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One World with Zain Asher

Senate Republicans Scramble For Votes On Trump Agenda Bill; Senate Begins Marathon Vote On Trump Domestic Agenda Bill; Netanyahu Makes Release Of Hostages Top Priority; Two Firefighters Killed While Responding To Brush Fire; Polls Reveal Unfavorable Views On Trump's Agenda Bill; IAEA: Iran Could Begin Enriching Uranium Again "Within Months". Aired 12-1p ET

Aired June 30, 2025 - 12:00   ET

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

[12:00:29]

ZAIN ASHER, CNN ANCHOR: All right. The U.S. Senate is in the middle of a marathon voting session on President Trump's so-called Big, Beautiful Bill.

BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN ANCHOR: The second hour "One World" starts right now.

U.S. lawmakers are actively working on President Trump spending in tax cut bills, a cornerstone of his second term agenda. We'll be live in Washington

with the latest.

ASHER: And two firefighters are dead in a shocking ambush in Idaho after a suspect appears to start a brush fire on purpose. An investigation is

ongoing.

GOLODRYGA: And the heat is on at Wimbledon, and so is the temperature on the first day of the British tennis tournament.

ASHER: All right. Coming to you live from New York, I'm Zain Asher.

GOLODRYGA: And I'm Bianna Golodryga. You're watching the second hour of "One World.

Good to be back with you.

ASHER: Yes.

GOLODRYGA: Well, three hours and counting, a marathon voting session underway on Capitol Hill.

ASHER: Yes. As U.S. senators debate and offer amendments on Donald Trump's sweeping domestic policy bill. A final vote is going to be taking place

afterwards. The Republican controlled Senate is racing to pass the measure before self-imposed July 4th deadline and then send it back to the House.

GOLODRYGA: Yes. This weekend was also marked by drama, delays, and division, as Democrats tried to slow down its passage. The mega bill

includes an extension of the massive tax cuts that President Trump passed in 2017.

The nonpartisan congressional budget office says the measure would hike the federal deficit by $3.3 trillion over the next decade and leave millions

more Americans uninsured.

In order to offset those costs, the nation's social safety net would be slashed with steep cuts to Medicaid and food assistance programs.

ASHER: Only two Republicans joined Democrats into opposing the legislation. One of those is Senator Thom Tillis. He announced he's not going to be

seeking reelection after refusing to support that bill.

GOLODRYGA: All right. Let's bring in our coverage with senior White House correspondent Kristen Holmes. So, Kristen, Senate Majority Leader Thune can

only lose one more Republican vote here. Does it look like he has the votes that he needs?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, it depends with -- with what exactly you mean by that. I mean, we are talking to sources on

the Hill who say they believe that this is likely that it's going to eventually get through. But what it actually looks like at the end of the

day? That's going to be the big question.

The thing that we cannot understate here is just how important this bill is to President Trump. This is not only the cornerstone of his second term in

office, but it's also something that he and his team view as his legacy bill.

We have heard from members of his team, advisors, allies, other administration officials who have been courting these Senators, having one-

on-one meetings, trying to come up with ways to get them on board.

And again, when I talked to the White House, they seem mildly confident. But, of course, the question is going to remain, what does this actually

look like? What does this bill look like if it is in fact passed?

And you're hearing from both Democrats and Republicans who are really trying to spin this bill in different ways. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): Senate Republicans have to decide, choose the American people or bow down to Donald Trump and his coterie of

billionaires? Because this bill, as we have said for months steals people's healthcare, jacks up their electricity bill, takes away their jobs, all to

pay for tax breaks for billionaires.

SEN. JOHN THUNE (R-SD): So, yes, there are some improvements and reforms to Medicaid to make it more efficient, to make sure that the people who are

supposed to benefit from Medicaid do and that it doesn't go to people who shouldn't benefit from Medicaid.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: It's all about the messaging, right? And those are obviously two very different messages. I mean, we even heard from one Republican Josh

Hawley, a senator, saying he didn't like what this bill did for Medicaid, that he was standing up for people. But that he was still going to advance

this bill. So, it gives you a little bit of idea where the party's at.

