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Technical Talks On Track Despite Recent Exchange Of Fire Between U.S. And Iran; Iran Demands Lebanon Be Included In Peace Agreement; Trump-Backed Julia Letlow Wins Louisiana GOP Runoff For Bill Cassidy's Seat; Dem Progressives Gain Momentum After New York Primary Wins; World Cup Knockout Rounds Start Today; How Britain Learned of America's Independence; Roughly 350,000 Haitians Face Loss of Deportation Protections. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired June 28, 2026 - 18:00   ET

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

[18:00:52]

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN HOST: Welcome to the CNN NEWSROOM, everyone. I'm Omar Jimenez in New York.

Tonight back and forth strikes over the Strait of Hormuz are further testing the U.S.-Iran ceasefire as Iran says it targeted U.S. military strikes in Gulf countries overnight. A U.S. official is telling CNN none of those missiles or drones reached their intended targets, saying, quote, "Iran failed." But both Bahrain and Kuwait say they were targeted in the strikes. This was the damage to a residential building in Bahrain, for example.

Right now, neither side is publicly de-escalating. But I want to bring in CNN's Julia Benbrook at the White House.

Julia, what are we hearing from the administration right now?

JULIA BENBROOK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the big question, as you pointed out, Omar, is what does this mean for the negotiations going forward? And a senior administration official tells me that those talks will continue on as planned.

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 some of these talks would take place at an expert level on June 30th, just a couple of days away now. And a reminder that last weekend, that's when Vice President J.D. Vance led these high stakes, high level talks in Switzerland, really kicking off the technical talks.

And the memorandum of understanding, which has been signed by both the United States and Iran, was really just a starting off point because it started this 60-day time period to get into the details on some of the big issues, like Iran's nuclear program and the fate of its stockpile of highly enriched uranium. But all of this recent back and forth that's taken place over the past couple of days.

One big moment came Saturday evening when U.S. Central Command confirmed that it had carried out -- at the direction of the president it had carried out additional strikes on multiple targets in response to, it said, Iran's continued aggression. Now, following that development, Trump took to social media and he said that Iran may never learn. And if they didn't, that if that happens, the Islamic Republic of Iran will no longer exist.

U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz reiterated that point that things could escalate in an interview with FOX News earlier today. 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, an administration official says that these talks will continue as planned. We have continued to see, though, this escalation with the Trump administration threatening that there could be more military reaction. Also, the IRGC has said that if there's a ceasefire violation, anything that they perceive as a ceasefire violation, that that could lead to a halt in all diplomatic processes.

JIMENEZ: All right. Something to watch moving forward. Julia Benbrook, appreciate the reporting, as always.

Meanwhile, Iran says a full withdrawal of Israeli forces out of Lebanon must be part of a final deal with the United States. That demand comes as Israeli forces continue fighting with Iranian backed Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, despite several ceasefire agreements.

Here's CNN's Oren Liebermann with the details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN JERUSALEM BUREAU CHIEF: In the broader picture of negotiations between the U.S. and Iran, the Lebanon front has been and will very much continue to be a complicating factor there. We saw Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesperson, according to Iranian state media, demand a full Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon as part of any final agreement between the U.S. and Iran.

[18:05:03]

Iran and its proxy in Lebanon, Hezbollah, have repeatedly pointed to the memorandum of understanding between the U.S. and Iran, demanding a complete end to hostilities, and that includes in Lebanon. But that's complicated by at least four agreements we have seen this month alone that have related in some way to Lebanon or either directly about Lebanon. As Iran and Hezbollah pointed that memorandum of understanding, Israel and Lebanon with the U.S. signed a completely separate agreement on Friday that was touted by all three countries in a trilateral framework, and that does not require a full Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon.

It only requires a withdrawal in two specific areas along the so- called yellow line that delineates the Israeli occupied area in southern Lebanon as part of a pilot program in which the Lebanese military will come in and secure those sites. A broader withdrawal? Sure, it's in there, but that requires a complete disarmament of Hezbollah and a removal of Hezbollah from southern Lebanon. And that's not only weeks away. That might be months or years away, depending on the progress and the pace of the implementation of that agreement.

