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Erin Burnett Outfront
Militant Group Threatens U.S. Bases As Iran Tensions Rise; L.A. Dodgers: ICE Agents Denied Entry To Stadium, DHS: Not From ICE; Cuomo Hits Trail As Once-Massive Lead Slips In NYC Mayoral Race. Aired 7-8p ET
Aired June 19, 2025 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[19:00:23]
ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: OUTFRONT next:
Breaking news, an Iranian-backed militant group threatening American bases tonight as Trump weighs the options in Iran. Is he basing this on real intelligence, though? Or could America fumble into another major war?
Plus, more breaking news, a showdown at Dodger Stadium. The Los Angeles baseball team saying it blocked ICE agents from entering the stadium. So what happened today?
And the Cuomo slide. Why is Democratic heavyweight Andrew Cuomo losing ground in the New York mayoral race in the final days before election day?
Let's go OUTFRONT.
Good evening. I'm Erin Burnett.
And OUTFRONT tonight, we begin with breaking news, American bases are targets. A leader from one of the most powerful Iran backed militias warning they'll strike U.S. bases if Trump enters the United States into the war. The threat, quote, American bases throughout the region will become akin to duck hunting grounds, duck hunting grounds, he says.
Of course, the U.S. has bases across the Middle East, up to 40,000 troops there. So, some of those bases on the map, you see them heavily concentrated there along the Gulf. The militia also threatening to shut down the Strait of Hormuz.
Obviously, that is the most critical choke point for the flow of oil in the world, 21 million barrels of oil go through it every day, 20 percent of the world's supply. Now, that strait has never been shut before, even in times of war.
And while it is obviously therefore very hard to imagine it happening, it's worth just remembering that a few weeks ago, nobody would have imagined that we'd be talking about what we've been talking about for the past few days. The world is on a precipice of history. Trump, though, clearly wants an off ramp tonight. Here's the White House press secretary relaying a message from Trump
during the press briefing today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Based on the fact that there's a substantial chance of negotiations that may or may not take place with Iran in the near future, I will make my decision whether or not to go within the next two weeks.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: That was a direct quote she had from the president.
Now, what she said there, Karoline Leavitt, was two weeks, and it is very important when talks about two weeks and you're counting out the days to understand what that really means. So, we thought it was worth pointing out this. Trump uses that exact time frame for many things.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'll have a statement over the next two weeks on minimum wage.
We cut the cost of eggs in half in just a period of two weeks.
REPORTER: Do you trust President Putin?
TRUMP: You know in about two weeks.
I'll announce it over the next two weeks.
I can't tell you that, but I'll let you know in about two weeks. Within two weeks.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Okay. Some of those things happen in two weeks and most didn't. But the point is, he likes the timeframe. Okay?
So, two weeks is, well, whatever he wants it to be. In this case, though, when we talk about weeks, the word matters.
Just yesterday, Trump said that before Israel attacked Iran's nuclear sites, Iran was weeks away from obtaining a nuclear weapon.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I've been saying for 20 years, maybe longer, that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon.
I've been saying it for a long time, and I think they were a few weeks away from having one.
(END VIDEO CLIP) BURNETT: Now, maybe he was getting that few weeks from Prime Minister Netanyahu, but since they're using that and saying, oh, weeks away from a nuclear weapon, it is important to point out that this timeline of Iran being a few weeks away from a nuclear bomb is in direct contradiction to CNN's reporting.
According to U.S. intelligence assessments, Iran is three years away from being able to produce a nuclear weapon if they wanted to. It is also in direct contradiction to Trump's own director of intelligence, who says this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TULSI GABBARD, DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE: The IC continues to assess that Iran is not building a nuclear weapon, and Supreme Leader Khamenei has not authorized the nuclear weapons program that he suspended in 2003.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: That's blunt. That was in March.
So, the facts on Iran getting a nuclear weapon do not bear out the claim at the heart of what has put the world on the verge of world war.
Earlier this week, though, Trump acted -- earlier this week as if he did not care about the facts when he said this about his director of national intelligence, right? She said they're not developing a weapon, and the supreme leader in Iran is not given the green light. Since suspending the weapons program more than 20 years ago.
So, what did Trump say to that?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I don't care what she said. I think they were very close to having one.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Again, the core of this entire thing, war and peace for the world and for America comes down to whether that is true or not.
[19:05:00]
And maybe tonight in giving Iran two weeks to talk, Trump may be showing that he does not want a repeat of a massive American war for no reason.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: Facing clear evidence of peril, we cannot wait for the final proof, the smoking gun that could come in the form of a mushroom cloud.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Kristen Holmes is OUTFRONT live outside the White House.
And, Kristen, I know you're talking to your sources there. What is the thinking inside the White House right now on what's next?
KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, and I do want to point to one thing there, because you just played that clip of George W. Bush. One of the things that Donald Trump has spoken about a lot was that we never should have gone into that war. And he always says that people knew that there were no weapons of mass destruction. He has campaigned on that point.
So, it is interesting now to see this comparison between the two. Karoline Leavitt today, saying that Iran had the components to make a nuclear weapon and that it just hadn't done it yet. And that is what they were looking at in terms of, of course, as you say, U.S. intelligence that we saw and even testimony back in March saying that they were not just minutes away from that decision.
Now, when it comes to this two weeks, there are still a lot of questions, obviously. What does it actually mean? Is there a decision that's going to be made in between the next two weeks? And if Iran doesn't come to the table in two weeks, does that mean automatically the United States is going to be involved?
And what exactly will that look like? Because we are still at a place right now where Donald Trump is saying that Iran can have no nuclear weapon. They are not going to be able to enrich uranium. And Iran doesn't seem to want to change any of what they're doing and say, were not going to come to the table unless you're going to let us do this.
So, why two weeks? Well, I asked specifically Karoline Leavitt, what are you seeing here? Because remember, we already we, the United States already gave Iran 60 days. So what's with the two-week extension?
She said that they believe that Iran is now weaker, that because of the missile strikes, that they're going to come to the table because their infrastructure is not the same. So, they're going to have to make some concessions. Now, of course, whether or not that's actually true and whether or not it's going to happen is something were going to watch play out for two weeks, as you said.
But until then, we do know that the U.S. envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, was meeting with his U.K. counterpart, who is going to be going over to Geneva to have a conversation with his Iranian counterpart, which will not be a part of. We'll see if that goes anywhere into playing into this two-week time frame.
BURNETT: Kristen, thank you so much.
And I want to go now to the ground in Iran, where we have extremely rare access. Our team is the first team of western journalists to enter Iran since this latest conflict with Israel began.
And our Fred Pleitgen tonight is OUTFRONT in Tehran.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): As Iran and Israel continue to trade salvos of bombs and missiles in Tehran, the cleanup is in full swing in residential areas that were struck. We went to several impact sites, buildings partially collapsed in some, completely destroyed in others.
The authorities here say this building was flattened in the first wave of strikes against targets in Tehran. But in other parts of Iran as well. And they say in this site alone, six people were killed and two bodies are still buried under the rubble.
As tensions between Iran and Israel continue to escalate, many residents have left Tehran, the streets empty, some shops closed, but defiance remained.
Billboards across Tehran showing those killed by the Israeli aerial attack and vowing revenge. This one addressing Israel directly, saying you have started it, we will finish it, as Tehran's leadership says it won't back down.
If the Zionist regime is hostile, actions persist. Our answers will be even more decisive and severe, the president says. And Iran saying the Israelis are also targeting civilian installations, taking us to the state tv channel IRIB, recently bombed by two Israeli airstrikes. An anchor had been reading the news as the building was hit.
This is that studio now burned out with only a skeleton of the charred anchor desk left.
Authorities say three state TV employees were killed here.
You can see how much heat must have been emitted by the impact and by the explosion. The phones that they had here are molten here. Also, the keys molten, the screen.
And there's actually someone's lunch still at their desk. Standing here, which probably they would have been wanting to eat until they had to evacuate the building. You can see there's a spoon here that's also been melted away by this explosion, and the devastation here is massive at the Iranian state broadcaster.
Iran's leadership vows to persevere, saying it will continue to target Israel if the Israeli aerial campaign doesn't stop.
Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Tehran.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BURNETT: OUTFRONT now, Ernest Moniz, he was energy secretary under President Obama. And of course, a key negotiator in the Iran nuclear deal.
Here we are, Secretary Moniz, in this unprecedented moment, the White House press secretary today, you know, they're talking about this two weeks. And they say any deal with Iran has to include something very specific, which is Iran can have no enrichment of uranium.
As an American, one of the only few out there secretary who have negotiated directly with Iran -- you did a nuclear deal with Iran -- will the Iranians agree to that?
ERNEST MONIZ, FORMER U.S. ENERGY SECRETARY UNDER OBAMA: Well, I think it will be very difficult, Erin. Clearly, by the way, I think you're mentioning of the two weeks, which is the standard President Trump time period does suggest a desire at least to give diplomacy another shot. That will hinge on this enrichment question that you raise.
I think there are ways in which the language can fit a reality, perhaps in which eventually, after some initial steps in a preliminary agreement, eventually there could be, for example, a regionalization, an internationalization of enrichment of fuel fabrication, ways in which Iran, maybe the United States, Saudi Arabia, the Emirates could come together in a way that would provide the transparency that that we need.
BURNETT: Right, because, of course, I mean, just to state the obvious, but, you know, Iran has nuclear power and nuclear power is something countries are allowed to pursue, by the way, including several of those that you mentioned, UAE, Saudi Arabia.
