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CNN This Morning

Knicks Are NBA Champions After 53-Year Drought; New York Knicks Captain Jalen Brunson Named Finals MVP; Trump: U.S.-Iran Memo Of Understanding Will Be Signed Today; Iran Disputes Timing Of Signing, Claims "We Are The Victor"; Kennedy Center Says Trump's Name Removed From Building; 49ers Mourn Sudden Death Of Former All-Pro Aldon Smith At 36; Judge Orders Trump Administration To Restore Signs At National Parks; Tonight: Trump Hosts UFC Fight On White House South Lawn. Crowds Flock To White House Ellipse For UFC Fight Fan Fest; New York Knicks Win First Championship Since 1973; U.S. Air Traffic Control Systems Going Digital; Trump To Depart For G7 In France Tomorrow Morning; Gilgo Beach Killer To Be Sentenced Thursday; $850M Obama Presidential Center To Open Friday; El Nino Is Officially Here And Rapidly Strengthening. Aired 6-7a ET

Aired June 14, 2026 - 06:00   ET

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

[06:00:38]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, it is. Welcome to CNN THIS MORNING. I'm Victor Blackwell.

What do you think I'm going to start with this morning? Knicks, the Knicks, the Knicks. They are now your NBA champions. New York is still standing. So, don't worry.

The Knicks beat the Spurs in game five in Texas 94-90. First championship in 53 years. The real hero here Jalen Brunson, 45 points, and won the finals MVP.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JALEN BRUNSON, KNICKS GUARD, NBA FINALS MVP: Tonight, we play like we wanted to go home champions. It means the world to me to go on this court, go in that court with those guys. Whatever environment we're in, home or away, it doesn't matter for us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani posted for words on social media after that First, history. And then these three, parade, Thursday, Manhattan, all caps. No surprise New Yorkers didn't wait until Thursday to celebrate.

There were thousands of people already out. I mean, look at this. And if they weren't out, the fans started pouring onto the streets after the win. You could see here, up and down the streets, in the high rises. Everybody running, cheering for the team. Police had to step in pretty quickly, though. Some fans there got a little too turned up. Fans were climbing whatever they could. The light poles, the scaffolding. At one point, a bunch of people climbed on a tour bus.

Some damaged an NYPD cruiser, set trash on fire, popped off some fireworks. All this was happening as our Shimon Prokupecz was in the streets following police as they rolled in to clear the crowds. Here's part of what he saw.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: They're going to use -- it appears at this point the horse is here to try and move the crowd back. And they are now proceeding -- let's keep walking this way, guys. And so, we're going to try to get here.

We'll be able to -- we're close to the sidewalk, Brian. So we'll be able to jump on the sidewalk. As -- yes, we're going to get up on the sidewalk here. So behind the horses here, you could see in the distance, those are the kind of crowd control officers specially trained in moving crowds and pushing crowds back. They are the strategic -- some of them are the strategic response group officers. Some are disorder control.

And you will hear them now. I just heard them saying, move, move, move. And this is them speaking to the crowd.

We're going to walk here so I could show you. They were going towards this direction here where there is a large crowd. You could see smoke there. They were going in this direction. It's very clear that they want to try to get this group out of this area.

That appears to have set some things on fire. There's a large group there. But they have now -- they are concentrating on that area.

So, the police have moved into this area. We're hearing fireworks. But they brought a fire extinguisher over to try and -- to put out the trash fire. So, that's what we we're seeing here.

And the police came over and they used the fire extinguisher here to put out this fire here. And they're just surrounding this area.

Again, this is -- this is the escalation. Once you start setting things on fire, it changes the dynamic and it changes the situation. And in part, this is why we're seeing the NYPD respond here in the way that they're responding.

One of the chiefs is out here in the white shirt, making a lot of -- we're just seeing some more officers come into this area making the decisions on when to move in, when to make arrests, when to clear people.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: All right. Our thanks to Shimon for that report from earlier in the evening. Joining me now is CNN's sports analyst and sports columnist for "USA Today," Christine Brennan.

[06:05:04]

Christine, good morning to you. So looking at some of this video, most of the people in the crowd are under 50. So they have been waiting, the Knicks fans, their entire lives. It may be their parents, most of their lives, have been waiting for this moment.

