He respects them all. They all have, you know, very serious backgrounds.

They're there for a reason. He wants them to be very frank and open. And if there is a disagreement, he makes a decision and, you know, he said he wants two more weeks to give diplomacy a chance here. But two weeks is the max. And so that's even more pressure on the Iranians when they see a meeting like this happen. Maybe he's not going to wait two weeks. That's the deadline. But he can act at any point in that two-week period should he choose to. WHITFIELD: And we haven't heard definitively whether she is or is not

going to be present. And we don't know what kind of National Guard obligations she has. But if she were available, would you find it odd if she were not at the White House playing a part of this kind of meeting?

COATES: If it is a formal National Security Council meeting, she's part of the National Security Council, I expect she would be there.

WHITFIELD: All right, Victoria Coates, we'll leave it there for now. Thanks so much.

COATES: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right. Coming up, millions of Americans are getting hit with dangerously high temperatures. We're tracking the forecast and where the threats are.

[15:15:02]

Plus, the new ruling on a Louisiana law requiring schools to post "The Ten Commandments" in classrooms. A live report straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: Tens of Americans are getting hit with dangerously high temperatures. They're under a heat dome over the Central U.S., and it's building. It's spreading east over the next few days as well, bringing record-breaking heat.

[15:20:01]

Let's bring in now meteorologist Tyler Mauldin.

TYLER MAULDIN, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Spring is definitely over. Summer is here. And on this first day of summer, we are seeing our heat wave strengthen and expand courtesy of this heat dome. High pressure is here. It's putting a lid on the atmosphere. And under that high, the air is sinking. It's compressing and it's getting really hot. It's only going to get worse in the days to come. Case in point Washington, D.C. once we get to Tuesday, Wednesday of next week, your high temperature during the afternoon, that daytime temperature will be above 100 degrees.

This heat wave is lingering. The heat dome is just going to expand across the East Coast through midweek next week. That leads to those extremely hot temperatures and accompanying those extremely hot temperatures is very high humidity. When those two combine together, you start talking heat index. Heat indices across the eastern two- thirds of the U.S. will be above 100 degrees in most spots. Case in point Washington, D.C., that 102 degree temperature on Monday will actually feel like 110. And in Atlanta, it's going to feel like it's 100 degrees on Tuesday.

Here's an interesting caveat, though. When you have such extreme heat across one area, you're going to see the opposite somewhere else. That's exactly what we're seeing here on this map. On the West Coast of the U.S., we're actually seeing below average temperatures and some mountain snow where those temperatures clash. You're getting some extreme weather, very strong storms, possibly severe storms, continuing right along the northern edge of the heat dome in the northern plains, the Great Lakes and the northeast in the days to come.

Back to you.

WHITFIELD: Tyler Mauldin, thank you so much.

All right. On to Louisiana now, where a federal appeals court has struck down a state law requiring the "Ten Commandments" to be posted in public schools. The ruling is a major win for civil liberty groups who say the mandate is unconstitutional and isolates 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 joining me right now with more on this battle. So tell us about this ruling and what's next, potentially.

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This has been controversial from the beginning, as you can imagine. And right now they cannot even agree on what the ruling means. Imagine that. Just let me give you a little bit of history. 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)

GOV. JEFF LANDRY (R-LA): Because if you want to respect the rule of law, you got to start from the original law giver, 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)

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

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMO: Now, American Civil Liberties Union staff attorney Heather Weaver called the ruling a resounding victory for the separation of church and state in 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 Mural 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 up to the Supreme Court if necessary. So that tells you a lot about what's coming up.

WHITFIELD: The next potential chapter.

ROMO: Yes.

WHITFIELD: All right. Rafael Romo, thanks so much.

ROMO: Of course.

WHITFIELD: All right. Coming up, families forced from homes, communities obliterated. Next, we'll look at the escalating tensions between Israel and Iran and the invisible price of war.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:29:29]

WHITFIELD: The United Nations is warning more than two million Palestinians could face famine if more food is not delivered to Gaza. A 12-year-old Palestinian boy is now sharing his emotional plea with the world over the lack of aid in the region. And we should note the boy's father gave his son permission to speak on camera, and some viewers may find details of this report distressing.

Here now is CNN's Paula Hancocks.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Mohammed al-Dabi is 12 years old, he has a message for the world.

