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Polls on American's Feeling on the Economy; Kemp Puts Influence to the Test; Iran Responds to Peace Plan; Mangione in Court Today; Rob Bonta is Interviewed about ICE Detention Facilities; Analysts Warn "Q- Day" May Arrive Early. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired May 18, 2026 - 08:30   ET

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

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[08:32:01]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: President Trump says he is not thinking at all about American's financial well-being when it comes to the war in Iran. And he says he meant it. This weekend he called that a perfect statement. But new polling shows that Americans don't really feel his work on the economy is perfect.

With us now, CNN chief data analyst Harry Enten.

So, not perfect at all.

HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: Yes.

BERMAN: When they compare their -- when you compare their feelings about what Trump will do to the economy a few years ago to now.

ENTEN: Yes. You know, the promise of a Trump presidency in the minds of the American people have turned into a reality and a reality that for them is a nightmare. Because just take a look here. OK, Trump will or is making you financially worse off, better off. Back in October of 2024. The reason why he won a second term, 44 percent said better off, outrunning the worse off at 38 percent. But look at these numbers, down through the floor on the better off. Now just 14 percent. Just 14 percent. I see Johnny off on the side shaking his head. Trump making them financially better off. Meanwhile, the worse off up like a rocket, the clear majority. Now 57 percent of Americans now say that Trump is making them financially worse off.

You know, back in 1980, Ronald Reagan asked, are you better off than you were four years ago? As Americans look back now, compared to a year and a half ago, their minds on Donald Trump are definitely saying, he's made them worse off.

BERMAN: I mean, look at that drop. A 30-point drop in a couple of years. And if you think 14 percent is low.

ENTEN: Yes, if you think 14 percent is low, how low can you go?

Well, how about this? OK, Trump will or is making you financially worse off, better off? Among independents, among independents, look at this, the better off now is just eight. It's just eight. When you can count on your hands, you know the number is low, just eight percent say that Trump is making them financially better off among independents. Way, way down from the 40 percent who said that back in October of 2024, when the better off was outrunning the worse off at 38 percent. Look at that. That 38 percent, again, up like a rocket. I feel like I'm at NASA. Look at this, 64 percent of independents now say that Trump is making them financially worse off.

These are numbers we've seen among independents over and over and over again. They have turned against Trump. And now about two-thirds --

BERMAN: I mean these independent numbers are staggering. I mean, eight percent is not zero.

ENTEN: No.

BERMAN: But it's closer to zero than it is to 50.

ENTEN: That's exactly right. When you're -- when you're -- when you're closer -- when you're closer to zero percent than you are to 50 percent as a politician, you know your numbers are bad.

BERMAN: All right, independents, obviously, a key swing group. What about some of the groups that were key or have been in the past to Donald Trump's electoral success?

ENTEN: Yes, normally you want to be winning over independents because the way independents go is the way the nation goes. But you definitely want to be holding on to your base. And, of course, one key part of Donald Trump's base is non-college whites. Whites without a college degree. And even they are flipping on the president of the United States.

Trump is or making -- will make you financially worse off, better off. Back in October of 2024, look at that, 54 percent better off. Well outpacing worse off at 30 percent. Now we're looking at basically the inverse, just 15 percent say better off among white voters without a college degree, Trump is making them financially better off.

[08:35:07]

And now even there, the majority of non-college whites, a key part of Donald Trump's base, are saying he's making them financially worse off. These are numbers that would make me, if I were a Republican running in the midterm elections, be quite, quite worried.

BERMAN: These numbers are sure telling a story. The question is, you know, it's 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, are they reading it?

ENTEN: Mmm--eh (ph).

BERMAN: Harry Enten, thank you very much.

ENTEN: Thank you, my friend.

BERMAN: Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right, that was very high pitched, Harry. OK. All right.

Georgia Governor Brian Kemp will not be on the ballot tomorrow for the state's primary, but he is campaigning like his political future depends on it. Kemp is putting his massive popularity among Republicans in the state to the test to try and unseat Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff. The governor is pouring a lot of money and his own political clout into backing former football coach Derek Dooley in a crowded Senate primary.

CNN's Arlette Saenz joining us now with more on all of this.

A lot of Republicans wanted Kemp to -- himself to run for this seat. What can you tell us about the impact this is all having?

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Sara, national Republicans had long viewed Governor Brian Kemp as their strongest potential candidate to take off senator -- take on Senator Jon Ossoff in November, but he passed on a run last May and now has gone all in on supporting Derek Dooley, a former football coach at the University of Tennessee, who's running as a political outsider.

Now, Kemp is the most high-profile Republican to get involved in this Georgia Senate primary that also includes Congressman Mike Collins and Congressman Buddy Carter. President Donald Trump has so far sat out of the race, but Kemp has put a lot of his own political capital on the line here. What he has done is he has campaigned across the state with Derek Dooley for several months now, hitting all corners as they try to take their case to voters. The governor is also starring in an ad promoting Dooley that's been running on the airwaves over the last week.

