Return to Transcripts main page

The Situation Room

CENTCOM Says, Iran Ballistic Missiles Targeted American Forces in Kuwait; Cave Rescuers Look into Knocking Response to Find Last Two Missing Men; Democratic States Push for 100 Percent Tax on Payouts from $1.8 Billion Trump Fund. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired June 01, 2026 - 10:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:00:00]

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now, breaking news, American forces targeted. CENTCOM says it intercepted two Iranian ballistic missiles, and now Iranian state media says Tehran is suspending talks with the U.S.

Plus, sounds of life. Cave rescuers are desperately searching for the two men still trapped underground, and we're now hearing of mysterious knocking sounds.

And later, tense clashes. Protests explode again right outside an ICE detention facility in New Jersey amid allegations of unsanitary conditions and lack of adequate medical care inside.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Plus, extramarital sexting scandal. That's the latest revelation about Graham Platner, the presumptive Democratic nominee in Maine set to take on Senator Susan Collins, and this comes just months after he covered up a tattoo of an image widely recognized as a Nazi symbol.

Also, alarming video, a North Carolina police officer fired after footage shows him repeatedly beating a black woman. That city's police chief is now responding.

And later, should artificial intelligence be allowed in political ads? That's the first topic for our new Situation Room series, Decoding A.I. We'll explore how it's upending our world as we know it.

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.

We begin this hour with breaking news. The U.S. says Iran targeted U.S. forces in Kuwait. The U.S. military Central Command also says it carried out self-defense strikes in Iran over the weekend. And all of this comes as we just learned that Iran says it's suspending talks with the United States.

CNN's Alayna Treene is over at the White House. CNN International Diplomatic Editor Nic Robertson is standing by for us in London. We have team coverage of all of this as well. Alayna, let me go to you first. What more are we learning right now about the ballistic missiles targeting U.S. forces based in Kuwait?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right. We have this information from a statement from CENTCOM, which, of course, handles the Middle Eastern region. They essentially said that Iran launched two ballistic missiles targeting American forces in Kuwait early Monday morning local time. The military said that those missiles, both of them were intercepted and that no American personnel were harmed.

Look, this is, of course, rattling the already very shaky ceasefire and follows more strikes we saw over the last two days exchanged between the United States and Iran. But I think there's a part of this statement that you have up on your screen right now, Wolf, that is very crucial to all of this. In the statement from CENTCOM, they say, U.S. Central Command remains vigilant and will continue to protect our forces from Iranian aggression while supporting the ongoing ceasefire.

So, the word from CENTCOM today was that despite these attacks on American forces in Kuwait, which of course, again, they say no American personnel were harmed, they were arguing that that was not a violation yet of the ceasefire, similar to what we saw following the exchange of fire between Washington and Tehran over the last 24 hours or so.

However, I think we are hearing a new threat to this very fragile ceasefire from Iran today. You mentioned it, but Iranian state media are coming out and saying that they are suspending talks with the United States in protest of Israel's strike in Lebanon.

Now, this is something I have, of course, gone to my sources about, Wolf. I'm trying to figure out what the U.S. response, the response from the Trump administration is to all of this. But I can tell you, the latest we had heard prior to this statement from Iranian state media was that the president remains committed to a deal. Even as we're seeing this fire exchange between the United States and Iran, they are still pushing toward wanting to strike some sort of agreement on that memorandum of understanding.

We know the president had sent over some proposed changes over the weekend. We'll have to see where this stands now given, of course, Iran's reaction to what is happening between Israel and Lebanon.

[10:05:03]

Wolf?

BLITZER: All right. Stand by, Alayna. I want to go to Nic Robertson right now. And, Nic, as you heard Alayna just mention, Iran says it's suspending talks with the U.S. in protest of Israel's strikes in Lebanon. What more are you learning?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes. I've been speaking to a source familiar with the talks perhaps in the half an hour or so, quite literally, before Iranian state media broke that news that the Iranians were breaking off their negotiations with the United States at this time because of Israel's actions against Hezbollah inside of Lebanon.

This source about a half an hour prior to that had told me when I'd asked how the talks were going, they'd previously described it as a sort of a ping pong, word for word, sentence for sentence, that's how it had been going over the weekend. The word to describe it today was complications. And it appears we've hit one of those complications, and it's not clear how significant the consequences are going to be.