And President Trump weighing in over the weekend. We saw what he did back and forth attacking Thom Tillis who then said that he was going to be

retiring. But in addition to that, he posted online at one point that these senators who are doing cost-cutting measures, they need to be careful

because there's still a re-election coming up. Something that he is obviously looking towards those midterms in particular.

But again, you know, you talk about this messaging. It's really all about how the voters receive it. And we think the real ultimatum, the real bottom

line is going to be what happens in 2026 during those midterm elections. We'll see how this actually plays out.

[12:05:04]

GOLODRYGA: That's right. And we'll be speaking with our favorite pollster and numbers guy --

ASHER: Harry Enten.

GOLODRYGA: -- Harry Enten and the numbers that he has us for show that Americans are not necessarily happy with the structure of this bill as it's

laid out now.

Kristen Holmes, thank you so much.

ASHER: And CNN's politics senior reporter wrote this op-ed about the sweeping bill. "Trump uses executive power more broadly and questionably

than any modern president. But some of those unilateral acts could be quickly reversed by a democratic successor, changing laws, locks in a more

enduring legacy."

GOLODRYGA: And Stephen Collinson, the author of that editorial, now joins us from Washington.

So, as we noted, Stephen, this is President's signature piece of his domestic agenda. And we're talking about raising the deficit over $3

trillion. According to the CBO, some 12 million more Americans are expected to be without insurance.

Can you just talk to us in terms of the scope and magnitude of how this key piece of legislation from the president differs from the one that -- that

he put forward in his first term?

STEPHEN COLLINSON, CNN POLITICS SENIOR REPORTER: Yes. So, the centerpiece of this is extending the 2017 tax cuts that he put forward in his first

term. And that makes these tax cuts permanent. That means they will not expire.

In a way, this is something that a lot of Americans aren't going to notice because all it's doing is keeping their tax rates where they would be, and

it's not going to go up. So, it's a questionable political effect, I think, at least in terms of the tax cuts.

But Trump himself has said what this bill would do would be to codify much of the MAGA agenda. He's planning to spend vast amounts of money on

expanding his mass deportation program for migrants.

He wants money to finish the wall on the southern border with Mexico to create many more bad places for migrants that he can then arrest prior to

deportation, to expand the court system in immigration, to make deportations even quicker.

Immigration, of course, is perhaps the core aspect of Trump's political philosophy. But you're also going to see a lot more defense spending. This

bill contains money for the Golden Dome missile shield that many experts question whether it's even feasible, but Trump says he can get it done by

the end of his term in three and a half years. So, there's a lot of that.

The problem with this, however, is you have to find a way to pay for it. That's where the cuts to Medicaid, which is the program for low-income

Americans to get healthcare with the help of the state come in. So, you know, that's where this is exceedingly controversial.

And as Kristen was saying, that's how the Democrats are going to try and message this bill. They're saying that Trump is rewarding his billionaire

friends and taking away people's healthcare to pay for it.

ASHER: Yes. They're essentially saying to middle class, sort of ordinary Americans, working class Americans, look, this man, i.e. the U.S.

president, does not care about you. He only cares about his rich friends.

Does that line of messaging resonate? Does it work? How will it help Democrats come the midterms in about a year and a half from now?

COLLINSON: Historians says worked. And I think a lot will have to do with how the economy goes in the next 12 months or so. If more Americans are

feeling that this bill has helped increase economic growth, as the White House says it will, albeit with some fairly difficult to believe figures, I

think that will mitigate some of the downside effects of this.

The question, I think, for a lot of middle class voters who perhaps don't rely on Medicaid for their healthcare is how they can meet all these rising

costs.

Now, Democrats argue that by slashing away at green energy programs that were brought in during the Biden administration, as this bill does, that

will actually raise their energy costs.

The White House says that if you pull more fossil fuels out the ground, gas prices are lower.

I just got a -- a message in my email from the White House about two minutes ago boasting about how low gas prices are and giving Trump the

benefit. Gas prices are traditionally every summer one of the real barometers that Americans use to decide, you know, as they take road trips

how well the economy is doing.

