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Hegseth Says the Ceasefire is Not Over; U.S. Stabilizing Situation in Strait; Melanie Mason is Interviewed about the California Governor's Race; Primary Day in Indiana and Ohio. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired May 05, 2026 - 09:00   ET

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

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[09:01:04]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: The breaking news this morning, the ceasefire holds. That announcement from the defense secretary. Despite all kinds of shooting over the last 24 hours between the United States and Iran. Why he suggests that this fighting does not count toward that fighting.

The World Health Organization now says some human-to-human transmission may have happened on the cruise ship hit with a deadly hantavirus outbreak. One hundred and fifty passengers stranded on board.

And a small plane goes down in a neighborhood, crashing right into a building.

I'm John Berman, with Sara Sidner and Kate Bolduan. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: The breaking news this morning and this hour, the ceasefire is still in effect. That is the word from the Pentagon today. And that is despite the fresh round of attacks by both the U.S. and Iran that we've seen in the Strait of Hormuz. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, he spoke moments ago at a briefing on the war. He was joined by Joint Chiefs Chairman Dan Caine, also there to brief reporters. The chairman -- the Joint Chief's chairman said that since the ceasefire was announced, Iran has fired nine times at commercial vessels, seized two container ships and attacked U.S. forces more than ten times. But the Pentagon says all of that still remains below the threshold, in their view, to restart major combat operations.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETE HEGSETH, DEFENSE SECRETARY: No, the ceasefire is not over. Ultimately, this is a separate and distinct project. And we expected there would be some churn at the beginning, which happened. And we said we would defend and defend aggressively. And we absolutely have. Iran knows that. And, ultimately, the president's going to make a decision whether anything were to escalate into a violation of a ceasefire.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: The defense secretary also said the new U.S. push to help guide commercial vessels through the Strait has proven successful. He points to two U.S. ships transiting the Strait yesterday. One hundred ships ish per day, though, crossed the Strait before this war began.

Still, Secretary Hegseth says this proves, in his words, the lane is clear.

CNN's Alayna Treene is live at the White House for us this hour.

Alayna, what else do we hear and what does it mean for this war?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, there were three main takeaways from that briefing, Kate, that I think we got a little bit more clarity on. One is, of course, Hegseth coming out and definitively saying, no, the ceasefire is not over. That is far more definitive language than we heard from President Trump yesterday, who really dodged that question as we saw the U.S. and Iran exchange fire. And Iran, of course, attack U.S. allies in the region, specifically the United Arab Emirates, hitting one of their ports.

I think what they were really trying to make clear here is that the ceasefire remains intact and that that fire exchange, what we heard Hegseth refer to it as a different project, referring to Project Freedom, you know, the president's push to guide ships through the Strait of Hormuz. What that tells me is that all of the conversations that we have been having with our sources here at the White House, Kate, about how the president still wants diplomacy to prevail, how they are still pushing and hoping that a deal could be had before resuming full out war, more combat operations, that is still the priority here. Of course, we'll see if that changes, but that was what we heard the Pentagon maintain.

Another very interesting thing is about the war powers and the deadline. You know, we've heard a lot of people in Congress who said that they saw May 1st as that 60 day deadline from when the war began to when the Trump administration really needs to seek approval from Congress to see the war continue.

Hegseth maintained that given they believe the ceasefire is still intact, essentially the clock on that has stopped ticking.

[09:05:00]

Listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETE HEGSETH, DEFENSE SECRETARY: Ultimately, with the -- with the ceasefire, the clock stops. If it were to restart, that would be the president's decision. That option is always there. And Iran knows that. And that's why, you know, the -- their choices in Project Freedom are important. The president retains the opportunity and the capabilities, more capabilities than we had at the start of this to restart major combat operations if necessary. (END VIDEO CLIP)

TREENE: So, yes, kind of essentially asserting that the Trump administration does not need to seek approval from Congress at this point, but that they could have that conversation in the future should the ceasefire not lead to a diplomatic negotiation and really saying that it is in the president's hands on that point.

So, giving a little bit more clarity here, though not sure that's exactly the answer we know many lawmakers were hoping to hear, Kate.

BOLDUAN: Alayna Treene, great to see you. Thank you so much.

Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right, thank you so much.

Joining me now, a retired lieutenant general, Sam Mundy, and a former commander of U.S. Marine Corps Forces Central Command, and CNN global affairs analyst Kim Dozier.

