Return to Transcripts main page

CNN This Morning

Rescues Underway after Deadly Earthquakes in Venezuela; Trump's GOP Luncheon Devolves into Shouting Match; Could AOC Be Democratic Socialist Candidate for President? Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired June 25, 2026 - 06:00   ET

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

[06:00:10]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news

AUDIE CORNISH, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everybody. I'm Audie Cornish. I want to start with this breaking news in Venezuela.

At least 32 people are dead and hundreds more injured after devastating back-to-back earthquakes there. Rescue efforts now underway. And those numbers are expected to climb into the thousands.

The epicenter of the quakes, located along the country's Northern coastal region. It's caused widespread damage, collapsed buildings, and sent terrified residents into the streets.

The 7.2- and 7.5-magnitude earthquakes triggered evacuations more than 1,000 miles away in Brazil's Amazon.

Now Venezuela's main airport suffered major damage, with a section of the terminal roof reportedly collapsing. Venezuela's president declaring a state of emergency.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DELCY RODRIGUEZ, VENEZUELAN PRESIDENT (through translator): We have also suspended the metro and railway systems in order to facilitate both rescue operations and the recovery of vital infrastructure.

I want to announce that there will be no classes for the remaining days of this week. There will also be a suspension of activities that are not considered essential services.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: To give us the latest developments here we have CNN's Stefano Pozzebon. He's in Bogota. What are you learning this morning?

STEFANO POZZEBON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We're learning only that the president, the interim president of Venezuela, Delcy Rodriguez, which you just heard in that sound from late last night, Audie, will be speaking to the nation. She will be speaking to the nation momentarily in a few minutes, we were told from the presidential palace, to update the death toll and of course, to present how the first responders and emergency services are coming up to terms with this catastrophe.

Like you said, we are expecting that death toll, which late last night at around 11 p.m. was here in Bogota, so midnight in Venezuela, the death toll was set at 32. But unfortunately, we do believe that that -- that number will be growing and rising in the coming hours.

In particular, most of the damages seem to be concentrated in the state of la Guaira. That is North to the capital, Caracas, pretty much sandwiched between the coast and the city itself. And that is where Delcy Rodriguez told us last night that dozens of buildings have-- have collapsed in these two separate earthquakes, one within 40 seconds of the other, that both hit the Northern coast of Venezuela with a dramatic effect.

And you mentioned the Brazilian Amazon. We are here in the Andes, up in the Colombian capital, about 800 miles from Caracas itself. And we felt it here in Bogota. We felt it strong. So, we can only imagine how badly it was felt down in the -- in the Venezuelan capital, where hundreds, if not thousands of people have slept or spent the night roughly on the street, because the authorities have made a plea not to go back into their homes, given the presence of aftershocks, and because the infrastructure of the buildings in Venezuela is so fragile as a consequence of the economic crisis that have been hit in that country for the last 10 to 15 years.

Yesterday, for example, our team in Caracas was able to speak with the son of Nicolas Maduro, Nicolas Maduro being, of course, the former authoritarian president who had been -- has been removed from office by the United States in January. Well, his son, who is also called Nicolas Maduro Jr., he told us, for example, that one of the main worries is that the buildings are not prepared to sustain an earthquake.

Most of Caracas was built in the 1950s and '60s, and pretty much for the last 20 years, there has been close to little renovation on most of the buildings, be that hospitals, be that basic infrastructure, houses, buildings highway or even bridges. And so that's why he was so concerned that -- that the aftershocks could be even more damaging than those two previous earthquakes that, by the way, hit at 6 p.m. in the afternoon on a public holiday.

Yesterday was a public holiday in Venezuela. A lot of people were either at home or out in the street. And this is also another factor of concern.

[06:05:03]

We're waiting to hear more, Audie, from the Venezuelan authorities. Hopefully, we will hear from Delcy Rodriguez, the interim president of Venezuela, in the upcoming hour, and we will bring it to you as quickly as we can.

CORNISH: I want to ask you one or two more questions. One: you're feeling it all the way in Colombia. Is -- are there regional rescue supplies headed to Venezuela? And the second question is the U.S. Obviously, it's an interim

government. You mentioned the Maduro family. Is there any word yet about what support may be headed to Venezuela now?

POZZEBON: I think that most countries here have made themselves available. I was able to speak with both representatives of the U.S. embassy in Caracas, which, by the way, was open only a couple of months ago because of this fragile diplomatic relationship between the two countries, but also here with first responders in Colombia, who have said that they have teams ready to activate as quickly as Caracas makes that diplomatic call, calling for other countries to come to help.

Yesterday, Delcy Rodriguez told us, for example, that several countries in the region have expressed their solidarity and have prepared aid in terms of both first responders and emergency services, but also just like material aid. We need to bring in medicines. We need to bring plasters, emergency kits, water supplies, or generators.

