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CNN Headlines: Rescues Underway After Deadly Earthquakes In Venezuela; Sources: Trump's Lunch With Senate Republicans Tense, Involved Shouting; Rubio: Expert Level Technical Talks With Iran Start June 30; Cottonwood Fire Explodes To More Than 60,000 Acres. Aired 5- 5:30a ET
Aired June 25, 2026 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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BRAD SMITH, CNN ANCHOR: That was the very moment an earthquake hit an airport in Venezuela. The country dealing with two of them back-to- back, with one being the most powerful quake there in more than a century. We've got the details and the rescue efforts that are underway this morning.
Also --
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DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We like our leader. We like everybody really in the room. I don't like a few people, but that's okay. I think you know who they are.
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SMITH: A Capitol Hill clash between President Trump and Senator Bill Cassidy. Why the war with Iran had them in a shouting match behind closed doors.
Plus --
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SMITH: Crews rescued this man that was trapped in a storm water ditch. You can see that water just rushing around him. We've got that story later this hour.
Good morning, everyone. I'm Brad Smith. This is CNN HEADLINE EXPRESS. Glad that you're with us.
Let's get this started. A race to rescue people now underway after two massive earthquakes struck Venezuela's northern coast, including the capital of Caracas.
Now at least 32 people have been killed, with 700 others injured. But that toll is expected to rise. And what has become the strongest quake to hit the country in more than a century, with a 7.5 magnitude. And it struck less than a minute after a 7.2 foreshock yesterday evening.
The powerful tremors sent this family running, fleeing from their home.
Officials say that there is widespread destruction, and they are warning people not to go back inside their homes or buildings that could collapse during the aftershocks.
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SMITH: And you can see here the ceiling crumbling at the airport. A Caracas resident who escaped one of the many damaged buildings said that the scene was like a horror movie.
Venezuela is now under a state of emergency, and the country's acting president, Delcy Rodriguez, has this message for the people who live there.
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ACTING PRES. DELCY RODRIGUEZ, VENEZUELA (through translator): We have also suspended the metro and railway systems in order to facilitate both rescue operations and the recovery of vital infrastructure. I want to announce that there will be no classes for the remaining days of this week. There will also be a suspension of activities that are not considered essential services
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SMITH: Amid all the devastation, one woman describes her family's utterly terrifying escape.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): I was here when I managed to get dressed. He helped me and all the walls were cracked. He managed to open the door however we could. There was a cloud of smoke that wouldn't let us see, and when we went downstairs, the scene was like a horror movie.
We had to climb over the rubble and everything. The building superintendent with the baby and all the neighbors coming down. But from that building, I only saw that one family got out
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SMITH: An early projection from the U.S. Geological Survey suggests that Venezuela's economic loss could be anywhere from $10 billion to $100 billion, which is roughly the size of its entire economy.
Just one day after senators issued a rare rebuke of President Trump by voting to limit his Iran war powers, they reversed course. Late last night, GOP Senators Rand Paul and Bill Cassidy changed their votes. That defeated the measure, which would have reined in Trump's powers when it comes to the war, Republican Senators Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski again voted to limit Trump's power. President Trump took a victory lap. He posted about it on Truth
Social, thanking the senators who changed their minds. He said the vote, quote, "puts Iran on notice". Trump had previously argued that limiting his war powers would have undermined him at the negotiating table, with Iran.
Now, all of this followed a series of dramatic events earlier in the day on Capitol Hill. That is when Trump met with Republican senators. Sources tell CNN that the lunch meeting quickly got tense.
At one point, it turned into a yelling match over that earlier vote on the president's Iran war powers. The verbal showdown involved Trump and Louisiana Senator Bill Cassidy.
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SEN. BILL CASSIDY (R-LA): The president didn't want to hear my question, interrupted me.
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I didn't care to be interrupted. I felt like I was trying to get answers for the American people, and I'm not going to be bullied when I'm trying to get answers for the American people. And so -- so it escalated from there. At some point, it de-escalated.
REPORTER: We're told the president called you a lunatic?
CASSIDY: Can I imagine that the president called me things that would be said on a school, on a -- on a playground? Yeah, I can imagine that.
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SMITH: But listen to what Trump said immediately after the meeting.
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TRUMP: I think we had a really great meeting. And we're very proud of the party. We like our leader. We like everybody really in the room. I don't like a few people, but that's okay. I think you know who they are, but we -- I'll give you, I'll give you that information someday. But for the most part, we have a really well-unified party.
