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Trump Appoints Bill Pulte as Acting Director of National Intelligence; Russia Launches Large-Scale Attack on Ukraine; Now, Voters in Six States Head to the Polls in Key Primaries. Aired 10- 10:30a ET

Aired June 02, 2026 - 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, Marco Rubio testifies. Any moment, the secretary of state will appear before the key Senate Foreign Relations Committee, his first testimony since the start of the Iran war.

Plus, new CNN reporting, women on Capitol Hill tell my colleagues and me they fear harassment for reporting inappropriate behavior. One says, quote, silence feels safer than speaking.

And later, is A.I. an existential threat to humanity? We'll discuss as part of our Situation Room series, Decoding A.I.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: And there's breaking news, dual roles. The president has just appointed Bill Pulte, the director of the Federal Housing and Finance Agency, to also serve as acting director of National Intelligence.

Plus, fiery and deadly attack, Russia launches a massive assault across Ukraine, killing at least 21 people. Rescuers are now desperately searching for survivors in the rubble.

And later, Mexico drug tunnels almost 2,000 feet long, complete with electricity, where more than a ton of cocaine was allegedly trafficked.

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 this morning with the breaking news. President Trump has just named Bill Pulte as the acting director of National Intelligence, replacing Tulsi Gabbard.

Let's go live to the White House right now. Our Senior White House Reporter Kevin Liptak is working the story.

Pulte is already serving as the director of the Federal House Finance Agency. Does he have any intelligence experience?

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: None that we know of, Wolf. You know, to call this appointment an unorthodox one, I think, would be an understatement here. You know, he's the heir to a construction company fortune. He's been in this mortgage role for the last year or so.

What he is is a real true Trump loyalist. You know, he's a frequent guest on Air Force One and at Mar-a-Lago. And what you've seen him doing is leveraging this role that he's in at the mortgage agency to try and go after some of Trump's perceived enemies, using allegations of mortgage fraud to go after the New York attorney general, Letitia James, the Fed governor, Lisa Cook.

In some ways, that effort has not succeeded, but it has, I think, engendered an enormous amount of goodwill towards him by the president, and now the president putting him in charge of the expansive American intelligence community. Writing on social media, quote, William has deep experience managing the most sensitive matters in America, the safety and soundness of the markets, and over $1 trillion at Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac, a substantial increase from where it was just 12 months ago.

And he also says, also surprisingly, that he will continue in that job even as he is now going to be appointed the acting director of National Intelligence, essentially suggesting that he will be splitting his time between his current job and what is an enormous position. You know, the DNI position was created after 9/11 to essentially coordinate all of these intelligence streams from the 17 intelligence agencies inside the federal government. And so it's an enormous job.

But I also think it signals where the president sees this job heading. You know, he did not necessarily rely on the incumbent DNI, Tulsi Gabbard for intelligence matters. He has relied on the CIA director far more for those subjects. Instead he looked to her to sort of go after some of his obsessions, whether it's to try and advance claims of voting fraud, whether it was to try and downplay allegations of Russian election meddling.

This, I think, suggests that the president will put in this position someone who has gone after this retribution campaign, who has advanced vindication against some of his enemies.

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He doesn't say whether he will be appointing him to the permanent job, but because Bill Pulte was already approved by the Senate for his current job, he will be able to stay in this position for quite some time.

BLITZER: Kevin, has the White House explained why Pulte is the man who should be in charge of the U.S. intelligence community? The director of National Intelligence, as you know and as you correctly point out, oversees the CIA, the DIA, the Defense Intelligence Agency, all the intelligence agencies in the military, at the State Department, I&R, Intelligence and Research. What qualifies him to do that? LIPTAK: The only qualifications that the White House has specified is what President Trump i- is pointing out on his Truth Social, which is what he calls experiencing managing the most sensitive matters in America.

Now, what he's managing are these mortgage agencies. You know, his current position really sort of involves ensuring that the mortgage market remains sound. You know, how that is relevant to this intelligence job, we don't have a firm explanation for that quite yet.

