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Trump's Mega Bill Clears Senate Procedural Hurdle 51-49; Tens Of Thousands Resume Protests In Tel Aviv; Pope To Celebrate A Special Mass At The Vatican. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired June 29, 2025 - 03:00   ET

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

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[03:00:00]

BRIAN ABEL, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to CNN Newsroom. I'm Brian Abel in Atlanta.

We begin with breaking news out of Washington, the U.S. Senate voting to advance President Donald Trump's massive tax and spending bill just hours ago. The so-called big beautiful bill narrowly cleared a procedural vote with 51 senators in favor in 49 against.

But this is just the beginning. Senate Democrats are now forcing clerks to read out the entire bill, which could, given the 900-plus pages of this bill, take up to 15 hours. Then there will be debate followed by a voterama, an open-ended hours-long series of votes on amendments. Republican leaders have been pushing some holdouts to fall in line behind President Trump's bill.

He, President Trump, praise this first step as a great victory on Truth Social and said he's, quote, very proud of the Republican Party.

CNN Senior White House reporter Betsy Klein has more from Washington.

BETSY KLEIN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: That Saturday night vote marked a make or break moment on both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue and President Trump was keenly aware of the razor thin margins in the Senate and all of the hurdles and uncertainties because he had been fielding calls and holding meetings and even playing golf with a key group of Republican senators over the better part of the last 24 hours.

Ultimately, if passed, this legislation, this sweeping tax and spending package would really unlock President Trump's domestic agenda. And the White House is keenly aware that this is a critical moment to get this over the finish line while Republicans control both the House and the Senate. And for those reasons, President Trump, along with Vice President J.D. Vance, had been working those phones, holding meetings, inviting senators to the White House, to get this to a yes.

The president scrapped a planned weekend in New Jersey to spend a rare weekend here in Washington where he held a round of golf with Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, along with Senator Eric Schmidt of Missouri, and Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, notably a key holdout who had concerns about spending in this package, as well as the provision that raises the debt limit. Paul ultimately voted no on that bill.

But Vance himself had headed to the Senate where he was poised to take a tie breaking vote. Ultimately, that was not needed. The reality here is that there are deep policy divisions within the Republican Party on the scale and scope of this bill, but the president ultimately lashing out at Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina, the other no vote.

He said in a post to social media just before the vote passed that he would threaten to primary Tillis, who is up for reelection in 2026. He said numerous people have come forward wanting to run in the primary against Senator Thom Tillis. I will be meeting with them over the coming weeks looking for someone who can properly represent the great people of North Carolina. The president had also held a major event pushing for the bill on Thursday where he went after those who would vote no as grandstanders and not good people.

The president had been pushing to get this done by the 4th of July. He expressed a little bit of softening of that deadline earlier this week saying it was important, but not the end all. So, we'll be closely watching how this proceeds in the days ahead as they work through some of the key provisions in this bill in this so-called voterama. This is still far from over once and if the Senate passes this bill, it still needs to go to the House of Representatives where they need to approve those changes before it can go to the President Trump's desk.

So, the president clearly has a lot more lobbying to do and it remains to be seen if he can close this deal.

Betsy Klein, CNN, Washington.

ABEL: Let's bring in Ron Brownstein, a CNN senior political analyst, and an opinion columnist for Bloomberg join us from Los Angeles. And, Ron, quite what seemed like an arduous journey, just to pass a vote, to get to the vote, three-plus hours for this procedural vote.

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes.

ABEL: What can we take away from this and just how far are the changes to this thing, getting it away from something that's palatable for house Republicans that this still has to go to?

BROWNSTEIN: Well, you know, the history of this is that, every new president since Reagan has encapsulated the core of his economic agenda into one big, beautiful bill in his first year, except for, George H.W. Bush in '89, that they tried to pass through this special expedited process known as the reconciliation process.

[03:05:14]

And it has often been a perils of Pauline, hairpin-turned kind of process, but they've all passed in the end because of the argument that you are hearing. The White House and Republican leaders make, which is that, you know, when you put all of the president's priorities in a single bill, no one from their own party wants to be the one responsible for sinking it. And that usually has been that kind of inertia. Fear of failure has been enough to get it over the top.

