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CNN This Morning

Celebrating 250; 2026 World Cup; Lawn Mystery. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired June 12, 2026 - 06:30   ET

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

[06:30:00]

LUKE THOMAS, MIXED MARTIAL ARTS ANALYST: -- creating the union of these two identities or brands or, you know, between the UFC and between the Trump administration. You could even argue maybe that it's not so much a one and done kind of an event, although that's what they're suggesting, but that rather it marks a new period of entanglement between them.

What was very interesting was the UFC helped launder Donald Trump's reputation following January 6th all the way through into 2024, when they helped boost his candidacy. And the mainstream media never made them pay for that. I was very, very surprised at the time.

So this is a thing that has been in motion for a very, very long time. I get asked all the time, do you think the UFC risks being seen as political? I'm like, risk is being seen. This has been an open thing for years at this point. This weekend, to me is the culmination of all of those kinds of efforts.

HILL: Luke Thomas, really great to have you with your insight. Thank you.

THOMAS: Thank you.

HILL: Still to come here on CNN THIS MORNING, in honor of the nation's 250th birthday, President Trump is staging a state fair in the nation's capital. But a number of states say they're not going to be able to join the party. We'll tell you why. Plus a round of severe weather, including tornadoes across multiple states, leaving thousands without power and also turning deadly.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:35:55]

HILL: Good Friday morning, I'm Erica Hill. Nice to have you with us here on CNN THIS MORNING. Thirty five minutes past the hour now, here's a look at what's happening.

One person is dead amidst severe weather across the Midwest and Iowa. Those storms packing 70 to 90 mile per hour winds, that is what helped to kill, unfortunately, a 54-year-old man after he was struck by a tree in Des Moines. Meantime, a large tornado in Central Illinois caught on camera. Look at the size of this. Perhaps not surprisingly, it destroyed homes, leveled businesses. One man was rescued after being trapped under the rubble of his own home. More than 600,000 customers across nine states are waking up without power this morning.

Wall Street preparing now for the largest IPO in history as Space X makes its debut on the NASDAQ. Shares of the rocket company being offered at $135 each, that is set to raise some $75 billion and would also make founder, Elon Musk, the world's first billionaire.

Donald Trump offering up a new pick for director of National Intelligence, nominating Jay Clayton, US attorney for the Southern District of New York. And this, of course, follows the intense backlash over Bill Pulte, his initial pick, who has zero intel experience. Though Trump says Pulte will stay in that interim role for the time being.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, UNITED STATES PRESIDENT: He's only there for a little while. He's running it for a short while we get a very talented person, Jay Clayton. As you know, Jay Clayton is an incredible talent, head of Sullivan & Cromwell. He was head of the SEC.

He was now Southern District. I mean, nobody has better credentials. But Bill will run for sure. Well --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: The Senate had scheduled a confirmation hearing for Clayton for next week. So just what do we know about Trump's new choice to take over as director of National Intelligence? Well, Jay Clayton is, as I noted, currently the US attorney for the Southern District of New York.

He's also spent time over the past weeks joking the administration's baseless claims of fraud when it comes to voting by mail in California's elections. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAY CLAYTON, US ATTORNEY, SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF NEW YORK: It makes the opportunity for fraud so much greater when that is not necessary. It is not necessary for ballot access.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is mail in voting being used by one group and not another?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: So he's not the only one here, the US attorney, in Los Angeles is now actually speculating about filing charges.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BILL ESSAYLI, US ATTORNEY, CENTRAL DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA: I will just say it will be election fraud charges in the next, I hate to put timelines on things, but one to two months, I believe. We need some of these results to be certified so we can, you know, prove some of the allegations. But we will be charging some people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: Joining me to discuss Devlin Barrett, Justice Department reporter for the New York Times. He's also the author of the new book, "The Department of Revenge: How Trump Took Control of American Justice."

I mean, Devlin, can you just put into perspective for us how unorthodox perhaps those comments are that we just heard when it comes to this promise that charges are coming? I mean, that would just never happen, I mean, in the normal operation of the Department of Justice. We are no longer living in those times.

DEVLIN BARRETT, JUSTICE DEPARTMENT REPORTER, NEW YORK TIMES: Well, that's exactly right. There are Department of Justice regulations specifically designed to prevent those kind of statements and that kind of activity, because the department and lawyers, and election experts, have long viewed that kind of behavior by the Justice Department as dangerous because it might, you know, cast doubt upon the election. But look, this is the Trump administration, and one of their core beliefs is casting doubt upon the election.

