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CNN Inside Iran Amid Uncertainty Over Talks; "Putin's Davos" Underway After Strikes On St. Petersburg; Final Results in California Elections Could Take Days; Trump Says He Will Nominate Todd Blanche as Attorney General; CBS Fires Scott Pelley After Clash With Bosses; New York Knicks Win Game 1 Against San Antonio Spurs; Comcast NBCUniversal Investing Billions in U.K. Theme Park. Aired 2-3a ET

Aired June 04, 2026 - 02:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:00:47]

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us here in the United States and from all around the world. I'm Rosemary Church.

Just ahead here on CNN NEWSROOM, the U.S. and Iran send different messages on how peace talks are going.

Plus, Ukrainian drones hit St. Petersburg in Russia hours before Vladimir Putin's key economic summit.

And a new study looks at how Ozempic and other weight loss drugs may be impacting the brain.

ANNOUNCER: Live from Atlanta, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Rosemary Church..

CHURCH: Thanks for joining us, and we begin with mixed messages over the status of negotiations between the U.S. and Iran, with each side offering a different take on where things stand right now. Iran's foreign minister saying on Wednesday that there's been no significant progress in the talks over the past few days. Abbas Araghchi went on to say, "There is no formal negotiation process underway between Iran and the United States. However, messages continue to be exchanged."

But in Washington, U.S. President Trump says his administration is negotiating a very powerful deal with Iran, and had this to say about the progress so far.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The negotiation itself has gone very well, actually very well. If it happens, and it might not happen, who knows? But if it happens, it could happen, like over the weekend. The blockade is the most powerful thing. I think the blockade maybe

has more impact than the bombing has, but the blockade that we have, the naval blockade, is incredible. Not one ship has gotten through, unless we wanted it to, and people respect it a lot.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: This all coming as Iran launched attacks in the region, including in Kuwait, where the aviation authority released this dramatic video showing an Iranian strike at the Kuwait International Airport on Wednesday.

Well, meantime, Israel and Lebanon have agreed to implement a cease fire to end hostilities, but it is contingent on Hezbollah's actions. A joint statement was released after the latest round of U.S. mediated talks in Washington on Wednesday. The cease fire would be contingent on a, "Complete cessation of Hezbollah fire and removal of all Hezbollah forces from southern Lebanon." Iran's Foreign Minister warns that if Israel attacks Beirut, Tehran would respond.

When it comes to Iran and the U.S., it's unclear where negotiations stand right now. Our team is in Iran to get the view from within the country. CNN operates in Iran only with the permission of the government, but maintains full editorial control of its reports. Here's Fred Pleitgen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We've just entered Iran, and we're currently driving towards Tehran. I would say that the drive is probably going to take well north of 12 hours, and we come here at a pretty decisive time as the United States and Iran are trying to inch closer to a memorandum of understanding that would at first end the hostilities between the United States and Iran, but also pave the way for negotiations for a broader peace agreement that could then happen maybe a month, maybe two months down the line.

At the same time, the security situation, especially in the Persian Gulf area, between the U.S. and Iran, remains fragile and it remains volatile.

Just overnight, there have been attacks that went back and forth, the United States hitting some targets on some islands in the Persian Gulf, the Iranians responding with ballistic missile strikes targeting American installations in places like Bahrain and Kuwait.

So, all of that, of course, makes for a very difficult situation, as the two sides say they are committed to try and reach some sort of agreement to end this war.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: CNN's Mike Valerio joins me now, live from Beijing. Good to see you, Mike. So, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is saying the war with Iran is over. President Trump says negotiations for a deal are going very well. What is Iran saying? [02:05:05]

MIKE VALERIO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Iran is essentially putting it on the table that they are listening to what is being conveyed by the Americans, but there is no formal negotiation process to move these things forward. So, they have also said I thought it was interesting to listen to comments from Abbas Araghchi, the Foreign Minister of Iran, saying that messages are being traded back and forth, and the main message, Rosemary, is that Iran is saying there needs to be a cease fire in place in Lebanon, or else all bets are off, anything that moves forward with this memorandum of understanding that we've been talking about over the past two weeks pretty much stops.

