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Ceasefire Tested Between United States And Iran; Stories Of Survival From Venezuela Earthquakes; Catastrophic Flooding In Kentucky; Swift-Kelce Wedding Rumors Swirl; Concerns Over A.I. in Classrooms. Aired 5-6p ET

Aired June 28, 2026 - 17:00   ET

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

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: Thank you so much for joining me this weekend. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. "CNN Newsroom" continues with Omar Jimenez right now.

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN ANCHOR AND NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You're in the "CNN Newsroom," everyone. I'm Omar Jimenez in New York. New tonight, the fragile ceasefire between the United States and Iran is being further tested this weekend by back and forth strikes. A U.S. official telling CNN that all drones and missiles launched by Iran were shot down, intercepted or failed to reach their intended targets. In their words, to be clear, Iran failed. Now, Iran's Revolutionary Guard says it targeted U.S. military sites in nearby Kuwait and Bahrain in its latest round of strikes. Meanwhile, though, the clock is still ticking on this 60-day window for nuclear talks.

I want to bring in CNN's Julia Benbrook, who's at the White House for us. So, Julia, what are you hearing about how this escalation could impact negotiations?

JULIA BENBROOK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That is the big question here, right? How will this escalation there in the Middle East impact the ongoing talks with Iran? And a senior administration official tells me that those talks will continue as planned. Now, they went on to say this: Nothing has been canceled. Technical talks regarding the implementation of the MOU, the memorandum of understanding, are on track for the coming days as planned, and deconfliction channels are up and running after the Lake Lucerne Summit.

Now, Secretary of State Marco Rubio had previously said that talks would take place at an expert level on June 30th. That is just a couple of days away now. And then it was last weekend that Vice President J.D. Vance traveled to Switzerland to really kick off these high-stakes talks.

And the memorandum of understanding, that agreement that has been signed by the United States and Iran, is really just a starting point. It kicked off this 60-day time period for negotiations on the details of some of the big issues like Iran's nuclear program and the fate of its stockpile of highly-enriched uranium.

As this back and forth has taken place in recent days, one big development came yesterday evening as U.S. Central Command said that at the direction of the president, it had carried out additional strikes on multiple targets. Trump then took to social media using strong language. He said that Iran may never learn. It may be possible that they never learn, adding, if that happens, the Islamic Republic of Iran will no longer exist.

The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Mike Waltz, spoke on Fox News earlier today and reiterated that statement. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE WALTZ, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED NATIONS: If the Iranian regime thinks for a second that President Trump is going to sit by, stand by while Iran continues to attack international shipping without a response or our bases without a response, they're sadly mistaken. And they saw that loud and clear over the last few nights where we'll continue to militarily, if needed, take down their infrastructure that they're trying to use to illegally control an international waterway.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BENBROOK: So, again, a senior administration official says that these talks will continue as planned. As of right now, though, it does not seem that either side has looked to deescalate as the Trump administration has threatened further military action if Iranian strikes continue. And the IRGC has said that any violation of the ceasefire, anything they perceive as a violation of the ceasefire, could lead to a halt in all diplomatic processes. Omar?

JIMENEZ: All right. Julia Benbrook, really appreciate the reporting. I want to bring in CNN national security analyst and director of the Counterterrorism Project at the Atlantic Council, Alex Plitsas. So, Alex, let's just start with how do you assess where things stand tonight. What are you looking for?

ALEX PLITSAS, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST, DIRECTOR OF COUNTERTERRORISM PROJECT AT ATLANTIC COUNCIL, FORMER OFFICIAL AT DEFENSE DEPARTMENT AND PENTAGON: So, things seem to be in a decent position considering what has gone on over the last couple of days in terms of the tit-for-tat strikes. So, there has been an agreement announced within the last half an hour or so publicly that Iran and the U.S. will cease military strikes, that they're going to meet in the Qatari capital of Doha on Tuesday to start technical discussions again towards the implementation of the memorandum of understanding.

