Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Trump Says Agreement In Iran Scheduled To Be Signed Tomorrow; Knicks Could Win First Championship In 53 Years; John Turturro On His Love Of The New York Knicks; Kennedy Center: Trump's Name Fully Removed From Its Building; Fan Fest Kicks Off Sunday's White House Fight Night; SpaceX Goes Public In The Largest IPO Ever. Aired 7-8p ET

Aired June 13, 2026 - 19:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLAIRE DANES, ACTRESS: I was very surprised by it. And the environment was so epic that Baz had created. And I was I think just like moved by the mise-en-scene in a way and the tragedy, you know, but it, you know, the world he creates helped elicit that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ELIZABETH WAGMEISTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: After their conversation, I was on set and I spoke with Claire Danes and Richard Gadd, and Claire was able to tell Richard that she is such a fan of his work. She told him that she discovered him first in "Baby Reindeer," which that's what many viewers were introduced to his work from. That was a huge Emmy-winning series.

And now he is back campaigning for an Emmy for his show "Half Man," which, by the way, he created, stars in and wrote. So talk about a true talent. And it was really neat to be there and to see a legendary actor like Claire Danes able to talk to Richard Gadd about how she was such a fan of his work, Omar.

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN HOST: Elizabeth Wagmeister doing great work. You can catch this episode and plenty more of them now streaming on the CNN app.

The next hour of CNN NEWSROOM starts right now.

Welcome into the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Omar Jimenez in New York tonight.

The United States and Iran are offering conflicting reports of an interim agreement that President Trump says is set to be signed tomorrow. Iran, though, pushing back on that claim. For example, Iran's Revolutionary Guard in a post on Telegram describing the timeline as a, quote, "test for Iran's negotiating team," end quote, adding the text has not yet been finalized.

The agreement would not be an end to the war, but it would set up a framework and kick off a 60-day negotiating period for complex nuclear negotiations.

I want to bring in CNN's Julia Benbrook, who's at the White House, for us tonight.

So, Julia, what more are you hearing about what's in this agreement?

JULIA BENBROOK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Omar, as you pointed out, this would be a first step toward that final deal. And President Donald Trump says that it is going to be signed -- it is scheduled to be signed tomorrow.

I want to pull up his post for you now. He did provide a few more details. He said, quote, "The deal is scheduled to be signed tomorrow and immediately after it's signed the Hormuz Strait is open to all. At the appropriate time, when all is calm, we will go in and get the nuclear dust buried deep under the powerful sunken granite mountains. Thanks to our beautiful B-2 bombers and their brilliant pilots, and down, blend and destroy it, whether in Iran or the United States."

He also said that no money will exchange hands as part of this deal. This post, it came just hours after Pakistan, a key negotiator throughout this process, also expressed optimism. The prime minister posted on social media, saying that he believed that a framework could be finalized within 24 hours. But there are still a lot of questions here. Iran has not committed to signing a deal on Sunday, and there are various reports, various sides here when it comes to what is actually in this memorandum of understanding.

But when it comes to the White House side, a Trump administration official says that this would kick off a 60-day period for technical negotiations, and it would include an outline of commitments on destroying, dismantling Iran's nuclear program as well as its highly enriched uranium or nuclear dust, as Trump referred to it in that post. But Trump, he says this will be signed tomorrow.

There are a couple significant things about that date tomorrow, his birthday, his 80th birthday, as well as the UFC fights. I know you can't see them over my shoulder, but I sure can. The claw and the setup there is all there on the South Lawn. So this will be a big day, a big moment for him, and it seems clear that he wants to add to some of those wins.

JIMENEZ: Yes. If you're looking at the White House as of late, you can't miss the claw towers over the building itself.

Julia Benbrook, at the White House for us, appreciate it.

I want to bring in Jamil Jaffer. He's previously served in several top national security roles, including as counsel to the assistant attorney general for national security, and he's the founder and executive director of the National Security Institute.

Jamil, appreciate you being here. We still don't know the specific wording in this memorandum of understanding, but from what we do know, do you see this as an effective step to get to the more complicated nuclear negotiations? And how much weight should we be putting in this?

JAMIL JAFFER, FOUNDER, NATIONAL SECURITY INSTITUTE: Well, Omar, you know, the devil is in the details. The question is, how much is Iran committing to? Are they really committing to giving up all of their enriched uranium? Are they agreeing to give up permanently their ability to enrich uranium domestically? Are they willing to open the Strait of Hormuz with no conditions, no checking in with them, no multimillion-dollar payments to get through the strait?

