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Axios Reports, U.S. and Iran Closing in on One-Page Memo to End War; Trump Gets Payback on Indiana Republicans Who Defied Him; Now, Manhunt for Tennessee Special Forces Veteran Accused of Shooting Wife. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired May 06, 2026 - 07:00   ET

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

[07:00:00]

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking overnight, President Trump's vengeance on Republicans in Indiana worked. Candidates he backed defeated at least five incumbent state senators who broke with Trump over redistricting. What does it tell us about November's midterms?

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Major new developments on the cruise ship hit with a deadly outbreak of Hantavirus. Three passengers evacuated, and now a new fight is brewing over where the ship will be allowed to return to land.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: A car chases a child down a sidewalk. Seriously, no joke, and it gets weirder and scarier from there. What the woman told police once she was picked up.

I'm Kate Bolduan with Sara Sidner and John Berman. This is CNN News Central.

BERMAN: And we do have breaking news this morning. Brand-new reporting just out on what could be progress in talks with Iran. It is in Axios from CNN Political and Global Affairs Analyst Barak Ravid. It says that White House officials believe, quote, the U.S. and Iran are closing in on a one-page memo to end the war. That's according to two U.S. officials and two other sources briefed on the issue.

The deal would reportedly involve Iran committing to a moratorium on nuclear enrichment, and the U.S. agreeing to lift its sanctions and release billions in frozen Iranian funds. And both sides would agree to lifting restrictions around transit through the Strait of Hormuz. Again, this is just reporting so far, and based on what White House officials believe, where they believe it is headed.

But the markets are all over it this morning, reacting very quickly and in a big way. The benchmarks for oil prices fell significantly. And this all comes after a sudden reversal from President Trump pausing the two-day-old U.S. operation to guide ships through the Strait of Hormuz.

Look, you can see right there, West Texas crude down 12 percent, and that's just in the last hour or so. He paused Project Freedom, President Trump did, though Iran's state media is framing the move as proof that the U.S. failed to achieve its objectives.

The president's announcement came just hours after Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that the U.S. combat mission against Iran, which they were calling Epic Fury, is now over. So, Epic Fury's over, Project Freedom is paused, and maybe some progress in talks.

Let's get right to CNN's Alayna Treene at the White House this morning for the latest. Good morning, Alayna.

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John, as always, as we have learned with this coverage of the Iran war, things change very quickly, and it was fascinating to watch not only Rubio, but we also saw the Pentagon, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth yesterday morning coming out saying the ceasefire is not over, very much trying to tout this new Project Freedom that the president had pushed forward, trying to guide ships through the Strait of Hormuz. Then Rubio later essentially saying, as you mentioned, John, Epic Fury is over, and that the administration's full focus was going to be on Project Freedom and trying to reopen the strait.

Well, just hours after they had made those comments, the president came out and said this. He said, based on the request of Pakistan and other countries, I'm going to move on a little bit here, and, additionally, the fact that great progress has been made toward a complete and final agreement with representatives of Iran, we have mutually agreed that while the blockade will remain in full force and effect, Project Freedom will be paused for a short period of time to see whether or not the agreement can be finalized and signed.

Look, I was chatting with some of my sources overnight, and, essentially, what they told me was that the president and the Trump administration did get positive feedback from the Pakistanis that the Iranians were moving closer to a compromise.

I think we need to be very careful, though, when we hear this optimism, of course, not only from the Pakistanis, but also from the president. We have heard this many times before. I'd remind you that a big part of why the president was going to send the vice president, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to Pakistan for a second round of in- person talks was because they were hoping to sign some sort of memorandum of understanding, some sort of, you know, framework that they could use moving forward.

[07:05:08]

But then we saw the president at the last minute cancel not only one round of second -- planned second talks, but two. He did it two times. It also comes as we know that Project Freedom, despite what the president had been saying, I mean, we saw a lot of pushback and escalation due to those moves and a lot of, you know, turmoil in the markets in response to that.

