Return to Transcripts main page

CNN News Central

Global Scramble Underway To Contain New Ebola Outbreak; Rep. Mike Quigley (D-IL) On Upcoming Primaries; Trial Begins For Ex- Assistant Principal After 6-Year-Old Shot Teacher. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired May 18, 2026 - 07:30   ET

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

[07:30:00]

MATT EGAN, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: They've waived the Jones Act, invoked the Defense Production Act, declared a national emergency. And yet, gas prices -- they do remain historically high, right? They skyrocketed after the war started. They've kind of leveled our around $4.50 a gallon but this is very, very high going into the peak demand season starting this weekend with Memorial Day weekend.

Now, normally the White House would get on the phone, right? They would call Riyadh and they would try to persuade the Saudis to really start pumping more, but that's not really an option right now because the Strait of Hormuz is closed.

And it doesn't look like the U.S. oil industry is coming to the rescue either. U.S. oil production -- it remains very high at 13.7 million barrels per day, but that's actually slightly below where U.S. output was at the end of last year.

And the Energy Department -- forecasters there -- they think production will be flat this year. They do see an acceleration next year but only a modest increase.

Now any time gas prices are high there's always talk about suspending the federal gas tax --

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Right.

EGAN: -- but this would save you shockingly little. The Penn Wharton budget model from the president's alma mater -- they project that even if you put a 122-day pause on the gas tax and even if you drive a lot and you're filling up your gas tank once a week, you would only save $35.00 -- not per week, not per month, total.

SIDNER: Wow.

EGAN: Thirty-five dollars would be the total savings from the gas tax holiday.

Meanwhile, it would starve the highway trust fund over $11 billion, and you'd be stimulating demand at a time supply is low. So no wonder why a lot of people call this a gimmick. So this really all goes back to reopening the Strait of Hormuz, right? that's the whole ballgame. And the fact that we're still in this situation -- what, 11 weeks into the crisis -- I think that explains why a number of forecasters I'm in touch with -- they do think that we're going to have to return to a -- a return of hostilities here to try to force open the Strait of Hormuz. And they are warning of higher gasoline prices and oil prices to come, especially if there is new fighting and there's damage to the energy infrastructure in the region.

SIDNER: Yeah. We had Alayna Treene's reporting over the weekend that they are looking at strikes very seriously.

Matt Egan, we will wait and see but those are, you know, not sustainable for a lot of American families trying to deal with this sort of crisis of things being higher. Prices being higher. Gas prices being higher. And now it's the summer and people are going to think about what they're going to do with their travel --

EGAN: Yeah.

SIDNER: -- and maybe have to cut back.

EGAN: The timing is horrible.

SIDNER: Yeah.

Matt Egan --

EGAN: Thanks, Sara.

SIDNER: -- appreciate it. Thank you -- Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Thank you so much, guys.

Right now health officials are scrambling to contain a new Ebola outbreak in central Africa. It's centered right now in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda, but the World Health Organization just declared it in its terminology as a public health emergency of international concern.

So far, at least 88 people have died. There are more than 300 suspected cases. Ten cases have been officially confirmed. And the CDC sending a team to the region is helping with contact tracing and testing. And the U.S. government says it's also working to relocate what they're describing as a small number of Americans who have been reportedly exposed.

CNN's Meg Tirrell is tracking this one and she's here with us now. What do you -- what's the latest on this and what are you picking up?

MEG TIRRELL CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. So, of course, last week we were all talking about the hantavirus.

BOLDUAN: Yeah. TIRRELL: So this came seemingly out of nowhere and it caught a lot of people by surprise, especially from its sheer size at the time when we're hearing about it and World Health Organization authorities are talking about it as well.

So as you noted, there have been 10 confirmed cases but more than 300 suspected cases. Eighty-eight deaths suspected to be from this strain of Ebola. And this is a strain that we don't often see -- it's called Bundibugyo -- and normally we see a different strain. Two cases have also been detected in Uganda, which is in a neighboring country, including one death.