[19:05:01]

All of that seems to be in controversy because on one side the president says those are minimum conditions. On the other side, Iran says they're getting something good for them on all sides of that. So we'll have to see what this framework deal says. We'll have to see when and if at all they get money, because as you know, President Trump was apoplectic when the Biden administration, actually the Obama administration and the Biden administration followed through on it, gave Iran a bunch of cash.

He blew the lid on that one. I think rightly so. If he does that himself here and-or allows him to retain a uranium enrichment capability, the very thing he castigated the Obama nuclear deal for doing, it would be a disaster having gone through all of this effort to attack Iran, to bomb their nuclear sites and the like. And by the way, the fact that we're not getting that uranium now and not removing it, and they're talking about down-blending it, reducing its enrichment, that just demonstrates this is likely going to be a deal that is not a good one for the United States.

JIMENEZ: You know, we've also been here before in various respects. And to your point, we're still waiting to see the concrete details of this or a concrete timeline, especially with these conflicting reports. But we've been here before, seemingly on the verge of some sort of diplomatic breakthrough, especially as projected by the president over 30 times by our count. Does this feel any different to you or do you feel like this posturing is more of what we've seen as the same?

JAFFER: Well, it feels different in the sense that the president is putting more and more pressure on. He's saying it publicly. Again, you're right. It's almost 39 times he's said that we're about to get to a deal. The problem, of course, is every time he does that and looks desperate for a deal, the Iranians think they have an advantage. They push harder. They try to get more concessions. That is a terrible negotiating tactic for being the best negotiator the country has ever seen.

By his own description, Donald Trump seems to keep giving away his own negotiating leverage. What he's got to do is he's got to stop and say, look, you don't want to do a deal. Bombing starts tomorrow and then carry through on it. He said that over and over again. He's never really restarted it. If he wants to get his leverage back, he's got to go do that. He's got to go reopen the Strait of Hormuz by force if necessary. He has been unwilling to do that, so it's no surprise the Iranians think they have all the leverage here.

JIMENEZ: Well, and even with some of the bombing that we've seen that we haven't quite seen any progress forward in terms of the stalemate of where we seem to be right now at this point.

I want to shift topics and ask you about FISA, Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. This key government spy powers law, it expired at midnight after the House this week didn't pass an extension, which, of course, the law allows U.S. officials to monitor calls and texts from foreign targets. But its controversy is it can also scoop up the data of Americans at some points in the process.

I just wonder, what should people understand about the ramifications of this expiring in this moment?

JAFFER: Well, Omar, it could not be more catastrophic. This is a time when we're at war with Iran. Maybe that war is coming to an end now, but we're in significant conflict with them. They're the world's largest terrorist supporting state in the globe. Number two, we have the World Cup here in the United States. You've got China getting increasingly aggressive towards Taiwan and Russia killing civilians in Ukraine.

At a time of great peril for the nation, and by the way, don't forget, ISIS and al Qaeda still want to attack us here at home and abroad. We're allowing the most productive surveillance authority in the United States, contributes about 60 percent of the president's daily brief, to expire. Congress -- the House went out of session yesterday and went home on vacation for not just a weekend, Omar. The entire week.

It is outrageous. It's appalling. It's a disaster for the country. Those members of Congress should come back on Monday, vote to pass this law, effectively vote to make it permanent and allow us to move forward and be safer as a nation.

JIMENEZ: I believe you described it as part of an op-ed for roll call, that this is an act of self-sabotage, that our enemies could scarcely have improved upon. You know, this reauthorization was derailed when President Trump named Bill Pulte to serve as acting director of National Intelligence, and now he's nominated U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, Jay Clayton, for that position.

But what do you make of how this was handled by the White House? Because we were talking to a Democratic congressman earlier who essentially said he trusts -- his distrust for Bill Pulte was more than he assesses a higher risk than allowing the reauthorization to expire.

JAFFER: I mean, I don't know how you come up with that idea. I mean, look, the reality is that whatever you might think of Bill Pulte or, frankly, Tulsi Gabbard before him, or, you know, what you might think of Jay Clayton, which, you know, I think some Democrats think he's going to be a good pick. Jim Himes, the ranking member of the Intelligence Committee, said he's going to be a solid pick.

But look, it doesn't really matter what you think of the DNI or the acting DNI. This is literally the U.S.'s most productive intelligence capability. We're going to go down on terrorists, on spies, on foreign nation state threat actors, because Congress doesn't want to vote to authorize this. And frankly, because Congress put itself in this position of having to renew the law every so often, only extending for 45 days at a time here and there, this is Congress's own fault.