So, if these talks don't succeed, and again, two weeks means whatever Trump wants it to mean, obviously, Secretary, and Trump does take out that Fordow nuclear facility, which, which well, may or may not be successful. But he dropped some of those bombs on that.
If he were to be successful with those bombs, big if but if he were, would that be the end of Iran's nuclear program? Is it as simple as it's being put out there, if you get rid of that and you're good?
MONIZ: No, I would have to say that there's no way to simply bomb the nuclear program of Iran out of existence. They clearly have been at this for decades. Now, I think the only way out of a nuclear program for the long term would be that if there were a very different political commitment in Iran's leadership, but absent that, even if Fordow were taken out, and as you say, I do want to emphasize the uncertainties. I personally have never heard a military analyst declare in no uncertain terms that the facility would be destroyed, even with our bunker buster.
It would certainly make a very inconvenient site for a long time at a minimum. But whatever the case, you would, you would measure the recovery time. I think of a program, not in weeks as the president has said, but in a year or a couple of years, you would see a program back.
Also, we have no real indication today that Natanz, which was destroyed at least above and Fordow the entire program, the IAEA, the international inspectors, have been really semi-blind for quite a while now. And we don't know if there were -- if there are other covert sites where they have components enriched uranium, et cetera. So, I think in the end, the president has it right that a diplomatic
solution, a political resolution would be the way for long term security.
BURNETT: Well, and I also want to ask you, because obviously, you enrich, you know, there is enrichment for nuclear, for power. Russia came out. And I know when you say Russia, people immediately are skeptical. Rightly so.
But they're talking about a possible strike on another plant in Iran. That's the Bushehr plant, right, which Russia actually built and was operating the fuel rods for, right. It's the only operating nuclear power plant in Iran. But they are coming out and saying that a strike on that plant will be a catastrophe comparable to Chernobyl.
Obviously, it's a big statement to say such a thing. But you know better than anyone. Is that true?
MONIZ: Well, there are various radiation risks involved in a combat zone, but clearly the Bushehr reactor in Iran is the only place where you have irradiated fuel, which was, of course, the source of the Chernobyl disaster.
Now, I have to say, there's a certain irony in Russia saying that given that they are the ones who have for the first time landed weapons on a nuclear power plant, namely in Ukraine.
[19:15:02]
And we've been very concerned, as has the international agency in terms of the sanctity, if you like, of highly radiological sources in combat zones. So, clearly, we have to avoid a Bushehr strike. So far, certainly Israel has respected that.
BURNETT: So just a bottom line, Secretary, because you did a deal with Iran, you've watched it, you hear the you heard Tulsi Gabbard in March say they were had not even made a decision to go ahead with a weapon. The reporting that we have, they were three years away, and Trump saying weeks and Prime Minister Netanyahu saying they were weeks.
What's the truth?
MONIZ: Well, I think those statements, they all have a certain truth, but its comparing apples and oranges. The -- there's no doubt that after Iran enriched a lot of material to so-called 60 percent enrichment, very close to a weapon, weapons, material, I would say they were just weeks away from having the material, the nuclear material for multiple bombs.
However, that's not a weapon. Now, when you go to three years, on the other hand, I think that's too long in the sense that it would certainly take years, maybe three, to develop a nuclear weapon, sophisticated enough, small enough to fit in the nose of a missile to be to be delivered. But there are other intermediate steps which I think are more likely, namely, much cruder nuclear explosives that could be delivered by land, potentially by air, by sea.
Although I would note Iran has clearly had a lot of difficulty in delivering any weapon on Israel, including through missiles and drones. So, you know, they don't have Syria available for land delivery since Assad went down. They would have a hard time delivering a weapon, I believe at least reliably, on Israel.
But I think this -- the time frames you hear, I think, do not cover the most likely scenario of a crude device that could probably be available, let's say, in half a year, in months.
BURNETT: All right. Well, Secretary, thank you so very much for that nuance, and so important. Thank you.
MONIZ: Thank you, Erin.
BURNETT: All right. Seth Jones with us now, of course, oversaw special ops forces in Afghanistan, along with General Spider Marks.
So, Seth, I want to ask you a couple of things about what the secretary just said. But, you know, when he talked about the fact that we hear about the big sites where Israel has struck, but that there could be a lot of unknown places and covert places, that the U.S. or Israel may not be aware of at this point, that he did not think. Therefore, it was reasonable to say that you could just bomb the program out of existence.
You have been looking at the targets that Israel has struck so far. What are you finding when you look at the specifics?
