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U.S. and Iran Close to Ending War; Rep. Johnny Olszewski (D-MD) is Interviewed About the Iran War; Trump Payback on Indiana; Manhunt in Tennessee; FDA Blocks Vaccine Safety Studies. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired May 06, 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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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KARA SWISHER, HOST, "KARA SWISHER WANTS TO LIVE FOREVER": Jeon and her Juo (ph) doll.

And I'm sitting down with a woman who insists this isn't a new horror franchise in the making. Ji Hee Kim, CEO of Yodel. And joining us is Joanna Jong, a researcher with the company who works closely with the elders and in R&D back at the factory.

SWISHER: So, what was the idea behind dolls for the elderly?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I wanted to invent something for seniors. They have no one to talk to. So --

SWISHER: Right. So, it's companionship.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE).

SWISHER: And how many are out there?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Currently 13,000.

SWISHER: Thirteen thousand?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In Korea.

SWISHER: In Korea? And who pays for these?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The Korean government.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: "Kara Swisher Wants to Live Forever" airs Saturday at nine on CNN, and the next day on the CNN app.

A new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking news this morning, President Trump, this morning, posting on the war in Iran. At this moment, the U.S. and Iran are moving closer to agreeing on a one-page memo to end the war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz. We have the details on the potential agreement.

All right, right now, a manhunt underway for special forces veteran accused of shooting his wife. What is making it really difficult to track him down?

And rescuers rush to help a dog stranded on a steep cliff. We'll show you what happens.

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

BOLDUAN: All right, let's get to the breaking news this hour. New reporting that the U.S. and Iran are moving closer to a deal to end the war. And President Trump just leveled a new threat if efforts fall apart. The president posting in -- on Truth Social that, "assuming that Iran agrees to give what has been agreed to," he says the U.S. military operation will be at an end. He also says, "the Strait of Hormuz will be open to all." And if Iran doesn't agree, the president goes on to say, "the bombing starts and it will be, sadly, at a much higher level and intensity than it was before."

This comes as a source tells CNN, a one-page plan is being floated now that would declare an end to the conflict. It would trigger a 30-day negotiation period for the more detailed resolutions to the huge and complicated sticking points, including Iran's nuclear program, billions of dollars in frozen Iranian assets, and the future security of the Strait.

There's also -- there's also this just in. What appears to be the first reaction from Iran to the president's decision to pause the two- day old U.S. push to start guiding ships through the Strait of Hormuz. A statement from the Revolutionary Guard's navy now says that safe passage through the Strait is possible under, quote/unquote, "new procedures" after this pause by the United States.

CNN's Alayna Treene is live at the White House. She's got much more on all this.

And a lot has happened in the last two hours.

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right. And some great reporting along with my colleagues Kevin Liptak and Nic Robertson. And we are learning that the U.S. is moving closer to an agreement with Iran. And that is according to a regional source familiar with some of these talks.

And I will say, I just spoke with two Trump administration officials, Kate, who told me that the White House did receive positive feedback from the Pakistanis, essentially saying that the Iranians were getting closer to a compromise. That is, in part, what we saw -- or why we saw President Trump yesterday issue that pause on Project Freedom, that initiative that he had ordered just two days ago to have different U.S. ships try to guide other vessels through the Strait of Hormuz.

But I want to say, there's still a heavy dose of skepticism we really have to inject here. My sources said that the Pakistanis have often been very optimistic about where the Iranians are. I'd remind you that we saw two separate times the president order the -- his top officials, including the vice president, Jared Kushner, Steve Witkoff, to travel to Pakistan to hopefully get some sort of memorandum of understanding. The same thing they're internally discussing now behind closed doors with Iran just for those talks to fall apart. So, I want to keep that skepticism kind of front and center here as we're hearing all of this. But there do seem to be some positive discussions now happening behind the scenes after weeks, really, of this stalemate between Washington and Tehran.

Now, I do want to get into what you mentioned, that internal plan that is being floated. We're told it's a one-page document, would kind of serve as a framework for some of the key issues that they want to find compromise on before having a much larger discussion about some of the other sticking points that, of course, still remain.

[09:05:05]

Now that internal plan that's being floated, that one pager, contains a number of provisions, we're told, includes the fates of Iran's nuclear program, sanctions relief and reopening the Strait of Hormuz. The document would declare an end to the war while triggering a 30-day negotiation period on a number of these different sticking points, as I laid out.

Now, again, to be clear, I think all of this just shows -- particularly that pause on Project Freedom, shows just the level of desire that the president has to finding a diplomatic solution here. We have seen him time and time again kind of press pause and halt U.S. aggression toward Iran in order to allow talks, the room to breathe and to succeed. I think that's what we're seeing happen now, but we're really going to have to wait and see how this all plays out.