What makes this more complicated than usual is that Republicans are trying to do two things here in one bill, they haven't tried to do in one bill since 1995 under Newt Gingrich, which is they're passing both big tax cuts that mostly benefit people at the top in the same bill with big spending cuts that most mostly hurt people at the median income or below. And that politically is a tough combination to pass.

I suspect in the end the history will win out and they will find a way to get this done, as other presidents have. But there are probably still more twists and turns along the way between here and there because of the unusually difficult nature and the unusually polarizing nature of what they're trying to do.

ABEL: Well, and also in recent history, Ron, we have seen that, at least on the Republican side, that that fear of being the one has kind of diminished sometimes when we take a look at the speaker votes for Kevin McCarthy and then all the way through to now Speaker Johnson. But on Saturday, we watched as those final three votes remained outstanding while Leader Thune and Vice President Vance worked to negotiate to get the final holdouts to that yes vote.

Earlier in the evening, there was that question mark of Senator Lisa Murkowski. She got to yes. Earlier in the day before that, Senator Hawley with the same, but votes in the last few hours do not necessarily equal votes after this bill hits the amendment and debate stage. So, just how herculean of an effort is there to go here for President Trump and Leader Thune and Speaker Johnson?

BROWNSTEIN: Well, yes. I mean, you look at what, look at the struggle they had today and it really encapsulates, you know what's ahead. I mean, essentially, half the holdouts fought the bill didn't cut enough from social programs, and those are people like Ron Johnson and Rand Paul and some of the others who came through at the end, and then there were several others who thought it cut too much, Thom Tillis, Lisa Murkowski, Susan Collins, who voted to begin the debate, but, you know, said she's not committed to voting for the final bill.

By putting these two things together in one bill, as I said, for the first time in 30 years, that they are doing both tax cuts and spending cuts. The '01 Bush tax cuts, the '17 Trump tax cuts, those were all sugar, no spinach, tax cuts only, no spending cuts. By putting the two things together, they have made unusually explicit who are the winners and losers. You have people at the top getting -- the top 0.01 percent, a hundred thousand dollars a year, annual average benefits, 16 million people simultaneously losing healthcare.

And you heard some of that in the comments from the senators. You know, there are a lot of Republican constituencies that are -- all those people losing healthcare are not just Democrats. There are a number of Republican states, Louisiana, Kentucky, Ohio, that have benefited in North Carolina that have benefited enormously from the expansion of Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act of 2010, and that is where they target most of these Medicaid cuts. So, finding the tightrope between cutting too much and cutting too little is, you know, extremely difficult, but I do think the history suggests that in the end they will get there. It is worth noting that in every case, after passing this bill in a president's first year, except for 2002, where 9/11 intervened, the party that passed the bill lost control of the House, lost working control of the House in the next year.

And this bill again is quite unpopular in polling sometimes as much as two to one negative. People don't like cutting taxes for the rich. They don't like cutting healthcare programs for the middle and working class, and they especially don't like it when the latter, the healthcare cuts are being used to pay for the former of the tax cuts.

ABEL: Ron, let's dig a little bit deeper into that unpopular aspect of this. We had a university in Michigan, economist on who characterized the bill as the largest redistribution from poor to the rich of any single law in American history, saying eight out of ten viewers will come out financially worse from this. If that's the case, is that not a recipe for a potential significant backlash come midterms and beyond that?

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BROWNSTEIN: Yes. I've had someone else calculate a budget expert said as much in a story I did on cnn.com last weekend. You know, if you look at the '81 Reagan tax cuts, cut taxes for the top more than this, the '95 Gingrich budget cut programs for the poor more than this. But if you look at the totality of this in one bill, this is probably the largest transfer of income from people below the median to people at the top of any single legislation in history. And as I said, it is clearly would be the biggest loss of healthcare coverage of any bill in history.

