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IDF Says, Iran Retaliates After Israeli Strikes on Nuclear Program; Flight Recorder Found at Site of Air India Crash; Appeals Court Pauses Ruling on Federalization of National Guard. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired June 13, 2025 - 06:30   ET

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

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[06:30:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM (D-CA): We both pushed back against these authoritarian tendencies of a president that has pushed the boundaries, pushed the limit, but no longer can push this state around.

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AUDIE CORNISH, CNN ANCHOR: Governor Gavin Newsom praising a federal court's ruling that President Trump unlawfully federalized members of California's National Guard. But overnight, that ruling was appealed.

Good morning everyone. I'm Audie Cornish. Thank you for joining me on CNN This Morning. It's half past the hour, and here's what's happening right now.

A federal appeals court paused a ruling that would have required President Trump to return control of the California National Guard back to the state today. There's another hearing over this early next week.

And Democratic California Senator Alex Padilla was forcibly removed, pushed to the ground, and handcuffed at a Homeland Security news conference. The administration claims he pushed and shoved to try to get to the podium where Secretary Kristi Noem was speaking. He says he was just trying to ask a question. Noem later said she met with Padilla and the two agreed to continue to talk.

And Iran launched more than a hundred drones at Israel overnight, according to the Israeli military. That's after Israel targeted its nuclear program and military leaders. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says this attack will last many days.

The White House insists Israel acted alone. President Trump convened a cabinet level meeting last night. Sources tell CNN. It was focused on the administration's response to the attack. Nuclear negotiations between the U.S. and Iran were supposed to resume on Sunday. Before Israel's strikes, President Trump said he hoped the Israelis would show restraint.

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DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: I don't want them going in because I think I would blow -- it might help it actually, but it also could blow it.

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CORNISH: And this just in, the president posting this on Truth Social saying in part, I gave Iran a chance, chance after chance to make a deal. I told them in the strongest of words to just do it. But no matter how hard they tried, no matter how close they got, they just couldn't get it done.

Joel Rubin is here. He's a former deputy assistant secretary of state in the Obama administration.

[06:35:01]

And as we said, that Truth Social post just happened. So, I hate to put you in the hot seat. But, yes, follow up on that wow. What are you thinking as the president makes this response?

JOEL RUBIN, FORMER DEPUTY ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE, OBAMA ADMINISTRATION: Sure. I mean, what the president is basically saying is that he didn't buy what Iran was offering at the table. And what he's saying is that when he called for a deal that had zero enrichment, he felt like Iran's response was stringing them along, stringing us along. And there's some validity to that. You know, Audie, the International Atomic Energy Agency, the nuclear watchdog of the whole global nuclear infrastructure around the world, they provided an essential resolution against Iran just yesterday.

CORNISH: Yes, declaring it to be time in breach of its nuclear nonproliferation obligation. So, it has been for years continuing to enrich uranium.

RUBIN: That's right.

CORNISH: But that doesn't help us understand this moment when talks were set for this weekend, right? Oman called this reckless in this moment for Israel to do given the talks. Did anyone have faith in these talks?

RUBIN: I think we're seeing no. And I think a big question is, were the talks a ruse. Quite frankly, look you know, when the president says what he said just now, and you combine that with the response from Israel and the response from the IAEA, one can only assume that the goals that the talks were so hard for Iran to meet that really the United States was just sitting there and legging out these discussions.

There was not a deep -- I have to say this, you know, from looking back at Iran, nuclear diplomacy for well over a decade, there was not a deep, detailed negotiation underway from the United States team, unlike in the Obama administration. We had a 300-page nuclear deal with Iran that was very annotated and very specific. And so I really am questioning whether or not there was really going to be detailed negotiations. It was either, Iran, get rid of your nuclear infrastructure, or we're going to let the Israelis bomb.

CORNISH: What are you going to be listening for now? I assume in Iran we're talking about retaliation, but they also lost several military leadership. You have hardliners in that government that are only strengthened in this position. So, what are you listening for?

RUBIN: Yes. Look, the response right now has been very modest. Israel clearly had a plan, and that plan was to prevent Iran from retaliating strongly. There's also a major fog of war inside to Iran by decapitating Iran's military leadership, which is what Israel did.