But definitely, again, more positive discussions happening right now than they have been in recent days, Kate.

BOLDUAN: Very interesting. Great reporting. Thank you so much, Alayna Treene.

John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, with us now is Congressman Johnny Olszewski, a Democrat from Maryland. He is on the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

Congressman, good to see you this morning.

So, how do you read these new developments?

REP. JOHNNY OLSZEWSKI (D-MD): Yes, we're going to have to wait and see. I think that's some great reporting there. We don't know what this deal ultimately will include. But what I can tell you, John, is that after Americans have endured the loss of lives of our service members, after we have paid billions of dollars in this war, and as people are being crushed at the pump and elsewhere, they want to see an end. And so, my hope is that we have an agreement that doesn't just take us back to the agreement we had before President Trump came into office and ripped up the prior deal.

So, I'm going to wait and see what it says, but I'm hopeful this is not only an end, but also takes away some of that nuclear arsenal that Iran has.

BERMAN: As far as I can tell, this deal, although it's not explicitly part of the reporting, the Iranian regime would stay in place, albeit that the supreme leader is the son of the former supreme leader. And also, this is according to a source familiar with the plan, it would include a moratorium on uranium enrichment for a period of longer than ten years. Apparently, the Iranians didn't like a 20-year plan that had been floated before. So, longer than ten years. And also perhaps getting the enriched uranium out of the country. How would you feel about that?

OLSZEWSKI: Obviously, the longer the better in terms of not having additional enriched uranium. And if there's a way in which we can get what they have out of the country and into the United States or another secure facility with a partner that we trust, that would be an ideal outcome.

So, I'm going to wait to see what comes out. Unfortunately, throughout this war, as a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, I have yet to be part of one public hearing. So, we really don't know the strategy or the outcome. As you pointed out, the regime is not only in place but perhaps even more hardline than before. So, certainly preventing Iran from being a nuclear armed country is one other possible positive outcome here. And I'm hoping that, as we resolve this war, hopefully through this agreement, that is something we, in fact, accomplish.

BERMAN: And the Iranians claim, and you hear all kinds of things from them, they have a new procedure in place to control the Strait of Hormuz. If they somehow have a type of oversight different from before the war began, how acceptable would that be to you?

OLSZEWSKI: I think that is one of the biggest problems with this entire war, is that President Trump and his administration have created a problem in the Strait of Hormuz that did not exist prior to the war. So, not only are we still worried about what regime is in charge and whether or not they're more hard lined, not only are we worried about whether or not they retain nuclear materials and/or do the enrichment, but we know that they have found this new tool in holding, not just the United States, but the rest of the country hostage from an economic perspective with the Strait. So, having a long term solution there in a problem that we created through this war, I think, is also very important.

BERMAN: So, Congressman, Republicans, as part of a funding bill for immigration enforcement, have included $1 billion for what they're calling security in the East Wing construction of the White House. It doesn't use the word ballroom, but it is for the construction of that project.

Now, they swear it's not for the above ground, non-security aspects of the ballroom, but, still, it's $1 billion going toward that. How do you feel about the inclusion of that money? And remember, the president had said this would all be privately funded. And he just put out a statement saying, "it's going up rapidly. The only reason the cost has changed is because after deep-rooted studies, it's approximately twice the size and far higher quality and it wouldn't have been necessary to handle the events."

But how do you feel about the billion dollars?

OLSZEWSKI: Well, I'll say this is yet another example of President Trump saying one thing and doing another, where he promised to lower costs and costs are up. He promised to release the Epstein files, and they're still not released. He promised to not take us to war, and here we are in war.

So, I find it hard to believe any of the information that's being given to us.

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I'm deeply concerned about what seems like a very high price. Obviously, we want to invest in security. And so, I actually would prefer that we have this debate through the Congress as opposed to having this weird openness and opaqueness about who is funding the ballroom. And so at least now it's in the public sphere. We can have a debate in Congress. I think the administration should come and justify in great detail. They've had a difficult time doing that with the war. So, hopefully they have a different tune here in justifying this. But we'll have to see what they have to say as we review the request for funding here.

BERMAN: Congressman, you were -- you were part of a plan calling for term limits on Supreme Court justices, arguing that long tenures can concentrate power and erode trust. How do you feel about how Democrats have it arranged in the House of Representatives, where there are no term limits for committee chairs? Republicans in power have term limits for committee chairs here. Given how you feel about term limits for Supreme Court justices, if you take back the House, would you support term limits for committee chairs?