If you want to see essentially where this is, it's mostly centered in the Ituri province in the northeastern part of the DRC. But we do have those two cases in Uganda and there is a lot of concern about spread around the area.

So you just mentioned the WHO has declared this a public health --

BOLDUAN: Yeah.

TIRRELL: -- emergency of international concern and this is a pretty big deal. And just to give you an example of what that means, the previous times the WHO has declared that. This is an exhaustive list, but these are some that people will recognize.

BOLDUAN: Yeah.

TIRRELL: In 2009, the H1N1 flu pandemic.

BOLDUAN: Meaning these are things that you have heard of, and you remember. That's when they reached this level.

TIRRELL: Yeah, exactly.

And, of course, this is the previous time we had the largest Ebola outbreak in history --

BOLDUAN: Yeah.

TIRRELL: -- 2014 to 2016. That was in West Africa. And, of course, these others.

And what this declaration really means is that this is an extraordinary event and it has international implications. This doesn't mean it's going to be a global threat.

BOLDUAN: Right.

TIRRELL: It just means that it has the possibility to spread across borders, which we have already seen, and requires international coordination to try to contain.

Now if we want to look at Ebola, there's been a lot of Ebola in the Democratic Republic of Congo --

BOLDUAN: Yeah.

TIRRELL: -- which is, of course, where this is happening now. Right now we're talking about an outbreak over here. The colors here are important too because this shows that this is the usual strain that we see, Zaire Ebola. And right now we have this different strain, Bundibugyo, which is in the yellow. And we have only seen two other outbreaks of this strain before.

[07:35:03]

And problematically, we have a vaccine for the Zaire strain of Ebola. We don't have one for this strain. And so therapeutics, vaccines -- we're not relying those -- on those like we have been able to before, even though typically the way to contain this is try to do contact tracing.

This -- already, we have more than 300 cases and more than 80 deaths. These are the previous largest outbreaks of Ebola.

BOLDUAN: My goodness.

TIRRELL: This was the one in 2014 to 2016, 28,000 cases, 11,000 deaths. And a previous one in the Democratic Republic of Congo as well. So this one is large. It's already larger than many outbreaks we've seen before but it's not yet approaching those sizes.

BOLDUAN: I mean, let us please not reach anything close to that.

What is the CDC response -- the U.S. government response and what is -- they -- what do they believe is the actual risk to Americans right now?

TIRRELL: Yeah. Right now, the CDC says the risk to the United States remains low. They have issued these travel warnings to the areas that are affected. So a level two for DRC, level one for Uganda. Essentially, be aware of this.

There are screening methods for those countries, particularly DRC, at the borders, so --

BOLDUAN: You take extra screenings, right, yeah.

TIRRELL: Exactly, and it's not thought that Ebola spreads if it's not symptomatic. So fever screenings and things like that.

The CDC also said, as you noted, they are sending folks. They have operations in those countries already so they're trying to help with surveillance, lab efforts, contact tracing. Efforts to control this. There are concerns that this is spreading in health care settings.

BOLDUAN: Um-hum.

TIRRELL: We've heard of deaths among health care workers.

They also note that they're supporting government efforts to coordinate the safe withdrawal of a small number of Americans who are directly affected in outbreak areas. We don't have a lot of information --

BOLDUAN: OK.

TIRRELL: -- about what that means right now or even if they're coming back to the U.S. They could potentially go to a different space.

BOLDUAN: Right.

TIRRELL: We also know that there are a lot of folks who are quarantining in Nebraska right now because of the hantavirus --

BOLDUAN: Yes.

TIRRELL: -- ship, who have not, you know, shown symptoms. They have not been diagnosed. The question is --

BOLDUAN: And that is where people -- that is where Ebola patients have in the past been sent to as well.

TIRRELL: Exactly.

BOLDUAN: Yeah.

