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Trump Says, Pushing for a Real End to Israel-Iran Conflict; Deadliest Strike on Kyiv in Almost a Year; Police Say, Suspect Visited the Homes of Four Minnesota Lawmakers. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired June 17, 2025 - 10:00   ET

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

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PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now, breaking news, pushing for a, quote, real end. That's President Trump's new message as the Israel Iran conflict enters its fifth day. Plus, why he's dismissing his own intel chief saying, I don't care what she said.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Also, deadliest strike on Kyiv in almost a year. Russia launched a massive attack on the Ukrainian capital and dozens of other cities in Ukraine. Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy calling this bombardment, and I'm quoting him now, pure terrorism.

Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer with Pamela Brown. And you're in The Situation Room.

And we begin with breaking news. President Trump is back right here in Washington. He abruptly left the G7 meeting in Canada early to deal with the fight between Iran and Israel, which is now in its fifth day. President Trump disputed comments by French President Emmanuel Macron that he left the summit to work on a ceasefire, saying he hasn't reached out to Iran for any peace talks.

Here's President Trump's comments on Air Force One.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REPORTER: What specifically is better than a ceasefire? What are you looking for here?

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: An end. A real end, not a ceasefire, an end.

REPORTER: So, something that will be permanent?

TRUMP: Yes, or giving up entirely. That's okay too.

REPORTER: Are you close? Is that even possible? Is that a possibility?

TRUMP: Why not? Certainly possible. A complete give up, that's possible, yes. (END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: We're also seeing a new wave of attacks between Israel and Iran with one Iranian missile hitting a bus in Herzliya. That's along the Mediterranean coast just north of Tel Aviv.

CNN International Diplomatic Editor Nic Robertson is in Tel Aviv for us. Nic, how's Israel responding to President Trump's latest comment?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Carefully, I think, is the right answer to say here at the moment, Wolf, because the comments are not being made publicly. What we were hearing from Israeli politicians yesterday, before President Trump made those made those statements, was that, obviously, Israel wants the United States to come in on their side and help support them striking Iran's nuclear facilities, particularly the deeply buried in the Mountain Fordow enrichment site.

But yesterday, the politicians were saying we don't -- you know, the United States will make up its own mind. President Trump will make up his own mind and do what's right for the United States. So, I think this is a tightrope obviously that both Israel and Iran walk. Neither wants to influence President Trump in the direction -- in the opposite direction that they want to go, and Israel wants the United States' support.

And we got a sense as well from the Iranian side that their incoming strikes on Israel overnight last night while there were some, the IDF describing them as the lowest night of incoming Iranian missile strikes that they had seen so far in this exchange of hostilities over the past few days. They say that could in part be because Israel is able to destroy the launch systems, the missiles on the ground, some of the production facilities, but also the IDF indicating that there may be another reason that Iran is doing that. And I think, you know, the view would be -- the broad view would be if Iran is sort of taking a half beat on all of this, perhaps they're trying to create the impression that there's a space for diplomacy.

I think most striking for me, Wolf, was that Iran didn't launch multiple, multiple missiles on Tel Aviv, as they've done on previous nights. And obviously the consequences of targeting Tel Aviv is the potential for high civilian casualties. And from an Iranian perspective, that could obviously push President Trump to take a stronger stand behind Israel.

BLITZER: Nic Robertson reporting for us from Tel Aviv, thank you very, very much. Pamela?

BROWN: All right, Wolf. And this morning, we have some new CNN reporting on Iran's ability to develop a nuclear weapon.

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Israel has suggested that it had to act fast because Tehran was quickly approaching a point of no return in its nuclear weapons program. But sources tell CNN that US intelligence assessments concluded something very different. Iran was not actively pursuing a nuclear weapon and was at least three years away. And this morning the president is weighing in on this.

So, let's go live now to CNN White House Reporter Alayna Treene. Alayna, walk us through this new back and forth on Iran's nuclear capabilities.

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes, well there seems to be some daylight, Pamela, between what us, the U.S. intelligence community is saying regarding how far off Iran is from developing a usable nuclear weapon and what Israel is saying, really to justify some of the attacks that we've seen them make toward Iran.

Now, the president was pressed about this when he was flying back from Canada this morning, back to Washington, and he was asked specifically about what his own director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, testified to in March, which is essentially that they were still far off from creating a viable nuclear weapon. Take a listen to what he told reporters.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: How close do you personally think that they were to getting one? Because Tulsi Gabbard --

TRUMP: Very close.

COLLINS: Tulsi Gabbard testified in March that the intelligence community said Iran wasn't building a nuclear weapon.