So, back on track for now after several days of back and forth that really went off the rails when the Iranians decided to strike ships in the Strait of Hormuz in direct violation of the MOU, which they seem to ignore. And then when the U.S. struck back, we're pointing the fingers at the United States as if this was an escalation. But the Iranians were the ones who struck first in this case.

JIMENEZ: Well, and the back and forth strikes that sort of came in the wake of that all comes back to sort of Iran either attempting to or exerting their control over the Strait of Hormuz.

[17:05:06] You know, in these latter cases, militarily, at least. And I just wonder, what is your sense of how Iran is viewing this fight over this critical passage?

PLITSAS: So, the Iranians walked out of the MOU feeling empowered and thought that they had the upper hand. And then with the historic agreement this week, I mean, we've got to give credit where it's due. The deputy assistant secretary of war for the Middle East, Mike DiMino, and the crew at the State Department really negotiated with both the Lebanese and the Israelis a historic agreement in which the Israelis agreed to withdraw from areas in Southern Lebanon, handed over to Lebanese armed forces as long as they were going to disarm Hezbollah. And so, you had two sovereign states who agreed to what a ceasefire would look like in Lebanon, which is what the memorandum of understanding called for.

The Iranians were livid because, at this point, they were attempting to protect Hezbollah from Israeli strikes. They never in a million years thought that the Lebanese government was going to agree to this ceasefire with Israel in which they -- basically two states are signing off on an agreement who don't -- you know, the Lebanese don't exactly recognize the Israelis. So, historic by all accounts in that sense. They've been very angry about that.

And then I'm told by regional mediators that the Iranians also believed that they were somehow going to get away with tolls or fees and that they were going to force the Omanis into a position where they were going to agree to joint tolling because the Omanis control the territory across the Strait of Hormuz from Iran. In speaking to Omani officials yesterday, they made it quite clear that despite statements coming out of Tehran, they are not in favor of mandatory tolls or fees.

And in response to that, the Iranians launched strikes on ships outside of Oman several days ago, which kicked off the cycle of violence. So, the IRGC, I was told by one regional mediator, has been acting like toddlers out of control while the civilian leadership from Iran has been asked to clarify the position, and they have not come back with an answer.

JIMENEZ: And, you know, the backdrop in all of these is whether the memorandum of understanding gets back on track or gets back to where it sorts of was before this latest volley of strikes back and forth. I wonder how you see the role of military action amid all of that. For example, President Trump threatened more military action if Iran continues to launch strikes. And so, at this stage, is a threat like that effective diplomatically for the U.S. to get a compromise from Iran?

PLITSAS: It is diplomatically in the sense that the Iranians had publicly espoused, and they felt they had won. And there had been numerous leaks that, somehow, the United States wasn't going to make good on military strikes, that the president was weary about going back to war due to the midterm elections. So, these strikes were necessary to reinforce that the U.S. will take military action in response to violations of the ceasefire. And as the vice president put it, if the Iranians felt that the MOU was being violated, they could pick up the phone and call, but that violence would be met with violence.

And so, it was a clear message to the Iranians that the U.S. is not going to roll over. And if they violate the memorandum of understanding, the U.S. is going to strike back. Clearly, it was sufficient to prove that point because both sides came back to the table and said, OK, I guess you're right, you are going to do this. And now, we've got talks back on track again on Tuesday in Doha.

JIMENEZ: And so, to that point, I mean, you mentioned some of the -- some of the other nations, some of the other Gulf nations in particular, but some of them are being swept up again in the fighting. I mean, we saw damage in Kuwait, Bahrain as well. What are you hearing on how they are viewing this latest escalation? How do you see the role of the Gulf states in any lasting process that might come out of the MOU?

PLITSAS: So, for the Iranians, this was, again, another foolish action, a decision to go after the Gulf states nearby because there's this $300 billion fund, which nobody has made clear exactly how it's going to work.