The big, big challenge, however, Audie, is the airport. Right now, Caracas Airport is not working. It's not functioning. The runway has been damaged by the earthquake. So, they will need to get that running before being able to receive aid from abroad.

However, the region is showing a network of solidarity, and hopefully, in the coming hours and days, you will see, that aid coming -- coming in, streaming in into Venezuela, including from the United States.

CORNISH: OK. That's Stefano Pozzebon, speaking to us from neighboring Colombia as we follow up on those back-to-back earthquakes that have struck Venezuela this morning.

Also happening today, Delcy Rodriguez, the interim head of Venezuela, is set to speak and brief people on the latest.

Here in the U.S., I want to turn to Congress. The president hit pause on a major piece of legislation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN (D-MA): Americans are paying more for groceries, more for healthcare, more for electricity, more for housing. And this was at least one chance to push back against that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: Congress finally passed a bipartisan housing bill. So, why is it stuck at the finish line?

And in the words of Mariah Carey, "Why are you so obsessed with me?" That's the question former President Obama wants to ask of President Trump.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:12:36] (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BILL CASSIDY (R-LA): I felt like I was trying to get answers for the American people. And I'm not going to be bullied when I'm trying to get answers for the American people. And so -- so it escalated from there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: Yes, to name calling and yelling. This all happened at a closed-door meeting between the president and Senate Republicans. It was a full-on screaming match.

So, is he pushing his party further away? There's a deepening divide in the Republican Party. President Trump's Republican luncheon turns into chaos because he went toe-to-toe with one of the senators he helped oust, Bill Cassidy.

Now, the day before the Louisiana senator had actually voted with Democrats to limit Trump's war powers in Iran.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CASSIDY: The president was wondering why people would vote for the War Powers Act. I asked him if that would be a rhetorical question or a real question. He said real. And so, to begin to speak. The president didn't want to hear my question; interrupted me. I didn't care to be interrupted.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: Republicans described the president as, quote, "having an 'F'-ing tantrum." The meeting, as they quote, "venting session," and Majority Leader John Thune telling CNN it was more of a, quote, "one- sided conversation."

But there are always two sides to the story.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: I think we had a really great meeting, and we're very proud of the party. We like our leader. We like everybody, really, in the room. I don't like a few people, but that's OK. I think you know who they are.

But for the most part, we have a really well unified party.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: OK, so that word stuck out to the other Republican senator Trump helped oust earlier this year: John Cornyn.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN CORNYN (R-TX): The president closed by preaching unity, but he spent the prior hour talking about things which were not exactly unifying.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: OK. So, today in the group chat, Sabrina Rodriguez, politics reporter at "The Wall Street Journal"; Mike Dubke, former Trump White House communications director; Meghan Hays, former Biden White House director of message planning.

So, I'm interested in this for two reasons. He didn't just yell. He walked out and said, "Look, I'm not signing this bipartisan bill you're so excited to talk about: a housing bill."

Here's Lisa Murkowski walking out the door, and she kind of gives us the lay of the land.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. LISA MURKOWSKI (R-AK): If he chooses to hold up his own agenda, because he wants action on the SAVE Act, that's, I guess, his call.

[06:15:08]

It is not helpful to him. It's not helpful to the country. And it's not moving the needle. If you don't have the votes, sir, you don't have the votes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: Notice, she's strolling. She's enjoying the sun. She's like, you do what you want to do. I'm going to let you cook, because you don't have the votes for either your election nearing, bill, right? Or your war powers resolution keeps nudging further away from you. She just looks unbothered.

SABRINA RODRIGUEZ, POLITICS REPORTER, "THE WALL STREET JOURNAL": Audie, I feel like we're just in such a different moment now with Trump's relationship with the Hill.

I think for the last year, if you go -- if we just think of, like, a year ago, what we've been talking -- or just a few months ago, we'd be talking about how, you know, Republicans on the Hill really fall in line for what the president wants; how they haven't really pushed back on his administration.

And now, we're seeing people step away from him. And I think that's where you see his frustration.

CORNISH: But only the people who have been wounded, right?

RODRIGUEZ: No question.

CORNISH: I mean, "The Wall Street Journal" called them the Wounded Bear Caucus.

RODRIGUEZ: But I think --

CORNISH: It feels like they're not going to fall in line.

RODRIGUEZ: But it's enough to stop things from passing.

CORNISH: There we go.

RODRIGUEZ: And that's where you see his frustration coming out into the public.

And you see people being more willing to say what's happening in a private meeting and be more open to saying, No, we don't agree with him.

And clearly, there's a frustration, because as much as he talks about the SAVE America Act, it's not getting through, because the votes are not there.

CORNISH: I want to add that the yelling did work on some people. Trump went to Truth Social to say, "Wow!" exclamation point. "The Senate just changed its vote on Iran from 50-to-48 against to 50-47 for. Rand Paul and Bill Cassidy changed."

