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The Situation Room

Trump at G7 Summit as Iran War Dominates Talks Today; Trump Criticizes Netanyahu's Actions in Lebanon; Source Says, Multiple Arrests for Alleged Plot to Attack UFC Fight. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired June 16, 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, President Trump is vowing to publicly release texts of the Iran agreement and possibly read it on camera. We've got the new reporting straight ahead.

Plus, a routine test mission turns deadly, a B-52 bomber crashing moments after takeoff. This morning, the questions investigators are asking.

And supercharged flooding, high water rescues across the Gulf Coast, the dangerous situation, and the latest forecast straight ahead.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: And UFC attack plot foiled. The late- breaking details coming into The Situation Room, that we're learning right now about the alleged plans and the arrests.

Plus, independents on the rise in America, the new CNN polling just released.

And defending World Cup champions Argentina hit the field today against Algeria. We're counting down to kickoff in Kansas City.

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.

Happening now, President Trump gathers with world leaders at the G7 Summit in France, and the new U.S. agreement with Iran is dominating the discussions. The president has shared few details about it, and even his Republican allies in Congress are demanding more information.

Axios reports that there are doubts even within his administration, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio all reportedly voicing concerns. The next phase will revolve around 60 days of negotiations about Iran's nuclear program. And, surprisingly, the president predicts that round will be, quote, easier. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: It goes to a second stage, which I think will be actually easier. I didn't want to attack them last week, but we had no choice, and we did it twice, actually. We were doing it a third time, and we were able to not have to do that. But we have a deal that's a fair deal. It's a good deal.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: CNN White House Correspondent Alayna Treene, is on the scene for us in Geneva, Switzerland. A formal signing ceremony for the agreement is scheduled there on Friday. Alayna, what are you learning now?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Look, as you mentioned, Wolf, so much of what is taking place here at the G7 is really being dominated by this agreement between the U.S. and Iran, and this memorandum of understanding that they said they signed digitally on Sunday.

Now, I think a key question of course, and many of the European leaders who are here on the ground in Switzerland meeting with the president want to know is, why have we not seen the text of this yet? You heard the vice president, J.D. Vance, say yesterday that the document is only about 1.5 pages long.

From the understanding I'm getting in my conversations with sources, it really is kind of the top lines of, one, ensuring that the Strait of Hormuz is reopened, questions of whether or not it would actually be toll-free, as President Trump is continuing to say, making sure it's clear of mines, and then having the U.S. lift the blockade on Iranian ports.

But, really, all of the thorniest issues on the nuclear program are still to be discussed and fleshed out during the 60-day, highly technical negotiation phase, one that, as you mentioned, Wolf, the president argued could be easier than this first part.

Now, I should note, in my conversations with people back home, that's not really the indication I'm getting. The indication I'm getting is there's still a lot that needs to be worked out to ensure that this is the type of deal that the president has been wanting from the start, to dismantle Iran's nuclear program and to ensure that their highly enriched uranium in their possession is destroyed.

Now, one thing interesting about this, as many people are asking, when can we see this text? The president said that he wants it -- he doesn't want to release it until it's in a more formal setting, noting that the ceremony, the signing ceremony, is going to happen here in Switzerland on Friday. But then he also said he would read it word for word moving forward.

Listen to what he told reporters today during a bilateral meeting.

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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I'll not only release it. I'll probably have a press conference and read it to you word by word so that the press covers it accurately, because it's a very important document.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TREENE: So, as you heard him say there saying, you know, it's a very important document, we'll read it word for word. We'll see.

I know many of the leaders that he met with, for example, last night during a working dinner, these were a lot of the questions that came up.

So, one other thing quickly, Wolf, though, that we are watching today is how Ukraine and Russia, the war between them, has really been thrust back into the conversation. Trump met with Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the president of Ukraine, earlier today. Trump arguing that he really wants to see Russia make a deal.

So, we are seeing, you know, some of these other big world events taking place as part of these conversations as well.

BLITZER: All right. Alayna Treene in Geneva, Switzerland for us, thank you very, very much. Pamela?

