How Badly Damaged is Iran's Nuclear Program?
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It's Thursday, June 26th, and here's what's happening right now on CNN This Morning.

So how badly damaged is Iran's nuclear program? Early US intel and the White House sending contradicting messages. Today, the Trump administration is looking to set the record straight. Plus, where is the Ayatollah? Iran's Supreme Leader has not been seen publicly in more than a week, his silence raising questions about his well-being. And the Senate taking on the president's agenda, one GOP holdout, Senator Lisa Murkowski, in a one-on-one, we talked about her biggest sticking points.

It's 6 a.m. here on the East Coast. This is a live look at Venice, Italy, where a highly secretive and star-studded event kicks off today. Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez will be getting married there this weekend. Good morning, everybody. I'm Adi Cornish. I want to thank you for waking up with me. And here's how we're going to start the day. This major question that continues to swirl in Washington. Did last weekend's U.S. bombing raid against Iran's nuclear program leave it

obliterated or just set it back a couple of months. President Trump spent much of his time at the NATO summit in the Netherlands refuting an early intelligence assessment from the Pentagon, which suggests the damage may be limited.

The document said it could be very severe damage, but they didn't take that. They said it could be limited or it could be very severe. They really didn't know, other than to say it could be limited or it could be very, very severe. And you didn't choose to put that because it was very early after. Since then, we've collected additional intelligence. We've also spoken to people who have seen the site, and the site is obliterated. And we think everything nuclear is down there. They didn't take it out.

The president's now back from the NATO summit and his top defense officials are going to hold an all-Senate classified briefing later this afternoon. And that briefing will include CIA Director John Ratcliffe, who issued a statement on new intelligence collected by his agency, saying, quote, a body of credible evidence indicates Iran's nuclear program has been severely damaged by the recent targeted strikes.

Now, Senate Democrats are demanding to see that evidence and proof which justifies the use of force. If you start trying to cook intelligence or try to manipulate it in political fashions, that you don't have a good history with that. This is how you destroy trust with your friends and also with your foes. If people are misrepresenting or lying about the effects of this attack, who's going to trust us going forward?

JOINING ME NOW IN THE GROUP CHAT, JERUSALEM DEMPS IS CONTRIBUTING WRITER AT THE ATLANTIC, EVAN MCMORRIS-SANTORO, NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER FOR NOTICE AND JASMINE WRIGHT, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT IN NOTICE AS WELL. THEY'RE THE CO-AUTHORS OF THE NOTICE MORNING NEWSLETTER. WELCOME, YOU GUYS. THANK YOU. ALL RIGHT. I'M ACTUALLY GOING TO START WITH JERUSALEM BECAUSE THIS CONVERSATION HAS MOVED BACK TO THE STATES IN A WAY BECAUSE EVERYBODY NOW WANTS TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS NEXT. BUT WHAT HAPPENS NEXT IS KIND OF CONTINGENT.

on whatever happened on the ground in Iran. So how do you see the way that the president has been defending his strikes? I mean, it's a difficult situation for people who are trying to figure out the facts like ourselves because every party has an interest in saying, oh, we moved the nuclear material before the bombing happened. That's Iran's line. Or the Trump administration obviously admitting that the bombings

bombing was a failure is really embarrassing because Trump loves to get a deal and have that done immediately. And I mean, right now we're seeing a situation where this, of course, leaked Pentagon report. I mean, leaks happen for all number of reasons. And it's an early assessment. Early assessment. But leaks often happen because someone feels like there's important information that needs to be understood and known by the public.

Now, who knows? They're also saying that it's possible that it was politically motivated from someone inside who wants to damage the administration. That's certainly possible. But I think right now, particularly if you look at it from a partisan's perspective, Democrats are really divided on the question of Iran and Israel, where there's not really a unified message coming out of the party.