CORNISH: Meaning we don't totally know what's going on just yet.

RUBIN: We don't know and we don't know -- and the Iranians probably don't know either. And they're all probably wondering who's going to be targeted next.

So, this is where Israel has a very open window, but not a very long window to try to strike as much as they can. The big question is going to be, are these effective strikes? That's been the debate all along. What's the best way to constrain Iran's nuclear program? Diplomacy has always been thought as the fail safe, but if the strikes go forward we need to make sure that we know what happened, because after strikes, diplomacy seems very unlikely.

CORNISH: Okay. Joel Rubin, former deputy assistant secretary of state.

Okay. A flight recorder has been recovered from the rubble of Air India Flight 171, as we wait to learn the cause of the deadly crash. India's Prime Minister visited the wreckage earlier today, called it an unimaginable tragedy. He also visited with the sole survivor who's in the hospital. He's a British man who walked away from the burning debris with only a few injuries. The overall death toll is at least 290 people, and that could still rise. The London-bound jet hit a building when it crashed.

CNN's Salma Abdelaziz is following this from London. Salma, tell us more about what we're hearing from this survivor's family.

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I mean, this is absolutely nothing short of a miracle, as you said. I think those images of him walking around looking mostly okay with a bloodied shirt have been absolutely astounding.

Now, he told reporters that he found an opening essentially after the plane crashed. It seems that he found an opening in the wreckage of that plane and was able to push his leg through and crawl out. He was sitting in seat 11A, which aviation experts say is not the best place to be in a plane crash. So, it's absolutely astounding to people.

But you have to remember, there's a tragedy within this as well, because his brother was on board that flight and is among the 241 others who were killed in what is now being described as one of the worst aviation disasters in history.

And you have to remember, of course, that there were dozens of people on the ground who were killed in this horrendous accident, which happened almost upon departure, right? The plane gaining very little altitude before it nosedived to the ground and causing this huge explosion and fires and carnage and chaos, and of course, deaths and injuries again on the ground.

I think what's setting in today, of course, is that grief, Audie. Yesterday there was that sense, especially with that sole survivor, that families could clinging onto hope, and that hope has, of course, now faded and given way to a reality that is absolutely heartbreaking.

[06:40:08]

You have to remember, this is a global tragedy. There were four different nationalities on this plane, and this plane was bound for London. So, there's also this connection to this city here.

If I may just share one story very quickly of one of the victims. This is Sangita Gusama (ph), who's 19-year-old son, she was hugging him, giving him his final goodbyes. He was about to start a new life going to university here in London, when, of course, moments later, she found this crash happening and taking away from her only son. She is now one of the dozens of family members who are giving DNA samples to identify the remains of their loved ones.

CORNISH: That's Salma Abdelaziz in London. Salma, thank you.

Now we've seen two rulings in the past ten hours in the standoff between President Trump and California Governor Gavin Newsom. The question is on how much say states have over the federal government's ability to mobilize National Guard troops in emergencies. That is what is at the heart of this new ruling that paused the order requiring the president to hand back control of California's National Guard. So, what could it mean for protests in other states?

President Trump reacting to the appeals ruling on Truth Social moments ago saying in part, the appeals court ruled last night that I can use the National Guard to keep our cities, in this case, Los Angeles, safe.

To answer that CNN Legal Analyst Elliot Williams joins me now. Hey there, Elliot. Thanks for being here.

So, first, what the president just said, is that true? I think this can all be confusing for people when there's an order, a reversing an order, a pausing of that order. What do we know right now?

ELLIOT WILLIAMS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Right now, everything remains as is. The National Guard can stay there at least through the next hearing on the case, which is Tuesday. So, right now there's been a temporary pause on that judge's order.

CORNISH: So, the judge is like, I need more information, but he has not said, you're right, you're wrong?

WILLIAMS: Right. And the appeals court says, hold on, let the National Guard proceed for now. We've got more legal back and forth to take care of.

CORNISH: But I'm always looking for sort of kernels of information about how the judicial branch is thinking. And this judge raised some questions about the administration's arguments that it had the right to do this because it believes that what's happening on the streets, the fireworks, the rock-throwing, that it's a rebellion.

