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Pentagon: Strikes on Iranian Sites Went as Planned; Details Emerge of Secret U.S. Efforts to Restart Iran Talks; Khamenei Declares Victory in First Speech Since Ceasefire; Trump's Domestic Agenda Faces Headwinds in U.S. Senate; Bezos Wedding Underway with A-Listers, Protests; Medicaid, Benefit Cuts Would Be Life and Death for Some People; Federal Prosecutor Makes Closing Argument against Rap Mogul; Daytime Fireball Spotted in Southeastern U.S. Aired 12-1a ET

Aired June 27, 2025 - 00:00   ET

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

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers here in the U.S. and around the world. I'm Jim Sciutto in Washington.

[00:00:23]

Ahead on CNN NEWSROOM: new intel on the Iran strikes. Congress gets a classified briefing about what really happened to Iran's nuclear program.

This, as Republicans are now under pressure after President Trump's so-called Big, Beautiful Bill hits another roadblock. Can it pass by the July Fourth deadline?

And A-list guests, elite water taxis and a shifting schedule. Venice kicks off the huge and expensive Bezos-Sanchez billionaire wedding.

Nearly a week after President Trump ordered strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities, members of Congress are finally hearing from the administration about the decision and what those strikes actually achieved, or at least the best estimates of that.

Republican and Democratic senators coming out of the classified briefing agreed that Iran's nuclear program was damaged. However, they disagreed on just how much of a setback it was.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): "Obliterated" is a good word for me to use. I can tell people in South Carolina, nobody is going to work in these three sites anytime soon. They're not going to get into them any time soon. Their operational capability was obliterated.

SEN. CHRIS MURPHY (D-CT): I walk away from that briefing, still under the belief that -- that we have not obliterated the program. The president was deliberately misleading the public when he said the program was obliterated.

(END VIDEO CLIP) SCIUTTO: Iran's foreign minister acknowledged extensive and serious damage -- his words -- to the nuclear sites in an interview with Iranian state TV. President Donald Trump once again repeated his maximalist assessment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: They hit the target, and the target has now been proven to be obliterated.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: The Pentagon did not offer any new assessment of the damage in a Thursday press conference. Instead, the top U.S. general said that is the job of the intelligence community.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth says that final assessment could take weeks. However, he again offered a forceful defense of the president's description.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETE HEGSETH, U.S. SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: There's been a lot of discussion about what happened and what didn't happen. Step back for a second. Because of decisive military action, President Trump created the conditions to end the war, decimating -- choose your word -- obliterating, destroying Iran's nuclear capabilities.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: We get more now from CNN's national security correspondent, Natasha Bertrand.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: The Pentagon on Thursday morning released new details about the U.S. military's operation against three nuclear facilities in Iran over the weekend --

BERTRAND (voice-over): -- and disclosed some new information about just how much planning went into the bombing campaign against one facility in particular. That's Fordow nuclear facility.

According to the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, this operation was about 15 years in the making, and according to the chairman, the U.S. military is very confident at this point that the bombs successfully hit their targets at Fordow nuclear facility last weekend. And they went, actually, down the ventilation shafts of that nuclear facility, a very key detail that Chairman Caine revealed earlier, because, of course, that indicates that those bombs did not only have a surface-level impact. They also went deep below the structure of Fordow and actually managed to penetrate the very, very deeply buried facilities that Iran has at that particular nuclear site.

And so, the question remains, however, and something that the Pentagon didn't really touch on today, because they said they don't have that level of fidelity yet, is how much damage was actually done to those very key underground facilities that are very much core to Iran's nuclear program.

And that remains unclear because, as Chairman Caine said, there was no one on the ground at that moment to actually, of course, witness what exactly was damaged as a result of that bombing campaign.

BERTRAND: And so, while this was meticulously carried out, according to the chairman, according to military officials, including the fact that the bombs were going at the right speed and hit their targets really perfectly, according to the military, that full battle damage assessment is still yet to be completed.

And according to the chairman, again, that is going to be up to the intelligence community as they continue to gather information, including from within Iran, sources that may be on the ground there, to really get a sense for how much this actually set back Iran's nuclear program.

[00:05:11]

Because, of course, the administration has been fighting all week to try to combat a report that was publicized by CNN and others earlier this week, produced by the Defense Intelligence Agency, that said, the U.S. strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities really only appear to have set back Iran's nuclear program by a couple of months at most.

BERTRAND (voice-over): And that has infuriated the Trump administration. And so, they have been urging the public to wait for more information. Of course, pouring cold water on that particular assessment, saying that they do not believe that it is accurate.