And so I think we have to be careful with where we are headed. But I will say I think part of the reason this was paused is because of what I'm hearing from my conversations with people in that building behind me about the positive feedback from the Pakistani mediator. John?

BERMAN: Just going to have to wait and see at this point. One thing is clear, though, Project Freedom, which everyone, the secretary of state and defense and president were touting yesterday, that's on pause, and we'll try to figure out why.

All right, Alayna Treene, thank you very much. Sara?

SIDNER: All right. Thank you, John.

Breaking overnight, President Trump making it clear in Indiana it is still his Republican Party. The president vowed revenge against seven Republican state senators who defied his demands last year to redraw Indiana's Congressional maps. Tuesday, he got that revenge. Five of those seven incumbents were defeated in their primaries by Trump- backed challengers. Just one Trump-endorsed candidate lost. Another race still remains too close to call.

The president's allies flooded Indiana with $13 million in advertising this year in the state's Senate primaries. Compare that to the $280,000 spent in 2024 on state Senate primary ads in Indiana in all races combined.

The sweeping victories for the president are a major boost to his sinking poll numbers nationally and a warning signal to Republican lawmakers about what could happen if they defy him.

CNN's Arlette Saenz joins me now. It was a big night for the president and those people who he backed. What are you hearing this morning?

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Sara, President Donald Trump got the political revenge he was looking for in Indiana last night. These state legislative races typically fly under the radar, but the president's allies poured millions of dollars into the state to make good on his wishes to defeat those state Senate Republicans who had defeated his redistricting effort in the state.

At least five of the seven state Republican senators who voted against redistricting were defeated by Trump-backed candidates. Only one has survived so far. That's State Senator Greg Goode of Terre Haute, Indiana, and there's one race that is still too close to call between State Senator Spencer Deery and Paula Copenhaver. Deery last night defended his votes against redistricting. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STATE SEN. SPENCER DEERY (R-IN): I swore that I was going to lead by principle and strong conservative principles. And the idea that the government should be able to draw new maps any time it wants, not after a census, takes power from the people and gives it to the government, and that's far from conservative. And so there was never any question.

But I also overwhelmingly heard that my voters didn't want it. They didn't want me to do it, and so that only reinforced me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAENZ: These election results could potentially embolden Republicans in other states as they are pursuing redistricting efforts. We have really seen a slate of southern states try to push forward on redrawing Congressional maps. One of the states we're watching quite closely is Louisiana, where the state's governor actually delayed the U.S. House primaries in order to give the state legislator more time to redraw those maps.

But these results in Indiana really showcase President Donald Trump's grip on the Republican Party. His approval ratings nationally are failing, but it shows that he still has significant sway within conservative circles, something to watch heading into these consequential midterm elections.

SIDNER: All right. Arlette Saenz, thank you so much for your reporting there. Kate?

BOLDUAN: So, this manhunt in Tennessee, the Special Forces veteran that police say is on the run now after shooting his wife. Investigators are looking at, well, we'll show you, this grainy photo for clues this morning. We've got much more on this manhunt for you coming up.

And gas prices jumped again, about above now $4.50 a gallon on average today. The, quote/unquote, nuclear option that President Trump could try to bring that price down.

And a suspected drunk driver chasing a child down a sidewalk with their car, what happened here?

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BOLDUAN: There is a situation unfolding right now in Tennessee that is wild, scary, and super sad, a manhunt underway for a man accused of shooting his wife. Investigators are searching for 53-year-old Craig Berry, a Special Forces veteran who police say disappeared into the woods after pulling a gun on his wife during an apparent domestic dispute.

This happened in Northwestern Tennessee, which is near the Kentucky state line. The Stewart County Sheriff says that a trail camera has captured, and we're showing to you here, this blurry photo of a man in camouflage after the shooting, who they believe to be the suspect. Authorities say that he is a retired soldier who deployed to Iraq four times.