[15:30:03]

MOHAMMED AL-DABI, GAZA RESIDENT (through text translation): We in Gaza have no flour, every day, 24 hours. They tell us there are trucks coming and we come and find nothing. We eat this sand, we have no food, we have no food. We have no flour, we have no food. Have mercy on us, we have no food. We are eating sand instead of flour. Have mercy on us, mercy. We are eating sand instead of bread. A loaf of bread costs 20 shekels, a loaf this little.

HANCOCKS: Mohammed walked eight hours with his father to a flour distribution point in Gaza City. He finally collected two kilos of flour, but thieves attacked him and stole it.

He says, "I saw the journalist filming and I asked him to pass on my message to the world that I was robbed and I ate sand because I had no flour and I was so depressed."

Mohammed's mother says she uses old dried bread, used for animal feed, soaks it with water and bakes it over and over to feed her children. His father says people are killing each other over a bag of flour. Five or six individuals attack each other because people want to eat and they have become monsters due to the lack of food.

Mohammed and his family, only two of tens of thousands of starved Palestinians risking their lives to feed their families. Dozens have been killed by Israeli fire this week as they waited for aid, hundreds since Israel lifted an 11-week blockade on Gaza in late May, allowing a trickle of aid in, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.

The Israeli military says it operates to minimize harm to those seeking aid while maintaining the safety of its troops.

The United Nations warns the entire population of Gaza, more than two million people face impending famine without a drastic increase in aid.

Paula Hancocks, CNN, Abu Dhabi.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: And as this crisis unfolds in Gaza, a call for compassion. This week marked World Refugee Day. I want to bring in now Kerri Murray. She is the president of Shelter Box, a disaster relief organization that provides emergency shelter after disasters and in conflicts.

Kerri, great to see you. So, you know, what is the message on this -- on this year's World Refugee Day?

KERRI MURRAY, PRESIDENT, SHELTER BOX: Well, on World Refugee Day, all of us really raise awareness of this vexing problem. It's one of the biggest issues facing our world. There are more people displaced 123 million people in our world, more than any time in recorded history. And so many of these are children. And so our call is one just show of solidarity, show of support for these refugees.

No one chooses to become a refugee, but we can choose how we act. So at Shelter Box, it's helping to meet some of the immediate needs of refugees. And as I mentioned, so many are women and children. WHITFIELD: In the case of Gaza, you know, aid is not getting in there.

It's -- not enough of it is getting in. And we just saw Paula Hancocks' report on the 12-year-old boy in Gaza, his desperate search for food and talking about eating sand, you know, because there is no flour. People are robbing and killing each other over the rations that they do get their hands on. So is there a way in which, I mean, from your vantage point, you know, we're talking about in the midst of conflict here, is there a way in which to help address that in a more effective manner?

MURRAY: Well, first, I want to recognize that young boy, because it's the other part of World Refugee Day is honoring the strength and the resilience and the fortitude of these families. At Shelter Box, were focused on working to get aid in to Gaza specifically, any way that we can. We have been able to intermittently during this conflict get basic supplies in Shelter Box tents, as well as kitchen sets, hygiene supplies, the basics for people.

As you've seen, the whole population there at risk for famine, and we know the overwhelming majority over 90 percent displaced. So for us, we don't give up. We're waiting. We're staging supplies. We have supplies standing by. We have supplies in Jordan, Egypt, working to get aid in any way that we can. But yes, it has been trickling in and it is not enough.

WHITFIELD: So access, you know, is key. I mean, there are obstacles for groups like yours and others, whether it be Gaza and now what about Iran? What are your concerns now about being able to render assistance to people who are in need in other places of conflict now, including Iran?

MURRAY: And Iran is already hosting, right, a lot of refugees.

[15:35:00]

So for us, it's also just keeping our pulse and monitoring the situation in Iran to just look at how we might be able to help displacement as obviously this whole conflict continues to unfold, but we're keeping our eye on this crisis all the time, as well as across the world.

Right now for organizations like Shelter Box, where international funding has been cut so much, there has been a massive need for us to do more all across the world. So it's created an incredible amount of challenge for organizations like Shelter Box that remain privately funded. But we're trying to do this charitable work while the growing numbers of displacement only increases every single day.

WHITFIELD: Kerri Murray, president of Shelter Box, thanks so much for being with us and enlightening so many as well.