BERTRAND: But at the same time, they have not yet presented new intelligence that would suggest that the Iranian nuclear program is, as President Trump has put it, quote, "completely obliterated."

And so, the intelligence community is going to continue to gather information about this.

BERTRAND (voice-over): But this morning, what we saw from the Pentagon was a lot of political bluster, frankly, from the secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, who was attacking the media, particularly over that report from the Defense Intelligence Agency. And a lot of more substantive operational details from General Caine.

BERTRAND: But ultimately, not necessarily disputing the reporting from CNN and others about how this assessment and this -- this intelligence is still very early on, and the full battle damage assessment has yet to be completed, about just how this impacted Iran's nuclear program.

Natasha Bertrand, CNN in Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCIUTTO: Well, exclusive new CNN reporting shining a light on secret U.S. efforts to restart, now, nuclear negotiations with Iran.

Sources say the Trump administration has considered helping Iran access up to $30 billion for a civilian nuclear energy program. Other options include easing sanctions and rebuilding Iran's Fordow nuclear facility that was damaged by those U.S. strikes.

More details now from CNN's Kylie Atwood.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN U.S. SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: There were secretive meetings happening on these new terms that are being discussed just the day before the Trump administration carried out the strike on Iran's nuclear sites. And those conversations have continued after the strikes occurred.

So, what we're learning is that there are discussions about sanctions relief for Iran. There are discussions about freeing up $6 billion in Iranian funds that are currently restricted from use.

There's also discussions about providing access to the Iranians to 20 to $30 billion to rebuild its civilian nuclear energy program. You know, nuclear energy that is used, of course, not for any sort of aggression purposes.

Now, administration officials say that all of this is very preliminary. There are a lot of ideas being floated.

But we did hear from Steve Witkoff in an interview. He talked about investing in building -- rebuilding Iran's nuclear program without any enrichment capabilities. We should note that's still their red line.

But we also heard from President Trump that there are going to be talks between the U.S. and Iran next week. The Iranians are not saying that they are aware of any discussions that are set to take place.

But at this moment, the Trump administration working really hard on what these new terms would actually look like that they would put on the table.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCIUTTO: Iran's supreme leader delivered a defiant message in his first public speech since the ceasefire between his country and Israel.

In a prerecorded statement from an undisclosed private location, the 86-year-old Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Tehran will never surrender.

More details now from CNN's Fred Pleitgen, who's in Tehran.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FRED PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Ever since the ceasefire went into effect, the Iranians have been saying that they believe that it's a big victory for them. They say that they believe that they essentially forced the Trump

administration and the Israelis into the ceasefire. And now, the supreme leader has taken to the airwaves for the first time since the fighting ended. And he also praised Iran's military for what he calls a big victory.

AYATOLLAH ALI KHAMENEI, SUPREME LEADER OF IRAN (through translator): I would like to congratulate the great nation of Iran. With all those claims that the Zionist regime were making, they were almost crushed under the blows of the Islamic government.

PLEITGEN: The supreme leader also lashing out at the United States and specifically President Trump, saying that President Trump had called for Iran's unconditional surrender, and that that simply isn't going to happen.

KHAMENEI (through translator): The U.S. president said that Iran should surrender. A great Iran and the word of "surrender," they don't match. They don't match with each other. It's a joke. It's a ridiculous thing to say.

PLEITGEN: We know that the supreme leader is the highest and final authority here in this country. But in general, the clergy plays a huge role in shaping the doctrine of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

[00:10:03]

And today, we went to Iran's second holiest city, the city of Qom, where there's a lot of religious seminaries, a lot of religious schools. And we asked clerics there how they feel about the situation.

"If Trump ever has goodwill, do not mess with countries and let people live their lives," he says.

"This promise has been made by God," he says, "that if you believe in God, he is the one who guides your arrows to the hearts of the enemy."

And he says, "They think they're able to stop us from our chosen path through bombing, killing, and terror. This is why these terrors and wars will only strengthen our faith instead of weakening us."

PLEITGEN: So, you can see there members of the clergy in the city of Qom saying they're not willing to give an inch and that they are going to continue to confront what the U.S. and Israel.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCIUTTO: President Trump's massive domestic policy agenda is facing a major setback after key provisions of the bill did not meet the Senate's strict rules. How Republicans are reacting, next.