OLSZEWSKI: Well, I'm someone personally who supports term limits across the board, including for members of Congress. But what I can tell you is, whether or not we're talking about committee chairs or we're talking about actually members of the House and Senate, people have to stand for election. And so, within our caucus, those chairs who were supported by the caucus have to be elected every Congress. And I have to stand before the voters every two years, just like senators stand every six years.

I trust the American people will make a change because they're unhappy with what they're seeing from Congress now. But unfortunately, we don't have that opportunity with the Supreme Court, who is not only undoing decades of precedent and taking back women's rights, gutting the VRA, there's also huge, ethical concerns about rubbing elbows with the president, going on Fox News and other outlets, but also taking trips with billionaires who have business before the court. I think it's time we reform the Supreme Court, add those term limits and move forward.

BERMAN: Congressman Johnny Olszewski of Maryland, we appreciate your time this morning. Thank you, sir.

Sara.

SIDNER: All right, this morning, despite sinking approval nationally, new election results show President Trump still has a strong grip on the Republican Party. His plan worked to seek revenge on incumbent Republicans in Indiana who refused his demand to redraw Indiana's congressional maps. So far, five of those seven Republican incumbents in Indiana were defeated in their primaries by Trump-backed challengers on Tuesday. A sixth seat is still too close to call.

Instead of the $280,000 spent on all the state Senate primaries in 2024, the president's allies flooded Indiana with more than $13 million in ads this year.

CNN's Arlette Saenz is joining me now.

What are you learning about this? This certainly shows the president still has quite a bit of sway when it comes to elections.

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It does, Sara. And President Trump got the political payback that he was looking for in Indiana last night.

These state legislative races typically fly under the radar. But the president's interest and the millions of dollars spent by allies of the president really elevated this race to another level. At least five of the seven Trump-backed challengers defeated state -- Republican state senators in their primaries last night. Those state senators had voted against the president's redistricting efforts in the state back in December.

And one race is still too close to call. That is between State Senator Spencer Deery and Paula Copenhaver, who has the backing of the president.

Here is how Deery defended his decision to vote against redistricting last night.

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SPENCER DEERY (R), INDIANA STATE SENATOR: 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 anytime 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 results in Indiana likely will embolden Republicans across the south, who are currently considering redrawing congressional maps in their states. That includes Louisiana, Tennessee, Alabama and South Carolina. And certainly this election will send a warning to Republicans who might consider defying President Donald Trump as he's shown that his strong grip on the Republican Party still exists with these election results in Indiana.

SIDNER: Let's move to Ohio, where there were some high stakes primaries there as well. Any surprises?

SAENZ: Not really. We had an idea how these would pan out, and it all shook out as we had expected. Republican entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy will take on Dr. Amy Acton, a Democratic former state health official, in the governor's race in November.

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And then, on the Senate side, Democratic former Senator Sherrod Brown is back to take on the incumbent Republican Senator John Husted. This will be one of the most closely watched races in this election. Democrats are hoping that Ohio might be one of the four seats that they can flip red come November to regain the majority. But Ohio does still have a lot of Republican voters. It's a Republican-leaning state. So, it remains to be seen how exactly that will play out. But Democrats are placing a lot of hope in this state, and they are hoping that former Senator Sherrod Brown will be able to come back and win his seat once again.

SIDNER: Arlette Saenz, thank you for your reporting this morning.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: So, a manhunt in Tennessee for a special forces veteran who police say shot his wife. Why this search is proving so challenging.

And the new reporting about the FDA blocking publication of studies on vaccine safety. We have new details on that ahead.

And a suspected drunk driver chasing a child on a bike down a sidewalk.

We'll be right back.

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BERMAN: All right, happening now, a manhunt underway for a shooting suspect in northwestern Tennessee. Authorities say that Craig Berry is a special forces veteran. He is said to be armed and dangerous, and he's accused of shooting his wife last Friday, then escaping into the forest.

Let's get right to CNN's Dianne Gallagher for the very latest on this manhunt days in now, Dianne. DIANNE GALLAGHER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. And look, he hasn't

been seen since about 45 minutes after investigators say he shot his wife in the neck as she tried to escape after an argument turned violent at their home. That's it. Just one sighting of 53-year-old Craig Berry. It was about 12:15 a.m. on May 1st, captured by a trail camera showing him running into the dense woods behind their home in Dover, Tennessee.

Now, the sheriff says that Berry crashed his car as he tried to follow his wife after shooting her, and then returned to the home, got extra ammo, changed into camouflage clothing, and that's what you see in that kind of blurry still frame from the trail camera, him running into those woods.

