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The Brief with Jim Sciutto
CNN International: Trump Says Hard To Ask Israel To Stop Striking Iran; Iran And Europe Hold High-Stakes Talks; Thousands Take To Streets In Iran To Protest Against Israel; Starving Palestinians Forced To Take Desperate Measures; U.N. Warns Famine In Gaza Is Every More Likely; Judge Orders Release Of Mahmoud Khalil; A.I.'s Effects On The Brain; "Jaws" Turns 50. Aired 6-7p ET
Aired June 20, 2025 - 18:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[18:00:00]
OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world. I'm Omar Jimenez, in for Jim Sciutto. You're
watching "The Brief."
Just ahead this hour, President Trump says it would be hard to ask Israel to stop striking Iran. A federal judge has ordered pro-Palestinian activist
Mahmoud Khalil, to be released from ICE detention. And "Jaws" turns 50. How the iconic movie helped create the summer blockbuster.
But we're going to start with the Israel-Iran crisis and the European diplomatic effort to end the conflict. The Iranian foreign minister says he
supports further talks with France, the United Kingdom, and Germany, which took place in Geneva. But tonight, no sign of a breakthrough.
President Trump claims the talks didn't help, saying Iran doesn't want to talk to Europe, it wants to speak with the United States. He added his two-
week deadline for the U.S. to get militarily involved is the maximum amount of time, and that he could make up his mind sooner. Plus, he contradicted
the National Intelligence Director, Tulsi Gabbard's, view in March that Iran is not building a nuclear weapon.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What intelligence do you have that Iran is building a nuclear weapon? Your Intelligence Community has said they have no evidence
that they are at this point.
DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: Well, then my Intelligence Community is wrong. Who in the Intelligence Community said that?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Your director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard.
TRUMP: She's wrong.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JIMENEZ: And in case there was any doubt about what exactly Tulsi Gabbard said, here it is.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TULSI GABBARD, DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE: The IC continues to assess that Iran is not building a nuclear weapon and Supreme Leader
Khamenei has not authorized the nuclear weapons program that he suspended in 2003. The IC continues to monitor closely if Tehran decides to
reauthorize its nuclear weapons program.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JIMENEZ: Meanwhile, in Israel, dozens were injured in an Iranian missile attack on Haifa, where witnesses described feeling a blast wave and seeing
people bleeding in the streets. I want to bring in Jeremy Diamond who's in Tel Aviv for us. And, Jeremy, can you just tell us what you've seen in the
midst of these strikes and have we seen any sort of reaction to the latest from what we've heard from President Trump there in Israel?
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, what we certainly saw today was once again the destructive power of these Iranian ballistic
missiles right here in Israel. A barrage of more than 20 missiles was fired early this morning by the Iranians hitting areas in northern and central --
and Southern Israel. The most significant impact was in the City of Haifa, very near to Haifa's port, which is a strategic location with a naval base
there, as well as, of course, a big commercial shipping yard.
But it didn't land in the port, it landed nearby in a civilian area, injuring more than two dozen people, including one person who was severely
wounded, two others moderately injured, according to a local hospital. And this comes as Israelis are now playing a waiting game here to see whether
or not President Trump will ultimately greenlight U.S. strikes on that Fordow nuclear facility in Iran.
In the meantime, though, what is clear is that this back and forth between Israel and Iran is going to continue. And while the Israelis certainly have
the upper hand, as we heard President Trump himself describing earlier today, with far deadlier impact, but also more strategic impact in terms of
the destruction of military and nuclear sites, as well as the killing of senior Iranian officials, the Iranians are also showing that they can still
impose a cost here in Israel, and that's why we heard today the Israeli military's chief of staff telling Israelis to prepare for a prolonged
military campaign, not only in terms of a prolonged campaign in Iran, but also, of course, prolonged Iranian retaliation here in Israel.
And the impact that will have on civilian life, whether that is simply the disruption of having to rush into those bomb shelters, but, of course, the
fear that these ballistic missiles, which carry hundreds of pounds of explosives can have deadly impact.
We've seen 24 people who've been killed in Israel thus far. And of course, those bomb shelters are doing incredible work here, but the risk is still
very much there, Omar.
[18:05:00]
JIMENEZ: And to pick up on that military chief of staff's words that Israel must be ready for a prolonged campaign to remove a threat of such
magnitude, is there a sense that the people there are willing to go along or I guess what the appetite is in Israel amongst the people for a
potentially prolonged military operation on this front, obviously, knowing that the war in Gaza has gone on for years now?