But I do think you can read into what Pulte has used his job to do as how President Trump views the DNI position. He has used his access to the mortgage information in his current position to go after Trump's perceived enemies. And I don't think it's a stretch to suggest that he would use his access as the intelligence director to also potentially advance the retribution campaign. That has been sort of the most prominent way that we have seen Bill Pulte act in the job that he is currently in.

And so how this proceeds going forward remains to be seen, but, clearly, the president is someone who has really put a premium on trying to go after his enemies, but also has been frustrated that that has not been particularly effective or particularly quick so far in his term so far. That's part of the reason why he dismissed Pam Bondi as attorney general. I think he sees Bill Pulte as someone who has been perhaps more effective in doing that in this, you know, clearly much more minor job at the mortgage agencies.

And so we don't know how he will behave in this job. We don't know if he will, in fact, go after the president's perceived enemies as the DNI, but, certainly, we know that he has done that in his current position, and it's a way that he has been able, I think, to gain the president's trust over the course of this administration so far.

BLITZER: And, Kevin, on a very -- on another very sensitive issue, we're learning this morning that, according to Axios, President Trump has lashed out directly at the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, over Israel's escalation of striking Hezbollah targets in Lebanon. What exactly are we learning? What did the president say to Netanyahu?

LIPTAK: Right. And this was a, a very heated call, by all of the accounts. You know, we're learning that the president used expletives in this phone call. He reminded Netanyahu of everything that essentially he had done for him over the last year. And our colleagues at Axios have a real quite detailed accounting of some of what the president told the prime minister in this call, including, quote, you're f-ing crazy. You'd be in prison if it weren't for me. That's an apparent reference to some of these ongoing fraud allegations against Netanyahu.

He goes on to say, quote, I'm saving your ass. Everybody hates you now. Everybody hates Israel because of this. At one point, the president asking Netanyahu, what the F are you doing, referring presumably to these operations in Lebanon going after Hezbollah in that country, that the president seemed wary that could undermine his efforts to broker this preliminary agreement with Iran.

So, quite a heated call, the president emerged from it to say that it was productive and that Netanyahu had agreed to ease up in Lebanon, although Netanyahu said afterwards that, essentially, the operation would proceed as planned.

BLITZER: Yes, lots going on. Kevin Liptak at the White House for us, thank you very, very much. Pamela?

BROWN: Very busy morning. We're following more breaking news, Wolf. At least 21 people are dead, hundreds are wounded, and several feared trapped after Russia launched a large-scale attack on Ukraine this morning.

Officials say this was all part of a broad offensive on targets across the country, including the capital of Kyiv. Ukraine's military says the assault involved more than 600 drones and dozens of advanced hypersonic and ballistic missiles.

Look at this incredible new video showing the moment rescue workers pull survivors out of the rubble. Here is how some describe the attack.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Smoke was everywhere. We crouched with my daughter and tried to cover her, but a stone or debris from the building hit her and tore her jacket. She's saying her back hurts. Everything was covered with smoke. We couldn't understand what was happening, some kind of apocalypse.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The first strike shattered the glass, and during the second attack, my daughter was killed. A piece of shrapnel struck her.

She was in the apartment. She was just walking from the kitchen into the hallway. She didn't manage to reach the hallway.

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BROWN: Let's go live now to CNN Correspondent Clare Sebastian. Clare, it seems like Russia is really stepping up these attacks on the capital city of Kyiv.

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. And, you know, they had warned they were going to do that. We had warnings from Russia starting in early May, Pamela, that, for example, delegations from foreign embassies should leave the capital, that they were planning to hit targets in Kyiv. They've been painting this and other attacks as revenge for what they say a recent Ukrainian, what they call terrorist attacks. We've seen, for example, attacks by Ukraine on Russian- occupied territory in Ukraine.

So, this is how Russia is describing it. They say this is part of a systematic campaign to hit military targets, industrial, logistics, fuel enterprises, they say supplying the Ukrainian military.

Now, we did, we do know that some logistics and, for example, energy facilities were hit. But you see the apocalyptic scenes coming, in particular overnight, from these residential buildings. In Dnipro, in particular, a building was virtually leveled, according to President Zelenskyy. And we're seeing scenes of utter destruction coming from there. Rescue operations still said to be underway in Kyiv.