Israel has long been skeptical that the Lebanese armed forces have the ability or the will to fully disarm and push Hezbollah out of southern Lebanon, and that very much looks like it will complicate the attempts to negotiate a final agreement between the U.S. and Iran. As for all of the agreements we've signed this month related to Lebanon, we have seen fighting break out often within hours of those being signed.

And that was the case here. Once again, we saw continued fighting on Sunday. The Israeli military says one soldier was killed in a firefight with Hezbollah militants in southern Lebanon. Israel carried out strikes in southern Lebanon. Again, all of that complicates the broader negotiation effort between the U.S. and Iran, especially as both Hezbollah and Iran have rejected the latest agreement between Israel and Lebanon. And that makes this all that much more difficult and it was already difficult.

Oren Liebermann, CNN, in Jerusalem.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JIMENEZ: All right. Oren Liebermann, appreciate it.

We're joined now by former State Department Middle East negotiator Aaron David Miller. He's also a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

So, Aaron, I just want to talk about Lebanon in a second. But first, as we just reported, the administration says technical talks will still go ahead. And I just wonder, can that be divided from what's happening over the strait?

AARON DAVID MILLER, FORMER STATE DEPARTMENT MIDDLE EAST NEGOTIATOR: Great question. Thanks for having me. Look, I think the logic chain here is pretty clear. Highly flawed U.S.-Israeli military campaign leads to highly flawed memorandum of understanding. Clearly, Iranian lawyers were a lot better than ours, given the language of these texts. And that flawed MOU leads to a very flawed process of implementation.

None of this, Omar, should surprise, and you've got two potential triggers, which will remain triggers because there are no resolution. Number one is Lebanon. Article one refers to Lebanon three times and clearly links what our negotiating team was thinking, unclear, clearly links the future of any ceasefire and Israeli withdrawal, redeployment Lebanon to a broader U.S.-Iranian understanding or misunderstanding.

And then you have the kinetic issue of the straits. And I don't know whether it's the ships sailed, the horses out of the barn, whatever cliche you want to use, the Straits of Hormuz are not returning to the way we knew them on February 27th. So both of these things are going to continue. And frankly, I think the Iranians have more leverage here than we do to affect the course of the negotiation.

One last point. I remember what the Taliban said about our negotiations and the whole Afghan enterprise. You have the clock, the Taliban said. We have the time. And I think that logic may actually apply here. I think Iran thinks it's winning and it is not going to back down on its core demands and requirements.

JIMENEZ: So how should negotiators be approaching the Strait of Hormuz issue, for example, in terms of the memorandum of understanding? Because right now the agreement is not really being reflected in the critical waterway right now as we've been tracking these strikes back and forth. So what needs to happen on the diplomatic front to sort of get that process moving?

MILLER: I mean, look, I think that the -- in my judgment, the only thing that can actually save these negotiations would be a broader political understanding between the top leadership in Tehran and in Washington about what these negotiations are all about. That is to say, some clarity on where they're going. For the Iranians, it means U.S. facilitating billions of dollars of financial and economic relief. That means unfrozen assets, waivers for their sanctioned oil, and removal of all sanctions.

For the Americans, that means serious restrictions on Iranians nuclear infrastructure, the dilution of the highly enriched uranium and verification and intrusive monitoring by the IAEA.

[18:10:11]

If you could actually strike that kind of deal upfront, where both sides understand what the end game is and where this is supposed to go, you might, and I say this with some reservation hesitation, you might be able to sort of manage the two potential sources of conflict. What to do about the straits, no good solution here, it seems to me. Management only and what to do about Lebanon.

JIMENEZ: Yes. Well, and that's what I was going to ask about because, look, the Israeli military says continued operations in southern Lebanon have been approved. It comes just two days after the signing of that latest ceasefire agreement, which Hezbollah and Iran rejected. And as you know, Iran is demanding a complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanon as really point one of that final deal with the U.S..

How do you see those dynamics playing out in terms of, you know, you talked about looking for a breakthrough between U.S. and Iran? What is the breakthrough that might come between Israel and Lebanon? And is that more complicated?