And a rarely seen daytime fireball -- wow -- lights up the skies over several U.S. states. We'll tell you what it was.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:15:04]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(BELL RINGING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: Closing Bell there on Wall Street. The Dow closed up nearly 1 percent on Thursday, the NASDAQ up 0.8 percent.

But the big story on Wall Street is the S&P 500. It closed near an all-time high and has regained nearly $10 trillion since President Trump started his trade war four months ago, when it dropped precipitously.

The U.S. stock market futures looking, well, green again. Up more tomorrow.

President Trump's domestic agenda, however, is facing a major setback after the Senate parliamentarian struck down key parts of his Big, Beautiful Bill. Members of Congress planned to work through the weekend to try to retool the bill. They still hope to pass it by July Fourth.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN THUNE (R-SD): We're plowing forward, and when we actually get on it still is an open question. But rest assured, we will.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you think this is going to make it harder to get this passed by July Fourth?

REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA): Well, it doesn't make it easier, but you know me. Hope springs eternal. And we're going to work around the clock and try to meet that deadline.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you really --

JOHNSON: That's the way we should do it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: The parliamentarian says that certain provisions do not meet strict rules which allow the bill to be passed by a simple majority, which is known as the reconciliation process.

CNN's Manu Raju explains the details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Donald Trump's massive domestic agenda is hanging by a thread.

RAJU (voice-over): He is demanding this on his desk in just a matter of days, by July Fourth. That is a self-imposed deadline, but it's running into all sorts of problems in the United States Senate and the U.S. House.

Right now, it's bottled up in the Senate because of procedural issues.

Remember this bill they're trying to pass along straight party lines through a budget process known on Capitol Hill as reconciliation. The reason why majorities like to use that process is that it can -- bills cannot be filibustered --

RAJU: -- by using the budget process.

But there's a catch. The bills need to meet the strict budget rules of the United States Senate in order to use that process, which cannot be filibustered, meaning the -- just Republican senators can approve this plan.

Typically, most bills could be filibustered, meaning 60 votes are needed. Democrats and Republicans would be needed to overcome a filibuster. But if this meets the budget rules, it doesn't -- can't be filibustered.

But if it does not meet the budget rules, that means certain provisions will have to come out of this plan.

On Thursday, a big setback, because one key provision to help finance this massive proposal in dealing with Medicaid cuts was stripped from the proposal by the Senate parliamentarian, who said that the provision does not meet the Senate's strict budget rules.

So, Republicans behind the scenes have been scrambling to try to resurrect that plan. There are other provisions also struck out by the parliamentarian, as Republicans try to put this bill back together.

But that's just in the process. Then there are the deep divisions between moderates and conservatives.

RAJU (voice-over): There are some moderates who are worried about this bill cutting too much into the Medicaid program. Remember, that's the health care program for the disabled and for low-income individuals. They worry that those cuts could hurt their constituents.

And there are some of the more conservative members, who are concerned about the more -- the sweeping tax overhaul, multitrillion-dollar tax overhaul that, along with the new spending in this plan for border security, national security programs, deportation policies of Donald Trump, this all bill could add more than $3 trillion to the national deficit over the next decade, according to some official estimates.

Some of those conservatives want to cut deeper into spending. They don't want to spend more.

RAJU: That division has been playing out for months and is now coming to a head as Republican leaders are trying to get this bill on the floor, make sure it complies with Senate rules, but also get the votes where they can only afford to lose three Republican votes in the United States Senate, and they can only afford to lose three Republican votes in the United States House. And one Republican congressman, Eric Burlison, told me that he is

threatening to vote no on this plan unless it meets his concerns about the deficit. And he warned Republican leaders not to jam the House.

Do you think it's responsible for them to cut this deal behind closed doors and drop it in your lap and say, take it or leave it?

REP. ERIC BURLISON (R-MO): No. I mean, that's what Washington is, is good at, is -- is kind of jamming people last minute, giving you something you haven't had time to read, haven't had time to get reflection or input from your district.

And so yes, it's not -- it's not ideal.

RAJU: But Mike Johnson, the House speaker, still believes this could get to President Trump's desk by July Fourth. But a lot has to happen from now until then in order to make it over the finish line.

Manu Raju, CNN, Capitol Hill.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCIUTTO: Joining us now from Los Angeles, Benjamin Radd, a political scientist, senior fellow at UCLA Burkle Center for International Relations.

[00:20:03]

Good to have you on. Thanks for taking the time.

BENJAMIN RADD, POLITICAL SCIENTIST/SENIOR FELLOW, UCLA BURKLE CENTER FOR INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS: Thank you for having me.