DIAMOND: Yes. I mean, there is strong support amongst the Israeli public for this military campaign in Iran. But I think the longer it goes on, more
questions will be raised about ultimately what the end goal actually is here.
Ostensibly, the Israeli military has said that they want to eliminate Iran's nuclear program, but can that actually happen with Israeli military
action alone is indeed the major question. There's no doubt that the Israelis have a range of scenarios that they've looked into be able to
destroy that Fordow nuclear facility that's buried deep beneath the mountain in Iran, but none of those scenarios are as assured as a U.S.
military action in terms of a B-2 bomber dropping one or multiple of those 30,000-pound bunker busting bombs. And the only options that the Israelis
have would be much riskier and far less of a certain outcome there.
And then, of course, there's this broader question of the Israeli prime minister and other senior members of his government effectively talking
about regime change in Iran, and that's very different from what President Trump seems to be looking at here as he's aiming for a diplomatic solution
within the next two weeks, if that can be achieved. He's squarely focused on the nuclear issue. And so, that still leaves quite a gap between U.S.
aims and Israeli aims.
But again, a lot more can happen and will happen over the course of the coming weeks that could change those calculations. Omar.
JIMENEZ: Jeremy Diamond, appreciate the reporting as always. Let's go to Iran now where CNN's Fred Pleitgen and Claudia Otto are the first Western
journalist to enter the country since its latest conflict with Israel's started. Today, Fred takes a look at anti-Israel protests in Tehran and
speaks to an Iranian official who says the United States can end this conflict with one call.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Death to Israel chants to a massive crowd after Tehran's Friday prayers.
The streets packed for a protest against Israel's aerial campaign, but also the policies of the Trump administration.
We will punch the United States and Israel in the mouth, he says.
Trump, you are threatening my leader, this woman says, don't you know my nation believes death is sweeter than honey.
What do you have, Israel? He says, you have nothing. You are occupiers, unreligious. You're killing people, killing women. You kill everyone.
You're terrorists.
People here vowing not to back down as the conflict escalates and President Trump ponders U.S. involvement.
PLEITGEN: As you can see, thousands of people have turned up here in central Tehran. They're chanting, down with the USA, down with Israel, and
they're warning if the Trump administration gets involved in the standoff between Israel and Iran, it will lead to direct confrontation between
Washington and Tehran.
PLEITGEN (voice-over): As Israel continues to hit targets inside Iran and the Iranians answer with missile barrages striking Israeli territory,
Iran's foreign minister met with European nations.
ABBAS ARAGHCHI, IRANIAN FOREIGN MINISTER: We are entitled, tasked, and determined to defend our territorial integrity, national sovereignty and
security with all force. This is our inherent right.
PLEITGEN (voice-over): Iran's leadership says air attacks are unifying people against Israel. A member of Iran's presidency calling on President
Trump to reign the Israelis in.
MAJID FARAHANI, OFFICIAL WITH THE IRANIAN PRESIDENCY: President Trump can easily stop the war by only one telephone to Israelis. But I don't know why
he didn't do that.
PLEITGEN (voice-over): With public support seemingly growing, Iran's leadership says it's ready for a long-term confrontation with Israel and
possibly the United States as well.
Fred Pleitgen, CNN, Tehran.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
JIMENEZ: For more on this, former Pentagon Middle East adviser, Jasmine El- Gamal joins me now. Thank you for being here. While we've heard from Iranian officials that they would only meet with the U.S. for nuclear talks
if Israel agrees to stop striking the country and that it might just take a phone call from the U.S. to make that happen, we just heard from President
Trump that it would be difficult for him to request Israel stop its airstrikes because they're winning, as he put it.
What is your reaction to that posturing from Trump and do you believe it will have an impact on any ongoing negotiations among the key countries
here?
[18:10:00]
JASMINE EL-GAMAL, FORMER PENTAGON MIDDLE EAST ADVISER: Good to be with you, Omar. I think the role of the United States is very, very critical here.
It's very important. As you mentioned, Iran has made it clear, and from before, from a few days ago as well, when it reached out to Arab countries
in the region and said that it would come back to the negotiating table if the U.S. did not enter into the war.
So, the U.S. really has an important role to play here. And I think when you look at Donald Trump's statements over the last few days, you can see
that he's struggling with how to move forward with this. You can tell that he doesn't want to mire the U.S. in another war in the Middle East, but
that he's trying to give the impression that he's in control, that he's the decisionmaker here, but he's in fact a little bit taken by events.
The Europeans don't really have much of a role to play here. This really is something that Donald Trump is in control of, and that puts a lot of
responsibility on his shoulders.
