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Now: Senate Holds Key Procedural Vote On Trump's Agenda Bill; Trump in DC This Weekend To Keep Pressure On Senate GOP; Satellite Images Seem To Show Activity At Iran Site; Iran Holds State Funerals For Top Military Officials, Nuclear Scientists & Civilians Killed In Israeli Strikes. Aired 8-9p ET

Aired June 28, 2025 - 20:00   ET

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

[20:00:00]

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ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Welcome to the CNN Newsroom, everyone. Omar Jimenez in New York. Jessica Dean has the day off. We're going to start this hour with breaking news.

Voting is underway in the Senate as Republican leaders aim to pass President Donald Trump's massive policy bill. This is just a procedural vote, though, important because it is the first major hurdle. This vote needs to clear that hurdle before the Senate can move to debate this legislation. Behind the scenes, Republicans have been lobbying hard to get members in line. It's still not clear, though, if it has enough support.

I want to bring in CNN Congressional Correspondent, Lauren Fox, and CNN Senior Reporter, Annie Grayer, who join us now. So, Lauren, what's happening now?

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER: Yeah. Already, we have seen three Republican senators voting no, no. It's important to always put in context that this bill has not been gaveled. That means it's not final. But that is obviously showing us that Republican leadership cannot you lose a single additional vote, and they are likely going to need the Vice President to be a tie breaker here depending on full Democratic attendance or not.

But I will just point out those three Republican Senators are the same ones we've been tracking all night long. Senator Rand Paul voting against advancing this bill, Senator Ron Johnson voting against advancing this bill, as well as Senator Thom Tillis, a Republican from North Carolina who has been saying all day he would not be supportive of advancing this bill because of his concerns about the fact that the cuts to Medicaid could affect rural hospitals in his state. So that just gives you a sense of where things stand right now.

I will say our team that is watching this vote unfold on the floor right now says that Senator Jerry Moran has voted yes on moving forward with this bill. That is an important vote as well because it's one we've been watching. He's privately been expressing concerns about those Medicaid cuts as well.

We still don't know where Senator Lisa Murkowski is going to be, so she'll be worth watching, as well as Senator Mike Lee, another conservative who has expressed some concerns about the spending cuts not being significant enough in this piece of legislation. So, again, this is all happening live right now. They have not gaveled this legislation, but that just gives you a little bit of the state of play of where things stand right at this moment.

JIMENEZ: Again, as you pointed out, already three, and that essentially is the margin not counting, the tie breaker here. I want to bring in Annie Grayer as well, because Annie, I know you've been monitoring the language of this bill. Again, we still don't quite know what the final language is going to look like, but some key differences, made at the start of today -- overnight into today. Right?

ANNIE GRAYER, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: There have been a lot of key differences. So just to put this in context, Omar, this is because Republican leadership in the White House have been working to try and convince all of the Republican holdouts who all have different reasons for being against this bill.

But one of the things that has been a long standing issue was how deep of the Medicaid cuts that Republicans were going to make. So two changes that came in overnight were trying to offset some of those cuts.

One is providing a rural hospital fund, $25 billion over five years for rural hospitals, and another is a state provider tax, which is decreasing the rate and delaying when that tax will go into effect. And those changes helped bring Republican Senator Josh Hawley into the fold. He came out earlier this morning saying that he was a yes on the bill. So that was a big win for Republican leadership in the White House.

But just to put this in context here, what the Republican Senators are voting on is very different than what House Republicans passed a few weeks ago. So just remember, as hard as it is for Republican Senators to get this over the finish line and they're just starting the process now after hours long delay.

They're going to have to kick it back to the House who's going to have to deal with and grapple with all of these changes. So just showing you, you know, how much of this process is still left with so many divisions and different opinions still out there.

JIMENEZ: Lauren Fox, Annie Grayer, I know you won't be far as you all continue to monitor these votes.