All right, Meg. Thank you very much. Super informative. I really appreciate it -- John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Happening now, big names and even bigger money descending on Kentucky in the most closely watched primary in the country, which is tomorrow. President Trump desperately wants to unseat incumbent Republican Congressman Thomas Massie who among other things forced the release of the Epstein files.

Today, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth campaigns with Massie's opponent, a rare if not unprecedented move for a Pentagon chief.

This was Congressman Massie's response.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. THOMAS MASSIE (R-KY): I'm the one they haven't been able to bully, so they're putting all the brunt and force on me. But you can tell that I'm ahead in the polls and they're desperate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: President Trump lashed out at Congresswoman Lauren Bobert after she was seen campaigning for Massie, writing that she is "weak- minded" and asked if anyone was interested in running against her in her own Republican primary.

With us this morning, Alex Thompson, national political reporter for Axios and a CNN political analyst. Alex, always great to see you.

You know, two things can be true. The New York Times has a brand new poll out just minutes ago with President Trump at an all-time low in approval ratings in their polling. And yet, he's got enormous power in Republican primaries. Just ask Bill Cassidy in Louisiana, who is now a soon-to-be former Republican senator after Trump pushed for his opponents to win there.

So what do you think is going on in Kentucky?

ALEX THOMPSON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST, NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORT, AXIOS (via Webex by Cisco): Well, Trump's endorsement or non-endorsement has remained the most powerful force in Republican politics -- not just Cassidy, but you'll remember just the other week in Indiana, several of the people that resisted Trump's mid-decade redistricting efforts also lost their primaries to Trump-backed opponents.

And Thomas Massie is the latest test of this. And I can tell you if Thomas Massie loses, it will create just a chill in the Republican Party. You think the Republican Party has already been very compliant to Donald Trump. That is true. But Thomas Massie will be an example that you really cannot defy this Republican president if you expect to remain a Republican lawmaker.

BERMAN: We talk about the president's power in primaries and we're talking about in congressional races, Senate races, and maybe even governor's races. But Alex, you point out maybe the most important test of this will be in a race, you know, 18 months from now -- a presidential race. The Republican primary for 2028.

THOMPSON: Yes. Trump's endorsement in 2028 is probably the most important thing. I mean, the fact is that voters will likely go along with whoever Trump appoints as his successor. And in some ways the 2028 presidential race will just be for an audience of one. So whoever Trump endorses, whether or not it's Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, or somebody else we don't know, they will likely be the nominee.

And that is why, you know, Trump's endorsement -- and why you also have so many of these people, you know, for lack of a better term, sucking up to Donald Trump is because his endorsement still remains the most powerful force in Republican politics.

[07:40:00]

BERMAN: Yeah. I mean, forget Iowa, forget South Carolina, forget New Hampshire. I mean, this is a one-person primary -- or forgive us, Iowa -- perhaps caucus next time around, something we will have to watch carefully.

Let's go to the Democratic side since we're talking about presidential primary politics. I want to play some sound from Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez with her friend David Axelrod. She's talking about Marjorie Taylor Greene. I'm going to play it and then I'm going to ask you about it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ (D-NY): I personally do not trust someone like Marjorie Taylor Greene, a proven bigot and antisemite, on the issues of what is good for Gazans and Israelis. (Applause)

OCASIO-CORTEZ: I don't -- I don't think that it benefits our movement in that instance to align the left with white nationalists. I don't think it serves us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: You've got a new piece out, Alex, which is really interesting. Why does that sound bite matter in Democratic presidential primary posturing?

THOMPSON: I mean, it has created one of the first skirmishes of the 2028 presidential primary because Rep. Ro Khanna criticized Ocasio- Cortez for this, and that exposed what actually is a much bigger sort of schism on the left wing of the Democratic Party.

And it's sort of old Bernie versus new Bernie. Now many of the veterans of Bernie's 2016 campaign have -- are now working with Ro Khanna and many of the people that joined in 2020 are now working for Ocasio-Cortez. And that's important because there's always been a little bit of tension between those two camps.

