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Trump: I Asked For A FIFA Review And Red Card Call; Multiday Hearing Begins For Charlie Kirk's Alleged Killer; Hundreds Of Thousands Flood Tehran For Supreme Leader Funeral. Aired 11-11:30a ET

Aired July 06, 2026 - 11:00   ET

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

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[11:00:05]

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now, breaking news. President Trump just addressed the very controversial red card decision involving a top U.S. player. And now, Belgium is formally appealing just hours before kickoff tonight.

And at any moment now, a multi-day hearing for Charlie Kirk's alleged killer will begin. What we could learn about the prosecution's case against Tyler Robinson.

Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer. Pamela Brown is on assignment. You're in The Situation Room.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN Breaking News.

BLITZER: And we begin this hour with the breaking news. Soccer officials in Belgium have appealed a truly stunning ruling at the World Cup with President Trump at the center of the controversy right now. And minutes ago, President Trump confirmed that he personally called FIFA's president over the one game suspension of U.S. soccer star, Folarin Balogun. The red card suspension was supposedly not eligible for review.

But soccer's governing body decided to shelve the punishment and let America's top scorer play tonight against the Belgium team. Minutes ago, in the Oval Office, the President defended his phone call that has outraged a lot of soccer fans around the world.

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DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: All I did, I asked for a review because I didn't think it was a foul. And, you know, again, I'm good at this stuff. I didn't think it was a foul. I thought it was two great athletes that crashed into each other and got entangled. That was not a guy punching somebody in the face or anything that, you know, would be different. And I think it's a terrible. If they wouldn't allow, you know, a top player, maybe the best, maybe among the best players on the team to play. I think it would have had a big stain. And I related just that. I didn't tell him what to do. I can't tell him what to do. But -- and I don't believe he made the decision. I think it was a committee that made the decision and they made the right decision.

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BLITZER: I want to bring in our senior White House reporter, Betsy Klein. Betsy, what else did the President have to say? He answered reporters' questions in the Oval Office for about a half an hour.

BETSY KLEIN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Wolf, the President making it very clear that everything is political, even the World Cup. Just to take you back on Sunday, FIFA announced that they would allow USA star striker Folarin Balogun to play in tonight's high stakes round of 16 match against Belgium after receiving that red card.

And I reported that President Trump had spoken by phone last week with the head of FIFA, Gianni Infantino, to ask him to review that decision. Then today I heard from a U.S. official who said that President Trump in that call was simply hoping to get a better understanding of why that red card was given. That same official telling me that the U.S. government provided FIFA with additional evidence about the call, but did not provide any more information on what that evidence might have been.

But the President speaking about that call for the very first time in the Oval Office moments ago and his reaction to that red card decision, he said it was horrible and unfair. He said he asked for a review because he didn't think it was a foul. He described the incident as, "two guys running full speed that happened to crash into each other." He said he didn't tell Infantino what to do. He said he can't tell him what to do.

But he said that the independent committee that decided to allow Balogun to play made that right decision. The President also calling into question the integrity of that referee. He said he's, "a little bit suspect and encouraged reporters to check his past." Of course, there is a lot of debate as to whether that red card was warranted. But all of this has created a political firestorm and raised major questions about President Trump's interference here and whether the match, the integrity of this tournament going forward.

The President also said he understands sports very, very well. But he also appeared to indicate that he was not aware that a red card meant that a player would not be allowed to play in the next match. Now, the President was asked about all of this controversy and any signals that this was untoward, any concerns there. He said, "I had nothing to do with the decision." Wolf?

BLITZER: Yes, he said he did ask for a review by FIFA. He said that FIFA's Gianni Infantino was called by the President. President has confirmed he called him. The referee's decision, Trump said, was horrible. And he said that Balogun didn't do anything wrong. Betsy Klein at the White House, thank you very, very much. Huge game tonight.

[11:05:01]

And there's other breaking news we're following right now. The man accused of shooting and killing conservative activist Charlie Kirk is in a Utah court room today for a preliminary hearing that could last several days. Prosecutors are expected to preview some of their evidence against 23-year-old Tyler Robinson, including a videotaped statement from his former roommate, who is also described in court documents as his romantic partner. The source tells CNN that Kirk's widow, Erika, will be president for this week's hearing. It will mark the first time she's been in the same room as Tyler Robinson.

CNN national correspondent Nick Watt is outside the courthouse in Provo, Utah for us. So what else are we expecting today, Nick?