And you see that not just with the comments in Los Angeles, but you see that with the comments by Jay Clayton. And in terms of Jay Clayton, there are those comments that are raising alarm bells. There are also questions about his qualifications for this role of DNI. How does he stack up?

[04:40:05]

BARRETT: So, Jay Clayton is a very experienced Wall Street lawyer, a very experienced corporate lawyer, and he's been the head of the New York prosecutor's office for about a year or so. But he doesn't come with an intelligence background other than what he encountered in his most recent job.

So, you know, this isn't the resume certainly most people would pick to run an intelligence agency. But the most important credential he has is that Donald Trump trusts him. They golf together. Jay Clayton was assigned a sensitive part of the whole Epstein fiasco last year when the Justice Department was wrestling with that problem.

And like everything that, or many things that the President does, it's based on who he likes and how loyal he believes they are.

HILL: In terms of that loyalty, right, elections are key. So those comments that we heard from Jay Clayton are really important here because this president, right, has not given up, despite these baseless claims when it comes to election interference, election fraud. This is something that the President has really zeroed in on, and that we have seen become a focus on for this administration.

Based on what we know about Jay Clayton, if he is, in fact, confirmed, how do you see that potentially intensifying?

BARRETT: Well, so look, it's pretty clear at this point that the President likes to have the DNI pursuing voter fraud claims. We saw that with Tulsi Gabbard when she was the DNI, when she went to personally participate in an FBI search in Atlanta. That's very unusual.

And I think it helps to understand what's happening here if you just realize that the DNI in Trump's mind is an election investigating operation, which I think a lot of intelligence officials would say that's only a pretty small part of the DNI's job.

But here it's the most important part because here it's what the President wants. And you see in Jay Clayton's public comments, which you showed, you see almost sort of a soft audition for that role. I think the question is, once he takes the job or if he gets confirmed, how far is he willing to go for the President?

HILL: Yes. We Will see, too, what the line of questioning is in some of those hearings. Devlin, Barrett, great to have you with us this morning. Thank you. And just a reminder of Devlin's new book, "The Department of Revenge: How Trump Took Control of American Justice."

Well, President Trump's big birthday bash for America hitting another snag. So he had first pitched this idea of the Great American State Fair two years ago, billed as a patriotic world fair, but for states, to unite Americans.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I will work with all 50 governors, Republican and Democrat alike, to create the Great American State Fair. The Great American State Fair will showcase the glory of every state in the union.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: Right? So why not? Sounds like a great idea. It turns out, though, that six states are now bowing out. Now, it's important to note all 50 states will still be represented in some way. But these six states have said it's just too much money for them to spend that total cost, somewhere between $70,000 and $100,000. And for most of those states, that was a major factor in the decision.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAURA HEALEY, MASSACHUSETTS GOVERNOR: Great American Fair, he invited all the states to participate and wants to charge us, charge us to go down and put something on his exhibit, whatever he's creating for Freedom 250. It's just ridiculous.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: There are also concerns that politics will or have already tainted the celebration. The spokesperson for Oregon's governor saying there are "growing concerns" that the event in Washington, DC is shaping up to be a more partisan affair than originally presented. And if that language sounds familiar, perhaps it should. As we remember the concert.

The panel is back. Look, there are concerns, and it's important to note this is not the broader America 250, which, you know, we see that logo everywhere. I mean, I see it in my town. There are banners up. That's separate from Freedom 250.

Rob, do you have concerns that this has become more partisan? I mean, this should be -- there should be no politics in the celebration of America's 250th birthday.

ROB BLUEY, PRESIDENT AND EXECUTIVE EDITOR, THE DAILY SIGNAL: That's right, Erica. I agree with you. I don't think that it should be a partisan event, and I don't think that the Great American State Fair was becoming partisan. Unfortunately, some of these Democrat governors seem that they want to pick a fight with Donald Trump and they're using the excuse of budget constraints to do so.

I think it goes entirely to their disagreements with the President and wanting to stoke some of these fears in the minds of voters in their states that somehow the President is going to politicize this state fair. Now, you're right, Erica. There have been other concerns that certain aspects of the America 250th anniversary might be taking a more political tone.

[04:45:11]

But I think just by the nature of what you look in the grand scheme of things overall, this is a great celebration of our country's founding, and we should come to Washington and take part in it.

HILL: You talk about some of those concerns. The President, you know, turning what was supposed to be a concert, a number of artists pulling out because they said they found out after the fact that this was more of a partisan event. He's now turning that into a rally.