SETH JONES, PRESIDENT, DEFENSE & SECURITY DEPARTMENT, CENTER FOR STRATEGIC & INTERNATIONAL STUDIES: Well, Erin, there are a couple of things that are interesting. One is the Israelis are doing damage to several of Iran's nuclear sites, including Isfahan and Natanz. Second, Fordow, we -- that there is the challenge there of getting underground.
And again, there are some debates about how deep Fordow goes. I think that the challenge and just to respond to what the secretary just mentioned, the challenge for the Israelis is if the if the U.S. gives negotiations a chance, which it looks like they are, will the Israelis wait? Because it I mean, my understanding is, is they decided -- Netanyahu decided to go and conduct a surprise attack without the U.S.'s really readiness to conduct that attack.
So, it is not out of the question, much like the Israelis did last year in Syria, at the facility during operation, many ways that they decide they have to conduct that operation in Fordow and not wait. And that's kind of an interesting problem that the administration may face.
BURNETT: Right. And then would just sort of change the whole conversation. Well, do you or do you not provide a bunker buster bomb to do you go to war? The big question at the heart of it, you know, it takes away that sort of, I guess, straw man ahead of that real question. General Marks, when you hear two weeks and two weeks could be two
weeks, or it could be around that or, you know, we made that point. But is that -- is that reasonable right now?
MAJ. GEN. JAMES "SPIDER" MARKS (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: I think what this administration is trying to achieve, and again, I have no inside knowledge on that, is that if you lay out this 14-day time period, I think the administration is hopeful that Israel will continue with its campaign and achieve a result that really neutralizes Iran's capacity to build a weapon.
We've discussed about all the details here, and the secretary was spot on when he said, if we had the bunker buster, if you used that capacity and it was delivered, it would have to be delivered by the United States and its capabilities, you would still have no idea whether you've achieved the end result, which eliminates that ability to enrich uranium.
[19:20:17]
You'd have to do some very extensive bomb damage assessment. You wouldn't know it. And then the downside of that is if the United States got involved directly like that, the United States would own this fight.
Right now, it's a proxy fight. The United States and Israel are aligned in terms of what they're trying to achieve.
BURNETT: Right, right. But of course, then then it's a U.S. war and the U.S. owns it.
Seth, and every, every day here, there is a cost for the U.S. and that cost is all of the force that and that has been put into the region that was not there before. Right. Which means that that is force. That is not. Let's just be blunt, hanging out around China and Taiwan, right? I mean, all of this comes is forcing choices for the U.S.
JONES: Yeah, Aaron, there is a vigorous debate going on within the U.S. government, including within the Department of Defense right now on the tradeoffs right now, because with a range of carrier strike groups in the region, when I was in the South China Sea a couple of weeks ago, the Nimitz was there. It's now being used in the Middle East.
So, there's tension in the Korean peninsula. There's tension in the South China Sea, in the East China Sea. Every day that goes by, where the U.S. is focused on the Middle East, its not focused on other regions, including the growing China threat in the Indo-Pacific.
BURNETT: Thank you both very much. Yeah, yeah. Go ahead.
MARKS: Jump in just for a quick second.
I mean, Seth is spot on, but I mean, this is what DOD does. I mean, we apportion forces and allocate forces all the time based on threats and challenges. So, this is not new muscle memory for DOD and those leaders.
BURNETT: Right, right. Just it comes an opportunity costs at a moment when, well, we're on a precipice.
Thank you both.
And next, Israel striking one of Israel's largest hospitals. And tonight, we take you inside that hospital to see where exactly the impact happened.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: The ground is strewn with broken rubble, concrete off the buildings.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Plus, new protests tonight after the Los Angeles Dodgers claim they denied ICE agents from entering the stadium property. Tonight, though, ICE pushing back.
And Tucker Carlson leading the charge when it comes to urging Trump to stay out of Iran. This very public stance is at odds with his views in the past.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:26:43]
BURNETT: Breaking news, our reporter on the ground in Iran just reporting a surge in aerial activity over Tehran.
Fred Pleitgen you just saw him moments ago on the show, and he is saying that aircraft movement is intensifying where he is right now. Obviously, it's not commercial aircraft. Just to state the obvious, right? The airspace is closed.
So, it seems that some sort of an operation may be going on as were learning new details about Iran's direct missile strike on one of Israel's largest hospitals. This strike was to the surgical unit.
Now, Israeli officials say that this hit was deliberate. Residential buildings were also struck. Iran, though, says that it was targeting a nearby military and intelligence facility, which if you look at a map you can see is about a mile away from the hospital.
Nic Robertson is OUTFRONT.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: We're walking in here to right underneath where the impact happened. The ground is strewn with broken rubble, concrete off the buildings.
The side of the building up here. Take a look. Literally ripped apart debris everywhere on the ground here. The medical center director here told me it was a fifth floor direct impact on the cancer and urology ward. He said, very fortunately, the 25 patients bedbound patients that had there had been taken to the basement for their safety.