CHRISTINE BRENNAN, CNN SPORTS ANALYST: Well, exactly, Victor. And it is a victory that is perfect for New York City. You know, gritty comebacks, uncertainty close at the end. I mean, this series, even though it was only five games, it had it all. It really did.

And you've got this hero. The undersized, underappreciated, at the beginning of his career, certainly as a college kid being drafted, you know, Jalen Brunson, who is the team captain. He is the MVP. He's the one who had 15 points in the fourth quarter, as you mentioned, 45 points in the game, and just will this team to come back.

And, the fact that it was 1973, the last time the Knicks won, those were the days of Willis Reed and Walt Frazier. And as you said, 53 years. And it was even since 1999, as you know, that the Knicks were in the NBA finals.

And, you know, for this flagship team just a few blocks from NBA headquarters in the garden, the iconic Madison Square Garden, iconic New York City. It's a story of a team and a victory, of course, a championship. It's also a story of a city. Obviously, the biggest and most important city in the United States and in the world. And one of the biggest in the world and most important, so that all, I think, is a piece of this continuing story that has riveted so many people around the country.

BLACKWELL: Yes, Jalen and OG won't have to buy a drink in the Tri- State area for the rest of their lives after this series. So, let's talk about that. You mentioned what it means for this city and for this team. Fifty-three years is certainly a long drought, but it's not the longest. Some franchises have never won a championship.

But for this city, this media market, this team, one of the most valuable franchises in the league, what does this mean for the NBA right to have now New York Knicks champions?

BRENNAN: Every league, every big league, certainly, would love to have a New York team playing well. Would love to see them in the playoffs and in the finals, Super Bowl, whatever it might be, and then win it.

It's not that they're, you know, putting their finger on the scale, no. It's not that that they can control that, you really can't. But when it happens for a league, when that -- a team from New York comes, you know, makes that far and plays so well as, of course, the Knicks did especially riveting games, close games, and these comebacks, not 29 points like game four, which was extraordinary.

BLACKWELL: Yes. BRENNAN: But 16-point comeback last night. But when those stories -- so you've got the storyline. It's drama. It's close games. It's everything you would ask for. And then it is New York City. That -- you know that TV ratings will be better always, East Coast.

And I'm a Midwesterner. I'm from the suburbs of Toledo, Ohio, so I don't necessarily have a New York bias by any means, but that's -- these are the facts.

And so to the point of your question, absolutely. This is huge and it is riveting. And people, even if they don't love New York, they've probably been to New York. They care about New York. They know someone in New York, and they know the story of New York. And I think that's a big piece of the conversation. Again, of the question you just asked.

BLACKWELL: On stories -- let's talk about coach Mike Brown. First championship as a head coach. First season as head coach of the Knicks. His 18-month or so story, 180 degrees here for him.

BRENNAN: Oh, for sure. You know, maybe it's time to say retire on top. I'm teasing, of course. You know, you never -- you wouldn't want to do that. You want to get another taste of it again, right?

But, you know, sometimes the most unlikely things happen as far as -- you know, I've covered sports for decades and love doing it. I'm so fortunate. And you know, the person you least expect, or the moment, you know, a new coach. You know, they've had to fire the previous coach. You know, there's a lot that goes into a story like this, but he had the respect of his players, that grittiness, that ability to say, hey, we're not done yet.

When you're down 29 points, my goodness. When you're down 16 points, they were always behind in the first quarter. So the resilience to stay in there, those huddles were so important. The way he made sure that the teams, you know, you're not out of it yet. You can come back.

All of that is led, you know, by the coach. And that clearly was an example, again, of that grittiness and that comeback, you know, spirit of these Knicks.

[06:10:06]

BLACKWELL: Yes, they're going to feel the magic until Thursday through Thursday and probably until the start of the next season. Christine Brennan, thanks for waking up for us and being with us this morning.

All right. We're following other breaking news, this time in the war with Iran. New movement toward a U.S.-Iran agreement. But there are mixed signals on when and still if that agreement will be signed.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:15:12]

BLACKWELL: Well, if President Trump is correct, today is the day that the U.S. and Iran will sign this memo of understanding. It would aim to set terms and start formal talks to bring an end to the war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

Now, Iran says it's not going to happen today, but they agree that the two sides are close to an agreement, and they claim it represents a win for them.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ABBAS ARAGHCHI, IRAN MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS (through translator): We are the victor of this battlefield. The Islamic Republic of Iran has emerged as a victor. The Iranian people achieved victory. This is not a slogan. This is no exaggeration.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Now, once a memorandum of understanding is signed, that 60- day period of negotiations starts to determine how to implement the plan. Pakistan's prime minister, main mediator in these talks, believes it could be imminent. He posted that Pakistan is preparing for the electronic signing of a peace deal immediately followed by more detailed talks this week.

