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CNN Founder, Ted Turner Dies at 87; Source Says U.S. & Iran Closing in on One-page Memo to End War; U.S. Gas Prices Up More Than 50 Percent Since Start of Iran War; Kash Patel Says FBI Was Kept Out of Nancy Guthrie Investigation for Days; Senate GOP Eyes $1 Billion Taxpayer Funds for Trump Ballroom Security. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired May 06, 2026 - 14:00   ET

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

[14:00:00]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": -- security tied to President Trump's White House ballroom project. That sets up a high-stakes fight on Capitol Hill. We'll get you the details on that.

Also, a business legend and an American icon, from CNN to sailing, baseball and his passion for the environment. We examine the remarkable legacy of Ted Turner as we follow these major developing stories and many more, all coming in right here to "CNN News Central."

At this hour, a source tells CNN the United States and Iran are closing in on a framework for an agreement to end the war. Iran's foreign ministry has yet to reply to the U.S. proposal, but Pakistan, which is overseeing peace talks, is expressing optimism.

Here's what we know so far. The memorandum is essentially a one-page plan that would declare the war over and then give both sides 30 days to hash out details and sticking points. According to a source, the deal being offered by President Trump is very similar to the one that he tore up during his first administration.

The JCPOA, reached under President Obama, capped Iran's uranium enrichment for 15 years and unfroze Iranian assets. A source tells CNN the one-page plan being circulated today establishes a moratorium on uranium enrichment for at least 10 years, also moving highly enriched uranium out of Iran while unfreezing Iranian assets. We're joined now by CNN's Natasha Bertrand.

So, Natasha, why does the Trump administration appear willing to end the war now, even as some of its stated objectives have gone unmet?

NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Boris, well, the really key issue, of course, is the Strait of Hormuz and how that has really driven up energy prices over the last couple of months. It's becoming essentially untenable. Even with the operation that we saw over the last couple days where the U.S. military was kind of trying to guide commercial ships through the Strait, it didn't appear to be working very effectively.

So, we saw this 180 from President Trump last night. Apparently, according to reporting from my colleague, Alayna Treene, part of what happened here is that the Iranians appeared to show the Pakistanis that they were willing to come to some kind of compromise. At the same time, President Trump appears to be simplifying some of the issues that are the main sticking points in those negotiations in order to try to get some more Iranian moderates to the table to negotiate some of these things in the future, because this framework that we are talking about, which is a one-page memorandum, it's not actually the deal.

It is actually just a framework to continue discussions on some of the thornier issues, like Iran's nuclear program, for example, like the future of the Straits. Now, as you said, the document would trigger an end to the war, but it's going to kind of kick the can down the road on those very sticky issues, particularly when it comes to Iran's nuclear enrichment and what happens to that enriched uranium that is still sitting underneath some of these facilities inside Iran.

SANCHEZ: One of the lingering questions that Secretary Hegseth was trying to answer when he was on Capitol Hill recently was the cost of all of this. Do we have an idea of how much all of this is going to cost?

BERTRAND: Well, the cost, just in sheer dollar figures, according to our sources, is at least $40 billion to $50 billion spent on the Iran war. Then, of course, you have the cost in human life. Thirteen U.S. service members were killed over the course of this conflict.

You have all of the very valuable and in some cases, scarce munitions that the U.S. military has expended over the course of the war, many of which won't be able to be replaced for the next four, five, six years. And then, of course, you still have the enriched uranium, which is still inside Iran, still allows them to be capable of making a nuclear weapon at some point if they choose. The Strait is still closed, even though it was open before the war actually began.

So a number of these objectives have not actually been achieved by the Trump administration, and much of the current plan to discuss a deal with the Iranians, as you said, looks a lot like the plan that President Trump tore up with the Iranians that was negotiated by the Obama administration, Boris.

SANCHEZ: Yeah, we'll see what's actually in that one-page memorandum of understanding, if and when it's achieved and when it's released. Natasha Bertrand, thank you so much for that. Brianna?

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": Today, American drivers are once again paying more for gas than they were yesterday. Overnight prices at the pump jumping $0.06 more. The national average for a gallon is now $4.54. That's nearly $2 higher per gallon than before the start of the war.

CNN's Matt Egan is tracking all of this for us. Matt, the president has said gas prices will drop like a rock as soon as the war ends. Of course, that ending is very uncertain, but also so is, I'd say, less certain how prices are going to drop. We know how that normally goes.

MATT EGAN, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Well, Brianna, look, if the Strait of Hormuz reopens soon, then yes, gas prices could start to come down. Oil futures are already plunging just based on hopes of a diplomatic breakthrough.