This direct impact on the hospital, he said, has caused extensive damage. 40 casualties here, most of them with light injuries from broken glass. Most people taking shelter inside the hospital.
DR. SHIOMI KODESH, SOROKA MEDICAL CENTER DIRECTOR: This is not anything that has any rational explanation, I'll admit that I'm currently in operational mode. Feelings will come probably a bit later, but it is totally shocking.
ROBERTSON: I can hear water raining down. It looks like the fire crews are still up there above us, so just dousing -- they're dousing the building. We know that the fire crews, I just saw them going back inside the building there, the recovery mission, the search mission for people who might be injured or trapped inside the hospital. The fire guys up here are telling us we've just got to move back a bit.
So, we're going to stay. Keep talking to you. We're just going to move back a bit here.
You get a sense of the destruction. Look at all this twisted debris around here. Fire trucks backed up as far as you can see. This has really raised the temperature on this conflict.
The politicians have been coming here, have been talking very clearly. This was an intentional strike on the hospital by Iran.
Among them Israel's foreign minister, who rebutted claims by his Iranian counterpart who posted on X claiming the hospital was near a military target and was only lightly damaged.
GIDEON SA'AR, ISRAELI FOREIGN MINISTER: You know very well that all the casualties we have until this minute, all of them without an exception, are civilians.
ROBERTSON: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, weighing in on what the U.S. may do.
Iranian officials say they were targeting a military facility near here. But what do you say to President Trump as he tries to make up his mind about whether to come in support of Israel?
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: He gave them the chance to do it through negotiations.
[19:30:02]
They strung him along and you don't string along Donald Trump. He knows. He knows the game.
And I think that we're both committed to making sure that Iran will not have a nuclear weapon, and they won't.
(END VIDEOTAPE) BURNETT: All right. Nic Robertson there on the ground.
And OUTFRONT now, Nazila Fathi, she was "The New York Times" correspondent based in Tehran for a decade. She had to flee the country with her husband and children. She told her story in the book "The Lonely War: One Woman's Account for the Struggle for Modern Iran".
And, Nazila, you know, as I said, the only correspondent based in Iran for a decade raising your family there, you were forced to flee, but you had to leave behind so many of your family, your in-laws, your mother, your sister, and are you even -- do you even know where they are right now? Or are you able to talk to them?
NAZILA FATHI, FORMER NEW YORK TIMES CORRESPONDENT BASED IN TEHRAN FOR TEN YEARS: I haven't been able to speak to my sister or to my mother for the past two days. My in-laws are still in Tehran. It's been bombed all around them, but they're still there along with many, many other Iranians.
BURNETT: So, they're still there. They haven't fled but your communications are obviously sporadic.
FATHI: Very sporadic. It all depends on when they can call us. We can't call them. Internet is quite choppy.
They're not alone. There are many, many other elderly people in the city who can't -- who just can't leave. They don't have the resources. They don't have the ability.
And plus, where would they go?
BURNETT: And well, and that is the crucial question. And it is -- you can't fly out obviously to get to any border is -- is a long, long process.
So bombed around them just to show the extent of what's happening on that side. And, you know, Fred Pleitgen was trying to show that as well.
When you covered Iran for decades, you covered the dissent, right? You covered the dissent. And I know even going there for a presidential election, there were people who would be willing in certain settings to say things, but not in other settings.
But when you look at what's happening right now, what is it? What is the split in Iran? You know, you know, you heard Ted Cruz doesn't know the population of Iran. And Tucker Carlson's like, well, you know, what factions are there. What is that?
What's the answer to that?
FATHI: Well, there are many factions and there's a lot of political divisions in the country, that the majority of people definitely do not support the regime. But what's happening now is different. We have a country, 2,500-year history marked with foreign invasions. And we've seen time and again that people of different backgrounds,
different ethnicities, that they have united in the face of aggression in the face of --
BURNETT: Is that happening now?
FATHI: That's going to happen? There are.
BURNETT: Even though you're saying the majority of people wouldn't support the regime, but they would. Maybe now, because of what's happening.
FATHI: It is very possible. We have political prisoners in prison, in Evin prison who are denouncing the invasion now.
BURNETT: Wow. Who would be the last to do that? But they are.
The Ayatollah Khamenei. The supreme leader, is he? I understand he's 85. We hear that he is not well, obviously physically. Questions about mental as well.
Is he strengthening right now or losing his grip on power in the context of what you just said, rallying behind the regime.
FATHI: It is very hard to tell. What I learned from my years being in Iran is that this regime is very layered. It's like an octopus. You chop one arm and then it grows to other arms, and we've seen just over the past week that every military leader that was taken out, it was quickly replaced.
BURNETT: Yes.
