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Results Coming in After Voters in Six States Punch Primary Ballots; Trump Admits Being Perturbed by Israeli Fighting in Lebanon; Police Say, Two Hostages Released in Ongoing Standoff at California Bank Building. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired June 03, 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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[10:00:00]

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now, breaking news, critical races. Which matchups are still too close to call, and where President Trump's endorsement power didn't pan out?

Plus, hostage standoff. Right now, an FBI elite hostage rescue team is on the scene at a bank in California, where a man has barricaded himself inside with several hostages.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: And flight chaos. Shocking new video shows passengers restraining a man who allegedly attempted to get into the cockpit and tried to open the emergency exit door.

And later, artificial intelligence and healthcare, how it's changing the game for both doctors and patients.

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.

BROWN: And we are following multiple live events happening this hour on Capitol Hill. In moments from now, House Speaker Mike Johnson will speak after the Justice Department scrapped its so-called anti- weaponization fund. Just yesterday, the speaker told reporters he spoke with the president about the fierce GOP pushback.

And we're also watching multiple hearings this morning. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin will testify about his department's budget in front of the House Homeland Security Committee. And Secretary of State Marco Rubio is back on the Hill for day two of his budget testimony. He'll be facing the House Foreign Relations Committee this morning.

And over on the Senate side, Scott Bessent is appearing before the Finance Committee to make the argument for the Treasury Department's budget. Wolf?

BLITZER: And we begin this morning with the breaking news. Results are coming in right now after six states from California to New Jersey held key primary races, a bellwether for the November 2026 midterm elections. In California, Democratic Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass punching her ticket for November's election. Currently in second place, Republican former reality T.V. star Spencer Pratt. The race, however, is still too close to call, and we should note that the mayoral race is nonpartisan.

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MAYOR KAREN BASS (D-LOS ANGELES, CA): We know what a city we have and what a city we can be, and let me just say that tomorrow begins the second half of this journey.

SPENCER PRATT, LOS ANGELES MAYORAL CANDIDATE: Obviously, God wanted five more months of me exposing all the failures of our mayor, so it's going to be a fun ride. I hope she's ready.

This is the first time, what, since 2005 an incumbent is going to a runoff. This is not a candidate that I'm too concerned about.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: The votes are still being counted for the California governor's race right now. Republican former Fox News Host Steve Hilton is poised to take on Democratic former U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra in November. And Democrat Tom Steyer is trailing both candidates.

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STEVE HILTON (R), CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR CANDIDATE: It looks very much as if Californians really will have the chance to vote for change in November and take -- and take our state -- and take our state in a new direction.

XAVIER BECERRA (D), CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR CANDIDATE: We will not be bought, we will not be bullied, and we are never backing down.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: And in Montana, a state that President Trump won by double digits back in 2024, Democrats' Senate hopes got a slight boost. Democrat Alani Bankhead is the projected winner there and will likely take on Republican former U.S. attorney Kurt Ome in November.

And over in Iowa, Trump-endorsed Congressman Randy Feenstra lost his bid in the governor's race to businessman Zach Lahn. Feenstra is the first statewide Trump endorsee to lose a primary this year. Wolf?

BLITZER: All right. Let's go live right now to CNN Correspondent Arlette Saenz out in Los Angeles for us. Arlette, we're getting results from several major primaries. What are the main takeaways this morning?

[10:05:00]

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, here in California, voters are still waiting to learn who exactly will face off in these general election matchups for governor and the race for L.A. mayor, and they might have to wait quite a bit longer.

Now, to start with that race for governor, no candidate was able to declare victory last night. But as you see there, these early results have shown that Steve Hilton and Xavier Becerra were in those top two positions for now with Tom Steyer right behind.

Now Becerra, who was polling in the single digits just a few months ago, is in a very strong position to advance to the general election. And that is because many of the votes that are counted after Election Day here in California typically tend to be more Democratic. That would then leave the question of whether he would face off against the Republican in Hilton or the Democrat in Tom Steyer.

Many people are still waiting to -- very eager to learn whether this will be a Republican versus Democrat matchup or a Democrat versus Democratic race. All of the campaigns have cautioned their supporters that this could take some time for these results to finally be concluded.

But many of them started to preview some of their general election messaging last night, as you heard both Becerra and Hilton speaking right there.