And it -- and this exposed -- you know, the old Bernie people, for lack of a better term, you know, really thought that, you know, Bernie was more inclusive. You know, even Marjorie Taylor Greene had said some things that they deeply disagreed with, but they tried to create sort of a bigger tent, especially on those cultural issues. You know, they would let I people that didn't necessarily support abortion rights. They let in people that, you know, were more hawkish on immigration.

And they felt that, you know, Bernie 2020 went to the left on several of those issues. And this prompted, you know -- you know, a comparison where Ro Khanna has been trying to get in sort of that old Bernie lane and Ocasio-Cortez clearly occupies the new Bernie lane.

BERMAN: It's a really interesting piece you've got on Axios with Holly Otterbein. Sort of the Bernie primary. Everyone should go check it out.

Alex Thompson, great to see you this morning. Thank you very much. Uh, Kate.

BOLDUAN: I will take it.

Joining us right now to talk about all of this is Democratic Congressman Mike Quigley of Illinois. Thanks for being here, Congressman.

Let's talk about what happened over the weekend.

REP. MIKE QUIGLEY (D-IL) (via Webex by Cisco): Good to be back.

BOLDUAN: Were you surprised about Bill Cassidy -- Bill Cassidy out? QUIGLEY: No, I'm not surprised. It's unfortunate, you know. I'm not cheering for Cassidy. I'm not cheering for Mr. Massie. I disagree with them on just about everything. But we do need a healthy, two-party system. We do need Republicans to be able to be independent when they need to be.

On the issue of Ukraine, the majority of Republicans in the House would support a supplemental to help our Ukrainian friends. I do believe a majority would support war powers limiting the president's activities in Iran, but they're afraid of him. They also don't challenge the president on other articles and powers that Congress controls. And as a result of that, the president has far more power than he should have. The acts of a tyrant allowed because they're all afraid of Trump.

BOLDUAN: Well, on Thomas Massie -- someone who you definitely don't see eye-to-eye with on many things, specifically and especially probably funding and support for Ukraine -- he is facing an unusual situation today which is the Secretary of Defense is heading down to Kentucky to campaign against him. And look, everyone can walk and chew gum at the same time if they want, but can the same be said for the defense secretary who is going to Kentucky today to campaign while in the midst of helping the president carry out this war in the Middle East and carrying out a campaign against ISIS now in Nigeria?

QUIGLEY: Look, the fact of the matter is he is in way over his head -- an inexperienced person who is making rash decisions not just in the Middle East but as I believe we've seen recently in Europe with our NATO allies -- Germany. The hasty decision to pull -- reverse a decision as troops were starting to be deployed in Poland, further alienating a country that the president called a perfect ally.

So sure, there's plenty of time to go out and campaign to go after somebody who disagrees with you on a few things.

And again, Thomas Massie is no friend of democracy or good government, but the fact of the matter is when he dissents, sometimes that's important, as he did with the Epstein files. So I don't have to like my Republican friends on the issues, but I have to appreciate the fact that when they dissent it does help our democracy. On issues like Epstein files, as Marjorie Taylor Greene did.

[07:45:18]

It doesn't always have to be us against them.

BOLDUAN: Yeah.

QUIGLEY: Sometimes we can do important things like fund our governments together. It's hard to do when they -- when they're just so afraid of this president.

BOLDUAN: Well, when you put all that together and when you take all of those things into consideration, are you hoping Massie wins his primary then? QUIGLEY: You know, it's hard to say I cheer for Mr. Massie to win anything. I am going to cheer for the Republicans being able to dissent. Illinois' own Adam Kinzinger showed a lot of courage and look what that got him. The fact of the matter is, again, I don't have to agree with my Republican friends all the time. I do have to work with them to try to get some things done.