SCIUTTO: So, big question I have is, given that the -- the CBO has already estimated that this bill will add $2.8 trillion to the federal deficit over the next decade; given that the parliamentarian has struck down some of the payfors in this bill, how much more do we expect? Unless Republicans can find other room to cut -- it's not clear that they have. How much more do we expect this to add to the debt?

RADD: Well, that's exactly what's trying to be determined. I mean, we've see a Quinnipiac poll that came out today indicating that a majority of the public is not in favor of it.

And the debt -- and the contribution to the debt being one of the bigger parts where there seems to be broad disapproval for the bill.

It's difficult to see how the Senate Republicans are going to maneuver around that without really undermining one of their key pledges or their key goals, which is to reduce the federal deficit.

So, indeed, this is going to stand out as one of the bigger challenges.

SCIUTTO: There's a long history of parties coming into power, Democrats and Republicans, passing big bills right after those elections that end up damaging them in the next round.

I mean, you think Obama 2008, the -- the Obamacare bill, Republicans certainly have run into similar headwinds. Do you see the ingredients for that with this bill?

RADD: Indeed. I mean, we could even go back to Bill Clinton and the attempt to reform healthcare, the bill there.

And what ends up happening is these parties come into power, whether it's the executive branch or Congress. And they -- they generalize these broad, sweeping mandates that they feel give them authority to really wholesale attack major social concerns and issues.

And they get bogged down in the procedure. They realize that, OK, it's a bit more difficult than they anticipated. And that whatever public mandate they have -- and in this case, it's a very narrow one, given how the votes turned out in the last election -- it doesn't give them, necessarily, the leverage they think they have to push these bills through.

SCIUTTO: Yes. It's always struck me that parties always habitually overestimate their mandate.

The Medicaid cuts seem to be one of the biggest Achilles heels here. And that's because even Republicans, right, are raising alarm -- alarm bells about this. Susan Collins in Maine. You're hearing from Josh Hawley.

I spoke to Republican Congressman Cory Mills earlier today who said similar, that he's -- he's concerned about the degree of Medicaid cuts.

Where does that end up in this bill? Are Republicans just going to push forward, because they're -- they're intent on getting the tax cuts through?

RADD: Well, what's interesting about the Medicare aspect is the -- the work requirement component --

SCIUTTO: Yes.

RADD: -- is the one of the elements that actually has broader political support than the other parts of this bill. So, maybe there is somewhere there for them to find how they can make this work.

But it seems to be where they have the most amount of leverage, given the challenges they're facing from the opposition overall.

SCIUTTO: So, does this get through in the end? I mean, this July Fourth deadline has always been somewhat artificial, but it's one of those artificial deadlines set by this president that his party likes to deliver him. Are they just going to kind of fudge the numbers, perhaps, as parties do?

RADD: It's difficult to see. Yes, it's difficult to see how they're going to make this work, given this sort of self-imposed deadline where the Senate ends up to sort of tweaking the numbers to get it to the parliamentarian's approval point.

And then, assuming that there isn't any difference here, that has to be then reconciled by the House. And we start this process all over in a different way.

It's really hard to see how that happens, given -- given where we are.

SCIUTTO: Benjamin Radd. Professor, thanks so much for joining.

RADD: Thank you.

SCIUTTO: Well, people across Gaza are still going hungry as meager amounts of aid trickle in. Still ahead, aid distribution faces new hurdles. Violence, as well, in an enclave desperately short of food.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:22:23]

SCIUTTO: Welcome back. I'm Jim Sciutto in Washington. Let's take a look at today's top stories.

Donald Trump's domestic policy agenda is facing a major setback in the U.S. Senate. The Senate parliamentarian ruled that key provisions of the bill do not meet strict budget rules, which would allow it to pass by a simple majority in what's known as the reconciliation process.

Republican senators now plan to try to work through the weekend to revise the bill.

Iran's supreme leader delivered a defiant message in his first public speech since the ceasefire between his country and Israel.

In a prerecorded statement, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Tehran will never surrender, rebuking earlier comments from U.S. President Donald Trump.

Khamenei also, predictably, declared victory over Israel and the U.S.

A second intelligence briefing for members of the U.S. House is scheduled in the day ahead. Senators heard the latest on the Iran strikes from the Trump administration on Thursday.

Many Democrats acknowledge there was severe damage. The question is, do the facts, does the intelligence back up the president's repeated claim the program was obliterated?

Joining us now, David Sanger, CNN political and national security analyst. David, good to have you.

DAVID SANGER, CNN POLITICAL AND NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Great to be with you, Jim.

