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'American Surrender' and 'Blunder': GOP Blasts Trump Agreement; Did Mayor Mamdani Confirm Taylor & Travis NYC Wedding Date?; Democratic Socialist Leads in Washington, D.C., Mayoral Primary. Aired 6-6:30a ET
Aired June 18, 2026 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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AUDIE CORNISH, CNN ANCHOR: Now that we've all seen the agreement President Trump signed with Iran, you have to ask, was it worth going to war over?
[06:00:41]
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SEN. BILL CASSIDY (R-LA): This will go down as a tremendous foreign policy blunder.
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CORNISH: And Vice President Vance better look out. The bus could be coming around the corner.
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DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: This way, if it works out, I'm going to take the credit. If it doesn't work out, I'm blaming J.D. You better be careful, J.D.
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CORNISH: And the world champion New York Knicks get an invite to the White House. But will any of the players boycott?
In the meantime, World Cup fans are booing water breaks as a vibe killer that makes the games too -- I don't know -- American. So, is FIFA all wet?
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TRUMP: This was not easy, I can tell you.
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CORNISH: So, signed on the dotted line. The U.S. and Iran have both signed an agreement to end the war on all fronts, for better or worse, at least for the U.S. Good morning, everybody. I'm Audie Cornish. We're going to start with
the details of that agreement, but also the Republican response.
Conservative voices online, not pleased about what's in the text of this agreement, some calling it an American surrender, saying it's even worse than the Obama deal of 2015.
Now, Nikki Haley called it a, quote, "huge mistake to pay to rebuild the threat we just destroyed."
Senator Ted Cruz told "The Daily Wire" he felt like Trump was getting very poor advice and called it ill-advised.
In the meantime, Senator Bill Cassidy took it one step further.
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CASSIDY: This will go down as a tremendous foreign policy blunder. Iran ends up stronger. Our allies in the region are weaker, and Iran has learned that, if they're willing to grab that Strait of Hormuz and choke it off, they can get the Western world to dance to their tune. I think it's a deep mistake.
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CORNISH: Today in the group chat, Nicholas Wu, congressional reporter at "Semafor"; Sina Azodi, director of Middle East studies programs at George Washington University; Mike Dubke, former Trump White House communications director; and Meghan Hays, former Biden White House director of message planning.
So, I want to start with you, Sina, because you've been watching this very closely. And one point interested me.
In the Obama deal, basically, the plan was you ship out all your enriched uranium, right? Iran had about, it says, 20 percent enriched. And they would send that somewhere. It ended up being Russia.
But in this deal -- in this deal, it's a little different. Basically, the stockpile, which at this point is at 60 percent, is kept inside Iran, and then will be down-blended locally. But it means they keep it on their soil.
Is this one of the aspects of the deal that has people really upset?
SINA AZODI, DIRECTOR OF MIDDLE EAST STUDIES PROGRAMS, GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY: Well, what the JCPOA stipulated was that Iran would ship out 98 percent of its enriched uranium to Russia. Right.
CORNISH: It leaves the country.
AZODI: Leaves the country. In this case, I think for whatever reason -- it's distrust, the possibility of the U.S. leaving the deal again -- Iranians have insisted that it has to stay on their soil.
But to, let's say, mitigate the concerns for proliferation, they're going to down-blend it to 3.67 percent, which is low enriched uranium. And you use that for a nuclear power plant.
CORNISH: Yes.
AZODI: Doesn't have any weaponization concerns.
CORNISH: Yes, but different from one leaves. One stays, basically.
AZODI: Right.
CORNISH: And the administration is saying, look, this -- this is a good solution, because it's going to get us to zero.
But it leads to my other point. It's not -- it's non-zero, not zero.
AZODI: That's right.
CORNISH: And I know Israel said, look, there should be zero. No enrichment whatsoever. Nothing enriched anywhere. But that is not what this deal does.