NICK WATT, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, we're expecting this hearing to get underway any second now. I'm watching a live feed from inside the courtroom. There will be a camera in court. This has been a contentious issue. The defense said they did not want any cameras because they did not want this to turn into, "reality T.V."

The prosecution and Erika Kirk say they do want cameras because they don't want conspiracies to lurk in the shadows. So what this is basically, Wolf, it's a weeklong hearing. It's going to look a bit like a trial with witnesses and cross-examination, but it is not a trial.

It is the prosecution trying to establish probable cause. And at the end of the week, the judge will decide if there is enough evidence to take this forward to a trial. You mentioned that deposition from the roommate slash romantic partner. That is going to be a key piece of evidence presented this week because the prosecution claims that interaction between Tyler Robinson and this roommate basically amounts to a confession because the roommate messaged Robinson and said, you weren't the one who did it, right? The reply from Robinson allegedly is I am. I'm sorry.

And he explained I had enough of his hate. Now, of course, Tyler Robinson is alleged to have killed Charlie Kirk just a few miles away from this courthouse in September of last year, as Kirk was speaking to a crowd of over 3,000 people shot once in the neck. So there are going to be law enforcement witnesses called as well by the prosecution, is going to be video evidence.

We know that the defense is going to call three forensic evidences -- forensic experts. And as you mentioned, Erika Kirk is in court. We saw Charlie Kirk's parents, Robert and Kathryn, arrive a little while ago. They say that they will not be speaking to the media, but they did give us a statement that reads. Charlie was a beloved husband, son, brother, friend and father. Every court appearance is a painful reminder of his death.

So this hearing is expected to last all week, Monday through Friday. And at the end of that, we should hear whether this trial will go forward or not. Not all the evidence is going to be presented. Both sides will probably keep something back. But the prosecution just needs to establish probable cause so that the judge can say, yes, there's enough. We will take this to trial. Wolf?

BLITZER: And I just want to make sure we know Erika Kirk, the wife, is in the courtroom right now. We're showing our viewers some live pictures coming in from that courtroom.

WATT: Yes, Erika Kirk is here and Charlie Kirk's parents. And of course, Tyler Robinson, Wolf, also in that courtroom, the now 23-year- old young man accused of assassinating Charlie Kirk.

BLITZER: All right. Nick Watt in Provo, Utah, for us. Nick, thank you very, very much.

Let's bring in CNN legal analyst Elliott Williams and former federal prosecutor Berit Berger. Elliott, let me start with you. What's the purpose of this hearing right now? Explain legally the technical difference between this and the actual trial.

ELLIOT WILLIAMS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Right. This is actually, in effect, Wolf, to charge him with a crime. Utah is interesting in how it proceeds with criminal cases where someone is charged with an information. That's the document that he's charged with. But it never went to a grand jury. Cases don't go to grand juries in Utah, at least cases like this. They then --

BLITZER: But normally a grand jury would be doing this.

WILLIAMS: In many states they do. In Utah, someone can be charged with an information but if it's a felony, they will then go to this preliminary hearing. Now, here, prosecutors will put on some evidence to establish that they have probable cause to charge him with a crime. If they do, the judge will let the case proceed, perhaps even as a death penalty case.

BLITZER: And do they just need a simple majority to go ahead?

WILLIAMS: Well, it's the judge makes --

BLITZER: The judge making the decision.

WILLIAMS: Yes.

BLITZER: There's no jury in there.

WILLIAMS: There's no jury in there.

BLITZER: And so it's strictly up to the judge. We're showing our viewers live pictures of the judge right now inside the courtroom.

WILLIAMS: Yes.

BLITZER: Berit, let me get back to you for a second. The specific charges that Tyler Robertson is facing aggravated murder, felony use of a firearm, committing a violent offense in the presence of a child, obstruction of justice and witness tampering. Robertson -- Robinson has not entered pleas yet, but prosecutors have already said they plan to seek the death penalty. What obstacles might they face? [11:10:04]

BERIT BERGER, FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: Well, this is such an interesting posture for this case, right? This is an opportunity for prosecutors to present their evidence to prove that they have probable cause as Elliott was saying. It's also an opportunity now for the defense to sort of get this preview of what the prosecution's case is. They'll get to cross examine witnesses. They'll get to see videos. They'll get to see everything, in essence, that the prosecutors will put forward in the trial.