The Gulf states who have been attacked by Iran since the beginning of the war as part of their strategy to put pressure on the United States in getting Gulf allies to then call Washington and say, turn the war off, that's actually had the opposite effect where the Gulf states who were concerned about Iran's proxy forces like Hezbollah and other groups operating in the region now also view Iran's missile and drone program as just as big of a threat. And so, at a time when Iran needs liquidity and cash for investment, they decide to attack their neighbors again when there really isn't anybody else who's going to be willing to step in and help.

And I've been told by regional partners that this is this comes amid problematic analysis of Iran's ability to absorb foreign investment because their own legal structure doesn't allow for foreign ownership of companies. There's a kleptocracy.

And then even now, the IRGC demanding tolls and fees in a Strait of Hormuz is in response to turning off the illicit oil flows with the waivers because with the illicit oil sales, because it was illegal without the waivers, the middlemen in the center were basically -- money was flowing to coffers of the IRGC and senior regime officials. So, in the absence of that and now it being legalized, they needed cash.

And so, this all gets back to money once again in a kleptocracy where people are starving and the economy is suffering at this point, which is why we saw the protests in January in the first place because Iran's economy is in a position where it can't recover in the short term due to mismanagement.

[17:09:58]

JIMENEZ: And, obviously, whatever comes out of this deal, that those economic, either economic relief, sanctions relief, that $300 billion, wherever that comes from, a lot of questions still on that front. But discussion for a later time once these discussions get back on track.

Alex Plitsas, appreciate the analysis. Thanks for being here.

PLITSAS: Thanks for having me.

JIMENEZ: All right. Still to come, it is being called a miracle, an unbelievable scene in Venezuela as rescue teams save a baby who is covered in rubble for more than two days. You hear the crying there. We will tell you what happened. And catastrophic flooding in Kentucky kills at least four people.

We will tell you what we're learning as the governor declares a state of emergency there. And then later, we're going to take a closer look at artificial intelligence in the classroom despite a push from some parents to keep their kids away from screens at school. You're in the "CNN Newsroom." (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:15:00]

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JIMENEZ: Real desperation tonight in Venezuela, where at least 1,400 people have been killed in twin earthquakes, thousands of others are still missing, and more than 3,000 have been injured as rescue workers are working despite passing the critical 72-hour window to find survivors. A 60-year-old woman was rescued from a 15-storey collapsed building after a 10-hour long effort that involved workers from Peru, El Salvador, and Venezuela.

(CRYING)

An infant was rescued from the rubble there. You see just how desperate the situation is with the building collapsed all around them. The mother and her baby were pulled alive from that rubble yesterday. They were rescued more than two days after the disaster. And scenes like this are happening all across the area.

CNN contributor Stefano Pozzebon has been there in Venezuela for us and brings us in to what he has been seeing.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STEFANO POZZEBON, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: We have joined a team of rescue workers from Fairfax County in Virginia. We're in the city of La Guaira, which is one of the most affected by the Venezuelan twin earthquakes. And right now, these rescue workers have heard two distinct tap-tap when they're trying to communicate with people who are still trapped under the rubble.

This used to be several floors. This used to be -- this used to be a several-floor building. But, of course, all of those floors are now stacked up. But they do believe that there are still people trapped alive, especially children. They try to communicate with them with sound.

And this is why this is truly a race against time. But it's a race against time that is happening in utter silence. Nobody dares to speak. Nobody dares to shout because a sound could mean a life saved. And all of this is also happening as the relatives of the people trapped inside and other survivors are still here.

And this is, of course, so crucial. Everyone knows that more than 72 hours have passed since the earthquake struck. And that is the golden window where the vast majority of survivors are located and rescued in this type of situation.

So, of course, miracles do happen overnight. For example, an 11-month- old baby was rescued from under the rubble. And this is what's giving people hope. And the other thing that is giving people hope, of course, is the fact that they keep hearing sound from inside. But the clock is ticking and the window is definitely about to pass.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JIMENEZ: Painstaking search process but important no less. Stefano Pozzebon, really appreciate it.