I want to bring in CNN's Betsy Klein who's live outside the White House because, Betsy, obviously, the President watching this vote very closely to begin this process that could potentially, give him a major legislative win here. What do we know about how he is watching and how he may be lobbying some Republicans to get it over the finish line? BETSY KLEIN, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Yeah. Well, for all of the reasons that Annie and Lauren have just laid out, it's going to be a while before we know whether President Trump's intensive lobbying efforts on this bill have really borne fruit or not.

[20:05:00]

But we know that President Trump has been intensively working the phones over the last 24 hours or so along with vice President JD Vance inviting some Senators to the White House.

We know that the President spoke earlier today with Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, one of those holdouts who ultimately, as of now, and again, they haven't gaveled out as Lauren explained, has voted no. He said on Fox News after their call, Johnson said that he was not a yes yet, but that is one of the people that the President spoke to.

We also know that he hit the golf course with Senator Rand Paul, who, of course, has had these long standing concerns about spending and raising the debt limit. Rand Paul, again, for now is a no vote on this bill.

But President Trump so closely watching this, really a make or break moment for this signature legislation that the White House believes is so critical to get passed while Republicans have control of both the House and the Senate.

This sweeping tax and spending package really critical to unlocking the President's domestic agenda here. So it's unclear if the President's efforts will move the needle here. This is his ultimate art of the deal, and whether or not he's been able to be successful still remains to be seen at this stage, of course.

But the reality is that this is a big bill. It includes a lot of different provisions on a lot of different issues that have spawned a lot of different divisions within the Republican party. There are also concerns, as Annie pointed out, about cuts potentially to Medicaid programs that is prompting a lot of unease amid some of these Republican Senators.

But the President held a massive event pushing this bill on Thursday. He said that those who voted no are, quote, "grandstanders" and, quote, "not good people." His words. He also said that Medicaid would be left the same. Of course, that is not true. There are major changes to Medicaid policy in this bill as it currently stands, and millions could stand to lose their coverage.

But the White House had been pushing to get this done by that July 4 deadline. The President expressing some softening there saying that he was open. It was important, but he could extend that a little bit. But this is still far from over.

As Annie explained, it's now, if and once this passes the Senate it will have to go to the House where the President will continue to have to lobby, and keep those coalitions razor thin margins together, Omar. JIMENEZ: Yeah. That July 4th deadline, even if it was a real deadline, looks a little difficult at this point. But we're also a week and a half away from the end of the 90 day pause in the President's liberation day tariffs.

And he's now really, I guess, we'll call it abruptly pulled the plug on trade talks with Canada. What's the latest with that? Why did those talks abruptly stop at least from the American side? And where do the rest of those trade deals stand?

KLEIN: Yeah. Omar, this didn't exactly come out of nowhere, but it was an abrupt shift from President Trump. He announced in that post to social media yesterday afternoon in between, giant victory at the Supreme Court and another event he was having with a series of African leaders later in the afternoon, that he was suspending trade with or trade negotiations with Canada because Canada had announced what's known as a digital service tax. President Trump calling that, quote, "a direct and blatant attack on our country."

Now Canada is one of the United States' top trading partners. This will have a major impact on both countries' economies as the U.S. is expected to announce a new tariff set within the next week or so. But we are running up, as you mentioned, on the President's 90 deadline, that pause on the tariffs he announced on the so called Liberation Day back in April as his team is trying to negotiate a series of deals with other countries.

The White House Press Secretary said on Thursday that that deadline is not critical, giving those negotiations across the globe a little bit more time and space to progress, but certainly something that we're watching quite closely.

JIMENEZ: For sure. Betsy Klein, appreciate the reporting as always. I want to bring in economist Justin Wolfers, right now.

And, Justin, I actually just want to start and ask you a little bit about what we're seeing unfold on the Senate floor right now because we're waiting to see a procedural vote go through. Some of the concerns for the Republican holdouts that we've seen Senator Ron Johnson, specifically, has been about how much this may add to the national debt. The Congressional Budget Office analysis puts it around between 2 trillion and 3 trillion, right now.