It's interesting. CNN's Stephen Collinson was arguing that the whole controversy is basically being created by the administration, calling it frantic spin, saying it was inevitable, and saying any contrary evidence would mean an embarrassing reversal and challenge to his ego and credibility. What does the Trump administration need to show, so to speak? And I know, Jasmine, you follow the White House a lot about

how aggressive they've been in this. Yeah, I mean, they've been incredibly aggressive. I've talked to sources who've been, you know, at times surprised at how hard they're going against this early assessment, which they call low confidence in their own messaging. I think, frankly, the White House wants President Trump to get the credit

for the strike fundamentally. And anything that contradicts that or goes against that, they are going to push very difficultly on. They believe that this is one of the four most important decisions that the president has made. They believe this is a legacy defining decision and then ceasefire that he then negotiated with between Israel and Iran through intermediaries. And so they want him to get the credit. But I was talking to one source who has actually reviewed these battle plans in the past and said,

One of the reasons why administrations haven't gone forward with it, one of the reasons, is because it's just incredibly difficult to verify due to the depth that that Fordow site is underground. We're going to be hearing from some military voices, including Pete Hegsa today, who's supposed to come out and talk. And so I think it was very difficult for previous administrations to

to decide what was actually the measure of success. And so you're seeing the White House struggle with that in real time, whether or not it was obliterated, severely damaged. We set them back months or we set them back years. You've covered Congress for a long time as well. I mean, what do you make of how they're responding to this? Well, I don't know much about battle planning or flying an airplane or any of that sort of stuff, but I do understand how words work in politics.

And the important thing to know is the only person who has said completely obliterated is the president. Every single other person, including Pete Hegseth in that press conference the morning after the strikes, the general at that press conference, John Ratcliffe in the quote that you just gave.

has not said those exact words, right? So we are kind of in one of these spin zones of how much do you want to believe, but what do you want to believe? But that basic idea of totally obliterated, that first word used,

That has not been repeated. And that's the important thing people need to look at when they think about war. We know how this works, that the government will try to sort of spin things up in their direction. Or make their case. But you have to listen to the words that they're using and really parse them out. And right now, nobody that I have heard is backing the president up 100%.

100% with what he said. - But I think that that may change at this press conference at 8:00 a.m. Obviously if Donald Trump is putting Pete Hegseth in this really high profile moment, really looking past all that signal gate stuff, because he felt that he did a good job yesterday in NATO when he-- - And Hegseth is using the term obliterated. - Yeah, when he really dressed down the press. And so we're gonna probably see that again, and you may see him adopt the language. I think it'll be interesting whether General Cain, who was probably the furthest away from adopting that language,

on Sunday adopted this morning. - Yeah, interesting. Group chat, stay with me. We've got a lot more to talk about today. Coming up on CNN this morning, House lawmakers are soon to be briefed on US airstrikes in Iran. Republican Congressman and former Navy SEAL Ryan Zinke is here with the questions he wants answered. Plus, closing arguments begin in the Sean Combs trial, why prosecutors are amending the case. And it's the hottest ticket in town. Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez

getting married in Venice, some Venetians are not happy with them taking over the city. As Venetians, we are sick and tired of seeing our city used as a landscape, as a background landscape for these sorts of multi-billionaires, private parties.

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And there is your sneak peek of the city of Venice. Wedding festivities are now underway for billionaire and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. His wedding to aviator and journalist Lauren Sanchez is expected to be a multi-day celebrity-studded affair with the average cost per person reportedly clocking in at $50,000. So for a bit of context, the average American wedding costs $33,000 total, like altogether.

Anyway, not a lot of detail about the schedule of events, but some Venetians say the nuptials are not welcome. Protesters going as far to say no space for Bezos in a city that already struggles with too many tourists.

This man is not welcomed in Venice, he's not welcome for this wedding, he's not welcome to rent a whole city with the arrogance that he's coming to. But this man is someone that we want to contest for what he represents, for the symbol that he represents of everything that is going wrong in this planet at this moment.

We've got Melissa Bell, CNN's senior international correspondent there in Venice. So what more can we expect today, protests or otherwise?

