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Trump Defends Iran Agreement From Bipartisan Criticism; Key GOP Senators Criticize Trump's Iran Agreement; Vance To Critics: "Have A Little Bit Of Faith" In Trump; Trump: "There Are No Limits To My Power" After Iran War; Italian PM: "Donald Trump's Statements Are Completely Made Up"; Material Peeling Off Bottom Of Reflecting Pool After $14M Renovation. Aired 12-12:30p ET

Aired June 19, 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]

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN ANCHOR, INSIDE POLITICS: On defense, President Trump insists to his critics that Iran surrendered, despite much evidence to the contrary.

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

It didn't take long for the first round of talks between the U.S. and Iran to be derailed. Vice President Vance was scheduled to be in Switzerland right now, meeting with Iranian negotiators, but that trip was canceled late last night after intense fighting between Israel and Hezbollah and southern Lebanon.

This morning, a new ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah may put those talks back on track. We will see. Time will tell, but President Trump isn't waiting to insist once again on total victory for the U.S. He took to social media this morning to push back on the widespread and very bipartisan criticism of his agreement with Iran that gives Tehran much of what they wanted for, for years.

We didn't meet out of desperation, Iran did, and they get no money, not 10 cents. The president also wrote, Iran doesn't, quote, have an air force, a navy, anti-aircraft equipment, radar, or practically anything else. And from the White House, Iran is finished. The president's protest, though, only underscored that many in Washington aren't buying what he's selling, that the U.S. won this negotiation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARC CAPUTO, SENIOR POLITICS REPORTER, AXIOS: You had talked about you only wanted unconditional surrender, and the MOU doesn't look like unconditional surrender.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Well, it really probably is unconditional surrender.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: I'm joined by a terrific group of reporters. And guys, just to kind of topline for folks, the reason why the objections, I think, are so many at this point on some level. Is the White House declaration that Iran got nothing, that's unconditional surrender, that it's total win for the U.S., nothing for Iran, kind of runs counter to what Iran got in the MOU, like in black and white.

You can look at some of the gains that are on there. We've got a list of them, in military operations on all fronts, including Lebanon. U.S. removes the naval blockade, a process to put together $300 billion reconstruction fund. U.S. ends all sanctions. U.S. unfreezes Iranian assets. And the idea, Jonah, that nothing is happening, they're not getting anything right now. The treasury is committed to issue a license to allow Iran to sell oil and make billions of dollars immediately.

JONAH GOLDBERG, CO-FOUNDER AND EDITOR IN CHIEF, THE DISPATCH & CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yeah. I don't mean to overly criticize the setup, but you said at the very beginning, set up without much evidence, there's literally zero evidence that this was unconditional surrender, right? Unconditional surrender means no terms whatsoever, whatever you guys want, goes. And like you can debate each cause of the 14 points, it's amazing we're talking about a 14-point treaty type thing from Versailles right now for history buffs.

But you can debate which one's a win, which one's a draw, which one's a loss for Iran, or whatever, but the idea that this was just a total loss for Iran is completely illogical and ridiculous on its face. Iran gets a lot out of this, and we lose a lot in it.

MATTINGLY: Tia, I think kind of bolstering all of this is, you know, you walk the halls of the Capitol. We don't see a lot of moments or issues where Republicans so clearly and publicly break with the president that has happened. Listen?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JONI ERNST (R-IA): I have to know where that money is coming from because I don't think my constituents are going to be really happy about it. If that's all U.S. taxpayer dollars.

SEN. TOM COTTON (R-AR): I just hope that we don't squander the leverage that we built through these military strikes and allow Iran to get back up off the math.

SEN. JOHN KENNEDY (R-LA): I trust Iran like I trust gas station sushi, but it's only 60 days, and I think we ought to give peace a chance.

SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX): History demonstrates that giving billions of dollars to theocratic lunatics who want to murder us is an exceptionally bad idea.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: I have to admit something. I thought I would get tired of John Kennedy shtick early on in his first year in the Senate. I have not. I find it to be wonderful still to this day. Tia, Senator Cruz went on to expand on that point in his podcast, though he pretty much tried to pin everything on the president's advisors. The decision to attack Iran in the first place was heroic. What's kind of -- what happens next year?

[12:05:00]

TIA MITCHELL, WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF, THE ATLANTA JOURNAL- CONSTITUTION: So, you know, Congress, first of all, they're in -- Republicans in Congress are in a very tough position because they want to defend President Trump and protect him and justify what he's doing, but more and more he's not giving -- not only is he not giving them things to work on, for example, it took them days to even get their hands on the agreement.