AZODI: No. And the problem -- and we've been dealing with this issue of the principal of enrichment in Iran for more than 20 years now.
Iran's interpretation, or the legal interpretation of the NPT, the article four of the NPT, their interpretation is that that right to use peaceful energy includes enrichment.
The U.S. side says, no, absolutely not. The text of the NPT doesn't say enrichment. So, they've been fighting over this on this legal interpretation.
CORNISH: And that fight hasn't changed? Yes.
AZODI: Hasn't changed -- changed. What President Obama did was that he said the enrichment in Iran is a fact on the ground. We can't change it.
[06:05:10]
President Trump said, no, it's a bad deal. Withdrew. And we are back to 2018 now.
CORNISH: Yes. So, the reason why I wanted to set the table with all that is, like, why would all these conservative voices be squawking about this? Right?
Why would the Lindsey Grahams of the world, who were all too happy to be a part of these strikes and have these demands on Iran, be so frustrated with what was signed?
Nicholas, what's your sense in Congress about, A, why they feel comfortable saying it out loud and why they're saying what they're saying?
NICHOLAS WU, CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER, "SEMAFOR": Well, for Republicans on Capitol Hill that I've talked to, I mean, this strikes at the very heart of the issue for them; like, the issue of Iran's nuclear program, the reasons they went to war.
This all kind of comes to a head now, because this deal and what's emerging, by all accounts, in the view of these Republicans, didn't accomplish that goal.
And so, for these Republicans who, you know, see this as a deeply held principle for them and know that they will outlast President Trump, they're willing to speak up about it now.
CORNISH: Yes. It's interesting. As we are speaking, Mike Dubke --
MIKE DUBKE, FORMER TRUMP WHITE HOUSE COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: Yes.
CORNISH: -- your favorite person just posted to Truth Social. President Trump says, look, "These fools who think I haven't been tough enough on Iran when the Stock Market Just Hit a RECORD HIGH, and Oil prices are 'tumbling' down, are either jealous, bad people or stupid."
So, let's talk messaging.
DUBKE: Well, first of all, this is just a framework. This isn't the total deal. So, we need to keep that in mind.
I mean, we keep -- all the rhetoric I keep hearing is, you know, this deal, this deal, that. It's a framework to get to a deal.
CORNISH: Yes.
DUBKE: So, we can argue whether or not that's great or not. And I appreciate the -- the laughter on my left.
The other thing is when you're in a hole, what's the first rule? Stop digging. And I think that's where we are with this particular framework, this particular MOU, is that we are at a point.
The military in Iran has been degraded, whether or not it's been blasted to the Stone Age. Again, we can debate that. The ballistic missile stockpile has been degraded. Their ability to fund Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis --
CORNISH: Yes. And we should say --
DUBKE: -- has been degraded.
CORNISH: -- Europe, NATO. Marc Rich (ph) was speaking earlier. I don't know if that was sound. But they're not saying, Oh, God, this is really bad. Right?
We heard Carney yesterday say, I like what I saw.
MEGHAN HAYS, FORMER BIDEN WHITE HOUSE DIRECTOR OF MESSAGE PLANNING: Well, what are they supposed to do? They're standing with him. They're not going to say anything in front of him.
First of all, we spent $1 billion a day fighting a war that no one wanted to go to. So, we spent over $100 billion there.
We spent $300 billion in this deal. So, now we're $400 billion when Americans don't have healthcare.
DUBKE: We did not spend $300 billion in this deal. If --
HAYS: You tell me, then --
DUBKE: I just can't lay that. I just can't let you just get away with that.
HAYS: But you tell me. OK.
CORNISH: Yes. Let me give the fact check. There will be a $300 billion --
HAYS: Investment.
CORNISH: -- investment fund. But a lot of people say, why should Iran have almost immediate access to investments in the world economy if it's still sitting on its enriched uranium and so much of this is not worked out yet?
AZODI: I would say that a possibility of instability in Iran is a danger to everybody, the entire region.