SCIUTTO: So, the president picked this word "obliterated" and this kind of maximalist description of the results of this. And he's sticking with it. And it seems that the administration is just trying to back him up on

that. The intelligence agency -- agencies, et cetera.

But when we look at the facts and what we know of the intelligence, do they back up that "obliterated" description of this?

SANGER: Jim, it depends on what part of the program that you are looking at.

The problem here is the president came out with, as you rightly called it, a maximalist position before there had been any battle damage assessment. He did it within minutes of the end of the raid.

And now, as frequently happens in this administration, they basically decided that what they need to do is line everybody up to use the exact same phrase.

I think that it's working pretty well for the elements of the program where uranium was enriched. That's what happened at Natanz and at Fordow, the -- the main target, that big mountain that was covering over the -- the centrifuges and -- and centrifuge halls (ph).

And what happened there, it looks like, is that, thanks to first the Israeli attacks on Natanz and then the American attacks on Fordow, it is wiped out. And even the International Atomic Energy Agency believes there's no enrichment that's happening. And probably would require being rebuilt, my guess is, elsewhere.

[00:30:19]

Where it doesn't fit, Jim, is the missing fuel, the fuel they've already produced. That's about 9 or 10 weapons' worth. We know that it was at a -- in Isfahan, an ancient Iranian capital, but it looks like it was dispersed.

SCIUTTO: So, listen, I mean, big picture, this -- this is a severe blow to the program. The combination of the U.S. and Israeli strikes.

SANGER: Yes.

SCIUTTO: and a severe blow without the blowback that many had expected, right? I mean, there were predictions of -- of a regional war and perhaps a decisive retaliation from Iran. And really, we saw only a symbolic one.

I mean, that -- that seems to be the bottom line, right? On the events of the last couple of weeks.

SANGER: Jim, you're absolutely right. The reason previous presidents didn't do this was that they believed that an overt act of war against Iran -- bombing them -- would result in an act of war back that would drag us into something bigger in the Middle East.

President Trump was there at a moment of huge weakness for the Iranians. They had lost Hezbollah. They had lost Hamas. They had lost the government in Syria, all of which could have struck back at Israel on the -- on behalf of the Iranian government.

And they have lost most of their air defenses and a good number of their missiles.

So, this worked by any measure, as you say, better than I think we would have expected. You know, particularly a year or two or five ago.

SCIUTTO: No question. I mean, you and I have been covering this for so long, and that had always been the assumption. If you try to take a shot at it, right, you're -- you're deep in a war in the Middle East.

I suppose the worry at home is this pattern of Trump saying or believing or wanting something not necessarily backed up by the facts, and then the machinery of government having to provide some kind of basis for that, even when the facts don't line up. Right?

I mean, in the extreme scenario, it's the "I won the 2020 election," factually untrue. But in this case, you know, intelligence is murky, and it takes time. Right?

Are you concerned that, going forward, this is going to become a pattern when there are other decisions about military action?

SANGER: Well, look, it was a pattern before on things that were a lot less consequential. Remember the first day of the first term --

SCIUTTO: Yes.

SANGER: -- the crowd sizes of -- for the inauguration? Right?

And then the satellite photographs. You put one of Trump's inauguration versus one of a previous inauguration, and you saw the evidence. But that was an amusement.

This is life-and-death decisions. And what worries me here is that professionals in the intelligence community are discovering that their work is being denigrated or being bent --

SCIUTTO: Yes.

SANGER: -- to fit an early declaration.

SCIUTTO: Yes. And then the question is, is there a chilling effect from that, right?

SANGER: That's right.

SCIUTTO: Sending difficult information up the chain.

David Sanger, we appreciate you staying up late for us. Thanks so much.

SANGER: Great to be with you.

SCIUTTO: Well, at least 15 people are dead after an Israeli airstrike on a market in central Gaza. This, according to local health officials who say several others were injured on Thursday.

The market was reportedly crowded as food in Gaza remains just so hard to come by. Only a fraction of the amount that is needed is believed to be coming in.

Despite that, Israel is keeping a tight lid on bringing in more aid. On Thursday, the controversial Israel and U.S.-backed aid group the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation was the only one allowed to distribute few [SIC] -- food.

Israel has accused Hamas of stealing humanitarian aid to justify that.

But major U.N. relief groups say there is no evidence a significant amount of aid has been stolen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(CHANTING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: Those are the sounds of mourners chanting at a funeral for three Palestinians reportedly killed in a confrontation with Jewish settlers in the West Bank.