But it is -- you're right to home in on the differences in language between what Iran is saying and the United States is saying. I thought there was a very interesting exchange between Marco Rubio and Congresswoman Sara Jacobs, who represents part of California, an area very close to San Diego. Let's listen to this exchange, and we'll talk more on the other side.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. SARA JACOBS (D-CA): OK, fine. We're taking you at your word. The war is over. Who won?

MARCO RUBIO, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: First of all, you're not taking me at my word. It's a fact. We're no longer conducting sustained strikes inside of Iran to degrade their military, because Epic Fury is over. We defined victory -- we defined victory as destroying their defense industrial base, significantly reducing the number of missile launchers that they possess, significantly reducing their stockpile of drones, and we achieved all of those, in addition to destroying what they had left of an air force and wiping out their entire conventional Navy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VALERIO: So, he's saying to the American people, and certainly to the world, that from their point of view, the war may be over, but, of course, the conflict remains as the Strait of Hormuz remains closed.

So, very interesting to see the differences between all of the parties with Iran, and some saying this process is barely moving, and Marco Rubio and the president saying that things are going fine, and negotiations are continuing, Rosemary.

CHURCH: And Mike, you did reference that cease fire between Israel and Lebanon. Iran is threatening an attack if Beirut comes under Israeli fire. So, what is the latest on Israel-Lebanon talks?

VALERIO: And from their point of view, I mean, Hezbollah, their proxy force for Iran, that's the heart of where they're based in Beirut, so they do not want an attack on Beirut.

So, we'll go to a quote from the foreign minister we referenced a couple seconds ago, he's telling the world, "We inform the American side that if Beirut were attacked, we would not tolerate it under any circumstances. From our perspective, such an action would mean that the cease fire had been completely broken, and our armed forces would respond."

So, this whole enterprise seems to be hinging on, at least for now, whether or not things calm down between Israel and armed groups within Lebanon.

So, essentially, you outlined it beautifully, perfectly in the beginning of the segment. What needs to happen from the Israeli side is Hezbollah forces move out of southern Lebanon.

So, what we're watching in the next couple hours, and I should say, in the next days to come, is whether or not the Lebanese armed forces are able to create what's being called pilot zones in southern Lebanon to allow for safe passage of Hezbollah forces out of southern Lebanon a little farther north into Beirut, their stronghold, because Israel is saying their communities in northern Israel, close to the border, have been attacked for months, if not years. They need Hezbollah out of there.

So, the United States also saying it is going to support Lebanon's armed forces to help this process move forward. That's the question, though. What happens in Lebanon? Can it move forward? And if that cease fire moves forward, just the whole end to the Iran conflict, does that move forward too?

CHURCH: All right, Mike Valerio bringing us up to date with the very latest there from Beijing. Many thanks.

VALERIO: Thanks, Rosemary.

CHURCH: David Sanger is a CNN political and national security analyst, and he spoke with CNN about the cease fire and the reality on the ground.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVID SANGER, CNN POLITICAL AND NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: If you were sitting in the Kuwait airport in the past 24 hours and you saw those drones hit and the place go up in flames, it probably didn't seem like much of a cease fire, and the president has got an elastic definition here, and he's got to, because he's in a position right now where the official line of the administration is that the cease fire is still on, and if that ever came off, then he'd have to go back into military normal combat operations, and he clearly doesn't want to go do that, and the Iranians sense it.

War certainly doesn't look like it's over if they've got these exchanges going back and forth. If the strait is still closed, which was a result of the war, wasn't a cause of the war.

But what struck me the most about Secretary Rubio's statement there was his description of what their objectives were. He's back to doing what the president was doing, which is saying all of these objectives are military. How many missiles did we destroy? Whether their navy's gone on, he's absolutely right about that. But that wasn't their objective when they started the war.