So, he's literally not giving them the material that they can use to defend him, but the more they learn, the more it contradicts what the White House has been saying, what they've been saying to try to insulate the White House from criticism. And so, I think they know that it's hard for them with a straight face to argue that the U.S. is going to be better off at the end of this war, and that relations with Iran are going to be better off at the end of this war, which leaves them with little to justify this war.

MATTINGLY: It's a great point. And look, to be clear, it could be some like A.D. chess distraction from the fact they literally signed a treaty at Versailles, which to Jonah's point, it should not be lost here for an administration that cares a lot about optics. It was just a very, very strange turn of events.

What I've been struck by Alex is that obviously J.D. Vance has become the public face of trying to sell this, which has not been easy, and certainly doesn't kind of thread well with the book tour that he's on. But he has also given, I think, probably the most defensible defense that you've heard, in terms of, look, why not try, what are the alternatives, including saying have faith in the president here. Listen?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

J.D. VANCE, VICE PRESIDENT: I would say to anybody, any of the critics, his number one, have a little bit of faith in the president of United States. The idea that he is going to strike a deal that's been bad for the American people, it's preposterous.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: I think the biggest question that I've had is it just has felt like, and I'm hearing this from Republicans often, president is done with this. The alternatives are not alternatives he wants to pursue, and so the possibility of a bad deal is very real, and really in black and white in 14 bullet points right now.

ALEX GANGITANO, WHITE HOUSE REPORTER, POLITICO: Yeah. That moment from the vice president was him kind of trying to just level with Americans. If you don't want this war to continue, we don't want this war to continue. You're worried about gas prices, we're worried about gas prices, the president's worried about stock market, et cetera, all these optics around it. So, level with us here, and let's try it out.

And I think that is actually one of the most, I think, usable moments that this administration has had about this deal because he's really saying we know this is a gamble in so many words, whereas the president's rhetoric is a lot of, trust me, this is an unconditional surrender, and I don't want to hear any negative commentary about it.

So, I think the vice president also, there's, of course, the added layer that he has a lot on the line in terms of his political future. Same with Senator Cotton, Senator Cruz. These are all people that are want history to remember what they said in these moments, and Vice President Vance is in a much trickier position, obviously working for this president.

But he wants history to remember that he was the person that was able to level with Americans, maybe strike a peace deal, but not be in the driver's seat when it goes south. It's a tough thing to navigate, though, because the president is putting him in the driver's seat, when, if he does go to Switzerland later this weekend. We still don't know if he will or not.

MATTINGLY: Yeah, Jonah, to that point. I tend to bristle at the stories of, like, what does this mean for 2028 at this point, or at any point, because who knows, like, tomorrow we're all goldfish at this point like, 700 other things will be happening here. But it is intra -- this is -- it feels like a hinge point in the first half of the president's second term. J.D. Vance is now the face of that hinge point. What do you think this means, kind of moving forward as he thinks through what he wants to do next?

GOLDBERG: Yeah. So, J.D. Vance has had a theory about his political ambitions, which says that he wants to, it's not so much that he is pro-Nazi, he's anti-anti-Nazi, right? He's like Nick Fuentes needs to be part of the tent and we shouldn't cancel people. And so, Tucker Carlson and those crowds should be in there, but the neocons got to go, right?

And he talks about being a heritage American, which is a major dog whistle, that kind of thing. He's doing the same thing here. I am the enemy of the neocons. I am the one who's willing to tell, I would say, bald-faced lies about Israel, but he would say, harsh truths about Israel, and all that kind of stuff. He has a theory that that slice of the MAGA coalition is his base, and he needs to cultivate it and stand up as its hero. I think it's a bad theory. I think it's a wrong theory, but it troubles me enough that there are smart people around Vance who think it's the right theory, and I -- only time will tell.

MATTINGLY: It's a theory, too, from a coalition perspective that I don't think math on some level, if you're just thinking of raw numbers, but he's been committed to it, which I think is going to be interesting to watch how it plays out. All right, guys, stick around. Coming up, so much for Dolce Vita, that's right, bilingual over here. The Italian foreign minister cancels the U.S. trip after offensive comments from President Trump about the Italian prime minister. And later, President Trump promised the reflecting pool would be American flag blue. $14 million later, why is it neon green? [12:10:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CAPUTO: What have you learned about not just the exercise of power, but the limits on your power as a result of the conflict?

TRUMP: There are no limits.

CAPUTO: No limit.