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SMITH: The day started with word that President Trump suddenly refused to sign a bipartisan housing bill. That's even though he had praised that same bill before. Instead, Trump posted on social media that the signing of the bill was, quote, hereby canceled until such a time as we pass the desperately needed Save America Act. That is Trump's controversial elections overhaul bill.
The goal of the housing bill is to focus on affordability by making it easier and cheaper for developers to build more homes. If Trump does not sign the bill, it will still automatically become law within 10 days. Trump has declined to say if he would veto the measure.
Now to the latest in the Washington, D.C. reflecting pool saga. U.S. Park Police released video of someone near the pool last Friday. They are asking the public to help identify a person seen in the video. And as they're kind of circling in on that person that they're looking for, they're showing this person and this video part of a destruction of government property investigation is what they're moving forward with.
The footage shows someone kneeling by the edge of the reflecting pool and reaching into the water. Over the weekend, President Trump said the visible damage was caused by vandals, adding that six people have been arrested and seven have been cited.
This comes as fencing goes up near the pool. The Interior Department says it was already scheduled to be closed off before Fourth of July, because it's a fireworks launch site. But officials say that the fencing is going up earlier than planned to help prevent vandalism.
Well, Secretary of State Marco Rubio is on the third and final day of his brief trip to the Middle East. Marco Rubio is now in Bahrain to attend a Gulf Cooperation Council foreign ministers meeting. He also visited the UAE and Kuwait, where he revealed that expert level technical talks with Iran will start June 30th.
Normally a staunch supporter of Israel, Rubio did not visit the key U.S. ally on his Mideast tour, and this is despite U.S. mediated discussions between Israel and Lebanon that are taking place in Washington.
Rubio weighed in on those talks from Kuwait
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MARCO RUBIO, SECRETARY OF STATE: The more of that area the Lebanese armed forces is able to secure, the less of it's in Hezbollah's control, the less Israel will be in Lebanon. But obviously, that's the process we're working through right now with these talks. That's at the core of these talks.
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SMITH: Rubio also stressed that the U.S. would not undermine its Gulf allies in talks with Iran, and that he, quote, "didn't sense any doubts about our security assurances to the region."
Well, the FBI and the NYPD carried out searches targeting current and former members of the New York Police Department yesterday. Sources say it's part of a major corruption investigation at the nation's largest police department. Sources are also saying that individuals included one former high ranking official, and that it's part of a long-running criminal probe into bribery and conduct alleged to have occurred years ago.
It's unclear whether anyone was arrested. Now, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York, they declined to comment. The NYPD commissioner confirmed the investigation in a social media post, and the city's mayor calls the investigation proof that NYPD is cracking down on corruption
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MAYOR ZOHRAN MAMDANI (D), NEW YORK: Our government should serve the public with integrity. Any corruption would amount to a serious violation of the responsibility within the NYPD and a breach in public trust
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SMITH: And meanwhile, a one-time senior adviser to former New York Mayor Eric Adams has reportedly been arrested. That is according to a law enforcement source who says the arrest follows a raid of Frank Carone's home, on Wednesday.
However, this is not connected to Wednesday's FBI and NYPD raid. Carone is known as a supporter of the former mayor, and his attorney did not immediately provide a request for comment.
Well, fire crews in Utah are working around the clock as rapidly growing wildfires continue to spread across the drought-stricken state. The Cottonwood Fire near Beaver has now burned more than 60,000 acres and remains zero percent contained.
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New video shows massive clouds of smoke just billowing over Beaver Mountain. Mandatory evacuations are in place for several communities, while others are on standby to leave.
And take a look at this video, captured on a Ring camera. You can see the flames just coming up the road there, engulfing the area surrounding this building. The owner of the Ring camera said that a lot of his neighbors have already lost their homes.
We'll continue to keep you updated on those containment efforts. We have lots more to come as well on CNN HEADLINE EXPRESS.
An emergency landing at a major U.S. airport. Why the copilot of this plane had to take over.
And a massive fire burning overnight in Pennsylvania, people were told to evacuate. The latest developments this morning.
And the new clues about the big wedding, what we know about when and where Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce could tie the knot.
Stay with us. You're watching CNN HEADLINE EXPRESS
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SMITH: Jurors are set to resume deliberations today in the federal trial of the man accused of starting a fire that later set off last year's deadly Palisades Fire in L.A. Prosecutors argue that 30-year- old Jonathan Rinderknecht was motivated in part because of anger towards the wealthy. His defense says that he's being made a scapegoat since the Fire Department did not completely extinguish the initial fire. Rinderknecht was charged with several counts, and if convicted, he faces up to 45 years in prison.