Protests, for sure, we've seen them these last few days, as you just said. In fact, what we understand is that one of the main events on Saturday actually had to be moved because protesters were threatening to actually throw themselves into the canals to prevent the guests from arriving by water taxi. But you're seeing some of these early live pictures here coming from Venice that you're going to see over the next few days. Because let's be clear, whilst everything's been shrouded in secrecy, we understand

This is going to be a star-studded event already spotted here in Venice. Gayle King, Oprah Winfrey, several of the Kardashians, also Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump. As to the exact details and locations, again, a great deal of secrecy you'll understand because of the protests. What we do understand is that one of the early events that's due to take place here tonight, the Madonna dell'Orto Church,

We can see people beginning to set things up. It's in a fairly remote part of Venice, so I guess they're hoping for a bit of privacy. We understand that it's inside the cloisters of this 14th century church that that opening bash is being set up.

But clearly they've had to be very careful about the details that are coming out of the wedding because of the opposition that we've seen already. A motley crew of protesters, those who are against the extreme wealth of Jeff Bezos and this extravagant wedding being put on right now when so many people are struggling. And then of course there are climate activists. There are a lot of people here in Venice who feel very strongly about

about the sort of Disneyfication, as they call it, of their city. The fact that there are too many tourists here all the time and that this wedding is unlikely to help, Bonnie. One other thing, I think we actually have a copy of the Bezos wedding invitation and it notes that he's donating a lot of money to the city in honor of his guests. I know protesters want him to pay taxes to have his wedding there, but is that sort of an acknowledgement of the concerns?

I think so. And I think what we've understood is that it is a number of organizations, charitable organizations, that have seen big donations to their cause. And these are organizations that specialize in the cultural architectural preservation of Venice. In fact, what we understand from that glimpse we've had of the invitation is that guests are being urged not to bring gifts.

and told rather that further charitable donations will be made to exactly those causes on their behalf. And I think that speaks to the understanding amongst the people around Jeff Bezos that there are concerns and that they needed to be addressed.

That's Melissa Bell, CNN senior international correspondent. All right, coming up on CNN this morning, far from home, more on the political tightrope. Alaska Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski details in her new book, walking a fine line between party loyalty and personal conviction. Plus, shifting focus, the president says the pilots who dropped the bombs on Iran are devastated. Today, his defense secretary will highlight them.

And these are live images from NASA. Axiom astronauts are minutes away from docking at the International Space Station. We believe we're going to be able to get this done and get it done by the deadline of July 4th. So we're moving that along. I've talked to a countless number of members and senators today, and we're working through the final details. And I'm convinced we'll get it to the point where everybody can be satisfied with it, and we'll get it done.

The so-called big beautiful bill is expected to come down to a party line vote. Alaska Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski is no stranger to being one of those tiebreakers. She's made a name for herself straddling party lines on everything from Supreme Court nominations to controversial legislation.

She's also out with her new book, which is called Far From Home. And in it, she details the struggles of being a compromise-minded senator in an increasingly polarized and MAGA-driven Republican Party. I spoke one-on-one with the senator about the sticking points in the president's spending bill.

People have been very interested in seeing Senator Hawley from Missouri sort of speak up on behalf of Medicaid, of all things. I wanted to put this to you because, again, thinking about that Tea Party period where people cared about like the fiscal hawks. It's not the fiscal hawks that seem to be leading the obstacles here. It's the people who are kind of defending a certain kind of spending, which is Medicaid. Help me square that. Like, is that still Republican? Yes. Yeah.

Is it a different kind of Republican? Yes. And I've had some good conversations with Senator Hawley about this because we're in the same camp in making sure that we don't see Medicaid cuts that harm the most vulnerable, right? But he has made clear, you've certainly seen it in his statements, and I don't want to put

words in anybody's mouth here, but the president has as well, that so many of the people that supported President Trump for president are people who are blue-collar,

lower income, for whom Medicaid is important to them. Many of these are red states where your Medicaid populations are very high, whether they're out of West Virginia or Alabama, in Alaska. And so,

Has it changed? Yes. But is there a real reason that you're seeing a focus on Medicaid right now from some of the more conservative members? Yes, because it has impact, significant impact on their constituencies. All right.

