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Inside Politics

Trump Rips Iran Day After Claiming There's A Deal To End War; Iranian Foreign Minister: Agreement "Has Never Been Closer"; GOP Senators Sound Alarm On Economy Ahead Of Midterms; Elon Musk Becomes World's First Trillionaire; SpaceX Stock Up More Than 20 Percent On First Day Of Trading; Trump To Mark 80th Birthday With $60M White House cage fight. Aired 12-12:30p ET

Aired June 12, 2026 - 12:00   ET

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

[12:00:00]

ANDREW MCCABE, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: It involves using your tactical folks to do what's probably happening here, which is limiting that person's ability to move or to acquire additional hostages and then engage with them to see if you can possibly deescalate it. Unfortunately, many times that's not possible, and then you have to go to the most dangerous and challenging action, which is putting a tactical team in there to resolve this in that way.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN CO-ANCHOR, THE SITUATION ROOM: Yeah. Too many shootings going on. Andrew McCabe, as usual, thank you very, very much.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR, THE SITUATION ROOM: Thank you.

BLITZER: And to our viewers, thanks very much for joining us this morning.

BROWN: Inside Politics with our friend and colleague, Phil Mattingly, starts right now. Have a great weekend, everyone.

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN ANCHOR, INSIDE POLITICS: Has Donald Trump become the president who cried Iran deal?

I'm Phil Mattingly in for Dana Bash. Let's go behind the headlines at Inside Politics.

We are following the latest twist on President Trump's hundred plus day geopolitical roller coaster in less than 24 hours. The commander in chief went from threatening to expand the war in Iran to declaring an agreement and announcing the war is over to calling the Iranians, quote, very dishonorable. People who need to quote, get their act together and fast.

If you're feeling a little dizzy, you're not alone. But just a few moments ago, the Iranian foreign minister posted this on X. A memo of understanding has never been closer. At the White House, an administration official tells our Kristen Holmes that there is a draft agreement that would require Iran to destroy the nuclear material, dismantle the nuclear program, reopen the Strait of Hormuz, stop funding terrorist groups, and no sanctions relief or frozen cash until Iran delivers. Of course, we've been down this road before, and before, and before.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: We have points, major points of agreement. I would say almost all points of agreement.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Did you foresee a deal in Iran this upcoming week?

TRUMP: I do see a deal in Iraq. Yeah. We were very close to a deal. I think they want to make a deal very badly. This process should go very quickly, that most of the points are already negotiated and agreed to. When the war ends, which shouldn't be too long, they want to make a deal so badly. We're in the final throws of what will be a very, very good deal. They've all approved the deal, everybody's approved the deal. Now we'll get it finished up, and hopefully, that'll be done.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: I'm joined by a terrific group of reporters, and just for reference, if you're keeping track at home, those sound bites are from March 23, March 29, April 6, April 15, April 17, May 1, June 9, and Thursday. And often what I do when I'm wondering what the blank is going on at the White House on any given moment. I reference whatever Shelby Talcott is saying, and so, since I have you here personally, it's a lot easier. We're just going to go back. What's going on?

SHELBY TALCOTT, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, SEMAFOR: I mean, I think it's anyone's guess, right? You talk to one administration official, and they'll say one thing, you talk to another, they'll say another thing. Now, I do think that there is a proposal and a potential agreement on the table. The question is, is it going to be the agreement that Iran agrees to, and that remains to be seen. As we saw just this morning, the president was criticizing Iran for putting out a whole list of points that he says are not a part of the deal.

And so, this is very much, I think, close to being done, but at the same time not close at all, and that's really frustrating not only administration officials, but a huge chunk of the president's base. I know a lot of people who voted for Trump, and consistently I'm getting text messages and having conversations where they're saying what is going on with Iran, why isn't this over. And also, there's frustration because there's an open question from these voters of, is this agreement actually going to get what the president started off with all this, which is the nuclear aspect. And if they don't get that nuclear aspect, it's not going to be seen as a win for the base.

MATTINGLY: Yeah. No, no, go ahead.

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR & WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF: And a memo of understanding, whatever this may be, however, is not a final deal. You know, this is the president who loves deal making. He talks in terms of deals all the time, that's been his whole existence in his professional life. But it seems like this is just to get so that there can be actual like detailed work figured out on what a final deal would look like. And so, given how roundabout it has been to even get to this, where you say, there's a proposal that is still not agreed to, guys. So like, not agreed to is the headline here. We're not in a demonstrably different place than we've been in, but even if we do get to a demonstrably different place, that seems to be just teeing up yet another long opportunity for the Iranians to do what they do and try to evade being pinned down on nuclear program that the U.S. wants to see completely abolished and never to be reconstituted and they don't.