TRUMP: I don't care what she said. I think they were very close to having one.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TREENE: Okay, so pretty dismissive there when asked by our own CNN Kaitlan Collins about this. I want you to take a listen though to what exactly Gabbard had said back in March. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TULSI GABBARD, DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE: The I.C. continues to assess that Iran is not building a nuclear weapon and Supreme Leader Khameini has not authorized the nuclear weapons program that he suspended in 2003.

Iran's enriched uranium stockpile is at its highest levels and is unprecedented for a state without nuclear weapons.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TREENE: So, Pamela, the reason that this is so important, of course, is because it shows that the president seems to be more in line right now with what we are hearing from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, using that to really justify these different missiles that they're launching toward Iran. I should say these, you know, unprecedented strikes that we have seen much more hopefully that we can learn today from what the president is doing behind closed doors, particularly in that upcoming meeting with his National Security Council in the Situation Room.

BROWN: All right. Alayna Treene, thank you so much. Wolf?

BLITZER: We're following breaking news out of Ukraine as well. At least 15 people are dead, dozens more injured after Russia strikes Kyiv, the capital. New video shows the moment a Russian drone hit a residential building earlier this morning. The latest strikes on the Ukrainian capital are the deadliest, we're told, in almost a year.

Let's go live to CNN Correspondent Clare Sebastian, who's following all these developments for us. He's joining us from London right now. Clare, what are we -- what are these new attacks signal about Russia's tactics?

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Wolf. This is part of a pattern that we've seen really ramping up in recent months, an exponential increase in these overnight drone, sometimes combined with missile barrages, a part of an effort by Russia to essentially exhaust Ukraine's population and cripple its infrastructure, as it tries to exact diplomatic concessions.

This, though, within that pattern stood out in terms of its scale, 440 drones were used, according to the Air Force, and 32 missiles. Those are very high numbers, close to a daily record in the numbers of drones. And Russia says that it successfully targeted military industrial facilities.

But the pictures that we are seeing of a drone smacking into an apartment block, the damage caused by a cruise missile on another apartment block, they really tell a different story. And this is something that President Zelenskyy called pure terrorism.

I think significant as well that we see this sort of split screen with the G7, President Putin offering to mediate, Trump saying he's open to that. And, of course, Trump leaving early meant that he did not get the opportunity to meet with President Zelenskyy, who would've wanted to make the case, I think, off the back of this for more air defenses.

BLITZER: All right. Clare Sebastian reporting for us, Clare, thank you very, very much. Pamela?

BROWN: Well, Wolf, we are following some new developments in the Minnesota lawmakers shooting. Officials say the suspect visited the homes of four lawmakers with the intent to kill them. Vance Boelter shot two lawmakers and their spouses killing State Representative Melissa Hortman and her husband. Police say Boelter was heavily armed and pretended to be law enforcement.

Let's go live now to CNN Correspondent Danny Freeman in Minneapolis. Really disturbing new details, just showing how much more deadly this could have been, Danny.

DANNY FREEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's absolutely right, Pamela, and frankly, it's been a lot of whiplash here in Minnesota over the past 72-plus hours because of all of that. First, there was the tremendous fear over the largest manhunt in state history according to police. Then there was the relief when the suspect, 57-year-old Vance Boelter, was ultimately captured, but then that shock again yesterday when those new details in that federal complaint came to light, and then, of course, the continued grief and mourning of the lawmaker who was killed.

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But I actually want to highlight, Pamela, some information that our team at CNN investigates have been working on really about Boelter's past and what may have led to this exact moment, some notable highlights from their reporting. In recent years, Boelter actually worked at funeral homes here in Minnesota and sometimes collected bodies from crime scenes, according to things he told his roommates. Then he also, in recent years, had been pouring money into some farfetched ventures, like an armed security firm we've been talking about, but apparently it didn't go very far, and also a fishing and farming company in Africa.

But, Pamela, perhaps the most puzzling thing is while his roommates did say that he voted for President Donald Trump at the last election, we were really unable to find any true political ideology or social media posting that would point to any sort of extremism at all. So, there's still a lot of questions there. You can read a lot more about that at cnn.com.

And then, Pamela, I just want to run over some of the terrifying new details. As you noted that we learned yesterday, the big headline, of course, that four lawmakers were actually targeted early on Saturday morning, noting that the destruction could have been so much more intense had local police officers and the daughter of the Hoffman's not called 911 after that shooting.

Boelter, I'll say, is facing federal and state charges. His next court appearance in federal court expected at the end of next week. Pamela?

BROWN: All right. Danny Freeman, thanks so much. Wolf?

