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Interview with Rep. Seth Moulton (D-MA): Iran, Trade, Tech, Taiwan on Agenda for Trump-Xi Meeting; XI Warns Taiwan Could be a Very Dangerous Situation if Mishandled; 11 Plane Crash Survivors Saved After Hours in Life Rafts; Taxpayer-Funded Sexual Harassment Settlements Exceeded $550K. Aired 8-8:30a ET
Aired May 14, 2026 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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KATIE RICHINS-BENSON, SISTER OF ERIC RICHINS: ... bargaining chips with my dad. She repeatedly threatened not to let him see his grandsons unless he could convince me as Eric's trustee of his trust to capitulate to her legal demands and give her all the trust assets. While isolating the boys Kouri provided them with false and harmful information about me and my family.
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JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And the defense said at the end that they will be appealing and asking for a new trial.
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Wow. Life sentence without the possibility of parole --
CASAREZ: Yes.
BOLDUAN: -- right now. An amazing turn of events which was a gut- wrenching trial in and of itself. Jean, thank you so much.
A new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: And the breaking news from China, the president meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. We're trying to interpret what sounded like a threat from the Chinese leader on the future of Taiwan.
And here's a question. Should you share your financial statements with an AI chatbot? The answer rhymes with, are you freaking crazy?
Then law enforcement called to the scene of an alleged theft of barbecue goods. The Fox that fled the scene and the hot dogs he took with him.
I'm John Berman with Kate Bolduan and Sara Sidner. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.
BOLDUAN: Let's get to the breaking news this morning and at this hour. President Trump, Chinese President Xi Jinping are breaking bread together in the midst of a state banquet right now in Beijing. The two leaders toasted each other just earlier this morning after they wrapped day one of their high-stakes talks.
On the agenda, we're told, of course, is trade and tariffs and the Iran war. But so far, the one issue dominating the headlines this morning so far on day one, a warning from Xi Jinping to the U.S. about Taiwan, the democratic self-governing island that Beijing views as part of its own territory. According to Chinese state media, Xi told President Trump that Taiwan is, quote, the most important issue in China-U.S. relations and also could create a, quote, very dangerous situation if mishandled. The Communist Party of China has long vowed to unify the island, as they describe it, with the mainland by force if necessary.
Now, on Iran, a White House official says the two sides agreed that the Strait of Hormuz must be reopened and remain that way and that Tehran can never have a nuclear weapon, though statements like that China has already made and maintained publicly even before this U.S. visit. The two leaders are set to meet again tomorrow before President Trump then returns home -- Sara.
SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right, you've laid that out well. Let's go now to Democratic Congressman Seth Moulton of Massachusetts. He serves on the House Select Committee on China and the Armed Services Committee. Thank you for being here, Congressman.
There really is a tale of two straits here, the Strait of Taiwan and the State of Hormuz. For China, it's been made very clear that the Taiwan Strait took highest importance.
According to Chinese state media, Xi warned Trump, quote, if mishandled, the two nations will experience collision or even clashes, pushing the entire China-U.S. relationship into a highly dangerous situation. This sounds like China threatening armed conflict with the U.S. about how it acts with Taiwan. There has been no big pushback yet by President Trump that we have seen.
What is your concern here?
REP. SETH MOULTON (D-MA), SELECT COMMITTEE ON CHINA: Well, my concern is what Trump is not saying, because Xi Jinping came out and said, we talked a lot about Taiwan, I made it clear. He basically said he lectured Trump on how dangerous this situation is and how important it is for China. Trump didn't even respond to the question, did not even talk about what was discussed.
And so the concern on Capitol Hill, and it is a bipartisan concern, you'll hear it loudly from Democrats, but quietly from Republicans as well, is that Trump's going to sell out the Taiwanese. And we don't know this morning if he did that or not.
SIDNER: Do you get a sense that with this Chinese influence and with Xi making very clear that that is his big issue, that perhaps in order to get the Strait of Hormuz open, that you might see a change in policy by President Trump when it comes to Taiwan? MOULTON: That's exactly the concern. That's exactly the concern. And look, if China feels emboldened, if they feel that they can start a war over Taiwan and the U.S. will not do anything, that invites an opening to World War III. I mean, when you play out the war games here, as we do on the Select Committee here in Washington, you see how this could develop.
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Xi Jinping is right, this could be a major -- excuse me -- this could be a major clash between two world superpowers. And so we have to do everything we can, everything in our power, to deter and prevent a war with Taiwan.
Getting tied down in a war in the Middle East, using up our missiles that could be used to deter China from attacking Taiwan, these are all things that Xi Jinping loves to see when his goal is taking over Taiwan. And now it sounds like he's capped that off by lecturing the U.S. president on why he should let him do that.
