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Federal Workers Investigated For Attending Alex Pretti Vigil; Trump Targets Indiana Republicans; CNN Holds California Gubernatorial Debate; Iran Cease-Fire Still in Effect?. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired May 05, 2026 - 13:00   ET

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

[13:00:01]

DANA BASH, CNN HOST: The Department of Education says it's investigating Smith for -- quote -- "admitting biological men and granting them access to women-only spaces, including dormitories, bathrooms, locker rooms, and athletic teams."

College officials told CNN it is -- quote -- "fully committed to its institutional values, including compliance with civil rights laws."

Thank you so much for joining INSIDE POLITICS today.

Be sure to tune in tonight. CNN will host a California governor's primary debate. CNN's Kaitlan Collins and Elex Michaelson will moderate a special live event from Los Angeles at 9:00 p.m. on CNN or on the CNN app.

"CNN NEWS CENTRAL" starts right now.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth says the cease-fire with Iran remains in place for now, even though Iran has attacked U.S. forces more than 10 times since the truce went into effect.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Plus, in today's primary in Indiana, President Trump is aiming to unseat members of his own party after they refused his demand to redraw the state's congressional map. Now the president is testing how strong a grip he has over Republicans.

And sick, stranded, and possibly contagious. Health officials say the rare virus that killed at least three people on board a cruise ship in the Pacific may have jumped from person to person, a concerning development. We have new details on the hantavirus outbreak, as we follow these major developing stories and many more all coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

KEILAR: Tested, but holding. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth says the fragile cease-fire with Iran is still intact one day after Iran launched missile and drone attacks against the United Arab Emirates. That flare-up also included shots fired between the U.S. and Iran, as the U.S. began guiding ships out of the Strait of Hormuz.

The Joint Chiefs chairman, General Dan Caine, says Iran has attacked U.S. forces more than 10 times since the cease-fire went into effect, but he described the attacks as below the threshold for restarting major combat operations.

Here's President Trump moments ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

QUESTION: What do they need to do to violate the cease-fire?

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, you'll find out, because I'll let you know. They know what to do and they know what to do. We -- and they know what not to do, more importantly, actually.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: CNN senior national security reporter Zach Cohen is with us now.

Zach, tell us what you're learning here.

ZACHARY COHEN, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: Yes, Brianna, you heard from the president just then that essentially Iran will find out when he believes the cease-fire has been violated, which does echo what we heard from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Dan Caine earlier today at the Pentagon, both of them effectively saying that the -- what defines the threshold for violating the cease-fire, that is a political decision and one that rests solely with the president.

Now, for now, Pete Hegseth is saying today that, no, the cease-fire is not over, despite the fact that U.S. and Iranian forces traded fire just yesterday around the Strait of Hormuz. But take a listen to what Pete Hegseth said today as he tried to downplay that recent uptick in violence, as well as distinguish between Operation Epic Fury, those military strikes we have seen the U.S. carry out against Iran, and this new initiative where U.S. ships are supposedly guiding commercial vessels through the Strait of Hormuz.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETE HEGSETH, U.S. DEFENSE SECRETARY: The cease-fire is not over. Ultimately, this is a separate and distinct project. And we expected there would be some -- some churn at the beginning, which happened. And we said we would defend, and defend aggressively, and we absolutely have. Iran knows that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COHEN: So, Hegseth was very intentional about characterizing this initiative to shepherd commercial vessels through the strait as defensive in nature and temporary, obviously trying to portray it as separate from the U.S. military operations that we have seen carried out against Iran over the last several weeks.

Now, that is ultimately a political decision, as I said, one that will be decided by President Donald Trump if and when he feels that Iran has crossed that threshold. But Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Dan Caine saying today that Iran appears to have already violated that cease- fire on at least 10 occasions, attacking U.S. forces in the region, as well as attempting to seize two commercial vessels as well.

He said that he would characterize the fire from Iranian vessels as -- quote -- "low, harassing fire from small arms." But those small arms and those small attack boats still do pose a threat to vessels that are trying to transit the strait.

And, so far, we have not seen any significant change in the flow of traffic there, despite Donald Trump announcing this new initiative just the other day.

KEILAR: All right, Zach Cohen, thank you -- Boris.

SANCHEZ: Let's go now live to Islamabad, Pakistan, where CNN's Nic Robertson has been tracking the latest on not only this shaky cease- fire, but also where talks are right now.