BROWN: And, Wolf, this morning at the G7 Summit, the president also criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The president's worried that the U.S. ally in the war could derail this agreement as well as future talks. Israel and Hezbollah continued fighting in Lebanon yesterday, and Iran has insisted that the current agreement must end fighting on all fronts, including Lebanon.

Let's bring in CNN's Jeremy Diamond in Tel Aviv. So, Jeremy, how are the president's comments going over in Israel right now?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, listen, in Israel, there has been an extraordinary amount of concern and criticism of this emerging -- of the emerging deal between the United States and Iran, concern that it doesn't safeguard Israel's interests, that perhaps it even casts them aside.

A lot of that criticism hasn't been directed directly at President Trump, but instead at the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, for essentially failing to influence the ultimate outcome of this agreement between the United States and Iran, which Netanyahu was not at all involved in.

But President Trump's comments are going even further than that. They're quite extraordinary when it comes to not only the relationship with the Israeli prime minister, his concerns about what Israel may do in Lebanon going forward, but also when he basically suggested that Syria, the Syrian government, would do a better job of taking care of Hezbollah in Southern Lebanon than Israel would, and, effectively, that it would do so, with fewer civilian casualties than Israel had. That was the implication of President Trump's comments, and the president also suggesting that Israel should be more thankful for what he's accomplished. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TRUMP: Without me, there would be no Israel, because no other president was willing to do what I did. I've had a great relationship with Bibi, but now Bibi has to be more responsible with respect to Lebanon.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DIAMOND: And now there is a big question about whether or not Israel will be more responsible with respect to Lebanon. There are already those in the Israeli government who are calling for effectively ignoring this agreement as it relates to Lebanon, keeping up Israel's war against Hezbollah.

Now, there already has been some crossfire between Israel and Hezbollah in the last 24 hours, not at the pace of what we saw prior to this agreement, but a big question mark going forward.

The Israeli prime minister hasn't directly responded to President Trump's comments today, but yesterday he did try and swat away the criticism of this war and the fact that Israel has not achieved many of its objectives by saying Israel is safer. And he also said that there are cases in which he and President Trump don't see eye to eye, that he is responsible for Israel's security interests, and that President Trump is responsible for America's. Pam, Wolf?

BROWN: All right. Jeremy Diamond, thank you so much. Wolf?

BLITZER: All right. Happening now, a federal law enforcement official tells CNN that multiple people have been arrested and accused of discussing a plot to attack Sunday's UFC fight over at the South Lawn of the White House. Those alleged plans included drones and a gunman. Right now, it's unclear how far the plans had developed. Charges are expected to be unsealed today.

CNN's Brian Todd is here in the Situation Room. Brian, what more can you tell us about these arrests?

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wolf and Pamela, this is new reporting coming from our colleagues Holmes Lybraand, Kanida Ayer (ph), and Hannah Rabinowitz. This comes from a federal law enforcement official who spoke to CNN. Federal officials have arrested multiple people who they say discussed plots to attack the UFC event at the White House on Sunday, including, as Wolf mentioned, by using drones and a gunman. The official says a law enforcement team, including Secret Service and FBI personnel, uncovered messages discussing the plot between multiple individuals.

FBI Director Kash Patel confirmed the arrests in a post on X this morning, Patel saying the alleged plot involved individuals who were outside the national capital region, that the FBI and local law enforcement partners became aware of the alleged threat last Wednesday, June 10th, that the alleged attacks were, quote, stopped cold, according to Patel, and that multiple people are in custody.

[10:10:03] Our source said the group discussed in messages attaching deadly payloads to drones in order to cause panic at the UFC event and to use a gunman to shoot at the crowds. But this is important. It's not clear right now how far this group was in the planning before law enforcement became aware of these messages. Another person familiar with the situation says that charges are expected to be unsealed this morning, and that arrests have been made across four federal districts.

The FBI has so far declined to provide additional details. We do have a statement from Secret Service Director Sean Curran, who said in this statement posted on X, quote, the U.S. Secret Service worked closely with the FBI throughout the investigation in the days leading up to this weekend. Our special agents, mission support personnel and technical security teams worked around the clock to identify those responsible and hold them accountable, end quote.