[02:10:10]

The objective was to stop the nuclear program, to eliminate or limit the missile program to stop their support for proxies and to allow the Iranian people to rise up and take over a weakened government, that's not my list, that's the president's list on February 28th when he came out and announced that this was beginning.

And you know they're very sensitive on this point. I asked the president about this on Air Force One coming back from China, he erupted a bit at me on that topic, it's come up repeatedly since, and they are -- they are moving the goal post here about what it was that the objectives of the war were going to be.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: On this vote, the yeas are 215 and the nays are 208. The concurrent resolution is adopted.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: A remarkable rebuke in the U.S. House where lawmakers passed a resolution to limit President Trump's war powers in Iran. Four Republicans crossed party lines to support the measure, which must be approved by both chambers. Two of those Republicans who voted to curb the president's war powers are defending their votes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. BRIAN FITZPATRICK (R-PA): There's a law on the books, the War Powers Act of 73 says 48 hour notification and 60-day concurrence of Congress, we're passed to 60 days. So, you have two choices: you either follow the law or you change the law. You can't violate the law, that's not an option.

So, I offered an alternative that would accommodate cease fires for negotiations, real cease fires, and not cease fires in name only. That was not taken up.

REP. THOMAS MASSIE (R-KY): People are tired of this. They're tired of $5.00 a gallon gas and $6.00 gallon diesel and fertilizer we can't afford to put on our fields in Kentucky. So, I think it sends a good message that the people's house, which represents the people, is tired of this war.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Turning now to India, where police say at least 21 people were killed when fire engulfed a hotel in New Delhi. According to reports, eight members of the same family and foreign nationals are among the dead. Police say at least 40 people have been rescued so far. The hotel is located in a mostly residential area that's popular with students and young professionals. Here's how one eyewitness described the scene.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SHER KHAN, EYEWITNESS (through translator): I was going to the shop in the morning, there was a small fire here at first, and it kept increasing. As the fire increased, it seemed as if there was no way to jump from here. People spread mattresses, and a woman from the third floor jumped on it with a little kid. She fractured her leg.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Tens of thousands of people took to the streets of Argentina on Wednesday to stand up to violence against women. The protests followed the gruesome killing last month of a 14-year-old girl that shot the nation. Police have a suspect in custody. A protest like this has been held annually for 11 years. Organizers say a woman is killed in Argentina every 31 hours on average, and the number is rising.

North Korea's leader wants to shift his nuclear program into even higher gear. A state news agency says Kim Jong Un is calling for an exponential increase in his country's nuclear arsenal. He reportedly spoke during a visit to a new factory that makes weapons-grade nuclear material on Wednesday. Some experts say the construction means North Korea could be trying to start a mass production of munitions.

According to a U.S. Congressional report, North Korea is believed to have already assembled around 50 warheads.

An economic event, often called Putin's Davos is underway, despite Ukrainian drone strikes on Russia's host city. That story just ahead.

Plus, millions of people take Ozempic and other GOP one drugs for diabetes and to help control their weight. But are these drugs affecting their brain? We will get answers from one of the researchers of a new study.

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[02:18:52]

CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. Russia is threatening to deliver what it called systemic responses following Ukrainian drone strikes on the country's second largest city, St. Petersburg, they came hours ahead of an economic forum that's often called Putin's Davos. It still got underway on Wednesday, but as Sebastian Shukla reports, the aftermath of the strikes was impossible to miss.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SEBASTIAN SHUKLA, CNN PRODUCER: Another day, another aerial attack in this war, this time launched by Ukraine on sites across Russia, a major target, seemingly St. Petersburg, Russia's second city, and timed to coincide with the opening of the St. Petersburg Economic Forum, an event dubbed Putin's Davos, where the president himself is even scheduled to speak and deliver a keynote address on Friday.

Social media, though, today has been circulating, showing what appears to be a Ukrainian drones gliding towards targets and leaving plumes of black smoke billowing out over the city, visible for miles around. Hundreds of drones were launched in this attack, the Russian Ministry of Defense said, saying they shot down 350 and specifically 60, were targeted towards the St. Petersburg and Leningrad Oblast region.