BLITZER: Also happening now, a showdown between House and Senate Republicans is brewing up on Capitol Hill. The Senate Finance Committee unveiled its version of President Trump's so-called big, beautiful bill with some big changes from the version narrowly passed by the House of Representatives. The Senate plan includes deep cuts to Medicaid and it raises the debt ceiling by some $5 trillion. And it extends the current cap on state and local sales tax deductions instead of raising it. That was a key to getting the bill passed in the House.

Let's go live right now to our Chief Congressional Correspondent Manu Raju. Manu, what all is in this bill? And is it possible to get it passed by July 4th? MANU RAJU, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, it's going to be very difficult to get this bill passed by July 4th because of the reception that this proposal got just yesterday, not just from House Republicans but also Senate Republicans. And in the Senate, you can only lose three Republican votes to get this passed. Similarly in the House, far more than three are opposed to this plan because of some of the changes in here. One of them you mentioned, the state and local tax deductions, that was central to getting New York Republicans to support this bill in the House. They don't like how that was pared back in the Senate version. They are threatening to tank it if it comes back to the House in that form.

And there's the issue of Medicaid cuts. The Senate plan goes deeper on Medicaid cuts than the House plan did, and that's causing some angst in the ranks. Some more moderate members and even some conservatives, like Senator Josh Hawley, were worried that it could impact rural hospitals.

And there are other issues as well, phasing out green energy tax credits that were enacted as part of the Inflation Reduction Act under Joe Biden. That is being pushed by the hardliners, particularly in the House, to phase those out almost immediately. They're slowing down the phase out of some of those green energy tax credits because some Republicans in the Senate were concerned about quickly phasing those out, worried it can impact the economy and worried it can impact their own states. And so that slower phase out timetable has caused resistance in the right flank of the GOP.

And then there's the overall price tag of all this, Wolf. You mentioned a $5 trillion increase to the national debt limits. There are some deficit hawks in the Senate GOP, like Senator Ron Johnson, who told me flatly he is a no because he wants much deeper spending cuts.

So, there are all the challenges that the Republican leaders and the White House face, as John Thune, the Senate majority leader, wants to get this done out of the Senate by next week on the president's desk by July 4th, but increasingly difficult to do because of the details in this plan. Wolf?

BLITZER: All right. Manu Raju up on Capitol Hill with the latest, thank you very much. Pamela?

BROWN: All right, Wolf. New this morning, Americans are cutting back sharply on their spending. Retail sales plunged in May after a tariff fueled buying frenzy earlier this spring. A new report just out shows sales were down nearly 1 percent compared to April. That's the steepest decline since January.

So, let's go live now the CNN Business and Politics Correspondent Vanessa Yurkevich for more on this. So, Vanessa, auto sales played a big role in this report, right?

VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Yes. That was the biggest contributing factor to this steep decline in retail sales in the month of May, the second month in a row that we have seen a decline in retail sales because April was actually revised down 0.1 percent and then you see May. We haven't seen a drop like that since January, 0.9 percent decline in retail sales.

And we pay attention to this very closely, Pamela, because consumer spending is the biggest driver in the economy. Two things happening here that are related. Look at what happened in the month of March, that huge increase in spending, retail sales popping 1.4 percent.

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That was Americans buying a lot of things and expensive things, big ticket items, like cars, trying to get ahead of tariffs. And then you see in the next two months, April and May there, declines.

Also worth noting, some of the categories that people were spending on in the month of March have reversed a little bit. But let's start with some good news. Sporting goods, people spending up 1.3 percent. Furniture, interesting, that is up 1.2 percent. We get a lot of furniture from China and Asia. But then you see a reversal, electronics down 0.6 percent, bars and restaurants, we need to keep an eye on this because this is discretionary spending, this is where Americans usually cut first, and then as you noted, Pamela, cars and car parts down 3.5 percent, the biggest drag on this overall report.

One industry analyst telling me that tariffs really have had more bark than bite. This report signals that consumers may be feeling some of the price pressures, but, Pamela, we need to continue to watch this because July and August, big, big months to look at as those 90-day pauses on reciprocal tariffs, that's up. And then the China tariffs, those reduced tariffs, that pause is also up. So, we need to keep track of how consumers are reacting to all of that. Pamela?

BROWN: And I know you'll be tracking it every step of the way. Vanessa Yurkevich, thank you so much. Wolf?

BLITZER: Thank you. Still ahead, I'll speak live to the Tennessee Republican Congressman David Kustoff as the conflict between Israel and Iran intensified.

And later, removing all artificial food coloring, food giant Kraft Heinz says it plans to do just that. Could other companies follow suit and what it means for you?

Stay with us. You're in The Situation Room.

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BROWN: And the breaking news here, sirens were just going off in Tel Aviv.

I want to go straight to CNN's International Diplomatic Editor Nic Robertson. Nic, you are in a shelter right now. What's going on?