Now, look, this is just part of what complicates this search so much. We're talking about the terrain and, of course, the fugitive himself. You mentioned that he is a special forces veteran. Craig Berry spent more than 20 years in the U.S. Army as an infantryman and also a special forces operation medic.

Now, the Stewart County Sheriff says that the 53-year-old has extensive survival training. He also is an excellent swimmer and diver, and notes that he is in good physical shape. Now, deputies say he is armed with at least one handgun, and, of course, that extra ammo that they say he went and got from the home.

They've been searching all over Stewart County right now, clearing summer homes, maybe empty cabins, trying to look for things that way. He does not have a phone on him they don't think. They found his phone behind the house. But -- and they haven't been able to sort of identify anyone who has spoken with him since this happened. They say they've spoken with his parents. They are cooperating in this. But they say that they do expect a wider boots on the ground search using federal, local and state authorities in the short term.

Part of why they haven't expanded the search even wider is this difficult terrain and also a severe forecast that they've been dealing with. The sheriff told our colleague, Holly Yan, that they can't just send deputies in blind to this thick vegetation, steep ravines and areas that they believe Craig Berry knows very well, saying that he could just be sitting in wait for them. But again, they do plan to extend the search a little bit wider in the coming days, John. The sheriff telling people in the area, it could be days, months or even longer, though, before they find him. They do not know if he has left the area.

BERMAN: All right, a dangerous situation to be sure. Dianne Gallagher, thank you so much for that update.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: Let's turn now to some new reporting that the FDA has blocked publication of studies having to do with the safety of the Covid and shingles vaccines. "The New York Times" has this reporting that the research was done by FDA scientists who reviewed millions of patient records. CNN's Jacqueline Howard has more on this new reporting for us.

And, Jacqueline, what are you learning?

JACQUELINE HOWARD, CNN HEALTH REPORTER: Kate, what we're learning is that these studies were publicly funded, funded with taxpayer dollars. And according to "The New York Times," here's a timeline of what exactly happened.

It looks like in October is when scientists were directed to withdraw Covid-19 -- two Covid-19 vaccine studies that had been accepted for publication in medical journals. And then in February is when top FDA officials did not sign off on submitting a study abstract about the shingles vaccine to a major conference.

Now, many doctors and scientists are now raising eyebrows about this. Dr. Ashish Jha, who served as the White House's Covid-19 response coordinator under the Biden administration, here's how he reacted to these developments just this morning with our colleague Sara Sidner.

Have a listen.

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DR. ASHISH JHA, FORMER WHITE HOUSE COVID-19 RESPONSE COORDINATOR: I think we should just call it what it is. This is not radical transparency, as Secretary Kennedy likes to say. This is career scientists doing what they have been doing for years and decades under Republican and Democratic administrations.

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But never have they felt political pressure to suppress the scientific work they're doing. It really shouldn't be acceptable in America. We don't do government censorship in America. We seem to be doing it right now at HHS.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOWARD: And, Kate, when you think back to what was happening at the time when these studies were withdrawn, this is around the time when the administration relaxed Covid-19 vaccine recommendations, and around the time when they attempted to overhaul the childhood vaccine schedule. So, these latest developments kind of give us more insight into what was happening, what were the conversations happening around that time as well.

BOLDUAN: Yes. What's HHS, what's the White House saying about all of this?

HOWARD: I did reach out to the Department of Health and Human Services, and in a statement I was told, quote, "the studies were withdrawn because the authors drew broad conclusions that were not supported by the underlying data. The FDA acted to protect the integrity of its scientific process and ensure that any work associated with the agency meets its high standards," end quote. But again, Kate, some of these studies were already accepted by

journals. So, that's why there are some questions here.

And we know something similar happened just last month in April. That's when we know that CDC, under the Department of Health and Human Services, blocked the publication of a Covid-19 vaccine study that showed that the vaccine reduced the risk of being hospitalized with Covid by roughly half. And this was in adults.

So, again, Kate, we're kind of seeing this pattern and there are some questions still around what exactly is happening.

BOLDUAN: Jacqueline Howard, thanks so much for bringing us the reporting.

Sara.

SIDNER: All right, ahead, a new lawsuit over A.I. The accusation, a chatbot is accused of posing as a doctor and offering medical advice to users while stating it had a license to practice in the state.

Also, the president promised taxpayers would pay nothing for his new ballroom. So, why are Senate Republicans now asking for $1 billion related to that project?

And from just moments ago, this video revealing a protester on top of the Frederick Douglass Memorial Bridge in Washington, D.C. The message he is trying to send and why he is staying up there for days, even without food or water.

Those stories and more, ahead.

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