[02:20:13]

The Ukrainians, for their part, claim the attack a success, and that it even managed to hit a net Russian naval vessel called the Boikiy. President Zelenskyy, speaking alongside the NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte had a clear message for Russia.

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): They must know that if they use drones and missiles against us, we will do the same, and it is only a matter of time before we can increase the scale of our responses.

SHUKLA: These attacks are becoming more and more common, and have even become a real weapon in the arsenal of the Ukrainians, who become very adept and capable at hitting Russia where it hurts the most. The targeting is very specific, and they are aimed at hurting Russia's ability to resupply. That means attacks on military installations and oil and gas facilities, so key to keeping the flow of cash into the Kremlin war chest.

But as the fighting on the ground continues to be in an almost stalemate, attacks like these from both sides appear to be ever more likely to be the new cadence in this war, but the European allies and intelligence officials are maintained that these attacks by Ukraine are beginning to push the Russian economy, and as a result, they believe forcing President Putin's hand when it comes to ending what he calls his special military operation in Ukraine.

Sebastian Shukla, CNN, Berlin.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Organizers say 20,000 people from more than 100 countries are attending the summit, and for the first time in nine years, a U.S. official is also taking part. Chairman of the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, Rodney Mims Cook Jr. is there. Other guests include far-right U.S. podcaster Candace Owens.

Well, for more, we are joined from London by Orysia Lutsevych, the head of the Ukraine Forum at Chatham House. Appreciate you joining us.

ORYSIA LUTSEVYCH, HEAD OF UKRAINE FORUM, CHATHAM HOUSE: Good to be with you.

CHURCH: So, just hours before Russia's economic forum got underway in St. Petersburg, Ukrainian drones struck an oil terminal and naval base in the city. What are the optics of an attack of this scale on Russian soil when Moscow is hosting international visitors and coming after Moscow launched one of its deadliest strikes on Kyiv?

LUTSEVYCH: Well, such an attack at the time, when, like you said, Russia is gathering the dignitaries, mainly coming from non-Western countries, Middle East, Africa, Asia to project Russia's economic power, comes as a blow to President Putin, whose also is hometown St. Petersburg, the two critical towns, such as Moscow and St. Petersburg, were always believed to be quite well protected, and especially during such international events, but Ukrainian pierced that bubble, showing everybody Russia's vulnerabilities, ineffectiveness of its air defense systems against new capabilities that Ukraine have significantly ramped up, including in the range and in the effectiveness of these strikes on Russian soil.

CHURCH: And what is the significance of a U.S. delegation attending this forum for the first time in years, which includes an American political commentator and conspiracy theorist, as well as the White House ballroom commissioner, when other nations are sending high- profile leaders?

LUTSEVYCH: Similar to Ukraine's consistency in hitting deep into Russian territory, because this is not the first strike Ukraine has done, and nearly eight out of 10 Russian oil refineries were hit. The U.S. engagement with Russia is also consistent. President Trump made it clear that he wants to stabilize relations with Russia at the expense of international law or interest of European security, so this is predictable and clear that the message is America wants to have economic relations with autocratic Russia.

CHURCH: And Russia's President Putin is hosting this economic forum as his government struggles for a growth strategy, and as Ukrainian drone attacks hit the economy hard.

So, what do you expect Putin will say when he speaks at the forum on Friday, and how shaken is he by Ukraine's resilience and its ability to strike back inside Russia?

LUTSEVYCH: Well, Putin will do the usual thing he does, which is put up the show of confidence, a bit of a Potemkin village, that Russia is doing great, that Russia will retaliate, that it's having still an upper hand in Ukraine. While we do know that the facts are showing exactly the opposite, may actually have been a devastating month for Russian armed forces. They've taken the smallest number of miles in Ukraine, and they are actually choking in their efforts to mount a successful spring summer offensive. People are observing military analysts, are observing real tactical degradation of the Russian army.