MILLER: I mean, frankly, having been around negotiations on the Arab- Israeli issue, what the Israelis and Lebanese produce is actually quite impressive, although you're not going to find in that framework agreement any mention of Israeli withdrawal. They use the R word, right? Redeployment. And you're not going to see any significant Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon before the Israeli elections, which I might add, Omar, stands over this in terms of what flexibility this Israeli government and this Israeli prime minister are going to manifest between now and mid-September or October, whenever elections are held.

Look, again, if you were running the railroad, what you'd want to do is have the Iranians constrain Hezbollah and have the Americans constrain Israel. So, in fact, for 60, 90 days, you buy the time and space required to test the proposition that the negotiators. And technical teams are fine. They're necessary, but they're not sufficient. You need leaders in both capitals to basically manage the broader framework of a deal or an agreement.

But we don't have that. The Iranians believe they are going to set up new rules of engagement in Lebanon, and they want their hands and fingerprints all over the Straits of Hormuz. That's -- those are huge problems in terms of buying the time and space required to test the proposition that you could deal with the nuclear issues and the immense economic and financial relief that the Iranians want out of this.

JIMENEZ: Aaron David Miller, always appreciate the insight. Thank you for being here.

MILLER: Omar, thanks so much for having me. Appreciate it.

JIMENEZ: Of course. All right. Still to come this hour, the Trump backed candidate wins the runoff race to replace Republican Senator Bill Cassidy. We'll talk about that coming up. And then later, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin says the State Department's do not travel guidance for Haiti doesn't apply to Haitians living in the U.S. who lose their temporary protected status. We'll talk about the implications of that coming up as well.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:17:58]

JIMENEZ: A Trump backed candidate, Congresswoman Julia Letlow, has won a contentious Louisiana GOP Senate runoff. That puts her in a strong position in November to win the seat in the solidly Republican state. The Senate seat is currently held by Republican Senator Bill Cassidy, who lost in the first round primary.

Now Cassidy voted to convict President Trump on impeachment charges following the January 6th, 2021, Capitol riot. Trump was later acquitted by the Senate. But Senator Cassidy and President Trump often did not see eye to eye, especially as of late. And he spoke this morning on "Face the Nation."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BILL CASSIDY (R-LA): I had a governor, a state legislature, a president, Cabinet officials and members of Congress all coming at me. And they obviously succeeded. The critical issue is, who did the president endorse? He endorsed somebody different. And so --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He openly encouraged a primary challenger.

CASSIDY: Absolutely. And so -- and we know why. I voted to uphold the Constitution. The president was offended by that. But that said, it took all that effort in order to beat me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JIMENEZ: So let's talk about this. I want to bring in Republican strategist T.W. Arrighi and Democratic strategist and CNN political commentator Maria Cardona.

Good to see you both.

So, T.W., let me just start with you, because what should the Republican Party take away from the results of this runoff? I mean, is it as simple as don't mess with Trump in terms of primaries?

T.W. ARRIGHI, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Well, I think the president's record is pretty strong this primary season. Of course, there have been a few stumbles. You saw in Iowa. You saw in South Carolina, he dual endorsed when he realized the lieutenant governor was falling behind. But look, it's Louisiana. It's Trump country. It's deep red. So yes, of course, in a Republican primary, his word is going to carry a lot of weight.

And Bill Cassidy, who has been a well-respected member of the Senate through his entire term, as he just pointed out, his vote after January 6th really stuck in the craw of the president and some of his key supporters.

[18:20:04]

And he's always sort of been a bit of a free thinker in that caucus. So it's not a huge surprise to me that the very popular President Trump, in a state that he's very popular, in Louisiana, won the day.

JIMENEZ: And Maria, look, we're about halfway through the primaries now heading into these midterms, and on the Democratic side of things, just looking at the big picture on what you have seen, what lessons do you believe Democrats have learned so far? What data you believe Democrats have gleaned from their primary results in races across the country?

MARIA CARDONA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I think what Democrats are seeing, Omar, is that the American people have had it with the chaos, the incompetence, the corruption, the cruelty and the craziness of the Trump administration. And they are saying so across the board. They are mad at the status quo, which, of course, when you have control of the White House, the House and the Senate, that means what Republicans have imposed on this country for the last two years.