JIMENEZ: And you know, when Israel launched its series of strikes against Iran last week, it suggested Iran was fast approaching a point of no return
in obtaining nuclear weapons, and that the strikes were necessary to stop that outcome, as U.S. intelligent assessments said it would be years before
they would be able to produce and deliver a nuclear weapon to a target of its choosing, at least according to our reporting here.
All of that aside, do you worry about Iran's nuclear enrichment program and do you worry about it more or less coming out of this moment?
EL-GAMAL: Thank you for asking that, because I think that point that you made about intelligence is a really important one. You know, let me just
say that it is really dangerous when intelligence is used to support a predetermined decision that is political.
As you mentioned, Israel struck Iran when it's -- when our own intelligence, U.S. intelligence, did not put Iran at imminent -- imminently
having a nuclear weapon. And Benjamin Netanyahu is now going on TV and talking about wanting to assassinate the leader of Iran. We know that he's
wanted to strike the head of the snake, as he says, after decimating Hezbollah and Hamas, and to a certain extent the Houthis, that Netanyahu
sees this as an opportune moment to get rid of the Iranian regime.
But an opportune moment doesn't mean that there was an imminent threat from Iran. Those are two very different things, Omar. And to your point about
whether this makes Iran more willing to -- or more determined to seek a nuclear capacity and nuclear capability, you know, when I was in the -- at
the Pentagon and President Obama was negotiating the JCPOA, it took them 20 months to negotiate that agreement. These are issues that take time to
negotiate. But what it did was it brought Iran into the fold and allowed it at least to be somewhat transparent, largely transparent, which it wasn't
before and hasn't really been since.
So, the danger here is that if Iran has no incentive to get back to the negotiating table, and it sees itself under existential threat from Israel
and the United States that it goes underground, withdraws from the nuclear non-proliferation treaty and tries to raise towards the bomb, and that is a
scenario that I worry about.
JIMENEZ: And you know, in this moment right now, President Trump has set this two-week or so negotiating window before deciding on participating in
strikes on Iran. Even if, let's just say, American bunker buster bombs crippled the underground nuclear facility at Fordow, to whatever level
acceptable by Israeli and U.S. standards, is there any scenario in which the United States could lead or assist in an attack like that and not be
dragged into anything further?
EL-GAMAL: So, people who are in favor of such action will tell you that the risk is very low, that the U.S. power, the Israeli power, is enough to
overwhelm Iran and that we shouldn't be too worried. I don't think like that. I come from a defense background and we always plan for the worst-
case scenario, as we should.
And so, I think what Trump will be hearing from the joint staff, from his defense officials, from his intelligence officials, they're going to be
looking at these worst-case scenarios, Omar, and saying, is the U.S. prepared to enter into a full-blown war if that worst-case scenario comes
to bear?
JIMENEZ: Jasmine El-Gamal, really appreciate the time and insight. Thanks for being here.
EL-GAMAL: Thanks so much for having me.
JIMENEZ: Of course. Meanwhile, the humanitarian situation deteriorates in Gaza as the Israeli military continues its strikes. The United Nations
repeating its warnings that famine is growing increasingly more likely in Gaza. Paula Hancocks has the details.
[18:15:00]
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Mohammed al-Dabi is 12 years old, he has a message for the world.
MOHAMMED AL-DABI, GAZA RESIDENT (through translator): We in Gaza have no flour, every day, 24 hours. They tell us there are trucks coming and we
come and find nothing. We eat this sand, we have no food, we have no food. We have no flour, we have no food. Have mercy on us, we have no food. We
are eating sand instead of flour. Have mercy on us, mercy, we are eating sand instead of bread. A loaf of bread costs 20 shekels, a loaf is little.
HANCOCKS (voice-over): Mohammed walked eight hours with his father to a flour distribution point in Gaza City. He finally collected two kilos of
flour, but thieves attacked him and stole it.
He says, I saw the journalist filming and I asked him to pass on my message to the world that I was robbed and I ate sand because I had no flour and I
was so depressed.
Mohammed's mother says she uses old dried bread, used for animal feed, soaks it with water and bakes it over and over to feed her children.
His father says people are killing each other over a bag of flour. Five or six individuals attack each other because people want to eat and they have
become monsters due to the lack of food.
Mohammed and his family, only two of tens of thousands of starved Palestinians risking their lives to feed their families. Dozens have been
killed by Israeli fire this week as they waited for aid, hundreds since Israel lifted an 11 week blockade on Gaza in late May, allowing a trickle
of aid in, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
The Israeli military says it operates to minimize harm to those seeking aid while maintaining the safety of its troops.