So, I think a lot of it is down to how this bill affects the economy. Can Trump get those trade deals he's talked about that would lower tariffs and

lessen the burden on the economy?

This bill, in many ways, and you see this a lot with presidents, they get elected, they have their massive first term bill. Almost always these bills

turn out being unpopular with the public. Sometimes they result in the president losing the House in the following midterm elections, but they're

so important and so critical to a president's prestige that they have to be passed anyway. It's kind of a Washington paradox. And I think that's what

we're seeing with this bill.

[12:10:19]

ASHER: All right. Stephen Collinson, always good to see you. Thank you so much.

GOLODRYGA: Well, Israel's leader appears to be shifting his priorities when it comes to his country's war with Hamas. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

says, quote, opportunities have opened up to free the remaining hostages in Gaza, following Israel's military operation in Iran.

ASHER: Yes. And Netanyahu's comments on Sunday signal a major shift after repeatedly making victory over Hamas. His number one objective. Meantime,

the attacks on Gaza continue. The head of the territory's largest hospital says at least 21 people are killed in an Israeli airstrike that hit a cafe

near a Gaza city port.

The majority of them were women. The IDF tell CNN it's looking into the circumstances surrounding the strike.

GOLODRYGA: And in the West Bank, settlers have attacked an Israeli security site and used pepper spray on Israeli soldiers. We're hearing that from the

Israel Defense Forces.

ASHER: The IDF says that dozens of what it calls Israeli civilians gathered Sunday at the entrance of a military base when a confrontation broke out.

It came a day after the IDF arrested six Israeli settlers for allegedly assaulting soldiers as they headed towards the Palestinian village of Kafr

Malik, where days earlier, settlers set fire to homes in an attack, Palestinian officials say killed three people.

CNN's Nic Robertson is standing by for us live in Jerusalem.

So, this idea that Netanyahu is now prioritizing the release of hostages over the defeat of Hamas. Obviously, this is the first time he's done this,

since the war started about a year and a half ago.

Clearly, very welcome news for the family members of hostages who've seen their loved ones trapped in Gaza for a really long time over 600 days now.

I understand that you've been speaking to family members, particularly one man whose twin brothers are still stuck in Gaza, kidnapped obviously on

October 7th. What did he say to you?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes. He felt that, you know, what the prime minister was saying, although when I sat down and

spoke with him, the prime minister actually hadn't said that. He said that a few hours later he was talking to the Shin Bet, the internal security

services here and -- and congratulating them and talking about these opportunities from what he described the victory in Iran and therefore now

putting hostages first rather than defeating Hamas, putting the hostages first.

So, when I spoke with Liran Berman about his brother's Ziv and Gali, you know, what he told me was, look, you know, Hamas is a proxy of Iran and

Israel has a victory over Iran. Therefore, the Hamas should feel more on a back foot more likely to make a deal.

But then there's the President Trump effect as well, because President Trump has been putting pressure on the Israeli prime minister. And I think

a lot of hostage families really feel that the vehicle to get their loved ones home really is President Trump. There's a lot of faith put in him

there on that account.

But it -- it's -- it's President Trump's ability to put pressure on the prime minister that -- that I think the perception here is that that's why

the prime minister is changing his narrative.

When it comes to getting the hostages, his brothers out, Liran was really, you know, not wanting to be over hopeful, not wanting to, you know,

overlook the opportunities that were there. But it's a realist. You know, they've been through this. All the families now have been through this for

over 630 days and they've seen it talked up and then -- and then there are differences and divisions and it -- and it just doesn't go through.

But they're really hoping. And the momentum they're trying to -- to create is that the prime minister understands all the hostages, all 50, about 20

of them or so alive, get them all out in one go and then pull the troops out all out in one go, a ceasefire, ended all. And of course, that's the

thing the prime minister's been most resistant to. Everything he talks about regards are until now is the only way to get the hostages is to

defeat Hamas. Now is put it in another framing and that is welcome news for the families.

GOLODRYGA: Well, especially since we've noted that the majority of Hamas' leadership has all been killed at this point. We also know the prime

minister's top advisor, Ron Dermer, is in Washington today as we speak and meeting with top Trump officials.