CNN global affairs analyst Kimberly Dozier joins us. Let's start with the today or not today of it. They both say that they're getting close. Iran says that the president has this unusual attachment to June 14th being the date. Why do you think Iran doesn't want to sign it, if they will, today?

KIMBERLY DOZIER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Yes. And some Iranian officials have pointed out that they are well aware that this is President Trump's 80th birthday. And I think you're going to see elements of the government reject signing it today if only to deny him that win of getting the MOU on the day that he's going to have the big UFC fight at the White House, et cetera.

You do have Qatari negotiators in Tehran this morning trying to push it over the line. And it is electronically signed, according to the Pakistani. So, you know, easy to do by the click of a button on a computer. But I think it's going to wait until Monday before we see the MOU signed. And then we get to the next hurdles.

BLACKWELL: Yes. Docusign, essentially, of the next step in this war. So, CNN has new reporting out in the last hour of some hardliners who are rejecting this deal. I'm reading straight from CNN.com here. One prominent hardliner, Mahmoud Nabavian, said that if Iran signs the agreement, quote, "we will effectively become a colony of the United States," and says that it will open the -- the agreement would open the vital Strait of Hormuz even for Israel.

What is the potency or persuasiveness of some of those hardliners? Essentially, could they prevent signing this agreement?

DOZIER: I think that the economic pressure that's on the government right now is such that it will sign this initial agreement and tell the hardliners, look, after this, you know, we get a hold of some of our billions in frozen assets, and we still have the option of retaining control of the Strait of Hormuz. They still have the high ground over the strait. At any time, they can go back to charging tolls. Whereas on the American side, it is -- it costs a lot of money to keep this kind of military deployment going.

Now, supposedly the U.S. military blockade on Iran would also cease as part of this MOU. Then what would you do with those ships? Would you let them go back to port and resupply?

And once they're resupplied, it gets harder to send them back to the Gulf, especially when President Trump has other projects on the horizon, including some possible military blockade around Cuba.

BLACKWELL: And so you said that one of the arguments that you expect from the hardliners in the next phase of 60-day technical negotiation phase is that Iran will have some of their billions back. That's a point that is -- a point of disagreement as well, that if there will be an unfreezing of assets for Iran as part of this agreement.

Do you expect that that would be a requisite stipulation? Is there any scenario in which Iran signs this agreement and they don't get any money?

DOZIER: I don't see how. I think there might be some sort of sleight of hand in the agreement, which no one has seen the exact text. But they could do something like the U.S. doesn't give them money. But there is one notion out there that a country like Qatar would loan them the money, and then the Iranians would pay them back with the frozen assets.

[06:20:03]

Something that takes the U.S. completely out of the loop, but still allows Iran to access it's funds. The economy is really struggling. They need to resupply. They need to pay for all that drone manufacturing that they've been furiously doing in the past couple of months. So, they need hard currency. And I don't think the deal goes forward without access to that.

BLACKWELL: Where do you think Israel and their fight against Hezbollah in Lebanon fits into this? CNN political analyst Barak Ravid reporter for Axios that this agreement is, as he described it, a bitter pill for Benjamin Netanyahu.

The president thinks that Netanyahu will just come on board and stay on board, at least for the 60 days. The attacks on Hezbollah have continued through the ceasefire. Do you expect he will stay on board?

DOZIER: Yes, it's going to be tough. I mean, the Israeli Defense Forces already reported this morning that there were three rockets fired in violation of the ceasefire. Sorry, I'm in downtown D.C. these things happen.

And Hezbollah, you have to remember, ever since the Israelis took out Hassan Nasrallah, the IRGC, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, sent in something like 100 of its own officers to reorganize Hezbollah and essentially give it its military plans, its marching orders. So, Iran also has its finger on the trigger aimed at Israel.