Iran is saying that as a part of the broader ceasefire deal with the United States, it was absolutely conditional that there should be a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon. That was something President Trump several weeks ago put a huge amount of pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to achieve that. It was in place.

But over the past few days and hours, Prime Minister Netanyahu has decided to reach deeper at Hezbollah targets into Lebanon, going closer to the capital, Beirut. So, the reaction from Iran is to say, no more talks. They're also saying that they're going to completely close down the Strait of Hormuz. It seemed pretty closed by their accounts anyway, but they're adding further emphasis on that. And they're also talking about closing down the Bab al-Mandab straits, and that is one of the routes out of the region for oil through the Red Sea.

Does this lead to a military escalation? It's a lot more tenuous than it was before. Wolf?

BLITZER: We'll see what happens. And meanwhile, it's getting very tense up there. Hezbollah continues sending rockets and missiles towards civilian targets in northern Israel as well.

Nic Robertson in London, Alayna Treene over at the White House, to both of you, thank you very, very much. Pamela?

BROWN: All right, Wolf. Breaking news, the search for two men still missing in a cave is gaining more urgency at this hour. That's after rescuers said they're investigating a possible knocking response deep inside a flooded cave network where the pair is believed to be trapped. And we're getting a firsthand account of the conditions from one of the rescue divers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOSH RICHARDS, RESCUE DIVER: So, Robin Cuesta and myself and Bir (ph), along with two soldiers are actually hiking up through the jungle at the moment, trying to find holes. We're trying to find a way that we'll head down into the actual tunnel, head into where the guys are trapped, trying to find a shortcut from above.

We've just hiked up quite a reasonable distance and one of the soldiers has found a hole, and so I've dropped down into it. I don't know if you'll be able to see where I've come up from just up there. But what is much more exciting is this. So, that, if I had to guess, is probably about an 8 to 10 meter vertical drop. There's probably not enough to be able to hang onto to be able to actually get in there, so we'll need ropes to lower ourselves down.

But I can hear water below. I can hear things dripping, which is a really good sign for us that there's something down there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Wow. Well, on Friday, right here on this show, the first of the missing men was pulled out from the cave, and four others walked out unaided Saturday after being trapped for more than a week, which was pretty miraculous.

For more, let's go live now to CNN Correspondent Mike Valerio in Beijing. And, Mike, so there have been these conflicting accounts from rescuers about these knocking sounds. What more can you tell us about that and how hard it is to get to that last possible location where they could be?

MIKE VALERIO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There was a lot of cautious enthusiasm to start the day, Pamela, that what could have been knocking sounds would perhaps lead these rescuers to the two men who are still down there.

But we heard from that Australian rescuer, to begin the segment, we heard from him, Pamela, minutes ago where he offered clarity when he was knocking sequentially on the side of the caves. He said that they did not hear anything that would lead them to believe that the knocking sounds or whatever they heard were made by those two men who are still listening.

Let's listen to what he told us minutes ago. It's about a 30-second sound bite. We'll talk about it more on the other side.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICHARDS: There has been a lot of reporting suggesting that we heard knocking back. That is absolutely not true. I had my ear to that hole as best I could listening, and there was definitely something unusual that I couldn't identify.

[10:10:03]

Now, that could've been bats. That could've been the wind coming in. A lot of these caves have fissures through them as well. There were very unusual sounds coming down from below.

They didn't necessarily sound rhythmic. They didn't sound like they were echoes or anything like that. But there has been a lot of reporting saying, oh, we heard knocking. That is absolutely not the case.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VALERIO: So, it is certainly a deflating feeling. But, you know, our Will Ripley, who was on the scene, at the scene, checked in with us moments ago, and he said that the Thai rescuers have found four potential other tunnels to reach those two men who still are missing. So, that is the action plan. They're going to investigate those four tunnels tomorrow. Pamela and Wolf?

BROWN: All right. Mike Valerio, thank you so much. And we just hope that those two men are still alive and they're able to get to them.

BLITZER: Yes, God willing.

And still ahead, demanding action. Several Democratic lawmakers are now calling for accountability inside an ICE detention facility amid serious allegations of unsanitary conditions, as tense protests grow outside the facility.