I want to bring in Ciaran Donnelly. He is the senior vice president of international programs at the International Rescue Committee. And look, over 2,600 rescue workers have been sent from other countries to help. And just -- can you give us some insight to how crucial those workers are to the rescue efforts and how that force multiplier really does make a difference?

CIARAN DONNELLY, SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT OF INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMS, INTERNATIONAL RESCUE COMMITTEE: Yes, the assistance that has been sent by the U.S. and by other countries, many neighboring countries sending teams, is critical given that the Venezuelan government has limited capacity in this area. Venezuela, obviously, has been affected by several years of political and economic crisis that has left many government services underfunded, the health service in particular, but also the civil protection teams that would normally be leading a response like this.

Our team in Caracas reports desperate community, organized rescue efforts, as well as assistance efforts for the survivors. So, those international teams that have gone in to support the rescue operation are critical to getting as many people alive as possible. Of course, that window is rapidly closing now. We're four days on from when the earthquake struck. That will shift to become a recovery operation over time. And our work, which is really focused on the survivors and helping communities that have been impacted, is going to scale up in parallel.

JIMENEZ: You know, foreign aid and rescue teams, as we've been talking about, have been sent to Venezuela.

[17:19:57]

And some might wonder, you know, it's good to have all these people here, but how do they actually coordinate between different countries, across different languages? What does that process actually look like to make sure that they're maximizing the actual boots on the ground here?

DONNELLY: Yes. So, at the IRC, we're not inside the rescue effort as such but that coordination typically happens through -- through the host government who have the lead responsibility on this, working closely, particularly military coordination structures. Obviously, military units are often well used to coordinating in emergency situations. And in this case, the U.S. Military and Venezuelan military in particular have direct lines of contact with each other.

And so, that's typically how that happens. People get directed to where they're needed most. There's a well-honed international response infrastructure for these kinds of situations. Many of these teams have deployed to many previous earthquakes, and so they know how to operate in this situation.

There's a parallel on the humanitarian side where the United Nations, the Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Assistance, coordinates organizations like ourselves, local organizations that are responding to support survivors, making sure that we are reaching those most in need, minimizing duplication, making sure that every dollar we spend goes to support those who need it most.

JIMENEZ: So, for you all in particular, the International Rescue Committee, at this stage, you know, we are still in the rescue phase, as you point out. At some point, it may -- it's going to shift to more of a recovery phase. But we're not -- we're not quite there yet. What is the most important thing that you all are focused on doing right now?

DONNELLY: So, our team in Venezuela, who were impacted by this earthquake like everyone else, they scrambled, grabbed their families, ran for their lives, and spent Wednesday night sleeping out in the open. They've been working from first thing Thursday morning to organize our response on the ground.

We're focused on health care, which has been a focus of our work in Venezuela for several years, supporting health service providers. We're focused on water and sanitation, which is critical. Obviously, water is essential for life in this situation. But, also, sanitation systems are often destroyed in an earthquake, the infrastructure that helps keep people safe from infectious diseases. And so, making sure that that sanitation facilities are available.

And then really importantly, we're going to focus on psychological support. Our teams are telling us that amidst the many needs that they're seeing among communities on the ground, people are terrified. The trauma of the earthquake itself, people have fled, have got literally nothing with them. And so, the mental health impact of that coming on top of a very difficult several years for the Venezuelan people is really palpable. And so, psychological first aid, creating safe spaces for women and children in particular, is going to be core to our response efforts. JIMENEZ: And, you know, you talked about how this -- this response infrastructure is one that has been honed repeatedly. I mean, over disasters that have taken place in all parts of the world, I mean, you look at this one in particular, at least 12,000 people have lost their homes following these earthquakes. Just based on your experience and what we typically see from disasters like this, how should people be thinking about how long the recovery from this disaster is going to take?

DONNELLY: I would say we need to be thinking at least in a year to two years. But more than likely, it's a multi-year process. And the reality is that full recovery in some of these areas may never happen in terms of rebuilding some of the infrastructure that has been destroyed and bringing back a semblance of normality. You see this particularly in countries that are affected by underlying humanitarian crises. I think of scenes I've seen after volcanic eruptions in eastern Congo or the experience of Haiti after the earthquake there.