WILLIAMS: Yes.

CORNISH: And the judge didn't agree. He said, look, the evidence that of any violent protesters were attempting to overthrow the government as a whole is not there. But he also said violence is necessary for rebellion, but it's not sufficient. What does he mean by that?

WILLIAMS: So, interesting window into how judges work. The first thing judges do when analyzing a statute is actually start with the dictionary, and he goes through Merriam-Webster and Black's Law Dictionary.

CORNISH: Yes. So, if the government says this is a rebellion, he goes and figures it out.

WILLIAMS: And the law itself, the statute uses the term, rebellion. So, what do we mean with the rebellion? And where he lands is that, ultimately, there's a taking up of arms in an organized manner against the government.

Now, the point the judge makes is that, certainly, people here took up arms, you know, throwing a brick, let's be clear, at a police car is taking up arms in some way. But was there the level of organization and was it targeted as perhaps overthrowing the lawful authority of the United States? That's not the case here. That's people who are breaking the law and ought to be prosecuted for it, and even stepping outside their free speech rights. But that's not per the definitions of rebellion. That's where the judge went.

CORNISH: And then I want to get back to this other thing, free speech rights, because we're having more protests coming up this weekend, peaceful protests that are more organized. But the judge also talked about this idea about whether or not you get in this situation means First Amendment rights are over. What did you hear in what he described?

WILLIAMS: Right. So, it's important to note the judge did not base his ruling on the First Amendment, but merely says it in a page or two at the end, we have to be very careful here when it comes to regulating anything that happens at protests. It's a core right enjoined by Americans. Now -- or everybody, not just Americans, anybody in the country.

Now, anytime someone steps outside the protections of the First Amendment with the violence, with the acts of misconduct, they should be dealt with accordingly. But when we start policing acts of free speech and right pushing them into the bounds of rebellion, we have a huge problem as Americans and cases need to be analyzed on a case-by- case basis. But the simple fact is when people protest lawfully, even if you don't like it, that does not rise to the level of an active rebellion.

CORNISH: The reason why I'm bringing all this up is because it's in the fine print, so to speak, right? Like the headline is between Newsom and Trump and control of the National Guard. But these things buried in there have implications.

WILLIAMS: It is. If you want to dazzle at cocktail parties, you can say it is in dictum, in the opinion. It's dicta. It's sort of persuasive, interesting arguments the judge is putting out there. But the ultimate ruling that he makes is based on the Tenth Amendment of the Constitution on state's rights, not on this free speech stuff. It's just important to read --

CORNISH: Yes. But we'll see kind of where this goes with all of the appeals that are ahead.

[06:45:02]

Elliot Williams, thanks so much. I appreciate it.

All right, ahead on CNN this morning, Israel launches strikes on Iran targeting its nuclear program and military leadership. We will be joined by Congressman Ryan Zinke to discuss the escalation and whether there's a potential threat facing the U.S.

Plus, a new musical about Luigi Mangione, and it's already sold out

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CORNISH: Back now to the breaking news of the Israeli strikes on Iran. Now, Iran is calling for an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council. Israel targeted Iran's nuclear program and military commanders.

[06:50:01]

Iran then launched more than a hundred drones at Israel. That's according to an Israeli military official. The IDF released images showing U.S.-made fighter jets that were used in the strikes.

Secretary of State, Marco Rubio says Israel took unilateral action against Iran and that the U.S was not involved.

Joining me now to discuss is Montana Congressman Ryan Zinke, he's a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, which surely is going to want to be briefed on what's going on right now.

First, I just want to talk to you about this unilateral action, as it's being described by U.S. officials. I know the Trump administration has longed -- voiced unconditional support for Israel. Why is it distancing itself here? REP. RYAN ZINKE (R-MT): Well, there's a difference between taking a part of it and being informed. The president no doubt was informed that Israel was going to strike, and it really isn't the basis of the tipping point.

This has been a long, long time coming. When then we believed that they were weaponized and they were believed they were ready to strike at that point in time, Israel had no choice. The president, you know, was aware of it, but we did not participate, and there's a difference. And now we're looking at what is Iran's response. If they target U.S. troops, there'll be another series of retaliation this time, no doubt fatal to Iran.