The president may have something to blame for putting an acting DNI and that people didn't think was qualified. Whoever is to blame, the reality is the law is gone now. We're no longer able to collect. Some providers are going to reduce their collection or are going to reduce our ability to get intelligence. It's not completely gone, to be clear. These orders go for a year.

[19:10:02]

The problem is, as we saw in 2007 when the predecessor law expired, I was at the Justice Department, we lost surveillance. We had providers say, we're not going to go up on new targets. We're not going to give you existing collection. We're just stopping now. That's the problem we have. And at a time when we've got the World Cup here, if something goes wrong, it's going to be the heads of every single member left town. And you want to blame the White House? Fine. Blame the White House, too. But nobody should leave town. Congress should come back, vote and get this thing through.

JIMENEZ: All right. And we will see how quickly they move once this nomination process moves forward.

Jamil Jaffer, really appreciate the time and perspective. Thanks for being here.

JAFFER: Thanks, Omar.

JIMENEZ: All right. Over in the sports world, 53 years of waiting. Could tonight be the night for the New York Knicks? We're live with more on how the fans and the city are getting ready. Plus, staying in sports, 14 UFC fighters hit the scales ahead of tomorrow's big battle on the White House lawn. We'll bring you some of those details. And later, it's the biggest IPO in history. And it just made Elon Musk the richest man ever.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:15:42]

JIMENEZ: New York basketball fans are locked in tonight with a championship on the line as the Knicks face the Spurs in game five of the NBA Finals in San Antonio. If the Knicks win, it will be their first title since 1973. And with tonight's game in Texas, New Yorkers will be following the action at watch parties like these all over the city still riding that high from that incredible comeback in game four after being down by 29 points to win.

In Texas, Spurs fans are keeping the faith at their own watch parties and in person at the Frost Bank Center. These are live images right now as fans are getting ready out there in Texas, hoping their team will be able to win and send the series back to New York for a game six, potentially setting up something that only one other team has done in NBA Finals history. But that's not what New Yorkers are thinking about.

CNN correspondent Gloria Pazmino joins us now from outside Madison Square Garden.

Gloria, what's it like there as we get closer to tipoff?

GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we're a little more than an hour away from tipoff. And is it going to be Jose Alvarado from Brooklyn who brings it home tonight? Is OG going to have a last- minute, decisive action that brings this game home? Or is tonight the night that Jalen Brunson will become king of New York? That's what the fans told me earlier today. They are convinced. They are hopeful. They are certain they're energized. They are sure that this championship is coming home tonight.

Now, Omar, just a little while ago, the watch party that's taking place here tonight, they finally started letting fans in. So they've been streaming in. But I also just want to talk about this kind of crazy day in New York City that's happening today. All of these events in what is easily one of the most congested traffic intersections here in the city. We're standing right outside of Madison Square Garden, which is hosting a sold-out concert tonight.

Outside of the Garden is the watch party for 3,000 Knicks fans. And then as we speak, the World Cup is also underway in New Jersey. So fans who are going to be returning from that game are going to be spilling out of Penn Station right around maybe the third quarter. So this area shut down completely by police. You're not going to be able to get into this zone unless you're going into Penn Station or you have a concert ticket or you've registered for that watch party.

A massive police presence is here to try and make sure that the crowds are under control. We've seen several arrests in the past games unfortunately, so we're hoping that things go smoothly tonight. But I want you to listen from New Yorkers, listen to how hopeful they are, how energized and how excited they are that the Knicks just might clinch it and bring it home tonight.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAZMINO: Tell me what tonight means to you and how you're feeling going into it.

ADAM LEE, KNICKS FAN: Fifty-three years of pain. I've only been alive for 33 of it, but should be a great experience. You know, trying to end a generational curse and bring bedlam to this city.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think if we -- I think we have to clinch it tonight because we already gave him one. That was -- they got lucky, you know, they got lucky. Knicks in five.

PAZMINO: Knicks in five.

(END VIDEO CLIP) PAZMINO: Now, Omar, some of the fans I talked to today, I asked them, I said, what would you be willing to give up? What would you do to make sure that this win is a guarantee tonight? One person told me they would give up a week's salary. One person told me they would give up a year's salary, and then another person told me they'd give their firstborn son, even though the son doesn't exist yet.