[13:05:08]

And last we heard from you, Nic, it was Iran that was set to respond with a proposal to the United States. What's the latest there?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, we don't know if that's actually been handed over to the mediators yet. It was certainly a work in action overnight in the early hours of last night, which coincided with pretty similar timing to when Iranian officials said that they hadn't attacked the UAE.

That may beggar belief. And, of course, the president will have had access to satellite and other information, intelligence information about whether or not Iran was responsible. The mediators here will have had their own satellite intelligence information about whether Iran was responsible or not.

The commander in chief, President Trump, clearly here has chosen to blink. And the impression it creates is to keep that talks process on track. And that was something that really Secretary Hegseth gave an understanding of when he gave an explanation to one question that came up in that press conference earlier today.

Then he explained the attacks out this way. He said, sometimes, the actions of the IRGC go against the wishes or the bounds, outside the bounds of what the negotiators want, really creating that sense that the people that President Trump is trying to talk with, the foreign minister in Tehran, the speaker of Parliament in Tehran, are something aside and separate to the IRGC, who are, of course, the hard-liners here.

But the backdrop to that, of course, is that the hard-liners are there. They retain their power. The Security and Foreign Affairs Committee inside of Tehran yesterday essentially smacked the foreign minister there's wrist, if you will, for not being strong and tough enough.

And the commander of the IRGC navy has warned again late today that any ships that don't get Iranian approval to try to go through the Strait of Hormuz will be targeted. So, the tension exists, remains.

SANCHEZ: Yes, no doubt.

Nic Robertson, live for us in Islamabad, thank you so much for that update.

Still to come: They are Republicans who defied the president, and now he wants them to pay for it. We're tracking what's at stake in some of today's primaries.

Plus, a CNN exclusive: the Department of Veterans Affairs investigating employees who attended a vigil for Alex Pretti, the VA nurse who was killed by federal immigration officers.

And, later, an outbreak at sea, new details on how the hantavirus may be spreading on board a cruise ship, a way that is unusual for that virus.

Much more coming up on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:12:15]

SANCHEZ: The stage is now set.

These are live pictures from the side of CNN's California governors debate set to kick off in just a few hours. Tonight, five Democrats and two Republicans will try to convince voters they're the best person to lead the most populous state in the nation and the fourth largest economy in the world.

While Democrats are virtually assured to get the majority of votes in next month's primary, that doesn't mean they will end up on the ticket in November. Remember, California's primary is a nonpartisan free-for- all, meaning there's a chance the five Dems could split the vote, leaving two Republican candidates as the top finishers.

Let's go live to the debate site now in Monterey Park with CNN's Kyung Lah.

Kyung, what are you going to be watching for tonight?

KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: What I'm going to be watching for is, if that scenario you just laid out, Boris, the idea, the horrific idea for Democrats in this state that they get shut out of the primary and -- they get shut out of November and they don't make it past the primary.

That is what I am looking to see, if a Democrat is able to sort of lurch into a prominent position because of this debate. Right now, that's not happening. Now, the chances of Democrats being completely locked out, that fear, that nightmare scenario seems to be dropping every single day as Democrats start to become aware of what's happening. But what you're going to be looking for, if I can show you what the

stage is going to look like, part of that hysteria -- and I'm going to just call it hysteria, because in talking to Democrats here in California, they are very worried about it.

The center position is Steve Hilton. The reason why he's in the center is that he is currently polling highest, according to the latest polling. To his right is Chad Bianco. And then you can see the Democrats across the stage.

From left to right, it is Antonio Villaraigosa, Katie Porter, Tom Steyer, over to the right is Xavier Becerra and Matt Mahan.

Now, again, I just want to underscore this, is that the chance of any Democrat not making the November ballot, that fear is dropping every single day. But there's a lot of confusion, in part -- and this is what I just got in the mail. This is my mail-in ballot. It's this.

This is what the governor ballot looks like. It's where this orange is. You can see the number of candidates here, and then you got to flip over, and it just keeps going. So there's a lot of names. If you are looking for someone, it's a little bit of a "Where's Waldo?" because you have to keep looking.

And so there's a lot of confusion. A lot of folks are wondering, can a Democrat consolidate any sort of blue energy in the state and really get that supercharged here at tonight's debate, Boris?

SANCHEZ: Yes, it'll be an opportunity now for them to distinguish themselves.

[13:15:00]

Kyung Lah, live for us in Monterey Park, California, thank you so much for that.