ROBERTSON: Yes, the sirens went off here, the warning that everyone should get into a safe place. There had been an alert that went out maybe ten minutes earlier that said to people that there was a possibility of incoming missiles and therefore they should stay close to shelter. But when that main siren goes off, that's the message for people to get inside the shelter. We've taken shelter here.

We've been listening. The sirens went off. The siren appears to have stopped. We haven't heard any explosions or impacts, but I think this fits into what we've seen from Iran over the past 24 hours, is they send just one or two, or three or four missiles towards Central Israel, not necessarily to where we are but to other areas. And that's enough to put a lot of people in their shelters.

And it's unusual for this to happen during the daytime. It creates a huge amount of anxiety and psychological pressure. You know, one of the Israeli media channels here today was reporting that actually people are more stressed here at the moment, but no impacts so far at the moment.

BROWN: All right. Stay safe. Nic Robertson, thank you so much. Wolf?

BLITZER: And joining us now, Pamela, is Tennessee Republican Congressman David Kustoff. Congressman, thanks so much for joining us.

Let me get your immediate reaction to what we just heard from our Nic Robertson, sirens going off in Tel Aviv. You've been there. You know Tel Aviv. I know Tel Aviv. And all of a sudden he's in the shelter and Israelis are across Central Israel are running to shelters.

REP. DAVID KUSTOFF (R-TN): Well, Wolf, thank you for having me on this morning there. There's no doubt that this is as tough of a time in Israel as there been in recent history. We know that from whatever standpoint, the Iranian missile supply is being depleted, which is good. That's certainly not good with Nic and everybody there and Tel Aviv, but it's something that I know that the Israeli military is keeping account of the number of missiles that have actually flown from Iran to Israel, and trying to keep count with what the intelligence says that Iran has left. And at this point, Iran may be at 50 percent of the missile supply or maybe even less. And that's something the military leaders are paying attention to.

BLITZER: They certainly are. Last summer, Congressman, I know you traveled to Israel, you had a chance to meet with Prime Minister Netanyahu, and you actually addressed some members of the Israeli parliament, the Knesset. I want to play a little bit for our viewers of what you said. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KUSTOFF: In your fight to eradicate Hamas and any other genocidal extremist group that threatens your way of life, America is with you all the way. We will not negotiate with radical terrorists. We will not surrender to killers. And we will not allow evil to prosper.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: President Trump says he wants a, quote, real end, a real end to the nuclear dispute with Iran and has not ruled out striking Iran's nuclear facilities. Do you think the United States should enter this conflict directly by such a strike?

KUSTOFF: Well, I think there are a number of different options and I appreciate you playing that clip. A number of takeaways from my meeting with Prime Minister Netanyahu, and one of them is, and the clearest one, that under no circumstances should Iran have a nuclear weapon, any type of nuclear weapon. We've heard that from President Trump consistently during the campaign and since he's been president.

So, We know in the Fordow nuclear facility, for example, is going to take bunker busting bombs, this massive ordinance, penetrator, if you will, that the U.S. possesses to make any inroads as deep down as the nuclear side is.

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And so the fact of the matter is, is that Israel does not have this weapon and Israel does not have the B-2 Bomber, which is needed in order to drop the weapon to effectuate the damage at Fordow.

So, as President Trump came back this morning and is in the Situation Room in the White House discussing this with his advisers, I think the two questions he's got to ask himself is, number one, is there any type of negotiation that will seriously and legitimately led to the disbandment and the elimination of Iran possessing a nuclear weapon? And if the answer is no, then he may have to go back to the part that I just discussed and either fly that B-2 Bomber or allow Israel to fly it in order to drop this huge bomb to eliminate Fordow.

BLITZER: Israel doesn't have those B-2 Bombers, right, that are required for those heavy bunker busting bombs, if Israel's going to do such an operation. The U.S. has it. Should the U.S. make available to Israel that capability?

KUSTOFF: Well, that's what I was suggesting. You know, the issue is if President Trump really doesn't believe that negotiations going to land to any fruitful land, and, frankly, we've been dealing with these Iranians for 46 years and they can't be trusted. They just can't be trusted. But if President Trump does not believe that negotiations are going to be fruitful, then we either have to fly that B-2 Bomber or we've got to give the Israelis the ability to fly the B-2 Bomber and drop these bombs.

BLITZER: All right. Congressman David Kustoff, thank you so much for joining us. We'll continue this conversation, to be sure, down the road.

KUSTOFF: Thank you, Wolf. Thank you for having me today.

BLITZER: Thank you.

Coming up, Homeland Security reversing course, immigration raids will now resume at Farms, hotels, and restaurants. We'll speak to the mayor of Chicago about this as President Trump orders ICE to expand deportation efforts in his city. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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