Netanyahu knows that, the Israeli people know that, especially those living in the north on the receiving end of this. So, this is going to be a very fragile ceasefire if all goes well in the next 48 to 72 hours and this MOU is signed.

BLACKWELL: Kimberly Dozier, thanks for staying with us and working through those sirens. Enjoy the week. Tonight is fight night at the White House. We'll look ahead to UFC Freedom 250 and take you inside the fan fest experience. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:26:30]

BLACKWELL: Well, New York is much quieter. Not totally quiet, but much quieter this morning after the Knicks took home an historic win in San Antonio last night. A score of 94-90, the Knicks got their first NBA championship win in 53 years.

Mayor Mamdani posted last night on socials. There will be a parade on Thursday, but New Yorkers are not waiting until Thursday in the most New York way possible. Listen to this fan.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How would you describe it?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know, it means a lot. I've been hearing people talk about the Knicks for like the last 23 years of my life. So it's definitely like, wow, everybody kind of knows what they're talking about now because there's finally positivity, which is nice.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What -- how -- what's your -- where are you going now? Like, what are you guys going to do because everything's locked down?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, we were trying to hit up a just a bodega and get some dinner, but I don't know if that's happening now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's such a New York thing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, you got to do it. Yes, it's necessary. Open 24/7.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Get you a chop cheese. These were not calm moments overnight. Fans got pretty rowdy at points, setting off fireworks, climbing street poles, setting fire to trash as well.

Police on foot and on horse had to control crowds and to get people back in line. The night ended with some arrests, but no official totals on how many just yet.

Let's check some other headlines for you that we're following. The Kennedy Center says it has fully removed President Donald Trump's name from the building. The crews placed a tarp over the signage to block the view of Trump's name being removed.

The president's name was removed after a judge ruled the venue acted unlawfully when it added his name to the building. The judge gave the center until noon yesterday to remove it. The Trump administration has appealed the ruling.

Former NFL all-pro pass Rusher Aldon Smith has died at the age of 36. San Francisco 49ers announced his sudden passing, remembering his undeniable talent and infectious smile. They say Smith burst into the league in 2011. He set an NFL record with 33.5 sacks in just the first two seasons on the team. The team did not disclose a cause of death.

A federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to restore all signs altered or removed at national parks across the country. The judge in Massachusetts accused the White House of telling half-truths by censoring historical and environmental exhibits, including topics like climate change, native American history.

The court set a July 3rd deadline for the restoration, ahead of the nation's 250th birthday. The interior department blasted the ruling and says they are considering an appeal.

Tonight, President Trump will spend part of his 80th birthday hosting the UFC fights there, the South Lawn of the White House. Thousands of mixed martial arts fans gathered last night in Washington, D.C., for that traditional weigh in of the athletes. They also got a chance to experience the UFC fan fest ahead of the main event. It's part of a series of celebrations surrounding America's 250th birthday.

And CNN's Brian Todd was there, and he takes us inside that fan fest experience.

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Victor, there's so much buzz around these UFC events, and part of the reason for that is because so many events associated with this are interactive. Like here, there's a simulated walkout where people can simulate UFC fighters walking out for their fights through the mist there and be videotaped doing it.

Over here to the right, there's a punching bag where you can measure the force and speed of your punches. And then over here, even further to the right as we walk along over here, these are meet and greets with some of the UFC fighters.

A lot of people stood in lines very long for a long time to get their pictures taken with some of the UFC fighters who were taking part in the events on Sunday.

So just a lot of great interactive events here. There was a motocross jumping event. The Army Old Guard Fife and Drum Corps was here to perform, so just a lot, pretty much something for everyone here. We spoke to several people coming to the event, some of whom were coming to their first ever UFC event, and they spoke about what it meant to them. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've been a UFC fan for about 10, 12 years, I've never been to an event. So to be able to come watch it at the White House is, like I said, a dream come true.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think that it's going to be probably the best UFC watch party of all time. I mean, obviously I would die to be on that lawn. I mean, I'd do just about anything to actually be in the arena. But I think that 100,000 people, I'm hoping to get up front. I mean, we're headed there right now, actually trying to go get in line. Doesn't open for a couple more hours, but the meet and greet, the concert tonight is going to be like Alexander Volkanovski's doing some live cooking or something, I've heard.

So, I think it's going to be awesome. I think it's going to be truly a once in a lifetime experience.