But I guess from an economic standpoint, are there -- what would be the implications of adding to the deficit along those lines? And do you have any economic concerns with what we might see in regards to cuts to Medicaid or any other aspect of this bill?

[20:10:00]

JUSTIN WOLFERS, ECONOMIST: Yeah. So the way budget math normally works is you try and run the federal government a bit like you run your family budget, which is when things are good, you stash a bit of cash away so that if things go bad, you can come out with a bit of a cash splash and, spend a bit more. So that means, typically, you get big budget deficits when the economy is terrible. Now in fact, the current budget deficit as of today is higher than it had ever been before the financial crisis. So they're spending money right now as if we're in the deepest of deep recessions, and this budget looks like it's going to make things worse.

So the first implication is there'll be less money if something goes wrong in the future and we actually need that government money. The second thing that's really going to affect moms and dads out there is all of that government borrowing tends to raise interest rates. And so expect your mortgage rate to go up, expect your car loan, expect your credit card rates to go up, and so on like that.

And the other really critically important part of this budget is it's a massive redistribution. And in fact, it's the largest redistribution from poor to the rich in any single law in American history. And so what that means is for eight out of 10 of your viewers, they're actually going to come out financially worse as a result of this. And for the one out of 10 who are the very wealthiest, they're going to come out ahead. And if you're the ninth decile, you're going to come out dead even.

JIMENEZ: And just expand on that. Are you are you talking about the continuation of the temporary tax cuts from 2017? What specific aspects are you talking about?

WOLFERS: Wonderful question. I love a great economist. So there's really three key aspect aspects to what's going on here. The first is, is, tax cuts. Huge tax cuts. A lot of them going to corporations, but actually a lot of them to very high income earners. That's the first part. The tax cuts find the rich, and they almost certainly don't find the poor at all.

Second thing that's going on is spending cuts. Now notice when we talk about spending, we're talking about things like SNAP, food stamps. We're talking about Medicaid, which is health insurance for middle and working class Americans. Those are all getting slashed. So now we fine the poor when it comes to the spending cuts.

And the third really big thing that's going on is if there any chance to pay for any of this, it would be through tariffs. And the thing about a tariff is it's like a sales tax. The lower income folks spend the larger share of their income than do higher income folks. And so that means that tariffs take a larger percentage out of your paycheck if you're lower income than if you're higher income. So once again, that's what economists call a regressive tax.

So you've got three separate things, each of which tend to redistribute towards the poor and away from -- sorry, towards the rich and away from working and middle class Americans.

WOLFERS: Look, that's why we bring you on as an economist, and you and you segued perfectly into what I wanted to ask about in regards to tariffs because, as we were hearing earlier, an abrupt stop between the United States and Canada in regards to tariff negotiations. Canada implemented or plans to this digital service tax, which puts a tax on some online services.

But -- and the Canadian Prime Minister, Mark Carney, does appear to be digging in his heels here. Do you see this coming to a resolution? I mean, what are the implications of this not getting figured out?

WOLFERS: I think the most important way to think about this is not to think about it from the American side. It's to think about it from the Canadian side. Realize that the Canadians have a free trade agreement with the United States. In fact, they used to have one called NAFTA, and we traded happily under that. President Trump came in and just ripped it up.

He then created a new free trade agreement called the USMCA, then got booted out of office. Came back and first thing he did as soon as he came back was ripped it up. So if your word is not worth anything, why would the Canadians give anything up in order to get your word again?

And I think, the White House's unwillingness to stand by any of its commitments towards Canada are going to make it unbelievably difficult for the Canadians to want to give any kind of bargain at the bargaining table.

I'll just add one more thing. The thing that Trump says he's objecting to, the digital services tax, in fact, went through the Canadian parliament in 2024. I'm a little confused how all of a sudden he learned about this in 2025 and got upset about it last week.