So, Republicans are taking a big gamble here. You know, their view is that they have been able to hold a lot of the voters who would be net losers from this bill through cultural issues over the years, you know, and certainly Trump's arguments on crime and immigration and transgender rights has a lot of appeal for voters who would be losers in this bill.

But, you know, it's worth noting, 85 percent of everyone who receive who is on Medicaid is an adult without a college -- is someone without a college degree. And that is the cornerstone of the new Republican Party. And those are the biggest losers in this world.

By the way, the other thing this bill does is it chooses not to extend the enhanced subsidies under the Affordable Care Act that were approved when Biden and Democrats controlled Congress. That would mean in addition to the 16 million people losing healthcare, there'd probably been another 15 to 20 million people who will see higher premiums for their healthcare in time for the 2026 election.

So, Republicans, I think, are really testing how much they can strain the material interests of their own voters and still hold them with cultural -- mostly culturally based appeals. ABEL: And we will see exactly what changes were made and what the final product ends up being here once it gets kicked back to the House.

Ron Brownstein, as always, I appreciate your analysis. Thank you.

BROWNSTEIN: Thanks for having me.

ABEL: At least 20 people, including children, have been killed in an Israeli strike in a busy neighborhood in Gaza City. Medical personnel also say a street market section of the densely populated area was targeted. The Israeli Defense Forces said it had struck a, quote, suspicious individual who posed a threat to IDF troops.

This is what a witness to the attack had to say.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Suddenly they attacked us with missiles. And then we found out that my nephews, my father, the children of the neighbors were killed. We didn't do anything to them. Why do they harm us? Did we harm them? We are civilians, civilians.

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ABEL: And what you are seeing here is the aftermath of another strike made early on Saturday, up to ten children in the same displaced family were killed along with her mother and grandmother. They were in a tent compound that was hit, obliterated and buried in sand.

In Israel, tens of thousands of protestors filled Hostages Square in Tel Aviv on Saturday. They called for an end to the Gaza war and the return of the remaining hostages. Meanwhile, Donald Trump is talking up a ceasefire for the devastated enclave.

CNN's Nic Robertson reports from Tel Aviv.

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NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR (voice over): On hold during the Iran conflict, energized by the possibilities of that perceived victory.

RUDY CHEN, FATHER OF HOSTAGE ITAY CHEN: Prime Minister Netanyahu, because he can and he must bring all the hostages back, the living and the deceased, because we want all of them. (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE).

ROBERTSON: The hostage protestors in full voice at their first regular Saturday rally in three weeks. Viki Cohen, mother of hostage Nimrod, hopeful she'll get her 20-year-old son back soon.

VIKI COHEN, MOTHER OF HOSTAGE NIMROD COHEN: We feel that it's a little different. Trump is very demanding and we believe in him. We trust him, and we know he has the power to stop the war. He can pressure our prime minister to do it, to finish the war in Gaza. And in this way, all the hostages can come back home.

ROBERTSON: The deal they want now is a comprehensive agreement, bring all the hostages home, 50 of them, about 20 believed to be alive, and get the army out of Gaza.

In Gaza, peace can't come soon enough either. Tents pitched on this sand hit, rescuers say, by an Israeli airstrike early Saturday. The IDF say they are looking into the incident.

[03:15:00]

By daybreak, this night's horror revealed, a huge crater and no tents.

The recovery not done. Alone with a shovel, Abu Muhammad searching for two children, eight of their deceased brothers and sisters already found.

Among the dead were children age 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 9, and 10 and 11 years old. Muhammad says. There were two boys, five girls, their mother and their grandmother.

In Tel Aviv, the days of war counted by the second. Eyes of both sides of President Trump to stop the clock.

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: I think it's close. I just spoke with some of the people involved. And it's a terrible situation that's going in Gaza he's asking about, and we think within the next week we're going to get a ceasefire.

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ROBERTSON (on camera): President Trump is turning up the mood music for a possible deal in Gaza. Prime Minister Netanyahu's top confidant is expected in Washington soon. It hints at momentum. But Israelis have been here before. Hopes dashed by differences.

