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Rep. Gabe Amo (D-RI) On Pentagon Update As U.S., Iran Trade Attacks In Strait Of Hormuz; Child Safety Lab Launching "Independent Crash Testing" For AI Tools; Primary Day For Indiana Republicans Who Defied Trump On Redistricting. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired May 05, 2026 - 07:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL)

[07:30:30]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: We are standing by for an update from the Pentagon on the war with Iran and that should be starting very soon, as there are also very real questions about how the ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran is holding, and if it is, how much longer it can hang on.

Shots fired anew yesterday. The two sides trading new attacks all of the Strait of Hormuz now, which has meant the rollercoaster with the world's oil and gas markets continues. Oil prices are -- have been down, falling slightly this morning but still have been above and are $100 a barrel.

The U.S. began helping guide ships through the strait just yesterday. Some reports of ships making it -- there have been some reports of some ships making it through, but shipping data still shows there is no major increase in traffic, which means what for the future of it all?

Matt Egan is here with us now. Matt, what are you watching right now?

MATT EGAN, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Well Kate, look, another day, another four-year high for gas prices, right? A gallon of regular now selling for $4.48. This is the highest level since July of 2022. It's exactly $1.50 above where gas was selling just before the war started. Now, not nearly as high yet as that all-time Biden era record of $5.00 a gallon but yes, some analysts do fear that we could get there if the Strait of Hormuz does not reopen soon.

And keep in mind that during the president's first term in office gas prices were never above $3.00 a gallon. Now well above $4.00 a gallon.

And some states are seeing especially big price hikes just in the past month, right -- $1.09 more expensive in Ohio. Nearly $1.00 more expensive in Michigan -- Indiana as well. This is all in just the past month. I mean, you could go a whole year without seeing price hikes like that and these states are seeing it in the past month.

And Gas Buddy estimates that just since March 1, Americans are spending $24 billion more on gasoline. Now some of that is seasonal, right? People drive more as the weather warms up. But most of it is the fact that prices have just gone up so dramatically.

Now the good news, relatively speaking, is, as you noted, oil futures -- they have cooled off a little bit, right, down two percent on the day. I think there's some relief that the ceasefire overnight has appeared to hold up. There were some real concerns about whether or not that was going to happen.

But look, $104 oil -- I mean, that is not cheap. Before the war started, we were looking at $65 oil, so this is just dramatically more expensive. You can see the trend. These are oil prices so far this year. There's this big spike when the war started.

And the CEO of Chevron -- he was out warning that this situation with the Strait of Hormuz -- that this could be potentially as big as the energy shocks back in the 1970s when there was fuel rationing and long lines at gas stations. And he said that these shock absorbers in the system, right -- inventories, emergency stockpiles -- they're shrinking. And he warned that eventually we could start to see physical shortages.

So look, the clock here is ticking to try to get this situation resolved.

BOLDUAN: Absolutely is, that's for sure. Just take a look at that number right now.

It's good to see you, Matt. Thank you so much.

EGAN: Thanks, Kate.

BOLDUAN: Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Thank you, Kate.

And joining me now is Democratic Congressman Gabe Amo of Rhode Island. He serves on the House Foreign Affairs committee. Thank you so much.

Jumping off of what you just heard about how expensive gas has gotten and there is an analysis by oil analysts saying that $5.00 a gallon gas on average could happen this month if the strait isn't opened. I'm sure your constituents have something to say about this, but what do you think the U.S. should be doing here to deal with this?

REP. GABE AMO (D-RI) (via Webex by Cisco): Well, I'm here in Rhode Island. It's a district work period and I'm spending my time with my constituents who are feeling the pain of Donald Trump's war of choice with Iran.

Trending towards $5.00 a gallon of gas nationally -- that's a problem. That's causing real pain. That's exacerbating pain that Trump has brought forth through his horrendous tariffs and through his blatant disregard for the high cost of living that his policies have cost. And so essentially, we need to see action to end this conflict -- this

war of choice that the president really has no political solution for. He's got billions of dollars for bombs but not money for the health care of my constituents, and that is a problem that we need to address immediately.

