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Doctor on Hantavirus Ship Details Caring for Hantavirus Passengers; Trump Says Ceasefire Still in Effect as U.S., Iran Trade Fire; Prison Inmates Who Did Time With Ghislaine Maxwell Speak Out. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired May 08, 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]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: We are standing by to hear from the White House in its first full report promised on the deadly Hantavirus outbreak.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: New reported missile attacks in the Persian Gulf after the heaviest strikes by the U.S. in more than a month. And despite all this firing, the United States says the ceasefire holds.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: And the frantic search and rescue effort for hikers trapped after a deadly volcano eruption.

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

BOLDUAN: This morning, the race to track and contain the Hantavirus after that deadly outbreak aboard that cruise ship. Right now, that ship, with still more than 140 people on board, including 17 Americans, is on its way to Spain's Canary Islands. We're told that none of those who remain on the ship are currently symptomatic. The big problem here is dozens of passengers already got off the ship in late April and have already returned home.

Now, health officials across four different continents are tracking them down and trying to contact trace among them and the people they've all been in touch with, including here in the United States, five states, California, Arizona. I mean, you can see, it spans the country right now, monitoring at least six people. Five Hantavirus cases have been confirmed. Three people have died.

Among those still on board the ship is an American doctor who talked to CNN about jumping in to help when the ship's doctor became ill.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. STEPHEN KORNFELD, CARED FOR SICK PASSENGERS ABOARD SHIP: There were three patients that seemed to be getting ill around the same time. One of them, just very nonspecific symptoms, a lot of confusion and a lot of weakness, and she ultimately passed away relatively quickly. The two other gentlemen, quite a bit younger, including the doc, just had a lot of standard viral symptoms. At the time, neither one of them looked critically ill, but the fear with Hantavirus is you can go from seriously ill to critically ill very quickly.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: That is a huge problem.

President Trump says that the outbreak is, quote/unquote, very much, we hope, under control. He also says a full report from the administration on it is coming today.

Let's get to CNN's Salma Abdelaziz, who's monitoring all of this for us and the very latest. Salma, what are you hearing about this?

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kate, this is a mammoth and complex and time-sensitive task. We're talking from France to Singapore to the Netherlands, all of these separate health officials across these countries trying now to contact trace and contain the virus. Because there are so many different strands, let me use the U.K. here as an example. There are several cases that are being monitored by British authorities, including one Brit who is in critical condition in a hospital in Johannesburg.

But there's also two British nationals who were aboard that cruise ship that are now right back here in the U.K. They are self-isolating, according to authorities. They do not have any symptoms, but they've chosen to isolate themselves.

Now, that's not the only strand that each of these countries have to deal with. There are still passengers on board. And once they make it to the Canary Islands, they have to be repatriated. So, British authorities are also working with Spanish authorities to make sure they're at that port and able to repatriate those Brits. They're going to then have to ask them to isolate for 45 days.

And then the other contact tracing that's happening that's extremely important, Kate, is, of course, around the Dutch woman who died on her way from Johannesburg. She was trying to make her way home to the Netherlands, but collapsed en route and died. So, now authorities are trying to trace, she was using commercial flights, she was in commercial airports, trying to trace anyone that she was in touch with.

The other key bit of contact tracing that is happening, and this is, of course, very critical, is where did this originate. The World Health Organization says it simply doesn't know, but it's working off the assumption that that Dutch couple who initially died of Hantavirus may have picked it up in Argentina.

So, right now, you also have authorities in Argentina trying to pick up samples from rodents and send those to labs for testing to try to find the origin of this outbreak.

[07:05:01]

Kate?

BOLDUAN: Yes. And what you're really getting at, Salma, is where you began, just the mammoth task and how quickly and widely this contact tracing effort is now, and very much underway and not solved yet.

Salma, thank you so much. John?

BERMAN: All right. Breaking overnight, there appear to be new strikes in the Persian Gulf as this new eruption of fighting with Iran continues.

We're trying to get a better read on the situation, but the UAE said it was dealing with incoming missiles from Iran. And that comes after the U.S. says Iran targeted three American guided missile destroyers as they transited the Strait of Hormuz. U.S forces then hit a number of Iranian military facilities in response.

Now, despite this missile exchange, officials say this does not end the ceasefire, and President Trump says it was just a, quote, love tap. He went on to say that if Iran does not sign a deal now, he says, quote, we'll knock them out harder and a lot more violently.

Let's get to CNN's Alayna Treene at the White House for where the situation stands this morning, because there seems to be a lot of uncertainty.

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Oh, absolutely, John. And I would argue that this was the most severe test of that fragile ceasefire between Washington and Tehran to date. And despite that, despite all of the fire we saw exchanged between the U.S. and Iran yesterday around the strait, again, as you mentioned, the president is arguing that does not mean the ceasefire is off.