And the point was made is, look, we tried to negotiate. The president was personally involved with it. It went nowhere again.

CORNISH: You're saying they tried to negotiate. Oman today saying, look, this was reckless to do ahead of talks, that it was a sensitive time. Why have scheduled those talks? Earlier, Joel Rubin, Obama administration official, saying, was it a ruse? What was the point of implying you were going to negotiate if Israel was going to go ahead and do this?

ZINKE: Well, this is not the first negotiation. This has been a long position to the U.S., long position of Israel, that if you weaponize, if you continue your nuclear program, there will be consequences.

CORNISH: So, was it the U.N. vote of the nuclear officials censoring Iran that you think pushed things over, that kind of took things off course? I think it was an analysis that if they didn't strike now, it would continue and they could have launched. I think that was the tipping point. And there was no throwing or holding back on Iranian production, on Iranian -- you know, on what they were going to do, the intent, certainly. So, I think it got to the tipping point where strike.

And now we'll see what the response is. If Iran relieves and gives up their nuclear capability, as far as weaponized weapons, I think you'll see a relaxation. If they continue, then it's going to continue to escalate. And Iran's going to lose this war.

CORNISH: Yes.

ZINKE: There's no doubt that the U.S. has the force and the president has said this once.

CORNISH: Meaning, the U.S. -- I mean, how far does the U.S. go to support Israel in the event of retaliation? I think a lot of folks at home are wondering how and when the U.S. will be drawn into this. At the end of the day, what is the Trump administration strategy here? We've heard what the Obama era was, right, about talks. It seems like that has all been undermined in this moment. So, what is it that we should be hearing from this administration?

ZINKE: I think the administration has been very clear, is that Iran will not have nuclear weapons, period. CORNISH: But it hasn't been clear on what it'll do to prevent that. We know what Israel wants to do.

ZINKE: Well, this is what's on the menu, all right, that Iran could lose their refining capability. They could -- every cat cracker, every distillation tower could be immediately, you know, eliminated. They could lose their Navy, they could lose their Air Force, they could lose every piece of military hardware they can. And the U.S. has that capability. There's no doubt we have that capability.

Do we do it alone or unilaterally or with allies? There are other allies in the region that also understand the threat of Iran. Certainly, Saudi Arabia does, certainly UAE, certainly Oman. All the countries understand that the threat of the matter has been Iran. And with Israel, remember, who's funding Hamas, who's funding the ties, who's funding Hezbollah? It has all been Iran.

CORNISH: Yes, the proxies in the region. So, what are the risks for the Trump administration in this moment?

ZINKE: The risks are this, is that escalation and no one wants a war. You know, certainly, now that their top leadership is no longer with us, they are dead. I think that the risk is that more people die. And every time a war happens, there's also innocence.

Let's be clear, not everyone in Iran supports a regime. Not everyone in Iran is a terrorist. There are wonderful people in Iran that go about their daily business, but a war will have consequences. That's the risk.

CORNISH: All right. Congressman Ryan Zinke, thank you so much for being with us.

ZINKE: My pleasure.

CORNISH: Okay. It is now 54 minutes past the hour.

[06:55:00]

I want to give you your morning roundup.

Happening today, a hearing for Kmar Abrego Garcia, he's the man who was wrongfully deported to El Salvador, but recently returned. Today, he could plead not guilty to charges that accuse him of transporting undocumented migrants across state lines.

Fireworks in the final debate before New York City's Democratic primary for mayor.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have never had to resign in disgrace. I have never cut Medicaid. I have never stolen hundreds of millions of dollars from the MTA.

FMR. GOV. ANDREW CUOMO (D-NY): Mr. Mamdami is right. He's never done anything, period.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: Former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and 33-year-old progressive State Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani are considered the Democratic frontrunners. That vote is scheduled for June 24th.

And the tagline reads, welcome to a story of health insurance, hash browns and murder. Luigi the Musical premieres this weekend in San Francisco. It's inspired by the social media frenzy surrounding Luigi Mangione. He's pleaded not guilty in the shooting death of a UnitedHealthcare CEO. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, the musical is sold out.

