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U.S. Senators Divided on Iran Strikes After Briefings; U.S. to Restart Nuclear Talks with Iran; Trump's Big, Beautiful Bill Face Headwinds in the Senate; Palestinians: At Least 15 Killed In Strike On Gaza Market; Bezos Wedding Weekend Underway With A-Listers, Protests; Senate Parliamentarian Blocks Medicaid Tax Changes; Federal Prosecutor Makes Closing Argument Against Rap Mogul. Aired 2-3a ET

Aired June 27, 2025 - 02:00   ET

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

[02:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN HOST: Hello, welcome to all of our viewers that are joining us here in the United States and around the world. Maybe you're streaming on CNN Max. I'm Polo Sandoval in New York City where it is 2:00 a.m. and a lot to get to in the hour ahead. Starting with U.S. lawmakers from the Senate briefed by the Trump administration about last weekend's strike against Iran's nuclear facilities and how effective those attacks actually were. We'll bring you their assessments.

And the clock is ticking on President Trump's so called big, beautiful bill, the latest on the congressional budget battle as that July 4th deadline approaches.

And Venice belongs to the stars this weekend. The who's who of celebrities touching down for Jeff Bezos's lavish wedding. But locals there, they're not exactly rolling out the red carpet.

And welcome to the program. Nearly a week after President Trump ordered air strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities, members of the U.S. Congress, they're finally hearing from the administration for the first time about the decision of what those attacks actually achieved. Both Republican and Democratic senators coming out of the classified briefings agreed that Iran's nuclear program was damaged. That's hard to debate. They disagreed, however, on just how much of it was set back.

(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 anytime soon. Their operational capability was obliterated.

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

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: In an interview with state TV, Iran's foreign minister also acknowledged extensive and serious damage to the nuclear sites as they described it. And U.S. President Donald Trump, again, repeating his same assessment from earlier this week.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: They hit the target and the target has now been proven to be obliterated.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: And the Pentagon did not offer a new assessment or new evidence of the damage in Thursday's press conference. Instead, the top U.S. general said that is the job of the intelligence community. Meanwhile, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth there alongside him said that that could take weeks to get. And he, again, offered a forceful defense of the President's conclusion.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETE HEGSETH, U.S. DEFENSE SECRETARY: 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)

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

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 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.

[02:04:59]

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. 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.

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. 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, 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, but ultimately not necessarily disputing the reporting from CNN and others about how this assessment and 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.

SANDOVAL: Joining me now is Beth Sanner. She's a CNN national security analyst and also a former deputy director of National Intelligence. Beth, we know it's been a very long Thursday. Appreciate you hanging out with us a little longer.

BETH SANNER, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: I'm happy to be here.

SANDOVAL: Beth, you know the intelligence business well. From your perspective and your analysis at this stage, what should you think? What should the Trump administration know about what may or may not have been at those three facilities that were struck? And that certainly would include either the status or the whereabouts of that refined uranium that the administration maintains or suspects, I should say, was buried.

SANNER: Yeah. I think that there is this laser focus on these three sites, which I think is warranted to some degree because this is basically the enrichment program, right? This is the centrifuges that we know about. And it looks like those were destroyed, are severely damaged. But there's a lot more to Iran's nuclear program, and you hinted at this when mentioning the HEU, then is in those three sites or potentially might not be in those three sites, might be somewhere else.

There is the scientific knowledge of tens of thousands of nuclear scientists, and it's just a very deep bench of knowledge and expertise. There is the potential that they have a covert facility. They probably have centrifuge parts, if not other spare centrifuges somewhere, potentially. And then this question about where is this highly enriched uranium? It could be buried deep underground and impossible or very difficult to get to, in which case we would see them trying to get to it at some point potentially if they made that decision. But there's also the potential that some of it could be somewhere else, and that is the key thing that we really need to know.

SANDOVAL: Especially if they have access to that. Beth, in your opinion, what do -- what is -- what are some of those further assessments that are still being done to try to develop a clearer picture? The reporting has been very clear since Tuesday that that initial assessment was just that, initial assessment that would certainly evolve with time. So what is that data that's being poured over right now by the intel community?

SANNER: Right. So it's -- I think the process of doing this kind of assessment is twofold. That DIA preliminary report that, in my view, should never have been leaked. It was illegal and wrong and confusing to people. It didn't actually help anybody. But now what will happen instead of DIA, which did a report that was not coordinated and was not based on all source analysis, which is this idea that is the bedrock of the big, shops that do this, including DIA, but in this case, it wasn't that.