[07:35:00]

SIDNER: A couple of questions here -- that there's going to be a Pentagon briefing in just a bit here and we'll take that live when it happens.

First, what is your sense of where the war is right now at this moment with Iran? And second, what are some questions that you want answered by the Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth?

AMO: Well look, I anticipate this morning we're going to see the secretary really tie himself in knots trying to explain where we are. The fact of the matter is the president has said I don't know if the ceasefire is still on. They are undertaking these really incendiary and problematic tactics that will call for more bombs.

You've seen Sen. Lindsey Graham suggest that we should be going on a larger campaign. That again does not solve the problems of the American people.

And so from a political standpoint there isn't a clear resolution in sight and Iran has, indeed, more resolve than before. We don't have an ability right now to stop them from continuing their nuclear program. They control of the strait and American taxpayers are paying the price. They're footing the bill and they're paying higher prices. So we need answers on how there will be an endgame in this war of choice from Donald Trump.

SIDNER: Back in March, about 120 of your Democratic colleagues in Congress demanded answers for something else, and that is the U.S. military's bombing of a school in Iran that killed 168 children and 14 teachers, which happened in late February.

Have you gotten any answers as to how and why that happened? Have things become more clear in any way?

AMO: No, it hasn't become more clear. I was one of those members joining that correspondence and we need clear answers. The fact of the matter is the president and the secretary of Defense keep demonstrating that there was no clear plan. That while they had military tactics, they did not have political solution.

And that results in the American people having questions and feeling the brunt of these actions with what they're paying at the grocery store and what they're paying at the gas pump. And that is unfortunately something that the president and the secretary, and the entire administration refuse to address. This is not a point of pride for them. They are causing pain and they should be ashamed.

SIDNER: Look, I know this is not your state but in California you have a lot of Democrats vying for governor. There's a debate here at CNN tonight at 9:00. The party is being viewed in California and from outside as messy, undisciplined, even weak. Kind of a microcosm of sort of the overarching feelings about Democrats.

I am curious from you what you make of what has come out in The Guardian. They just put this out and they put it this way in one of their op-eds. It says, "Democrats are counting on Trump's unpopularity to save them. It won't. yes, Trump might carry them to victory in the midterms, but he can't carry them much longer, especially not in the 2028 elections."

So what must Democrats do to change that?

AMO: Well certainly, we must acknowledge the chaos and the cruelty of Trump. But I agree with the point that we have to have an affirmative and positive agenda for the future, and that includes lowering costs but making it possible for people to have a better life. To have a pathway to home ownership. To have their children have educational opportunities to deal with both the threats and the opportunity posed by AI.

So again, Democrats are putting together his vision, and I hope to be focused on how I make the lives of the people in my district in Rhode Island better, and that's the most important thing that we can be doing.

SIDNER: Congressman Gabe Amo, thank you so much for joining us this early morning -- appreciate it -- John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. This morning a new push to make artificial intelligence more safe. The new testing and research lab Youth AI Safety Institute says they want to "crash test AI tools for children and teenagers."

With us now is CNN's Clare Duffy. So what are they going to do here?

CLARE DUFFY, CNN TECH REPORTER: Well John, this is going to be an independent lab for researching and testing AI products. Think the big foundation models but also companion chatbots, educational tools. They are really modeling this on independent vehicle crash testing where they're hoping that by putting out transparent public information comparing these big players that they will be incentivized to make safety changes here.

And they've brought together this really all-star advisory board to lead this effort. Former Apple AI chief John Giannandrea, chair of Stanford Engineering School's Computer Science Department Mehran Sahami, Dr. Jenny Radesky, who directs University of Michigan's medical schools' behavioral pediatrics division. These folks are all working with Common Sense Media, which is a nonprofit --

[07:40:02]

BERMAN: Sure.

DUFFY: -- that millions of parents already use for their safety ratings of movies, social media, video games.

But their thought is that by standing up this standalone research institute to look at AI safety, especially for young people, they can address some of these really problematic things that we've seen. In particular, AI tools encouraging young people to commit suicide or be sort of separated from their friends and family.