So people here ready to give it their all, really hopeful that this is going to come home tonight after 53 years, a 53-year drought. Hopefully that ends tonight. And I'm not even going to say it just in case it doesn't happen. What happens next, I'm not even going to bring that into the air. They are going to bring it home tonight. Knicks in five. If not, I'm not going to talk about it.

JIMENEZ: Well, they would come back so the party would come home. But you don't have to say it. I'll say it. I'll say it. Don't worry about it.

PAZMINO: Yes. Yes.

JIMENEZ: Gloria Pazmino, appreciate it. Stay safe out there.

[19:20:02]

I mean, tonight has the potential to be a really, really good night for New York Knicks fans, including the lifers. So who better to talk about this moment in time than a true Knicks superfan, star of the upcoming movie, "The Only Living Pickpocket in New York," actor and director John Turturro.

Here's our conversation.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIMENEZ: Place, place your nerves right now. Wedding day, big audition.

JOHN TURTURRO, HOLLYWOOD ACTOR, FILMMAKER, NEW YORK KNICKS SUPERFAN: Right.

JIMENEZ: First audition.

TURTURRO: Right.

JIMENEZ: Chance at a Knicks championship.

TURTURRO: Yes, I guess they're all very comparable. I mean, I've gone on stage and been really nervous, too, you know. The thing is, when you go on stage, you can control it a little bit. You're doing it.

JIMENEZ: Yes.

TURTURRO: As a fan, you're watching it.

JIMENEZ: Yes. TURTURRO: You're giving your support, but you're watching it. And

that's -- it's not as when you can actually do something about it that's actually helpful.

JIMENEZ: Yes.

TURTURRO: You know what I mean? So it's up there.

JIMENEZ: Yes.

(LAUGHTER)

JIMENEZ: That's a high bar, though. That's a high bar.

TURTURRO: Yes. That's a high bar.

JIMENEZ: I was talking to Spike Lee earlier this week. And you two were born around the same time.

TURTURRO: We're three weeks -- I'm three weeks older than him.

JIMENEZ: So I'm guessing you started supporting the Knicks around the same time. How did you get into the team?

TURTURRO: Well, his dad took him to the --

JIMENEZ: Yes.

TURTURRO: I was a sports fan. I sort of fell in love with the game. You know, I was like 10, like, you know, 11. So I followed the Knicks, you know, went through the Bernard King era. And then when they got Patrick, I had a little money at the time and I scraped together money, I got tickets, they were in the green seats, had season tickets. I was on all those games. Even the seventh game in '94, I went with Spike and Branford Marsalis. And that was a heartbreaker.

JIMENEZ: You mentioned going with Spike back in '94. Just tell me about that relationship. Obviously you guys have done a lot of movies together.

TURTURRO: Well, once we did "Do the Right Thing" and we did "Jungle Fever" and "Mo' Better," and "Clockers" and, you know, so I would go. Sometimes, you know, he would say, listen, you know, I can't, I can't pay you amount of money that you, you know, that you normally get. So I would say, well, then give me five games. You know what I mean? So at that time. But, yes, we went to a lot of games and had some really fun experiences. Have the Shaq almost kill us once. So I fall on top of us when he was with Orlando and I went like this, you know.

JIMENEZ: You covered Spike.

TURTURRO: I covered spike.

JIMENEZ: Yes, yes, yes.

TURTURRO: Because I figured, well, I'm bigger than him, so maybe I take a --

JIMENEZ: Of course. You have a better chance against Shaq.

TURTURRO: Yes. Not much.

JIMENEZ: You were with Spike I think out in Brooklyn when he was --

TURTURRO: Yes. The Fancy Free.

JIMENEZ: Yes. When he's hanging out of the car as the crowds yelling at him. How would you describe this run in New York City and as a Knicks fan?

TURTURRO: Well, I think we've been building to it. And I think losing to Indiana last year gave us a little bit more of an incentive to know what it's like. We could have beaten Indiana. We had them and we let them go. And I think that -- but each year they've progressed. It's very, you know, exciting. I guess the younger you are, you haven't been through the heartbreak and also the euphoria of winning, too.

But that's, you know, that's what it's like. But they brought -- they've brought a lot of joy to the city. And I'm, you know, it's really hard. I'm glad I'm not doing a job right now because I really can't concentrate. I mean, my wife knows that all around my whole house, it's all Knick paraphernalia, you know. I got my Walt Frazier card. You know, my old card in my wallet tonight.

JIMENEZ: Keep it -- yes, keep it close.

TURTURRO: Yes, I'm keeping it close.

JIMENEZ: I was listening to a previous interview you did and I think you said one of your favorite things about a Knicks game or a Knicks win is riding the subway after the Knicks win.