Nic, let me follow up on the reporting that we just had on the settler violence in the West Bank between settlers and the IDF officials, the

clashes that we've seen there and the skirmishes and clashes that we've continued to see between these settlers and the West Bank on local

Palestinian villages.

[12:15:00]

ROBERTSON: Yes. And the fact that three villagers, Palestinian villagers were killed just a few days ago, according to local health officials and 10

were injured in those clashes. It was the IDF that -- that came out that night and stopped it from being worse and by arresting those settlers.

You know, I think it's very interesting that the settlers should feel so empowered that they could go to the I -- an IDF base, go in and burn

equipment, sensitive, expensive equipment. And it's really caught the attention of the Prime Minister, which perhaps again gives us an indication

of the profile that the Prime Minister wants to take right now, knowing as well he didn't just announce this sort of new view on hostages at the Shin

Bet on Sunday.

He also toured and -- and spoke at a police training academy today and congratulated the officers there. But when it comes to the settlers, he was

very, very clear that these set -- these settlers, these Israelis who stormed the IDF base, who went in and broke the equipment there, are an

exception.

He said they're not part of the -- of the main settler movement, if you will, they're outliers. He -- he described settlers as providing a big

contribution to the nation as settlers are probably a big contribution towards the IDF.

The amount of profile that the Prime Minister is getting here at the moment, at the Shin Bet, at the police academy, speaking out on this

settler issue, you know, among colleagues here. It creates that impression that potentially this is the Prime Minister getting on an election footing.

Again, it all speaks to the potential, perhaps for some big moves coming up in the near future.

ASHER: All right. Nic Robertson live for us. Thank you.

GOLODRYGA: Well, call for help turns into a deadly ambush in Idaho. Two firefighters killed after police say a brush fire was intentionally set as

bait. We'll have the latest on the investigation just ahead.

ASHER: Plus, just over a week after U.S. strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities, what the head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog says about the

extent of the damage. Details to you ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ASHER: All right. Police in the western -- on the U.S., rather, state of Idaho are looking for answers as to why a man carried out a deadly ambush

in firefighters, fatally shooting two of them.

GOLODRYGA: Yes. Authorities identified the suspect as Wess Roley. They say he initially started -- intentionally started a brush fire to lure the

firefighters and what's -- once he opened fire on them, once he did lure them in.

[12:20:09]

Police say the 20-year-old suspect is dead. A stunned community paused to honor the firefighters when a procession carrying their bodies passed by in

nearby Spokane, Washington.

ASHER: Let's bring in our law enforcement reporter Mark Morales for the very latest on this.

So, we have a situation whereby the suspect, 20 years old, he's dead. So, of course, just in terms of really getting a full picture as to what the

motive was, we'll never completely know why the suspect may have done this.

But just walk us through how authorities are going to go about searching for possible answers, possible ideas for -- for a motive here, even without

being able to talk to the suspect.

MARK MORALES, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT REPORTER: Right. Well, as we know in these types of situations, identification is critical. So, as you

mentioned, we now know the name Wess Roley, 20 years old from the Idaho area.

So, now investigators can do the dirty work. They can go in and start searching all of the social media accounts, everywhere he worked, everybody

that knew him, every -- any nook and cranny that he was in, that's where they can look now because it's about finding out what that motive is. And

also figuring out if there's anybody else that was involved in this.

Now, investigators don't think that's the case, but at this stage of the game, they have to rule everything out. So, it's about boots on the ground

chasing that identification, going through and searching everywhere and searching for every person that he's been in contact with to try and find

that motive.

And the name was also very particular because as -- as we all know now, the firefighters respond to the -- the fire and he's there waiting for them in

this sniper style attack.

Now, once firefighters start calling law enforcement with their 911 calls, they start responding. And it's in that response where they're able to find

his cell phone signal. And that cell phone signal is key because now, they can search for him, now they can find him and that led to this almost 90-

minute gun battle with law enforcement in that area.

Now, they don't know how exactly he died. They just know that he died and they -- what they said was that the threat was neutralized.