JIMENEZ: Yeah. At this point that seems to be what he's focusing in on. You know, macroeconomically for the U.S., well, let's look at the stock market for one. S&P 500, Nasdaq closed at record highs on Friday. The Dow moving higher.

But I think some might look at that and say, all right. Look. We're rolling. We've got a healthy economy, even though we were flirting maybe with bear market territory just two months ago. Can you just -- can you -- how would you assess the health of the economy given, again, what many might think, oh, we're hitting record highs. We must be off to the races.

[20:15:00]

WOLFERS: Yeah. So hitting record highs sure sounds terrific, but it's one of those economic statistics that there's a lot less there than meets the eye. The reason for that is stocks always tend to rise, and they're always a bit volatile, which means the natural way of the world, in fact, is that you frequently hit record highs in the stock market.

To give you an example, the S&P 500 hit record highs a 126 times under Biden, a 127 times under Obama, 268 times under Clinton. The only thing that's really changed is we have a President who trumpets it every time that it occurs. But this is very much the natural way of the world. Growing economies tend to have growing stock markets.

You might be -- I think there is a little bit here that's interesting, which is there is a lot of doom and gloom, particularly talk to businesses, you talk to consumers, they're very depressed about the state of the economy. And it appears right now that the stock market doesn't quite share all of that anguish.

JIMENEZ: Justin Wolfers, appreciate the time and analysis. Thanks for being here.

WOLFERS: Pleasure.

JIMENEZ: All right. We're continuing to watch this vote underway on the Senate floor. Again, just the first step and what is expected to be a long process. So we'll bring you that progress as we see it.

Tonight, we're also getting renewed signs of activity at one of the three nuclear sites American bombers targeted one week ago in Iran. This, as President Trump makes it clear future strikes are possible.

Plus, we're going to bring you the new details we're learning about what the U.S. used and didn't use in those strikes and why. Stay with us.

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[20:20:00]

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JIMENEZ: All right. Welcome back, everyone. We have been following the beginning of a procedural vote on the Senate floor to begin the process to advancing President Trump's, agenda bill.

Now the question has been, how many Republicans would still vote for this bill? We've already seen a few drop off at this point, but as we understand, the Vice President has just arrived on Capitol Hill.

I want to bring in Annie Grayer. Annie, as I understand, you saw the vice President get there. What is the significance of his arrival?

GRAYER: This is huge because the vote is relying on him. It's teetering in the balance. We have seen three Republican Senators already vote no, Senator Rand Paul, Senator Tillis, and Senator Johnson. So Vice President Vance was needed to break this vote and be able to advance this legislation just to the next step.

Because remember, we are still just in the beginning phases here. So we saw the Vice President and his motorcade pull up. He just walked inside the capitol, and he is going to deliver that key tie breaking vote, which Republicans desperately need to keep Trump's bill alive and on track to that July 4 date that the President has been pushing for.

And we know that the President and Vice President have been working the phones, working Senators for weeks now, but really in earnest over these last 24 hours that the President, Vice President have been in in DC. The President played golf with some Senators this morning. The Vice President's been on the phone around the clock.

So the White House is intimately involved, and we are seeing that on full display with the Vice President's arrival just now.

JIMENEZ: And we will continue to watch what happens on the Senate floor. We're going to take a quick break as that moves on. Stay with us.

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[20:25:00]

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JIMENEZ: All right. Welcome back. We're following breaking news out of Washington. Vice President JD Vance arriving to Capitol Hill as Senators take part in a key procedural vote, and Republican leaders are scrambling to push President Donald Trump's massive bill forward. Remember, this is the first hurdle and has to happen before Senators can debate the legislation on the floor.

Following this for us as they have been all day and likely, into tonight, CNN Congressional Correspondent, Lauren Fox, and CNN senior reporter, Annie Grayer.

So, Lauren, obviously, we you've been following every inch of these of this procedural vote now underway to this point. Can you tell us about who on the Republican side is not voting to move forward with this, procedural vote?