The United Nations warns the entire population of Gaza, more than 2 million people face impending famine without a drastic increase in aid.
Paula Hancocks, CNN, Abu Dhabi.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
JIMENEZ: Thank you, Paula, for that reporting. Meanwhile, here in the United States, a U.S. judge has ordered the release of Palestinian activist
Mahmoud Khalil, the former Columbia University student was arrested by immigration officials in March, part of the government's crackdown on
campus protestors. A federal judge granted his release on bail more than three months after his detention. Take a listen to what the executive
director of the New York ACLU, which is helping represent Khalil, had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONNA LIEBERMAN, EXECUTIVE DIRECT, NY ACLU: The case is not over. We still have to get all the charges dismissed, dumped. These are trumped up
charges, literally, figuratively. And we need to make sure that we -- that the Trump administration gets the message and they should, with today's
ruling, that you cannot deport people based on lawful political expression. You cannot retaliate against people for exercising First Amendment rights,
whether they're citizens or not.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JIMENEZ: I want to bring in Mark Morales, who's been following this for us. So, Mark we have this order. I guess the next point -- the next opportunity
we're trying to see if and when Khalil actually steps out into the free world, so to speak. What is the latest and what do we know?
MARK MORALES, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT REPORTER: Right. And that's really the key at this point. It's when will Khalil walk out of this detention
facility? It's supposed to happen today. I know lawyers are -- there's one lawyer that's with Khalil right now. There was another one that's in
transit. And this is all a process at this point, because you had his legal team and the federal government hammering out the parameters by which he
can be released. And that includes giving up his passport.
One of his lawyers has his passport right now. They have to turn that over to the federal government. He'll get what they call a certified copy of
that passport. So, he'll be allowed to travel only to certain states. They include New York, New Jersey, Louisiana, even D.C. But there is no
international travel.
Now, lawyers for the government were trying to get him to have to present himself to an ICE facility in New York, which, as we've all seen, has been
the site of a lot of different confrontations that have happened in those hallways, but the judge pushed back on that. The only thing he'll have to
do is update DHS with his current address. He's got 48 hours to do that.
And as we said, this all stems from the judge's determination that Khalil is both not a danger and not a flight risk. And both of those things in her
-- in his determination made it highly unusual for him to be in custody for this long.
Now, lawyers for the government did push back and they tried to make the argument that this could open the door to what they called magic words.
Meaning, that anybody who could get caught up in one of these deportation proceedings would try to use the First Amendment as sort of a shield.
[18:20:00]
But the judge argued that at least in this case, Khalil protested before he was taken into custody and he plans on protesting out. So, at least in this
scenario, these aren't magic words. Omar.
JIMENEZ: Yes. So, on that front, I mean, maybe the question is, are we sure he's getting out? I mean, how ironclad I guess is this order?
MORALES: It's about as ironclad as you get. The judge made the order. He said he is to be released. We -- the expectation -- or at least the
framework that's already been put into place is that by the time the other attorney travels in and they start going through this process of handing
over the passports and getting all the paperwork settled, it could take us to roughly about another hour.
But it's always give or take a few set of time, right, because it's the processing that has to happen. But one thing is for certain is he has been
ordered released.
JIMENEZ: All right. Mark Morales, we are going to continue to watch for Mahmoud Khalil's release. Thank you for the reporting.
All right. After the break, scientists are learning more about A.I. and how using it impacts our brains. Plus, Pope Leo sounding the alarm on the
spiritual effects of artificial intelligence, especially on kids. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
JIMENEZ: Welcome back to "The Brief." U.S. stocks closing out the trading week and the first day of summer mostly lower. Chip stocks fell on fears of
new U.S. restrictions on China. Oil prices pulled back too with Brent Crude down 2 percent. U.S. Crude up a modest 3 percent this week despite the
ongoing conflict between Israel and Iran.
Lots of talk on Wall Street about a potential split among Fed members on interest rate policy. Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller saying
policy makers should consider cutting interest rates as early as they're meeting next month. He says tariffs probably won't boost inflation
significantly, and he's worried about the strength of the jobs market.
Meanwhile, Fed Chair Jerome Powell this week seemed in no hurry to cut rates because of tariff uncertainty.
[18:25:00]
Pope Leo urging tech giants to follow an ethical framework for A.I. development. He expresses especially -- particular concern about A.I.'s
potential negative impact on children and young people, warning it could harm their intellectual, neurological, and spiritual development. Clare
Duffy has the details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CLARE DUFFY, CNN BUSINESS WRITER: Yes. So, this is the second annual Rome conference on A.I., which has brought academics and Vatican officials and
tech executives from companies like Meta, Google, IBM, OpenAI to the Vatican to discuss the social and ethical implications of A.I. And I don't
think we need to remind anyone that this is sort of a fraught moment for A.I. development.