Are you worried people will turn to Medicare to look for cuts or changes to get to the math they want? So, you know, there are some areas, I think legitimate areas, within Medicare and Medicaid where we can look at and say, you know what?

That is a method that's being used that isn't equitable, isn't fair, and needs to be addressed. You put it in the legitimate account of waste, fraud, and abuse. And so when we say absolutely nothing can be done when it comes to Medicare, Medicaid, it limits your ability to really address some challenges that I think

by all rights should be.

In the eye of the beholder, obviously, my review of that is it looks like there's some gaming of the system there. It's challenging because of exactly what you've said. People don't want to know the details. All they know is what they've heard, which is, ah, you're going after Medicare. Ah, you're going after Medicaid. So this is why you haven't seen the, why you really haven't seen reforms.

all right we've got new episodes of the assignment including this one out now you can find it wherever you get your podcasts and after the break on cnn this morning question swirling inside iran about the whereabouts of the supreme leader he hasn't been seen from in publicly since before the ceasefire was with israel was announced just a few minutes ago we actually got a statement

Plus, former Navy SEAL and Congressman Ryan Zinke joins me what he wants to hear from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth today.

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Good morning, everybody. I'm Adi Cornish. Thank you for waking up with me here on CNN this morning. It is 6:30 a.m. here on the East Coast, and here's what's happening right now. The CIA citing new intelligence they say proves the U.S. severely damaged Iran's nuclear program and would take years to rebuild. This comes just one day after President Trump said the intelligence was, quote, "inconclusive." Secretary of Defense Pete Hexeth is holding a briefing in the next few hours.

Today, the Supreme Court is expected to issue new opinions on outstanding cases. While we don't know which or how many opinions will be released, there are 10 cases left, which include birthright citizenship, LGBTQ books in schools, and racial gerrymandering, just to name a few.

And soon closing arguments begin in the trial against Sean Diddy Combs. Prosecutors are no longer pursuing attempted arson and kidnapping theories. Those were part of the racketeering conspiracy charge against Diddy. So the jury is expected to begin deliberations on Monday.

And this just in, we are now hearing from Iran's supreme leader for the first time since the fragile ceasefire between Israel and Iran was announced. It comes as questions have been swirling about his whereabouts. The Ayatollah had not been seen or heard from publicly in nearly a week until just moments ago. It was in a statement published in Iranian state media, also on his ex-account,

The supreme leader declared, quote, "victory over the fake Zionist regime," and also claimed Israel's government, quote, "almost collapsed and was crushed under the blows of the Islamic Republic." Now, his supporters have filled the streets in Tehran following the ceasefire, echoing his claims of victory, even as one senior government official gave this cryptic response when asked how the leader is doing.

Many people are worried about the health of the Supreme Leader. How is he doing? This concern is a valuable one. We should all be prayerful. Those who are responsible for protecting and safeguarding the leader are certainly fulfilling their duties properly.

Joining me now, Holly Dagras, senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, also author of the Iranist newsletter. So we brought you on thinking like, where is this person? And now there's a statement. What do you make of that?

maybe how it was said, not so much the content. Well, I think the fact that it was just a statement and not a video or audio is very telling that this person is still in hiding in a bunker somewhere in Tehran, presumably. And so there have been some concerns about whether he would be alive or dead. And this is supposed to be a confirmation of that, though we don't have any visual of him.

Yeah. You know, there's been this question about the blowback and the fallout of this war with Israel. CNN reporting finding that they're growing fears of an imminent crackdown on reformists. And anybody kind of...

calling for any kind of change, and then people being accused of mercenaries of Israel. It's interesting because obviously Israel did have immense intelligence kind of dominance in this situation. But what do you make about how the regime is going after people now? Well, I think the

biggest worry amongst the Iranian people is that the Islamic Republic's going to be taking revenge on them and this is exactly what's starting to happen we've had over 700 arrests not even in the capital Tehran but other cities three have been executed

There's been prominent dissidents in Iran, activists like Hossein Arnaghi that have been arrested. We also have a dual Swedish-Iranian citizen that's been on death row for years, Ahmed Reza Dajalili, who is at risk of imminent execution. So we're going to be seeing a lot of this in the weeks and months to come. Is this because they do fear the threat of regime change? Obviously, they took a hit in terms of leadership.