SIDNER: I do want to ask you about the Strait of Hormuz and the situation in Iran. Before going, the president said that he didn't need China's help when it comes to dealing with Iran and trying to end this war and open up the Strait. Is that how you see it?
MOULTON: I mean, it is so pathetic to have a president of the United States begging China for help with a problem that he created. But that's exactly what he's been doing multiple times over. So yes, there are some days of the week when he says he doesn't need China's help. There are other days when he's literally begging them to come to his rescue in the Strait of Hormuz.
And when they come out of this big summit where Trump was talking about all the big deals that he plans to make, and basically, they just say, yes, it's a good thing if the Strait remains open. I mean, that's just like saying that the sky is blue and we hope we have a nice, tasty dinner.
I mean, that's what Trump has achieved. Absolutely nothing. It sounds like he came in, you know, guns blazing, trying to get big deals out of the Chinese. He got nothing except a lecture on not getting involved with Taiwan.
SIDNER: I do want to ask you this because the visits so far have been overtly friendly, with President Trump even saying that it was an honor to be the friend of Chinese President Xi Jinping. Are you surprised at the level of friendliness, or is this a good tactic to try to be diplomatic, to try to be friendly, and then hope on the other end that there will be some major moves here and some major, you know, wins for the president?
MOULTON: Well, Sara, of course, you're right that when you're going into meetings like this, you want to be diplomatic. You want to be polite. But to come out saying that we're best of friends.
I mean, can you imagine Kennedy coming out of his meeting with Khrushchev and saying, oh, yes, we're really, we're really best friends? Can you imagine Reagan coming out of a meeting with Gorbachev and just saying, oh, yes, we're best buddies? I mean, even when Reagan achieved amazing concessions from Gorbachev and the Soviets, he didn't say, oh, yes, we're really good friends. I trust them more than I trust the CIA.
But that's the kind of thing we hear from this president. It just reeks of exactly what we see with him and Putin. He loves to cozy up to dictators.
Xi Jinping is the most powerful, ruthless dictator in the world, although Putin gives him a run for his money. It's unbelievable that these seem to be the two best friends of the president of the United States.
SIDNER: We are seeing a large number of CEOs, the top CEOs in tech are there, whether it is a CEO of Meta or Tesla and the NVIDIA CEO as well. These are people who can make a business decision on the spot. But China has been cutting back on sort of foreign business in China.
What are you hoping for here and what message do you hope that this sends?
MOULTON: Well, it's interesting because the president talks a lot about how much money he wants China to invest in the United States. And I imagine some of these business leaders welcome that because they're not getting a lot of investment from American investors right now because our economy is in the tank.
Gas prices are skyrocketing. People can't afford basic things that they need to live. Food is going up. We just had some of the highest inflation that we've seen in years.
And so there are real concerns about the U.S. economy. But sitting on the China committee, the idea that a whole bunch of Chinese investors are going to come in and bail us out and, by the way, probably take a lot of our business secrets in the process, that is not a good solution. So even when Trump claims a win here, even when Trump goes in saying, oh, I'm going to get China to invest more in the United States, there are a lot of us on Capitol Hill who think that's a terrible idea.
SIDNER: Congressman Seth Moulton, thank you for coming on early this morning. I do appreciate it -- John.
BERMAN: All right. A dramatic rescue at sea after a plane crashes into the ocean with 11 people on board. How all 11 managed to survive.
A new report shows taxpayers were handed the bill for more than half a million dollars in sexual harassment settlements involving lawmakers.
And a high-speed police pursuit ends in a rollover wreck. And it turns out that this same car has been involved in another chase.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BERMAN: New footage coming in from a rescue off the coast of Florida. The crew of an Air Force training flight was able to parachute into the water, saving 11 passengers. They spent hours on life rafts after their small airplane crash.
Let's get right to seeing an aviation correspondent, Pete Muntean, with the latest on this. I mean, 11 for 11 rescued, Pete. That is a wonderful outcome.
PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Very true. And we just learned that all 11 people rescued have been identified as adults from the Bahamas. We're expecting to hear from at least one survivor at a news conference next hour, John.
This is the incredible new video from the 920th Rescue Wing of the United States Air Force. The Coast Guard says it was the first to receive the distress signal from that downed plane at 11 a.m. Eastern time on Tuesday.
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But, incredibly, the crew of an Air Force HC-130 rescue plane was already nearby on a water rescue training mission, which very clearly and very quickly turned into the real thing. The HC-130 crew says they found their survivors floating in a lone raft and dropped additional rafts, food, water, emergency gear, also helped dispatch an emergency Air Force rescue helicopter.
The Air Force crew says the weather was deteriorating very quickly. Thunderstorms nearby, seas were between three and five feet, helicopter had to cover -- hover about 10 feet above the water, while pararescue men jumped in and began hoisting the survivors to safety one by one. Listen.