Palestinians say the settlers set fire to homes and vehicles in a town near Ramallah on Wednesday. Israel's military says several people were killed, without specifying who.

On Thursday, Palestinians said the IDF killed a 15-year-old boy. Israel says its soldiers fired at people who were throwing explosives at them.

[00:35:05]

Much more ahead. Please do stay with CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SCIUTTO: Billionaire Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez are about to get married in Venice. The event has brought A-list celebrities, as well as protesters, to the Italian city.

CNN's Melissa Bell has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ivanka!

MELISSA BELL, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Italy's floating city of love flooded with A-list celebrities: from Ivanka Trump to Oprah Winfrey and Kim Kardashian. They're all descending on a sweltering Venice for the multi-million-dollar wedding of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and former news anchor Lauren Sanchez.

Other big names include Tom Brady, Orlando Bloom, and Mick Jagger. Details of the nuptials are shrouded in secrecy, but we believe that

30 of the city's elite water taxis have been booked for the occasion, which is unfolding from Friday through Saturday as well as every yacht port.

Several accommodation venues have also been reserved for the 200 or so guests, including five Venetian luxury hotels and the Madonna dell'Orto church, where Reuters reports the first night's open-air festivities are taking place on Thursday.

Bezos's $500 million superyacht Koru was expected to be one of the main wedding locations, but it's just too big to be allowed anywhere near the city's most scenic waterways and will be anchored in the Venice lagoon instead.

Some local officials in Venice are taking it all in their stride.

LUIGI BRUGNARO, VENICE MAYOR (through translator): We're used to having weddings and celebrations. We had the G-7 last year. The Holy Father came.

This is a city that was born to do diplomacy and trade. This is the history of Venice: the meeting of people and cultures.

BELL (voice-over): But not everyone is celebrating. Activists from Greenpeace rolled out a massive banner in San Marcos Square on Monday, criticizing the lavish extravaganza.

[00:40:04]

Tommaso Cacciari leads the "No Space for Bezos" protest group.

TOMMASO CACCIARI, ORGANIZER, NO SPACE FOR BEZOS: When you see Venice. Not as a city anymore, but as a big theme park, a big kind of private dance hall, you know, where you can just hire parts of it; or like in this case, all of it, is exactly the problem.

The message of this wedding party is that "I am super rich, and I can buy all Venice."

BELL (voice-over): Altogether, the festivities are expected to cost somewhere between 46 and $55 million. That's according to the president of Venice's local government.

BELL: In the last few days, the couple have reportedly donated to several charitable foundations here in Venice, devoted to architectural and cultural preservation.

And according to a portion of the wedding invitation that was broadcast by ABC's "Good Morning America," they've suggested that guests not bring gifts, saying rather that donations will be made to these causes on their behalf.

BELL (voice-over): For now, all eyes are on the tech billionaire and his bride, and whether or not they'll be able to tie the knot in relative peace. Melissa Bell, CNN, Venice.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SCIUTTO: There's much more coming up for our viewers in the U.S., including the latest on the New York mayor's race. But for our international audience, WORLD SPORT is next. Please do stay with CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[00:45:34]

SCIUTTO: The -- New York's mayor's race is getting more crowded. Incumbent Mayor Eric Adams officially launched his bid Thursday for a second four-year term as an independent candidate.

In a speech on the steps of city hall, Adams attacked likely Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani, saying the state assemblyman has, quote, "a record of tweets," where Adams has a record on the streets.

Mamdani won New York's Democratic primary on Tuesday, a huge upset. He tells CNN he has no intention of following Adams's path.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ZOHRAN MAMDANI (D), NEW YORK MAYORAL CANDIDATE: Unlike the current mayor, I'm not going to be working alongside the Trump administration to build the single largest deportation force in American history.

I'm going to actually represent each and every New Yorker, and that includes immigrant New Yorkers. And that means standing up for the laws of this city, like our sanctuary city policies, which have kept New Yorkers safe for decades and were defended by Republicans and Democrats alike for years until we got this mayor, who fear-mongered about them so extensively.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Does that involve the NYPD?

MAMDANI: It means that the NYPD would actually serve New Yorkers and not assist ICE in their operations.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: Despite conceding the Democratic primary to Mamdani, former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo may not be leaving the race.

Sources say he is likely to stay on the ballot for the November election as an independent candidate, hoping to provide a safe harbor for moderates and progressives nervous about Mamdani's "Democratic socialist: ideals as they've been described.