FOX: Well, already, Omar, there are three Republican no votes. We know that Senator Rand Paul as well as Senator Ron Johnson are both voting against moving forward with this measure. We should note this hasn't been gaveled yet, but they have been long expressing concerns that this bill is going to add too much to the deficit.

We also know that Senator Thom Tillis, a Republican who is up for reelection this next cycle, is also not voting for this proposal in part because he is concerned about the Medicaid cuts and the impact they could have on rural hospitals in his state.

Now we are watching really closely a key vote. Senator Lisa Murkowski, a Republican from Alaska who has yet to vote up to this point. We are told from our colleague, Sarah Ferris, who is watching the floor for us, that she has had a conversation with the Vice President who has arrived on Capitol Hill as Annie reported earlier. So we are watching her vote really closely.

And the reason for that is because Republican leadership is already at the line of the number of Republicans they can lose. They can only lose three. As we noted, they've already lost three. They can have JD Vance, the Vice President, be the tie breaker here. But they cannot lose another Republican member. That is why we are watching Senator Lisa Murkowski so closely.

Also, Senator Rick Scott has not voted. Senator Mike Lee has not voted. Senator Cynthia Lummis had not voted as of a few minutes ago, nor had Eric Schmitt. Now that doesn't mean their noes. It just means they could be straggling in as this vote continues. We are reaching almost the hour mark of this vote being open. So that just gives you a sense of how long this is taking. That's not a particularly long period of time for a Senate vote around here. But that just shows you there's still a little bit of maneuvering happening on the floor of the Senate right now.

[20:30:00]

JIMENEZ: Clearly. And, Annie, you saw the Vice President's vehicles arrive as he made his way in there. We heard some of the significance of him being there, from Lauren there, as we're showing some of the video of that actual arrival.

Annie, what are what are some of the key sticking points here that that have kept Senators Thom Tillis, Ron Johnson, Rand Paul, and potentially others as we continue to monitor, from wanting to move forward here?

GRAYER: The biggest sticking point, Omar, has come down time and time again to Medicaid. How much Republicans want to cut Medicaid? And there have been a number of ideas floating around for months as Republicans have worked this out. But in the last 24 hours, there were some new provisions added that helped get some key Republicans on board.

So part of the way of softening the landing for some of these Medicaid cuts was to add a rural hospital fund to the tune of $25 billion over the course of five years. There's also been added a provider tax to help states deal with the Medicaid cuts, and that helped bring Republican Senator Josh Hawley on board who had long been a critic and a skeptic.

So while Lauren was walking you through all of the potential no votes and the Senators that were watching, it's hard -- you can't emphasize enough how much negotiations have been going on behind the scenes to minimize the number of no votes up until the last moment.

We know that leadership has been working the phones. The White House has been working the phones. The Vice President has been deeply involved as well as President Trump in trying to bring these lawmakers in.

And just remember that this first step, as you mentioned at the top of this, is just the first step in the Senate. Once it gets through -- if it gets through, it's supposed to go back to the House where they're they voted and passed on a very different version of the bill. So Republicans are going to have to rectify all of these differences, and you start to think about the timeline here. Right? Like, President Trump wants this to be done by July 4. The clock is ticking. Senators are voting, and we're going to have to see how it all shakes out.

JIMENEZ: Yeah. And we've already gotten indications at this point that that Democrats, when the time comes, will be trying to use a delay tactic in a sense to read this bill, 900 pages plus, out loud. So we got a long process, ahead of us.

I know you two will be on top of it, so I have a feeling this is not our last conversation. Lauren Fox, Annie Grayer, appreciate it as always. We're going to keep following this breaking news from Capitol Hill and let you know once this vote is done.

Lot of news ahead. Stay with us.

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[20:35:00]

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JIMENEZ: All right. Welcome back, everyone. One week after the U.S. strikes on three of Iran's nuclear facilities, CNN has obtained these satellite images that seem to show activity at Fordow. You can see what we're circling there. One of the nuclear facilities at the core of Iran's nuclear program, Fordow. But you can see those excavators and other earth moving machinery around its tunnel entrances. These images were captured on Friday.