Nic Roberson, CNN. Tel Aviv.

ABEL: Iran's supreme leader is repeating his vow that his nation never will surrender to the United States. The statement was posted on X, and it's the first from Ayatollah Ali Khamenei since the start of state funerals for those killed in Israeli airstrikes. Khamenei did not address the funerals directly, but said the Americans, quote, wants Iran to surrender, and that such a thing will, quote, never happen.

The Supreme leader did not attend the funerals, however, but the streets of downtown Tehran were filled with huge crowds of mourners. And our Fred Pleitgen was there in the middle of all of it.

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FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This is a gigantic procession right through the heart of Tara Rock. There are thousands of people here who are trying to touch the caskets. They're trying to give the folks who are on the caskets items to rub on the caskets.

Now, there are 60 coffins in total that are going through the city, among them, Iran's top military leadership. You have the head of the Islamic Revolutionary hardcore Hussein Salami, the head of Iran's missile program, Ali Hajizade, many others as well, including nuclear scientists, but also civilians. There's also women and children whose caskets are in this procession right now.

People here say that they're honored to pay their final respects to those who were killed, but they're out so vowing to continue to stand up for both the U.S. and Israel.

Death to America, death to Israel, she says. God willing, they'll be destroyed soon.

My message to Trump is, God willing, you will die, he says, because you attacked Iran, and be sure the people will take revenge for the blood of these martyrs soon with the obliteration of Trump, Israel and the United States.

And all this folds (ph) as Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, has lashed out at both the United States and Israel, saying he believed that Iran's military campaign against the Israelis was victorious and that also the U.S. has gained nothing from bombing Iran's nuclear installation.

At the same time, the Iranians are vowing to be defiant, saying that their nuclear program will continue. Of course, enrichment will continue as well.

Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Tehran.

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ABEL: Coming up on CN newsroom, thousands of protesters rally against Serbia's president. We'll tell you what they hope to achieve.

Plus, Pope Leo will preside over a special mass soon. We'll have a live report from Rome.

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ABEL: In Serbia, anti-government protesters clash with riot police in the country's capital of Belgrade.

You see some of those clashes here, police firing tear gas at thousands of demonstrators rallying against Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic. Serbs have been protesting for months demanding new elections.

The nationwide demonstrations began after a rail station canopy collapsed in November killing 16 people. Protesters say it was a result of government corruption. Well, in a few hours, Pope Leo will celebrate mass at the Vatican marking the Feast of St. Peter and St. Paul. They were martyred and are considered founders of the Sea of Rome. During the special mass, the pontiff will place the pallium, a wool investment that's symbolic of authority on several archbishops. Included in the ceremony is a U.S. cardinal critical of the Trump administration's crackdown on immigration and on migrants themselves.

CNN Vatican Correspondent Christopher Lamb is joining us from Rome. Good morning to you, Christopher. I think I was hearing during the commercial break some bells ringing behind you. Tell us about what's happening today.

CHRISTOPHER LAMB, CNN VATICAN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Brian. People are gathering in St. Peter's Basilica behind me for this mass for St. Peter and Paul, a feast, which is very closely linked to the papacy because, of course, Catholics hold that. St. Peter is the first pope.

And during this ceremony and a historic thing will happen. The first American pope will place on the shoulders of eight archbishops from the United States the pallium, which is a symbol of authority and also unity between those bishops and the pope. And, of course, you know, it's the first American pope doing this. So, it's very symbolically powerful and significant.

And it comes at a time when there is heightened tensions between leaders of the Catholic Church in the U.S. and at the Trump administration, particularly over immigration. And among those, as you said, receiving the pallium is Cardinal Robert McElroy, the Archbishop of Washington, D.C., who has been and is a critic of the Trump administration's policy on migration.

[03:25:14]

He recently signed a letter opposing the bill, the big, beautiful bill of Trump, on the grounds that it was unfair to migrants and made cuts to people's healthcare.

