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With UFC Fight Night Wrapped At The WH, Days Breakdown And Cleanup Begin; Trump To Meet With Qatari Emir At G7 Summit In France; Oil Prices Fall As U.S. And Iran Announce Agreement. Aired 4:30-5a ET
Aired June 16, 2026 - 04:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[04:30:00]
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DONIE O'SULLIVAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): Zuckerberg and David Ellison, the CEO of Paramount Skydance, whose company owns the broadcast rights to the UFC, and on Friday received clearance from the Trump Justice Department to acquire Warner Brothers Discovery, owners of CNN. MAGA talking heads gloated on social media that the event showed the country was once again winning.
JACK POSOBIEC, MAGA ACTIVITST: It was display of America at its best. Folks, let me tell you something. America is back, baby. America's back.
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POLO SANDOVAL, CNN ANCHOR: Our thanks to Dhoni o' Sullivan for that report.
What's on the way, President Trump is hailing his agreement with Iran. What he's been saying to world leaders currently at the G7 summit in France.
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SANDOVAL: And right now, we are following developments from the G7 summit in France. U.S. resident Donald Trump is expected to meet soon with the Emir of Qatar. He's been touting the U.S. Memorandum of understanding with Iran aimed at ending the war. The president says that the full text of the agreement itself, it's expected to be. And he also claims that the Strait of Hormuz will be completely open by Friday.
President Trump is also expected to meet with the president of the United Arab Emirates later today. And if the Strait of Hormuz does fully reopen soon, President Trump is predicting oil and gas prices will drop like a rock, he says. But as CNN's Tom Forman explains, not everybody agrees.
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TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: $4.50 per gallon of gasoline on average across this country. That's what it was costing many motorists at the height of this conflict. Sometimes a little more, sometimes a little less. But the White House has insisted all along that those high prices would start coming down as soon as there was a deal to reopen the strait somewhere back around $3 per gallon or less.
[04:05:07]
The question is, will that happen now? And some oil analysts are looking at it and saying maybe not because there are still barriers to be overcome here. First of all, let's start with the ships themselves.
Remember, more than 100 ships have been trapped in the upper end of the strait trying to get out, trying to. Just as many are out in the ocean trying to get in. They don't move fast. And if investors and operators and insurance companies are not really sold or convinced that this deal is rock solid, well, that could slow the process down even more and it could take months.
But let's move that barrier aside so it can be solved. Here comes the next one, the oil. Remember, there is a glut, a backup of oil in that end that has to be moved out and production stopped by the fighting has to be restarted. That is technical and risky and time consuming.
Plus, with the damage done to some production facilities by the fighting, there are repairs, maybe wholesale rebuilding that has to take place. That also could take months, maybe years. But let's say that all gets solved. Here comes another barrier.
The market. Remember, worldwide oil traders must now look at everything that happened here and settle on a new average price to for a barrel of oil on the world market. Some believe that they will land at around $80 per barrel. And though that may look like a capricious number, you should think about it because it is not.
Historically, oil needs to be about $60 per barrel for you to get those prices that you were used to of $3 per gallon or less in this country. Could something happen that would make these low numbers come about fairly quickly? Yes, but right now oil analysts don't know what that something would be. That's why they do not expect you to see prices like that at your neighborhood pump this year and maybe not for several years to come.
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SANDOVAL: Our thanks to Tom Foreman for that. California Governor Kevin Newsom has been sparring for years with President Trump on social media. But now Newsom is accusing President Trump of using the Justice Department to target him as a political enemy. Newsom is saying that the President is having him and his family investigated.
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GAVIN NEWSOM (D-CAL): Today, my family and I can personally confirm that justice is for sale. The Donald Trump, who I know is watching because he watches everything. I have a message for you. You can subpoena my records. You can investigate me. You can harass
me. Put my name on every and any enemies list you have, but leave my wife and family out of your personal vendetta.
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SANDOVAL: So what is actually happening? Well, a source is telling CNN that the Justice Department is investigating several people connected to Newsom, including his wife, but that the probe does not extend to the governor himself. Here's CNN chief legal correspondent Paula Reid with more.
PAULA REID, CNN CHIEF LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: The real challenge here when it comes to criminal cases, usually no one wants to admit that this is a real thing, but the challenge here is there's an incentive for everyone to make it benefits Newsom politically if he is being investigated. And of course, any Trump official who could bring a case against Newsom or his wife would get big brownie points from the boss. So here is what we know.
We know that Newsom's wife, she is being investigated for past possible tax related crimes. But as for the governor himself, he is not being directly investigated, but they are looking at other people associated with the couple.
Now, further complicating this is that Newsom's former chief of staff was indicted last year in connection with a scheme to steal campaign money totally unrelated to Newsom. She pleaded guilty to three counts last month. So, there have been these investigations sort of swirling around Newsom's associates.