So the plan here is to red team these popular AI tools, essentially stress testing them for potential risks or gaps in their safety guardrails. They're going to publish consumer-friendly guides for parents and families.

And ultimately, they want to develop safety standards of benchmarks that they're hoping that these big tech companies will incorporate into their development because many of these AI companies already use benchmarks to compare and measure their progress on other metrics. They are hoping that by creating these independent standards, they will do the same for youth safety.

I spoke with Dr. Jenny Radesky who is on this advisory board, and she said the goal here really is to address some of the problems that we saw with the social media era where people just didn't move fast enough to acknowledge these risks.

She told me, "The design of social media and other technologies really impacts what potential harms might occur to kids. We're trying to act faster so that the designs of AI can be shaped more around what kids need."

And that is really the hope with this institute.

BERMAN: A Common Sense Media model might be a good one there. I know a lot of parents regularly check with them before seeing a movie or reading a book, or something like that.

Great to see you. Thank you so much for that report.

DUFFY: Thank you.

BERMAN: Kate.

BOLDUAN: So an investigation is underway in Washington after a man allegedly opened fire at Secret Service agents and wounded a child in the process. This happened yesterday. It was near the Washington Monument. And the Secret Service says that the officers returned fire and wounded the suspect. He's now in custody and said to be in stable condition. Much more to it, though.

CNN's Brian Todd has the latest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: According to the Secret Service, the shooting incident occurred roughly around 3:30 p.m. Eastern time on Monday when the suspect, according to Matthew Quinn, deputy Secret Service director. He said the suspect was spotted near the White House complex, which is just down that way a couple of blocks beyond those trees. According to Matthew Quinn, the suspect was spotted near the White House complex with what Quinn called "a visual imprint of a weapon."

The suspect then fled this way -- coming up this way. This is 15th Street in the district -- coming up toward Independence Avenue where we are here. At this point, according to Matthew Quinn from the Secret Service, the suspect withdrew a weapon and fired at officers. The Secret Service officers fired back, engaged him, and wounded him.

Also though, according to Matthew Quinn from the Secret Service, there was a bystander who was hit in the crossfire. The bystander is a juvenile. That's all we know about the identity of the bystander. But Matthew Quinn says that person has non-life-threatening injuries. I was separately told by an official with the Metropolitan Washington Police that the suspect -- that the bystander suffered a graze wound and has non-life-threatening injuries.

But this is where the scene ended -- where the suspect was actually shot at by uniformed Secret Service officers and wounded right about there.

Matthew Quinn, from the Secret Service, says that shortly before this incident occurred Vice President JD Vance's motorcade was traveling through this intersection. Vance was in the motorcade. And I asked Matthew Quinn if this could be interpreted at all as a possible attack on the motorcade. He said, no, he did not believe that was the case.

But you did have a shooting here with a suspect who was identified with a weapon. He was first spotted by plain clothed Secret Service officers near the White House complex. He fled on foot briefly, then withdrew his weapon and fired at officers. And he was hit right about this area and wounded and transported to the hospital.

Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SIDNER: Our thanks to Brian Todd and his team there.

Also, an enormous and deadly explosion in China killed at least 26 people and injured dozens of others. You can see that thick plume of smoke rising from a plant in Hunan province. It happened in a city known as the "Fireworks Capital of the World" and it was, indeed, a fireworks factory that exploded.

This is the aftermath after that explosion. Chinese state media reports a shockwave from the blast shattered windows in nearby buildings. Search and rescue operations are ongoing at this hour.

At least one top official with the fireworks company is in police custody but the cause of the explosion is under investigation -- John.

BERMAN: It is Election Day in America -- in Kate Boldaun's America no less. President Trump going hard to topple Republicans he does not like. And then a family makes just a terrifying discovery in their basement

after they noticed their food was going missing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARK GREGORY, FOUND STRANGER LIVING IN BASEMENT: She went further into the closet and that's when I saw her eyes get really big. And she starts to back out and she says, "There's someone in there. I see their leg."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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[07:49:20]

BOLDUAN: It is a big day for the Midwest. It's primary day in both Indiana and Ohio. And in Indiana it's the first major test of the president's retribution threat against members of his own party. You may remember last year Republican state senators there rejected pressure coming from the president and the vice president as they voted against plans and a push for redrawing their congressional maps to benefit the -- to benefit Republicans in the state, like many other states have done.