We passed an act for ALS with the most bipartisan co-sponsorships five years ago. It was an important victory because Democrats and Republicans put aside their difference and got something done.

We have far more that we disagree with than we agree with, but we do have to come to -- because I -- come to some agreement because I do think there is a national security threat with the fact that we're unable to function as a government.

BOLDUAN: Speaking of things that not only the country but the world needs to come together to fight against, we were just getting the latest report on this new Ebola outbreak. The World Health Organization now declaring it a public health emergency of international concern in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda is where it's centered.

What is the level of concern among members of Congress right now about this?

QUIGLEY: You know, I can't speak for all of Congress and whether they're paying attention, but I do think it points out to the number one rule of foreign policy -- uh, to have a friend you need to be one. So that matters on intel. It matters on military. It matters on our economy and how successful we are.

But here's one more example. There's not a question of whether they'll be another epidemic like COVID, it's a question of when. And that interconnection -- that ability for countries to work together to eradicate that is critical.

Epidemics aren't likely to start within the United States, but they certainly don't stop at our borders. So when you cut CDC, when you distance yourself from all their allies through tariffs, cutting USAID, you're putting yourself in the position. The World Health Organization -- eliminating ourselves from that. You're putting yourself in a position where you're acting alone and you simply don't have control of the situation.

We are less safe because we are isolated, and the president has put us in that position.

BOLDUAN: Congressman, thank you for coming on this morning. I appreciate your time -- Sara.

SIDNER: All right. Thank you, Kate.

Just ahead, right now some of the top divers in the world are coming together to try and recover the remains of four divers who died scuba diving in the Maldives. The complex and dangerous effort to maneuver the maze-like underwater caves.

And two Americans arrested in Japan for the stunt you're seeing right there -- jumping into a monkey pit that home to the viral star Punch. You remember that sweetie. Not a good idea.

(COMMERCIAL)

[07:52:51]

BERMAN: This morning a former Virginia school official is on trial for allegedly failing to take action before a 6-year-old boy shot his teacher in class. This happened three years ago. You'll remember the case. Former assistant principal Ebony Parker has pleaded not guilty to eight counts of felony child abuse. Prosecutors say she ignored warnings. She is the first educator in the country, as far as we know, to face criminal charges like this in a school shooting.

CNN's Jean Casarez is with us now. So, a lot of people watching this case.

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN REPORTER: Yes. This is a case of first impression for Virginia, and as far as vice principal, principal, counselor, we believe that this is the first in the country. We cannot find any others. Of course, there are school resource officers that have been charged.

But Ebony Parker is the defendant. She was the vice principal of the school. And this is felony counts of child neglect, and this is overall her knowledge.

So let's look at the timeline here because it starts in 2021 when this child is in kindergarten and he -- and this is according to the grand jury report. It's factual information. The student hits several members of the staff as a kindergartner. So he's excluded from school for two days. He actually does not finish his kindergarten year. But nonetheless, in 2022, they put him in first grade.

He holds two classmates in a chokehold in a span of 10 minutes. And remember, the defendant was the vice principal of the school at the time.

And then in January of 2023 -- so he's still in first grade -- six years old. He's defiant. He grabs his teacher, Abby Zwerner. That's who got shot. He grabs her phone. He throws it to the ground on that day. The screen cracked and he said "I'm never coming back to your room, b." It begins with a "b". So then he leaves.

He's suspended for one day after that, John. He doesn't come back the next day. The next day is the shooting, all right? So think about that -- what he said, right, when he left. The 6-year-old returns to school.

[07:55:00]

Abby Zwerner observes his violent mood. She goes to the vice principal -- and the vice principal knew about all these incidents. She herself leaves her classroom and goes to the vice principal and says, "He's in a violent mood today." According to the facts of the grand jury report, Vice Principal Ebony Parker, now defendant, doesn't even look up at the teacher. Doesn't acknowledge what she's saying.