TURTURRO: The best. The best.

JIMENEZ: Why is that? Tell me about that.

TURTURRO: Everyone is looking at each other. Everybody is talking, sharing how they felt, whatever. When they came back from '22 down against Cleveland with seven and a half minutes, everyone was smiling, but everyone looked like they were in shock. So I would look at you like, for confirmation, like, did I just dream that? Or did I see that? You know? It was so much fun. And it's like a small town all of a sudden. You're like, I'm in this city that no one ever looks at each other and everyone is talking to each other.

JIMENEZ: Yes.

TURTURRO: And that's the power of the beauty of sports. You know, it can really, it's egalitarian, you know, and everybody can share that. And I just think that's a great thing. It's like when the Yankees won the World Series in 2001, even though they lost, they brought -- you know, after 9/11, they brought the city back to life.

JIMENEZ: Yes.

TURTURRO: Because you could focus on something for a couple of hours.

JIMENEZ: Yes.

TURTURRO: And that's irreplaceable. It really is. And it's a great thing. It's one of the joys of being alive.

JIMENEZ: What would a championship mean to you personally to the city?

TURTURRO: I think it would be, you know, it would be very meaningful for a lot of the lifers, for the young people, for whatever age you're at. You know what I mean?

[19:25:01]

It would be, you know, a great thing, you know, for the city if they could, you know, bring it home and, you know, hoping that they can, but it's like one quarter at a time, you know, one play at a time. And they've gotten this far is a great thing. And, you know, obviously want them to finish the job, you know what I mean?

JIMENEZ: They won four games.

TURTURRO: But you have to win four games.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How much have you spent for just this playoffs or finals?

TURTURRO: How much have I spend, what, traveling for tickets?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

TURTURRO: I can't, I can't divulge that. I mean it's embarrassing. I haven't even told my wife. I haven't even told my wife. I said, don't ask me what I'm doing. I'm not with another woman.

JIMENEZ: You're locked in.

TURTURRO: I'm with the Knicks.

JIMENEZ: Yes.

TURTURRO: She knows that's my friend. You know what I mean?

JIMENEZ: Yes.

TURTURRO: But, you know, she knows like, leave me, you know, be. She's a fan.

(CROSSTALK)

JIMENEZ: The Knicks relationship.

TURTURRO: That's my other relationship. Yes. But it's, you know, it's the joy of being 10 years old. So if I buy a ticket, you know, and I can afford it, it cost me a little money, it's -- I'm sharing that with my son. I wouldn't do that if I wasn't going with my son.

JIMENEZ: Any ritual or anything?

TURTURRO: Superstition? Yes. I sometimes, you know --

JIMENEZ: You got that card.

TURTURRO: I have the card. Don't maybe wash the pants. Maybe the same shoes.

JIMENEZ: Yes. I thought I smelled something.

TURTURRO: I got orange underwear, so you know what I mean, right?

(LAUGHTER)

JIMENEZ: The joy of sports, honestly. It's great.

TURTURRO: Yes. I mean, you know, it's great. You know? I didn't dye my hair or anything like that, so, no, no, I'm too old for that.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JIMENEZ: John Turturro down in San Antonio for this game, watching it in person, seeing if the Knicks can clinch it.

All right. Several hours -- as we follow more news, several hours after a deadline set by a judge, workers at the Kennedy Center removing President Trump's name from the building. We'll bring you the details.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:31:13]

JIMENEZ: President Donald Trump's name has been removed from The Kennedy Center, according to a statement from the center's executive director. A judge gave the center until noon today to remove Trump's name after the organization missed the original deadline of midnight Friday.

Camila DeChalus has more.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CAMILA DECHALUS, CNN REPORTER: We're here in front of the Kennedy Center, just hours after a federal judge gave an official deadline of 12:00 P.M. Saturday for the Trump administration to officially remove President Trump's name from The Kennedy Center building.

Now, we are told through court documents, the Trump administration submitted that they have officially done that. But at this point in time, if you see it up close, The Kennedy Center building, you can't see it for yourself because at this moment in time, there's a tarp covering the official signage of the building.

Now, we spent hours here and dozens of visitors and bystanders have passed by taking photos and videos of this building and some say that they were waiting in anticipation for this tarp to come down. But some people I've talked to say that this is really symbolizing hope for them, while others say it's about a federal judge trying to restore checks and balances to the U.S. government.

