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The Situation Room

NBA Playoffs Continue; Lawsuit Filed to Stop White House UFC Fight; Iran and Israel Exchange Fire. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired June 08, 2026 - 10:30   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 HOST: Happening now: Rescue efforts are under way in the Philippines after a massive 7.8 earthquake struck the southern part of the country.

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BROWN: Wow. The ground shook beneath these terrified elementary school students as they started the new school year. At least 19 people were killed, and the quake triggered tsunami warnings in the Philippines, Indonesia and Japan. Officials say that threat has largely passed, but still urge people to stay alert as sea levels could still fluctuate.

And in Texas, investigators say a 25-year-old man slipped past TSA gate agents to get on a United Airlines flight using what appeared to be a fake boarding pass. This happened last month at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston.

And according to the criminal complaint, the man tried to sit in an empty aisle seat before takeoff, but then ended up hiding in the plane's bathroom. When he was found, the plane returned to the gate and he was handed over to police.

And a high-speed chase in Arkansas ends with an SUV flipping off the road and a 4-month-old baby being thrown from that vehicle. You can see an officer spotting the infant right here in the grass, picking up the child and carrying it to safety. The driver had four children under the age of 6 inside the car when he allegedly sped away from a traffic stop.

Remarkably, police say all four children survived with only minor injuries. The driver now faces a long list of charges, including child endangerment Wolf.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Glad those kids are OK. BROWN: Yes.

BLITZER: And we continue the other breaking news, major breaking news right now. Iran and Israel exchange attacks in the worst escalation of the war since the cease-fire was signed some two months ago.

This morning, Iran says it's suspending military operations against Israel but warns of -- and I'm quoting now -- "far more severe and crushing measures if Israel's attacks continue, including in Lebanon."

And less than an hour later, Israel struck. New video posted on social media shows the aftermath of Israeli strikes in Southern Lebanon. Israel says it has struck targets in Iran, including these air defense systems, after intercepting Iran's ballistic missiles. One U.S. official tells CNN that President Trump had earlier told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to hold off on retaliatory strikes.

Let's go live right now to CNN's Jeremy Diamond, who is joining us from Tel Aviv.

Jeremy, I understand you have some new reporting, with sources revealing Israel's military plans. What can you tell us?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's right, Wolf.

After an overnight exchange of fire between Israel and Iran, two Israeli sources are telling us that Israel will accept the United States' request to stop its strikes on Iran. However, Israel is vowing to continue carrying out attacks against Iran's proxy in Lebanon Hezbollah.

And what that potentially means, Wolf, is that this exchange of fire could resume faster than it ended, because Iran also said that it would stop its attacks on Israel, but it warned that, should Israel resume attacks against either Iran or against Lebanon, then the war would effectively be back on.

And so, as we are watching Israel already carrying out additional strikes in Southern Lebanon, as Hezbollah is also continuing to fire at Israeli troops in Southern Lebanon, if Iran follows through on its threat, then that would mean a very likely resumption of the hostilities just as soon as we saw the hostilities now dying down.

[10:35:07]

And that's fundamentally because Israel is trying to reject this new equation that Iran is trying to establish here, linking what happens in Lebanon to whether or not Iran and Israel are effectively at war.

And that also seems to be because Iran has sensed an opportunity to drive a further wedge between the United States and Israel, as we saw President Trump first earlier last week getting the Israeli Prime Minister to call off planned strikes against Beirut.

And then, after Israel carried out those strikes against Beirut yesterday, prompting the Iranian strikes, President Trump got on the phone and urged the Israeli prime minister not to carry out any further retaliatory strikes against Iran.

And so what Iran is sensing here and what President Trump has shown is that President Trump seems to care a lot more about the fate of negotiations with Iran, about a broader deal between the United States and Iran, and doesn't want to allow Israeli actions in Lebanon to undermine that.

But that is where Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Trump are at odds politically and strategically, as the Israeli prime minister and his advisers are continuing to vow that they will continue going after Hezbollah in Lebanon -- Wolf.