Rebuilding in that environment in Venezuela is still very much affected by humanitarian crisis, by economic and financial crises, and becomes incredibly more challenging in the long-term prospect. Already, the humanitarian effort in Venezuela is significantly underfunded. Only 23 percent of the U.N.'s appeal this year has been -- has been supported so far. And so, there's an additional burden that these countries, fragile and conflict-affected or crisis-affected countries, face when they're hit with a shock of the magnitude of these earthquakes.

JIMENEZ: Yes. Ciaran Donnelly, we really appreciate you taking the time. Thank you for sharing the time and perspective.

DONNELLY: Thank you.

JIMENEZ: And for more information about how you can help Venezuela earthquake victims, you can go to CNN.com/impact or text "quake" to 707070.

When we come back, no relief from the rain in Kentucky just yet, where deadly flooding has prompted a state of emergency.

[17:25:00]

We'll bring you the details there, coming up. You're in the "CNN Newsroom."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JIMENEZ: Look at how much water there is there. Those are some of the scenes in Kentucky where there are rescue and recovery efforts underway after deadly floodwaters drenched the state and killed at least four people on Saturday. Thirteen counties and five cities have declared states of emergency as heavy rain wiped out bridges, left many roads inaccessible, and more than 60 water rescues and evacuations have been conducted so far, according to Governor Andy Beshear there in Kentucky.

[17:30:00]

In Richmond, Kentucky, the rain brought down a church and flooded major roads. You can see the aftermath here. One family nearby says they lost everything when storm debris crashed into their house.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHANNON WEBB, RESIDENT: It was very devastating. It was very loud. A lot of glass break in. A lot of -- I mean, of course, would pop in the church. It was very loud when it broke.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JIMENEZ: I mean, just some scary scenes and how suddenly things have changed there. These same areas are expected to get one to two more inches of rain today, which could obviously trigger more flooding. The ground is already really saturated there.

And aside from that, a sweltering, widespread heat wave is pushing across the country ahead of the 4th of July. It's forecast to bring hot and humid conditions this week that could feel like triple digits in a lot of places. This comes as millions of Americans are facing the threat of severe storms as well.

CNN meteorologist Allison Chinchar is tracking it all and joins us now with more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Roughly 30 million people are under the threat for severe storms today in three separate areas. We've got the larger system that's across portions of the High Plains in the Midwest. You've got this narrow band of scattered severe thunderstorms across areas of Texas, and then also along the eastern seaboard, mainly across portions of the Carolinas as well as into Virginia.

Now, one thing to note, a lot of those ongoing storms from earlier in the day in Kentucky, that has finally started to spread off to the east, into the Carolinas, in Virginia, and will continue through the remainder of the evening, providing at least a little bit of relief for those folks in Kentucky that desperately need to dry back out.

We've also got this round of showers that's really going to slide through the Midwest through the evening and overnight hours tonight. You can see even by about eight, nine o'clock tomorrow morning, still some very heavy showers across areas of Michigan. You've also got that secondary band that's making its way across North Dakota.

The big story really coming up for the rest of this week is going to be the heat. It is really going to set in across the eastern half of the country with some of these areas five to 10 degrees above average. Taking a look at Minneapolis, 76 for that high today, but back up to 92 by the time we get to Tuesday. Similar upswing for places like Chicago, St. Louis, looking at nearly triple digits by the time we get to Tuesday. D.C., New York, and Boston will also start to see warmer temperatures,

but it's a bit more of a delayed effect. So, you're going to have to wait a little bit longer. The peak there is really going to be that Wednesday through Friday timeline.

Take Washington, D.C., for example. Again, you can see the gradual climb through here, getting up to triple digits Wednesday through Friday. This is going to be a big concern because a lot of folks are headed to D.C. for the big July 4th celebration. So, you're going to have a lot of folks outside in that heat, in that intense sun. So, make sure you stay hydrated.