Actually, he told reporters, you would know very well if it is because you'd see a big glow coming out of Iran. Listen to how he put it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: They trifled with us today. We blew them away. They trifled. I call that a trifle. I'll let you know when there's no cease -- you won't have to know. If there's no ceasefire, you're not going to have to know. You're just going to have to look at one big glow coming out of Iran. And they better sign their agreement fast.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TREENE: Now, one thing I would note about all of this, John, is that this week we've really seen a lot more movement, both on, you know, in the infighting between these two countries, but also as it relates to talks. And what is very clear from what the president is saying in trying to downplay the attacks yesterday is essentially that he is still very much committed to trying to get a diplomatic deal. And as you heard there in that clip that we played, still issuing these threats to the Iranians to try and force them to the table. Now, as for the state of ceasefire talks, the Iranians say that they are still reviewing the U.S. proposal that they have received and they are hoping to send a response back to the U.S. soon. But, again, things are very tenuous right now. And, really, the question is whether or not diplomacy could prevail or if we're going to see fighting break out in full force if it does not.

BERMAN: Yes. At some point, one wonders whether the firing is a response. Nevertheless, diplomacy still continues, and they are waiting for something in writing.

Alayna Train at the White House, keep us posted. Thank you so much. Sara?

SIDNER: All right. Thank you, John.

Ahead, a CNN exclusive. We are now hearing from inmates at the federal prison where sex offender Ghislaine Maxwell is being held. What they say happens to them in prison if they speak out about Maxwell.

And major news out of the State of Tennessee, days after the Supreme Court ruling on voting rights, Tennessee Republicans passed a map dividing up the state's only majority Black district, and there have been big protests over that.

And a plan to build a 40,000 acre data center in Utah is drawing some serious backlash there. What's at stake?

Those stories and more ahead.

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SIDNER: Now to a CNN exclusive. Former fellow inmates of Ghislaine Maxwell said they were punished and berated for speaking out about the convicted sex offender and Epstein co-conspirator. The women were serving time at the same minimum-security prison camp in Texas where Maxwell was transferred last summer, and they say there's a stark difference between how inmates were treated compared to Maxwell.

CNN's M.J. Lee broke this story. M.J., you spoke with these women. What exactly did you learn from them?

M.J. LEE, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL ENTERPRISE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, we are hearing from for the first time from inmates who served alongside Ghislaine Maxwell, and they say that they were punished after speaking out about her, Sara. As you said, you remember that last summer Maxwell was suddenly and pretty mysteriously transferred to a minimum- security prison camp in Bryan, Texas.

And it really made no sense at the time because a convicted child sex offender is not typically allowed to serve time at a minimum-security facility like that. And adding to the intrigue at the time was that this came right after Maxwell had this unusual two-day interview with the deputy attorney general, Todd Blanche. Now, Julie Howell was one inmate at Bryan who was really upset about all of this, and she says that she consulted the inmate's handbook which said that she could talk to media, and she decided to respond to a reporter at The Telegraph who had reached out to her.

This is a part of what Julie told me in her first interview since her prison sentence recently ended.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JULIE HOWELL, FORMER INMATE: And so I was a little, I guess, I don't use the word lightly, it was like a trigger because of, you know, my experience with my daughter being trafficked. And just knowing all of the research I had done that the camps are supposed to be for non- violent offenders.

I was very upset about her being moved. I said, you know, I had spoke with other inmates. Nobody was happy about her being there. You know, one, we had to -- we all felt like we were being punished for her being there, and then given her crime, she shouldn't be there per BOP policies and procedures. And so it just -- it was very unfair.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[07:15:01]

LEE: Now, several days after Julie sent that message to the reporter through her husband, she says she gets called into the lieutenant's office. And she doesn't know what's going on initially, but then she realizes that she's in trouble.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HOWELL: He says, you know, did you speak to a reporter? He said, well, it's all over the worldwide web. I waited in a cell for, I don't know, I think it was less than an hour. The warden came in and asked, like what I was thinking, said that her phone was blowing up all weekend. I ruined her weekend. You know, I shouldn't have talked to them. And I did apologize.

I mean, at this point, I'm a little teary-eyed. I said, you know, I didn't mean to cause issues. I answered a question. And when I told her that my daughter had, you know, a trafficking experience, she rolled her eyes and flipped her hair back, and she was like, it's too late for apologies, and walked out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEE: And Julie was written up and sent to a higher security facility in Houston, and she is now on supervised release. The warden of Bryan Prison declined to comment for this story.

SIDNER: Yes. Interesting that she was sent to a higher security prison, but Ghislaine Maxwell was sent to a lower security prison with two very different cases. You also spoke with another former inmate from that prison too who talked about some of the treatment that Maxwell received that was different, I think, from the kind of treatment that the other inmates were getting.

LEE: That's right. We spoke with a second inmate who was also at Bryan, and she is anonymous, and she is not on camera because she's still serving time and is afraid of being punished even more. She described a very similar experience, where she also spoke with a reporter though over the phone, about Maxwell, and basically immediately she was kicked out of Bryan.