And I want to bring you an interesting statistic also from Kyiv. More than 41,000 people apparently took shelter in the capital's underground stations overnight into this morning. That is the highest numbers as the Kyiv metro authorities in recent years. So, you can see how frightening this was even for a population that has become so used to these overnight attacks.

But I want to bring up, if we have them, the numbers of drones and missiles that were used in this attack, because here we find the sort of the crux of Russia's strategy here. There were 656 drones used in this attack. That in itself not that unusual, we have seen these numbers creeping well into the hundreds in recent attacks, but 73 missiles critical. And of those 33 hit, and of those, 30 were ballistic missiles. This is where there are gaps in Ukraine's air defenses. This is where they've been appealing to international partners for more help, and this is the critical vulnerability that Russia is trying to exploit. Pamela?

BROWN: Clare Sebastian, thank you so much.

BLITZER: And still ahead, it's primary day here in the United States. Voters in multiple states are headed to the polls. And there's another test of President Trump's endorsement power. We're live at a polling location in Iowa just ahead.

BROWN: And sounding the alarm. An international rescue committee doctor says the known cases of Ebola are just the tip of the iceberg, and he is warning it could get much worse. He'll join us live ahead.

You're in The Situation Room, and we'll be right back.

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BLITZER: Happening now, it's primary day in several key states across the country. Right now, the polls are open in all six of those states, including California, where voters are picking a new governor and a mayor of Los Angeles.

BROWN: The governor's race features a whopping 61 candidates, with the top two vote-getters, regardless of party, advancing to the November election. And today is also the primary day for Los Angeles mayor, where incumbent Karen Bass is facing off with a number of challengers, including an unexpected, formidable opponent in former reality T.V. star Spencer Pratt. The top two there will also square off in November. So, let's go live now to Jeff Zeleny in Iowa, where voters are heading to the polls now to pick candidates for an open governor and a Senate seat. Jeff, what can you tell us about Iowa's primary?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Pamela, good morning. Iowa has some very interesting races that we'll be certainly watching between now and November. The primary races for those will be settled today as voters are about in their third hour or so of voting here.

And as we talk to voters, they say they are being driven by a lot of issues. There is concern over the Iran war. There's concern about the rising cost of gasoline and groceries.

But here in Iowa, which has trended red over the years, Democrats see an opening that they've not seen in recent years, starting with that Senate primary. Of course, Joni Ernst, a Republican senator, decided to not run again, so that has created a wide open seat.

And as we look to the competitive nature of the Senate this year, every wide open seat certainly is something that creates an opportunity for Democrats. So, a very competitive, spirited Democratic primary.

There's a state representative and former paralympian in the men's wheelchair basketball team, Josh Turek. He's running against a state represent -- a state senator here, Zach Wahls. Electability has been a central question hanging over that race.

Whoever wins that will likely challenge Ashley Hinson. She is a Republican member of Congress here also running for that Senate seat here.

A wide open governor's race here as well, Governor Kim Reynolds, a Republican, has decided to also retire, not seek a third term, so a very competitive race there.

And the president weighed in on Friday with an endorsement of Congressman Randy Feenstra, trying to stop the idea of this messy five-way primary that will go to a convention if the candidates do not reach 35 percent.

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So, we'll see if the president's endorsement here has the power of that.

Whoever wins the Republican primary is going to challenge Democrat Rob Sand. He does not have an opponent here.

And if we think back to the first midterm of the president's time in office back in 2018, Democrats won three House seats during that very important year. So, there's also House races on the ballot. The primaries will be settled for that.

So, for many reasons, the House races, the Senate race, as well as the governor's race, Democrats feel more optimistic here than they have before. Of course, we'll see what plays out over the next five months.

BLITZER: It's going to be a long night tonight. Jeff Zeleny, thank you very, very much.

And don't miss key primary races across the country. Get election results all night right here on CNN and on the CNN app.

BROWN: Coming up, fears of being blacklisted, our new reporting on why some women on Capitol Hill are staying silent rather than reporting misconduct.