Be sure to tune in tonight. This special event hosted by Kaitlan Collins and Elex Michaelson kicks off at 9:00 p.m. Eastern/6:00 Pacific. You can also watch it on the CNN app -- Brianna.

KEILAR: We're also following a handful of primary races for state Senate in Indiana. These typically low-profile contests are anything but this year.

And that's because President Trump is weighed in here. He is backing primary challengers against seven state senators who voted against his congressional redistricting plan, which denied him the potential of gaining Republican seats in November from this state. And with those pickups gone and Trump's disapproval rating hitting a record high, the White House appears to be concerned about the potential for Republicans to lose the House in November.

Sources telling CNN White House attorneys have been holding private briefings with top administration officials about potential congressional investigations under Democrats.

Let's talk about this now with Jeff Mason, who is White House correspondent for Bloomberg.

Really interesting to take a look at Indiana...

JEFF MASON, WHITE HOUSE AND WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT, BLOOMBERG NEWS: Yes.

KEILAR: ... and these Republicans who resisted this redistricting pressure from President Trump and Republicans. And they're facing primary challenges.

How is that playing out in this race?

MASON: Well, I think the big thing here is to test whether -- how much control the president still has over his party at that very local level at a time when his popularity is coming down.

He's, of course, being tested by concern about the war, concern about gas prices, broad approval ratings that have gone down in the last several months and during the second part of -- well, I guess second year of his second term. So I think that's the test.

And it's interesting that it's playing out on this very local level, because, as you rightly said, he's intervening and giving his endorsement to these primary challengers in races that otherwise we probably would not be sitting here and talking about.

KEILAR: And Ohio's a little bit about that too, right, the Senate race, certainly, because you have Sherrod Brown, who he's actually pretty popular.

MASON: Yes.

KEILAR: But, in 2024, he lost his Senate seat, because that's a tough year when you're up against President Trump.

MASON: For sure.

KEILAR: Now he's going for the other Senate seat. Does he really have a shot here as he's taking on the incumbent, Senator Husted?

MASON: So it's important to note that Ohio has definitely become a very solid red state. When you were covering the White House with me a while ago, years ago, it seems like now, we used to go to Colorado, we used to go to Ohio, we used to go to Florida because those were swing states.

Ohio is less and less of a swing state now. That said, Democrats think that this is one of their chances to maybe get back control of the Senate, and he is a popular candidate, even though he lost his last election.

KEILAR: It's a shame because I like visiting Columbus.

MASON: Yes. Columbus is great.

KEILAR: Great, great town. A lot of great towns in Ohio. Love going to those cities.

At this point in time, Democrats have this five-point advantage on the question of which party people favor when it comes to the House. That's actually up from a two-point edge they had in February and October, according to this week's "WaPo"/ABC/Ipsos poll.

How's the White House thinking about this?

MASON: Oh, I think they're stressed about it. I mean, they're certainly stressed about the midterms.

The president likes to dismiss the concern about fuel prices, but it is real. And you're seeing that reflected in the fact that he's beginning to do more political events. He's doing a little bit more of the political travel that he had -- he was going to do, he had planned to do over the last eight weeks that then got jettisoned by the fact that he's been focused on this war.

So Democrats have a -- they have an advantage going into the midterms, as they would any year or any time in an off-year election. And the party that's out of power almost always has that advantage. But they have done really well in all of the off-year elections. We will see if that happens today in Michigan, for example, as well.

But a lot can also change between now and November.

KEILAR: I was traveling this weekend. I was in Texas and I was just listening to conversations around me. And it was clear that people, as they're talking to their relatives, that's like the first thing they're saying. It's like, hey, Barbara, what's gas in your state?

MASON: Yes.

KEILAR: That's the kind of -- you won't believe it, cousin so-and-so. It's like six -- it's six bucks there. That's what they're talking about.

So we're also learning that you have the White House preparing for potential investigations. And it's -- of course they are, right?

(CROSSTALK)

KEILAR: If Democrats take over the House, they're going to see this. I mean, how are they looking at that? How do we think that might play out?

MASON: I mean, it makes sense that they would start preparing for it. Number one, it's going to change his presidency entirely, because, right now, he's got control of both houses. And that was his key to getting the Big Beautiful Bill passed and otherwise preventing any of the kind of oversight that Congress normally has the role of doing.