[02:09:58]

All source means that they take information from all sources. Right? That means human sources. That means intercepts, intelligence, SIGINT. It means overhead looking down from satellites. It means other kinds of testing. And then the other part of it is taking this vast knowledge of IC experts, intelligence community experts in every field from nuclear scientists to missiles to, people who specialize in geology.

SANDOVAL: I'm sure you were very closely following the Senate hearing today, which those lawmakers were briefed. One of them, Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona, he sat in on that. He clearly obviously couldn't get into any sort of classified information. But it was interesting, he also told -- he did tell my colleague, Erin Burnett, that what he heard behind closed doors was not consistent with what the Trump administration has been repeating, that the whole -- that the whole program was obliterated.

But he also shared that he's still worried about something. I want to play a portion of his interview with Erin and then we could discuss right after.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MARK KELLY (D-AZ): First of all, I think they should have exhausted every diplomatic option and then considered what is going to happen after this strike, especially if there is some capability left. Are the Iranians going to rush to develop a nuclear weapon? They -- we don't know. That's a question that's unanswered. They might still do that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: So in your view, is there still that possibility considering everything you just told us the last few minutes? Could we find ourselves in a situation that's perhaps even worse than what we were in before last weekend's U.S. intervention?

SANNER: Well, it's not a zero possibility. It's certainly a worst case scenario that that would happen. It would take a lot for them to actually have all the things that they could put together to do that very quickly. They would have to have not just the HEU at 60 percent, but they would need it to have enriched it to 90 percent, or they would have to have enough centrifuges to do that. And they would then have to do some other parts of weaponization program, much of which has been destroyed, and they would have to reconstitute that in some way.

It's possible, maybe not immediately. But I think that the big picture here of preparing for this next step, you can have had a very, very successful strike on these three sites, particularly Fordow. And I am inclined to say, yes, that was extremely successful, and those sites were decimated. Maybe not obliterated, but they were largely destroyed in, you know, in many, many ways.

But if they could maintain part of this, the real issue has always been that Iran wants to have a nuclear weapon for the very reason of what they just experienced.

SANDOVAL: Beth Sanner, really appreciate you staying late with us, staying up late for us and providing all this analysis and your expertise.

SANNER: Thank you.

SANDOVAL: And then there's also exclusive new CNN reporting that is now shining a light on secret U.S. efforts to restart nuclear talks with Iran. Sources now saying that the Trump administration has considered helping Iran access up to $30 billion for its civilian nuclear energy program. Other options include easing sanctions or possibly rebuilding Iran's Fordow nuclear facility that was damaged by U.S. strikes. For more details now, we go to CNN's Kylie Atwood. 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 billion 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 and 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.

[02:14:55]

SANDOVAL: And meanwhile, Iran's supreme leader, he delivered a defiant message in the first public speech since the ceasefire between his country and Israel. In a pre-recorded statement from an undisclosed location, the 86-year-old said that Tehran will never surrender. More details now from CNN's Fred Pleitgen.

FREDERIK 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.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AYATOLLAH ALI KHAMENEI, SUPREME LEADER OF IRAN (through translation): 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.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: 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.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) KHAMENEI (through translation): 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.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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. 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 ask clerics there how they feel about the situation.

UNKNOWN (through translation): If Trump ever has goodwill, do not mess with countries and let people live their lives, he says.

UNKNOWN (through translation): 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.

UNKNOWN (through translation): 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 with the U.S. and Israel.

SANDOVAL: That was CNN's Fred Pleitgen in Tehran. Coming up after the break, we shift to domestic policy. President Donald Trump's massive domestic policy agenda now facing some major setbacks in Washington. And this after a key provision of the bill did not meet the Senate strict rules. Coming up next, we'll tell you how Republicans are reacting.

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[02:20:00]

SANDOVAL: And welcome back to "CNN Newsroom." President Trump's domestic agenda now facing a major setback after the Senate parliamentarian struck down a key part of his big -- the so-called big, beautiful bill. Members of Congress now planning to work through the weekend to tweak that bill, and they're up against the deadline. They're hoping to pass it by July 4th.

(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.

UNKNOWN: Do you think this (inaudible) make it harder to get this passed by July 4th? REP. MIKE JOHNSON, SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: 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.

UNKNOWN: Are you willing --

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

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: Now, the parliamentarian says that certain provisions don't meet the strict rules that allow a bill to be passed by a simple majority. For more now, we go to CNN's Manu Raju in Washington.

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Donald Trump's massive domestic agenda is hanging by a threat. He is demanding this on his desk in just a matter of days by July 4th. That is a self- imposed deadline, but it's running into all sorts of problems. The United States Senate and the U.S. House. Right now is 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 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 will 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 deeper 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 tried to put this bill back together. But that's just in the process. Then there are the deep divisions between moderates and conservatives. 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 then 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 built 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. 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.