But the other interesting thing about this is while this is all going on, there is a massive active fire. So, because of that fire, we still have a

crime scene. So, investigators have to go in and they have to preserve this evidence and they have to do it quickly.

Normally in these -- in these types of situations, you have time to gather evidence to take everything that you need, but in this situation, there's a

raging fire around them, so they have to gather everything quickly.

And as we've seen, right, this makes it a very, very unique scene and the fire is still going on. And so right now what we have is we have a fire

that's going on and investigators that are searching for a motive.

Zain, Bianna?

GOLODRYGA: It's just so horrific to have these brave and valiant firefighters go out there and do their job only to later be lured in to

that fire and walk into a trap of being killed themselves.

Mark Morales, thank you so much.

ASHER: Thank you.

GOLODRYGA: All right. And coming up for us. The U.S. Senate is in the throes of a marathon voting session on President Trump's sweeping domestic

policy bill. But how do Americans feel about it? We'll run the numbers with our favorite guy, ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:25:43]

GOLODRYGA: All right. Welcome back to "One World." I'm Bianna Golodryga.

ASHER: I'm Zain Asher.

A voting marathon is underway right now in the U.S. Senate. At issue, President Trump's sweeping domestic policy that he calls the Big, Beautiful

Bill.

GOLODRYGA: Yes. And getting it to a place where senators will have enough votes to pass it. One of the top concerns is big cuts to Medicaid. The

government health insurance for low-income Americans.

Now, we've been talking about where the politicians stand. But how does the American public feel about this mega bill?

CNN's chief data analyst Harry Enten is with us. We teased this segment early in the show, Harry, because I think this is the crux of where the

frustration from senators lies, especially those most vulnerable whose constituents really would be impacted by these Medicaid cuts.

How are Americans feeling about what they've seen thus far with this bill?

ASHER: It's difficult to be serious. We have to be serious.

GOLODRYGA: I know. I'm trying to like hold on my smile. It's -- it's --

ENTEN: We will -- we will be serious at the top and then maybe I might give you a little fun at the end.

ASHER: Please, please. Thank you. We need it.

ENTEN: There we go.

ASHER: Thanks, Harry.

GOLODRYGA: Carrots first.

ENTEN: There we go. I'll give you three --

ASHER: Vegetables. Come on.

ENTEN: Yes. Three adjectives that Americans I think would use to describe this bill, awful, horrible, and then to quote our dear friend, Sir Charles

Barkley, terrible, terrible, terrible, terrible.

What are we talking about here? Let's take a look at the net favorable rating of the Big, Beautiful Bill. I don't just got one poll for you. I got

five of them.

And the most popular of them is "The Washington Post." And look at that, 19 points underwater on the net favorable scale. My goodness gracious, 20

points underwater in Pew, 21 points under on Fox, 26 points under on Quinnipiac. And then KFF takes the cake at minus 29 points.

As far as the American people are concerned, it's not a big beautiful bill, it's a big bad bill.

And here's the thing that I think is so interesting is the Republicans have been arguing the more Americans get to know about this bill, the more they

might like it.

Well, we actually have a chance to look at. Do in fact Americans like it more the more they learn about it? Well, Quinnipiac University hold the

bill both in early June and late June.

And what do they see? They see that in both cases, the bill is way, way, way underwater. Minus 26 points in early June, minus 26 points in late

June.

You guys know that I love looking at the data sets going historically back. I can't really recall a bill that is on the verge of passing becoming law

as unpopular as this one.

Now the question is, why? Why is the bill as unpopular now as it was earlier this month? Why is this bill historically unpopular?

Well, Donald Trump was elected in the minds of the American people because they thought his policies during his first term helped them and their

families. That is not the case with the Big, Beautiful Bill.

Trump's policies in your family. You can see Trump's first term agenda when they pulled it back last October, 44 percent said that in fact helped their

families compared to 31 percent who said hurt.

But look at the Big, Beautiful Bill. Look how different these numbers are. Only 23 percent of Americans say that the big beautiful bill will help

folks and their families. Compared to, look at this, the great lion share, 49 percent of Americans who say that the Big, Beautiful Bill will in fact

hurt their family, 26 points higher than the percentage who say that helped more than double.