Another city, New York, same thing. You'll start to see the swing of those temperatures going back up, getting to 104 on Thursday. While they do come down a little bit by July 4th, you're still looking at those temperatures at least 10 degrees above where they normally would be this time of year.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JIMENEZ: Hot July 4th. Allison Chinchar, appreciate it. Also, speaking of New York City, maybe -- are you ready for it? It's a love story that has got Taylor Swift fans in a frenzy online. Look at all the rumors swirling around the pop star's wedding date and venue. We will talk about it all. You're in the "CNN Newsroom."

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[17:35:00]

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JIMENEZ: It's a love story, baby. Just say yes. I was going to sing it, but I figured I would spare all of you because they are iconic Taylor Swift lyrics and they could soon take on a whole new meaning because there's growing speculation that Swift and NFL star Travis Kelce are preparing to hold a wedding celebration right here in New York City.

CNN has confirmed that a permit application has been submitted for a major event at Madison Square Garden next weekend, fueling a lot of questions about whether the couple is planning something big, maybe a wedding at the famous arena.

CNN's Elizabeth Wagmeister has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(MUSIC PLAYING)

ELIZABETH WAGMEISTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Leave it to this showgirl to create folklore over the love story of the decade.

UNKNOWN (voice-over): Some are calling it the wedding of the century, and it hasn't even happened yet. WAGMEISTER (voice-over): We already knew Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce were getting married. We didn't know where until maybe now.

MAYOR ZOHRAN MAMDANI, NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: We are used to big events.

WAGMEISTER (voice-over): Earlier this month, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani dropped in so many words that he's welcoming the wedding of a generation over the July 4th weekend.

MAMDANI: We know it coincides with July 4th, America 250, Taylor Swift's wedding, all happening at the same time. And we are so excited to welcome the world here.

WAGMEISTER (voice-over): Swift's publicist did not respond to CNN's request for comment on the mayor's possible slip of the tongue. But new evidence points to Madison Square Garden, of all places, as the site of the wedding.

While Taylor won't speak now, here's what we know. CNN has confirmed through city and law enforcement sources that an application was filed to hold an event in the vicinity of the garden. It asks for a tent or canopy to be set up outside the arena, and the permit would allow street closures around MSG between July 2nd and 4th. Swift and Kelce weren't named, but the application was filed by a company that handles major productions, including high-profile weddings.

[17:40:00]

JESSICA TISCH, COMMISSIONER, NYPD: NBA Finals, World Cup, all as potentially Taylor Swift's wedding. I'm kidding.

WAGMEISTER (voice-over): While New York officials drop hints --

UNKNOWN: She's warming up for the wedding.

WAGMEISTER (voice-over): -- so is Travis Kelce's friend and fellow NFL tight end George Kittle, who told Entertainment Tonight he's on the invite list.

UNKNOWN: Is it MSG?

GEORGE KITTLE, SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS TIGHT END: I have no idea.

UNKNOWN: No. We don't know.

KITTLE: I actually asked Travis last night. He laughed at me. So, no. I'm not expecting there to be a jumbo jet on a runway, and they put us on a plane somewhere.

(LAUGHTER)

WAGMEISTER (voice-over): The garden wedding would come on the heels of the Knicks first NBA championship in decades, where we all saw Swift seated courtside. The poetry of that moment is, for now, just poetry because until Swift confirms the MSG wedding, the rest of us are left in the tortured poets department.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WAGMEISTER (on camera): I know, I know a lot of people are saying, are they really going to get married at Madison Square Garden? But it actually makes a lot of sense. And let me tell you why. First of all, Madison Square Garden does not have any windows. So, that can keep the paparazzi out. Of course, Taylor and Travis do not want any photos or any footage leaking from their big wedding event.

Now, Madison Square Garden also has underground parking, and that's very rare in New York City, and that's important to be able to discreetly get the guests in and out again without any photos leaking. But beyond paparazzi, it's also about security. And by shutting down the streets, this is a venue that they can keep safe and secure.