And then he says, "Thanks to leader John Thune," et cetera. "This vote puts Iran on notice."

He -- this was one of many things he wanted. And he got it. So, what do you think of that?

MIKE DUBKE, FORMER TRUMP WHITE HOUSE COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: I don't think anyone paid any attention to that vote at the end of the day.

I think what we're focused on -- and I think what everybody else is focused on -- is exactly what happened right prior to the -- to the lunch, which was the cancellation of the signing, the lunch, the argument. I talked to some senators who walked out and said, "bizarre" was the word that -- that they used for that.

CORNISH: They said bizarre.

DUBKE: Bizarre.

CORNISH: Even by Trump measures?

DUBKE: Yes. Even by Trump measures. And I think what you're seeing here -- and this is really a difference in timing. And I think you're exactly right in this, that when the Republicans were lining up, it was prior to filing deadlines. It was prior to primaries. Now we're post that.

We have a shock within that caucus of the endorsements against -- not necessarily against Cassidy. That kind -- that one was -- was a bit telegraphed.

CORNISH: Yes, but Cornyn.

DUBKE: The one against Cornyn was not.

And so, the president has taken, you know, short-term gain for what is long-term pain, I think, for the rest of the year.

And what is shortsighted about this, at least to me, is that at the end of the day, the second half of this Trump 2.0 is going to be very, very difficult. If you do not have the House, and especially if you do not have the Senate, because you need the Senate in order to get your cabinet secretaries and everybody else approved.

CORNISH: Yes. It'll be more difficult for people who --

DUBKE: And judges and everything else.

CORNISH: -- don't have a house, and maybe were happy to see a housing bill finally pass.

I should say caveat on the rules. According to the law, if he doesn't sign it after X amount of days, it becomes law.

DUBKE: Yes.

CORNISH: Unless he takes certain action, and it becomes a pocket veto. So, I don't know if he's going to go that route, but it does seem like he wanted to rob them of that moment.

MEGHAN HAYS, FORMER BIDEN WHITE HOUSE DIRECTOR OF MESSAGE PLANNING: Yes, absolutely. And it's kind of disgraceful, because this is one thing that is bipartisan. We get nothing in Washington that's bipartisan. It's actually something that would help the American people.

All we talk about constantly is working on affordability, working on the cost of housing and groceries and gas. This actually was going to help the American people and do that. And it was in a bipartisan fashion.

So, it just seems like a big slap in the face to the American people.

CORNISH: Well, I guess I'm asking, is it a slap in his own face? Do you know what I mean? Like, is it cutting off your nose --

HAYS: Well, for Trump --

CORNISH: -- to spite your face?

HAYS: I mean, it --

CORNISH: But for no reason. Because --

HAYS: Exactly.

CORNISH: All your voters are asking are "America first." That's what they're saying over and over again. This had a clause about private equity, which on the right very much is an issue. And yet, it was worth it just to stick it to the Senate.

HAYS: But it also, it's a slap in the face to the House members and these people who are running. This is a terrible thing for them when they are going up for reelection. These are going to be in campaign ads. It's -- it's a terrible -- Trump is -- It is very shortsighted of him. He is not thinking of his people now.

CORNISH: It could, unless you plan to hold on, unless you plan to -- hold on -- unless you plan to spend your time talking about the SAVE Act, which does have a lot of purchase on the sort of X and Twitter- led right.

I want to play one last quote for you on the way out. Representative Anna Paulina Luna, Republican of Florida, talking about what she's willing to do to try and get this thing that Sabrina has said, and John Thune has said, many people have said does not have the votes, to the floor.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ANNA PAULINA LUNA (R-FL): I'm going to hold them accountable. I'm totally fine with keeping it shut down as long as possible until they can get off their butts, go vote, do what you need to do. But they don't get to stipulate to the House what the deal is.

[06:20:06]

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Because they're saying they don't have the votes. I mean, you may --

LUNA: Well, the votes aren't there to reopen the floor.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: So, there's a lot still to do. And there are now people willing to, as you know, you can say, take a stand or grandstand to show they're acting on the president's agenda.

DUBKE: I mean, let's -- let's look at what -- just briefly here, what's happened?

This -- this non-veto, non-signing, whatever, this bill is going to become law. It had veto-proof majorities. Even if he pocket vetoes this, this thing is going to become law, because they'll vote to -- to overturn. So, he's really not jeopardizing anything.

What he's jeopardizing is that feel-good moment where you have bipartisanship in D.C.

HAYS: The optics and the pictures.

DUBKE: And from a communications standpoint, I would have argued this is what the caucus, the conference, Republicans need going into the midterms.

HAYES: Yes.