CORNISH: So, you think the money is necessary to restabilize?
AZODI: To restabilize the country. And I think that it -- you know, just looking at President Trump's approach, investment, it could work for the Americans, too. A lot of jobs.
Think of it: in 2015, Iran signed an agreement with Boeing to buy passenger planes, which never happened, because President Trump decided to leave.
CORNISH: But you can hear why critics would say, Well, wait a second. Now were talking about investment with Iran, with a regime that fundamentally is not changed.
HAYS: Exactly my point. So now, Americans are using -- the American taxpayers are paying for something that we never -- a war we didn't want to go to. Gas prices shot up, and got a huge mess to our global economy, not to mention our own economy here.
And Trump doesn't seem to care. He just is like, Oh, if you're stupid, you don't like this. Well, they still have -- they still have the capability for nuclear power -- or nuclear war capabilities.
This is an agreement to -- to a deal, which this is the 39th time he said that we almost have a deal. So, at least we're one step closer there.
But I just don't understand how we are in this position that -- in a war that no one wanted to go to, and the American people are the ones suffering. CORNISH: Let me give Sina the last word, because he's here. And this
was signed at Versailles. Lots of things have been signed at Versailles.
AZODI: A lot of things.
CORNISH: But usually, when you call something a Versailles treaty, it's in foreign language policy land. Kind of an insult, right? It's a self-defeating agreement.
What's your response to the critics out there who are making those analogies?
AZODI: Look, I mean, absolutely what Meghan said, I mean, this was the -- President Trump didn't have to sign that peace deal at Versailles today. He could have had an agreement in February before he decided to go to war.
He was dragged into a war of choice that he didn't have to. Thirteen Americans died. Billions of dollars spent. He could have taken the deal that the Iranians had offered, and it was a pretty good deal compared to the JCPOA. And I know that President Trump is --
CORNISH: Did not believe that.
AZODI: -- very sensitive to the word "JCPOA" and Obama.
CORNISH: Yes.
AZODI: But that was a very good deal that he had on February 26 in Geneva.
CORNISH: Well, the hope is -- from the White House that 60 days from now, whatever they have will be much better --
[06:10:07]
AZODI: Yes.
CORNISH: -- than happened in 2015. Thank you so much for your expertise. I hope you can come back.
AZODI: Thank you for having me.
CORNISH: Coming up on CNN THIS MORNING, there's a new release date for Sean "Diddy" Combs. What this means for his time behind bars.
And Swifties, did New York's mayor just let a secret slip?
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Taylor Swift wedding confirmed by Mamdani, you guys.
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[06:15:05]
CORNISH: It's now 14 minutes past the hour. This is your morning roundup.
A tornado threat looming over the Midwest today. This morning, more than 65,000 people are actually still without power in the region after severe storms last night.
The National Weather Service reported several tornadoes and issued some of its highest-level tornado alerts.
And Luigi Mangione's team will present a psychiatric defense in his state murder trial. They're expected to admit he killed the UnitedHealthcare CEO, but under an extreme emotional disturbance.
Mangione's sentence can be reduced from murder to manslaughter if this defense succeeds. That's the difference between life in prison and 25 years.
The state trial is set to begin this fall.
And Sean "Diddy" Combs' federal release date changed again. It's now moved up from April 2028 to February 2028. And the reason is unclear.
Combs is currently convicted on charges related to prostitution. He still faces dozens of lawsuits nationwide. His attorneys are appealing his formal conviction.
Now, did New York City's mayor, Zohran Mamdani, just spill the beans on Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce's wedding? He appeared to confirm that the two would be getting married in the city this summer.
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MAYOR ZOHRAN MAMDANI (D), NEW YORK CITY: We are used to big events, and we are incredibly excited for this one. We know it coincides with the Knicks finals run. We know it coincides with July 4th. America 250, Taylor Swift's wedding all happening at the same time.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You did mention Taylor Swift's wedding. Have you been invited? Are you going? Do you, like -- Is there anything we need to know about that, sir? Thank you.