Now, of course, nobody besides Taylor and Travis knows where they're actually getting married. So, it may not be happening at all at Madison Square Garden. So, we all just have to wait and see. Back to you.

JIMENEZ: Elizabeth Wagmeister, appreciate it. Joining me now is Taylor Swift reporter for USA Today, Bryan West. Good to see you, Brian. So, look, the internet seems to be convinced that this wedding is happening next weekend. What are you hearing?

BRYAN WEST, TAYLOR SWIFT REPORTER, USA TODAY: Hi, Omar. This is either the most elaborate decoy that's ever been when it comes to high- profile weddings or it's Occam's razor that the simplest point is true.

And after seeing Elizabeth's package, I think she completely hit it, the nail on the head, saying that's a secure location. You don't have drones. You don't have helicopters. They're used to this high profile. They just hosted the Knicks. There's a lot of A-list celebrities that went through. They can keep a secret.

And so, everyone is going to wait and see. But I think there's going to be a lot of clues leading up to this possible July 3rd wedding if it does, in fact, appear to be Madison Square Garden.

JIMENEZ: And I can tell you, you know, I was out covering the Knicks and the security footprint around MSG, they're able to shut down those roads and block off certain entrances and areas pretty easily as they did it over the course of multiple games. And so, that brings me to the question of, let's just say, for argument's sake, that they do have the wedding at Madison Square Garden, how would they pull it off?

WEST: I think that's the question. Right now, I'm seeing everybody debate whether or not they would have the wedding there. But if we said, you know, they are going to have the wedding there, I would look at it maybe as "The Eras Tour." So, she had announced "The Eras Tour," but she had to do all of the rehearsals and build the sets and have props and bring in dancers. She was able to keep this entire huge production a secret at a different location, and then truck everything in. So, I imagine if she was going to get married at Madison Square Garden and you did have it reserved for three days and you had set up, that was the day before, that you would probably build maybe a stage or you'd build kind of the entire venue, and then bring it in.

You can definitely bet that there are going to be so many eyes on New York City. And that's why I also say that maybe this is a decoy. Maybe she's sending everybody to the middle of Manhattan in the hot, humid sun during 4th of July weekend and World Cup just to be like, oh, I actually got married on an island.

I do think George Kittle, though, was telling the truth from sources and people that I've heard. I don't know if people do know when and where the exact detail of the location is. And that's how you're able to keep this secret. If she is truly inviting 500 to 1,000 people, leaks would appear even with NDAs. There would be word of mouth. People would be talking about it. But you can keep that hush if you don't really tell people until the day before morning of.

JIMENEZ: And, look, we still don't know exactly where, when this is happening, but there were previously also reports that Swift and Kelce maybe were planning to tie the knot in Rhode Island. And I wonder, just tell us a little bit about Rhode Island's role in Taylor Swift's life and what we know about maybe those early plans, if they existed, and why they may have changed or may not have changed.

(LAUGHTER)

WEST: So, the very first rumor was what you're seeing right there, Ocean House on June 13th, because the singer was born on December 13th. She does love the number 13. And the only Saturday I think of the year was June 13th. And so, people had thought that maybe she had booked Ocean House. It's right next to her huge mansion that's in Watch Hill, Rhode Island. That, though, about a month before the wedding planner of the actual wedding that happened there came out and said, hey, I have a bride that's at Ocean House, and it's not Taylor Swift.

[17:45:03]

What's fascinating about MSG is all these rumors have been circulating, but there hasn't been anything definitive saying that it's not happening there next week.

JIMENEZ: The palace intrigue continues. Garden intrigue, I guess. Bryan West, good to see you. Thanks for the insight. Appreciate you being here.

WEST: Thanks, Omar.

JIMENEZ: All right. Coming up, parents across America are seeing their kids talking to A.I. chatbots, in some cases, as part of their schoolwork. But what role should A.I. have in the classroom? We'll talk to someone who's leading one of those chatbots to help kids learn to read, coming up.