What makes this interesting is that from the defense perspective, this isn't really so much a whodunit. The case the prosecutors have is really quite strong. They're kind of fighting the defense here of trying to keep him from getting the death penalty. So that's going to tailor all of their questioning, all of how they approach this case is how are we looking at this? Not necessarily to argue his guilt, but to make the case that he shouldn't get the death penalty here.

BLITZER: An important point. Elliott, as you know, Charlie Kirk's killing during that Turning Point USA event last September at Utah Valley State University really captured the entire nation's attention, including Kirk's political allies right here in Washington. How could the high profile nature of this case potentially impact this multi-day hearing?

WILLIAMS: It always can, Wolf, and that's why it falls on the judge to ensure that the case doesn't turn into a circus. And that particularly becomes an issue when you get to a jury trial, ensuring that the people who are ultimately selected for the jury, even if they have opinions about Charlie Kirk or the case or the crime or anything else, still can judge the case fairly.

BLITZER: Now, to be clear, there are a number of rights at play here. Number one, the public does have a right to see open hearings and we want a free and open press that can cover hearings and so on. But you also want the defendant to have a fair trial that's not jeopardized by undue or inappropriate attention from outside. And so the judge will be balancing all of that. This is something that judges confront in any high profile case. And I think we'll see that here.

BLITZER: Because if it was a grand jury looking at probable cause, there wouldn't be cameras inside the grand jury.

WILLIAMS: Not for the grand jury.

BLITZER: There's no grand jury there in this particular case. Berit, the judge ruled last week that news cameras are allowed to record and transmit much of this current hearing over the objections of Robinson's attorneys who argued doing so would turn this case into, quote, a reality T.V. show. So how significant is that?

BERGER: It's very significant. Elliott and I both come from federal backgrounds where cameras were not allowed in the courtroom. You just had to rely on court reporters taking down every word. And sometimes those sketch artists that give pictures of it, it definitely changes things when there's cameras involved. The worry is you'll see more grandstanding from the attorneys.

You might see more emotional outbursts from people that are in the courtroom. The idea is that if you have cameras in there, sometimes people are playing to the cameras as opposed to the jury or the judge, depending on the proceeding. The flip side, obviously, is in a case like this where you have so many people invested in this. In addition to having so many conspiracy theories that have been swirling around out there, this is kind of the best primary source to get people into that courtroom to see for themselves what's happening. But it will change the proceedings for sure.

BLITZER: You agree with that?

WILLIAMS: I absolutely do. It's, you know, you don't want people grandstanding. It's always a risk. But at the end of day, this gets back to the point I was talking about earlier. These are public proceedings. The public has some entitlement to be there and see what's happening. And it's a balance.

BLITZER: Elliot, we also expect the prosecutors to call law enforcement officials to testify and display what evidence they have, like surveillance footage, ballistics, photos of the alleged murder weapon. Robinson's defense team says it plans to call three forensic experts themselves.

WILLIAMS: Yes.

BLITZER: Based on that, what do you anticipate we'll see in here in this courthouse today and over the next few days?

WILLIAMS: You know, the tricky thing about trials in the age of shows like "CSI" and "Law and Order" is that people think that forensic evidence is the final word. And it really isn't, Wolf. It's all subject to being analyzed by competing experts and so on. And so we'll see some of that at this proceeding this week.

Now, I will note and Nick Watt had talked about this a little bit earlier. It's the prosecution's putting on just enough evidence to establish that they have probable cause, but not their whole case. Every single witness they puts on puts them at risk somewhat, because every time a witness testifies, his or her testimony is locked in. And if he says something different down the road, I thought the shirt was red as opposed to blue. I thought it was cloudy as opposed to sunny. That's something the defense can pick up on.

So what I'm looking for is exactly how little the prosecution puts on that still convinces the judge that this is either worthy of a trial or the death penalty, but not so much that they end up jeopardizing their own case.

BLITZER: Berit, how significant will the videotaped statement be from Tyler Robinson's former roommate, who is also described in court documents as his romantic partner?

[11:14:57] BERGER: Yes, I mean, to the extent that it is essentially a confession, it's going to be a huge piece of evidence for the prosecution. There is going to be this forensic evidence, but again, you have to not just prove that Robinson was tied to this gun, but that gun was actually the one that was used in the murder. So the fact that you would have the forensic evidence coupled with this potentially confession-like statement that he makes to the roommate is very significant.