And they want candidates who are going to stand up to Trump and are going to fight for them on the issues that Trump promised he was going to take care of, bringing down inflation, bringing down the cost of groceries, gas and rent, not getting us into forever wars. And he has completely betrayed the American people because he's done exactly the opposite. So Democrats are gleaning that they, the American people, want fighters.

They want fierce candidates who are going to stand up to Trump and fight for the things that voters wanted back in the '24 election. And we're seeing that it's having an effect because Democrats are winning across the board. We have won more than 300 elections or overperformed since Trump took office. We have flipped more than 30 state legislative seats from red to blue. Republicans have flipped zero. So I think we have a great track record, and we're going to continue to improve upon that as we move into the November elections.

JIMENEZ: Well, and Maria, just to follow up, some of the fighting spirit has been against the establishment and the Democratic Party as well. I mean, you know, let's talk just a little bit about the socialist pool in the Democratic Party to the Democratic Socialists of America. Mamdani, for example, his candidates all winning in those New York contests.

Now, look, New York is just one city here. But what does that say to you about the ideological future of the party? How much are you reading into that?

CARDONA: Well, to me, it says less about the ideological future, Omar, and more about what candidates who want to win, whether you are progressive left, whether you are more moderate or centrist, you have to organize. You have to meet voters where they are. You have to communicate your message. You have to be authentic and you have to be a message that actually is relevant to voters and excites them, mobilizes them, gets them out to vote.

So I, you know, tell my Democratic friends on all sides, if you want to win, we know how to do it. You have to motivate your voters. That's what the Democratic Socialists of America did. That's also what all of the centrist and moderate candidates that have won across the board in Democratic primaries have also done. So again, we're not just one voice. And I think that's a great thing, Omar. We have a lot of different voices. We have a strong coalition.

We have a big tent party, and all of it is aimed at the anger of the incompetence, the corruption, the cruelty and the chaos that has brought upon us by the Trump administration. And voters want candidates who are going to fight for them, not fight for an administration to make themselves richer than they are now, and for their corporate friends who are doing the same thing. JIMENEZ: And T.W., you know, look, we were talking sort of about

President Trump's hold in a place like Louisiana, for example. But as you mentioned, he's got a pretty good record in terms of his endorsements and primary candidates over the course of this primary cycle. And so I think it's fair to say he's largely proved his hold over the Republican primary base. But I wonder, do you find any complications or any worry signs for some of these candidates when it comes to the general electorate, given some of what Maria pointed out and that there are a lot of Americans that are just unhappy generally with how things are going right now in the country?

ARRIGHI: Yes, it's always going to be the economy, stupid. It's always going to be prices first, and we got to see what things look like in November. Obviously, if we -- if our opponents on the Democratic side are like the ones that won primaries in New York, we're going to be just fine. You talk about abolishing prisons, no borders. We have a candidate over there in New York City who was waving a Hamas flag the day after the October 7th attacks. The Democrats are really playing with fire here by embracing these sort of candidates.

The Republicans did the same thing in 2010, where we embraced people who were far off the reservation on social issues simply because they agreed with us on fiscal policy.

[18:25:09]

The Democrats are -- do not have goodwill enough with the American people right now to be playing with people who are basically, you know, anti-Jewish hate folks. And that's not good for the American electorate as a whole. And Republicans will prevail if these socialist candidates are the nominees for the party.

CARDONA: Omar, just really quickly.

JIMENEZ: Yes.

CARDONA: The voters are the ones who are picking the candidates. Right? And you're going to see so many voices across the board, but Republicans are going to try to do exactly what T.W. just did. Try to paint the whole Democratic Party as if they are radical socialists when they know that's not true. In fact, the vast majority of Democratic primary winners have been centrists, have been moderates, have been the ones who are talking about lowering costs, lowering inflation, not getting us into these idiotic wars.

ARRIGHI: Maria, just to clarify.

CARDONA: And because Trump is the one who has done all of that, that's why Democrats are doing so well.

ARRIGHI: Just to clarify, those aren't -- that's not just me saying it. That's John Fetterman calling him the dirtbag caucus. That's James Carville calling for a schism. That's Rahm Emanuel saying it's no way to win nationally. It ain't me. It's the Democrats saying that. And if those socialists who get in and win their primaries and they win them in states across this country that aren't as deep blue in New York City, Republicans will prevail because the only thing less popular than the Republican Party right now is the Democratic Party.