FATHI: So it's not the question of Ayatollah Khamenei, it's the question of who's going to replace him. And the regime will quickly replace him with someone else.
BURNETT: So, when you hear and I've heard this from some people, but look at Syria, nobody thought that that could fall. And then just all of a sudden, and they're trying to make sort of analogies and maybe they aren't pushing it exactly to that line. But you've heard this, right, that, oh, topple the regime, assassinate the ayatollah, as Netanyahu has said, and that suddenly people would rise up and there'd be jubilation in the streets.
FATHI: People will not rise up when there is a war going on. People will not rise up when they're worried about finding food. And, Erin, I'm so glad that you mentioned Syria. How long after the uprising in Syria did Bashar al Assad's regime collapse? Eight years. Eight years of civil war, hundreds of thousands of people became refugees.
BURNETT: It's interesting to look at it as the eight years and not the eight days or eight minutes or whatever, the equivalent of at the very end.
FATHI: And Iran is a bigger country with a much larger population and any kind of instability or civil war in the region means disaster for the region.
BURNETT: Yes. And of course, as we've all now heard again and again in the exchange with Ted Cruz, the population is just over 90 million people.
Nazila, thank you so very much. Appreciate it.
And next, tensions rising in Los Angeles tonight. ICE agents are said to have showed up outside Dodger Stadium. So, what actually happened here?
Plus, Trump's announcement to pause any military action in Iran for two weeks came after Steve Bannon, his former top adviser, showed up at the White House.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BURNETT: Breaking news, the L.A. Dodgers, the baseball team saying that they blocked ICE agents trying to gain access to the stadium today ahead of tonight's game against the padres, which starts soon. You're looking at video from one of our affiliates of several federal agents on one of the streets, leading to Dodger Stadium.
The Department of Homeland Security, though, denies this had anything to do with Trump's immigration crackdown.
Natasha Chen is there OUTFRONT.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NATASHA CHEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Tensions flared outside Dodger Stadium after the team says they denied attempts by ICE agents to access stadium grounds. Dozens of federal agents, some dressed in tactical gear and masks, stood alongside vans parked along entrance roads while a small group of protesters gathered nearby. The Department of Homeland Security, however, disputes that the Dodgers had anything to do with today's events, writing in a post on X that CBP vehicles were in the stadium parking lot very briefly unrelated to any operation or enforcement.
The agency claims their vehicles were on or near the grounds. They said they had to stay in the area longer because one of the cars had a malfunction. They did not identify the parking lot the agents were in when the vehicle broke down.
The incident comes as protesters have clashed with law enforcement in recent weeks amid the Trump administrations push to increase ICE raids in Los Angeles and surrounding areas, rattling immigrant communities.
RAUL CLAROS, CALIFORNIA RISING: Dodgers do better.
CHEN: Critics argue that the Dodgers franchise has remained silent amid some ongoing anger and frustration with ICE raids.
CLAROS: Our people are under attack. And the largest economic engine in this area is silent! [19:40:02]
Wake up! Do better! We know you can.
CHEN: The Dodgers are expected to announce plans to assist the immigrant community impacted by the recent DHS operations. And not all within the franchise have been tight lipped.
Utility player Kike Hernandez, a native of Puerto Rico, showed his support for the city. He calls his second home. In a recent Instagram post, Hernandez writes that he, quote, cannot stand to see our community being violated, profiled, abused and ripped apart.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHEN (on camera): And, Erin, the gates are just now opening for this long line of cars to enter for tonight's game. This is not the gate where the agents were spotted earlier today. That was at on the east side of the property. There are some protesters who have started to gather right here protesting the Trump administration, also protesting the team for what they perceive as silence up to this point.
That's what's been bubbling now to a fever pitch today when they saw what happened with those agents. As we mentioned, we're expecting a statement from the Dodgers about supporting the immigrant community that hasn't come out yet, but we are waiting for that -- Erin.
BURNETT: All right. Thank you very much, Natasha. I appreciate it.
And I want to go now to the Democratic Congressman Jimmy Gomez of California.
Dodger Stadium is within your congressional district, Congressman, so I appreciate your time.
All right. So just can we just start on what happened today? You know, Customs and Border Protection is -- you know, they're saying that this isn't what it seemed, right? Dodgers have said ICE agents tried to access the stadium in some way. And DHS says, well, no, it wasn't ICE.
I mean, do you know exactly what happened?
REP. JIMMY GOMEZ (D-CA): Yeah. Well, first, let me just say this. DHS, as well as ICE, CBP, a lot of the spokespersons have been straight up just lying about different incidents. One occurred with me.
They said they didn't allow me into a detention center because there was a thousand protests -- protesters outside. There was no one outside except me, and about 20 people that were mainly reporters, attorneys and my staff. So don't always believe anything that they say.