And Democrats are demanding answers after the stunning takedown, physical takedown, of a U.S. senator. The dustup started at a Homeland Security news conference in L.A. Secretary Christie Nome was interrupted by California's Democratic Senator Alex Padilla, who says he was trying to ask a question.

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KRISTI NOEM, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: And what they have tried to insert into the state.

SEN. ALEX PADILLA (D-CA): Madam Secretary, I want to know why you insist on exaggerating and embellishing -- sir, sir, hands off. Hands off. I'm Senator Alex Padilla. I have questions for the secretary.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: On the ground, hands behind your back. Hands behind your back.

PADILLA: Get off my hands. Go ahead, behind my back.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right, cool. Lay clap. Lay clap.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: Democrats are outraged, but many Republicans are defending what happened. Here's how Padilla and Noem see it.

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PADILLA: So many kids around the country seeing an administration that puts United States Senators in handcuffs. This is not normal. We cannot treat it as normal.

NOEM: This man burst into the room, started lunging towards the podium, interrupting me and elevating his voice, and was stopped, did not identify himself, and was removed from the room.

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CORNISH: Noem says she met with Padilla for 15 minutes afterwards, and she says the two agreed to keep talking. The group chat is back. Margaret, I'm going to start to you. We've covered Congress a long time. Senators walk with a certain -- not invincibility, but they are not used to being manhandled in any way, just the sort of social protocol between lawmakers, cabinet members. What's significant about this moment?

MARGARET TALEV, SENIOR CONTRIBUTOR, AXIOS: Well, it was sort of a made for T.V. moment on both sides.

CORNISH: Yes.

TALEV: You're right. I think especially, when a senator -- senators expect to be recognized, they're usually wearing pins. In this case, he wasn't. He did identify himself. You heard her there, say that he didn't. But he identified himself crashing her news conference.

So I think, is this going to move the needle on the way Americans see what's going on? The purpose of it, from his perspective, I think, was to hold her accountable and become part of the conversation and to try to make the case that the administration will use rough tactics even on senators.

CORNISH: But in a way she's not the one, because I feel like there is no cabinet member who has performed her position the way that Noem has. Like when it comes to political theater, you're standing in front of -- am I making this up?

SARA FISCHER, CNN MEDIA ANALYST: No, I mean --

CORNISH: Standing in front of the prisoners in El Salvador.

FISCHER: And that's been a criticism of her, like why are you wearing almost like bulletproof vests to be demonstrating some of these talking points, like --

CORNISH: But it demonstrates toughness.

FISCHER: It does demonstrate toughness, and you're right, that she's very good. I mean, you just saw her wearing a baseball cap on T.V., like she knows how to wear the costume. But when I think about what happened with Senator Padilla, like she's in a weird position because she's standing up there at the podium. She's not like a lifelong politics person necessarily that would know who he is if he's not wearing a suit and a pin, to Margaret's point. And at this point, it's the officers that are pulling him out and yanking it out, it's a confusing situation. But to what Margaret said, perfect T.V.

CORNISH: Yes, but does it play into the hands, I think, on social media we were talking about people are constantly seeing images of ICE taking people down?

MICHAEL WARREN, SENIOR EDITOR, THE DISPATCH: Yes. Look, there's something here for everybody. It does feel like Kristi Noem and Alex Padilla, Republicans and Democrats, all got what they wanted out of this. It's theatrics. Look --

CORNISH: But for Americans, is it nerve wracking? Like it's a lot.

It is a lot. But you can see -- this is the problem with all these kind of these moments is you can read into it what you want to see, right? You can see, wow, this man was interrupting a cabinet member and being rude. You know, if I were to do that, I would be manhandled as well.

[07:00:01]

And you could also see what was this man doing except asking a question and all of a sudden he's on the ground and being handcuffed. You can see what you want to see in it. I think there's no sort of completely honest or a good actor in all of this. I was really frustrated to see both the secretary and the department just make up things about what happened in this scenario to say --

CORNISH: Yes, there's still facts involved.

WARREN: Exactly. To say he lunged, I mean, look, maybe there's a video that we haven't seen where he lunged. I didn't see it. It's frustrating.

CORNISH: I think we're still be talking about this in the coming days. Group chat, thank you.

I'm Audie Cornish. CNN News Central starts now.