We'll be right back.

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BROWN: New CNN reporting into The Situation Room, female staffers on Capitol Hill tell CNN they're afraid to speak out after experiencing sexual harassment from male colleagues, with one former female staffer telling my colleague, Allison Gordon, and me, a congressman asked her for a threesome when she worked on the Hill, and then later pulled her onto his lap in his office and tried to kiss her.

She is one of more than a dozen of women who say they've faced harassment from House members or senior Congressional staff, and nearly all of them say they chose not to report their experiences for fear of retribution or being blacklisted from future jobs, saying the risk of professional exile has always felt more immediate than the possibility of accountability.

One woman who was harassed by a survivor explained -- or by a supervisor, I should say, explained, we're not silent because the harm wasn't serious enough. We're silent because we know we work in an environment where silence feels safer than speaking.

And with the recent resignations of Representatives Eric Swalwell and Tony Gonzales amid allegations of sexual misconduct with staffers, new attention is being paid to this issue and the complexities around addressing it.

For more details, let's go to the team who has been reporting this out, Correspondent Lauren Fox and CNN Investigative Reporter Allison Gordon here in The Situation Room to talk about this. I know you all have been working on this for quite a while.

And, Allison, we've all been talking to so many women on Capitol Hill who say they experienced sexual misconduct but never reported it. So, tell us more about why that is.

ALLISON GORDON, CNN INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER: Yes, Pam. I mean, you know more than anyone that we've been hearing from just a flood of women since the resignations of Eric Swalwell and Tony Gonzales. Although their stories are different, there is connective tissue here. The women have told us that they feared both professional and personal repercussions, as you mentioned, being blacklisted or not having their anonymity protected through this process.

They also described to me a real culture of secrecy and remaining silent while working on the Hill, and for many of these women, ultimately, they just decided it's not worth it to come forward.

BROWN: And it's interesting, too, because Congress passed these reforms, I think it was nearly a decade ago, that was supposed to help survivors and hold harassers accountable. What are those options currently available, Lauren, and why aren't they enough?

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, imagine that you're a young woman on Capitol Hill in your first, second, early career job, and you do have resources on Capitol Hill. But a lot of people don't know where to go. One of the options would be the House Ethics Committee. That is a committee that is run by members. You can obviously understand why that would be so intimidating as a young woman coming forward. There's also the Office of Congressional Workplace Rights, but that is a convoluted system of deadlines and having to make sure that you make decisions in a timely manner. And in a lot of ways, women say that even for lawyers who are used to going through that process, it's extremely opaque and convoluted.

So, those are just two of the options. There's also counselors you can seek. There's also free lawyers that you can get. But, again, it's really an alphabet soup of offices and resources on Capitol Hill, and it's really hard to navigate. These things are not broadly advertised all over the hallways of Capitol Hill, so you really have to go and find out this research really on your own, which is part of the reason that this task force that's been created is trying to make it clearer and more streamlined.

BROWN: Yes, because it's not like a corporation where you have an H.R. department and you just go there and then it's handled, and it really is a labyrinth or alphabet soup, as you so aptly put it.

And, Allison, you were part of the team that broke the story that led to the resignation of Congressman Swalwell then. As we know, Congressman Gonzales resigned as well at around the same time for misconduct. What more needs to be done to protect staffers on the Hill given this culture that exists currently?

GORDON: Yes, I mean, that's a great question, and as Lauren said, I think Congress is trying to ameliorate that situation right now. In addition to some cultural changes that are needed, the women that I spoke with reiterated that we need to change the labyrinth of confusing options available.

One woman I interviewed who actually did go forward with the Ethics Committee back in 2023 said that now that she works in the private sector, that robust private H.R. where she feels her anonymity is protected is so great and stands in stark contrast to her experience as a Congressional Hill staffer, where there was that confusing labyrinth and every step, she said, was, quote, a dead end.

So, women have told us that they need that change in culture, but also a change in the reporting process to feel more comfortable coming forward.

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BROWN: Yes, and meantime, I know you've been speaking to the House Ethics Committee.