but what do you make of sort of the concerns and hopes some have for regime change? Well, I would say much of the Iranian people want this regime gone. And I don't just say this at a personal feeling or anything, but this is what the Iranian people have been calling for years. Yeah, you pointed out multiple protest movements over the last decade. Yes, most recently, of course, the 2022 Women Life Freedom Uprising that didn't succeed in its push for positive change because it wasn't backed

by the international community. And so Iranians have been stuck with this regime. And now, even if they were to protest, they're going to be facing big worries, not just this major crackdown we talked about, but presumably mass executions, things we've seen in the 1980s.

So this is really worrisome for Iranians. It's interesting the Supreme Leader, they're saying maybe there might be video later today as we speak. He's also saying that the U.S. gained nothing from the attack. I do want to talk about that for a second because right now within the U.S., Donald Trump is trying to make it very clear that he has destroyed their nuclear capabilities and we haven't really heard anything out of Iran.

Well, as you noted, President Donald Trump has said that he has obliterated the program and we're still waiting on more intelligence assessments. But some of the preliminary findings are suggesting we actually have not obliterated the program, that they've moved the material. And I think the Iranians have publicly come out and said that they've moved their enriched uranium.

and so that's very worrisome that means if they really choose to rebuild their program they have that capability but of course we've noted that the Musaad has been treating Iran as a

their playground for years and more recently during this war they have on command of Iran's airspace and of course it seems like they have command of their ground to an extent so it is still worrisome that it it's not gone in its entirety but we'll have to wait for more of the assessments coming out of the intelligence community I'm the supreme leader might be making an appearance on on state media I don't know if we'll have that now but how important he's 86

Right, and people were talking about succession plans. But you've also talked about how the government in Iran is set up to protect its current regime structure. Sure, yes. So for starters, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is the longest reigning dictator in the Middle East at the moment. And he is the second supreme leader the Islamic Republic has had in its 46-year history.

And if he were to pass away or be killed, there is an 88-member assembly of experts that gets to decide succession. And they essentially operate like the College of Cardinals. So that's just to give you a sense about where that goes with the Supreme Leader and directions. There's rumors that he's chosen a successor, especially given the events of the past two weeks with the war. But of course, we won't know that until he passes away. All right.

All right, Holly Degris, we're going to have you back as we've talked about looking for indicators of regime change and other things. I appreciate your time. Thank you.

All right, I want to go back to that U.S. intelligence after the bombing of Iran's nuclear facilities by U.S. fighter pilots. Today, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth will actually hold a briefing at the Pentagon. President Trump says it is, quote, in order to fight for the dignity of our great American pilots. Now, this comes as he tries to shift focus from the damage done to the pilots who carried out the strike.

I got a call that the pilots and the people on the plane were devastated because they were trying to minimize the attack. And they all said it was hit. But oh, but we don't think it was really maybe hit that badly. And they were devastated. They put their lives on the line.

Joining me now, Colonel Cedric Layton, CNN military analyst. Colonel, what are you going to be listening for today? I mean, will it be significant if the president focuses purely on the people who carried it out, the service members who were there versus the intelligence?

Yeah, Lottie, good morning. I think that would be significant because the intelligence is the key here. Nobody is denigrating the pilots. Nobody has said that they did anything incorrectly or there was any malfeasance there. They did their mission. They did their job. So this is going to be interesting. It has the hallmarks of piloting.

potentially being basically one of those sessions where there's a lot of lambasting going on. But this is the key thing really is the intelligence. And one of the things we have to watch out for, I think, is whether or not they go beyond what was in the

parts of the DIA report that we have, whether or not they go beyond the statements that came out yesterday from the director of the CIA and the director of national intelligence that basically said that the damage was far more extensive than originally reported in the first

uh battle damage assessment that uh that we've seen so that's that's i think what we should we hope for we hope that there's a more substantive aspect to this and uh i'm looking for some hints uh that they have a more thorough bda analysis that's out there

You're referring to the battle, a damage assessment, and it's interesting, one of our panelists was saying, "Look, I don't know the details or how it works, but we know political language." Is this all about semantics? Is there a military kind of analysis difference between obliterated, very damaged, severely damaged? Are we reading too much into it, or are you listening to these terms as well?