This inmate overlapped with Maxwell for a number of weeks, and she says she saw Maxwell getting some special treatment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Within a day of her arrival we had armed guards, marshals patrolling. If she had a visitation, she would get to -- they closed the chapel and the indoor rec and allowed her to use that building for her personal visits when we had visitation, you know, that happened in the visitation building, which is good. We didn't -- you know, no one wanted her around the kids or anything.

She'd get bottled waters and clamshell meals delivered to her room.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEE: Now, a BOP spokesperson told CNN that the bureau would not discuss details related to specific inmates. They did say, though, that the BOP is committed to maintaining the highest standards of integrity, impartiality, and professionalism in the operation of its facilities.

They also said that inmates can communicate with members of the media with prior approval, though one prison expert I spoke with said that it is absolutely not typical for an inmate to be punished for speaking to a reporter. I'll also note that the DOJ and lawyers for Maxwell did not respond to requests for comment. Sara?

SIDNER: Wow. Great reporting from you this morning. Thank you so much, M.J. Lee, just explaining what's happening there in that story. I appreciate it. Kate?

BOLDUAN: I think maybe much more to come and more questions to be asked and answered, for sure, from M.J.'s great reporting.

Thousands of schools across the United States apparently hacked. A lot of big questions still about how far this goes and what we know this morning about the impact. We've got more coming in on that for you.

And we were tracking this story all morning, a volcano eruption that has killed hikers. A massive rescue operation has now been launched as multiple more hikers are still trapped.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [07:20:00]

BERMAN: So, if there's one thing the Lakers can almost always count on, it's the refs, at least that's what fans from most of the rest of the teams say, but not last night. They did not get the calls they wanted as they fell to the Thunder.

Let's get to Andy Scholes for the latest on all of -- I'm not wrong. I mean, fans from other teams say the Lakers normally get the benefit of the doubt.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Yes, they certainly do. But the Lakers and the refs, not best friends in this series thus far, John. It's not looking good for LeBron and the Lakers right now. Teams that go down 0-2 in a series, they go on to lose 92 percent of the time.

Now, L.A. was hanging with the Thunder for much of game two. All right, before the half, Austin Reaves going to throw the alley-oop to LeBron. Lakers were actually up one at the break, but the Thunder then with a big third quarter with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander on the bench in foul trouble. Chet Holmgren here, the and-one. OKC outscored the Lakers by 14 in that third quarter.

Now, L.A. got to within five in the fourth, but then SGA closing this one out. Thunder end up winning 125-107.

Reaves and the Lakers then having some words with the officials before leaving the floor. Here's what J.J. Redick had to say about the officiating afterwards.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

J.J. REDICK, LAKERS HEAD COACH: They have a few guys that foul on every possession and all the good defenses do. You know, SGA gets like, I don't even know, a touch foul, I guess, on the drive. There was a stretch where four straight possessions our guys got absolutely clobbered, trying to make an entry pass to Jackson, and Jalen Williams is grabbing his jersey with both arms. They're hard enough to play. You've got to be able to just call it if they foul, and they do foul.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: All right, game three of that series is tomorrow.

Meanwhile, in Detroit, Pistons continuing to roll. Cade Cunningham with some big time buckets late in this one. He out -- or he scored 12 of his 25 points in that fourth quarter.

And it was another rough playoff outing for James Harden, made just 3 of his 13 shots. Pistons win this one 107-97, take a 2-0 lead in that series. Detroit now won five in a row.

All right, in college hoops, meanwhile, it's official. The NCAA Tournament is expanding from 68 to 76 teams. The only thing, though, that's changing is going to be the play-in games. Instead of eight teams playing on Tuesday and Wednesday, now 24 teams will be in the play-in. The normal 64 team tournament field and bracket still going to start like normal on Thursday.

All right, finally, did you grow up wondering if Ronald McDonald had a good singing voice? Well, that question has now been answered.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, say can you see, by the dawn's early light. What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[07:25:06]

SCHOLES: Yes. So, you see Ronald on hand at a minor league game in Charlotte this week, and he dominated that Star-Spangled Banner, John. My question now is I wonder, you know, what kind of singing voice the Hamburglar has. I don't know.

BERMAN: I think that's the right question there. Grimace, as we know, would just grunt through it. But I have to say, like he sings nicely, but just the appearance I feel like whoever -- you know, hundreds of kids who were there probably need therapy now after seeing the scary clown sing.

SCHOLES: All these kids grew up. They have no idea who Ronald McDonald even is. Yes, you know, clowns are scary for most people at all times.

BERMAN: Andy Scholes, thank you very much for that.

SIDNER: I'm going to keep quiet. If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all. That's what I'm told.

All right, just ahead, any moment, we are expecting the full report from the White House on the Hantavirus. Growing concern as countries race to try and trace it.

And here's a quote for you, consumers are literally running out of money. That's the CEO of Heinz. A growing number of company leaders are raising red flags about the state of the economy.

Those stories and more ahead.

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