[12:30:05]

So, the bottom line is you look at all of this data and you just go, oh, my goodness gracious, Republicans are walking into a landmine politically

speaking because truthfully guys, I have never seen a bill that is on the verge of passing, as I said earlier, as unpopular as this one.

And I will add one last thing, although as I said that we might want to change the name of the Big, Beautiful Bill or at least Americans to the big

bad bill, the bottom line is when it comes to our relationship, I think it's a big, beautiful relationship.

ASHER: Harry, you warm my heart. Thank you so much.

ENTEN: I warm -- can -- can -- can I just say that before we go, I have a little bit of a problem and that is --

ASHER: I thought you were going to say, I have a gift for you guys.

ENTEN: No. I mean, if you want to have a gift --

GOLODRYGA: This -- Harry, what's that?

ENTEN: This is the gift. This is a whole bunch of soda that I bought this weekend when I was out in the suburbs with the lovely girlfriend whose name

shall go unmentioned. I bought 120 cans of soda. I bought Mug Root Beer. I bought some cream soda, zero sugar. And then I got some Fanta zero sugar as

well. I am loaded up for the summer.

So, if any of you ever want to have a soda party, I am here for you.

ASHER: A hundred and twenty can.

GOLODRYGA: Speaking of health --

ASHER: Why Harry -- why?

GOLODRYGA: Speaking of health insurance, Harry, wait till you're dentist and your doctor see this.

ENTEN: My dentist and I are best friends now for obvious reasons.

GOLODRYGA: Premiums, baby. Going up for you, my friend.

ENTEN: Up and up and away.

ASHER: What is the lovely girlfriend -- what is the lovely girlfriend think of all that, Harry?

ENTEN: I -- I -- I think that she says, why don't you give me a hand?

ASHER: I think that you didn't ask her. I think that she thinks.

ENTEN: No. She -- she was the one who drove me.

GOLODRYGA: We have her number.

ASHER: I have her number. I'll text her.

ENTEN: She -- she drove me to get it. She knew what I was doing. I wasn't hiding behind her back.

ASHER: I think she thinks.

GOLODRYGA: It was a test, Harry. She was wondering whether you do it and you fell -- you fell for it. You fell for the trap. Pop the sodas.

ENTEN: You know what? I offer a lot of traps when it involves the girlfriend. She has a way to set them up and I walk right out of it.

ASHER: And she's a sweet -- we like her. We (INAUDIBLE) Harry.

ENTEN: We love Laura. Oops, I gave it away.

GOLODRYGA: Laura is welcome on this program any time, any day, any hour.

ENTEN: Well, I think she might take it away.

ASHER: Is she watching? Is she watching?

ENTEN: Oh, she --

ASHER: Can we say how much we love her? She's such a sweetheart.

ENTEN: She -- she -- I love her so much that my heart can explode. If I know her well, she probably is watching and I wouldn't be surprised if I

hear a little bit of a call in about five or 10 seconds once we get off the air.

GOLODRYGA: We've totally got off the rails here, but --

ENTEN: Whatever.

GOLODRYGA: Harry Enten expressing his love for Laura.

ASHER: I needed that.

GOLODRYGA: Yes, we needed that.

ASHER: And we love her too. We love her. She's a sweetie pie.

ENTEN: I love all of you. Bye.

GOLODRYGA: Enjoy the sodas, my friend.

ENTEN: Thank you.

GOLODRYGA: Bye.

All right. How do we segue out of that one?

ASHER: I'll try.

GOLODRYGA: OK.

ASHER: Iran's ambassador to the U.N. says that his country's uranium enrichment will never stop because Iran has what he calls an inalienable

right to do so for peaceful activity.

The comments on CBS News' "Face the Nation" came one week after the U.S. launch strikes on several key Iranian nuclear sites.

GOLODRYGA: Yes. Now, despite Donald Trump's claims that those attacks set back Iran's nuclear ambitions by decades, the head of the U.N. nuclear

watchdog agency tell CBS that Iran will -- could begin enriching uranium again in a matter of months.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAFAEL GROSSI, IAEA DIRECTOR GENERAL: Speaking, one cannot claim that everything has disappeared and there is nothing there. It is clear that

there has been severe damage, but it's not total damage, first of all.