Also, Vice President J.D. Vance spoke about this alleged plot this morning on Fox. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

J.D. VANCE, U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: This is very, very dark stuff. And, unfortunately, we were talking about this a little bit off camera, but this is what happens when people turn the rhetoric up so loud that disagreeing with somebody is a cause for violence. That's the place that we've come to, unfortunately, with too much of our political rhetoric. We got to tell everybody to tone it down.

And I hate to say this, but it's true. You see more political violence and violent rhetoric coming from the left than the right these days. Everybody has a role to cut this stuff out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TODD: And that assertion that there's more political violence and violent rhetoric coming from the left than the right is at least in some dispute. Fox News reported on the planned attacks -- they first reported on the planned attacks.

Now, about 100,000 people gathered around the Ellipse for that UFC event on Sunday for this huge viewing party, guys, and as you know, there were about 4,000 people inside the event itself with about 100,000 people out on the Ellipse. We were out there covering this. Our colleagues, Sara Sidner and Donie O'Sullivan were inside the, that perimeter during the event. I was outside covering the security. A massive crowd was there. You hate to think of what could have happened had this alleged plot unfolded.

It's important to note we don't know -- again, we don't know how far they were- in actually apparently carrying out this plot or whether it was just being discussed. It's also important to remember that they discovered about -- they discovered at least this -- they became aware of this Wednesday, June 10th. That was three days before this event, actually, three days before just the Fan Fest event on Saturday, four days before the event on Sunday. BLITZER: And we'll be learning more as they unseal documents in the course of today, right?

TODD: Correct. There'll be more information coming from unsealed documents. Apparently, there were several people involved in this, according to Kash Patel, people from outside the national capital region. We'll get more details later. Those are going to be important details.

BLITZER: We'll see what they say. All right, Brian Todd, excellent reporting, thank you very, very much. Pamela?

BROWN: All right. Still ahead, a military test flight quickly turns tragic just moments after takeoff.

BLITZER: And later, purifying the pool. Washington, D.C.'s Reflecting Pool has an algae problem despite a recent $14 million renovation. How officials are trying to clear this up.

A lot more coming up right here in The Situation Room.

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BROWN: Well, new this morning, military officials are trying to determine why a B-52 bomber crashed just after takeoff from Edwards Air Force Base in California. Eight crew members were killed. Aerial footage shows a large, black burn scar with very few pieces of wreckage. This is the deadliest crash involving a B-52 bomber since 1982.

So, let's bring in CNN's Tom Foreman here in the Situation Room. Just so sad, Tom. How soon will we learn the identities of the victims, Tom?

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We will learn once the Air Force is convinced that they've contacted all the families, and that everybody knows. And they weren't all military people on board. There were civilian contractors, including two Boeing employees that we know of. And right now, the cause of this whole thing is just a complete mystery.

The B-52 has been a workhorse and a powerhouse for the military now for a very long time, since 1955. It is one of the most versatile aircraft out there, and if you've never seen one, it's impossible to imagine how large it is. This plane can fly very high, can drop ordinance, well, very high for this type of plane. It can drop ordinance from 50,000 feet up.

It only travels around 650 miles an hour, which isn't terribly fast, but it's very robust. It has been a cornerstone of the nuclear program for many, many years. If you're going to drop nuclear bombs from aircraft, this is one of the key aircraft that would be involved. And it's been involved in virtually every conflict in this country. So, to see, in this case, it's almost deceptive. You see the big plume of smoke, which is visible for miles and miles across the Mojave out there. But when you see the scar on the land where this crashed and you hear authorities say it crashed literally on takeoff, it just took off, and immediately was down, it looks almost small because there is nothing left.

But that is an immense amount of damage there, actually damage to the runway as well. And that's one of the reasons why authorities are suggesting figuring out how this happened could be super complex, because there aren't even parts to put together there of any sizable amount. So, they have to collect all the data they can, and figure out what happened to this aircraft.