Now for context, Fordow is buried deep inside a mountain to guard from attacks, and a U.S. official tells CNN six B-2 Bombers were used to drop 12 bunker buster bombs on the site. Now Trump has repeatedly said that U.S. strikes, quote, "obliterated" Iran's nuclear sites, even though assessments are still ongoing. But he's still not ruling out striking again.

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REPORTER: If the intelligence reports conclude that Iran can enrich uranium to a level that concerns you, would you consider bombing the country again.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Sure. Without question. Absolutely.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JIMENEZ: I want to bring in CNN Military Analyst, retired U.S. Air Force Colonel Cedric Leighton, who joins us now.

So look, Colonel Leighton, Trump is not ruling out bombing Iran again, but it's not like there's an endless supply of these bunker buster bombs. How likely do you think this is? What factors are being weighed right now?

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Yeah. There are going to be a lot of factors weighed. Omar, it's good to be with you. One of the key things they're going to look at is how many centrifuges are still around, and operable. So that might be a little bit hard to assess, but that is the part of the bomb making equipment that Iran would need.

And the other thing that they would actually have to look at is how much highly enriched uranium is available. So this is we're talking now about the 900 -- almost 900 pounds of highly enriched uranium that we don't know exactly where that's at. So those are the kinds of things that they're going to be looking at when it comes to making that decision, in part, you know, as to whether or not to restrike some of these targets.

And, of course, there's a political dimension to that. How much is Iran -- you know, what is Iran doing? Are they actively engaged in pursuing a nuclear weapon at this point in time? So those are the kinds of aspects that they will have to consider before making a decision. But, no, we don't have an endless supply of bunker buster bombs, and that is going to, in part, drive the decision as to how we're going to prosecute this target, then go from there.

[20:40:00]

JIMENEZ: And, of course, Fordow was not the only site targeted here. We've gotten some insight into sort of the overall strategy targeting these different sites in conjunction with the Israeli military as well.

But CNN has learned Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Dan Caine told lawmakers that bunker buster bombs, for example, were not used at Isfahan because that site is so deep, the bombs would not have been effective. Isfahan was struck by Tomahawk missiles instead launched from a from a U.S. submarine.

But does that tell you anything about how successful the operation was against that particular site, especially if they're citing that it that it's so deep that a bunker buster bomb may not have been effective?

LEIGHTON: Yeah. I think that's a very interesting development, because publicly, at least, we were really focused on Fordow and the way they've described, the manner in which the GBU-57, the Massive Ordinance Penetrator was developed. It was developed specifically for Fordow. So that is, you know, a an amazing achievement to create something like this to go after a hardened and deeply buried target like that.

So then the question is, why was the bomb, the GBU-57, not also built to include a site like Isfahan? There were there must have been some knowledge of the parameters around Isfahan, how deeply Isfahan was buried, and what kinds of instrumentation would be needed in order to affect that hardened and deeply buried target.

So that's there's definitely a question as to why our weapons weren't designed to handle both sites, or if that was impossible, why there was not another bomb that was developed to handle the Isfahan facility.

And so when it comes to that facility, I think we were partially successful certainly in destroying the above ground structures, which are significant. But then what remains underneath raises a lot of questions as to exactly what the Iranians were doing there and whether or not that their uranium enrichment processes were impacted in a way that is detrimental to their operations and detrimental in a permanent way. So that's still an outstanding question, I believe. JIMENEZ: Yeah. And, you know, the post-strike damage assessments are still ongoing. We're getting pieces from different agencies. We heard from the Israeli atomic energy officials, for example, saying this was a devastating attack. We've heard similar from U.S. intelligence. To this point even though there have been, varying reports at varying stages of this post-strike.