MAMDANI: No and no. I -- I wish them a lovely wedding.
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CORNISH: TMZ reported the two are getting married at Madison Square Garden on July 4th weekend, but that has not been confirmed.
Meghan, I'm sure you have thoughts.
HAYS: Well, I don't understand why Mamdani would know about it if he's not been invited, so I just -- I mean, maybe -- DUBKE: Well, they have to have security for this small, intimate
affair at Madison Square Garden.
HAYS: I thought that's why they were getting married there.
CORNISH: Oh, really?
HAYS: Because there's a lot of security.
CORNISH: I think we've had a recent example of what it's like to secure the area. That's not ideal.
HAYS: Maybe it's all part of the ruse that they're not actually getting married there. And he's throwing everyone off and, like, part of it. Maybe that's it.
DUBKE: I mean, I guess the Bezos wedding in Venice --
HAYS: Oh, God.
DUBKE: -- was a small affair compared to Madison Square Garden.
HAYS: I mean --
DUBKE: Is she giving a concert?
CORNISH: Were just going to -- we're going to wait for the puzzle pieces to be dropped via Instagram, the way most wedding invites happen these days.
DUBKE: Oh, great.
CORNISH: Now, after the break on CNN THIS MORNING, the Obama Presidential Center opens today. Will his star-studded grand opening dwarf President Trump's 250th celebrations?
Plus, the World Cup's most controversial time-out. Are hydration breaks helping the players or the networks?
And good morning to our viewers in Chicago. We're taking a live look at the sunrise there over the skyline.
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[06:22:23]
CORNISH: So, we're going to ask whether Washington, D.C., is taking a page out of New York City's political playbook after the win of Zohran Mamdani.
Now, ballots are still being counted here, but in the Democratic mayoral primary, holding a commanding lead is Democratic socialist Janeese Lewis George. And here's how she described what Democratic socialism means to her.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JANEESE LEWIS GEORGE (D), WASHINGTON D.C. MAYORAL CANDIDATE: I think this moment calls for that level of moral clarity and courage. It calls for this level of ingenuity.
And it calls for a leader who is focused on putting people first and delivering on the small things, right? So, our (ph) socialism is talking about just making sure your 911 system works, your 311 works, your trash gets picked up, your snow gets plowed. Those basic things that make a difference in everyone's lives.
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CORNISH: OK. Group chat is back. I wanted to talk about this, because this follows so many other cities where you have seen someone who identifies as a Democratic socialist advance.
Now, unlike Mamdani, she's not promising government-run supermarkets. Right? Which I don't think anyone is holding their breath for that.
But she wants to build 72,000 new housing units, expand rent control, and promise a universal childcare subsidy. And Meghan, I wanted to ask you, does any of this kind of language, does it redefine for people that term, socialism?
HAYS: Socialism? Well, socialists are not Democrats. So, I'm confused why Democrats are still thinking that the DSA members are Democrats, because they are not.
I think that the problem I have with this is she's against a lot of the public safety issues that we face in D.C. and doesn't want to have curfews for teens. And there's a huge public safety problem.
CORNISH: We should say, she's a former prosecutor, right? So --
HAYS: But she does not believe in the curfew.
CORNISH: Yes.
HAYS: There's a lot of things going on here. So, I don't necessarily know that it defines it. I think that, just like people in New York. And if you live in Cincinnati or Sacramento, you want your mayor to do the very basic things. We want the rats gone. You want public safety.
CORNISH: Yes.
HAY: You want 311 to work, and --
CORNISH: But can I charge something?
Two things on her plank. While they may fall under Democratic socialism, they actually sound very much like things the modern Democratic Party is talking about: housing.