BLITZER: I heard, Jeremy, that out of an abundance of caution, given the Iranian missile strikes against Israel, the Houthi strikes, the Hezbollah strikes, Israel closed all schools today throughout the entire country. Is that right?

DIAMOND: Yes, that's right, Wolf.

Schools were closed today, as Israel kind of shifted to a more precautionary state of affairs, with many people also not going to work. But I got to tell you, walking around the streets of Tel Aviv today, people were out and about. The cafes were bustling. People were driving to and from work.

You can hear a lot of cars behind me right now. Life is very much going on as normal. But there are some signs where Israel is preparing for this fight to continue and perhaps even to escalate. Hospitals in Israel, for example, were told to move patients underground, and the Israeli military has told us that they are prepared for at least several days of fighting, if not longer, depending on what happens with Iran -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Let's see what happens.

All right, Jeremy Diamond joining us from Tel Aviv, thank you very, very much.

I want to continue this conversation right now. Joining us is retired U.S. Navy Admiral James Stavridis, CNN senior military analyst. He's a former NATO Supreme allied commander as well.

Admiral Stavridis, thanks very much for joining us.

How significant is it that Prime Minister Netanyahu appears to have defied President Trump with these Israeli counterstrikes against Iran?

ADM. JAMES STAVRIDIS (RET.), CNN SENIOR MILITARY ANALYST: The way to look at it, Wolf, is examine each of the three contenders here from an Iranian perspective of their goal at this point, not only to kind of defend their proxy.

And, as I always say, Iran will fight to the last Hezbollah member. But they legitimately want to take some of the heat off. But, above all, they want to drive a wedge between the United States and Israel. So, a few more strikes make sense to them. From an Israeli perspective, you have political pressure on the prime

minister, who is facing elections early fall, and also continues to want to pound away in what he perceives as a window that he can do these strikes on Iran and certainly on Hezbollah to the north.

And then, from the U.S. side, President Trump is doing everything he can to get a cease-fire because gas prices are rising. The Brent crude is going up again today because of this back-and-forth. So bottom line in all of it, Wolf, I think we're going to have another cycle or two of this, this kind of tactical back and forth.

But my own view is that we still have a reasonable -- call it 60, 65 percent -- chance of getting to a deal. That's clearly what President Trump is shooting for.

BLITZER: It certainly is.

Israel struck what's being described as a petrochemical plant inside Iran. Tehran says it will attack energy facilities across the entire region if Israel continues its attacks. How significant of an escalation would that be?

STAVRIDIS: It would be significant.

And, already you have a damage to the Gulf Arab infrastructure in Qatar, in UAE, in Saudi Arabia itself. That could take months to years to repair some of the big LNG, liquefied natural gas, facilities, for example. So if the escalation goes after the Iranian energy production, they will retaliate against the Gulf Arabs.

That will make it even more difficult for President Trump to land the deal.

BLITZER: Today, the Iran-backed group the Houthi rebels claimed responsibility for a missile strike launched from Yemen right toward Israel. So we're seeing Iranian proxies take part in these new hostilities.

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Does that make a peace deal even harder to negotiate?

STAVRIDIS: It absolutely does.

It goes from being a game of checkers kind of back and forth, U.S., Iran, some Israel mixed in. But now you're getting into that chessboard. And it might end up being the game of Go, the most complex board game in the world.

I am very closely watching the Houthis. And you're smart to bring it up. It's kind of the western front in this war. It's the dog that hasn't barked. We worry appropriately about the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. If you don't like that, you're really not going to like a closure of the Suez Canal, which is what the Houthis could do by shutting down the Red Sea. So, yes, I'm watching the Houthis very closely. And the degree of

difficulty for President Trump to land this move is going up with every missile that is fired from down on the Arabian Peninsula.

BLITZER: Yes, me too.

I also want to ask you, while I have you, Admiral, about Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and the international criticism of his remarks at a D-Day anniversary ceremony in Normandy, France. He spoke at the American Cemetery, and he publicly criticized European leaders over their migration policies. Listen to this.