- Well, I'm definitely listening to these terms, Audie. Obliterated is not a military term that is used in this context. So basically what they're looking for is various, in a military setting, when you do a battle damage assessment, you're looking for things like this,

object this target was destroyed or it was degraded to a certain percentage and they actually have percentages so for example let's say you get a an electrical power station how far uh... you know can it uh... how long will it take before it resumes

operation i has it been degraded to what percent has it been degraded how much power can it still transmit so that's the kind of thing uh that we're looking for so you know i've seen reports where they say things like it's been 50 degraded uh that's the kind of thing that we're looking at and uh you know absent those kinds of assessments uh we

really don't have a good handle on exactly what happened. And this is a difficult target. This is a challenge. There's no question about it. And it's basically how we can, you know, how the intelligence community can overcome these kinds of, you know, these kinds of challenges when it comes to the assessment and then conveying that not only to the White House, but also to the American public. That's Colonel Cedric Layton. Thanks so much.

You bet. Still ahead on CNN this morning is the president's massive legislation agenda going to get through Congress. Former Interior Secretary Congressman Ryan Zinke is here to talk about the state of that bill and what he hopes to learn from a classified briefing on the U.S. strikes in Iran. Plus more from the group chat after this. We've collected additional intelligence. We've also spoken to people who have seen the site, and the site is obliterated, and we think everything nuclear is down there.

All right, here's what we know. The CIA has released an assessment of the U.S. strikes in Iran. It paints a complex picture. CIA Director John Ratcliffe in a statement says the agency obtained credible intelligence indicating Iran's nuclear program has been severely damaged by the strikes. He did not provide details.

He also said that several key Iranian nuclear facilities were destroyed. President Trump has described the strikes as causing, as you heard, total obliteration of Iran's nuclear facilities. CNN has been reporting an initial analysis by the Defense Intelligence Agency says the strikes likely only set back Tehran's nuclear ambitions by a matter of months. That's also why members of Congress are demanding answers.

Donald Trump has a long history of distorting and putting his own take on U.S. intelligence assessments, regardless of what it actually says. And we are going to see in the days and weeks to come the truth and the reality of these reports and these assessments.

This afternoon, the Senate will receive a briefing on the attack, while the House is scheduled to get its own tomorrow. Joining me now, Republican and member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Congressman Ryan Zinke. Congressman, thanks for being here today. Great to be with you. Now, I have to be honest, you're also here because you're, of course, a former Navy SEAL, commander of SEAL Team 6. And there is this interesting thing happening where Trump is saying the fact that you are questioning

the results here means you're actually questioning the actions of the service members help me out is that how military people think no but it's a 13,000 pound bomb and as a seal we operated with what we call Doug's deep underground facilities and I can tell you when you put a 13,000 pound cheap charge on a facility just the overpressure nothing can survive that no person but also you know how do you confirm it

Because you likely have a contaminated site. It has nuclear material in there. Now it's uncontrolled nuclear material, you know, subsurface. So this has been a problem with Iran all along is they haven't been transparent. They don't allow inspections of sites. Even to go back and go into that site when it's probably likely contaminated would be, you know, a very difficult task.

But what I hear you doing is talking about the complexities of this and the questions. What I do not hear from the president is talking about complexities and the questions. He's saying that the act of talking about this is destructive to the mission, so to speak.

Well, I think some of it was because Donald Trump said it. There was pushback. Whatever Donald Trump says, there's always pushback. In this case, I'll go back to, look, this is a 13,000-pound bomb going into a bunker. It's not going to survive. That site is going to be destroyed. Now, the question is, well, did they move it? Did they not move it? There's also, you know, human, there is... Yeah, human intel. Human intel, but also signal intelligence.