Now, we know this issue at hand right now has really been engulfed in a legal battle. There has been a lot of back and forth between the Trump administration and the legal courts about whether President Trump had the authority to put his name on this building. But with this final verdict, people say that they bystanders that have come here say that they needed to see it in person, that really that the law is going to be followed and that his name is going to be taken down from this building, but at this point in time, it's really unclear when that's going to be.

Camila DeChalus, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JIMENEZ: Camila DeChalus, really appreciate it.

Also happening now, excited fans getting their first look at the fighters ahead of tomorrow night's UFC Freedom 250 night, as it's being billed. More than 4,000 people are expected.

Outside The White House, you see the Claw, the lighting over the Octagon as well, but they're all expected, these fans at The White House to watch more than a dozen fighters duke it out. But right now, all eyes are on The Ellipse where the fighters are about to take part in a ceremonial weigh-in. And you know what that means. They get to face off verbally, at least to start. Mostly it's supposed to stay verbal.

Brian Todd joins us now. How are things going out there?

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Omar, I'm not sure what's going to be more fun in the end between this Fan Fest than the actual fighting events themselves, because this Fan Fest is just a ton of fun for the thousands of people who have come here, very interactive for anyone who wants to take part.

This is one of the things you can do, a simulated walk out where you can pretend like you're a UFC fighter walking out for their fight through the mist and through this tunnel here. People are in line to do that. This gentleman is about to do that.

You've got the punching bag over here. This gentleman just hit the punching bag. This measures your power and speed of your punch, and it comes up there on the screen. They had meet and greets here that actually just concluded just a short time ago.

I'm going to come over here and talk to two people who came here from New Jersey. This is Richard and Michael Separovich. Hi, guys. How you doing? They're in line for the simulated walkout.

MICHAEL SEPAROVICH, UFC FAN FROM MIDDLETOWN, NEW JERSEY: That's correct.

TODD: What's been -- I'll start with you, Michael, what's been your favorite part of this? There's just so much interactive stuff here.

M. SEPAROVICH: I would say being able to like see Volk cook, it was pretty amazing. I watch him on YouTube, so that was pretty cool to see.

TODD: Cooking exhibition.

M. SEPAROVICH: Yes, cooking with Volk, it was great. Really, really cool.

TODD: How about you, Richard, what do you like?

RICHARD SEPAROVICH, UFC FAN: The meet and greet. We weren't able to get up on there, but we were watching from the sidelines, and it's pretty awesome to see the fighters. You know, and then just hugging people and taking pictures with them, it's freaking great.

TODD: You guys are both UFC fans; you watch it on T.V. a lot. You don't have tickets for tomorrow.

R. SEPAROVICH: No.

TODD: Does that take away from the experience or do you think this is, you know, this is enough here?

M. SEPAROVICH: I don't think so. I think it's good. Yes, even one day is absolutely great.

TODD: Richard, I flagged you partly because you're wearing the U.S. soccer shirt.

R. SEPAROVICH: Yes.

TODD: Okay, which creates more buzz, this whole thing or the U.S. team winning their first game in the World Cup?

R. SEPAROVICH: Right now, the USA team.

TODD: All right.

R. SEPAROVICH: First, the first game, four to one.

TODD: Yes.

R. SEPAROVICH: That was great.

TODD: A lot of buzz.

R. SEPAROVICH: Yes.

TODD: It is indeed a great sports weekend.

M. SEPAROVICH: Oh yes, totally.

[19:35:13]

TODD: All right enjoy it guys. Thank you for talking to us. Thank you, okay.

So, Omar, that's just part of, you know the buzz here. Just a lot of people taking part in interactive events. They're going to have a concert here later tonight. The weigh in, you just mentioned it in your lead in the ceremonial weigh in taking place at the Lincoln Memorial. They also had an official weigh in earlier.

So, you know, we're really gearing up for this. The one concern, Omar, tomorrow is going to be the weather. There is a line of thunderstorms being predicted to move through here tomorrow afternoon.

Dana White, the CEO of UFC, said even if it rains, they're going to go. They're going to hold the event even if it rains. But he did say what would kill us would be lightning. There is lightning in the forecast, but the question is whether that line of storms is going to move through before those events start tomorrow.

So, Omar, a lot of people are going to be keeping an eye on that.

JIMENEZ: A lot to watch for on top of the events themselves. Brian Todd, appreciate you being there out for us. Good luck out there.

Meanwhile, SpaceX IPO launch out of this world making one earthling here, the jumping one, behind President Trump, the very first trillionaire.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:40:59]

JIMENEZ: This week's biggest money story by far, especially by the amount SpaceX going public in the world's largest IPO and making a mint for its early backers rocketing Elon Musk to become the world's first trillionaire on paper.