And secondly, Iran has the capacities there, industrial and technological capacities. So, if they so wish, they will be able to start doing this

again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GOLODRYGA: Well, President Trump has repeatedly said the U.S. strikes, quote, completely and totally obliterated Tehran's nuclear program.

ASHER: Time now for "The Exchange" on our conversation with Joe Cirincione. He's the vice chair of the Center for International Policy Board of

Directors. Joe, thank you so much for being with us.

So, we heard Grossi saying that there has been significant damage, but not total damage. I mean, what -- at what point will we get an absolute sort of

clear picture about the level of damage that has been inflicted on Iran's nuclear complex?

And how much should we actually trust the messaging coming out of the White House right now about it?

JOE CIRINCIONE, VICE CHAIRMAN, THE CENTER FOR INTERNATIONAL POLICY BOARD OF DIRECTORS: Well, I think we'll get a clear picture from the IAEA and some

from foreign European intelligence services.

The IAEA, of course, knows the most about this program. They're the ones who actually have inspectors on the ground and have been going to the

sites.

I -- I would say the information from the White House cannot be trusted. I mean, you know, we're all used to Donald Trump lying about many things,

this big, bad bill, for example, or deportations. But somehow, we don't really factor it in when it comes to big international affairs. We just

still can't get used to the idea that the president might not be telling us the truth, even though we had a similar experience in the lead up to the

2003 Iraq War.

In this case, they're just making things up. The president announced seconds after the strikes were -- were -- were conducted that he had

totally obliterated the program.

[12:35:05]

We know that's not true. Most independent experts agree with the Director General Grossi. Damaged, certainly. Set it back, yes. But many, maybe most

of the sites weren't even hit. You can't bomb away the knowledge of how to enrich uranium or to build a weapon. It would take Iran months, perhaps a

few years to rebuild.

And finally, they don't really have to rebuild the whole complex, as long as they still have that stockpile of enriched uranium gas and a handful of

centrifuges. A few hundred would do. They can feed that gas back into those centrifuges and produce the core of a bomb within five or 10 days, and many

bombs over weeks further than that.

So, I think we'll know more independently about the bomb damage in the next couple of weeks, but I wouldn't count on getting a straight story from the

White House.

GOLODRYGA: So, Joe, let me just push back a little bit, because hyperbole aside, I don't think anyone other than President Trump has used the term

obliterated. Even the Israeli, the IDF Chief of Staff, said that in public assessments now he stated that Iran's nuclear program and its missile

capabilities, which we should also not forget, that is another target that was severely damaged and set back, was their ballistic facilities and

program.

He said that was significantly damaged. And in terms of whether or not Iran would start to recalibrate and start to rebuild their nuclear program, I

don't think anyone's naive enough to think that they wouldn't want to, even the former Prime Minister Naftali said -- Naftali Bennett over the weekend

said that it's clear that they will want to start to renew, when he went on to say the key is to prevent them from doing just that.

So, there's also been reporting that Mossad has been on the ground in Iran for some 15 years looking for exactly these specific sites to target and

really getting more familiar and experts, I guess, with the nuclear program there.

Couldn't you say that a deterrent, in fact, has been placed and set that for the first time the United States and Israel have shown that they will

follow through on their threats kinetically, if need be, if they see Iran start to start to -- start to recalibrate and start to rebuild their

nuclear program?

CIRINCIONE: Certainly. Iran's leaders have to take into account the threat of future strikes.

The question is how much of an appetite does President Trump have for that? Remember, these -- there is a cost to this. We don't -- nobody's talked

about how much this cost. I roughly guess it cost about $2 billion for Israel and U.S. to do these strikes and the U.S. will almost certainly

reimburse Israel for the cost of this.

Did they destroy $2 billion worth of equipment? It's not clear. Did they hit most of the sites? That's not clear either. Did they get the

underground sites? We don't know yet.