Of course, the technology has lots of promise, but it also brings risks that range from taking people's jobs to developing even more powerful
weaponry at this time of intense global conflict. And Pope Leo would like to see these tech companies develop an ethical framework or criterion by
which they would abide when developing and deploying A.I. technology that he says would respect human dignity, human work, and protect children.
And I want to read just a portion of his statement that really stood out to me as sort of an admonishment of the way that we've heard some tech leaders
talk about artificial intelligence systems potentially becoming smarter than humans. He says, no generation has ever had such quick access to the
amount of information now available through A.I. But again, access to data, however extensive, must not be confused with intelligence.
And I think this is really a sign that Pope Leo plans to follow in the footsteps of his predecessor, Pope Francis, in pushing the Vatican to take
an active role in shaping A.I. policy, especially at a time when we're seeing the U.S. government pull back on many of the regulatory efforts when
it comes to the big tech companies. Back to you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
JIMENEZ: Clare, thank you. Meanwhile, a new study from MIT is raising the alarm about how A.I. impacts learning and how convenience could come at a
cost for your brain. The study looked at essay writing across three groups, people using A.I., a search engine, or just their own brain power. That
last group, no tools at all, showed the strongest brain activity plus better memory recall. They were followed by the search engine users and in
last place, people relying on A.I.
Now, as students and workers become more and more dependent on tools like ChatGPT, it does raise a lot of questions about the future of how we think.
Joining me now is Nataliya Kosmyna lead author on the study. Thank you for being here. Can you just explain what you learned from this study? Did it
surprise you?
NATALIYA KOSMYNA, LEAD STUDY AUTHOR AND RESEARCH SCIENTIST, MIT: Yes, absolutely. So grateful to be here with you. Thank you also for the
summarization, that was great, but very important details that you missed, which is actually super interesting is additional session we performed with
those participants.
We actually reassigned them in the very end, towards the final session. So, if you were, Omar, my participant, and you had done LLM group for three
sessions, for the final session, I actually assign you to the brain only group, or opposite, if you are only writing your essays with your brain, so
brain, brain, brain, with your final session, I actually would reassign you to LLM group.
And so, what happens there is very interesting. Those folks who were LLM, LLM, LLM, and then use their brain to write an essay actually showed weaker
neural connectivity compared to brain only folks. And those who first use the brain, so, brain, brain, brain, then you use LLM, actually showed high
neural connectivity.
Among other things that we learned about ownership of assays, did they consider those assays their own? What actually neural connectivity means
is, in layman terms, like you have right now me. If I would -- were in the room right now next to you and we had your producer next to us, your
producer would talk to you, I would -- then you would talk to me. I would tell you something back. So, we actually see who talks to who in the brain
and how much talking is happening. That's what we learned.
I appreciate that you didn't say brain rod, stupid, dumb because we saw a lot of those. So, please, please, please do not use this vocabulary. So,
thank you so much. Really important that its impact.
JIMENEZ: And, you know, I actually was going to bring up session four. So, I'm glad you brought that up, right up the topic, because I thought that
was a really interesting sort of contrast.
KOSMYNA: Yes.
JIMENEZ: One of the other things that you wrote that was written as part of this is says, it seems while the benefits were initially apparent, as we
demonstrated over the course of four months, the large language model, LLM group's participants, performed worse than their counterparts in the brain
only group at all levels, neurolinguistic scoring, again, over the course of that longer-term observance as you guys were doing.
[18:30:00]
But I guess the question for me is what message do you hope people get from you and your co-authors work? Why did you feel this study was so important
to take on?
KOSMYNA: Absolutely. So, first of all, I have actually three messages if I have time. First message. That's -- I believe, one of the first studies we
actually performed. It's a small study. We only had 54 students doing a very specific task, essay writing. It's super specific. So, there is so
many limitations, right? We cannot really generalize anything to other populations, other tasks like workforce, very specific. So, please take it
as it is preliminary study where we list a lot of limitations.
But what we hoped and why we actually released it like early as a working paper because the speed of implementation of A.I. in our lives, in all
aspects of our lives is so fast. We have never seen anything like that before. So, we felt it's important to start the conversation and to
encourage more studies. This is my first message.
Second actually, is to all A.I. or A.I. first companies. We heard so many messages from educators all around the world. We received so many e-mails.