In today's Weather Express, folks in eastern Colorado, are cleaning up after a powerful storm unleashed baseball sized hail in Wiggins. Extensive damage was reported to vehicles and homes. There is a threat of even more severe weather today, we should warn you.
CNN meteorologist Allison Chinchar is tracking it all and shows us what we can expect.
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ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Another day, another round of storms across portions of the central U.S. You can see really here where the target point is right there along that front, but it impacts quite a lot of people, actually. You take a look. You've got storms for portions of the Northeast stretching back along the Mississippi Valley and over into the Rocky Mountains, especially as we get later on into the day and throughout much of the afternoon and evening hours.
Again, you can see here basically from Upstate New York, back through the mid-Mississippi Valley, even over into portions of Texas as well as New Mexico, looking at a lot of those pop up showers and thunderstorms, they will linger through the evening in the overnight hours, many even continuing into the very early portion of Friday.
If you get those training storms, which we are expecting across portions of Kansas all the way over into Kentucky and Indiana, this is where we have the greatest potential for flooding. Some of these storms could drop two to four inches of rain. That may not sound like all that much on its own, but keep in mind that for a lot of these areas, that ground is already saturated from days' worth of rain, so it won't take much to trigger additional flooding.
Temperatures expected to be relatively mild across portions of the Midwest, 77 for your high in Minneapolis, only 78 in Chicago, but definitely much warmer down to the south. Still looking at plenty of 90s across Texas. Louisiana as well as Mississippi.
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SMITH: All right. Thank you, Allison.
Still to come on CNN HEADLINE EXPRESS, Snapchat facing a lawsuit. One family claims the company is responsible for a crime against their 12- year-old daughter. We've got those details ahead.
And have you heard about the A.I. boomerang yet? It could give some people their jobs back. That is coming up on CNN HEADLINE EXPRESS.
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SMITH: It looks like there's something that's starting to emerge as companies that laid off workers and replace them with A.I. are having a bit of buyer's remorse, and now rehiring those positions. It's become known as the A.I. boomerang effect.
And our Jenn Sullivan has more in detail
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JENN SULLIVAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Are you worried A.I. is going to replace your job? Turns out many companies are realizing how valuable humans are.
Recruiting firm Robert Half conducted a survey among U.S. hiring managers and found 32 percent of those who eliminated positions after implementing A.I. are now rehiring for those roles, or similar ones.
DAWN FAY, OPERATIONAL PRESIDENT, ROBERT HALF: The communication, the judgment, the oversight, the institutional knowledge that employees have that the technology up to this point is just not being able to kind of replace all of that.
SULLIVAN (voice-over): Dawn Fay says, instead, companies are now relying on A.I. to take on more routine tasks. So, if you're in the market for a new job, there's good news they expect hiring to pick up across the board in several industries
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SMITH: Now, in the same thought, starting this fall, students at the University of Utah could begin majoring in A.I. The school is hoping to get approval from the university's accrediting body to launch a bachelor's program in artificial intelligence. It would be the first A.I. bachelor's program in the state.
Well, love is in the air, but can Gen Z take it to the bank? A new survey shows more young couples are opting to keep their money in separate accounts.
CNN's Maribel Aber tells us why it's working.
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MARIBEL ABER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Maribel Aber here at the Nasdaq Market Site.
Could keeping your finances separate be the secret to a happier relationship?
A new Fidelity survey suggests many Gen Z couples think so. Researchers asked more than 3,100 people how they manage money in marriages and long term relationships, and 34 percent of Gen Zers said they keep their finances completely separate. Millennials, Gen Xers and Boomers were less likely to do the same. The
hybrid approach also seemed popular that separate accounts, but with at least one joint fund for shared expenses.
Fidelity found that more than four in 10 millennials choose that option the most of all, generational groups surveyed.
So, what's the best approach? Fidelity offers these pros and cons when finances are totally separate, each person may have more control of their own money.
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A possible downside, splitting expenses fairly takes ongoing effort.
The hybrid model offers flexibility and a dedicated pool for shared bills, but it requires strong budgeting skills to determine how each person should contribute.
And for couples who fully combine finances, tracking money can be simpler, and estate planning may be easier. However, differences in spending habits can create tension and especially if one partner starts with significantly more debt. One thing that is consistent, good communication is key. Your money matters.
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SMITH: All right. Thank you, Maribel.
Still ahead on CNN HEADLINE EXPRESS, there's this. A family races out of their home as one of two massive quakes hit within a minute of each other. The latest from Venezuela as the search for survivors goes on this morning.
Plus -- that man was stuck in a ditch as floodwaters rushed around him. We'll see more of this rescue coming up on CNN HEADLINE EXPRESS.
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