What do the Iranians say afterwards? What do they say leading up to it? And we may actually hear from the Supreme Leader in just moments. Again, there was a statement today. But I think what's interesting is that you -- what I hear people responding to critics is the past. They recall what happened after Iraq or going into Iraq. They recall these past so-called forever wars and the intelligence reporting out of it, anyway, that led to it.

So, I mean, is it not fair to have skepticism? And is that what you hear from lawmakers who want to know more? I think there's always a hit like this in nuclear sites. Does it

prevent, does it stop? How long would it prevent Iran from redoing what they did in the past? And did they change their behavior? I think those are fair questions. Every time you hit a target, there's always an initial analysis, how bad. And then you have to look at the signal intelligence. What are the Iranians saying? What are they saying about it? What the chatter is? And all this gets kind of wrapped up into what actually happened. Our best assessment, is it 100%? Never.

Not unless you can confirm it. And you're not going to go back into those sites, I don't think, because of the contamination. But it's clear that if they did move it, there'll be another hole. Because we're not stopping. So what do you think the defense secretary has to say to assure the American people of what's going on here? I think at the end of the day, it's this. Is Iran going to change their behavior?

Is Iran going to continue to pursue enrichment of uranium? Is Iran going to continue to pursue a nuclear weapon? If they change their behavior, then the world will open up and it'll be a lot safer place. But if they don't change their behavior, the president has been very clear, they will not have a nuclear weapon. And if they moved it by chance, then there'll be another hole. And this will not stop because we will not allow

Iran to have a nuclear weapon no matter where it is. So it has direct implications, right? Absolutely. We don't just want to know because, like, we want to bother the president. We want to know because it has implications for further action by the U.S. or Israel. And it has to be confirmed.

And confirmation means transparency. It means opening up and allowing inspection of sites to the degree you can. Again, I don't think we're going to be able to go into that site again just because of the contamination. It's going to be a Chernobyl down underneath. But it is contained. And you are expecting to hear something from this intelligence briefing. I know some Democrats have complained that they were not briefed ahead of time.

of the military strikes, I have to say, just like as a voting person, I don't want intelligence to be partisan.

I think the key leadership was notified, but to have the general Congress be notified of specific strike details prior to, I think we've all seen how much of a leak process and how bad it is in the House. People just run in the media all the time. So I agree with that. Post-strike, I think there should be a briefing. Certainly Congress has a right to know.

what's going on and what the policy should be going forward. But again, does it change Iran's modus operandi? Is it going to change their behavior? If it doesn't, there'll be other holes.

I want to ask you about the president's agenda, the big beautiful bill, so to speak, which is making its way through the Senate right now. I notice you're getting a lot of praise for conservation groups for helping to get the provision out of the bill that would have sold public lands. And public lands did not get us into debt. No. And selling it's not going to get us out.

But, you know, public lands are a magnificent, probably the envy of the world in America. And whether public lands are in Utah or Montana or Maine, they belong to all of us. And all of us deserve a say on their highest and best use. And I agree, there are segments of land that probably should be looked at.

but affordable housing is tens of acres it's not millions of acres and there's a public process to it you know if every lawmaker goes and saves the thing they love in the end the math doesn't work like how do you get a bill that works if everyone goes and saves the thing that they love well I can tell you on this one America loves their public lands it's not even a close issue

And once you sell land, it's gone forever and God isn't making any more land. So the way I look at it is this, is that I represent Montana, but as a former Secretary of Interior, I understand the importance of having our public land and the outdoor experience for generations to come. And again, there's a process to it. When I was Secretary, I subtracted, I added, I exchanged land, but there was a process to it. Most of the West,

We're former tribal lands. And so you have to consult with our tribes. You have to make sure there's a public comment. So do you expect this bill to pass by July 4th or whatever this date is? I think it'll be close. It'll be interesting to what comes back of the Senate, whether or not the House will accept it. If it has public lands, it's problematic. And that's a poison pill, but it's not on me. It's on someone putting public lands into it. We got it out of the House.