So, he is willing and showing he wants to speak out against policies in the Trump administration that he disagrees with. I think more broadly though, this ceremony also symbolizes the continuity between Leo and Francis, because the eight archbishops receiving the pallium from the United States were all appointed by Pope Francis and they share his reform agenda. And, of course, Pope Leo has shown he wants to continue with the reforms of Pope Francis, of course, with his own style.

Now, at the same time, Pope Leo is aware that there were a number of bishops in the U.S. during Francis' papacy who opposed the pope, but these eight archbishops who were appointed late on in Francis' papacy share the Francis agenda. And so today is also about a shift perhaps in the U.S. hierarchy's relationship with what Francis started in his reforms and what Pope Leo is going to continue.

Now, of course, these are the early weeks of Leo's papacy. He's been kind of finding his feet in these days. There's been a lot going on for him. He's shown that he's going to not be a Francis photocopy. He's going to be his own man. And he's going to be, for example, taking a break in a few days time, leaving the Vatican to go for a vacation, which is something Francis didn't do.

So, Leo is showing his own style. But today, this morning in the Vatican is an important symbolic moment to show the unity between the bishops in the United States and Pope Leo, the first American pope. Brian?

ABEL: Christopher Lamb in Rome. Thank you, Christopher.

And thank you all for joining me. I'm Brian Abel.

For our international viewers, Connecting Africa is next. And for our viewers in North America, I'll have more news in just a moment.

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[03:30:00]

ABEL: Welcome back to CNN Newsroom. I'm Brian Abel. Let's check today's top stories.

Israeli Air Strikes hit a neighborhood street market killing at least 20. That followed a strike and a tent compound in which up to ten children of the same family were killed. The Israeli militaries say they were targeting suspicious individuals who posed a threat.

Tens of thousands of protesters returned to Hostages Square in Tel Aviv and they resumed their calls for a ceasefire and end to the war and the return of all remaining hostages. There were pleas for Donald Trump to use his influence to help bring about a solution.

And the U.S. Senate voted to advance President Donald Trump's so- called big, beautiful bill late Saturday. The vote was 51 in favor. 49 against. The measure has now cleared a key procedural hurdle, but its fate remains in question. Still, Mr. Trump called the vote a quote, great victory in the social media post.

CNN Senior Reporter Annie Grayer was there in Washington monitoring all of these developments. She has more on how events unfolded inside and outside the Senate chambers and some of the issues the measure faces going forward.

ANNIE GRAYER, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: It was a long and tumultuous day in the United States Senate. It almost looked like the bill was not going to clear this procedural hurdle, and Republicans were negotiating behind the scenes for hours. They even had Vice President J.D. Vance come to Capitol Hill in case his vote was needed as a tie-breaking vote.

But then after hours of negotiating, Republicans rushed back to the floor and a group of senators delivered the votes needed to pass this key procedural hurdle. So, those Republican votes are Republican Senator Ron Johnson, Cynthia Lummis, Rick Scott and Mike Lee. And now there is hours of debate that have to unfold before voting on final passage of the bill. And remember, this is just the first step. If Republicans can pass this in the Senate, it still has to go back to the House, which passed a different version of this bill. So, the two chambers are going to have to rectify their differences there.

And Republicans are running against a tight timeline. President Trump wants this on his desk by July 4th.

Annie Grayer, CNN from Capitol Hill.

ABEL: And CNN spoke to senators from both parties who have very different takes on what the bill means for Americans. Take a listen.

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SEN. MIKE ROUNDS (R-SD): For us, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act is critical. We want to get it across the finish line. There's other things that go along with it, which is the debt ceiling extensions so that we don't have a shutdown to government. And in the meantime, we've got a lot of folks on our side of the aisle that want to see some reforms made to Medicaid. But it takes amendments. We look forward to an open amendment process. That'll take a long time to get through because I think Republicans and Democrats alike are going to want to make amendments once we get on the bill.