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PETE HEGSETH, U.S. DEFENSE SECRETARY: Sadly, today, different European beaches are stormed by different dangerous ideologies, beaches in Spain, in Italy, in Greece, in Bulgaria. Boats and men arrive. When will European capitals do something about that invasion? Or is it too late? I pray not and I believe not.

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BLITZER: Admiral, though, these comments come about what, four months or so after Hegseth skipped a key NATO ally meeting.

You're a former Supreme Allied commander of NATO. How healthy are America's alliances right now, specifically the NATO alliance?

STAVRIDIS: While we haven't broken the transatlantic bridge, Greenland put a lot of strain on it. Remarks like this will add to that strain.

I feel that transatlantic bridge between the United States and our European allies and with Canada, frankly, I feel that bridge kind of creaking, and this doesn't help.

If I were talking to Secretary Hegseth, I'd say, look, if you have political, particularly essentially domestic, disagreements with Europeans, take it offline. Take it sotto voce. Take it off stage, but don't use sacred ground, the D-Day beaches, to make what are in effect domestic political complaints about your allies.

I will quote Churchill to conclude, Wolf. Churchill very wisely said, hey, it's always frustrating working with allies, trying to bring them along the course you want them to steer. But the only thing worse than having to deal with allies is not having allies.

These kind of remarks put a lot of strain on that relationship. We ought to try and avoid that.

BLITZER: Yes, enormous strain indeed.

Admiral James Stavridis, thanks, as usual, for joining us.

STAVRIDIS: Thanks, Wolf. BROWN: All right, Wolf, coming up here in THE SITUATION ROOM: suing

to stop the UFC fight at the White House. So, is there a viable case? We will discuss with a legal expert up next.

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[10:47:58]

BROWN: Happening now: A new lawsuit is seeking to stop the UFC fight President Trump is holding on the White House grounds. The suit filed by the Public Integrity Project on behalf of two Virginia residents argues that the structure that was put up for the fight doesn't have congressional approval or an environmental review.

The Trump administration says it's all part of the celebration for America's 250th anniversary, and that has blanket congressional approval.

So, with us now is Berit Berger. She is a former federal prosecutor.

What do you think?

Do they have a strong case here to stop this fight from going ahead?

BERIT BERGER, FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: I mean, this will be really interesting.

Like so many things, what we're seeing here is sort of the president's passion projects coming up against the traditional process of getting approval. I think a lot of people were surprised to hear about this, both for the structure that was being built and the idea that that's actually happening at the White House.

So do I think they have a strong case? Maybe. Do I think this will actually stop the fight? I think it's unlikely. I think this will probably move forward, despite a lot of critics.

BROWN: Yes, one part of the suit says that UFC president Dana White will personally profit from this fight. And it also cites a report that says President Trump bought $50,000 worth of stock in UFC's parent company.

How strong of an argument do you think they have in trying to argue this angle, this personal profit angle?

BERGER: So this personal profit angle has been argued in a number of different contexts, both in this Trump presidency and in his first Trump presidency.

Very few of those legal arguments were ultimately successful at shutting down various projects or priorities from the president. But we have seen this again and again from a president who has refused to sort of divest himself from his financial interests, where they combat with things that are happening in the public sphere. There are these constant conflicts of interest. Here, we have other people involved with the process that also have

these conflicts. I mean, it is a strong legal case. But, again, just based on what we've seen out of both Trump presidencies, there really have not been many cases where this type of legal fight has actually shut down one of the president's projects.

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BROWN: All right, I'm going to ask you about something else.

And that is the fact that jury selection begins in the trial of the man accused of sparking that deadly and historic Palisades Fire, Pacific Palisades Fire, in California. Now, prosecutors say he was angry at the world and he idolized Luigi Mangione, the man accused of killing the UnitedHealthcare CEO.

His defense says the fire he started, which later led to the Palisades fire, wasn't properly extinguished by firefighters. That's what they're saying. What will prosecutors have to show here in order to make their case?