And exactly as Elliot was saying, I don't expect that the roommate would testify. They want to sort of keep some of their evidence back, save it for trial. You don't unnecessarily want to have cross- examinations of your witnesses before trial. So this stage, you just have to establish probable cause. They just have to get right over that threshold. They don't have to prove it beyond a reasonable doubt.

BLITZER: All right, Berit Berger and Elliot Williams, to both of you, thank you very much. And we'll, of course, continue to monitor what's happening inside the courtroom and bring you any updates as they unfold. And we'll be right back.

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[11:20:34]

BLITZER: Happening now, hundreds of thousands of people have flooded the streets of Tehran for the slain Iranian Supreme Leader's funeral procession. He was killed in an airstrike back in February on the first day of the war. CNN senior international correspondent Fred Pleitgen is in the procession. And an important note to our viewers, CNN operates in Iran only with the permission of the government but maintains full editorial control of its reports.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This is truly a historic moment that we're witnessing here in Tehran as scores of people have come out to commemorate Iran's late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The force was killed in a U.S.-Israeli airstrike along with several family members at the beginning of the U.S. and Israel's war against Iran. And as you can see on the ground here, there is a lot of sorrow but there is also a lot of anger.

The chance of death to America, as we're hearing right now, and death to Israel have been going on almost nonstop with people vowing revenge against the United States.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through audio translation): We have come here to seek the revenge for the blood of our leader and we will not abandon this goal for a second. We will continue until we take the revenge from the killer of our leader.

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PLEITGEN: Of course, we always have to point out that not everybody is mourning today. Not everybody is out here. There are people who are deeply opposed to the rule of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. But as you can see here, right now the government has galvanized its supporters and they have come out here on mass. And the message that they're sending, of course, is also directed at the United States that if negotiations fail, Iran is ready for another fight.

Now, these processions are going to go on for another several days and then culminate when the supreme leader is laid to rest in the city of Mashhad in eastern Iran. Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Tehran.

BLITZER: And thanks to Fred Pleitgen for that excellent, excellent report. Appreciate it very much.

Up next, the same company that got the first no-bid contract to so- called fix the reflecting pool here in Washington, D.C. will also get a chance to fix the issues that have popped up since the renovations. The latest on the headache that won't go away in President Trump's own backyard.

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[11:27:37]

BLITZER: Happening now, the Trump administration says the cost will be small to fix the Reflecting Pool on the National Mall. It's been plagued by algae and a peeling liner. The White House has blamed vandals without providing any evidence. But critics say the job was rushed for the Fourth of July. And we are now learning that the same company that got the no-bid government contract to renovate the pool will also tackle the repairs.

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DOUG BURGUM, INTERIOR SECRETARY: We'll use the same company because they did a fantastic job. I mean, even with this damage of the gash that we're talking about, you're talking about again, this is a -- the size of eight football fields. It is eight acres and we're talking about like 0.001 percent. Thankfully, the vandalism was small.

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BLITZER: CNN, Washington correspondent, Sunlen Serfaty, is here with me in The Situation Room. What are you learning, Sunlen, about these repairs?

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, yes, Wolf, it's certainly notable that the administration is going with this same company, Atlantic Industrial Coating, for this next round of renovations. They were the ones that got the no bid contract over $14 million to do the initial sealing and painting of this pool. And certainly, we've been talking about it for the last weeks, weeks and weeks of problems plaguing this pool.

The algae that was growing, the paint chipping off the bottom, the sealant, the problems with the liners. The administration has been very clear that they want to blame this problem on the vandalism, the alleged vandalism they say happened to the Reflecting Pool, not poor workmanship, not the intensive timeline that the Trump administration had been driving to get this pool done by the July 4th holiday.

So they are going with the same contractor. They say that they are essentially going to be fixing the problems that the alleged vandals caused. Here's more of what the interior secretary said over the weekend.

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BURGUM: This is like a strong material and it's the size of eight football fields. And the only way you can end up with actual slices in one spot and not the other is that someone physically cut it. And so the but the pool itself, it's not leaking. It was leaking 45,000 gallons a day. It's finally been fixed by President Trump and the American flag blue is working perfectly.

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[11:29:54]

SERFATY: Now. Big question here, of course, Wolf, is how much this next round of renovation will cost. We do not know yet. The Interior Department has not answered our questions about this. Just a short time ago I reached Eddie Wood, who is the owner of Atlantic Industrial Coatings and he said --