The abundance Democrats, all they talk about is housing and zoning. All right. When you talk about what you're saying is lenient crime policies, to
me, this threads back to very kind of common language from 2020 and beyond, around how to fight crime without leaning on violence from police. Like, they're saying things that are not disconnected from what average Democrats think.
HAYS: I mean, sure. I mean, I don't disagree. I don't agree with the abolish ICE and all the things that -- some of the rhetoric she has said.
[06:25:02]
But also, we need -- there are a ton of places to live here that are not affordable. I don't -- I don't know enough about her housing policy to comment.
I just am not -- I am not a fan of the Democratic Party sliding so far to the left. And it is going to impact these cities. It's going to impact places. It's already impacting places like New York, and it's going to impact places like D.C.
We need actual governance, and I need people to pick up trash, remove snow, which we clearly didn't do this year. But this is a lot about anti-incumbency.
CORNISH: So, it sounds like this messaging, you're excited about this messaging. Meghan's going to be in the ads.
DUBKE: First of all -- first of all, I feel like we're in California, because they're still counting the votes.
Secondly --
CORNISH: Wait, it's been a day.
DUBKE: They're still counting the votes. Secondly -- we don't even have to talk about ranked choice voting.
Secondly, I -- I listened to that clip, and she sounds like a small- town establishment Republican in -- in the answers. We need to do the small things right. I mean, she really doesn't --
CORNISH: Megahan says she sounds like a left-wing --
DUBKE: Well, because that -- because that answer, that answer was just --
HAYS: The answer -- first of all, the answer was incredible.
DUBKE: -- pandering.
CORNISH: But isn't that the point?
DUBKE: To Meghan's point --
CORNISH: Are they not making progress? These -- these people who have won. Right? Not in this case, but like Mamdani. They have said the things that people want to hear.
And it hasn't been giant social safety net. Let's turn it into Sweden. They talk about the small things.
DUBKE: I -- it sounds, when I listen to Meghan --
CORNISH: Yes. She sounds concerned.
DUBKE: -- who has paid a lot more attention to this than I probably have in terms of --
HAYS: I live here.
DUBKE: -- this, because I don't live in D.C. I live in Virginia. Yes, they say the small things. But again, I think that's a lot of rhetoric rather than what they are going to do on the ground.
The third part of this is, this is where the Trump endorsement works in reverse. He came after her, and now she is leading in the polls.
CORNISH: It raised her profile.
DUBKE: It totally raised her profile.
CORNISH: One last thing, Nicholas. I also noticed she's pushing a tax that would potentially tax the people more who live outside of the district --
DUBKE: Boo!
CORNISH: -- but own businesses in the district. What's the name of your business?
DUBKE: Boo!
CORNISH: OK, so --
DUBKE: Boo!
CORNISH: But the point is more taxing is a huge part of these planks in these cities. Billionaire taxes, and Mamdani with his pied a terre tax.
Is that something that you think, over time, we're going to see more of? Is that messaging that makes Democrats vulnerable?
WU: Something that I heard across the board from most elected Democrats over the last year, when they've looked at Mamdani's election and other Democrats who've won primaries, is that having some sort of, like, concrete plan, regardless of how it comes into being, like, is something that they can learn from and something that they think other Democrats should run on.
Now, the question for someone like, you know, the perhaps incoming mayor of D.C. is the fact that Congress has veto power over whatever they do. CORNISH: Yes. And Trump has already threatened like, hey, maybe we
need to take more action somehow.
WU: Exactly. And, you know, Hill Republicans, you know, we've seen in the past have -- have, you know, taken their power to overturn what D.C. does. And so, if she does overstep, there is a risk of that.
CORNISH: Yes. And there's -- and that's a good layer to remind people: that the fight here is not just regular city politics. It's city versus federal.
Now, straight ahead on CNN THIS MORNING, we're going to talk about J.D. Vance. Why the vice president has become the face of the Iran deal for this White House.
Plus, is it all about the money? Or do players really need a break? We're going to talk about this controversy over water breaks during the World Cup games.
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