DUBKE: So, absolutely on that. DNA and Pulte last week, that is another situation. But he's getting rid of who he wanted.

So, he's playing a different game than they're playing. But this is -- this is causing chaos in Washington.

CORNISH: All right. After the break this morning, just want to let you know, we are continuing to monitor the breaking news out of Venezuela. President Trump being updated on those earthquakes this morning.

Plus, could Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez be the Democratic socialist candidate in the 2028 race for the White House?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:25:25]

CORNISH: OK. We want to talk about New York City's new political kingmaker. Mayor Zohran Mamdani has an eye on an even bigger prize in 2028: the White House, after three progressives he endorsed pulled off a clean sweep in Tuesday night's primaries. Mamdani is looking to fundamentally change the Democratic Party.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR ZOHRAN MAMDANI (D), NEW YORK CITY: Part of my hope in working to -- to elect these Congresspeople, these state legislators, is also to help write a new chapter in our party's history, where working people are back at the heart of that struggle.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: So, if a far left progressive or Democratic socialist emerges as a viable candidate for the presidency in 2028, who might that be? Could you be looking at her now?

So, the group chat is back. I wanted to talk about this divide between Mamdani, who's like, I'm at the front of a movement and he's excited. And then "The New York Post" types, who describe this constituency as "The young and the clueless." And right in the front is someone wearing a Democratic socialist T-shirt.

So, our messaging folks, how do you see this conversation around the DSA? Is it growing? Are you seeing the power? Let me hear.

HAYS: Well, one they're not -- they're not Democrats. They don't believe -- they don't have, like, solid Democratic values. They don't believe in a capitalist society. There's, like, a lot of different things here that they're not Democrats.

I am not sure, fundamentally, why the Democratic establishment is supporting them and why they're using the resources.

CORNISH: Probably because the voters.

HAYS: But that's -- but that's a misnomer, because the people who are actually going to help take back the majority in the House are not those three people in New York. Those are turning blue districts bluer.

New York 17, Utah 1, who also had primaries, who elected very moderate candidates. Josh Turek in Ohio [SIC].

CORNISH: So, what are you --

HAYS: Or, I'm sorry, in Iowa.

CORNISH: But help me account for the enthusiasm, because I often hear this description from moderate Democrats. It's like, that's out there. That's not the real thing.

And it's confusing, because you saw all those crowds for Bernie Sanders and AOC a few months ago. I didn't see crowds for any moderate. And I don't understand this back and forth.

RODRIGUEZ: I mean, I think it gets to the heart of it, and I'm not trying to move away from, like, just specifically talking about Democratic socialism.

But I think it talks to this moment in politics where people are fed up with the government. People don't think that the government's getting things done, that politicians are getting done -- things done, that the establishment is getting done, that the status quo doesn't work.

And I think that you have candidates who are taking advantage of this moment, like we see in New York, by speaking to those issues that people are feeling.

That's where you see a lot of enthusiasm. You could go anywhere in this country right now, whether it is red areas, purple areas, blue areas, and talk to people how you feel about the government broadly, how you feel about Washington broadly.

CORNISH: Or billionaires, or like there's a whole language of populism.

RODRIGUEZ: There's a lot of discontent.

HAYS: There's a lot of anti-incumbency going on right now.

DUBKE: Yes.

CORNISH: No, not just anti-incumbency, anti-institution. They don't like the billionaires. They don't like the corporate money. They don't like -- like there's a lot of --

RODRIGUEZ: And let's be clear: that's something -- that's something that President Trump himself capitalized on in campaigning in 2024 and throughout his political rise has been sort of this populist movement. So, you see, it's like a weird horseshoe.

CORNISH: Which people said at the time when they're like, are Bernie Bros ever going to go for Trump? Like there is a horseshoe politics.

And I guess I'm trying to figure out why people have a hard time. Why -- why establishment parties have a hard time acknowledging or figuring out how to deal with those people in the middle of that space of the horseshoe.

DUBKE: Because we are arguing about shades of blue right now on the -- on the Democratic side, as we were arguing about shades of red on the Republican side with Trump.

Every time -- and I'm going to go full-on history professor here, when we have had major disruptions to the economy, where there has been this -- this -- this huge difference between the wealthy and the poor in this country, we have seen these populist/socialist movements.

We saw it in the 1890s, in the early 1900s, with Eugene Debs. We saw populist movements that captured kind of this imagination.

And why do parties have trouble dealing with it? Because parties, in a two-party system, you're huge umbrellas. You have to embrace everybody.

And when a small group -- what does that say, 7 percent of mostly white and under 30 voters came out in New York City? When you've got a small vocal group in a one-party state [SIC] like Manhattan, you see this.

The media then amplifies it. That's what we're in right now.

CORNISH: OK.

DUBKE: So, we're arguing over shades of blue.

CORNISH: Now our point on recent history.