Unfortunately, those sub $3 gas prices from before the war, those are unlikely to come back anytime soon, just given the scale of the supply shock here.

[14:05:00]

Still, hopefully there is a diplomatic breakthrough that ends this energy crisis. But if diplomacy fails, some in the oil industry fear the White House could resort to what's been described as the nuclear option, restricting or even banning exports of oil, gasoline and other petroleum products.

Now, the White House has denied that anything like this is on the table. However, some lawmakers, including Democratic Congressman, Ro Khanna, they are hoping Trump officials will reconsider. The thinking goes something like this.

If the United States is pumping so much oil that it can afford to send some of that crude overseas, why not keep more at home to help lower sky high prices? U.S. oil exports, they have skyrocketed this year, even as stockpiles that act as shock absorbers are shrinking rapidly. Most analysts I talked to, they warned that banning or even limiting exports that that would backfire. They argued that any drop in prices would likely be temporary and it would come at a huge cost.

The problem is that U.S. refiners, they don't exclusively use U.S. oil to produce gasoline, jet fuel and other energy products. They combine that U.S. oil with heavier crude that's found in Canada, Latin America and the Middle East. And that extra oil gets exported.

The worry is that if you limit exports, that would crush refinery profit margins so much that they would slash production and some of them would even go out of business. That would mean less gasoline here in America and higher prices. And yet, some analysts, they do think that this idea could come back to life if prices go high enough.

Bob McNally, a former energy adviser to President George W. Bush, he sees a 35 percent chance that the Trump administration imposes some form of export controls. He told me, look, I've been in the White House, when the walls close in, this is a terrible idea, but it might be difficult to resist as the price goes up.

There's also the risk of unintended consequences. If you limit U.S. exports, that would send the world price of oil through the roof and that would crush the world economy, including economies of allies in Europe and Asia that were relying on that U.S. crude. And that would even risk potentially retaliation from those countries or even a global recession that the U.S. would not be immune from.

So, Brianna, I think the bottom line here is banning exports. That would be an extreme move, and it's one that is hopefully not going to be necessary if diplomacy succeeds here.

KEILAR: All right, Matt, thank you so much. Really appreciate it.

Still to come, FBI Director, Kash Patel is sharing some new details in the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie as he now claims the FBI was kept out of the case at a critical time. And we have some new reporting on how the U.S. military is training for a new era in war fighting by going underground.

Plus, Commerce Secretary, Howard Lutnick facing Congress over his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein. He was pictured on the pedophiles' private island years after he said he cut ties. We're going to be joined by a lawmaker on the committee questioning Lutnick behind closed doors.

We'll have that and much more coming up on "CNN News Central."

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[14:12:56]

KEILAR: Three months after Nancy Guthrie vanished, FBI Director, Kash Patel is saying that his agents were deliberately kept out of the investigation for its first four days.

On Sean Hannity's podcast, Patel gave the FBI credit for getting key images of the suspect once they did get involved.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KASH PATEL, FBI DIRECTOR: And when we were finally let in, Sean, look what we did. We went in and got the ring doorbell. And we said, hey, is anyone talking to Google? That's why you have that image. Because the FBI worked with Google to put that image out. We could have gotten it days before.

SEAN HANNITY, HOST OF "HANGOUT WITH SEAN HANNITY" PODCAST: Why wouldn't they want your help? Why did they send the DNA to a lab in Florida, not Quantico?

PATEL: That's the other thing that you hit on, right? Again, we were saying, we'll process it. I launched hundreds of agents and intel staff to Phoenix and Tucson just for this case, just to be on standby.

HANNITY: And they didn't want you there.

PATEL: Just to do the canvassing. And we said, we'll take the DNA. And again, it's a state and local matter. So it's their call.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Pima County Sheriff's Office posting this response, quote, "Sheriff Nanos responded to the scene the night of the incident, providing immediate local leadership and oversight. A member of the FBI task force was also notified and present at that scene, working alongside our personnel. The FBI was promptly notified by both our department and the Guthrie family. While the FBI director was not on scene, coordination with the bureau began without delay." Let's talk about this now with CNN Chief Law Enforcement and Intelligence Analyst, John Miller.

All right, John, give us some of the context here, how the FBI does work with local authorities. As you have the FBI director pointing out, this is a state and local matter. So it is their call.

JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT & INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: Right. So under the kidnapping statutes, the FBI can come into any kidnapping case on the presumption that there might have been a crossing of state lines, which would make it a federal crime. But, yes, it remains in the hands of the state and local law enforcement.

The FBI is there to provide assistance. Now, the FBI's assistance can be quite remarkable. The first day, they showed up with a task force agent who was part of the local law enforcement team there.