[02:24:58]

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.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

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

REP. ERIC BURLISON (R-MO): No. I mean, that's what Washington is good at, 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, yeah, it's not ideal.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: But Mike Johnson, the House Speaker, still believes this could get to President Trump's desk by July 4th, but a lot has to happen from now until then in order to make it over the finish line. Manu Raju, CNN, Capitol Hill.

SANDOVAL: After the break, we're going to take it back to the Middle East where violence broke out after Israeli settlers attacked a Palestinian town in the West Bank. And now the residents there, trying to cope after their homes and some of their vehicles were set on fire, and some people there were reportedly killed. We're going to bring you up to speed after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANDOVAL: At least 15 people were killed in an Israeli airstrike on a market in Central Gaza. Local health officials adding that several others were injured during that incident on Thursday. The market was reportedly crowded as food in Gaza remains hard to come by. In fact, only a fraction of the amount that's needed is said to be coming in.

[02:29:57]

Remember, just yesterday, we heard from one person on the ground saying that it's just a trickle in terms of aid.

Israel has been keeping a tight lid on more on more of the aid that's coming in. On Thursday, the controversial Israeli-backed aid group, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation was the only one allowed to distribute food in the region. Israel has accused Hamas of stealing humanitarian aid, but major U.N. relief groups say that there is no evidence that a significant amount of aid is being stolen.

And violence is escalating in the West Bank, where Palestinians say a 15-year-old boy was killed by Israeli troops on Thursday. On the same day, the funeral was held for three Palestinians reportedly killed in an attack by Jewish settlers. Already, thousands of Palestinians have been driven away from their homes and entire communities have been razed by Israeli military operations in recent months.

Nic Robertson has more on the deadly settlers attack.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: According to the mayor of Kafr Malik, a small town in the occupied West Bank just northeast of Ramallah, he and a number of residents there say that dozens of masked and armed settlers, that's how they described the people, came into their town, started setting fire to vehicles, setting fire to houses.

Now, they described in that village that they then came out to try to protect their property and threw rocks at these masked armed settlers. Shots were fired, they say. According to Palestinian health officials in Ramallah, the ministry of health in Ramallah, that three people were killed. three Palestinians were killed, 10 were injured.

Now, the IDF has a slightly different accounting of what happened. They say that they were called out to a scene where there was a disturbance, a confrontation, they say, between Palestinians and Israelis. They say that the Israelis were not armed, and they describe a situation where people they describe as terrorists.

And the implication here being that in the Palestinian town, people they say were terrorists, then fired shots towards them, the IDF, and they identified targets and returned fire. So, there is a discrepancy in the accounts. But what it does seem to do is to fit the pattern of escalating settler violence in the West Bank that is aimed at driving Palestinians out of their homes and off their lands.

According to B'Tselem, an NGO that tracks the number of Palestinians killed inside the West Bank. They say that since the Hamas attack on October 7th, 2023, 918 people, Palestinians have been killed in this rising violence there. Some are, they say, by the IDF, a smaller number, far smaller number by through as a result of settler violence.

But this appears to be another spike, and trend in this escalating tension inside the West Bank.

Nic Robertson, CNN, Tel Aviv.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL: An update on another conflict now, Ukraine's Kherson region is now reeling from a Russian strike that left three people dead. Officials saying that on Thursday that 13 others were injured in that attack, which caused multiple fires. As you see here, just for the north, the Ukrainian military says that it has stopped a Russian advance in its Sumy region.

Moscow's troops, they have been gaining some ground already for the last several months. But Ukraine says that the front line has now been stabilized and its troops are recapturing the territory.

Well, firefighters in Greece, they are battling a wildfire that is burning across the coastal town just south of Athens. People there forced to flee as the fire burned homes and several buildings in the area. A fire brigade spokesperson says that the police actually had to move about 40 people to safety and coast guard vessels. They are in the area right now standing by to potentially help with more evacuations if needed.

Authorities say that the risk of wildfires would remain high on Friday until the weather gets colder, or at least cooler, I should say. Frequent fires and floods in the region. They have been really made worse by the climate crisis.

And intense rains, they have caused flooding and landslides across Venezuela. The extreme weather has also led to the collapse of a bridge on the main highway in the west parts of the country. The government, saying that it has already activated a special response plan and it is providing support to more than 600 families at this hour. Fortunately, no casualties have been reported.