Flo Rida, Vanilla Ice, they're still going to participate. Vanilla Ice had some really interesting comments right here on CNN, in the wake of all that backlash and other artists canceling. I want to play his take on his decision to be a part of it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VANILLA ICE, PERFORMING AT FREEDOM 250 STATE FAIR: This is a huge honor to play the birthday. It's one in a lifetime, you know, 250. So I'm honored, and I just, you know, I respect everybody else.

I know there's a lot of tension everywhere. This whole world is like a snow globe, but it shouldn't be that. And music is here to bring people together, man. And, you know, it shouldn't be that this music is dragged into politics. This is a moment to celebrate our country turning 250 years, no matter who puts it on.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: Maria, is that the answer? Is it really about, you know, individuals celebrating how they want to celebrate and not allowing it to become partisan?

MARIA CARDONA, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: It should be that way, Erica. But when you have somebody like Donald Trump who is focused on all of these celebrations and he's the one who's politicizing it. I mean, why did he have to create a Freedom 250 to begin with? Why couldn't he just have worked with the original group, America 250, to focus on making this a celebration for everyone? But he can't do that.

And I think ultimately what Americans see is that, when Donald Trump gets involved with something, especially some kind of celebration, it's not about anything or anyone other than Donald Trump. And so that's why you have these states, I think, very concerned that they didn't want to participate in an event that was going to be exclusively partisan, especially when they were being made to pay for it.

And I think the other part of this, Erica, is that there are so many states in this country that have felt attacked by this president because they have been attacked by this president figuratively and literally. And so, to then -- for Donald Trump to say that he wants to bring the country together is kind of laughable. And Americans just don't believe that he has it in him to do anything that is other than partisan and division, and focused on anything or anyone other than himself.

HILL: We're going to have to leave that one there. Elliot, you are first for the next group chat, I promise, because we do have a lot more to come here, including a mystery on the National Mall. Just who etched 8647 into the grass? And is it a dig at President Trump just before his big birthday celebration on Sunday?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I love all the World cup events going on around the city. Really build a sense of community.

HILL: The World Cup finally kicking off across North America. The matches, you don't have to have one of those expensive tickets, by the way. Still plenty of ways to enjoy the excitement. Stay with us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[04:52:48]

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I love all the World Cup events going on around the city. Really build a sense of community. But I'm super excited to watch my country win, Viva Mexico.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I've been in US for a long time, but every time I see my flag that, the music, and today in Estadio Azteca, like I wanted to cry.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HILL: I love it. So there is a lot of hope that the US team is going to bring fans just that same level of joy tonight. The World cup, of course, now officially in full swing. Game 1, Mexico defeating South Africa 2-0 in Mexico City. Tonight, the first games on US soil, Team USA taking on Paraguay. That's 9:00pm Eastern in Los Angeles.

Carlos Bocanegra joins us now. He's the former captain of the US Men's National Soccer Team and also played for the team in the 2006 and 2010 World Cups, all right.

First of all, let's call on that World cup experience. What is this moment like, right? The tournament finally kicks off. You're waiting all these years for it, what is the men's national team going through right now as they wait for that first match?

CARLOS BOCANEGRA, FORMER CAPTAIN, US MEN'S NATIONAL SOCCER TEAM: A lot of excitement. I mean, these guys have been building up to it for a couple of years now. And so, you know, just for it to arrive that day, the butterflies, I think it's just going to be a release of emotion.

And so, I think you'll see the first 10, 15 minutes, maybe a very hectic game, a very intense getting all their feelings out and getting all that energy out that they've been holding in. And it's on home soil, so it's got an even more special feeling to it. Their friends, their family, you know, the whole country behind them. So it's going to be a really cool experience.

HILL: Certainly when you're doing it right on US soil, talk to me about what you've seen in terms of the level of excitement. There was a real hope, right, that with the World Cup being in North America, especially in the. In the US that this would really kind of light a fire under the love of the game here in the United States.

What have you seen over the last couple of years building up to this moment?

BOCANEGRA: Yes. I have, I think, we had a runway since about 2018 when it got announced that we would host the World Cup here in 2026. So we've had a bit of a runway, and I think leagues like MLS soccer have really used this platform to kind of generate the buzz, but generate interest, investment, building infrastructure, attracting players to come play in the league.

[04:55:10]

So it's done wonders for that. The academy systems in our country have really propelled forward as well, which is super important because that's what ultimately develops the players and puts them into our leagues as well as putting them into the national teams. And I think now you see there's over 40 players that have gone through the MLS academies, and MLS that are playing in the tournament.