Joining me now is someone who's been covering this all along the way, Jack Crivici-Kramer, the co-host of the TBOY podcast, the best one yet. Jack, when you talk to regular non-Wall Street people about this massive IPO, you said to think of this investment almost like a Pokemon card or a baseball card. What do you mean by that?

JACK CRIVICI-KRAMER, CO-HOST OF TBOY: Well, to keep things related to sports, you know, this was the biggest IPO ever by Three X. So, you need to sprinkle on some context to make that make sense. It is like when babe ruth hit 54 home runs. Nobody else had ever hit 27. But this is a hundred times crazier than that because SpaceX's $75 billion IPO is nearly three times larger than the number two. But to your point about Pokemon cards, you know, everybody's asking, is the stock price going to go up or is it going to go down?

Trying to predict the price of SpaceX stock is like trying to predict the price of a Pokemon card, because SpaceX stock is truly an Elon Musk trading card. And you know, Pokemon cards are at record high prices. Why? Well, Elon says the price of his trading card, SpaceX stock is 135 bucks, take it or leave it.

And unlike other stocks on Wall Street, there's no financial calculation that justifies that stock price.

But a record number of investors bought it because Elon has such emotional appeal to so many people, like a Pikachu card has emotional appeal to so many people.

JIMENEZ: Of course, I mean, a good Pikachu card, that's priceless, really.

You know, when you look at sort of the -- it's interesting, you say sort of, you know, this person, the Elon personality sort of powers a lot of people's confidence and understanding of SpaceX. You know, you talk about the biggest IPO, the first trillionaire, but this company does have three core businesses, you know, and really only one of them is technically profitable in Starlink.

Are there any risks here? How do you assess the sort of combination of what makes up SpaceX?

CRIVICI-KRAMER: Yes, I mean there are three key businesses. Two of them are monopolies, which is pretty incredible. The rocket launch business, that's a monopoly. 80 percent of the world's market share in terms of tonnage launched into orbit.

Starlink, that's pretty much the only satellite internet connectivity service in the world and it's very profitable. But the third business is the really interesting one, that's the A.I., and that didn't really exist until SpaceX acquired xAI, Elon's other company in February.

And now that he's made that acquisition, it's the whole bet is A.I., So, SpaceX said that their goal was, let me say that differently -- SpaceX said their Total Market Opportunity, their TAM, is $28 trillion. But the wildest thing is that 93 percent of that market opportunity was A.I.

So, the critics are saying this $2 trillion valuation, it assumes that three things will become true and this is not your everyday to-do list. Number one, make the Starship rocket viable, the biggest rocket in human history.

Number two, put an A.I. computing data center in space. Make it work. Keep it the right temperature in outer space, and then send A.I. compute back to Earth. And then number three, make A.I. profitable, something only chip companies have done so far.

Now, the reason this stock is so risky and why critics have so many issues with it, is instead of waiting to see if those numbers one, two, or three work out, investors are pricing in today, yes, they've already worked out. Elon is going to do those things.

JIMENEZ: You know, it's really interesting because, you know, it could work out in one way in terms of Elon's belief or people's belief in Elon and belief in what he can bring in terms of this company.

You know, it could also have the opposite effect where, for example, when he got a little deep into politics, there were some hits to some of his companies, Tesla, and a different company took on different meaning for a lot of people. It sort of became a political message in some cases. So, it's just an interesting dynamic.

But I want to ask you about this before we go, because the big game tonight in San Antonio, Knicks versus the Spurs, you argue that the Knicks business has the opposite problem of SpaceX. Instead of being highly valued for its CEO, the Knicks are undervalued for their CEO. Bring me, what are you talking about here? Bring me in.

[19:45:30]

CRIVICI-KRAMER: Yes, this is called the Dolan discount. So, Elon has a premium, you're absolutely right. Any company he is the CEO of, the stock price is higher. But the two companies that James Dolan is CEO of, including Madison Square Garden Sports, which owns the Knicks and the Rangers. This is a publicly traded sports franchise that's competing for the NBA Finals tonight.

In fact, their quarterly earnings are going to be so exciting when they come out. I think Jalen Brunson is going to be mentioned about seven times. The reason though that we know there's Dolan discount, you know we've all seen these lists online of the most valuable franchises in the world, the New York Knicks and the New York Rangers, being in New York City, that's such a valuable media market. The Knicks are worth $9 billion. The Rangers are worth $4 billion as hockey isn't quite as lucrative.