TRUMP: No, not. I haven't learned that lesson yet. I know there are, but you know, there are no limits. We defeated them totally militarily.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[12:15:00]

MATTINGLY: That was President Trump with Axios' Marc Caputo, the great Marc Caputo. His concept of power, it's always been expansive. He said in January that only one thing limited his power, his own quote, morality. Now, in a new book from Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan of the New York Times, Trump has bragged about a letter he received that compared him to the likes of Attila the Hun, Genghis Khan, Joseph Stalin, and Adolf Hitler.

Haberman and Swan write that he proudly showed them the letter, reciting the names of some of history's most powerful figures explaining how each fell short of his own power as U.S. president. He claimed the letter came from a presidential historian. Haberman and Swan write it was actually from a caddy to Hall of Fame golfer Gary Player.

Naturally, because, of course, honestly, there's so much -- the stories that come out from this book so far, which are all amazing. I can't wait to read the book. They're like, yeah, actually, that kind of tracks. It's insane. It sounds the -- we could pull up the letter because also naturally the president posted the letter to social media. It is lengthy and attributed to historian Dave Crane.

I think that this is a really fascinating moment, Alex, because there were moments in the first half of the first year where you could look around and people in Washington were saying, oh, bleep, there really are no limits here. They're doing whatever they want, whenever they want, however they want, and we're very successful in a lot of places that they could do things bureaucratically. It's a very different moment right now, for all the reasons we covered in the A-block, but a lot of others as well.

GANGITANO: Yeah. Now, I think if we focus on Congress first, you know, Senator Thune is putting a lot of limits on the president's power right now, in the ways that he can. The president has said, pass the SAVE Act again and again and again, fire the parliamentarian and get rid of the filibuster, all these things, and Thune has said no.

And so that's, you know, the clearest example of the president thought that he had no limits on his power here and how he could take over D.C. We've seen that both in terms of these projects he's doing in D.C., in terms of what he wants Congress to do, and what he's done at the White House and there are limits to his power when it comes to Congress, of course. Then there's the midterms and what happens in January. But then there's the foreign policy limits to this power. You know, he says, I think Prime Minister Netanyahu will do whatever I want. Is that the case? Is there times that Netanyahu ignores what the president wants? Other foreign leaders as well.

Initially, as you mentioned, he came to Washington knowing they had to sit down with the president at the White House, knowing they needed that Oval Office moment that we all were glued to our TVs. That's dwindled down, and we've seen cancelations happen. You alluded to that with the Italian foreign minister because of offensive things the president has done. So, it does feel like we are in a new moment here versus the first year, year and a half of the administration.

MATTINGLY: To that point, Jonah, I want to stick on the Giorgia Meloni, the Italian PM issue here for a minute, because the president, in a phone interview with an Italian broadcaster, said, quote, probably she's happy that I talked to her. I didn't have to talk to her. She begged me for a picture. She wanted a picture with me so badly. I wouldn't have done it, but I felt sorry for her, which rather rapidly drew this response from the prime minister.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GIORGIA MELONI, ITALIAN PRIME MINISTER (translator): Donald Trump's statements are completely made up. I am frankly astonished. I don't know why the president of the United States behaves like this toward his allies. It's not the first time moreover. I can only say it is disappointing that he does not show the same determination with the enemies of the West and of the United States, whose leaders he instead treats with far greater indulgence. There is one thing he should remember, neither I nor Italy ever beg.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MATTINGLY: Two pieces of context really important. I think a lot of people thought Meloni's ideological makeup aligned a lot with Trump's. I think she has proven otherwise over time. It's not just an immediate thing. The second part is like, if you think about tariffs, or to your point, any meeting like Trump bulldozed everyone, made them do whatever he wanted. And if he didn't -- if they didn't, he bulldoze them further. Now you've got this something changed.

GOLDBERG: Yeah. Look, let's go back to the context of that interview, where he says, we totally defeated Iran militarily. There are no limits to my power. The fact that he's coming out of this week with this deal, saying that there are no limits to his power, when he was forced to negotiate ending a blockade to open up the Strait of Hormuz is preposterous. And why did -- why was the Strait of Hormuz such a problem? They begged to get allies to come in and help with the minesweeping because our European allies have better equipment for that kind of stuff. Couldn't get him to do it. Why couldn't they get him to do it? Because he threatened to military take -- militarily take over Greenland and became -- made himself so unbelievably radioactive, the most brilliant thing Trump did. He was already unpopular in the middle and with the left in Europe, but the Greenland thing made the nationalists hate him too.

[12:20:00]

And so, the idea that all these allies were going to jump and help him out in the Strait of Hormuz, when it would be political suicide for any elected leader in Europe to act to save Trump's bacon about anything. I think his approval rating in Denmark is like 4 percent, right? So, like, those are limits to his power. We would be a much more powerful country if we had allies that were willing to get our back and help us out. Those are limits. What's disturbing is he's so delusional he can't see the limits to his power, and that's something that's going to get them into more mistakes.