BERGER: This is going to be a fascinating trial, because it's not a slam dunk for prosecutors.

So the prosecutors are going to have to show both identity and intent here. They have to show that he's actually the one that started the fire, which is made easier in this case because he actually called the authorities. He actually reported the fire. But they also have to show that he intended to do this, that he did it maliciously.

And the defense's argument is that this was just an accident, that he didn't mean to start this kind of a huge blaze that would ultimately take many lives. In prosecutors' camp, though, one of the great pieces of evidence they have is his own Web history, including searches that he did about Luigi Mangione, things he put into ChatGPT about what happens if you start a fire.

So they're going to use his own web history, his Google searches, ChatGPT, to try to show that he had an intent here, that this was his motive, and not just an accident, like the defense was arguing.

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BERGER: I expect we will hear a lot of arson expert testimony as well.

BROWN: But on the ChatGPT front -- and just for our viewers to understand, prosecutors say that the defendant used ChatGPT to show people running from the flames. But my understanding is, the judge in this case says that can't be used in the trial. So how significant is that?

BERGER: So, the way that it -- the prosecutors cannot use that as part of their direct case. However, if the defendant testifies, they can certainly use that as a way to cross-examine him about anything that he might say that could come in to use as cross-examination. But prosecutors, it is going to be an uphill battle. Any time you have

an arson case that's really grounded in pretty sophisticated expert testimony, you run the risk of confusing the jury. And the judge had a lot of thoughts about that. He was worried about some of the prosecutors' charging decisions, if this was going to lead to juror confusion.

So it's going to be the prosecutors' burden not only to prove the case, but to do it in a way that's going to make sense to jurors and to keep it simple enough that they can follow along.

BROWN: All right, Berit Berger, always great to have you on. Thank you so much -- Wolf.

BLITZER: I agree.

Here's what's coming up all new right at the top of the hour.

Our "Decoding A.I." series looks at A.I. and politics. The Oklahoma governor, Kevin Stitt, joins us in THE SITUATION ROOM to discuss the push from his state to limit the use of A.I. in political ads.

Plus, CNN exclusive reporting: how political pressure is now threatening the EPA's evaluations of chemicals found in everyday consumer products.

And bringing puppy power to the postseason. The Stanley Pup is back. How the competition is shining a light on rescue dogs. We will have some special four-legged guests here in THE SITUATION ROOM.

That's all new in the next hour.

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BLITZER: The New York Knicks are hoping home court advantage will help them go 3-0 against the Spurs. But don't count out San Antonio just yet.

BROWN: That's right, big game tonight.

CNN Sports anchor Coy Wire joins us now.

Lots of hype surrounding tonight's game, Coy.

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Yes, Pamela and Wolf.

No team has ever come back from being down 0-3 in the Finals, so safe to argue it's a must-win for the Spurs. The Knicks haven't lost since April 23. Fan fever is in full force. The official watch party outside MSG, though, has been canceled, with President Donald Trump expecting to attend.

It all adds all sorts of layers, alters lots of plans. Knicks officials are warning fans about TSA-style screening, strict no bag policies and telling them to arrive at least two hours before tipoff with all the enhanced security measures.

The Knicks have won 13 straight playoff games. Two more, and they could sweep, clinch at home and match the NBA record.

Nelly Korda, whoa, Nelly, needed one final putt to seal the U.S. Women's Open. She watched her ball go around the edge of the cup and circle right in. This putt took the scenic route, Wolf and Pamela. Look at this again. That capped a final round 69, giving Korda a one- shot win over Charley Hull and Gaby Lopez. It's the fourth major title of her career, her second straight.

Finally, think Stanley Cup with more tail wags. The Stanley Pup is back, adorable, adoptable puppies in a competition shining light on rescue dogs, with enough cuteness to melt the heart of even the toughest hockey enforcer. That's tonight 9:30 Eastern on truTV and HBO Max.

Unlike human playoffs, all these contestants get belly rubs after the game. And, Pamela, Wolf, I hear you have some special guests with you on set the next hour.

BROWN: We do, indeed.