First to you, Lieutenant.

I do want to ask you about this separation that we heard from Pete Hegseth, who says, look, we're going to restart the flow of commerce in the Strait under umbrella of Project Freedom, which is separate and distinct from Project Epic Fury. And he went on to say, "we are not looking for a fight."

What does the language tell you? And can these two things be separate and distinct, as we are sitting here and the ceasefire is currently in place?

LT. GEN. SAM MUNDY (RET.), FORMER COMMANDER, U.S. MARINE CORPS FORCES CENTRAL COMMAND: Yes. Thanks, Sara.

I think there is a distinction with a difference here. One is clearly focused on opening the Strait. The other is on trying to drive Iran to, you know, a little bit more pliant position in terms of its negotiating tactics. So, there could also be some thought here given to the situation that -- where the negotiation -- or the blockade must continue even after the Strait is open. So, we don't want to give Iran any opportunity to say, oh, both of these are linked. And so, if one goes then both goes. It's that sort of thing. So, I think that's, to me, what this says is that the blockade will continue.

It also probably has something to do with other countries that may want to join the Strait of Hormuz effort. For example, we heard overnight that South Korea, I think, is reconsidering its participation in the Strait of Hormuz. And so, keeping these two separate would enable, you know, other countries to join in.

SIDNER: Asia is really hurting from the lack of oil and gas because they use quite a bit of it that comes through the Strait of Hormuz.

I do want to let y'all both listen to what Pete Hegseth said about other countries. Kim, I'll have you listen to this and respond at the other end.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETE HEGSETH, DEFENSE SECRETARY: This is a temporary mission for us. As I've said before, the world needs this waterway a lot more than we do. We're stabilizing the situation so commerce can flow again. But we expect the world to step up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: Now, Kim, you know, we all know they did not go to the world, so to speak, to sort of try to get them on board before taking up this war. But they have been repeatedly trying to get, you know, different countries to now help with the Strait of Hormuz. What are your thoughts on what you heard there?

KIMBERLY DOZIER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Yes. No one wants to join this mission until they're sure they're not going to get shot at or have a shoulder-fired missile fired at them from the Iranian coast. So, we're going to see, in the next few days, if this is working. The market, the owners of the ships will judge whether this red, white and blue dome, as Hegseth has described it, really is going to keep their multimillion dollar ships and cargo safe enough to pass through. But even so, this might let a lot of those ships out that have been waiting on the inside of the gulf to leave. But is this going to restore free flowing traffic back and forth? It is a first step, but it's a narrow channel. And now the Pentagon has laid down a challenge to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, saying, we're going to make this safe for these ships to pass, basically daring them to do something.

The chairman of the Joint Chiefs even said Iran has been grasping at straws with its southern attacks. They're going to want to prove that wrong.

SIDNER: I do want to ask you, Lieutenant General, about how difficult this is. We heard the defense secretary saying that two U.S. ships have already transited through the Strait with the help of a couple of destroyers that protected them.

[09:10:06]

How difficult is it going to be to try and do this safely if Iran's, as you heard Kim there say, is completely not into this and may attack whatever tries to go through?

MUNDY: It will be a lot -- whole lot more difficult when they're, you know, during active conflict, you know, such as what we saw yesterday, of course, as opposed to today. As I understand it, it's relatively quiet over there. So, that -- that's pretty obvious, I think, to everybody.

So, let me just back up and say, you know, in the intervening weeks since the ceasefire took place, CENTCOM has undoubtedly postured forces, has completed its plan and probably rehearsed it, maybe not physically, but they've tried to make this as squeaky clean and as squeaky tight as they possibly can. And so, you know, from a, you know, the U.S. side, I think it's safe to assume that they can execute this mission with the capabilities that have been provided to them. It's been characterized as a defensive mission. And so far, I would say that's largely held up.

I'm, frankly, pretty pleased with the restraint that U.S. forces have been able to show. So, it's difficult, but there are a couple of things in favor of the -- of the operation. One is that this route that is south of the normal traffic separation scheme, the one that hugs the Omani coast, is as close to Oman and the United Arab Emirates, of course, the southern side of the gulf as you come into it through the Strait as you can possibly be. So, that gives a little bit more standoff time to react to Iranian attacks against it.

It also means that these small boats that are appearing in the news, the six or seven, according to some report that we heard overnight that were destroyed, that were taken care of by U.S. forces, you know, they're going to have a lot longer run to get across and they're essentially going to be coming into the teeth of the defense.