Now, in the race for L.A. mayor the current mayor, Karen Bass, is breathing a sigh of relief as she has now officially advanced to this general election in November. The question is whether it will be the reality T.V. star, Spencer Pratt, who she's facing off against or the local council member, Nithya Raman.

While Pratt has been in second place in those early results, there's a potential that that could narrow. He could lose some ground to Raman, especially here in Los Angeles, which is typically a very Democratic area.

Now, a lot of folks may be wondering why does it take California so long to count these votes. California is an incredibly large state. It also has universal mail-in ballot, which -- voting, which allows voters to send in their ballots postmarked on election day for and have them received within a week. There were also many Democratic voters who held onto their ballots for much longer than usual, adding to some of the uncertainty around this as this is a results, a call that may not come in for days or maybe even weeks some of the campaigns have warned.

BLITZER: All right. Arlette Saenz out in L.A., thank you very, very much.

And to our viewers, stick around. Our political experts will be with us to weigh in on all these results in just a few minutes. Pamela?

BROWN: And we're also following this breaking news, Wolf, on the war in Iran. In a new wide-ranging interview with the New York Post, President Trump is giving some new details about ongoing peace negotiations, even floating his desire for a meeting with Iran's supreme leader, quote, at some point.

A reminder, he has not been seen in public since the war began and he was taken -- and he took the reins of that position.

Let's go straight now to CNN's Alayna Treene at the White House. So, what more is the president saying here, Alayna?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Pamela. I think there were three really most interesting parts from the president's comments on Iran during this interview. One of them being he addressed that very tense call that other outlets and we have reported on that he had with the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday. He was asked specifically by the reporter, you know, can you confirm the details that you used expletives and really were angry with Netanyahu and expressed that in this conversation? Listen to what he said.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Now, Axios reported that you had a phone call with Bibi Netanyahu, the prime minister of Israel, in which you were angry with him. You said, are you f-ing crazy? What are you f-ing doing? I helped you stay out of jail. Is that true? Did you speak to him in those terms?

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: I did. I wouldn't say angry. I was a little bit perturbed at his constantly fighting with Lebanon, you know? At some point, I said, Bibi, we got to stop this. We got to stop it.

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TREENE: So, look, him confirming there that they had that very tense call, arguing he was perturbed rather than angry. But I think what it shows is just the level at which the president is committed to diplomacy here. He really does want to see a deal reached with the Iranians.

He also went on to say, however, that he maintains that he has a very good relationship with Netanyahu, that they get along well. But, of course, some of the actions the Israeli prime minister has taken has definitely put Trump on the wrong side of it.

And he kind of also hinted at the sense that we've gotten on in our reporting, Pamela, that he believes Israel should be grateful for what he has done. He said at one point if he had not started the war with Iran, that there would be no Israel.

Another point, though, that I think was worth mentioning as well is he also said that he does not believe boots on the ground would be necessary even if diplomacy does fail. He said the other option would be to continue resuming combat operations.

But he said he thinks he can do that with just bombing -- another bombing campaign. So, maybe some reassurance there for people worried about having service members go on the ground in Iran if talks do falter at this point.

[10:10:02]

Pam?

BROWN: All right. Alayna Treene live for us at the White House, thank you so much. Wolf?

BLITZER: And still ahead, urgent hostage negotiations. A man is barricaded in a California bank. The latest we're learning about the conversations between that man and officials.

BROWN: And promotion list backlash. Defense Secretary Hegseth reportedly blocked several promotions in a move that disproportionately targets women and minority officers. Former Marine combat fighter pilot Amy McGrath joins us live ahead here in The Situation Room.

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[10:15:00]

And we have breaking news right into the situation room. A hostage standoff is unfolding as we speak in Southern California. A man is barricaded inside a bank building in downtown Bakersfield, holding people hostage, and he's believed to have a bomb. Police say two hostages were released last night.

So, let's go live now to the hostage negotiator and former Navy SEAL commander, Dan O'Shea. Dan, nice to have you on. This has been going on for many hours at this point. What is your take on how the situation is unfolding and efforts to end the standoff?

DAN O'SHEA, FORMER U.S. NAVY SEAL COMMANDER AND HOSTAGE NEGOTIATOR: Well, I mean, the fact that two hostages were released is a positive sign, the fact that that we're dealing with at least someone with a rational play. You know, every time for me when I hear suicide vest, I always have a deep-seated fear that this could be the worst case. But it sounds like this is an ongoing situation. Obviously, on ground is in control, that hostage negotiator. They're making demands and getting releases for delivering on some of the hostage demands that are coming out.