CARDONA: But see, that -- that's exactly where you're getting it wrong. And even they are getting it wrong. They think that all of these candidates are the ones that are representing us across the board. And that's not true. This happened in deep blue states, deep blue districts.

ARRIGHI: Michigan?

CARDONA: This happened in places where there are people who, yes, they want to have their candidates who are fighting for them, who are fighting against what the Trump administration has brought upon us. And so Democrats need to mobilize, need to energize all of their voters. And right now, the Democrats are the ones who are winning. We're winning the generic ballot going into the midterm elections.

That's why Trump and Republicans are so worried about this and are doing everything they can to take away people's right to vote, to steal all of the voter files from these states, because they know that Democrats are on a pathway to win the House and most likely the Senate as well.

JIMENEZ: All right. I got to jump in. Not because this isn't good. It actually was just starting to get good between you guys. But we're out of time. One thing I will note, T.W., if you were just talking about Daddy Alyssa waving a Hamas flag, we have not seen that. She did attend a pro-Palestinian rally after October 7th. I have not seen images of her waving it in particular. But if you have that, send it.

ARRIGHI: There were plenty of them there.

JIMENEZ: Send it my way. If you have her waving in particular, send it my way. But I just want to make that clarification. She was at that rally, though.

ARRIGHI: Yes.

JIMENEZ: Good to see you both.

ARRIGHI: But she was heartbroken.

CARDONA: Thank you, Omar.

JIMENEZ: T.W. Arrighi and Maria Cardona, good to see you both.

CARDONA: Thanks.

ARRIGHI: All right.

JIMENEZ: All right. So to come, the knockout rounds are underway in the World Cup. We will tell you who has just punched their ticket to the next round and who's going home next.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [18:32:45]

JIMENEZ: Today is the first day of the World Cup knockout rounds. 32 teams remain and the rest of the way the rules are simple. Win or go home.

CNN's sports anchor Don Riddell joins us now.

So, Don, we know the U.S. will play on Wednesday. But what about the first knockout today? We already got some news.

DON RIDDELL, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Great news for one of the three co-hosts, Canada, who have never been this deep in the World Cup. In fact, before this tournament, Omar, they lost every World Cup game they played. But they were in Los Angeles against South Africa. Neither team had ever played a knockout game of football before.

It must be said, it wasn't the best game. South Africa were pretty defensive in this one, but that was the goal that settled it in stoppage time. With extra time looming, Stephan Estacio from the edge of the area, an absolutely brilliant finish, a wonderful moment sending the Canadians through to the round of 16. Afterwards, their coach, Jesse Marsch, gathered the players in the center circle or on the field and he said, you guys are Canadian heroes.

Basically, they have impacted the future of the game of soccer in their country, which, as we all know, is more famously perhaps an ice hockey country. Scenes of jubilation, as you can see, that was the scene in Toronto. That will be repeated right across the country this evening. And Canada now await either the Netherlands or Morocco in the next game.

So that was the first of the knockout games. Plenty to come. The rest of the week is going to be spent navigating these round of 32 fixtures. Of course, the USA are going to be playing Bosnia and Herzegovina on Wednesday. That is a big one. A huge amount of interest because this tournament is really gathering pace in this country. A lot of people really getting on board with the Team USA run.

Arguably the most intriguing game coming up this week, though, is going to be the defending champions, Argentina, against the absolute minnows of Cape Verde. This island nation of barely half a million people has somehow made it through to the knockout round on their World Cup debut. Meanwhile, this guy, Lionel Messi, just keeps on making history. Another goal from the GOAT in Argentina's win against Jordan on Saturday night.

[18:35:05]

That's his sixth goal in just three World Cup matches this tournament. He scored in his last seven World Cup games. Remember, he turned 39 just the other day, and he now has a total of 19 World Cup goals. And at this rate he's just going to keep building on that. Incredible.

JIMENEZ: He's setting the bar too high for 39-year-olds across the world. Lionel Messi, truly a David versus Goliath matchup, though. Cape Verde and Argentina. I cannot wait.