But, again, the B-52, this plane has been flying so long now, it is fully possible there will be B-52s flying for 100 years in this country's history. That's really quite a record of success for this aircraft. But as you noted every now and then, there are these disasters, the biggest one being way back in the 1980s.

But this one is really quite a shock to everyone. And I truly -- there's almost no information available other than took off, hit the ground and immediately into a fire.

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BROWN: We were looking, you know, if an engine malfunctioned, there's eight engines --

FOREMAN: There are eight engines on the craft, so it's not like a single engine or even a dual engine plane where you say one goes out, everything's vulnerable. However, it certainly is possible you could have a catastrophic failure of an engine that could, in some measure, wipe out a wing of the plane. That would cause this to happen.

But that is nothing but just a technical speculation at this point. We just don't know. We know almost nothing at all except it was a terrible tragedy that a lot of families, the military wants to make sure they know before we know who was involved.

BROWN: Our hearts go out to those families, for sure. Tom Foreman, thank you.

BLITZER: And there's more news coming up here in The Situation Room. America's emergency oil stockpile has now tumbled to its lowest level in more than 40 years as the Trump administration tries to soften the financial impact of the war with Iran.

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BROWN: Happening now, here is a live look at the market. You see over 51,000. It's just -- or over -- it was over 52,000 after the U.S. and Iran announced an agreement to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. On Monday, the S&P 500 rose more than 1.5 percent, and the NASDAQ surged more than 13 percent. That's the best day since March. And here's a live look at oil markets this morning. On Monday, prices settled at their lowest level since March.

BLITZER: Also happening now, there is growing concern about the amount of oil left in the U.S. Strategic Reserve. According to federal data, nearly 9 million barrels were released from the reserve just last week, and that leaves just more than 340 million barrels. That's the lowest level since 1983.

Let's go to CNN Business Senior Reporter David Goldman right now. David, so what happens when U.S. oil reserves fall this low?

DAVID GOLDMAN, CNN BUSINESS SENIOR REPORTER: Yes. It's an important question because we are getting pretty low. At 340 million barrels doesn't sound like it's not a lot of oil, but look at how much you can actually fill the Strategic Petroleum Reserve with three -- almost, you know, twice the amount, 714 million barrels of oil.

But we haven't been close to that in quite some time. And under President Biden, we actually had to sell some of that off. And so he started the February of 2022, the beginning of the Russia-Ukraine war, with 580 million barrels. But look what happened. We went down to 347 million barrels of oil at the end of the drawdown that we had, and that was in July of 2023, to save the oil market when we had that massive spike in prices.

Now, we did refill that quite a bit, and President Trump started the Iran war with 415 million barrels. But, as you mentioned today, this is now where we are and is the lowest since 1983. That was when I was born. That's how low we are today.

Now, you can see this line is pointing in the wrong direction, but the big question is how low do we go? And the plan is to get this down to 245 million barrels. That's the projection if the government sells off as much as it said it would, but there's a problem with that. Even though that sounds like a lot of oil, there's a minimum, right? There's a spigot basically at the bottom of these tanks, and you can only get down to 150 million barrels, and that's pretty close because at the bottom of these tanks, it's sludge. You can't really use the oil, and you need enough pressure to push it through pipelines. So, it's very important that we keep that number above 150 million barrels.

There's another problem, though. We have not only used up all of that strategic petroleum, but we also have used up commercial inventories around the world, and the total draws on that have been 1.1 billion barrels, and all of this needs to be refilled.

So, to get to your question, what happens when we get down, one, you can't use any of the oil that you have for emergencies, like, you know, hurricanes or any other reason why you might need that oil. The other thing is this is going to keep a big floor on oil prices. They're going to have to continue to rise throughout the rest of the year. Wolf?

BLITZER: All right, we'll watch it with you. David Goldman, thank you very, very much. Pamela?

BROWN: All right, Wolf. Just ahead here in The Situation Room, a, quote, terrible mistake, the new comments from Hillary Clinton about Joe Biden's run for a second White House term. That's next.

We'll be right back.

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