BROWN: And extramarital sexting scandal, more revelations about Graham Platner, the presumptive Democratic nominee to take on Senator Susan Collins in Maine. He is now responding. We'll discuss.

You're in The Situation Room.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:15:00]

BROWN: Happening now, Democratic-controlled states are moving to tax that controversial anti-weaponization fund recently announced by the Trump administration. Leaders in California and New York, for example, are floating proposals to place 100 percent levies on payouts to individuals who say they've been wronged by past Justice Departments. That $1.8 billion fund was dealt two blows in court on Friday and is temporarily stalled.

Meanwhile, on Capitol Hill, the fund is expected to upend discussions over legislation on President Trump's immigration priorities among skeptical Senate Republicans.

Joining us now to discuss, CNN Political Director and Washington Bureau Chief David Chalian and CNN Legal Analyst Elliot Williams.

So, David, I want to go to you first. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is vowing to make this a headache for the GOP. How much do you think Democrats can seize on this to really make it an electoral issue?

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF: Well, clearly, they see momentum for themselves in this issue. That's why you see Gavin Newsom, Kathy Hochul in New York talking -- Wisconsin, of doing this you know, clever tactic here, proposal, to say, hey, if you're going to get this money, 100 percent of it's going to go back to our state government. And whether or not, I'm sure that'll be adjudicated and the like.

But what you see in that is wanting to keep their foot on the pedal, pressing down aggressively going against this fund, because they see it's working for them. They saw, as you noted, Republicans in the Senate, they left town over their -- a significant chunk of them, Senate Republicans, having dissatisfaction with this $1.8 billion fund not dealing with the immigration priorities. You saw Donald Trump's administration way on defense over this, having to explain it and explain it again.

So, given all of that, Democrats say, hey, this is working for us. This clearly isn't a popular item with the American people, the fact that January 6th rioters could get this money. Let's keep pressing forward, and that's their political approach.

BROWN: And just to follow up very quickly, it was also interesting to see Trump basically backtrack on the Kennedy Center, right?

CHALIAN: Yes. And there's another item. And it's between what you're seeing, Pam, is the political pressure. So, you hear from Americans saying, some of these projects are not -- we don't think this is the priority list. This isn't sort of bringing our prices down the way it we asked for. And you have courts, like with the Kennedy Center, weighing in, that is starting to sort of fence in Donald Trump on some of these measures.

And so, normally, Donald Trump does like double down, triple down, but then you see him actually reacting to some of this in a different manner.

BROWN: I think it's notable.

All right, Elliot, let's break down the legal challenges to this controversial fund and whether these tax proposals from blue states could face roadblocks in court. As David noted, there will most likely be court challenges.

ELLIOT WILLIAMS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Yes. So, absolutely, the states have the right to tax settlements. Every one of the 50 states has some mechanism for taxing some settlements that people have, that people receive as a form of income. So, that's not unusual at all.

Now, where you might see -- where you'll definitely see legal challenges, if this goes through, the 100 percent courts might see that as excessive. There's certainly room in the law to strike down a tax provision as excessive. They might see it as a taking. You probably heard that term before, where, in effect, taking the property of someone. And also, I would think that anyone who receives one of these settlements will claim that it's frankly discriminatory and that they were singled out as a class.

Now, I want to be clear, that argument is a bit of a loser. I think it's really on the constitutional point, which is that this kind of -- the taxing at this level might be a little bit excessive. But we'll see.

You know, all of this fits into the broader scheme that every single state does have the right to set its own tax policy, and courts tend to defer to that. So, we'll see what happens when this inevitably gets challenged in court if any of these go through.

BROWN: And it's still a question who could receive these funds, but someone who could potentially receive compensation from the fund is election denier Tina Peters. She was -- she's expected to be released from a Colorado prison today, actually, after the state's Democratic governor, Jared Polis, granted her clemency for election system, what do you want to call it, tampering.

[10:20:03]

So, what do you think about that? I mean, what sort of backlash is she facing now? How does this play into the Democrats' hands?

CHALIAN: Yes, I mean, I think Vice President Vance suggested she very much could be a --

BROWN: She's the model person for this fund.

CHALIAN: -- a candidate that's going to apply for this kind of fund. You know, Jared Polis received a lot of heat from a large swath of his fellow Democrats for this commutation. This is something Donald Trump was sort of pleading with Governor Polis to do to commute her sentence.