Yet, we are yet to receive one, a single one from any A.I. company who actually would love to continue the study to make it longer, to make more
people -- recruit more people to look into children, so developing brains. Older adults, like everyone in between, in all different use cases.
So, please be on the right side of history. Reach out. Do not get on the train of a social media, right, that we are still learning the
repercussions.
And finally, a message to all of you who are listening, and I want to quote someone who I have no idea on social media this morning named Francesca. He
said, oh, I saw this paper trending, 206 pages. I opened my ChatGPT, and I told it, oh, could you summarize this paper? Then I looked at the title of
the paper and I closed my ChatGPT. I thought maybe I can give it a try myself. Yes. Just give it a try yourself. Use your brain.
We are not trying to say that we love LLMs or hate LLMs. We have no feelings about LLMs. LLM is a tool. It is here to stay. What we actually
love are humans, and we want to understand how these tools we are using can be of their biggest support on all levels of our life, starting with
recognition.
JIMENEZ: Nataliya Kosmyna, really appreciate you taking the time to share with us some of your findings and to share with us the reason you wanted to
get it out. Yes. I should mention it hasn't been peer reviewed yet. Sample size is pretty small as you put out, but as you laid out as well, you felt
it was important to get this out so people can understand the moment that we're in right now. Really appreciate you taking the time. Thanks for being
here.
KOSMYNA: Thank you so much for having me. Thank you.
JIMENEZ: Of course. All right, everyone, we'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[18:35:00]
JIMENEZ: Welcome back to "The Brief," everyone. I'm Omar Jimenez. Here are more international headlines we're watching today. European and Iranian
officials met Friday for talks in Switzerland. It was a last-ditch diplomatic push to keep the Iran-Israel conflict from spiraling into a
wider regional war. An Iranian source says the discussions were very tense at first, but got much more positive after the parties took a break.
The cleanup continues in southwestern Mexico after category 3 hurricane, Erick, damaged homes and uprooted trees. It unleashed powerful winds, heavy
rain, and flooding across the region. Some of the aftermath there.
A U.S. federal judge is ordering Mahmoud Khalil be released on bail from an immigration detention center. The Palestinian activist was arrested in
March and has been detained ever since. The Trump administration accused him of being pro-Hamas and said he omitted key details on his application
to become a legal permanent resident of the United States. Now, in granting the release, the judge said Khalil did not pose a threat or a flight risk.
Now, today marks World Refugee Day, as international displacement levels reach new highs. The International Rescue Committee is calling for new
approaches to tackle the conflicts that are driving those numbers even higher.
Now, according to the IRC 122 million people are fleeing from conflict and disaster worldwide. A third of forcibly displaced people come from just
four war-torn countries, Sudan, Syria, Afghanistan, and Ukraine. And 70 percent of all new displacement in 2024 resulted from climate and disaster
related incidents.
I want to bring in Faith Akovi Cooper. She's regional director for Resettlement, Asylum, and Integration at the International Rescue
Committee. Thank you for being here. I wonder -- I just want to start with how do you assess the current state of displacement? Has it gotten more
severe in recent years?
FAITH AKOVI COOPER, IRC REGIONAL DIRECTOR, RESETTLEMENT, ASYLUM, AND INTEGRATION UNIT: Omar, thank you very much for having me on behalf of the
IRSC on World Refugee Day. I want to start with that, just saying thank you. This is an important day and we certainly want to honor the courage
and spirit of refugees.
Now, to your question, how do we assess the current situation? It's obviously exacerbated, as you open and said, 122 million forcibly
displaced, of that 37 million are refugees, and the majority are forcibly displaced in their home country as well. We see these numbers rising and it
concerns us at the IRC. That is why we are committed to helping refugees survive, recover, and rebuild.
JIMENEZ: And you know, as we just mentioned, 71st -- 70 percent of those displacement, new displacement in 2024 resulted from climate and disaster
related incidents, but also a significant portion of refugees coming from countries facing violence or war-torn countries or other issues. Are there
differences in the needs coming from those two types of circumstances? If so, what are they or I just wonder how you might approach someone fleeing
those different sets of circumstances in trying to provide aid or next steps?
[18:40:00]
COOPER: Absolutely. At the IRC we provide support across 29 offices across the United States. We also work across 40 countries globally, and for
example, we work in Afghanistan. The current impact, the current changes in the policies of this administration has reduced our portfolio, our funding
in Afghanistan by 80 percent, thereby, impacting our ability to be able to provide lifesaving measures, lifesaving support to families.