But it's all in pursuit of this question of whether Iranian nuclear weapons capabilities or the program or the enrichment process has actually been set back by these strikes. And I just wonder from your perspective, based on what we know so far, or at least the open source intelligence and what's been released publicly by officials, do you believe that the program and the capabilities have been set back? And if so to what degree?

LEIGHTON: Yeah. I think they have been set back to a degree, Omar. I think they've probably been set back anywhere from six months to a year. But we have to also keep in mind, that there may be other things that have been going on in Iran independent of the three sites that we struck.

Iran has about 30 sites that have something to do with their nuclear program, and it is definitely conceivable that they were working at those other sites to conduct operations to create weapons that could potentially be used at some point of their choosing. And that point might be a surprise to us if we're not careful.

JIMENEZ: And, you know, some of the calculation here or some of the worry with these strikes was whether this would result in a in a wider ranging conflict. And we did see a response from Iran even if we have reporting that there is some behind the scenes communications in the United States attacking or launching attacks towards Qatar based U.S. interest and a base there.

But we've been seeing large crowds on the streets of Tehran, for example, today as Iran held state funerals for those killed in Israeli strikes, including several top military officials. So I guess the question is after this 12 day war or back and forth here, what is the state of Iran's military leadership? And do you believe that's going to have a major impact on their capacity to respond moving forward?

LEIGHTON: I think it will have an impact. You know, clearly, when you lose around 60 or so very senior people in both the military program as well as the nuclear program. And then we also have to add the intelligence entities that were impacted by having their leadership struck as well. That has a significant impact.

Now, of course, there's always somebody waiting in the wings to take over if, you know, if something happens like this. So the Iranians are looking at this, I think, with the idea that they want to reconstitute their program. We have to expect them to want to happen like this.

So the Iranians are looking at this, I think, with the idea that they want to reconstitute their program. We have to expect them to want to reconstitute their nuclear weapons program.

[20:45:00]

And the reason they want to do that is because they see that as a way to maintain their sovereignty and, obviously, for the regime itself, for the regime itself to stay in power. So, looking at it from the Iranian point of view, it's basically their security blanket. That's how they see it.

But it's a kind of a poison security blanket because what it does is it attracts us in a way that they don't really want or shouldn't want, because we, of course, are working along with the Israelis and others. We're working to prevent that program from reaching a weaponized capability for the Iranians. So, in essence, they're creating a problem for themselves even though they see it as a survivable -- survivability issue.

JIMENEZ: Retired US Air Force Colonel Cedric Leighton, always appreciate the time and perspective. Thanks for being here.

LEIGHTON: You bet, Omar. Anytime.

JIMENEZ: All right. Meanwhile, we are still keeping a close eye on the floor of the U.S. Senate where President Trump hopes his policy mega bill can pass a major hurdle. But several Republicans have already voted no, and Republicans can't afford more than three. We'll bring you the live updates from Capitol Hill next.

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[20:50:00]

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JIMENEZ: All right. This week, a dream came true for 59 players whose names were called during the NBA draft. But what does it take to get to this major life changing moment aside from being incredibly good and or tall?

Look. As someone who played college ball and never got close to that chance, I wanted to at least figure out a little bit. So I went and got a behind the scenes look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JALEN WILSON, NBA PLAYER, BROOKLYN NETS: Game time right here.

JAY HERNANDEZ, ASSISTANT COACH, BROOKLYN NETS: Yeah.

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: What does it actually take to get drafted to the NBA?

JIMENEZ (on camera): What's up, Jalen? How's it going? Omar, Omar Jimenez.

JIMENEZ (voice-over): To find out my 30 plus year old self met up with Brooklyn Nets forward, Jalen Wilson drafted two years ago and assistant coach, Jay Hernandez. HERNANDEZ: Stand behind, stay walked up.

JIMENEZ (voice-over): And we go right to it.

JIMENEZ (on camera): There it is.

WILSON: Like every workout they're going through like, how can I make this team draft? And you have three, four, five other guys who have the same mindset as well in the workout with you.

HERNANDEZ: In three minutes for a pro, we are expecting them to make a minimum of 30 shots.