SEN. PETER WELCH (D-VT): This is a different kind of legislation. It's not like an appropriations bill. The Medicaid cuts nearly a trillion dollars, the nutrition cuts, the stripping of states of the ability to pass their own legislation about social media and A.I. That really causes a lot of harm in red states and blue states. It's equal participation in the payment that this bill is going to inflict. So, it just as an example, you saw the community hospital folks in Ohio sending a letter to their two Republican senators saying this is a real problem for us.

So, what I see is there's a real pressure and conflict on my Republican colleagues who want to support the president's agenda, whatever that is, on the one hand. On the other hand, they know that there's going to be a lot of pain inflicted on the people they represent.

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ABEL: Now, to Florida. Many protesting there the U.S. government's new migrant attention site on Friday with dozens of cars lining this highway. The facility nicknamed Alligator Alcatraz is being built in an abandoned airport in the Everglades. It's set to open on Tuesday. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security says it could house up to 5,000 people in tents and temporary shelters.

[03:35:01]

Members of the Miccosukee Tribe of Indigenous Americans of Florida say the detention center violates their land rights and is dangerous to the environment. And above all, protesters say the U.S. government's treatment of migrants is inhumane.

A private funeral was held Saturday for a Minnesota state lawmaker who was murdered in an act of shocking political violence. Melissa Hortman, a Minnesota state representative and former House speaker. She was assassinated in her home on June 14th, along with her husband. The service was attended by several Democratic leaders, including former President Joe Biden and former Vice President Kamala Harris. Minnesota. Governor Tim Walz served as a pallbearer and delivered a eulogy.

Julia Vargas Jones has more.

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JULIA VARGAS JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): A funeral with the highest state honors in the country's first basilica, Minnesota in mourning. Governor Tim Walz presenting the children of Mark and Melissa Hortman with the flags flown above the Capitol on the day their parents were killed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Remember your servants, Melissa and Mark.

JONES: The political nature of their tragic deaths, the undeniable backdrop for the day's events.

GOV. TIM WALZ (D-MN): All of us are searching for some kind of meaning, some kind of lesson that we can learn to help ease our loss, and maybe it is this moment where each of us can examine the way we work together, the way we talk about each other, the way we fight for things we care about, a moment when each of us can recommit to engaging in politics and life the way Mark and Melissa did.

JONES: In attendance for mass, former President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. On Friday, mourners paid their respects as the Hortman's laid in state at the Minnesota Capitol. Melissa, the first woman in state history to receive that distinction. Late to rest beside them, their golden retriever, Gilbert.

Just a few miles away in federal court, the man accused of killing the Hortman's appear before a judge. His attorney told the court Boelter has been sleep deprived due to jail conditions and communication has been difficult. The judge granted a delay and his next hearing is now set for July 3rd. Boelter faces state and federal charges, including murder, firearm offenses, and stalking.

Authorities say the June 14th shooting was a politically motivated assassination and that Boelter could face the death penalty if convicted. He allegedly went to the Hortman's home dressed as a police officer and opened fire when police showed up, then fled, triggering the largest manhunt in the state's history.

Before the Hortman's authorities say, Boelter went to the homes of three other Minnesota state politicians at one of them, police say, he shot State Senator John Hoffman and his wife multiple times. Both are making a recovery, but say they are, quote, lucky to be alive according to court documents. Authorities later searched Boelter's vehicle and found at least three AK-47 assault rifles, a nine millimeter handgun, as well as a list of names and addresses of other public officials, most of them Democrats or figures with ties to the abortion rights movement. There have been questions about what Boelter's wife, Jenny, knew and when. Investigators say she was initially not forthcoming with information, but later became cooperative.

On Thursday, Jenny Boelter spoke out for the first time saying she and her children are absolutely shocked, heartbroken, and completely blindsided. She called the attack a betrayal of everything we hold true as tenets of our Christian faith, adding that from the start, her family has fully cooperated with investigators. And they're grateful to law enforcement for apprehending her husband and preventing further harm.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JONES (on camera): This attack comes at a time of historic rise in threats against public officials and division in America. But the overall message from Saturday's service was that there is still hope to mend that division that came both from Governor Walz as well as from the pastor who led the services, especially when he shared what the kids of the Hortmans had asked people to do in the memory of their parents. They said, plant a tree, pet a dog, or try a new hobby, the best way to honor our parents' memories, to do something to improve your community, however small.