MITCHELL: I think, what we're seeing from some of the foreign leaders is the same thing that we're seeing from some of the Republican leaders is that they're all -- they're accountable to voters that are growing more and more disillusioned with President Trump, whether you're talking about voters in Italy or you're talking about voters in North Carolina or Arkansas. And that is why I think we're seeing push back that equates to limits on the president's power, but he's already stretched his power so large that I don't know if future presidencies will recover.

MATTINGLY: Yeah. Those are really great points. Will still ahead, President Trump promised to drain the swamp, but did he turn the reflecting pool into one instead? And later, Senator Cory Booker will join me live in studio to talk about the Iran deal, the future of the Democratic Party, and Juneteenth. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:25:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MATTINGLY: There's something lurking in the water at the reflecting pool, between the algae and the pieces of blue material peeling off the bottom of the pool. President Trump's $14 million renovation, it's surfacing. We'll say a lot of questions. CNN's Tom Foreman is live at the reflecting pool. Tom, what are you seeing?

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We're not seeing good things, Phil. I'll tell you that the latest hotspot that people have noticed is right down here. This is what people are talking about when they say the paint is peeling back. You can see like pieces like this that seem to be just coming off the bottom as part of the sealant, whether this is officially the sealant, I can't say. There's some blue down here as well, but boy, this absolutely looks like yes. The dark blue American flag sealant is simply peeling away from the bottom in some places widespread or close by. Don't know what made it happen. We don't know. There's discussion about the chemicals or the cleaning process.

But beyond that, there's the problem of the algae, which they've been working every day, light hour to get rid of. They're pumping oxygen in here to try to defeat the process by which algae forms. They have these sort of water vacuums out here, where piece-by-piece they're trying to clean the floor of all of this. And this, while federal officials are saying the water here is crystal clear. We're just doing a little mop up operation now. Well, if this is a little mop up operation, it is very big and it's moving very slowly, and it's curious to wonder if they'll have it done by Fourth of July as they would wave. Phil?

MATTINGLY: Tom Foreman, appreciate you, my friend. Thanks so much. I want to bring the panel back in. As Tom alluded to the thing that, like, I genuinely don't care about this. There are like a lot of things going on in the world that I think require attention.

This isn't high on my list, but there was a tweet from the Interior Department, which Tom alluded to, where they said the reflecting pool water is crystal clear, and our National Park Service team is now vacuuming up the dead algae resting on the bottom, some of the parts of reflecting pool, just like the destroyed Iranian navy resting at the -- on the bottom of the Persian Gulf. Jonas (Ph) had just dropped dramatically, and it wasn't theatrical. He meant, like, not crystal clear -- stop, come on.

GANGITANO: Yeah. It's a don't believe you're lying eyes moment, right? Like all these reporters lining the reflecting pool, showing us what there is. I saw a reporter put in a camera that can go underwater to show, like, no, this isn't just from above. We're seeing exactly what you're seeing on TV is real. And I mean, this was a multimillion dollar project that the president wanted done by the fourth of July.

And now, we're taking up time, talking about this and people are taking up time having to report on it and to clean it up, and because it's just something that I don't know how it went south. I don't think people know what exactly happened. I'm not, you know, we're not scientists, but it feels like another thing that the president was very excited to do in D.C., and get people's praise for, and here we are with this.

MITCHELL: It seems like a metaphor in some ways for the Trump presidency. I think that's what we're all picking up here, you know, over promised, not executed with experts in science, and the best of the best, there were appearance -- appearances of cronyism. And then the end result, it appears that we're worse off than where we started.

GOLDBERG: Yeah. I think that's right. I joked the other day that it reminds me of my favorite Onion headline, which is iceberg struck by world's largest metaphor, right? This is the -- it's all the things that you say. It's also -- this is -- the schadenfreude comes in a little bit because this is the kind of thing that Trump brags about being really good at, right?

This is the kind of thing where he actually can claim to a record of expertise, and he keeps getting foiled by this. You know, he came in to drain the swamp, and he cannot get this thing out of there. I do think it's pure news value, it's very low, but on its metaphorical value, it's just so on point. Kind of -- I don't want any harm to come to Tom, but kind of awesome if a gator had just come out.

MATTINGLY: That's wow, wow, wow, wow. I will say, you sure are much more salted writers than I am. There's like 17 different amazing leads. You could take off of the different elements of this and apply them to the presidency. All right. When we come back, Senator Cory Booker joins me next, on what he thinks about the deal to end the war he resoundingly opposed.