So, whether they're from Sudan or Ukraine or Afghanistan and other, the list goes on. We're continuing to see an increase. And as an organization,
we're committed to providing a diversity of services to our clients to help them resettle and to do it with dignity, just as my family and I did years
ago.
JIMENEZ: And, you know, there are a lot of countries, the United States included, that face an influx of migrants who at the very least a demand
for migrants trying to enter into the country. And some were asking, why are we seeing surges to certain countries? But a lot of these migration
patterns are tied to directly to conflicts in whatever their home country may be. Can you just speak to that cycle that plays out long before a
migrant ends up on the border of another country seeking asylum?
COOPER: Absolutely. That cycle -- take for example, a family experiences conflict, whether it's war or climate crisis or some sort of disaster, it
impacts their ability to be safe in their country. They flee because of protection. Similar to the same experience I had with my family when we
fled the Liberian war for protection.
And so, in most cases, they bounce around internally. Also, bounce around multiple refugee camps in other countries, if granted the opportunity to
resettle, whether it's through the U.S. refugee admissions program or in other countries, we see that people are fleeing because of violence. We see
that people are fleeing because they are in need of protection.
And yes, it starts long before they get to the U.S. border, but this country, the United States, has long been a beacon of hope. The tradition
of welcome has been part of the U.S. fabric. In addition, the United States has committed to resettling refugees. So, we are looking to honor that
commitment, to ensure that people that are fleeing violence are able to resettle. And those are the services we provide across our offices in the
U.S. We provide those services, lifesaving services across countries.
JIMENEZ: Faith Akovi Cooper, thank you for taking the time. Thank you for being here on this World Refugee Day.
COOPER: Thank you very much for having me. It's an honor and privilege to speak about our work.
JIMENEZ: Of course. All right. Everyone, stay with CNN. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[18:45:00]
JIMENEZ: All right. Welcome back. The NBA Finals is going to go to a decisive game seven this weekend. The Indiana Pacers beat the Oklahoma City
Thunder in really huge fashion in the (INAUDIBLE) there, to tie the series.
It's been nearly a decade since NBA fans have seen a game seven in the finals. The last time was 2016 when the Golden State Warriors went toe to
toe with Cleveland Cavaliers in a historic matchup featuring LeBron James, Steph Curry. Will this game seven live up to the hype? Because that's a lot
of hype to live up to. But we'll get to that later.
Mike Yorkunov covers the NBA for The Athletic. Thank you for being here. All right. We can't promise this game seven will live up to the blocked by
James, game seven of 2016. But if you ask a lot of people at the start of the playoffs, if this would be the matchup. All right. Maybe you'd expect
OKC, but Indiana has turned a lot of heads in getting here. Has anything stood out to you in the journeys for either of these teams in getting to
this moment?
MIKE VORKUNOV, NATIONAL BASKETBALL BUSINESS REPORTER, THE ATHLETIC: Yes. Even if you asked a lot of people at the start of the series, will they get
to a game seven? The answer probably would've been no. They've been -- they've gotten to this point and they surprised so many people, I think,
because of a few things.
One, their style of play, which is so fun to watch, but also obviously conducive to winning. They play fast. They get the ball up the court very
quickly. They like to pass the ball. They're pretty physical too, and it seems to fit this kind of like era of the NBA.
And they have two up and coming stars, Tyrese Haliburton, their point guard and Pascal Siakam, who already won a title with the Toronto Raptors. And no
one expected them to get to the finals, let alone game seven against the Thunder. But here we are.
JIMENEZ: And, you know, I guess along those lines, after this game six blowout of OKC, clearly vulnerable. But for Indiana, is there an X factor
that you're looking for, I guess, in this game seven that could get them over the edge against what's really been the best team in the league this
season?
YORKUNOV: Is it OK to take a body part?
JIMENEZ: Yes.
YORKUNOV: You know, Tyrese Haliburton --
JIMENEZ: It depends which one? Yes.
YORKUNOV: Tyrese Haliburton -- yes. His calf. That's fair. Yes, his calf nearly kept him out of game six and he played despite, you know, what he
called, I believe like, would be a multi-week injury. And he was still playing in game six and he seems like he's going to play in game seven. And
really, the Pacers have gone, as Haliburton has gone this entire series, his best games. They've won the games where the Thunder have been able to
stop him or slow him down significantly, they've lost.
So, if he's healthy for game seven or close to healthy and he can play well, as he surprisingly did in game six, I think the Pacers have a pretty
good shot.
JIMENEZ: And you know, one of the things that just struck me watching the game is like OKC could not hit anything from beyond the arc. Obviously,
they're going back home for this game seven, and you know, these days I guess you live and die by the three. But what are you looking for from the
OKC side to kind of close things out and stop Indiana from doing what many people thought was undoable?