Don Riddell, appreciate it as always. Good to see you.

All right. America may have declared independence on July 4th, 1776, but England didn't get the message for another month. We'll have more on that just ahead.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:40:28]

JIMENEZ: A U.S. Independence Day celebration in Brussels sparked a wave of protests this afternoon. Dozens of people rallied against the event organized by the U.S. embassy at a local park. Demonstrators held anti-Trump signs and shouted chants against the White House, Trump administration policies and the European far-right.

Now, as the United States prepares to celebrate Independence Day on this 250th anniversary of its break from Britain, here's a little known fact about the birth of America. While the founders were signing the Declaration of Independence, Britain was completely in the dark and didn't actually realize what had happened until several weeks later.

CNN's James Fraser brings us the history lesson.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RUTH MCLEOD, ARCHIVE AND LIBRARY, NATIONAL MARITIME MUSEUM: When the Declaration of Independence was written, nobody knew how significant the language of it was going to be, who writes a document knowing that we're going to be looking at it in 250 years' time.

JAMES FRATER, CNN PRODUCER: When the continental Congress approved the Declaration of Independence on the afternoon of Thursday, the 4th of July, 1776, it took a whole six weeks before Britain learned of what had happened. Now that, according to historians, was a pretty quick turnaround.

(Voice-over): So how did events unfold? Overnight on the 4th into the 5th of July, copies of the declaration were printed at John Dunlap's print shop in Philadelphia. They were called the Dunlap broadsides. Within days, historians say some of those copies had reached New York and into the hands of British informants.

On the evening of the 9th of July, the very same night New Yorkers were tearing down the statue of King George III, a copy had reached the British fleet blockading New York harbor, commanded by Vice Admiral Molyneaux Shuldham.

MACLEOD: They did know that this was significant. He knew that this was something that had to be reported back to London as soon as possible. FRATER (voice-over): Vice Admiral Shuldham immediately wrote a brief

letter and a handwritten replica of the declaration was made. Both dispatched on a mail ship, the Mercury Packet. Traveling north via Canada, the Mercury made the Atlantic crossing in just a month, arriving in Falmouth on Thursday, the 8th of August. The following day the documents by horse had reached London.

And this is Shuldham's letter just one surprisingly short paragraph for what you might think would be a seismic bit of news. And here is that handwritten version of the Declaration of Independence, starting with the words "a declaration by the representatives of the United States of America in general Congress assembled."

(Voice-over): Curators here at the National Maritime Museum in London believe this is the first complete text of the declaration to have arrived in the U.K.

When his letter arrived at the admiralty, what do you think the reaction was to this letter?

MACLEOD: The letter says this is long expected, so I suspect that it was a kind of, oh, right, right. It's happened. We were kind of prepping for this. Let's take our next steps. Let's respond.

FRATER (voice-over): Then on Saturday, the 10th of August, 37 days after it was first approved, the admiralty quietly released in the state newspaper word of America's decision to split from Britain. It then took more than seven years and a revolutionary war for Britain to formally recognize America's independence.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JIMENEZ: Used to take much longer. James Frater, really appreciate it.

And kick off America 250 with Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen as they count down to a historic ball drop honoring the nation's birthday. "Independence Eve Live" with Anderson Cooper and Andy Cohen starts July 3rd at 8:00 p.m. Eastern on CNN, or you can stream it on the CNN app.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:48:59]

JIMENEZ: Tonight, there are still some key questions about the Trump administration's plans to possibly deport hundreds of thousands of Haitians and Syrians living legally in the United States. This comes after the Supreme Court allowed the White House to strip them of temporary legal protections.

Earlier, my colleague Jake Tapper pressed Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin about whether Haiti is a safe place to have these people deported, considering the do not travel advisory the U.S. issued for Haiti earlier this year. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARKWAYNE MULLIN, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: The do not travel is not for Haitians. That's do not travel for the United States because they are kidnaping or trying to kidnap individuals from the United States because they feel like -- their family has the money to pay the ransom. We have do not travel in places in Mexico or advisory warnings. In fact, if you go through our Web site and the State Department, you'll see there's advisories to a lot of places that are vacation destinations that we have advisories on because of the real risk to Americans. That doesn't mean it's a risk to the individuals that live there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[18:50:03]

JIMENEZ: I want to bring in Viles Dorsainvil. He's the executive director of the Haitian Community Help and Support Center.