So, I think those are some things that speak to how this could possibly work in our favor. And this dome that everybody's talking about, the multi-domain dome, layered with intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance assets, stacked with aircraft, both strike aircraft, as well as helicopters, such as the ones that were used in yesterday's provocations. This is going to be, you know, a total joint effort, but it's one that CENTCOM seems up to -- up to providing.

SIDNER: All right, retired Lieutenant General Sam Mundy and Kim Dozier, thank you both so much for your analysis this morning.

John.

BERMAN: All right, it is debate day in America. The California part of America. We are standing by for the big CNN debate with the leading candidates to be the next governor of California.

Secret Service agents shoot an armed man just blocks away from the White House.

And then decoding the secret meaning behind the gown worn by Lauren Sanchez Bezos at the Met Gala.

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[09:17:53]

BERMAN: All right, we are standing by for a major CNN event, a debate tonight to be the next governor of California. The leading candidates all take the stage.

With us now is "Politico's" California bureau chief, Melanie Mason.

Great to see you this morning.

You are living this, right? We got a month basically before the open primary in that state. So, what will you be looking for as these seven candidates take the stage tonight?

MELANIE MASON, CALIFORNIA BUREAU CHIEF, "POLITICO": I'm going to be looking for sort of how ready to go all these candidates are. Because you're right, it's a month before the primary but I just got my ballot in the mail. I mean, in some ways, voters are voting right now. And so, it's game time. And I think what I'll be watching is how much particularly the Democratic candidates are willing to engage with each other.

You know, in this top two primary, it's weird sort of the strategies of who's going to want to go after who. But I think the real question is we're watching Xavier Becerra have this sort of ascendancy up the polls really out of nowhere. And do any other Democrats want to engage with him and take him on?

BERMAN: Secretary Becerra, you say, has been ascending in the polls, particularly since Eric Swalwell dropped out amid that, of course, major scandal there. How and why has he been emerging?

MASON: You know, this is, in some ways, kind of a testament to slow and steady wins the race, right? I mean Becerra had been running this race and not really getting very much traction, but he's a known quantity both to sort of the establishment figures here in California and also the voters because he was in Congress, he was the state attorney general, he was the health secretary under Biden. So, I think his ability, quite frankly, to hang in there and outlast what have been all of the crazy twists and turns of this debate, I mean of this race, not least of which is what happened with Eric Swalwell. I think when, you know, the Swalwell thing really shook everything up, Becerra was able to sort of take advantage and say to all of these political players, like, hey, maybe I'm not quite so risky. Maybe you can take a chance on somebody who is a little bit more tried and tested. Maybe there won't be any more surprises, like we saw with Swalwell. And so, I think just his durability has served him very well here.

BERMAN: How are the candidates trying to position themselves between President Trump and outgoing Governor Gavin Newsom?

[09:20:04]

And how are, particularly the Democrats, trying to distinguish themselves from each other?

MASON: You know, in some ways this race really is sort of -- among Democrats at least, who can be the most anti-Trump. And I think part of that is because they're looking at the current governor, Governor Newsom, and seeing how successful that has been for him, at least among Democratic voters here in this state. And so, we're seeing a real tight bear hug among the Democrats towards Gavin Newsom, giving him very high grades, even on issues like homelessness, for example, or the high cost of living in the state. Issues that I think he probably struggles a little bit more on with voters. But they see that a real combative attitude towards the president really resonates with liberal-leaning voters out here.

And so, I think in some ways it's been a contest of who can be meaner to the president. And at the same time, speaking to the issues that are going on here in the state that have really nothing to do with the president. Things like the cost of living and homelessness, which have far predated President Trump's tenure. And so, it's a balancing act of how much do you make this race about Trump versus how much do you make this about the day-to-day issues going on in the state.

BERMAN: And just finally, Tom Steyer, you know, a billionaire with a lot of money, he's been pouring a lot of it into the campaign, what kind of traction has he been able to get?

MASON: Well, look, money matters, particularly in a state like California where it is so expensive to run a race. And so, I do think that his sort of endless cash reserves absolutely have made him a top- tier Democratic contender.