TODD: So, a lot of excitement among fans here. One of the features of this that's been very notable here during the construction for this, you see that red and blue lit structure there. That's the claw about 90 feet tall. It's a huge lighting stanchion right above the octagon where the fights are taking place.

About 4,000 people are expected to be close up viewing the actual fights from that venue. But here on the ellipse, organizers say they expect maybe more than a hundred thousand people to view the fighting on the big screens.

Victor.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Brian Todd at the Fan Fest experience. Thank you, Brian.

All right. Joining me now is Nicolo Dominick. He's a jiu-jitsu champion who has traveled with the UFC covering fights. He's also the author of the Zen Protocol.

Good morning to you. Thank you for being with me.

First question here. Do you think what's going to happen tonight at the White House is a good idea? And in two context for the UFC and for the country?

NICOLO DOMINICK, JIU-JITSU CHAMPION: It's hard for me to imagine that this intermingling of sports and politics is a good thing for a sport because politics can be so alien. So, you know, I wrote a book in 2013 called Into the Cage Rise of UFC Nation, and I in the middle of the spectacle, I realized that the UFC was not a sport company. They were a media company.

And I could see that with the changes in attention span, fights are very short. Or 15 minutes at most that this thing was going to take over the world, but I never foresaw that they would intermingle with politics. We've never seen it like that. BLACKWELL: Yes. You know, and speaking of politics, we have some numbers on just how unpopular this idea of having this fight at the White House is. Only 16 percent of Americans, according to the latest Reuters/Ipsos poll, think this is a good idea. And the political breakdown, 31 percent of Republicans, 5 percent of Democrats, 11 percent of independents think it's a good idea.

And so does Dana White, who you know personally, is he concerned about the political alignment with the UFC and this administration?

DOMINICK: I can't speak for Dana on that. You'd have to think that the answer would be no. He spoke at the Republican National Convention, what was it, in 2016 and again in 2000.

So, you'd have to think he's not concerned with it.

BLACKWELL: Yes. Let me ask you --

DOMINICK: So --

BLACKWELL: -- something you told one of my producers is that what the President and Dana White both understand are archetypes. Explain that.

DOMINICK: Well, when what I realized when I was covering -- when I was writing about the UFC was it wasn't the best leaders who sold the most pay-per-views, it was the best, it was the fighters. Now you have to have skill, but it was the fighters that embodied archetypes. You almost have to go back to Joseph Campbell or Marshall McLuhan, where the idea was the medium, medium is the message.

And what I realized was, you know, a perfect example of this is GSP. He was the white knight archetype. He wore a headband with a rising sun. It was a red symbol. It was you always saw him the same way. And he always spoke like a martial artist, he was very disciplined.

[06:35:11]

Now, if you look at, he sold the most pay-per-views, and there were other fighters who were better fighters that couldn't sell a pay-per- view, because they couldn't break through the noise. And I think what I find most interesting in the relationship with Dana White and Donald Trump is they're both masters of media, in the sense that UFC has learned how to sell archetypes with fights, and Trump himself embodies the archetype of the strongman.

And that's what Democrats don't get, they keep wanting to fight about the message, they don't understand they're in a cage fight, the rules have completely changed. Look at Trump, he's a strongman, he has a symbol, a red symbol. Look at Mao, same thing, strongman, red symbol.

I think Democrats should do what Obama did when he hired Shepard Fairey to design the hope sticker, right? A symbol with hope, very simple, it goes everywhere. Shepard Fairey, a master of media.

BLACKWELL: Yes, you know, it makes a lot of sense when you consider the President's history, not just with UFC, but with the WWF, later WWE, those same archetypes that we saw there every Saturday morning, or whichever night of the week you were watching it, they were the same characters we saw over and over and over, and we're seeing some --

DOMINICK: Exactly.

BLACKWELL: -- of that in the same with the UFC.

Nicolo Dominick, I appreciate the conversation, thanks for being on with me this morning.

All right, going from paper to digital, America's air traffic control system is getting a major upgrade to boost safety and efficiency.

We'll tell you what's in the works, next.

Also, if you're heading out, I'll ride with you if you're going alone. You can stream the show anywhere in the U.S. from the CNN app. Also, check out CNN.com/Watch.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:41:49]

BLACKWELL: New York City was electric overnight after the Knicks mounted another epic fourth quarter comeback to beat the Spurs in game five of the NBA finals.