MURRAY: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [15:40:34]

WHITFIELD: Los Angeles on edge this weekend. More protests are set to begin in Los Angeles in a matter of hours. There has also been strong reaction to comments made by Vice President JD Vance during his visit to L.A. on Friday. He 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)

JD VANCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: 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: All right. CNN's Stephanie Elam is joining us now from Los Angeles.

Stephanie, it's been quite the week there. So what is the atmosphere in Los Angeles as evening approaches?

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. I would say it's been quite the June at this point, Fred. I mean, those protests began on June 6th, and a lot of it was in response to the actions that ICE was taking to go in and detain these people, and people responding to that. After that, you saw the president send in the National Guard and then eventually the Marines as well.

And for the most part, for those of us who are out there covering the protests, you did not see that they were very involved. Later, they did go in when people were throwing rocks. They did go in and were pulling those people out of the crowd.

But for the most part, most of L.A. is business as usual. However, for certain pockets of the city, there is concern about this rhetoric that is being spoken about Los Angeles and whether or not these ICE agents are going to come to their town, their part of the town, and detain them. So you're seeing a lot of people changing their behavior on where they go to find work, where -- how they're acting around their jobs.

A lot of that fear because they're afraid of being detained. And other people who do believe that they have a lawful reason to be here are also afraid. So you're seeing a lot of places impacted because of that. There's also a lot of reaction to the vice president's words yesterday when he referred to California's Senator Alex Padilla as Jose Padilla which immediately after he said that, the governor of California came out right away on social media and said that that was not an accident. When asked about it, a spokesperson saying that he must have mixed up

the two people have broken the law. Now, the Jose Padilla that you may remember is back in 2007, this was a man who was convicted of aiding Islamic terrorists overseas. He was found guilty of that. So whether or not they were referencing him, if Vance was referencing him, we do not know. But that is the one person that people remember.

Unclear at this point. Obviously, the mayor of Los Angeles speaking up against that as well, saying it was disrespectful. So there has been a big backlash to that, but not clear if that's what was happening there. Still, a lot of the rhetoric that you heard from Vance is something that we've heard from other places that he's been talking about this. But he did address that. They need to keep these law enforcement or I shouldn't even say law enforcement, but the Marines and the National Guard here in the city in case things flare back up. And it has been calm here in, in downtown L.A. for several days now.

WHITFIELD: All right, Stephanie Elam, thank you so much.

OK. So hours after tensions outside Dodger Stadium on Thursday got a little heated, things boiled over on the field as well between the Los Angeles Dodgers and rival San Diego Padres.

CNN's Carolyn Manno explains how the scuffle has led to Major League Baseball handing down disciplinary actions.

CAROLYN MANNO, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fred, this is the culmination of what's really been a tense week at Dodger Stadium. We reported Thursday on the ICE agents that were encroaching on the team's property before this game. And then tensions boiling over on the field in the final game of a four-game set between these two big rivals. Major League Baseball now handing down one game suspensions and fines to both of the teams' managers, the Dodgers' Dave Roberts and the Padres' Mike Shildt, and also a three-game suspension and fine handed to Padres pitcher Robert Suarez.

In all, a total of eight batters were hit by a pitch in a span of these four games. But things really escalating past the point of no return in the ninth inning of the series finale.

[15:45:02]

The Padres up 5-0 when Fernando Tatis Jr. was hit by Dodgers' rookie Jack Little. That triggered the benches clearing. Both of the managers eventually getting tossed from the game. And then in the bottom of the inning, you can see Suarez drilling Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani in retaliation. That is where his suspension and fine stems from. Ohtani tried to wave off his dugout, deescalate the situation. Meantime, Suarez is appealing that decision, and these two teams won't meet again until mid-August -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. Some dicey moments there. Carolyn Manno, thank you.

All right. Coming up, Andrew Cuomo built up his image opposing Donald Trump, but new CNN reporting shows a different story of what makes these two men similar fighters.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:50:24]

WHITFIELD: Andrew Cuomo and Donald Trump, political nemeses. But some new reporting shows some commonalities.

Senior CNN reporter Isaac Dovere has new details about how their career paths have intertwined for decades. Check out his new CNN article called "The kings of Queens: Andrew Cuomo Seeks Restoration after Donald Trump Got His Own."