MATTINGLY: So, yeah, an agreement to start negotiations on the thing we've been negotiating on for the better part of the last hundred plus days, which has also been negotiated on for the better part of the last couple of decades, which had a deal that was then revoked, which is -- it's a lot here.

[12:05:00]

And Carl, I want to go to you, because first off, the old Senate adage of nothing's agreed to till everything is agreed to, just like keeps ringing in my head -- like right at the same time, John McCain's like, it's always darkest just before it turns pitch black.

CARL HULSE, CHIEF WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT, THE NEW YORK TIMES: Yeah.

MATTINGLY: He's still my favorite, that he -- I think, attributed to Mao, but we never actually confirmed it was Mao. I want you to listen to what some Republican senators were saying this week because I think this is really telling about the politics here. Watch?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. KEVIN CRAMER (R-ND): If people don't feel secure financially, they're, you know, they oftentimes obviously respond by choosing somebody else.

SEN. JOSH HAWLEY (R-MO): We need some relief, and Congress can deliver some relief. And if Congress doesn't deliver the relief, you know, I mean, I think voters are not going to be pleased.

SEN. SHELLEY MOORE CAPITO (R-WV): It's not just gas prices, food prices, and other things, and I think there's a level of frustration. I think the pressure is for the president to reach a peace solution and move on.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: The reason why that's important? One is the members who were speaking there. Two is the fact that I think if you asked any of those members, they're supportive of what the administration is trying to do right now, no question about it. But they are very cognizant of the economic effects of the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, this ongoing conflict, given the fact all of their constituents are already dealing with significant pricing.

HULSE: The political repercussions are hitting them, not Trump, really, at that point, right? This is their election, and there's nothing like gas prices to really alarm sitting members of Congress who have to be on the ballot. You know, I think the president is finding out what a lot of his predecessors found out. Wars are a lot easier to start than they are to finish. And also, the Iranians have sort of his match on social media, right, that they have their own ways of manipulating this.

And I think one thing you're going to see from Republicans in the House and the Senate is what is this deal looking like, too. What have we gone through all this for if we're not getting to a really good deal? And I think that's a big concern of the president, right, the framing of this deal. He needs to control the framing, so he can say he got this big win. But you know, there's some nervousness on the Hill that well, we've gone through all this and we're not even getting a big win.

So, I think that people are really keeping a close eye on this. Also, with the president, so much of it seems to be for our consumption and market consumption, and not realistically what's going on over there.

MATTINGLY: Shelby, can you dig in a little bit more. I want to talk more about the economy in a minute, because I love the economy, and damn it, I'm in this chair. But the idea of, there are guardrails in the U.S. Senate and in the House with hawkish members of the president's own party, where if something comes out and they look at it and say, this is not going to work, like they're not going to be quiet about that.

TALCOTT: Yeah. The president has had a unique ability throughout, you know, ever since 2016 to sort of strong arm the party into doing what he wants, but at the same time there is this group, a small group, but still a vocal group of Republicans who are willing to push back on some things.

And more willing now, I think, in part because this is also the president's second term. They are oftentimes running for reelection. They have to worry about their own jobs, and they're looking towards the future of, yes, this is Trump's party, but also what's going to happen in 2028 when presumably somebody else runs for president. We need to also look towards the future.

And so, those guardrails have really been, I think, putting the Trump administration in a bind because those folks are pushing back more and more often now than they used to. And the administration is aware of that, and you've kind of seen them throughout various things, whether it's the DNI announcement earlier this week, or you know, hosting some of the lawmakers at the White House about the $1.8 billion fund. You've seen them sort of recognize that they have to give in a little bit in order to get what they want.

MATTINGLY: And we're going to talk about the most vivid example of that, with the ritual unburdening to Carl Hulse, and a couple of blocks from a certain Texas senator. David, on the economy itself, you know, all the numbers, you talk to everybody who matters in the races right now. How bad is this situation for Republicans running in the midterms? CHALIAN: Well, I mean, it's bad. I mean, I was going to add one more to your list, Shelby, which is also what these Republicans -- this group of Republicans sees, is a president at historically low approval ratings, that is largely driven by his low ratings on the economy, voters. So obviously, you're talking about the pressure of gas prices, that's something people see and experience every day.

But even when the president likes to talk about strong jobs numbers or strong market performance, that is not the experience that people are feeling day-to-day in their lives, given prices, and given that, as you know, wages are not keeping up with inflation. And that is a pain point for a lot of people, and that is why you see him at historically low approval on what used to be one of his strongest issues, and that not being there is a concern among Republicans that they just feel, if that doesn't get fixed, the bottom could fall out.

[12:10:00]

MATTINGLY: Yeah.

HULSE: Yeah. An unappreciated fact of all that, too, is tariffs. We are seeing tariffs as a massive start to percolate in a lot of these house campaigns, tying it to affordability, and that the president did this to you.