I think the question becomes now, does Tina Peters envision for herself using some of her notoriety and tapping into the MAGA base, which still very much supports Donald Trump's worldview that the 2020 election was rigged when it clearly was not? And does she foresee a political future for herself? Does she see this commutation? Does her freedom actually fuel a political movement around her? I think we will have to wait and see.

BROWN: Yes, absolutely. I also just want to turn quickly to something else, and that has to do with Graham Platner. He is the Democratic candidate in Maine, and he's now embroiled in this sexting scandal, and now his wife is speaking out. Let's listen to that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AMY GERTNER, GRAHAM PLATNER'S WIFE: I find it really shameful that there's a group of media outlets and people who are willing to spread gossip instead of talking about real issues that Graham is running on, like healthcare and education and childcare.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: He's obviously been controversial for other reasons, too, now this. How problematic is this for Democrats, in your view?

CHALIAN: Yes. I mean, this is not an ideal, I don't think anybody in a laboratory creating a Senate candidate for a race that you need to win, if you want to win the majority of the Senate, and that's the position Democrats are in with the state of Maine would sort of create this. But I will say the real answer to your question is we don't know, right? We live in a new era of politics.

And what we have seen in polling, despite, again, before this sexting story, but a whole slew of sort of untraditional, controversial background in his file, if you will, has not proven to be damaging. I mean, the sitting governor that Chuck Schumer recruited into the race, Janet Mills, bowed out of the primary before voters cast their ballots because she was losing that primary so badly. Polling still shows Platner quite competitive with Collins, but there's little doubt that Susan Collins and the Republicans will try and seize on each one of these stories of his non-traditional political background and try to make it a real negative for him and the party. And we'll see where Maine voters are come November, whether or not their dissatisfaction with Trump overrides concerns about his character.

BROWN: Yes. Elliot, how do you see this?

WILLIAMS: You know, it's -- sorry, I was thinking the legal question here. No, it's -- he -- I don't know, Pam. The --

BROWN: Yes.

WILLIAMS: He's --

BROWN: Well, let me just ask. You heard the wife there. Let me just make it more tailored to you. You heard the wife there talking about, you know, these media outlets and putting the blame really on the media outlets who have reported on this scandal. And I just wonder from the legal aspect what you think about that.

WILLIAMS: Yes. No, I just think to pick up on David's point, these personal questions seem to not have dogged Platner particularly in this race because of how frankly Donald Trump is weighing pretty heavily on the race. So it's hard to see how that's going to play out.

BROWN: Yes. All right, Elliot Williams, David Chalian, thank you both. I really appreciate it. Wolf?

BLITZER: And coming up, shocking and disturbing video, very disturbing. A North Carolina police officer is now out of a job after a video shows him repeatedly punching a Black woman. What led to this moment, and how the department is responding?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:25:00]

BLITZER: Breaking news, four words, Serena Williams is back.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I got to change my number.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: All right. Let's go live now to CNN Sports Anchor Coy Wire. What a development here, Coy.

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Huge, Pamela.

BROWN: Yes.

WIRE: Hi, Wolf.

Just when you thought the story was finished, one of the greatest athletes of all time is picking up the pen again. The queen returns, that was the message from Queen's Club in London after confirming Serena Williams will make her comeback in the doubles draw ahead of Wimbledon.

This is massive. We're not just talking about a 23-time Grand Slam singles champ, a player who spent more than 300 weeks ranked number one. This is a global icon who helped transform women's sports.

Serena turns 45 in a few months, hasn't played a pro match in years. She lost in singles in the third round of the U.S. Open back in 2022, and yet her return instantly sends a jolt of electricity through the tennis world.

Who will be her doubles partner? That has not yet been announced. How far can she go? Does this mean she's preparing to play at Wimbledon as well? That's anyone's guess.

Remember, she appeared on an international testing pool listed, dated from October of 2025. That sparked the initial rumors about a potential comeback, but she shot those down by tweeting in December, OMG, you all, I'm not coming back.

But one thing is certain, when Serena Williams walks back onto the court, the sporting world will be watching.

[10:30:04]

She's a true legend that has the power to bring everything to a standstill.