[02:25:31]

And as you said, Ukraine is pushing this war into new territory thanks to its technological innovation and the real revolution in military affairs, where in the air, on land at sea, Ukraine is using newly developed weapons, fully autonomous systems, for example, to take some of Russian positions on the ground and to strike at sea with sea drone.

So, jointly with the West, because Ukraine is not doing it alone, there's some financing that's coming, but the innovation is genuine Ukrainian breakthrough, and that could actually push this war to a stage where it's not sustainable for Russia, that simply it is not capable of waging this war, because the intention and desire will remain for quite some time and Ukraine's strategies to disable Russia's militaristic and aggressive policy towards its neighbors and Ukraine in particular.

CHURCH: And Orysia, what impact is the U.S. conflict with Iran having on efforts to end Russia's war in Ukraine?

LUTSEVYCH: It has an impact. First of all, clear immediate result is the shortages of interceptors, missiles, patriot systems that America made quite effective defense systems against, especially ballistic missiles, and this is something where Ukraine still is underfunded and under defended against the ballistic missiles. America used a lot of them in the Gulf. Gulf countries used some of them to protect against cheap Iranian drones, and the supplies are significantly depleted.

Another implication is that, of course, there are some of Russian sanctions on oil, sea-borne oil, were relaxed, and that allowed Russia to make some money to finance its war against Ukraine.

So, this is -- this comes at an unfortunate time for Ukraine, at the time when Russia started feeling the squeeze, the lack of currency, and the growing budget deficit, it came as a relief to Putin.

CHURCH: Orysia Lutsevych, thank you so much for joining us. Appreciate it.

International security agencies warn there's a growing online espionage threat from China's military. Their latest bulletin says Chinese spies are aggressively using professional networking and recruitment sites to target anyone who may have access to classified information. They're believed to be focusing on government officials, members of the military, and even journalists. The report states that individuals are targeted, hired, and then paid for the information they divulge. Beijing has repeatedly rejected this and other espionage claims.

More votes are coming in for one of the biggest primaries in the United States, we will have the latest numbers in the race for California governor. That's just ahead.

Plus, new comments from President Trump have some lawmakers asking if his anti-weaponization fund is truly dead. That is coming up next as well. Stay with us.

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[02:33:27]

CHURCH: All right. Let's take a look now at the latest developments in the California elections. Vote counting is underway in the key races for governor and Los Angeles mayor. Final results could take days as mail-in ballots postmarked on or before Election Day have one week to arrive.

Republican Steve Hilton is leading in the governor's race, followed by Democrats Xavier Becerra and Tom Steyer. The top-two vote-getters advanced to November's general election. Becerra taking a shot at the Trump administration and Hilton calling out Becerra.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

XAVIER BECERRA, DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATE FOR CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR: I sued Trump more than 120 times before, and I won, and I won, and I won.

(CROWD CHEERING)

BECERRA: And anyone who wants to come at California will have to go through me.

(CROWD CHEERING)

STEVE HILTON, REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE FOR CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR: Looking at, basically, the record of the Democrats after 16 years in power and the fact that we got the highest gas prices, highest cost of living on everything, highest poverty rate, highest unemployment rate, the crime, the homelessness, all these things. And you've got a candidate in Becerra, if it's him, who's explicitly saying that he doesn't think that there's anything that's been done he disagrees with and isn't offering any kind of change.

I think that we will have a shot at winning. I don't think it's going to be easy, but we're going to work very hard.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: In the Los Angeles mayoral race, incumbent Karen Bass will advance to the general election in her bid for a second term.

[02:35:00]

Right now, Republican Spencer Pratt is in second place, followed by L.A. City Council member, Nithya Raman.

Well, President Trump is defending the controversial $1.8 billion anti-weaponization fund. He says he's not sure if it's actually dead, even after the acting attorney general said the administration is not moving forward with it. CNN's Kristen Holmes has that report.