And we're told by his office they said that there has been a recent flurry of activity around his associates, seeing outreach from investigators. So this is active. And it's ongoing, but it's not exactly clear where this is going to wind up.
SANDOVAL: Thanks, Paula. And staying on this story, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche is saying nothing about whether the Justice Department is investigating Governor Newsom. During an appearance on Monday on Capitol Hill with Senator Chuck Grassley, Blanche offered a pretty chilly response to questions coming from our colleague Manu Raju.
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MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Is Justice Department investigating Gavin Newsom? Can you explain that?
TODD BLANCHE (D-FL): I'm not here to make any comments.
CHARLES GRASSLEY, (R-IA): This is not a news conference. This is --
RAJU: The governor is accusing you of political retribution and the president.
GRASSLEY: Am I right, Claire? This is -- UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: All right, guys. Enough questions. That's not a --
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SANDOVAL: And after the break, growing protests in Albania. What started as opposition to a luxury resort development has now transformed into this nationwide movement against corruption. I'll tell you more after this break.
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SANDOVAL: You're looking at some of the tens of thousands of Albanians who are back in the streets for a third week of prayer protests. This movement started over plans for a luxury resort, but it has since grown into a nationwide anti-corruption campaign. And as CNN's Isa Soares reports, protesters are now also demanding that the prime minister step down.
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ISO SOARES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): Tens of thousands of people on the streets of Tirana demanding a new Alban, the largest antigovernment protest the country has seen since the fall of communism in 1991.
GERAL XHAIR, PROTESTER: So we don't have to -- we don't have to sell our country. We don't have to sell our land to other investors.
SOARES (voiceover): The Flamingo Revolution, as it's dubbed, started in response to a proposed luxury development linked to President Trump's daughter Ivanka and his son in law and one of his chief negotiators, Jared Kushner.
The real estate project includes two areas, Sazan island on the country's Adriatic coast and some of the beachfront near the Zvernec wetlands and the Narta Lagoon.
IVANKA TRUMP, DAUGHTER OF U.S. PRESIDENT: We were on a friend's boat and we stopped for a swim. We swam to the islands. We went on a hike barefoot all the way up to the top, and we were just captivated.
SOARES (voiceover): The coastline is a protected area, home to several endangered species and a nesting site for thousands of flamingos. Protesters fear the project will destroy the habitat, despite what Ivanka Trump has said previously.
TRUMP: We developed the opportunity to help realize its potential and transform it, but with a lot of restraint and care because the land is so beautiful.
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SOARES (voiceover): Preliminary project documents seen by CNN show the project is intended to be massive in scale. With luxury villas, hotels with hundreds of rooms, a marina and even a golf course, a casino and a water park. They also reveal one of Kushner's partners in the Sazan development is the Qatari Base Assets group owned by Moutaz and Ramez Al-Khayyat. Syrian born Qatari based billionaires with deep ties to the Qatari royal family. Both were at President Trump's inauguration.
Their other brother Mohammed, not a stranger to Washington either. He lobbied Congress to lift sanctions on Syria, proposing to build a golf course with President Trump's name in Syria. Sazan Real Estate Development LLC confirms Ramez and Moutaz are both involved, but said the project is still in its design phase and that they are prioritizing environmental stewardship. Their partnership very important for the Kushner's, as was that of Albania's Prime Minister Edi Rama.
JARED KUSHNER, SON-IN-LAW OF US PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: We were on our friend Nat Rothschild's boat. One of the nights, their Prime Minister Rama came to the boat. I had not met him when I was in government.
SOARES (voiceover): His and his government support key, according to Kushner.
KUSHNER: And we felt like the environment was perfect, but without the great work of the team on the ground, our partners on the ground and the government really creating a very pro-growth environment. We would not have engaged in the project.
SOARES (voiceover): It's that so called pro-growth environment. Demonstrators are now questioning with protests demanding more transparency in other areas, accusing those in power of corruption and calling on Prime Minister Rama to resign.
The Albanian prime minister has denied the accusations and in his weekly podcast rallied against protesters.
EDI RAMA, ALBANIAN PRIME MINISTER (voiceover): The fascist spirit is the spirit that says Albania belongs to the Albanians, so all the others outside are not welcome. Just as Germany was for the Germans and became the black sheep of Europe for years and years.
SOARES (voiceover): Rama has vowed to push past the concerns of the thousands of Albanians who have come out in protest, claiming the project will transform the country for the better. But with demonstrations going into their third week, it's hard to see this flamingo revolution backing down. Isa Soares, CNN.
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TikTok facing yet another lawsuit over child safety concerns. Florida is now suing the social media company, claiming that it's violating state law by allowing children under 14 to create TikTok accounts. The state accuses TikTok of unknowing -- of knowingly deceiving parents about harmful and inappropriate content that their children can find online.
TikTok now facing lawsuits from over more than 25 states that are arguing that the app's algorithm are deliberately addictive and harmful to the mental health of children.