Let's shift some gears here. A lavish weekend wedding celebration is getting ready to get started in Venice, Italy, where billionaire Jeff Bezos and his fiancee Lauren Sanchez will be tying the knot.

[02:35:00]

But not without controversy. We'll explain.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANDOVAL: Billionaire Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez. They are about to get married in Venice. The event has brought both A-list celebrities and protesters to the Italian city.

CNN's Melissa Bell reports from Venice.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MELISSA BELL, CNN SENIOR 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 stride.

LUIGI BRUGNARO, MAYOR OF VENICE: We're used to having weddings and celebrations. We had the G7 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: But not everyone is celebrating. Activists from Greenpeace rolled out a massive banner in San Marcos Square on Monday, criticizing the lavish extravaganza.

[02:40:00]

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

TOMMASO CACCIARI, "NO SPACE FOR BEZOS" ORGANIZER: When you see Venice not as a city anymore, but as a big theme park, a big kind of private dancehall 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 superrich, and I can buy all Venice".

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

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.

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)

SANDOVAL: Well, thank you for joining us. I'm Polo Sandoval in New York.

For our international viewers, "WORLD SPORT" is next. For our viewers in the United States and Canada, be right back with more of your headlines here on CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [02:45:28]

SANDOVAL: And welcome back to our viewers in North America. Thanks for sticking around. I'm Polo Sandoval in New York.

Let's take you to Washington now, about 2:45 a.m. There were U.S. Senate Republicans, they are reeling this morning after the body's rule enforcer rejected certain 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 -- by taxing health care providers, specifically.

But even before this, the bill's Medicaid changes were drawing opposition from not just Democrats, but even some Republicans because of the impact that that could potentially have on their states.

CNN's Jeff Zeleny talked to some people who fear what may be coming.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

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 CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The front lines of the Medicaid debate are right here in Courtney Leader's kitchen.

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: 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: 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: We visited Ozarks Food Harvest, which distributes food across one third of Missouri.

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: 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.

ZELENY: 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: 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.

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: 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.

[02:50:01]

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.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL: CNN's Jeff Zeleny reporting.

Well, Canadian officials, they are demanding answers for the U.S. government about the death of a Canadian citizen while in the custody of immigration officials. Forty-nine-year-old Johnny Noviello was found unresponsive on Monday at an ICE detention center in Florida and pronounced dead. The cause of his death is still being investigated.

Noviello became a lawful U.S. resident back in 1991, but immigration officials say that he was being detained and facing deportation over a conviction for racketeering and drug trafficking in 2023.

Well, the Trump administration says that Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the migrant that was wrongfully deported to El Salvador earlier this year. He will be deported to a third country once he is released from custody. A Justice Department lawyer revealed the plans during a brief court appearance on Thursday. Abrego Garcia was returned to the U.S. earlier this month and then arrested on human smuggling charges.

Now he has pleaded not guilty to those charges but still remains in custody. It was back in 2019 that a judge ruled that Abrego Garcia could not be returned to El Salvador, out of fears of the gang violence there. But that order doesn't apply if he's sent to a third country.

Well, new ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court could make it easier for states controlled by conservatives to target funding for Planned Parenthood. You see, on Thursday, the court blocked the organization, which provides health care and abortions from suing South Carolina, a state had pulled the nonprofits Medicaid funding, arguing that the payments amounted to a taxpayer subsidy for the procedures.

Well, Planned Parenthood officials say that the clinics would continue to operate and offer care in South Carolina, including for Medicaid beneficiaries.

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

CNN's Elizabeth Wagmeister looks back at the proceedings.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

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.

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.

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 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. They were helping distribute drugs.

They knew where Cassie was, including when she was kidnapped, they said, and kept in a hotel room, after Sean Combs 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.

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.

[02:55:03]

Back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL: Our thanks to Elizabeth.

Elsewhere, the NFL has suspended a former Baltimore Ravens kicker who's accused of sexual misconduct. Justin Tucker was suspended for ten weeks, the NFL saying that he violated the league's personal conduct policy. "The Baltimore Banner" reporting that tucker is accused of sexual misconduct with multiple massage therapists between 2012 and 2016. Tucker is currently a free agent and has denied those accusations.

Well, a rare daytime fireball lighting up the skies in the southeastern United States on Thursday. You can see it in the daytime there. Residents across several states reported seeing this phenomenon, which experts believe may have been caused by a meteor.

Here's CNNs meteorologist Allison Chinchar.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

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, 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.

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.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL: Thank you, Allison.

And thank you for your company in the last hour. I'm Polo Sandoval. I will be right back with more CNN NEWSROOM after a short break.