Police believe he's armed, carrying extra ammunition, and they are not ruling out the possibility that he's receiving help from someone.

Berry has been on the run since early Friday. That is when police responded to a 911 call from his injured wife at their home, and the sheriff says now the weather and difficult terrain are complicating the search. [07:15:05]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FRANKIE GRAY, STEWART COUNTY SHERIFF: We believe he's armed now with not only a handgun, but an automatic rifle. He's going to use the terrain. He's going to stay away from populated areas.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Joining me right now is CNN Senior National Security Analyst Juliette Kayyem for more on this.

This is really wild, Juliette. I mean, his military background, the sheriff had described him as having extensive survival skills, and then this challenging terrain, as they describe it. What do you make of the challenges posed here in this manhunt, and what do investigators have working in their favor, because it seems a lot is working against them right now?

JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: That's exactly right. I mean, the way you think about this is what kind of skills does the does the criminal, does the husband have, and then are those skills benefited by the terrain? And in this case, he has extensive skills from his military history. We'll get into that in a second. But the terrain is unforgiving.

This part of Tennessee is sort of known, you know, as a very difficult terrain of forestry and ability to hide. What we don't know is two things. We don't know -- you know, he's been out of the service for ten-plus years. We don't know sort of, you know, how much -- how many ties he has to that kind of training, how skilled he still is. A decade is a long time. And the second thing we don't -- we simply don't know is what kind of weaponry he continues to have because he went after -- because he tried to kill his wife.

We would generally believe that he's not a threat to the rest of the public and is just hiding out and trying to sort of buy time until he can escape somewhere else.

BOLDUAN: Because I was going to ask you that. I mean, the sheriff is talking quite a lot about how he is armed, his extra ammo with him. And you said that the public needs to be vigilant and keep their doors locked. How big is the search area at this point if they're talking about being so close to the largest undeveloped stretch of forest in the Eastern United States?

KAYYEM: That's right. So, the search will be wide, and the goal is just capture, right? At this stage, they're on a literal manhunt right now. There's no suspect -- they're not suspecting there's going to be more crime. So, this isn't sort of one of those large mass shootings where the killer then we don't know where he is and he may do another.

So, you know, in the good news bucket, you have that. But, obviously, there is concern in the community, and that's what I, you know, wanted to talk about as well is, like we talk about gun violence or just violence in America as sort of impacting the victim or the victim's family. But what we're starting to see and what's starting to be measured is sort of this, what we call the social impact of violence in America, which is the ripple effects this has on communities that may not even be direct targets.

So, in this community, the schools had to close down. People are being told to lock up. Remember that incident in Maine a couple years ago where people were under lockdown for three days? You had that in Boston after the marathon. It's those social consequences of violence in America, we just have no idea sort of what its impact is over long- term. And it could be a while.

This is one -- you know, I generally think in urban areas, someone gets caught relatively quickly. There's too many cameras. This is one where we might be waiting a few days.

BOLDUAN: Juliette, thank you so much. I really appreciate it. Sara?

SIDNER: All right. Just ahead, let's take a quick look at stock futures at the moment. Markets are in the green this morning, possibly up because there's renewed hopes for a deal with Iran to end the war. Markets in Asia jumped overnight on those positive headlines as well.

But investors aren't just focused on the war. Huge earnings profits from some major tech companies are also sending futures higher this morning. We are keeping an eye on all of it for you.

But, ahead, we've got more. President Trump said his new ballroom would be paid for by private donors and himself. So, why is Congress asking for a billion dollars in taxpayer money for it?

And the tense moment that cleared the benches at the Red Sox-Tigers game. Yes, John is watching.

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BERMAN: Big time teams show up in big time playoff basketball, and OKC, they didn't even need their best to beat the Lakers overnight.