Another first-grade teacher was told by her students that he had a gun in his bag and there was ammunition. That teacher goes down to the vice principal. Finally, Abby Zwerner sees him right before lunch take something out of his bookbag, put on a great big jacket with pockets, put something in his pockets. The vice principal is aware of that.

At 1:40 one of the administrators says, "Look, can I search his person?" She asked Ebony Parker. You need reasonable suspicion at that point. That's what the school adhered to. The vice principal says, "No." At 1:58 the 6-year-old takes out the gun, points it directly at Abby Zwerner, shoots her through the hand into the chest.

And here is at the civil trial, Abby Zwerner, that first-grade teacher, testifying that she thought she had died.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ABBY ZWERNER, TEACHER SHOT BY 6-YEAR-OLD STUDENT: The last thing I remember at the school, um, obvious, I thought I was dying. Um, I thought I had died. I thought I was either, um, on my way to heaven or in heaven, but then it all got black. And so I then thought I wasn't going there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CASAREZ: The defense in the civil trial, John, was that the vice principal was never told there was actually a gun, and so she did not believe there was a situation that needed her attention. She also was involved in testing that day. So very involved in other things.

Of course, this is a separate situation. This is potential prison time, five years per count, eight counts.

BERMAN: And as we said, it would be kind of a first when we're talking about this type of school official.

Jean Casarez is watching this very closely. Thank you so much.

CASAREZ: Thank you.

BERMAN: Sara.

SIDNER: All right. We have some new developments in the dangerous search for the bodies of four divers who died in a deep system of underwater caves in the Maldives last week. We're learning this hour that the bodies have now been located by a robotic camera. The recovery operation turned deadly Saturday after a military rescue diver lost his own life trying to locate the remains.

Our Barbie Latza Nadeau joins us now from Rome. Barbie, that location where they have -- where they have found these bodies -- what is next for how to try to get to them? BARBIE LATZA NADEAU, CNN REPORTER: Well, it really is, in many ways, kind of a worst-case scenario because this cave is very deep -- some 70 meters or 230 feet at its deepest part -- and that is exactly where they found the bodies.

Now it had been very much a question going in whether or not it's worth it to risk the lives of more of the rescue divers to retrieve bodies of people who are already dead. And that was a question that was being played out when these elite Finish divers that is part of this European group of cave divers who specialize in this sort of recovery and rescue sorts of situations -- they were contemplating that this morning.

They just arrived in the Maldives this morning. They weren't able to do -- to dive past the decompression line because they had just flown, and they were planning to go do a sort of a safety assessment later today or early tomorrow. And them tomorrow, potentially, go deep.

Now they've got to rethink everything because it's about retrieving the bodies. Whether or not they are really going to be able to take the risk to go down if they have the sort of apparatuses, mechanics, robots, and things like that that can retrieve the bodies.

Of course, the families of these four people, including a mother and daughter -- so you've got the father and husband there -- are just, you know, really at their wit's end. They want those bodies back. But, of course, they also don't want anyone else to die in this -- in this really horrific and terrible in paradise situation.

SIDNER: Yeah. It's really terrifying to think that someone's already died trying to retrieve these bodies. To see if there's any sort of mechanical way to get them -- a robotic way to get them is another potential avenue.

Barbie Latza Nadeau, thank you so much for your reporting there for us from Rome.

All right, Kate.

BOLDUAN: It was a scary scene in Virginia after a train slammed into a truck that was carrying what's believed to be a septic tank. The truck was thrown from the tracks while the liquid spilled out onto the ground out of a tank. One man was taken to the hospital with life- threatening injuries. Police say that the driver failed to stop at a posted stop sign just before crossing the tracks. Goodness. Officials say -- are calling it a minor hazmat situation that they are dealing with because of the fuel but say that there is no further public safety issues.

There is also new video coming in showing a dramatic rescue off the coast of California. In Monterey, a whale-watching crew saved two fishermen after their boat capsized six miles off the coast.