But $9 billion plus $4 billion, that's $13 billion. That's how much MSG Sports should be worth based on the sum of the two parts, but it's not worth $13 billion. It's only worth $9 billion. So why is the stock worth 40 percent less than everyone is saying the two assets are worth combined?

Well, that's got to be James Dolan. I mean, first of all, he hasn't brought the city a championship since 1994.

JIMENEZ: They're waiting.

KRAMER: Second of all, he's got some major controversies, some very big idiosyncrasies and so that's the Dolan discount. There's speculation on Wall Street; he might finally separate the Knicks and the Rangers to try to realize that value of the two individual teams.

JIMENEZ: Well, we will see. They've had heartbreak in the 90s, some wins in the 70s. But it's been a long time. The Dolan versus Elon factor. Stamp it folks, Jack Crivici-Kramer, appreciate you being here. Thanks for the insight.

CRIVICI-KRAMER: Thank you, Omar.

JIMENEZ: Of course, we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:51:52]

JIMENEZ: Tonight, the New York Knicks have a chance to do something they haven't done since 1973. Game five of the NBA Finals tips off in just a little bit. And if the Knicks beat the Spurs, they will win the NBA title, something that has not happened in 53 years. So, when you're the ultimate New York Knicks fan, what is your office look like?

For Spike Lee, you don't have an office. You have a museum.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIMENEZ (on camera): So, this is the actual championship banner.

SPIKE LEE, FILMMAKER SUPERFAN OF THE NEW YORK KNICKS: This is the bona fide, the original. This is original banner for the 1970 World Champion Knicks that hung from the top of the world's most famous arena, Madison Square Garden.

JIMENEZ (on camera): How did you get this?

LEE: A little bit of that. Okay, yes, yes.

JIMENEZ (on camera): That's for off camera, we'll figure that out, we'll figure that out. But then --

LEE: But this is it, and I was at the Garden, May 8th, 1970. They called it the Willis Reed game. Walt Frazier says, not so fast. I only had 36 points. You know, crazy stats. But this, I was at the game. And this is a banner that hung from the top of the world's most famous arena, Madison Square Garden.

JIMENEZ: Wow, wow. And then, I mean, this whole office is really a museum. As you as you described.

LEE: I say, office/museum.

JIMENEZ (on camera): Yes.

LEE: So right here, these are, game-worn signed jerseys.

JIMENEZ: Different eras of Knicks players here.

LEE: Earl "The Pearl" Monroe, signed. Walt Frazier game worn signed. Brunson --

JIMENEZ (on camera): Man of the moment.

LEE: -- signed. Carmelo, who's from Brooklyn, my brother Red Hook. Senator Bill Bradley signed, game one.

JIMENEZ (on camera): Why keep all these? Why put them all in one spot? Why try to collect them?

LEE: I was a kid, I was collecting baseball cards, Marvel comic books, I'm just a collector.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JIMENEZ: If we had shown everything there, it would have taken hours. You'll probably see Spike Lee watching the game tonight.

Now, elsewhere as a comedian, Craig Ferguson has had run ins with lawyers over the First Amendment and free speech. But this week he's diving deeper into this sacred civil liberty, exploring it's bounds and threats against it. Here's a preview.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So, it's important protections about ideas. So, religion, speech, press assembly and petition to the government.

CRAIG FERGUSON, SCOTTISH-AMERICAN ACTOR AND COMEDIAN: So, that allows you to have the argument that creates the environment in which discourse is possible, right? But you have to build in safeguards and that's what the First Amendment is, right? It's a safeguard to allow you to have civil discourse.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

FERGUSON: Because of course, it was not self-evident at all.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because they have different views on how do you even put together some sort of possible union of colonies? Of states? Can Congress tax? Can it not tax? Should there be two Houses in in the legislature? Should there even be a legislature?

FERGUSON: They don't agree.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They don't.

VOICE OVER: By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.

[19:55:27]

VOICE OVER: Shut up, Ben, I'm so tired of your voice. Go fly your stupid kite or something.

VOICE OVER: None of our Constitution rides. It's like you're actively trying to sabotage my future Broadway rap musical.

VOICE OVER: All of you, be quiet, or none of you are going to Chuck E. Cheese.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JIMENEZ: The new episode of "Craig Ferguson: American on Purpose" at 9:00 P.M. and tomorrow on the CNN App.

Thank you for joining me this evening. I'm Omar Jimenez, "Real Time with Bill Maher" up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[20:00:00]