Let's get to CNN's Andy Scholes with the latest playoff action. Good morning to you, sir.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Yes, good morning, John. So, you know, the Lakers, big underdogs against the defending champs in this series. And LeBron, he had played 1,920 games in his career coming into last night. This was the first game in one of his teams were an underdog by more than 15 points.

But the oddsmakers, they definitely had it right. Chet Holmgren catching the alley-oop here in the second quarter, he had 24 points, 12 rebounds. Thunder were up eight at the half. Reigning MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, he scored just 18 points, which was his lowest output since the West Finals last year. But the Thunder defense was just relentless. They held Austin Reaves to 3-16 from the field. LeBron did score 27, but the Thunder were able to take game one, 108- 90. The 90 points, the lowest output for the Lakers this season. They sure could use Luka, but still no word on if or when he will play this series with that injured hamstring.

All right, Pistons meanwhile hosting the Cavs in game one of their series. Fourth quarter, James Harden, he went on a 9-0 run by himself. The game would be tied at 93.

[07:25:01]

But from there, the Pistons just took over. They finished the game on an 18-8 run. Detroit would take game one by a final 111-101.

The Stanley Cup playoffs, meanwhile, the Avalanche just continue to live up to their name. Colorado scored another five goals in their win over the Wild in game two. The Avalanche, they've now scored 14 goals in the first two games of this series, which is the most since the Calgary Flames back in 1988. They are up 2-0 over the Wild now.

Finally, in baseball, the Red Sox hit back-to-back home runs off Tiger starter Framber Valdez last night. First, it was Wilson Contreras then Wilyer Abreu came to the plate and hit one.

Well, then Valdez, watch what he does. He's going to come up and in and hit Trevor Story. Story had some words for the catcher and the umpire. The Red Sox, they come on the field understandably upset. Valdez said afterwards it was not intentional, but Tigers Manager A.J. Hinch didn't sound very sure. He said they play a really good brand of baseball, but that did not feel like it.

Valdez was ejected from the game. And, you know, Berman, this comes after Valdez last season, many thought he crossed up his own catcher when he was on the Astros because he was upset during that game. So, we'll see what happens here. Probably a suspension coming his way, but this is just another incident where Valdez not making his team look very good.

BERMAN: No, he's plunked his own team, and now he plunks the other team. And you can usually tell if the pitcher doesn't raise any objection at the time. I mean, he looked like this thing was absolutely where he meant to put it, and it may be what the Red Sox need to turn their season around, I have to say. They looked energized for the first time in weeks last night. Andy. Thank you very much.

BOLDUAN: Do you need to recuse yourself from these stories, though?

BERMAN: You know, I was working last night, and I may or may not have been watching on my computer during major breaking news. But, hey, I'm just saying.

BOLDUAN: You are -- let's just let everyone know, he is a master multi-tasker.

BERMAN: It was, absolutely.

BOLDUAN: So, you can do all of the above. Just as I'm sure you're still thinking about the game as we were speaking right now.

BERMAN: I am.

BOLDUAN: So, wait, did they -- Andy, did they just like stare each other down? There was no like -- they're just going to stare down, did they?

SCHOLES: The Tigers went out there. And I don't think the Tigers were really that excited about defending Valdez in that situation, because they knew he was in the wrong.

BOLDUAN: I would totally back you up, though. Like I would totally like stand there.

BERMAN: Of course, I'd be there. You can plunk anyone you want, and I'll stand up for you.

BOLDUAN: Thanks, John.

BERMAN: All right.

BOLDUAN: Watch out. Watch out, Brad, the man holding the camera, which you should never hit the person holding your camera, just in general.

Anyway, let's do this. A first look onboard the stranded cruise ship and new details this morning about the passengers that are being evacuated now amid this rare outbreak of the Hantavirus onboard.

And gas prices, they jump again, up 6 cents overnight, as there's new reporting on a nuclear option that the president might use to cut the price at the pump. We'll be right back.

Stay away, Brad. Stay away, Brad. Stay away, Brad. Stay away, Brad.

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