U.S. Senate Republicans are reeling after the Senate's rule enforcer, the parliamentarian, rejected key provisions in President Trump's so- called Big, Beautiful Bill.

The parliamentarian denied a controversial Republican plan to limit the ability of states to collect more funding for Medicaid by taxing healthcare providers.

But even before this, the bill's Medicaid changes were drawing opposition from Democrats, as well as some Republicans, because of the impact it could have on their states in delivering basic Medicare.

Our Jeff Zeleny got a firsthand preview.

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COURTNEY LEADER, DAUGHTER RELIEFS ON MEDICAID: I know that they're saying that they're not planning to cut Medicaid, right? I reached out, concerned that, if any changes are made, there will be this trickle-down effect that will impact families like mine.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The front lines of the Medicaid debate are right here in Courtney Leader's kitchen.

ZELENY: What is the face of Medicaid, do you think? And is it different than you think some people may assume?

LEADER: I mean, we are the face of Medicaid.

ZELENY (voice-over): The Missouri mother of five wrote her Republican senator, Josh Hawley, to explain how slashing benefits would be devastating to her 9-year-old daughter, Serena, who lives with brain damage and cerebral palsy.

LEADER: Our private insurance won't cover the formula. It doesn't cover the feeding tube pump.

The hit on our budget, it would be over $1,500 a month just for the formula, just for the pump rental. And those are things that we have to have to keep my daughter alive.

There's my beautiful smile.

ZELENY (voice-over): We came along for the ride, sitting behind Serena's nurse, who's funded by Medicaid, as they drove to weekly therapy sessions, also paid by Medicaid, which more than one in five Missourians rely on for health coverage.

LEADER: We cannot let people like my daughter lose her benefits. And if anybody tells you that, oh, she's -- she's covered, she's protected, I would really encourage you to say how. What provisions have you made to make sure that those who meet eligibility requirements are covered?

ZELENY (voice-over): We visited Ozarks Food Harvest, which distributes food across one third of Missouri.

ZELENY: What is the demand like for food?

BART BROWN, CEO, OZARKS FOOD HARVEST: Unfortunately, Jeff, right now the demand for food is quite a bit higher than it was even at the height of the COVID crisis. ZELENY (voice-over): Congress is weighing billions in cuts to food

assistance programs like SNAP, once known as Food Stamps. That will increase demand at already crowded food pantries like this.

ZELENY: How important is this food to you?

JUNE OWENS, MARSHFIELD, MISSOURI, RESIDENT: Well, it really helps us get through the month, and they have a good variety of things.

ZELENY: Your husband got hurt in an accident?

OWENS: Yes, he fell between 10 and 11 feet, landing on top of his head, but it kind of changed everything. We were in the process of getting all our ducks in a row, so to speak, for retirement. And then he got hurt really bad. And it just upside-downed everything.

And so, food pantries do that -- have helped us through the situation.

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ZELENY (voice-over): Another hotly contested piece of the spending bill is deep cuts to rural hospitals. Inside a maternity ward in Clinton, Missouri, Dr. Jennifer Blair worries for her patients.

DR. JENNIFER BLAIR, GOLDEN VALLEY MEMORIAL HEALTHCARE: Missouri has the fourth largest number of maternity care deserts. We actually are surrounded by several maternity care deserts. That's defined as a county that has no or very limited access to obstetric services for their patients.

If we were to lose that access, the birthing center here at Golden Valley, our patients would have to travel more than 60 miles.

CRAIG THOMPSON, CEO, GOLDEN VALLEY MEMORIAL HEALTHCARE: Four out of five babies that are delivered in our hospital are covered by Medicaid. And that's not unique to us.

ZELENY (voice-over): Craig Thompson is CEO of Golden Valley Memorial. He said many rural hospitals in Missouri and across the country are at high risk for closure.

ZELENY: Is your hope for what happens over the next couple of weeks in Washington in this debate?

THOMPSON: Well, I think the thing that, again, would be beneficial is for better understanding of who Medicaid serves and what the real Medicaid face looks like. Because, again, I think that's been lost somewhere along the way.

ZELENY (voice-over): Courtney Leader shares that hope, too.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Good girl! Oh, my goodness.

LEADER: I do not have my daughter enrolled on Medicaid so that we can have fancy things. I have my daughter enrolled in Medicaid so that we can keep her alive. ZELENY: What do you worry about the most?

LEADER: I'm worried that the red tape is going to affect our Medicaid because of just the oversight burdens, and that as a result, I'm going to lose my daughter.