Republicans in Indiana -- they rejected this push. And then today, seven of those Republican lawmakers are now facing Trump-backed challengers in races where Trump's allies have now spent millions of dollars.

[07:50:05]

The president back in December, laid it out like this. "Every one of these people should be primaried," he wrote, "and I will be there to help."

Joining us right now is Pete Seat, a former spokesperson for the Indiana Republican Party. It's good to see you, Pete. Thanks for being here.

So one of the Republicans being targeted is Jim Buck, and he put it this way to NPR. "We've never had Washington meddle into our elections like they have this time."

How big of a test do you see this as for the president's demand for loyalty and threat of retribution? You're very plugged in there.

PETE SEAT, FORMER SPOKESPERSON, INDIANA REPUBLICAN PARTY, FORMER WHITE HOUSE SPOKESPERSON, GEORGE W. BUSH ADMINISTRATION, VICE PRESIDENT, BOSE PUBLIC AFFAIRS GROUP (via Webex by Cisco): Well, the expectation game is in full swing this morning, Kate.

Supporters of the incumbents have set their over-under at 4 1/2. They think that anything less than five incumbents falling is a sign that they were right all along about that redistricting vote and that the president and his team -- his allies -- wasted a lot of time, energy, effort and dollars that could have spent -- been spent elsewhere like in Virginia.

Then you talk to supporters of the challengers and their over-under is 2 1/2. They think three or more challengers prevailing is a great success for their side and proof that they were right to take on these campaigns.

But what's been so interesting to me is how little redistricting has been talked about on the campaign trail. Redistricting, of course, is the catalyst for --

BOLDUAN: Right. How is that? That's the whole reason that these -- that all this money has been pouring into Indiana.

SEAT: Yeah, but it goes back to the conversations you and I had as this was all heating up and the vote was taking place, and that is voters weren't focused on redrawing the maps. They were, in fact, calling their senators and saying don't do it. We oppose this. We do maps the right way in Indiana.

So it was the catalyst. It got President Trump involved. It goes these challengers to sign up and run. But even these challengers will tell you -- they said it on the record to other media outlets when they're going door-to-door voters are not bringing up redistricting organically. It's just not a topic of conversation.

Instead, they have widened the aperture. They're using the tried and true primary messaging of hey, these incumbents are insufficiently conservative. They're out of step with the president's agenda and you need to turn them away.

BOLDUAN: How does a win look for Trump -- or what does a win look like for President Trump, do you think, in his retribution campaign versus the other? My point being if these incumbents win does that mean that Republicans in Indiana are thumbing their nose at President Trump?

SEAT: No. I don't see it that way. I don't -- I don't see Hoosier Republicans thumbing their nose at the president or telling him to take a hike as it were. Rather, I would see them, if that happens -- if a significant number of these incumbents are successful today, I see them saying, "Mr. President, respectfully, we appreciate your endorsement, but we know these state senators better than you know them and we want to return them to the Indianapolis State House for another four years."

I don't really think that this is about Trump in that sense. This is about affirming the votes that those state senators cast opposing redistricting.

On the other hand, if the president is successful, if challengers are successful, that 100 percent is because of the Trump endorsement. In most cases these challengers were little known. They've never run for office before. A couple of them are in city or county office but they don't have a state Senate district-sized base of support. The president's name, the money coming in from out of state, the grassroots support that has been flown here to knock on doors -- that will make the difference for them if they win. BOLDUAN: Yeah. It will be also 1) interesting always to watch any Indiana election because it's fascinating and fabulous what's going on in Indiana at all times -- unbiased -- and -- but also, it will be also fascinating and important to watch the president's social media this evening as polls close in Indiana.

It's good to see you, Pete. Thank you as always -- Sara.