[14:15:00]

By Monday, there were some additional agents who came from Tucson. It wasn't really until Tuesday and Wednesday that the resources that would make a real difference here, the profilers from Quantico, the negotiators that are expert in dealing with abductions and negotiations on ransom, the specialized lab people, the CAST team, which is the cellular analysis or cellular analysis survey team, the experts that trace phone signals and who was where, when, with what devices, they didn't get there until later in the game.

The real question here is, why is Kash Patel doing this? Here's an FBI Director who is all over social media on a regular basis, touting how they value their relationship with state and local law enforcement. And here, he's putting a wedge between himself and the sheriff, who has primary control over this case. It doesn't seem to play well with the partnership story.

KEILAR: Yeah, it's a really interesting point here. And let's turn to where the DNA went, not being tested by the FBI, but instead being sent to Florida. Would it have been better to work through Quantico? Would it make a difference?

MILLER: You know, I'm not sure it would have. But I would have gone the Quantico route just because, at some point, I would have wanted all of my evidence going to one place. But that's basically the sheriff's rationale. He had already taken DNA samples from the family members. He had already taken and collected DNA from the crime scene.

And he had already sent that to the lab that he uses in every other state and local case that's under the Pima County Sheriff. They sent it to their regular lab in Deerfield Beach, Florida. It's the DNA International Labs. They process DNA the same way the FBI lab does. They run it through the same CODIS system to see if it matches anyone with a criminal record. Basically, it wouldn't have made any difference.

Now, the FBI has since gotten the DNA at their lab, and they've done additional work with it. And if there's a benefit to that, we should hear about it.

KEILAR: Yeah, all good points and food for thought. John, thank you so much for that. And for those who may know anything about the potential whereabouts of Nancy Guthrie, please call the Pima County Sheriff or call 1-800-CALL-FBI.

President Trump is defending the cost of his ballroom after asking taxpayers now to pick up its growing price tag, which is sitting now at more than $1 billion. We are live from the White House right after this.

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[14:22:14]

SANCHEZ: President Trump is again defending his massive White House ballroom project as Senate Republicans are looking for taxpayers to pay $1 billion for ballroom security as part of a new package. Trump has long said the project would rely on money from private donations and not American taxpayers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: And I'm paying for it. I'm paying for it. The country is not.

We're donating a $400 million ballroom, myself and donors are giving them free of charge, for nothing.

We did this at no charge to the taxpayer whatsoever.

Rich people and people are putting up the money. Zero taxpayer dollars.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Let's get the latest now from CNN Senior White House Reporter, Kevin Liptak. Kevin, has the White House provided a breakdown of why this project is ballooning in cost, ballooning in price?

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, you know, according to the Republicans who have included this in an otherwise unrelated bill to fund ICE and Border Patrol, this is security requirements. They say that this massive line item, $1 billion line item, is necessary for some of the security components that will go into the ballroom.

And it has been interesting, you know, ever since the ballroom was conceived, Republicans have put it at something of an arm's length. But ever since that security incident at the White House Correspondents' Dinner, you have seen them promoting it pretty aggressively. And what they say that this is necessary for now is, quote, "security adjustments and upgrades," including what they say are above-ground and below-ground security features of the ballroom. And it is true that there has been a bunker underneath the East Wing for decades. President Trump has talked about how this new facility will include a ballistic glass drone-proof roof, even an entire medical facility underground underneath of it. It is true as well that the bill that the Republicans are considering now would bar any of the funding being spent on, quote, "non-security elements." But it does suggest that the ballroom is both more expensive than initially projected, but also includes public funding in a way that the president has said in the past.

And just to remind you how the cost has risen over time. Just last summer, when it was first announced, the president said it would be $200 million. A few months after that, he said it would be $250 million. A month after that, it had gone up to $300 million. By December of last year, it was at $400 million. And now, with the $1 billion needed for security funds, plus the $400 million for the ballroom itself, it seems that we're now at $1.4 billion.

[14:25:00]

Now, President Trump today suggesting that the cost overruns were because it's changed in size. He says that the original price was $200 million. The double-sized, highest quality, completed project will be something less than $400 million. And just remember here, Boris, a preservation group is suing, halting, trying to halt construction on the ballroom. A judge has said that it will be able to proceed if Congress approves it.

If this bill goes through, that could potentially clear away some of those legal hurdles.

SANCHEZ: Yeah. We'll see what happens next. Kevin Liptak, thank you so much.

Nearly half of the American casualties in the war with Iran have been the result of drone attacks. Coming up, we have a behind-the-scenes look at how the U.S. military is training for a new era in warfare by going underground.

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