CNN's Mark Morales was in Times Square as fans poured into the streets to celebrate. Here's what he told my colleague Omar Jimenez overnight.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARK MORALES, CNN REPORTER: They just came up on me. They're like, you have to wear this now. And after a night like tonight, I'm not going to argue.

Omar, welcome to Times Square. If you can look all the way deep, you'll see how many people are here. And this is all because the Knicks won.

I used to tell people all the time, if you think it's a big deal when the Yankees win, if you think it's a big deal when the Giants win, I tell people, wait until you see what it looks like when the Knicks win, because this city will stop.

And this is what you get. It's a celebration here. Everyone's really excited. And it's not just here all night. It's all the way down. I can't even get a count for how many people are here. There are thousands here in the street. And that's just here.

And I'm feeling as you walk out, you start hearing the anthems of New York. New York, New York, Frank Sinatra (INAUDIBLE). And the mantra (INAUDIBLE), let's go Knicks. (INAUDIBLE).

UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKERS (in unison): Let's go Knicks! Let's go Knicks! Let's go Knicks! Let's go Knicks! Let's go Knicks!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Mark could have just held the microphone up for a minute and a half and just picked up the natural sound there.

A lot of celebration you see there. Some of these people in bed, but the energy is still in the city. So the celebration, the highlights from the game, we have more coming up at the top of the hour.

All right. The nation's air traffic control system is about to get a multi-billion dollar upgrade. The Department of Transportation is steadily phasing out paper flight strips and going digital. This is a move designed to dramatically improve efficiency and safety.

Here's CNN's aviation correspondent, Pete Muntean.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Eastern 392, runway 32 (INAUDIBLE) --

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The airlines have changed and so have the hairstyles, but the technology not so much. Paper is still the backbone of America's busiest control towers.

MUNTEAN: Pen and paper.

AMEE PATEL, DIRECTOR OF TRAFFIC SYSTEMS, FAA: Pen and paper.

MUNTEAN: Old school.

PATEL: Old school.

MUNTEAN (voice-over): Known as flight strips, these small printouts detail critical information for air traffic controllers, including the flight number, departure airport route and destination. They are physically passed from controller to controller and updated by hand.

PATEL: He has to physically get up and pass it to the local controller. The local controller then validates, gives all the verification, and then talks to the pilot and then gives them clearance to take off.

MUNTEAN (voice-over): Amee Patel is leading the FAA's transition from paper strips to digital, the latest target of the Trump administration's multi-billion dollar air traffic control overhaul.

PATEL: It's just old. We've been doing it for so many years and there's a better way of doing it. They're not heads up. We want to maximize their heads up time so they're more efficient.

MUNTEAN: At least two of these strips are printed for each of the 55,000 flights in U.S. airspace each day. The digital replacement for these are at 17 different air traffic control facilities and the goal is to grow that number five-fold by 2028.

[06:45:12]

PATEL: We've got all of our flights ready and queued up. Once she's confirmed, she's going to press it to go over to ground control.

MUNTEAN: OK, so now it's over here.

PATEL: Now you'll see over here, they can make any changes and edits. They now send it to local control.

SEAN DUFFY, SECRETARY OF TRANSPORTATION: Paper is great for taking notes, but not for tracking your plane in the sky.

MUNTEAN (voice-over): Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy calls this just the start toward building a brand new air traffic control system by the end of 2028. Congress has already given the White House $12 billion and Duffy wants another $10 billion for software upgrades.

The Trump administration says crews have already upgraded half of all aging copper communication lines linked to last year's radar blackouts in Newark.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our scopes just went black again.

DUFFY: Look at how fast we're building. Look at the technology that we're using, the way we rethought how we build. Give some faith, give us some money, and don't make us wait.

MUNTEAN (voice-over): Though the cash may not convert controllers, convinced the old ways are still the best.

Dave Riley was a controller for 32 years.

DAVE RILEY, RETIRED AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER: I would definitely be very skeptical and would want to make sure that it does all the things that we can do with paper strips and have the reliability that a paper strip and a pen will have.

MUNTEAN: The FAA has promised to replace paper strips for more than a decade now, and this transition has not been seamless.