Also, when I got first reports from my staff there, we were being told that it was the raids that occurred in Hollywood that people were being picked up in -- at the Home Depot were actually in the vans that were going up to Dodger Stadium. So, when they said that they weren't involved in any enforcement, probably not true.
Also, one of the problems that we've seen because of this operation is that they cover up what agency they're there with. You know, we have all sorts of people on the on the streets here, but they're all part of the same operation. And the ICE raids are really terrorizing our communities and our neighborhoods.
BURNETT: So, so, you know, do you -- from your understanding, you're saying that perhaps there were raids nearby. You mentioned Home Depot and that they were -- I don't know what the word might be, but, you know, storing -- they're trying to store their vans up at the stadium or switch people into different vans, some sort of staging or operational thing going on, perhaps at the stadium?
GOMEZ: Yeah, correct. That's what we were -- what my staff was telling me, and that's what different immigrant rights groups were tracking all day. We were made aware of the raids earlier in Hollywood and that those were the -- they say that's what the reports say from these groups, that there were the same vans.
So, when they say that they weren't involved in any operation, I would say take that with a grain of salt. Most of the time what they're telling us is, is a lie.
BURNETT: We're waiting for a stadium, a stadium, I'm sorry. A statement from the Dodgers, as you heard, Natasha Chen say, speaking to the immigrant community and to what's going on in L.A.
But right now, what we understand is that the dodgers refused this access to the stadium. That the team did. Do you understand that to be the case?
GOMEZ: Yeah, that's what they claim. They said that they refused it. Thats what we heard from their government affairs office, is that they were trying to -- ICE -- the agents that were there were trying to seek access or stay in the -- in that, I would say like where that gate is, and the Dodgers basically asked them to leave, their security, as well as the LAPD. But what they had to do was to -- they had -- LAPD had to clear out the protesters that were at the bottom of the road for them to go.
So that's what I heard that the Dodgers did.
BURNETT: All right. Well, Congressman Gomez, I appreciate your time. And thank you so much for coming on.
GOMEZ: Thank you.
BURNETT: And next, the video that we still can't turn away from Tucker Carlson taking on Ted Cruz over military action in Iran. But as Tucker's pointed out, it is a very different Tucker Carlson from the one we saw just a few years ago. You'll see the tapes.
Plus, why is Andrew Cuomo losing ground in an election that everyone thought he had in the can? Harry Enten is here to tell us something we don't know. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:49:07]
BURNETT: Breaking news, President Trump pulling back from the brink of war. The announcement to give Iran two weeks to come to an agreement on its nuclear program came just two hours after this moment. We'll show you on the screen, that is the former strategist you see coming into the shot, Steve Bannon.
Steve Bannon, of course, is one of the most vocal opponents of American military action in Iran. And he walked into the White House to have lunch with Trump.
Steve Bannon and Tucker Carlson have been some of the loudest voices in MAGA, arguing against another American war.
But for Carlson, his position has changed dramatically over time.
Donie O'Sullivan is OUTFRONT.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TUCKER CARLSON, FORMER FOX NEWS HOST: This isn't a regime change effort, and why not just say that and but -- oh, you're a Holocaust denier for saying that. Stop. Let's have a rational conversation about what our aims are here.
DONIE O'SULLIVAN, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): That's Tucker Carlson, the war skeptic, today.
[19:50:02]
CARLSON: We learned today for certain that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction that has chemical and biological weapons. And the question remains, what do we do about it? And neither you nor any other Democrat I know has an answer to that question.
O'SULLIVAN: This was Tucker Carlson back when he co-hosted CNN's "CROSSFIRE" in 2003.
CARLSON: Senator Worthy, the president last night summed up, I thought, well, the rationale for going into Iraq later this week. Here's what he said.
GEORGE W. BUSH, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: The danger is clear using chemical, biological or one day nuclear weapons obtained with the help of Iraq. The terrorists could fulfill their stated ambitions and kill thousands or hundreds of thousands of innocent people in our country or any other. The United States and other nations did nothing to deserve or invite this threat. But we will do everything to defeat it.
O'SULLIVAN: Back then, Carlson was a strong supporter of Americas war in Iraq.
PAUL BEGALA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: The question here is the president's credibility. He wants to lead us into war, and the majority of his countrymen and women are worried that he's lying to us, and for good reason.
CARLSON: That is not the question. The question is there's a lunatic with weapons that could kill the civilized world. What do we do about it? And I await an answer.
O'SULLIVAN: It was a position Carlson would come to regret.
DAVE SMITH, LIBERTARIAN, COMEDIAN & PODCAST: When the war drums were beating for Iraq, there was just nothing like what we have today. I mean, like the biggest shows in cable news, the big -- they were all for it. They were all for it.
CARLSON: I was for it.