Julia Vargas Jones, CNN, Los Angeles.

ABEL: It's still only June, but it feels like high summer in much of Europe. Just ahead, we'll take you to Spain where the tourists are suffering right alongside the residents.

Plus all the buzz, bling and backlash surrounding billionaire Jeff Bezos' Venetian wedding.

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[03:40:00]

ABEL: Southern Europe is being slammed by the summer's first major heat wave, and it comes as tourist season hits full force. Peak temperatures in Spain expected to climb to over 40 degrees Celsius. That's 104 degrees Fahrenheit.

CNN's Ben Hunte has more on how people are coping.

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BEN HUNTE, CNN ANCHOR (voice over): The summer heat is on full blast in Spain with officials warning people to hydrate and stay safe as temperatures hit near or above 40 degrees Celsius in parts of the country.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Look, it always gets super hot in Madrid. What surprises me is how early it's happening. We're still in June. July and August are usually horrible. But the fact that it's already like this now is surprising.

HUNTE: A blast of desert air from Africa is fanning out across Southern Europe, creating hot, muggy conditions that forecasters warn could continue to be oppressive even at night.

Tourists in Greece tried to keep cool in the blazing sun. Water bottles and shade help to blunt the scorching temperatures. But some people say the old attractions are like magnets for the heat.

ANTONIA LASEN, TOURIST: The combination of the heat and the marble, I think, it was more hot because of the marble and the cement. It was like a cement jungle almost. It was just very hot.

HUNTE: The high heat and strong winds also stoking a large wildfire that broke out south of Athens. Greece is increasing its number of firefighters this year to a record high, an expectation of another difficult wildfire season.

The French Weather Agency warns of stifling conditions in the southern part of the country that will spread north with high temperatures expected until Tuesday. In Italy, red heat alerts were issued for several cities, including Rome, Milan, and Venice, with officials in some areas advising people to stay indoors during the hottest parts of the day.

That's something festival goers at Glastonbury in the U.K. may find hard to do, though event organizers are advising the more than 200,000 people in attendance to take precautions by drinking water, staying out of the sun, and avoiding alcohol.

[03:45:04]

Ben Hunte, CNN.

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ABEL: More protests in Venice over the lavish wedding events for Amazon Founder Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez. Some demonstrators who also work for Amazon say they can barely pay the rent on the wages they're paid. Many carried Amazon boxes with slogans like, no space for Bezos, and other messages that we cannot repeat on air.

Protesters say the city essentially became a private playground for the privileged few during the three-day events. Despite the controversy, Venice will reportedly bring in more than a billion dollars from the wedding extravaganza.

All the protests seem to have little impact on the newlyweds themselves as they packed on the PDA while heading to the final wedding gala.

Our Melissa Bell has been following everything from the parties to the protests all weekend in Venice. MELISSA BELL, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Day three, the end of the Lauren Sanchez Bezos now and Jeff Bezos wedding that has so dominated attention here in Venice for the last few days, as each day of the last three, this south side, the Aman Hotel is the scene. Police boats, boats filled with paparazzi as they wait to see not just the couple emerge day after day but also many of their celebrity guests.

This last evening, they're waiting for them to get into their vaporettos and head off to the last party that's to be held at the Arsenale. It had to be moved because of protests. Still, undeterred protesters took to the streets again this final third day of the wedding this Saturday to make their anger known. There were workers from Amazon, there were anti-capitalists, there were climate change protesters, there were those opposed to Venice being used as a backdrop, as a postcard for this wedding, and opposed to the extravagance of it. We've seen them carry out a number of actions over the course of the last few days against the holding of this wedding and everything that went with it.

Still, it's gone on really without a hiccup largely apart from the moving of that final venue with all of the guests really abiding by what seems to have been their non-disclosure agreements. You'll have seen very little of what went on within the parties simply at the paparazzi shots of many celebrities that were invited making their way around the streets of Venice over the course of the weekend.