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[17:50:00]

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JIMENEZ: A lot of students are now out of school for the summer, but school year is wrapped around the country for -- after a year of the increased presence of A.I. in the classroom, even deployed by teachers to help teach kids to read. One of those A.I. tools is Amira, the avatar for an A.I. reading app.

It's kind of like an A.I. tutor. It puts words on screens, listens to how kids read them out loud, and tries to help sound them out and say the words. Amira is already helping teach thousands of kids to read in schools like -- schools across New York City, Newark, Chicago, Los Angeles, Detroit, San Francisco, and other spots.

But some parents are pushing back, opting out of this screen learning for their kids and demanding more evidence in some cases.

So, I want to bring in Mark Angel. He's the CEO of Amira Learning. And Mark, I appreciate you taking the time. This isn't replacing teachers, but how would you characterize how this is meant to be used in the classrooms?

MARK ANGEL, CEO, AMIRA LEARNING: Amira is intended to be a teacher's assistant. The idea is that in relatively short spans of time, typically 10 to 12 minutes at a burst, kids have an opportunity to read one-to-one and practice what teachers are instructing. It's really a way to give every student the opportunity to have practice and one-to-one assistance that's almost impossible in a large classroom.

JIMENEZ: You know, looking across other -- outside of Amira, you know, I would say it's a ChatGPT or whatever it might be, there's a lot of news and sometimes controversy over the chatbot saying things that their developers might not expect or things that they might not be able to control or potentially put kids in danger. And I just wonder, what controls do you have? Do you have any safety or mental health risks over what these kids are actually seeing?

ANGEL: Yes, it's super important to distinguish between technology that is built for the sole purpose of helping kids learn and technology that's built for recreation. What we do and what ChatGPT does is roughly as similar as cocaine and chemotherapy. Our goal is one thing. It's to help students build reading skills.

Amira doesn't chat. Amira isn't about social interaction. Amira is about teaching and practicing reading skills. And as part of that, we build in an array of guardrails and safeguards. Amira never says anything that hasn't been reviewed by a human being. And Amira is using only the training materials that Amira has, which are really restricted to the kinds of things you need to know when you're helping a student learn their phonemes and learn how to decode words.

JIMENEZ: And one of the concerns that, you know, at least some parents have had is, obviously, it's using kids' voices to help power some of the lesson and learning material. I mean, you are collecting that biometric data as part of a kid's use of these programs. So, how is that data handled or protected?

ANGEL: Yes. So, privacy is everything to us and every student deserves absolute confidence that their interactions with Amira are never, ever going to lead to negative consequences. We operate under a specific contract and arrangement with the school districts that we work with. And any data that we collect is data that the school district has permission and that the school district owns and can tell us exactly how to handle.

And so, we go to great lengths to operate under the very significant regulatory requirements that are out there. There are federal laws called FERPA and COPPA. Many of the states have regulations and laws protecting student privacy. And it's our job to do everything we can to both adhere to those laws, but then to even go beyond them in ensuring that student data is safe. We've been working with kids now for many, many years and have never had any kind of incident or problem.

JIMENEZ: But to be clear, it's the data that goes on to the school districts to protect from there, right?

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ANGEL: That's right. That's right. We -- we're -- again, we're very different from the large tech companies that are operating on a scale of billions and making their chatbots available to everybody and data is flowing into a kind of one place data repository. Amira works for the school districts and the data is maintained and managed on behalf of those school districts under very tight contracts and supervision.

JIMENEZ: Well, it's popping up. It seems to be popping up in more classrooms across the country by the school year. So, likely, parents or kids have at least seen it in one place or another. Mark Angel, I really appreciate you taking the time. Thanks for being here.

ANGEL: Great. Thanks. Thanks, Omar. Great to see you. Bye. JIMENEZ: Of course.

All right. Still ahead for us. Back to our top story.

The fragile ceasefire between the United States and Iran gets tested yet again. We're live from the White House with new reporting on what the strikes mean for diplomatic talks. Stay with us.

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