But the Republicans, as I don't need to tell you or your viewers, have not been standing up to President Trump from the -- from Capitol Hill. That all changes if they lose the House, certainly if they lose both the House and the Senate. And they're getting ready. They're getting ready for it, certainly investigations, possibly impeachment.

Those are all things that will be on their list of things to get ready for.

[13:20:00]

KEILAR: Jeff Mason, great to get your analysis. Thank you so much.

And still ahead: A Veterans Affairs employee says she was targeted by the VA after she attended a vigil for Alex Pretti. The exclusive new reporting, as sources tell CNN she was not the only employee that the VA looked into.

And then later: An explosion rips through a fireworks factory and kills dozens.

Stay with CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:25:00]

SANCHEZ: Today, CNN is learning several employees for the Department of Veterans Affairs were the targets of internal investigations after sources say they attended vigils for Alex Pretti and interacted with the press.

Remember, Pretti, a VA nurse, was shot and killed by immigration officers during a protest in Minneapolis in January.

KEILAR: After his death, one VA employee went to this memorial in Georgia and spoke with a CNN affiliate on camera. And shortly after the interview aired, she was told the VA was investigating her.

CNN's Brian Todd has this exclusive reporting.

Brian, tell us what happened here.

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Brianna, Boris, this lady's name is Becky Halioua. She is a recreational therapist at the Charlie Norwood VA Medical Center in Augusta, Georgia.

On January 28, four days after VA nurse Alex Pretti was killed, Becky went to a vigil for Pretti outside that VA facility. Becky is the president of the local chapter of the union the American Federation of Government Employees. That union and two other unions helped organize the vigil.

Now, while she was there, Becky did a short interview with a local TV station, CNN affiliate WRDW. Here's what she told the station.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BECKY HALIOUA, RECREATIONAL THERAPIST, VETERANS AFFAIRS DEPARTMENT: It's scary for me to think about a fellow VA employee being murdered by the same government that they work for. That's terrifying for me. (END VIDEO CLIP)

TODD: Now, Becky says she made it clear at this event she was not speaking on behalf of the VA when she said that.

A few days later, though, Becky Halioua learned that an internal investigation had been launched into whether she violated VA rules regarding employee interviews with the news media. As part of the probe, she says she was asked if she had gotten authorization to speak to the media from the VA's public affairs arm.

She was e-mailed photos of herself, she says, at the vigil, photos from the news coverage. And, on those photos, she says someone had drawn a line around her image in the photographs and labeled her name, which she says gave her an uneasy feeling.

Now, the VA rules state that employees who are not authorized to speak officially on behalf of the agency need to refer the media requests to their administration communications office. And the rules say anyone not authorized to speak on behalf of the VA needs to make it clear that they are speaking in a personal capacity.

Becky Halioua says she made it very clear she was not speaking on behalf of the VA. She says she did not coordinate with the agency because she was very careful about not speaking on behalf of them. And also, because this vigil was off the VA campus, she attended it in her off-hours and she did not wear her VA badge or any clothing with a VA logo on it.

Here is what she told me about the investigation:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TODD: Why do you believe the VA investigated you?

HALIOUA: I think that it's a scare tactic.

But, truthfully, I don't intend to do much different. I intend to continue speaking up. I don't intend for this to stop me in any way. So, if that was their intention or their thought behind initiating it, they were sorely mistaken.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TODD: We contacted the VA for a response to Becky Anderson's claims.

VA press secretary Quinn Slaven said he could not comment, citing privacy concerns. He said -- quote -- "Privacy laws prevent VA from publicly discussing specific details about its employees without their written consent."

He did not address CNN's more general questions about the VA's media policy and how often it conducts these types of investigations. Also, Becky Halioua is not alone in this. Several sources familiar with the matter tell CNN that at least three other VA employees have been investigated for their interactions with the press, including at least one other related to an Alex Pretti event -- Boris, Brianna.

SANCHEZ: Has Becky Halioua been disciplined for this?

TODD: She says the VA has found in its investigation that she did violate VA policies regarding speaking to the media, which she denies doing. She says that they have told her, as a result, her boss is going to go over the rules with her.

She is pressing her bosses on whether there is any discipline, any other discipline forthcoming. We're going to keep tabs on that, whether that happens.

SANCHEZ: Yes, let us know what comes next.

Brian Todd, thanks so much for that reporting.

TODD: Thank you.

SANCHEZ: Still ahead: the cost of the war with Iran, Americans now paying 50 percent more to fill up their gas tanks than before the conflict started.

A breakdown of the numbers -- when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)