At Reagan National Airport just outside Washington, D.C., implementing the digital system did cause flight delays as controllers got up to speed. The head of the Union of Controllers tells me that can be a byproduct of this massive upgrade, but he insists it will make controllers' jobs easier and flying safer in the long run.

Pete Muntean, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: Television's hottest actors are on CNN. It's a new season of "VARIETY'S ACTORS ON ACTORS." A new episode is dropping on the CNN app at 9:00 a.m. featuring Colman Domingo and Sarah Pidgeon.

Here's a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COLMAN DOMINGO, ACTOR: Your Carolyn Bessette is outstanding.

SARAH PIDGEON, ACTOR: Oh, thank you.

DOMINGO: To the point where I did read comments along, they're like, oh my God, you had her mannerisms and her cadence, the way she walked. You were that it '90s girl. You know what I mean?

What kind of work and research and all went into that? And then how do you feel with this sort of wave of attention onto your work?

PIDGEON: It was so interesting trying to find the process into Carolyn, because while she was so well documented through paparazzi photos and some videography, she was so enigmatic. And she never sat for an interview. There were very few videos of her actually speaking.

So, I think it was this discovery process.

DOMINGO: (INAUDIBLE) yes.

PIDGEON: And it gave me a lot of freedom, too, I think, while having these sort of touchstones of, you know, how she held herself in these still photos. And there was not a ton of information in terms of books or interviews of people that knew her. But there were physical descriptors through these -- through this research that I did.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: You can watch all the previous episodes of "VARIETY'S ACTORS ON ACTORS." Right now, they're on the CNN app.

All right. El Nino is here, and it could reshape weather patterns with potentially historic impact. We'll walk you through those impacts, next.

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[06:52:50]

BLACKWELL: Here's what to watch this week. President Trump is expected to head to the G7 in France tomorrow. The major topics are expected to be economic growth, immigration, AI, and the ongoing wars.

Rex Heuermann, the Gilgo Beach serial killer, is scheduled to be sentenced on Thursday. He's pleaded guilty to murdering eight women as far back as 1993.

The prosecutors have asked the judge to sentence him to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

The Obama Presidential Center in Chicago is slated to open to the public on Friday. The $850 million center has been in the works for more than a decade.

This sprawling campus features a museum, fruit and vegetable garden, NBA-sized basketball court, and a branch of the Chicago Public Library.

The powerful El Nino weather phenomenon has now arrived, and its effects could be historic in the coming months and maybe even years.

CNN's Derek Van Dam explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: El Nino has officially arrived, and it's poised to affect hundreds of millions of people worldwide. But its strength is what could set it apart from previous events, with some experts saying this one may become a super El Nino.

So what is it, and how could it affect you?

Think of the Pacific Ocean as a giant bathtub stretching across the equator. Normally, trade winds push warm water towards the western Pacific. But during an El Nino, these winds weaken, allowing this warm water to spread eastward. Once this wind circulation is altered and the ocean temperature reaches a certain threshold in this part of the Pacific, then an El Nino is declared. This expanding pool of warm water adds a lot of extra heat into the atmosphere.

As we've seen with previous El Ninos, the warmer the temperatures, the greater the impacts. And this one could rewrite the history books. The stronger ones, like what's developing now, they're less common. But these well-known events have been responsible for reshaping economies around the world.

And that's because El Nino's impacts extend far beyond the Pacific Basin. The most immediate impacts, they'll be felt here, across the Atlantic Basin, where hurricane season is likely to be stifled. Meanwhile, expect increases in tropical development across the central and eastern Pacific. In winter, the southern tier of the U.S. is favored by a more active and wet pattern, while the north can end up drier and milder than average.

[06:55:20]

Consequences of an El Nino ripple around the world, too, with changes in seasonal rainfall patterns across Africa that can have devastating impacts on food security and spikes in extreme temperatures, leading to heat stress throughout Europe. Decreased monsoon rains across Asia mean negative impacts to a water source that's relied upon by billions. Increasing drought and heat waves could have major ramifications on next year's harvest in Australia.

El Nino doesn't guarantee specific weather at your home, it simply stacks the odds. And the science is telling us that this could be one of the biggest weather players on the planet in the years to come.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: All right, Derek, thank you very much.

Ahead of the next hour, fans were in the streets in New York to celebrate the Knicks NBA title. But some of those celebrations, though, they got a little out of hand, forced the NYPD to step in.

We've got a live report for you, next.

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