So, yes, clearly a deterrent. But they've also probably increased the -- the -- the -- the leverage of the hardline factions in Iran who have long

wanted Iran to build a bomb. They want to go ahead. And these strikes basically tell the Iranian leadership, we have to build the only weapon

that can stop the U.S. and Iran from attacking us again.

You know, this is old Israeli strategy of mowing the lawn. You hit once. The enemy reconstitutes. You hit them again. I'm not sure that's going to

work with Iran. This -- this is not a popular war among the American people.

Our allies in the Gulf do not want us to be doing these strikes. They want stability. I -- I don't think this is a winning hand. No regime in history

has ever been removed by a bombing campaign. I don't expect Iran to be the first.

ASHER: Joe Cirincione, thank you. Appreciate your perspective. Thanks so much.

GOLODRYGA: Well, Wimbledon has kicked off in London 14 days of competitive tennis and just over $4 million for a singles trophy.

ASHER: Yes. Number two seeds, Spain's Carlos Alcaraz launched his bid for a third straight title on center court, though he's struggling a bit in the

sweltering summer heat.

And the women's top seed, Belarusian, Aryna Sabalenka, seeks to banish a season of grand slam finals, misery. Plus, a lot of celebrities in the

stand. And what's missing? For the first time, there are no lines.

CNN World Sports' Don Riddell joins us from Atlanta.

Don, it's looking like the heat is really having an impact not only on the players, but also on the spectators.

And Carlos Alcaraz is looking to accomplish a very rare feat if he successfully defends his title. Talk more about that.

DON RIDDELL, CNN WORLD SPORT: Yes. Hey, guys, a lot of people will be wanting him to do that. Carlos Alcaraz is hugely, hugely popular. He does

like to do things the hard way and he's definitely struggling. Today it is a first round match. It's gone to a fifth set.

But, yes, he is hoping to become the first man since the legendary Bjorn Borg 45 years ago to go French Open, Wimbledon, French Open, Wimbledon.

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Certainly, he has a terrific chance of doing that if he can navigate the heat in this first round match.

A lot of people think that he could well be running into Jannik Sinner, the world number one again in the final as they did in that epic encounter at

Roland Garros just a few weeks ago. Sinner will commence his tournament on Tuesday.

If they don't meet in the final, that might be because Novak Djokovic is lurking in Sinner's half of the draw. And remember Djokovic, the 24-time

Grand Slam champion has made it to the semis of his last two majors so he has still got it.

A couple of big upsets in the men's draw already today. The ninth seed Daniil Medvedev and Holger Rune of the eighth seed are already out of this

tournament. It's been a pretty miserable season for Medvedev. He's only won one match in the majors and he is a -- a former world number one player.

Ons Jabeur in the women's draw, an early casualty too. She has a two-time Wimbledon finalist. She had to withdraw during her match.

The women's defending champion Barbora Krejcikova will kick off her tournament on Tuesday. She's playing the up-and-coming Filipino star,

Alexandra Eala.

And you mentioned Sabalenka on Coco Gauff, the world's number one and two who recently met in the final of the French Open. Arguably, both have a

little bit to prove in this tournament. It's the only major tournament in which Sabalenka has never played in the final.

Coco Gauff just, you know, really announced herself on the world stage in 2019 when she made it to the fourth round here. She's never made it past

the fourth round. Of course, she's in great form. She is the reigning French Open champion.

And you mentioned the heat. Yes, this is the hottest opening day at Wimbledon on record over 32 degrees. So lots of wet towels, ice packs out

there for the players and the -- and the fans too. It really, really is very, very hot out there. And I suspect these temperatures will continue in

the coming days.

ASHER: Yes. Because I was wondering how -- I saw the images of David Beckham and Gareth Southgate there sitting next to each other and they were

in -- they were daunting their suits. Like how are you guys surviving in that heat?

GOLODRYGA: Jackets will be off soon. I would imagine.

ASHER: It looked great but --

RIDDELL: Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate.

GOLODRYGA: All right. Don Riddell, thank you so much.

And that does it for "One World." I'm Bianna Golodryga. Don't go anywhere. I'll be right back in 15 minutes with on "Amanpour."

ASHER: I'm Zain Asher. Appreciate you watching. "African Voices" is up next.

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