But there's also a question of, does money matter, you know, so much. I mean, he has spent so much money that in some ways there's a sense of, is there a saturation point? He's been sort of steady in the polls at around 15, 17 percent. And it doesn't necessarily seem like his additional spending is pushing him further up in the polls. So, I do wonder if all of these Steyer ads that voters are seeing, are they starting to tune them out? Is it all starting to become background noise to the voters?

BERMAN: Melanie Mason from "Politico," up early to speak with us. And you'll be up late tonight watching this debate, no doubt, to see what twists and turns it means for this campaign. Thank you so much for being with us.

And everyone can watch the CNN California gubernatorial debate, moderated by Kaitlan Collins and Elex Michaelson. That's tonight at 9 p.m. Eastern, 6 p.m. Pacific. And now California's favorite, Sara Sidner.

SIDNER: It is primary day in another state, Kate's great state of Indiana, and LeBron James and Steph Curry's great state of Ohio. In Indiana, a first major test of President Trump's ability to take political revenge on members of his own party.

You might remember last year, Republican state senators there defied the president, voting against plans for redrawing their congressional maps to benefit the GOP, like other states. Trump said, at that time, quote, "everyone should be primaried." And he basically kept his promise today. Seven of those Republican lawmakers are facing Trump- backed challengers.

Joining me now is CNN chief national affairs correspondent Jeff Zeleny.

Let's begin in Indiana, which is being watched very closely. Why is this so significant?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Sara, good morning.

I mean it seems like a very long time ago, certainly in the redistricting wars. But Indiana was front and center in all of this. And you'll recall late last year Republicans in the Indiana state senate rejected the White House's request, rejected the president's request to redraw the maps. That, of course, sparked anger from the president, and he vowed to mount primary challenges for all of these -- for seven Republican state senators. So, that is what is unfolding right now.

Voters are voting as we speak in Indiana. And these are state senate primaries. These are something that normally are very much local affairs. This time they've become anything but that. There have been millions of dollars in advertising being spent against some of these senate candidates. And we will see what the outcome is this evening.

I mean the big question here is, are Republican voters really thinking back to that redistricting effort, or are they focused on gas prices? Are they focused on the prices of diesel, fertilizer for farmers and others? So, this is going to be one of those many metrics that we look at all year long to see if the president is holding together his coalition of supporters, or if he's not.

So, the White House is paying very close attention to these Indiana state senate races. It's not for control of the Indiana state senate, but it's to save face, if you will, for the president. So, we will see if all seven of these races, effectively fall together or not. Both sides are likely to win some and perhaps lose some. But for the president, he has put so much of his resources and a political muscle behind this. It will be fascinating to see if some Indiana voters are casting their votes on things other than this retribution.

SIDNER: Yes, I'll give you a good sense of how people are feeling about the presidency and their own lives.

ZELENY: Right.

SIDNER: Give us some sense of what races you think are important, that people really will be watching in Ohio.

ZELENY: Well, Sara, there is no doubt that Ohio is going to be one of the central states of this midterm election campaign.

[09:25:05]

Now, of course, Ohio has been trending red over the years, but it is the primary campaign to challenge Democratic Representative Marcy Kaptur in the toledo area that has our interest today, a very, very, very competitive Republican primary for that. Marcy Kaptur is one of the longest serving Democratic women ever to be elected and serve in Congress. She's running for her 22nd term in Congress. Republicans today are choosing the candidate to run against her. There's a variety of candidates, but one, of course, who has attracted a lot of interest is a former top adviser to former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. Immigration has been front and center in that race. But again, what happens in that primary is going to determine if Marcy Kaptur is able to win in the fall.

But again, all eyes will be on Ohio. They're also having a primary for the senate and governor's race. So, again, for the next six months, like it used to be, a lot of eyes on Ohio.

Sara.

SIDNER: Jeff Zeleny, really do appreciate it. Thank you so much.

Kate, it is election day in America. Your favorite. Your favorite.

BOLDUAN: I mean, unbiasedly, best primary day of the year because Indiana's voting.

Let's turn to this. Something that is not exciting, but very important here.

SIDNER: Scary.

BOLDUAN: I mean, exciting in the good sense. This is very important though. News, regardless. There's news that's developing in this hantavirus outbreak that's still unfolding at sea aboard this cruise ship. Health officials now say that they do suspect that some human- to-human transmission could have occurred. We have more details coming in on this ahead.

Plus, there's also new reporting that the White House is now considering new government oversight over A.I. Even possibly vetting A.I. models before they're released to the public.

We'll be right back.

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