MATTINGLY: Yeah. An important -- oh, by the way, tariffs still are a thing.

(CROSSTALK)

MATTINGLY: All right, guys, stick with me. Breaking news. Elon Musk, now a trillionaire. Everyone can exhale, as SpaceX starts trading on the Nasdaq, and jumps 20 percent right away. And later, the tiny enemies threatening Sunday's UFC fight on the South Lawn. Will some of the strongest men on earth be taken down by D.C. Nats?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:15:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MATTINGLY: The breaking news. Elon Musk is the first trillionaire in human history. Just minutes ago, SpaceX began trading and immediately jumped by more than 20 percent and that has made Musk a trillionaire. A trillion dollars, that is a one with 12 zeros after it. If you spend a million dollars a day, it will take you more than 2700 years to spend it all. Musk celebrated the first day of trading, the company that makes up most of his wealth this morning.

I too, would be cheering. My next guest has been following Musk's career for years. Cory Johnson joins me now, Chief Market Strategist of Epistrophy Capital Research, and previously a financial journalist with CNBC, my former colleague at Bloomberg, who has interviewed Musk many times. Cory, I want to start with the kind of headline of Elon Musk, now a trillionaire, that is more than the GDP of over 160 countries. These are just like random cut, it's like Sweden, Ireland, Belgium, Singapore, Argentina. What's the like CliffsNotes version of how did he get here?

CORY JOHNSON, CHIEF MARKET STRATEGIST, EPISTROPHY CAPITAL RESEARCH: He got here by starting businesses and convincing people that the value of those businesses is greater than the performance that they've had thus far. He sells a dream, and he sold it better than anyone in the history of mankind.

MATTINGLY: To that point, you know, the valuation here, what we've seen market wise just today, obviously up 20 percent since the stock actually started trading on the Nasdaq. Is this about Starlink cash flow? Is this about rockets? Is this about what may become of X AI, that's currently hemorrhaging cash? Like, what are the fundamentals here?

JOHNSON: I mean, the fundamentals looking backwards aren't great. Well, let me phrase that. It's amazing what Elon Musk has done. It is amazing that they've put up, built a private rocket company doing billions in revenues. It's amazing that they've created a way to get internet service into rural areas using satellites. Their AI business has not been amazing. It's been, you know, kind of really trailed what some of the other companies have done in that sector. But all of these businesses in total have lost a lot of money.

So, what's happening at this moment with the trading of the stock for the first time ever is regular investors and institutions are now getting on the risk train, while some of the insiders at SpaceX are getting off. Insiders are selling billions of dollars worth of stock over into today and into the next few days and weeks and months. They're moving the risk into the public. The public is saying, I want to take the bet with Elon Musk that this business is going to be much greater than it is today.

MATTINGLY: To that point, you know, Nasdaq actually changed its rules for this IPO in a way that could mean index funds and common holding and retirement accounts will be investing in SpaceX much more earlier than they typically would. What does that mean for everyday investors? What does it mean for Musk?

JOHNSON: I think for it -- well, for Musk it means that the stock is going to go up even more. And it means that there is going to be forced buying of this stock because of the mechanisms of Wall Street. Now many people's retirements are tied into index funds, not the S&P 500, but the Nasdaq 100 and similar index funds. They will be required to own SpaceX really quickly in an unusual way.

And because of that requirement, lots of investors are going to -- lots of people's retirements are going to be tied to SpaceX, whether they want it to be or not, because they're tied to the markets. The market is going to be tied to those rockets strapped on for whatever volatility is to come in the future here. MATTINGLY: I keep thinking about, like, if a -- if a rocket blows up, which, by the way, is just part of the -- it's not knocking SpaceX, it happens, given what they're trying to do. Like the market gyrations that will follow that, I don't -- I don't actually have a question here. I've just been trying to think through that seems like a risky place, given potential volatility there.

JOHNSON: Yeah. Well, there's something to that, right? This is volatility, and it is a business. Elon Musk has embraced volatility, maybe more than a lot of other CEOs have, and has -- it has paid off for him often. It paid off wonderfully at Tesla. Tesla is going to be a great -- a very big company, almost a great big company. I wouldn't say it's a great company, it's a very big company.

When he bought Twitter, it worked the other way. Twitter has really fallen dramatically under his ownership. The bet here is that things will go better. I think it's important, especially for your and especially for this show, Inside Politics, to recognize that the U.S. government is closely tied into this big company.

[12:20:00]

About 20 -- more than 20 percent of revenues, which is to say one out of every $5 has -- of the revenues for SpaceX come from the U.S. government, comes from U.S. taxpayers. Over $10 billion in just the last three years, or just under 10 billion, has come from the U.S. government. The U.S. government has given SpaceX $10 billion and now Elon Musk is a trillionaire. I think that that's a relevant fact politically. Your panel and your show knows this better than I do.