JIMENEZ (on camera): So, they're watching your percentage on something like this.

HERNANDEZ: Yeah, they're tracking every shot.

JIMENEZ (on camera): All right, so we'll go for a minute. Jay will be your passer.

HERNANDEZ: We only start on a make.

JIMENEZ (on camera): Great. Awesome.

WILSON: Here we go.

HERNANDEZ: Yeah, here we go. I'll get you going, I'll keep track.

JIMENEZ (voice-over): OK, not starting yet.

WILSON: It's not starting yet. There it is.

JIMENEZ (on camera): One.

JIMENEZ (on camera): It's longer than the college three.

WILSON: Give me that.

HERNANDEZ: Eight, seven, six, five, four --

JIMENEZ (on camera): Give me one more. Give me more.

HERNANDEZ: -- three, two, one.

WILSON: Tough, right?

JIMENEZ (on camera): Yeah.

HERNANDEZ: Yeah. Good job. 10 makes. Those are the kind of drills though, you start to understand what the average is. And obviously everybody wants to be better than average.

JIMENEZ (on camera): How much did you feel like your draft stock was truly going up or down based on the last few weeks?

WILSON: I think you just have the confidence from the workouts. Obviously, like I did like 15 workouts.

JIMENEZ (on camera): Really?

WILSON: All of them are going to be the best work out that you ever had.

JIMENEZ (on camera): Sure.

WILSON: But --

JIMENEZ (on camera): Not as many as bad as I'm doing right now.

WILSON: No, you're good.

JIMENEZ (on camera): It's all good. I just want to point out. We're just in the warmups. I'm already just dripping sweat.

HERNANDEZ: As you get close enough, I'm going to pop it one way or the other. All right, so it's a read and react. You'll have to attack the open space. Yes.

WILSON: Oh yeah.

HERNANDEZ: Nice Omar. I like that. You got it. Yes. Good. Good attack.

WILSON: Yay.

JIMENEZ (on camera): If you could speak to your pre-draft self, what would you tell that Jalen? WILSON: I would just tell the old me just to not worry about it, just to play basketball and understand you can only control as much as you can control. Like I was the 51st pick in the draft.

JIMENEZ (on camera): Yeah.

WILSON: So, I felt like I was higher than that, but obviously other teams didn't. I feel like I just had a chip on my shoulder. I have to just keep yourself going, no matter how much money or how many years you've been playing. Someone's just like in this draft is coming to take your spot.

HERNANDEZ: We're going to sprint.

JIMENEZ (voice-over): And every evaluation The elevation can make a difference, even the ones without a basketball.

HERNANDEZ: 11-2 is about the average.

JIMENEZ (on camera): Yeah.

JIMENEZ (voice-over): Like this agility test.

HERNANDEZ: Come on, Omar.

WILSON: Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Oh yeah.

HERNANDEZ: Yes sir.

WILSON: Get there, get there, get there. Finish, finish, finish, finish.

JIMENEZ (on camera): Ah.

HERNANDEZ: 11-3.

JIMENEZ (on camera): How important is that mental aspect of the game? Obviously, we're testing a bunch of dribbling, shooting, agility.

WILSON: I would almost say that's almost more important than the basketball side. Like you said, how do you align with the team and what mindset do you bring to the team as well?

JIMENEZ (on camera): How much did your life change after you got drafted?

WILSON: A lot, man. I worked my whole life to be an NBA player, so it was a dream come true. So, you know, this is everything I wanted.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JIMENEZ: And look, we went through the draft and I am still sitting here, so unfortunately my results didn't impress anybody, but I still had fun. And that should count for something.

[20:55:00]

All right, from the basketball court to the Senate court, Senate floor, we are watching it right now, because the big question is how will Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski vote? Every Republican vote makes a difference. We're looking at a key step for President Trump's policy bill. This is the beginning of a process, and Republicans can only afford three noes. They have already reached that number. Every vote is crucial.

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