Melissa Bell, CNN, Venice.

ABEL: Dozens of NBA hopefuls got their big break this week during the NBA draft. And coming up, the intense preparation and tryouts they go through before the draft.

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[03:50:00]

ABEL: The 30th annual pride march in Hungary has been both celebration and act of defiance, demonstrators carrying signs, reading, solidarity with Budapest pride. They also wave posters with pictures of Prime Minister Victor Orban crossed out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ORSI DOMDAN, MARCHER: And everyone wants their freedom and everyone wants to express and their need for freedom. You know what I mean? No one wants to live in oppression actually. And love is more important than power.

BELA BOLNAR, MARCHER: At some point, you have to stand, stand up and show you what you want to do in this country. And I want to feel good in this country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABEL: The ,arch proceeded despite a new law banning LGBTQ events nationwide.

Thousands of people marched in Mexico City's 47th pride parade on Saturday. Crowds gathered there and one of the capital's main avenues to celebrate. This was one of four marches in major Latin American capital cities on Saturday.

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, which CNN's Omar Jimenez certainly has. He did play at Northwestern University after all, and he got a behind the scenes look.

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OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Anytime, right here.

JAY HERNANDEZ, ASSISTANT COACH, BROOKLYN NETS: Yes.

JIMENEZ: Yes, sir.

What does it actually take to get drafted to the NBA?

What's up, Jalen? How's it going? Omar, Omar Jimenez.

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.

Stand by, still warmed up.

And we got right to it.

JALEN WILSON, BROOKLYN NETS FORWARD: There it is. Like every workout they go into, they're like, how can I make this team draft me? 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 or a lot of this right now.

JIMENEZ: They're watching your percentage on something like this?

WILSON: Well, yes, they're tracking every shot.

HERNANDEZ: All right. So, we'll go for a minute. Jay will be your passer. We only start on a make.

JIMENEZ: Great, awesome.

WILSON: Here we go.

JIMENEZ: Here we go.

HERNANDEZ: We'll get you going. I'll keep track.

JIMENEZ: Okay, not starting yet. WILSON: Not started yet.

JIMENEZ: There it is, one.

WILSON: Oh, yes.

JIMENEZ: It's longer than the college three.

Give me that.

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

JIMENEZ: Give me one more, Give me more.

HERNADEZ: Three, two, one.

WILSON: Tough, right?

HERNANDEZ: Yes. Good job, ten 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: 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. Really, all of them are going to be the best workout that you ever had but --

JIMENEZ: Not as many as bad as I'm doing that.

WILSON: No, you're good. You're good.

JIMENEZ: It's all good. I just want to point out.

We're just in the warmups. I'm already just dripping sweat.

HERNANDEZ: And as you get close enough, I'm going to pop it one way or the other, all right?

[03:55:01]

So, as you read and react, you'll have to attack the open space. Yes.

WILSON: Oh, yes.

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

WILSON: Hey.

JIMENEZ: 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, 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 the spot.

HERNANDEZ: We're going to sprint.

JIMENEZ: And every evaluation can make a difference, even the ones without a basketball.

HERNANDEZ: 11-2 is about the average.

WILSON: Yes.

JIMENEZ: Like this agility test.

HERNANDEZ: Come on though.

WILSON: Oh, yes. Get there. Get there. Get there. Finish. Finish.

JIMENEZ: How important is that men's ball 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: 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)

ABEL: Okay, Omar, impressive.

Nearly 200,000 people gathered for an Armed Forces Day Air Show in Cleethorpes, England, on Saturday. I hope I said that. Okay. Check out this video showing the Royal Air Force's aerobatic team, the Red Arrows. At this point, the pilots are flying upside down.

Now, members of the Royal Navy and the British Army also took part in this event. The U.K. holds Armed Forces Day to show support for veterans and current members of the military. Great to see.

That wraps this hour of CNN Newsroom. I'm Brian Abel in Atlanta. CNN Newsroom continues next with my colleague, Ben Hunte.

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