EDWARD-ISAAC DOVERE, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Right, Fred. Look, Andrew Cuomo is running for mayor of New York City now. He's trying to get a comeback after resigning as governor of New York just under four years ago. And that is a continuation it might be of this intertwined relationship that he's had with Donald Trump over the years. Both of them from Queens. They both got their own distinctive twist on the Queens accent to prove it.

And they are looking at each other all through the years, coming up in politics as kind of rivals, people intersecting their lives in weird ways. As I get into in the article, Trump recorded a video for Cuomo's bachelor party. Cuomo was at Trump's daughter's wedding. It's a really intricate, involved thing. And then when Trump was president the first time around and Cuomo was governor, they clashed in a bunch of different ways.

And I get into three Oval Office meetings that they had over 2020. What happened behind the scenes and what happened behind the scenes when they were on the phone with each other. A lot of people may remember the dueling COVID briefings that they used to have in 2020, but part of what I report in this article is how they were actually working together behind the scenes more and understanding each other in a way that made it work for both of them.

A former aide to Cuomo said to me, they always did that charm dance with each other because they were Queens brawlers, describing the way that they would actually talk to each other when the cameras were off. And so by getting inside the Oval Office in these three meetings, I think, and a lot of people who were there and involved with it told me they think that could be what this relationship would be like if Cuomo is back as mayor dealing with Trump again as president.

WHITFIELD: An interchangeable relationship that continues to evolve or continues to be and, you know, everlasting?

DOVERE: Well, we'll see.

WHITFIELD: All right. OK, Isaac Dovere, thank you so much.

DOVERE: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right. Coming up next, imagine what it's like being sucked into a tornado and tossed hundreds of feet away. A 19-year-old doesn't have to imagine it. He lived it, and has quite the story of survival to tell.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:57:32]

WHITFIELD: All right. Welcome back. The Georgia teen who was thrown by a tornado a few weeks ago is sharing his near-death experience for the first time. 19-year-old Malachi Chaney was tossed hundreds of feet into a field after a tornado ripped through Henry County, Georgia, just south of Atlanta. He suffered a traumatic injury, a punctured lung and multiple fractures.

Chaney sat down with our affiliate WXIA.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MALACHI CHANEY, TORNADO SURVIVOR: I still am in shock that how fast I recovered.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Malachi Chaney spent his 19th birthday in the ICU. Today he's walking and talking and even he can't believe it.

CHANEY: It's a blessing from God, honestly, that I'm still here.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Malachi doesn't remember anything about the storm.

CHANEY: I don't remember that tornado hitting me, and I don't remember that week or my two weeks at Grady. I don't remember any of that.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: He was thrown hundreds of feet into the air, tossed into a field behind his home, suffering a traumatic brain injury, broken ribs and a punctured lung. He woke up confused, thinking it was all a bad dream.

CHANEY: I thought I was having a bad dream. Just a blessing that I'm living and still able to, you know, get up and watch TV and eat breakfast food and all of that.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: He's already thinking about what comes next, including going back to see what's left of his home.

CHANEY: I do want to see it in person, just to look at that, look at it and just look at it in awe in a way, just like, dang. So it's really did happen. Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: And eventually getting back to college and his passion for acting.

CHANEY: Just getting back to Savannah and, you know, getting back to acting like a, you know, my love.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: But first, there's something else on his mind.

CHANEY: Getting my PlayStation back. Yes. My PlayStation was destroyed. UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: And hoping to get that visit from Shaq.

SHAQUILLE O'NEAL, FORMER NBA PLAYER: Hi. It's your Uncle Shaq.

CHANEY: I was pretty star struck seeing that message from Shaq. Him like saying it's your Uncle Shaq.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Malachi's dad Trey Chaney survived, too.

CHANEY: Thinking of the image of my dad crawling out beneath the house. And then just like shouting my name.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Malachi's journey isn't over. He'll begin daily therapy with pathways, but his dad says they're already living a miracle.

TRAY CHANEY, FATHER OF TORNADO SURVIVOR: UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But to see him now walking with his neck brace, talking all of the beautiful things that Shepherd Center has done for our son, Grady Hospital saving our son's life, getting him prepared to come to Shepherd is a blessing from God.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Wow. Uncle Shaq. An incredible family. And wow, an incredible medical team.