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: President Trump once again mucking up the waters when it comes to this anti- weaponization fund. After we heard from the acting Attorney General, Todd Blanche, telling Congress that this was over, this fund was not going anywhere, period, you saw President Trump kind of trying, or at least acting, as though that wasn't necessarily the case, that this wasn't dead in the water the way that we had heard from Blanche.

Here's what he said about it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: It's -- I'd have to ask the lawyers, I don't know. I know one thing, the weaponization. Are you talking about the weaponization fund?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yeah, was there --

TRUMP: The weaponization fund, as far as I'm concerned, was a beautiful thing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Now, obviously, President Trump is talking to his lawyers. We know that they've been working together, going through whether or not they're going to move forward with this fund, and ultimately deciding that they weren't going to, at least according to the Acting Attorney General, Todd Blanche.

But that is also raising an enormous amount of questions here as to what could happen down the road. President Trump, he has said that he thought this was beautiful, you just heard that. He also, we are told behind closed doors, that he still believes there should be some kind of weaponization fund where people, allies of his, are reimbursed for what he believes were political weaponization under the Biden administration.

So that is something that lawmakers on Capitol Hill are watching closely, because while the acting attorney general said, point blank, we are done with this, it is over, period, he also wouldn't commit to that in writing. So there's still enormous amount of questions, particularly when you hear President Trump talking like that, as to what exactly this means for what's coming next with this weaponization fund.

Kristen Holmes, CNN, the White House.

CHURCH: And Todd Blanche, who told lawmakers the fund is dead, may officially become the U.S. Attorney General. President Trump announced at a private White House dinner that he will nominate Blanche for the role. He has been serving as acting Attorney General for two months, since his predecessor Pam Bondi was fired.

Blanche, Trump's former personal attorney, has secured indictments against some of the president's personal foes, including former FBI Director James Comey. He has also rolled back gun control measures and issued subpoenas to journalists for their sources.

Well, another shakeup at CBS' "60 Minutes." Longtime correspondent, Scott Pelley has been fired. His exit centers around a dispute with the new leadership at "60 Minutes" and CBS News that has been playing out publicly. More now from CNN's Chief Media Analyst, Brian Stelter.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA ANALYST (voice-over): CBS News is in crisis mode following Scott Pelley's firing, with CBS staffers and viewers wondering, is this about culture or politics?

SCOTT PELLEY, HOST OF "60 MINUTES", CBS NEWS: Those stories tonight on "60 Minutes."

STELTER (voice-over): Pelley says politics are at play, claiming the new owner of the network is apparently trying to, quote, "curry a moment of favor with the Trump administration."

BARI WEISS, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, CBS NEWS: I'm Bari Weiss, Editor-In- Chief of CBS News.

STELTER (voice-over): Weiss' allies deny Pelley's charge. They say she's trying to reform the culture of "60 Minutes," a famously insular show that she believes needs to be dragged into the digital age. Last week, Weiss ousted several top producers and two correspondents amid her controversial efforts to overhaul the entire News Division.

Pelley shouted out one of his fired colleagues during a recent Emmy ceremony.

PELLEY: I see Sharyn Alfonsi there in the audience.

(CROWD CHEERING)

STELTER (voice-over): And he was incensed by the firings days later.

On Monday, he tore into new "60 Minutes" Executive Producer, Nick Bilton, a former tech reporter with little TV experience. In front of the staff, Pelley depicted Bilton as unqualified for the job and said he'd never be welcome here. Pelley also accused Weiss, who was not in the room, of murdering "60 Minutes."

The comments leaked and became national news, even on CBS.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: According to CBS News management, efforts were made to see if both sides could reach common ground. Pelley met with senior management of CBS News last night, and no agreement could be reached.

Pelley was then informed by "60 Minutes" Executive Producer, Nick Bilton that CBS News and "60 Minutes" would have to part ways with Scott. He was terminated for cause.

STELTER (voice-over): In a letter justifying the firing, Bilton wrote that Pelley "hijacked my first meeting with staff to disparage me, my qualifications and my intentions with remarkable incivility and contempt."