So, Viles, look, the State Department travel advisory warned Americans not to travel to Haiti because of kidnaping, crime, terrorist activity, civil unrest and limited health care. I wonder, you heard a little bit of Secretary Mullin there. What's your response to some of what he said?

VILES DORSAINVIL, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, HAITIAN COMMUNITY HELP AND SUPPORT CENTER: Basically, my response to that is that what I've been experiencing in America is that they are some of the folks that are being considered as the other. So no matter what happened, if people are not being affected or impacted directly, they don't care. I know that the vast majority of Americans who are still concerned about the safety of us being here, but I can tell you that we've been experiencing the worst of the worst of America when we hear people like this not taking into consideration the safety of others.

JIMENEZ: You know, there are some Republicans even, including New York Congressman Mike Lawler, who have warned against the Trump administration pushing to end TPS for Haitians. Ohio Governor Mike DeWine as well, a Republican, has also pushed for TPS not to be ended and not to kick Haitians out of the country.

Is your group trying to get any help from Congress, and have you been able to make any progress there?

DORSAINVIL: Basically, we've been doing some so much work when it comes to advocacy. We have so many Haitian faith leaders who've been in the Congress talking to representative staffers. But now we know that there is a bill at the Senate, which is S-4814. So, all that we are asking is for senators to sponsor this bill and help us -- and help it pass the Senate so that the only thing that can help us stay here.

So I know that from the House of Representatives, there were some Senate -- Republican senators who are siding with the Democrats to pass the bill, H.R. 1689. So we will ask them to continue to do that. Same in the Senate so that Haitians will continue to be here to live and to continue to provide for their family while I don't know what will happen to Haiti for us to return.

JIMENEZ: And, you know, for people's background, Haiti's original TPS designation stemmed from that massive earthquake in 2010. Also, the assassination of the president was also considered back in 2021 and the chaos that ensued afterwards. But at the time, DHS determined Haitian nationals already in the U.S. should be granted temporary protections. And you yourself are a TPS holder as well.

And I just wonder for you, how are you feeling right now? And do you have hope that protections for someone like yourself could be extended at this time?

DORSAINVIL: Basically, as a person of faith, I say that my hope is only in God because, honestly, the way we see things have been unfolding under this current administration, I don't see any hope that we can have the way things are happening. So I don't know what will happen to me or to my family, to my community here in Springfield. And we already know what is at stake. So all that we have to do is to continue to see where that will be because already we know that has been impacting our community so much. So we don't know how that will be down the road.

JIMENEZ: You know, I've, as you know, I've been in Springfield many times and have met you there. I've met you there, I guess, going back to before the 2024 election. But one of the things I heard from many of the people there is yourselves, but also in other places, Haitians in many cases are working and helping in some of these communities. It hasn't always gone smoothly. As you know, there were many in Springfield that do not want the Haitians to be there.

But I wonder just for the population that you talk to, are there worries that they're not going to be able to work moving forward? What are companies saying and businesses saying there that employ many of these Haitians? And in some cases, these Haitians have helped revitalize some of the economy there?

[18:55:02]

DORSAINVIL: Yes, basically, this is what has been happening since we've arrived in Springfield. We've been working in every sector. We've been helping boosting the economy of Springfield. We work at the school district. We work at the factories. We work in the hospitals. We work everywhere. So, I know for sure that if it happens that TPS is being ended, that would have been chaotic for our community.

And we start hearing from the community where employers told some of the associates not to come back to work. So, many questions are being, asked by those institutions and they do not know how to answer those questions on what to do because at the end of the day, it will have so much impact on our community here in Springfield. As I knew before if TPS ended, that would be a chaos for our community for sure.

JIMENEZ: Viles Dorsainvil, I appreciate you taking the time. Thank you for being here. DORSAINVIL: Thank you so much for having me.

JIMENEZ: Of course.

All right, everyone, we'll be right back.

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