YORKUNOV: Yes, the threes are a big part of it. OKC has won a game in this series where they only made three threes, which is just prehistoric really
compared to where we are in the NBA today. And it becomes a math problem at that -- at some point when one team is just hitting significantly more
threes and you're only shooting twos.
So, they need to do that and probably hit a few more three -- hit a few more of them, take a few more of them, and they need to get their defense
back to where it was in earlier in the series and obviously, during the regular season two, where they're turning -- creating turnovers from the
Pacers, turning them over and getting points out in transition and just kind of getting easy baskets, which they've really struggled to do.
JIMENEZ: Mike Yorkunov, really appreciate you being here. Thanks for taking the time.
YORKUNOV: Thank you.
JIMENEZ: All right. Still ahead, we're going to need a bigger boat for our next segment. The film world, celebrating the 50th anniversary of Steven
Spielberg's "Jaws," considered the first ever Hollywood summer blockbuster, by the way. We're going to take a look back at its terrifying legacy, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[18:50:00]
JIMENEZ: When you hear that iconic, ominous music, you know something bad is about to happen. 50 years ago today the movie "Jaws" opened in theaters,
breaking box office records, and turning Director Steven Spielberg into a household name. Before then, the summer was actually considered a pretty
slow period for Hollywood releases, but "Jaws" changed everything, becoming what many considered the first summer blockbuster.
It was the highest grossing film of all time until "Star Wars" overtook it two years later. Here's a fun fact, by the way. The sole surviving full-
scale replica of the "Jaws" shark is on display in Los Angeles at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, even as a lifeless model suspended from
the ceiling. I mean, it's still -- I don't want to be anywhere near that at all.
I want to bring in entertainment journalist Segun Oduolowu, who joins me now. What -- I just -- so far beyond when this movie was released, it still
feels like it came out recently somehow. What is the legacy of this movie? How do you look at it?
SEGUN ODUOLOWU, ENTERTAINMENT JOURNALIST: Well, Omar, thanks for having me. And you said it perfectly, it redefined the summer blockbuster. It was the
first movie to gross a hundred million dollars at the time. And let's remember, Steven Spielberg was only 27 years old when he made this. And
like, it just -- it blew people out of the water. It was the first movie to really be released nationwide. It went into 400 theaters. Movies weren't
really doing that at the time, and it just -- it knocked over the domino for what we expect now.
Now, the summertime is when Marvel shows up and the big, huge summer movies show up and "Jaws" launched Steven Spielberg's career, and you can't really
understate that. He went on to do "Close Encounters" and "E.T.," "Jurassic Park," just to name some of his, you know, big time movies. But it all
started with "Jaws" and this mechanical shark that terrorized people and, you know, audiences.
JIMENEZ: And, you know, I feel like you can really get the sense of the cultural impact of a movie when it starts changing how people act in real
life. Because people were afraid to go in the water after watching this movie. It was like they felt like they were -- they didn't know that sharks
were in the water at the time. And I wonder, just movie aside, movie business aside, what do you see as sort of the cultural impact of what --
of "Jaws, but also what Spielberg was able to do here?
ODUOLOWU: Well, absolutely right. The movie not only thrilled fans but it terrified them. People were afraid to go into the water. And what it did
was kick off a kind of love-hate relationship with sharks. Sharks now became hunted. They became feared, and ocean ecosystems were completely
disrupted because people started to hunt sharks based off of this, you know, paranoia and fear that "Jaws," you know, gave life to.
[18:55:00]
And I think the legacy of the movie 50 years later can really be seen at how things like "Shark Week" on Discovery and the way we interact with
sharks and look at them as not only these, you know, terrifying menacing creatures, but if one good thing came of it for the sharks is that people
started to realize what an important role they played in an ocean's, you know, ecosystem and how important they are just to the health of the planet
and what they do.
So, "Jaws" in its own way, this summer blockbuster that was, you know, part thriller, part horror, really made people more interested in what's going
on. Like I said, it gave way to different kinds of just monster, you know, there are multiple "Jaws" movies, but really, it's a legacy that keeps
going, because the animatronics in it kind of gave way to what we saw, you know, improve the later movies like "Terminator" and things that came after
it.
JIMENEZ: It just set the standard to a whole new level. Segun Oduolowu, thanks for being here. Really appreciate it. And thanks everyone for being
here. I'm Omar Jimenez in New York. You've been watching "The Brief." Stay with CNN.
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[19:00:00]
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