SIDNER: All right. Thank you, Kate.

Dolly Parton is giving fans a rare update on her health, but what's wrong still unclear. She told fans she was going to have to cancel her Las Vegas residency over lingering health challenges.

[07:55:00]

The country legend says she is responding well to treatments but that she's still healing and she's just not quite ready to hit the stage.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DOLLY PARTON, SINGER-SONGWRITER: Just think of me as like an old classic car that once restored can be better than ever.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: She is a fabulous old classic car.

The 80-year-old singer did not say exactly what she's suffering from, but she said that her immune system and digestive system have been out of whack for the past three years. Parton says that everything she has is treatable. Thank goodness. She is a treasure.

All right, the World Health Organization now believes some human-to- human transmissions may have happened onboard that cruise ship hit by a hantavirus outbreak. The virus typically spreads through infected rodent dropping; not person-to-person. So far, at least three people have died, and two other cases are now confirmed. The ship remains off the coast of West Africa with nearly 150 people onboard.

Now, in Arkansas, stranger things. A family spooked. They knew something weird was going on at home when food started going missing and chairs were rearranged. They started the search and the daughter was the first to enter the basement to discover a man living there.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GREGORY: She went further into the closet and that's when I saw her eyes get really big. And she starts to back out and she says, "There's someone in there. I see their leg."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: Yikes!

The man told the family he was homeless and deputies soon arrived to arrest him. He had spent one night in the family's crawlspace then entered the basement and stayed for another night, making a makeshift bed there.

Once they learned of his reasons, the family responded this way.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DUTCH HOGGATT, FOUND MAN LIVING IN BASEMENT: We're not angry at this man. I feel sorry for the man. It just -- I'm glad we figured out there was somebody living in the house because this could have gone on for much longer than it did.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: Now the family noted that the stranger just took items like food and clothing but didn't take anything valuable -- John.

BERMAN: All right. This morning a new study finds that a floating garbage pile twice the size of Texas might be creating new problems for the climate, bigger than realized. Airborne microplastics from the Great Pacific Garbage Patch appear to be absorbing sunlight and contributing to global heating.

With us now CNN chief climate correspondent Bill Weir. So Bill, what's going on with this?

BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT: Well, we've been worried about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch since we heard of it. This is this -- it's not visible to the naked eye but massive -- 600,000 square miles in the Pacific that's sort of held together by these gyres -- these ocean currents that herd them into one area.

It's over almost two trillion pieces of plastic individually and a lot of folks have been worried about it entering into the food chain through fish. It impacts on human health to come in contact with the plastic, you know, on a tactile basis.

But now this new research looks into the global heating effects of even the tiniest pieces of plastic. And it turns out that the small, colored bits of plastic the size of a -- of a pencil tip in some ways -- can absorb 75 percent -- or 75 times more heat from the sun. So imagine the black t-shirt you wear on a sunny day -- it's a lot hotter than a white one -- as it absorbs that heat. Well, this is also accelerating global heating in small way.

There's some debate among scientists as to which is the bigger threat. These nano plastics getting into our bodies, into our systems, organs, and brains -- the health affects of that -- or the bigger cumulative effect of this global heating right now. But these chemicals -- they climb up the chain up to us in human form in various ways now.

But this is the latest there to talk about really the hidden impacts of plastic products. All the packaging in our lives. There's just gigatons of this stuff entering into the oceans on an annual and decade basis that just accumulates and doesn't break down. It can take centuries for, say, a Lego to break down in seawater. So this is a problem that is long to build and will take a long time to clean up.

BERMAN: And when you see the Great Pacific Garbage Patch -- I mean, something of that size with so much plastic in one place -- you can get a sense of the impact that it must be having.

Bill Weir, thank you very much for being with us this morning and sharing with us that report.

A brand new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

SIDNER: All right. We are standing by for a Pentagon briefing set to begin any moment now as the fragile U.S. ceasefire with Iran hangs in the balance. This will be the first time we hear from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth since the two sides began trading new attacks in the Strait of Hormuz.

American allies in the region are also facing new attacks.