Over 100 former and current MLS players playing in this tournament. And so, you know, it's there. The fandom is there, the excitement is there, and it's really helped propel the game in our country, where, you know, it's not the number one sport in the United States, which is OK. But, you know, for this month it is.

HILL: Yes, for this month it is. It's interesting, I think, you know, among women, you see such an interest in women's soccer, and that has sort of exploded in a lot of ways when we look at the men. Walk me through what you're seeing in this moment. What do you see as the men's team strengths and weaknesses for Team USA? What are you expecting from these guys?

BOCANEGRA: Yes. The women have done a fantastic job, and that's been a great program. I think, you know, on the men's side, really still trying to win that first World Cup. But, you know, this team is energetic. They're one of the most talented teams we've ever had as a country. Now, that's -- individually, can we do it collectively?

You know, we've got players in the attack that can get goals. You know, the midfield seems pretty strong. I think the questions right now are around the defense, and we have a situation with the goalkeeper. Matt Freese is probably going to be the number one. It looks like that was not settled maybe until a couple months ago, which has not been the case traditionally for US goalkeeper has been our strongest position.

That doesn't mean Matt can't go out and have a fantastic tournament, but we will need him to have a big tournament. He's someone, I think, is flying under the radar. Great kid, great work ethic, and he's a good goalkeeper as well. So I think if he has a great tournament and sort of comes into his own, that's really going to give the backline some confidence and propel the team forward.

HILL: A lot of great soccer certainly out there for the next several weeks, and it's great to have it here so close to home. Carlos, thanks so much for coming in this morning.

BOCANEGRA: Thank you.

HILL: Well, the National Park Service is now investigating a case of vandalism on the National Mall. So it appears a huge 8647, 8647 has somehow been etched into the grass on the mall just days before crowds, of course, are expected for the UFC fight at the White House. That phrase has been used to signal opposition to Trump.

It's at the heart of an indictment of former FBI Director James Comey. A spokesman for the Department of the Interior, which actually manages the National Mall, described the markings as deranged vandalism, which will not be tolerated.

The group chat is back. Elliot, as promised, I'm going to let you kick this one off. So in that same statement from the Interior Department, it went on to say, "any threat against the president is taken very seriously by the department and that the US Park Police would investigate."

Is this on the surface? And this really goes back to, you know, the discussion around James Comey, is this actually a threat against the president or is it just a protest?

ELLIOT WILLIAMS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: I don't know. But on its face, it's not a threat against the president. But to be clear, and just the big picture on this is that free speech and free expression are always OK, threats never are.

Now, the line between that can be quite blurry. And quite frankly, Erica, depends on context, right? If I'm at a baseball game and say, man, I'm going to kill this hot dog, that same statement has a very different meaning if I'm pointing a firearm at someone saying, man, I'm going to kill this person. And you have to look at, and investigators will have to look at the different circumstances surrounding any work of speech, including etching it into the lawn.

It might have been whatever we think of this speech, it might have been just a form of speech by itself, or it actually could have been a threat. And I think that is for investigators and prosecutors to really take a close look at.

HILL: And Could be difficult to determine, Rob, quite honestly, right, because you also have to figure out who did it and when.

BLUEY: That's true, Erica. And with all of the cameras that we have around Washington, DC you'd think that it might be relatively easy to figure out how this actually happened. I've seen some of the time lapse video.

But, Erica, I'd also say that, you know, I think it's so sad that here we are, as we just talked about during this hour, the 250th anniversary of the United States, that something like this is what people who are visiting our nation's capital will see. But to end on a hopeful note, the US Catholic Bishops did just consecrate the United States to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. So maybe we could all just use a moment to reflect on some of the positive things that are happening in our country as this anniversary approaches.

HILL: That was an interesting turn, Rob. Maria, you've got the last 30 seconds.

CARDONA: You know, I think that this is something that people should take a look at and say, let's try to come together. Let's actually try to come together for the country for the 250th anniversary. Let's try to do something that is completely the opposite of Donald Trump, and actually bring people together to celebrate our freedoms, to celebrate this country and the values it was founded on.

HILL: I would like to thank the three of you for coming together on this Friday morning, because it's always a pleasure to see all three of you. I hope you all have a great weekend. We'll see you soon.

Cardona: Thanks, Erica.

HILL: Thanks to all of you for joining us this morning, I'm Erica Hill. The headlines are next.