SMITH: Yes. Well --
CARLSON: I was for it until I went to Iraq in 20 -- in 2003, I immediately apologized. I would say in my defense.
And I feel very stung by what happened in Iraq, if I'm being honest, possibly because unlike you, I guess I supported it and I saw us get drawn into it in a way that nobody anticipated. And I saw the cost just a month, $3 trillion, and the cost on so many levels to the United States was just so profound.
O'SULLIVAN: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is warning Iran could have a nuclear weapon within months.
U.S. intelligence, however, suggests Iran is years away from having a nuclear bomb.
CARLSON: Can you feel the frustration of people, including your voters? You know, every American at the emphasis on foreign countries and the threat we supposedly face, a lot of which is fake, obviously, over -- over the kind of slowly unfolding tragedy of what's happening to our country.
O'SULLIVAN: Carlson is a frequent supporter of Israel, but Senator Ted Cruz did not appreciate Carlson's questioning of the Netanyahu government's policies toward Iran.
CARLSON: How many people live in Iran, by the way?
SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX): I don't know the population.
CARLSON: At all?
CRUZ: No, I don't know the population.
CARLSON: You don't know the population of the country you seek to topple.
CRUZ: How many people live in Iran?
CARLSON: Twenty-two million.
CRUZ: OK.
CARLSON: How could you not know that?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'SULLIVAN (on camera): And, Erin, you know what's really interesting here, I think, is we saw just how influential the podcast, MAGA-verse, whatever you want to call it, manosphere was in the 2024 election. And really, this debate playing out now in in this space online, on podcasts, you see how important it is given that Steve Bannon showed up at the White House today, one of the most prolific podcasters in the MAGA space.
BURNETT: Yeah, I mean, it is amazing to see. And of course, that was two hours before the two weeks. We don't know if those two things were related, but they certainly were together today.
All right, Donie, thank you very much.
And next, Andrew Cuomo seeing his support suddenly slip in the race for New York City mayor, a race in which he had a major lead. Harry Enten tells us something we don't know, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:57:51]
BURNETT: Tonight, Cuomo losing his edge.
The former governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo, whose family name is synonymous with the Democratic Party on the campaign trail today, now fighting for every vote days before New York City's mayoral primary election.
Now, this race is New York, but it is at the heart of the fight for the Democratic Party's future for the entire country. And Cuomo was widely expected to win by a landslide, which is why this is news.
And now, in the final days of campaigning, 33-year-old Democratic socialist Zoran Mamdani is gaining steam.
Harry Enten is here to tell us something we don't know. So first, how much is Cuomo's lead shrinking in these final days?
HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: I mean, look, it's down to just ten points in the latest Marist College poll. You go back a month ago, the lead was double that has closed that gap by half. Cuomo up by ten. Now you even go back 3 or 4 months ago. Cuomo was up by like 25, 30 points.
Now it's down to just ten. And last time around the pole was wide enough that he could still win this race.
BURNETT: All right. So, Cuomo obviously is a household name in New York and around the country. Mamdani was relatively unknown, and I think to many people watching this show tonight, it's probably the first time they ever even heard his name.
Who are his biggest supporters?
ENTEN: Yeah, who are his biggest supporters? Let's take a look by race, first of all, what's going on there? Well, you see that Andrew Cuomo is winning because look at that lead among black voters 54 points.
But look among white voters. Mamdani is ahead by eight. Very reminiscent of the gap that we saw back in the 2020 primary between Sanders and Joe Biden.
How about by age? Similar story here. Take a look here. Under the age of 45, Mamdani ahead by 48 points. But Cuomo is winning. Why? Because of voters age 45 and older. Cuomo plus 38 points.
The reason Mamdani has closed the gap is because he's really energized those on the left and really energized young voters. But whether that will be enough, we'll have to wait and see.
BURNETT: All right. You've already told me and people things that we don't know, but tell me something else I don't know.
ENTEN: I will tell you something else that you don't know, Erin Burnett. I think Andrew Cuomo, there are a lot of people thinking, hey, this could be a leaping off pad, right, to run for president. But historically speaking, being mayor anywhere is not a good launch pad for presidency. There have, in fact, only been three mayors who have gone on to be president of the United States, Andrew Johnson, Grover Cleveland from Buffalo, and of course, Calvin Coolidge from Northampton, Massachusetts.
So being mayor of New York, it's a powerful position. But the idea that you can become president, just ask Mike Bloomberg, Bill de Blasio, Rudy Giuliani, it don't work.
BURNETT: Okay, that is a great point. I love how you said and Calvin Coolidge, of course, of North Salem --
ENTEN: Northampton.
BURNETT: Northampton. Okay. Of course, who didn't know that?
ENTEN: Didn't know that.
BURNETT: Not me.
Thanks for joining us.
Anderson starts now.