Pelley has no regrets. He says, quote, "The leadership of 60 Minutes is no longer recognizable. The principles I hold dear are gone, and so I must leave as well."

[02:40:00]

On Wednesday, he disputed Weiss' version of events, saying Weiss misled the staff when she said that CBS tried to "find a way back" and keep Pelly at the network.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

STELTER (on camera): So Pelly's not going down without a fight, and he has lots of support from CBS News veterans who say the show does not need fixing in the first place. They point to the high ratings and the stacks of awards. They fear that this overhaul by Paramount is an attempt to appease President Trump. At the same time, Paramount needs Trump administration approval for its deal to buy CNN and the rest of Warner Bros. Discovery.

My sources close to CBS News management reject that. They say this is not about politics. It's about culture change. Ultimately, viewers are the judges. Viewers get to decide if brands like CBS are living up to their storied legacies and valuable reputations.

Brian Stelter, CNN, Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

CHURCH: A quick break here.

Could Ozempic and other diabetic and weight-loss drugs be impacting the brains of the people who take them? Just ahead, a researcher who's studying the drug's effects joined us. Stay with us for that.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:45:48]

CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. Well, tens of millions of people around the world take Ozempic and other GLP-1 drugs to control blood sugar levels, hunger, and weight. But as researchers dig deeper to find out how the drugs really work, they're finding early evidence that suggests the medication may also be reshaping parts of the brain.

Now, they took brain scans of 13 teenagers and young women with hormonal disorders who were put on GLPs. They found the drugs didn't just rewire how appetite is processed, but also emotion, desire, and more. Within a few months, some cases showed an increase in the brain salience network, which helps to target attention. The scientists say more research is still needed.

Joining me now is Alison Shapiro, Assistant Professor of Pediatric Endocrinology at the University of Colorado Anschutz and Children's Hospital Colorado. Thank you so much for talking with us.

ALISON SHAPIRO, ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF PEDIATRIC ENDOCRINOLOGY, UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO, ANSCHUTZ: Thank you for having me, Rosemary.

CHURCH: This is fascinating. I mean you have studied the effects of weight loss drugs like Ozempic and other GLP-1s and found they may be reshaping the brain in positive and negative ways. So what are the positive changes that you've been seeing in various brain scans that you've been looking at?

SHAPIRO: I think the best way to summarize the positive changes that we are potentially seeing is that we have weight loss on one hand and then we have these changes in both salience and reward connectivity. And what that means is that it's really tracking with what patients are reporting with their appetite suppression as well as that loss of food noise.

So we see this mechanism of weight loss, which is involving the brain very clearly, is actually tracking with what we're seeing when we measure individuals' brains before they go on the drugs and then measure them shortly after they go on the drug.

CHURCH: And what about negative changes to the rewiring of brain circuits caused by these GLP-1 drugs? How bad is it?

SHAPIRO: You know, we don't actually have enough information to say whether or not it is bad. There are anecdotal reports from patients and individuals taking these drugs where they feel potentially adult sense of things that were rewarding once. Now, we haven't studied that systematically and I think that is where I just, you know, try to exercise caution about what we say and how we treat these drugs because it is important for us to study those things systematically so that we can better inform our patients about potential responses when they go on to these drugs. But currently, we really don't have enough evidence to support any warnings, for example.

CHURCH: And Alison, why did you decide to study the effects of these weight loss and diabetic drugs on the brain while everyone else has been focusing on their impact on the body?

SHAPIRO: That's a wonderful question and, you know, it's really the motivation for my entire career. We really decided to look at the brain primarily because of these reports and the really strong evidence showing that the weight loss was coming from the appetite suppression.

And when we start talking about appetite and people's motivation to eat, you immediately think of the brain. So we really thought, let's check out the brain. We know the behaviors are tracking with what we would expect a drug acting on the brain would look like.

[02:50:00]

So that really motivated us to, you know, focus not only on the metabolic and weight-related outcomes, but really see whether or not brain changes were also occurring that we could then correlate or associate with the behavioral changes that we know are present.