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CAPT. RORY WHIPPLE, U.S. AIR FORCE: We trained to a very high level to deal with this type of thing, so for us it's just another day of work, another day of training, but this time, instead of training, it was real world. So, we just locked in and did what we had to do to make sure everyone came home in one piece.
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MUNTEAN: The Coast Guard also assisted in this rescue, orbiting overhead the scene in one of its own rescue planes. The Air Force crew says they only saw survivors in the water, not the wreckage of the plane that ditched. But we have confirmed the aircraft was a Beechcraft King Air registered in Panama. Those planes can seat up to 11 people, but it can be pretty tight.
The Air Force says all 11 survivors were brought back to shore in stable condition. By the way, the FAA, the Federal Aviation Administration here in the U.S. says it's not investigating this crash. That means this investigation will instead be led by authorities in the Bahamas. One Air Force major called the survival of all 11 people after ditching in the ocean, quote, pretty miraculous -- John.
BERMAN: I mean, very miraculous. I do have to say, though, if you have to go down in the water, do it near an Air Force water rescue training flight that happens to be in the area. Yes, right?
I mean, it's like the best place ever you could possibly go down.
MUNTEAN: Yes.
BERMAN: All right, Pete Muntean, thank you very much for bringing us the good news story there -- Kate.
BOLDUAN: Hello, sir. President Trump wrapping up his first full day in Beijing. The White House calling talks extremely positive and productive. President Xi, though, now seen as offering the most direct warning to the United States yet on Taiwan.
Plus, a family reunited after the father was detained on a family vacation and held for nearly nine months. Be right back.
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BOLDUAN: So there are newly released documents showing that taxpayers actually paid more than was previously known for confidential sexual harassment claims involving members of Congress. This dating back decades. This is coming from the Office of Congressional Workplace Rights. That's the name of this office.
It now estimates that more than $550,000 in taxpayer dollars was used on settlements for seven former House lawmakers, which is much more than what was originally reported to Congress. It's get over to CNN's Annie Grayer, she's got much more of this reporting and much more on what's behind this discrepancy.
ANNIE GRAYER, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: So Kate, the payment that we've learned about, it's the single largest payment of a sexual harassment settlement that we know about that's been released so far. And it is a settlement against Democratic Congressman Alcee Hastings, former Democratic congressman. And it was for $220,000.
And this was settled in 2014. It was claims that were brought against him for sexual misconduct, sexual allegations of harassment. It's starting back in 2010.
And now the reason this wasn't part of the lump sum that we learned about last week is that the Office of Workplace Rights that you mentioned was initially only searching through their documents to find examples that were paid -- settlements that were paid on behalf of a member's office. And in this case, which was very public, you know, around the time was settled on behalf of a commission. So a little bit of a different search term was required.
And that's why we learned about this $220,000 payment days later. But just that one payment nearly doubled the total that we have now accounted for. And so it is now half a million dollars that taxpayers have bankrolled for these confidential sexual harassment settlements.
And I went through the most recent example, this $220,000 payment. And what really stood out to me in this case file was just how much the woman who was making these allegations was talking about in her writings, in her in her statements, how she felt that the system was really designed to benefit the member that she was making these allegations against.
Now, Hastings has passed away in 2021. But I spoke to the woman who brought forward these allegations and she talked about just how difficult her life has been since she made this settlement and even mentioned that even though that $220,000 is what the settlement agreement is for that actually after taxes, what she received was much less.
Now, why are we receiving these documents now? It's because Republican Congresswoman Nancy Mace subpoenaed this Office of Workplace Rights to get all of these documents as part of this moment of accountability that we're in to try and understand how the system has worked up until this point.
And it was up until 2018 that taxpayers had to foot the bill here. But lawmakers actually changed the law. And so any settlement that's been made after 2018, lawmakers have to pay for themselves -- Kate.
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BOLDUAN: And kind of wrapped into all of this, there's now a bipartisan commission that's been appointed to change the way or reform the way or update the way that these allegations are actually reported when it comes to Capitol Hill members of Congress. What are you learning about this?
GRAYER: This just shows how there is bipartisan interest to reform the current system and that this issue is not going to go away just because Democratic Congressman Eric Swalwell and Republican Congressman Tony Gonzalez resigned after the allegations that came forward against them. There's a lot more that is still to be done here to look deep into the system about how staffers and lawmakers interact and how they get trained to prevent any sort of sexual harassment from happening.
BOLDUAN: Annie, thank you very much for your great reporting here -- Sara.
SIDNER: Ahead, what can happen if you use an AI chat bot for financial advice? We'll talk all about that.
Plus, the princess of Wales heading to Italy for her very first official overseas trip since her cancer treatment.
Those stories and more ahead.
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