ZELENY: Now, these are many of the real-world implications from the bill that could have a real effect on people's lives.

Now, even as the Senate works into the weekend to try and make changes to the bill, President Trump is calling any naysayers grandstanders and urging for a quick vote.

But Republicans also have deep questions about these Medicaid cuts and how they would affect their constituents. That was so clear as we traveled through Missouri.

Jeff Zeleny, CNN, Washington.

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SCIUTTO: Our thanks to Jeff for that story.

The prosecution has now rested its case Thursday in the federal criminal trial of Sean "Diddy" Combs. A U.S. attorney delivered five hours of closing arguments portraying the music mogul as the leader of a criminal enterprise who used his power to abuse and traffic women.

CNN's Elizabeth Wagmeister has the story.

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ELIZABETH WAGMEISTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: Prosecutors have concluded their closing arguments, and the jury can get the case by the end of Friday, after the defense presents their closing argument.

WAGMEISTER (voice-over): Now, Sean Combs was supported in court by many of his family members, more than we have seen in that courtroom since the beginning of the trial.

That includes his three teenage daughters. They were sitting there as they heard prosecutors go into great detail about these so-called "freak-offs."

Prosecutors reminded the jury about the physical abuse against Cassie, against Jane. Again, those freak-offs and all of the drugs that they allege that he distributed with the help of his criminal enterprise.

WAGMEISTER: And again, his daughters were there for that. So were his sons.

Sean Combs's body language was a bit different than it has been for the rest of the trial. I noticed him looking down, slumped over at times.

But he was very engaged. He was passing notes to his attorneys, as he has done throughout this seven-week trial.

Now the prosecution's throughline of their argument is that this was --

WAGMEISTER (voice-over): -- a wealthy and powerful man. He used his power to control these alleged victims, and he was made all that more powerful from this criminal enterprise.

They said to the jury, we know you've heard the term "racketeering," and you're probably thinking of the mob or the mafia. They said that is not the case here. All that racketeering means is that Sean Combs created this enterprise where all of his staff members had one common goal, which was to protect him and was to enable him and help him commit these crimes, even if, prosecutors said, they testified that they did not commit any crimes.

The prosecutors said, use your common sense. These staff members were texting drug dealers.

WAGMEISTER: They were helping distribute drugs. They knew where Cassie was, including when she was kidnaped, they said, and kept in a hotel room, after Sean Combs --

WAGMEISTER (voice-over): -- stomped on her, so that she could recover from her injuries that were visible, while she was being hidden by Combs and his staff members in that hotel room.

WAGMEISTER: These were just a few of the examples, and the vast evidence that the prosecutors reminded the jury of.

And again, the defense will present their closing argument, and they will absolutely be chipping away at everything that the prosecution just laid out. Again, the jury can get this case and can begin deliberating by the end of Friday.

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Back to you.

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SCIUTTO: Our thanks to Elizabeth.

One of the most powerful women in fashion, Anna Wintour, is now leaving her job as editor-in-chief of American "Vogue" magazine. She is keeping her position as global chief content officer with publisher Conde Nast for most of its magazines.

Said to have inspired the character of the perfectionist editor in the movie "The Devil Wears Prada," Wintour, in her trademark bob haircut and dark glasses, is a mainstay at top fashion runways.

The 75-year-old has run "Vogue" for nearly four decades. Her successor will become the head of editorial content and report to her.

Wintour says she hopes to help new impassioned editors storm the field with their own ideas.

Well, take a look at this. A rare daytime fireball lit up the skies in the Southeast U.S. today. Residents across several states reported seeing the phenomenon, which experts now believe may have been caused by a meteor. Wow. Imagine witnessing that.

CNN meteorologist Allison Chinchar has more.

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ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Around lunchtime Thursday, just behind me here in Atlanta, a fireball lit up the skyline, not just in Georgia, but also nearby states such as South Carolina --

CHINCHAR (voice-over): -- North Carolina, and even Tennessee.

Now, this fireball is an exceptionally bright meteor, so bright that it could be seen even during the daylight hours, thanks in part due to clear blue skies in every single one of those states.

Now, a fireball specifically can be seen over a widespread area. That's why you saw so many states sending in reports.

CHINCHAR: And those reports initially, even right after it happened, the American Meteor Society had more than 100 reports of the fireball.

In addition to that, there were also reports of a sonic boom, which, yes, can be generated by a fireball.

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SCIUTTO: Quite a moment to witness.

Thanks so much for your company this hour. I'm Jim Sciutto. Another hour of CNN NEWSROOM with me is just ahead.

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