But it's really -- the conversation right now is between the hostage taker and the hostage negotiator at this point.

BROWN: Just so terrifying for those hostages. This has been going on now for more than 12 hours. Bring us in to what that is typically like when you're an investigator, a negotiator, and you're speaking to the suspect in this case.

O'SHEA: Well, first and foremost, you want to get to the underlying motivations, what's driving this hostage taker. Is he being driven by -- was it a bank robbery that went wrong, or was he -- did he draw this intentionally? Is he looking for propaganda? So, whatever his demands are will speak largely to what the intent and mindset of this hostage taker are.

And at this point, we can only guess what those intentions are. But, again, the fact that he did release two of the hostages, that is a positive step, sign, and that we're dealing with at least hopefully someone with a little bit of rationality versus someone who has an agenda or, say, you know, a propaganda message he wants to send by a message of terror, which, you know, obviously if he cracks off this suicide vest, then that's what we don't want to see happen.

BROWN: For sure. Dan O'Shea, thank you so much. Wolf?

BLITZER: And coming up, Pulte pushback. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are sounding the alarm over President Trump's new pick to be the acting director of National Intelligence.

Lots going on. Stay with us. You're in The Situation Room.

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[10:20:00]

BLITZER: Happening now, growing pushback to President Trump's new pick to oversee the nation's top spy agencies. Federal Housing Finance Agency Chief Bill Pulte, a top Trump ally who has used his position to push for investigations into the president's perceived political enemies, is now facing very swift criticism from Democrats and Republicans who say he has absolutely no intelligence experience.

Let's go live right now to CNN's Lauren Fox up on Capitol Hill. Lauren, what are you hearing from lawmakers? I know you've been speaking to several of them.

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Wolf. Look, the response up here has been extremely swift. A lot of Republicans and Democrats in the Senate say that he's simply not qualified for this job, that traditionally in this post, you would have someone with decades perhaps of intelligence experience in order to shepherd all of these different agencies together through what can obviously be a very difficult landscape to navigate.

Now, here's what some Republicans and Democrats told me in the hours after this nomination was named.

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SEN. JOHN CORNYN (R-TX): I see no evidence of any qualifications for that job.

SEN. PETER WELCH (D-VT): You're putting in a person whose qualification is that he's blindly loyal to Trump.

SEN. THOM TILLIS (R-NC): I don't know of any national security experience he has.

SEN. MARK WARNER (D-VA): The idea that President Trump picked this guy, I fear, to use all the information in the intelligence agencies to potentially go after Trump opponents.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOX: And, Wolf, obviously there, you saw the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee arguing that the reason, in his eyes, that Pulte was selected for this post is that he's loyal to Donald Trump, and that he's willing to weaponize data and information that he has in order to benefit Donald Trump in his political view.

Now, obviously, that's a Democrat saying that, but I think there are some broader concerns about what impact Pulte could have on the intelligence agencies that he would govern.

I also just want to point out that there's a critical deadline coming up in order to reauthorize a key U.S. spying program known as FISA, and you're starting to see some even Republicans argue that Pulte's being named to this position could obviously have an impact on whether or not Republicans and Democrats are willing to give the administration that really important spying power.

BLITZER: FISA, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, to be sure.

All right, Lauren Fox, up on Capitol Hill, thank you. Pamela?

BROWN: All right, Wolf.

Just ahead, frightening moments on a Frontier Airlines flight when a man on board chokes a passenger after trying to open an exit door and gain access to the cockpit.

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[10:25:00]

BLITZER: All right. Let's get back to our top story this morning. Votes are still being counted right now following several key primary races across six states yesterday. The California governor and mayoral race is still too early to call. But Democrats named two Senate nominees and a Republican candidate endorsed by President Trump suffered a rare primary loss.

Joining us now in The Situation Room, CNN Political Commentator Karen Finney and former senior adviser to Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign, also with us, T.W. Arrighi, former aide to Senator Lindsey Graham and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

Karen, let me get to you first. What's likely -- what do you think is going to happen with Spencer Pratt out in California?

[10:30:03]

KAREN FINNEY, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, it looks like Spencer Pratt and the current mayor are headed to a runoff. We'll see. -