It went over to the Senate. If they put it back in, it's going to be a poison pill. Okay. Congressman Zinke, thank you so much for being here. Always appreciate your time. Thank you.

Okay, it's now 55 minutes past the hour. Here is your morning roundup. More faulty citations plaguing RFK Jr.'s new vaccine advisory board at the CDC. A study slated to be the focus of their first meeting linked a vaccine preservative to consequences in the brain. It appears the study doesn't exist. The author cited says he never published that study. He did, however, publish a different paper under a different title, which came to dramatically different conclusions.

And popular dating app Bumble announced it is laying off 30% of its employees. The company says it will save $40 million a year to invest in technology development, boosting productivity. It's the latest warning sign that younger users are not that into online dating anymore.

And moments later, a private space crew docked at the International Space Station. The Axiom space mission marks the return to human spaceflight for astronauts. They're from India, Poland and Hungary, and they're expected to be in space for some two weeks. And the Dallas Mavericks select Cooper Flagg as the first pick of the NBA draft. The 6-foot-9, 18-year-old just finished his freshman year at Duke.

This is a dream come true. Things I've been dreaming about since I was a little kid. So to share this moment with people like that, my family first of all, and then Coach Shire, you know, it's incredible. There's no words I can use to describe it. Flagg is the second youngest NBA draft pick ever, second only to LeBron James.

And also this just in, we are getting video of Iran's Supreme Leader. This is the first time we're hearing from him since the U.S. attacked Iran and a ceasefire was put in place. It's important to note we do not know when this was filmed. I would like to congratulate the great nation of Iran

I want to congratulate them for a few reasons. First, I would like to congratulate them for victory over the fake regime of the Zionist regime. With all those claims that the Zionist regime were making,

they almost were crashed under the blows of the Islamic government.

All right, group chat is back. Bringing back Holly Dagris, we were just talking about this. Where is he now? We are seeing an image. We haven't verified the image. What are your instincts as you're watching it? Well, he looks exhausted and very worn out, and I would assume rightfully so, given the events of the past two weeks, this war.

I think it's noteworthy that they're showing his face. I think they wanted to make a point that this man is alive, that the Supreme Leader is still around because of a lot of the conversations on the ground, like the questions about where is he? Is he still alive? So I think this was like a signaling that the Islamic Republic is still alive.

functioning for the time being. Yeah. And Jasmine, I don't know to you, but the timing, the timing happens just when the Trump administration had planned to have their own kind of show and talk about this. Netanyahu in Israel is also dealing with a corruption trial that has resurfaced. Can you talk about the timing going into this week? Yeah. I mean, I think so much of what Iran is doing is also playing to their domestic audience

And so for the White House's perspective, they're constantly trying to figure out what is for the domestic audience in Iran and what is for them, what they should be responding to. And so I'm sure that you're going to hear the president respond to some of these claims potentially. Maybe we'll hear some at the 8 a.m. But they're constantly trying to sift through what they need to be consuming as they try to deal with this issue and what should be kind of left to the wayward for Iran and the Iranian people. Evan?

I think that this issue, when you're looking at this whole thing with Iran, it is just a fascinating time to see us all in America talking about this country again, talking about this region of the world again and what we're trying to do with it as our country is trying to engage with it. Today at 8:00, I'm quite fascinated to see how the White House will try to finally put this to bed. They clearly really care a lot about this moment and about how these strikes have been covered.

And I think that we're going to see today just what that's going to look like. Jerusalem, last word to you. I just think it's hard when no one in America wants to see this war. When after 9-11 there was a groundswell of frustration and anger from genuinely from the Democratic public that wanted to see action in the Middle East.

that's not where we are right now. Most people don't want to see, let alone boots on the ground, they don't want to see much more action in the Middle East, another forever war. All right. Thanks to the group chat. Thank you guys. And thank you for being with us. I'm Adi Cornish. We're going to have this news continuing with CNN News Central right now.

Hi, I'm Omar Jimenez, correspondent for CNN, and we believe that to understand the world, you need the truth. It's why we follow the facts every day, wherever they may lead. Follow CNN and subscribe at cnn.com forward slash subscription.