In the UK, the government is planning to ban social media for kids under 16 starting early next year. It would contain some of the world's toughest online restrictions for children to date, and it would apply to apps like TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat, and also block live streaming as well as gaming sites from allowing strangers to communicate with children.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer says that the goal is to keep children safe.
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KEIR STARMER, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: Social media is making our children unhappy and unsafe. And as a parent as much as a Prime Minister, I just can't let that go on anymore because our children deserve better. They deserve a happy, safe childhood in a stronger, fairer Britain.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What are you most worried about?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Not being able to contact my friends.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just feel that, like, it maybe should have been banned. Maybe it should be more restricted so you can't talk to people that you don't know.
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SANDOVAL: This ban will not affect messaging services like WhatsApp. The government is also looking into overnight curfews and breaks in infinite scrolling for minors. The UK's announcement follows similar policies introduced in Australia as well as in other countries. And we're back in a moment.
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SANDOVAL: An adventurous climber known as the Spiderman of Yemen has died after falling into a volcano crater. The 30-year-old man was climbing without any sort of safety equipment when he appeared to lose his grip. Here's CNN Samantha Lyndell with more.
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SAMANTHA LYNDELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voiceover): A Yemeni climber known on social media as the Spiderman of Yemen has died after falling into a volcanic crater. According to Sabah, the Houthi state-run news agency in Yemen. Sabah, citing a civil defense source, identified him as 30-year-old Al-Qaqa Ibn Antar. The agency said Ibn Antar fell Friday into the Hardah Dam crater in southern Yemen. His body was recovered Saturday.
Rescue teams faced difficult conditions including rugged terrain, the crater's depth, which is nearly 400 feet deep, and intense heat inside, according to the report. Videos circulating on social media appeared to show Ibn Antar performing climbing and acrobatic jumps on the crater's interior rock walls without protective gear before the fall. Civil defense teams and volunteers then spent long hours working to retrieve his body. Ibn Antar had hundreds of thousands of followers on social media where videos appeared to show him climbing without protective gear as early as 2024.
The local authorities reiterated calls for all visitors and adventurers to exercise extreme caution and adhere to public safety guidelines when visiting dangerous natural and volcanic sites to prevent such tragic incidents.
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SANDOVAL: Samantha Lyndell reporting there. The U.S. marine Corps are now investigating another military plane crash, this one in Washington state. Authorities say that the fighter jet pilot ejected safely with just minor injuries. New videos now showing what campers saw when the F/A-18 Hornet went down on Saturday. Take a look.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my gosh.
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SANDOVAL: You see there that fireball that erupts as the plane crashed into the densely wooded mountainside. The crash sparked a wildfire which firefighters and first responders had been working to contain.
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And from Artemis II's record breaking lunar flyby to unveiling the first phase of its moon base plans, it's been quite the year for NASA and the efforts to explore more of space. In fact, just last week, NASA unveiled the primary crew for the Artemis III mission. Here's CNN's Michael Yoshida with more on this new space age and also NASA's push to inspire the next generation of astronauts.
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MICHAEL YOSHIDA, CNN NEWSOURCE NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT, (voiceover): A historic launch, moon base unveiling and new crew announcement.
KJELL LINDGREN, AMERICAN ASTRONAUT: We are in a golden age of exploration.
YOSHIDA (voiceover): Astronaut Kjell Lindgren says just as his imagination was captured by watching the Apollo astronauts decades later, a new generation is seeing what's possible.
LINDGREN: It is the human and human spaceflight that makes the endeavor so challenging, but it is also the human and human spaceflight that makes it so compelling.
YOSHIDA (voiceover): Helping make that connection, NASA's embracing digital media. In 2025, the agency overhauled its social media strategy to better connect with audiences, an effort evident during Artemis II, bringing people along for the ride in ways prior moon missions couldn't.
NUJOUD MERANCY, DEPUTY ASSOC. ADMINISTRATOR FOR STRATEGY AND ARCHITECTURE, NASA: How cool is that? We get their playlists, we get to see their videos, we get to follow along. You know, the little things that happen during the mission make it real.
YOSHIDA (voiceover): NASA's Najoud Merancy says going beyond polished, perfectly curated influencer type content and sharing real organic moments and emotions is key.
MERANCY: It's the crew being excited about seeing flashes of micrometeoroids on the moon, the bottle of Nutella floating through the cabin. It's those little things that I think have the most impact.
YOSHIDA (voiceover): And for those inspired but aren't sure where they might fit in this new world of space exploration.
MERANCY: I hope they just keep following along and then let their curiosity guide them. There are so many avenues to supporting this and it's not just the traditional engineering and scientist roles.
YOSHIDA (voiceover): I'm Michael Yoshida reporting.
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SANDOVAL: Thank you so much for joining me the last hour. I'm Paula Sandoval in New York. Our coverage continues next here on CNN.
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