But I think that, you know, it's important to send this is a business where government contracts have been a huge chunk of the business from the very beginning, and the success of that business is now being turned, or the lack of success has been being turned over to shareholders in the markets, but the beneficiary, more than anyone else, is Elon Musk.

MATTINGLY: It's such a great point, and also on the kind of downstream effect of is that a vulnerability when a new administration ends up coming in, given how we've seen this administration operate. Cory Johnson, by the way, for people who are visiting Cory in San Francisco, he once took me to, like, a private secret place that had the greatest wine cellar I've ever seen in my life. So, look him up when you're out there. He knows all the people. He knows all --

JOHNSON: Thanks for (inaudible) Phil Mattingly, really.

MATTINGLY: Cory Johnson, I appreciate you, my friend. Thank you so much.

JOHNSON: Thanks for having me.

MATTINGLY: Well, after the break. Why blow out 80 candles when you could just watch two dudes beat the hell out of each other in an octagon? The stage is set for a presidential birthday party like we've never seen. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:25:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MATTINGLY: In his lowest political lows, there's always been a place where President Trump could count on a warm welcome. The UFC. When most of Washington shunned him after January 6, the arena cheered him on.

(PLAYING VIDEO)

MATTINGLY: Went wild. Can hear it there. It's that history and that loyalty from UFC President Dana White and the fans of the UFC that brings us to the massive octagon claw thing sitting now on the White House South Lawn for Sunday's live fight for President Trump's 80th birthday.

My panel is here now. I want to shout out at the top our colleagues Adam Cancryn, Alayna Treene, and Julia Benbrook had this great story about -- on CNN Digital about how Trump decided to host a UFC fight at the White House, basically kind of -- was coming up with the idea fresh off of his 2024 win.

To that point, Shelby, like this is part of him, it's part of all the things that combined with his coalition to help him win in 2024. They've been there throughout -- I'm a UFC fan, so like, let's take that into account before, not necessarily as dismissive as other people are. What's behind -- what's the meaning of this?

TALCOTT: Yeah. I mean, he loves the UFC, he loves sporting events, he is unique. And so far, as we saw him on the campaign trail go to a ton of sporting events. It helped him win the presidential election. He has continued that in this presidency. But when I talk to White House officials, administration officials, people close to the White House, I've gotten several different reasons as to why this event and what the event is kind of for.

So, you know, some people say that it is for the -- and I think it's possible that maybe there's all of these reasons are accurate, you know, the president has been focused on the beautification of D.C., and so this is an opportunity to sort of showcase that there is the sports diplomacy of it all. The State Department yesterday signed a memorandum of understanding with the UFC.

They signed an earlier partnership with the NFL, and so there is an attempt on the State Department side to sort of bring these events to a global stage and showcase kind of a softer side of America, albeit, you know, people beating each other up is not soft.

MATTINGLY: Give it (Ph) to say, yeah.

TALCOTT: But I also -- when I ask some people close to the White House what this is all about, they look at me and they have said, it's not that deep. The president thinks this is cool. It's his birthday. He wants to have a big event.

MATTINGLY: I think the simplicity of it is like everybody tries to think of like 80 chests or like 17 different layers, and on some level it's like, I think he just thinks it's cool. And guess what, like he can do it. I do think you mentioned the State Department MOU, like there's the -- it's cool, let's just do it, and then there's how Marco Rubio framed it. Watch?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARCO RUBIO, SECRETARY OF STATE: When President Kennedy announced that we were going to put a man on the moon and return him safely to the earth, no one thought that was possible and we did it. We are a nation founded on doing what no one else dared to do and no one else aspired to do. And at some level that's what this whole company, what UFC has been.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: David Chalian?

(CROSSTALK)

CHALIAN: You want to talk about comparing UFC claw on the South Lawn.

MATTINGLY: It is true data wise. And UFC have done has been amazing from a corporate perspective and from a sport growth perspective. That comparison, how do we -- how do we feel about that?

CHALIAN: I think it went a little far. That's just my sense of the metaphor there. I will say, to your point of the president showing up at all these sporting events throughout the campaign and then president. You know, we do know in sort of this transforming media consumption landscape that we are living through, live sports is like one of the still breakthrough things where America can, or slices -- large slices of America convene around, and Donald Trump is keenly aware of that.

And like, really knows how to inject himself into that to capture that attention in this attention economy, and he's used it with quite a bit of skill. And I, yes, it's his birthday, yes, he thinks it's cool, but I think it's also a way to command attention.

MATTINGLY: Hulse, is it strange that the president's about to turn 80 years old?