CHURCH: And of course, tens of millions of people all around the world are now taking these drugs for obesity and diabetes treatment. We all know friends, acquaintances and celebrities who are taking them. Some people say they plan to use these drugs for the rest of their lives because, of course, if you go off them, you go back to putting on the pounds. So how risky is this to the body and the brain if someone decides to do this for the rest of their life?

SHAPIRO: You know, that is a another really wonderful question because something we still don't know because these drugs are still very new. We don't know what the long-term effects are. And as we begin to really study people and have individuals in our studies who've been on these medications for longer than a few years, we are really going to be able to study what is happening over the long term and how that might impact, either positively or negatively, their behavior and other things that may result from that treatment.

CHURCH: Professor Alison Shapiro, thanks for sharing your findings on this. It certainly is fascinating. Appreciate it.

SHAPIRO: Thank you so much for having me again. CHURCH: The New York Knicks make an historic return to the NBA Finals up against the San Antonio Spurs. Highlights from Game One and reaction from the fans. That's next.

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CHURCH: This was the scene at the Madison Square Garden watch party for New York Knicks fans as their team won Game 1 of the NBA Finals.

The Knicks defeated the San Antonio Spurs in a back and forth battle to start the championship series. Final score 105-95.

It was a close game all night. The Knicks jumped out to an early lead, but the Spurs star rookie, Dylan Harper Jr. came off the bench and helped the team come back with a 20-5 run to end the first quarter. Knicks star guard, Jalen Brunson finished with a game high, 30 points. The Knicks now extended their playoff win streak to 12 games, the second longest in league history.

KARL-ANTHONY TOWNS, NEW YORK KNICKS: Every game has to be approached like it's 0-0.

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You got to come out with that same energy, intensity and desperation like it's Game 1 of any playoff series. So, you know, we've got 48 hours to rest up and do it all over again and even at a higher level.

JALEN BRUNSON, NEW YORK KNICKS: I think it's a mixture of us playing a defense and us, obviously, getting a little lucky. They come ready to play more than any other team that we faced and so we have the utmost respect for them. We know that we got to be ready for Game 2.

VICTOR WEMBANYAMA, SAN ANTONIO SPURS: We've been down in a series before, never in the finals, obviously. But I'm not kicking myself about anything really. I mean, I'm not worried the slightest.

CHURCH: Then there was this moment when a fan rushed to the court, seemingly with his cell phone in hand to take photos.

The Spurs will look to even the series in Game 2, set for Friday night in San Antonio. CNN's Omar Jimenez was there, has more from the Knicks watch party in New York.

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is the reaction after a Game 1 win in the NBA Finals for the New York Knicks. We have been outside Madison Square Garden throughout all of this. And look, if you doubt any of the enthusiasm, even for an away game for the Knicks, look no further than the crowd that gathered over the course of this game.

But I want to show you what we've been seeing over the course of this, as the celebration really begins here in New York City. It's the beginning of a long series. You know that if you're a basketball fan. But you can't tell the people here who have been chanting "Knicks in 4" for hours.

I was talking to them beforehand. They were saying "Knicks in 4" beforehand too. So this is just the beginning. They got a Game 1. It came down to a back and forth game throughout all of it. But the excitement in New York City is the chance to do something they have not done in over five decades now that they are back in a place they have not been in more than two decades.

So moving forward, like we said, is a long series. But the enthusiasm here, it is not going anywhere. Not going anywhere. (Inaudible) This is New York City. Back to you, guys.

CHURCH: Right in the middle of it there.

Universal will soon begin construction on a new theme park in the U.K. But you'll have to wait a while to see the finished product. Comcast NBCUniversal is investing more than $6.5 billion in the Universal United Kingdom Resort. Government funds will also be used to upgrade infrastructure. The park will include several themed lands and try to attract more than eight million visitors in its first year. If all goes according to plan, the park will open in 2031.

Thanks so much for your company this hour. I'm Rosemary Church. "CNN Newsroom" with Polo Sandoval is next, after a short break. Stay with us.

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