And Kemp is an incredibly popular governor among Republicans in the state. He has that 85 percent approval rating, but it's not clear if that will neatly translate to support for his chosen candidate. If you take a look at a poll that was conducted last month, Congressman Mike Collins is actually the one in the lead. And then you have Buddy Carter and Derek Dooley fighting it out for second place.

There's a large contingent -- a large swath of undecided voters heading into this primary, with more than half of likely Republican voters saying that they were still deciding who to choose.

But I caught up with both Dooley and Governor Kemp last week as they were campaigning in Georgia, and I asked Kemp if he felt that his name was on the ballot in some way, since he's invested so much in this race. He said, a little bit.

Take a listen to a bit more of what he had to say.

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GOV. BRIAN KEMP (R-GA): And I also feel very strongly, our best opportunity to beat Jon Ossoff is to have a true, political outsider that can grow the party, be bringing people to our side in November when they find out about Jon Ossoff's record, but also somebody that wants to really go up there to D.C. for the right reasons and represent our state.

But I feel really good about our chances. As long as we have the right candidate at the top of the ticket.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAENZ: Now, if no Republican candidate reaches a 50 percent threshold in tomorrow's Senate primary, that race will extend into a runoff. So, it may not be until mid-June that Georgians know which Republican candidate they will be putting up against Ossoff in November. But it does come as some Republicans have grown anxious about this fractured primary that's taking place, worrying that it could complicate their chances to take on Ossoff and flip this seat in November. Georgia is one of those seats that Democrats have to hold on to as they're trying to reclaim their majority. They need to pick up four and Georgia needs to be held there in order for Democrats to win in November.

SIDNER: Yes, those margins really matter.

Arlette Saenz, thank you so much for your reporting there for us. Do appreciate it.

Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: The clock is ticking. That as President Trump's new warning for Iran, as he is now weighing his next move. He also says in a new interview with "Fortune" out this morning that Iran is, quote, "dying" to make a deal. But he also accuses Iran of making agreements, striking deals and then changing the terms. A source says that the president met with his national security team on Saturday, and that they're expected to meet again early this week. He also spoke on Sunday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, according to U.S. and Israeli officials.

The president also spoke with CNN political and global affairs analyst Barak Ravid of "Axios." And Barak Ravid joins us right now.

It's good to see you, Barak.

So, when the president says the clock is ticking, it has been for a bit now. What's your sense that you're getting, how close to running out of time the president actually views -- he -- yes, he may be impatient, but how out of time or how close is the clock to running out, do you think, at this point?

[08:40:00]

BARAK RAVID, CNN POLITICAL AND GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: So, I think that when the president told me yesterday that the clock is ticking, that Iran doesn't have a lot of time, that if they're going to waste more time, he's going to hit them harder than they've ever been hit before. I think he was pointing -- I don't think, I know he was pointing to a new -- a new or an updated -- I think updated is more accurate, an updated counter-proposal from the Iranians as part of the negotiations that's been going on for weeks now.

And this counter proposal was delivered by the Pakistani mediators to the U.S. last night. So, I think that the big question now is whether this new updated counter proposal stopped the clock or it was not good enough and basically the clock has run out. And I think we'll know that in the next 24 hours because what I hear from my sources is that the president is scheduled to meet with his top national security team tomorrow at the White House Situation Room to discuss military option for action against Iran. So, if the updated proposal that the Iranians delivered last night is not good enough, I think we will be much, much, much closer to a resumption of the war.

BOLDUAN: And so, this is an important development because it's been proposal, counter proposal. And then there was the proposal as the president was leaving to go to China that he called absolutely unacceptable or totally unacceptable, that -- and the question was, what comes next? Now, you're saying that there's a new proposal that's been sent over as of last night.

Iran's foreign ministry told state media today, Barak, that it's -- that -- about this sending of the -- sending this new proposal over. And the way that they put it, the spokesperson for the foreign ministry put it this way, "we received a set of corrective points and considerations from the Pakistani mediator."

It's the -- it kind of comes down to, it -- are talks viewed as stalled around one particular item, or is this just the slow grind of diplomacy that we have seen in the past with past conflicts or definitely past negotiations with the Iranian regime?

RAVID: So, I think it's kind of both. First, the Iranians move slowly. They move slowly because it's in their interest to move slowly because they're playing for time and every day without a war is a victory for them. On the other hand, there is, I think, an argument or a gap on one specific issue that is basically a political decision by President Trump, whether he is willing to announce that the war is over and start phasing out U.S. forces from the region, start bringing forces out of the region, and accept the Iranian term that the nuclear issue will be discussed only after the war is over. That's a political decision. Only President Trump can make that decision. At the moment, he did not. And at the moment, the Iranians are still adamant that they want him to announce that the war is over before anything else.

BOLDUAN: Barak Ravid, with amazing reporting, always and insights. Thanks for coming in. It's good to see you.

Sara.

SIDNER: All right. Thank you so much, Kate.

Very soon, Luigi Mangione, the 28-year-old accused of killing the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, is set to appear in court. The hearing today centers around the alleged murder weapon and other key evidence. Now, his legal team says police illegally searched his backpack when they arrested him. And those critical pieces of evidence should not be considered in his state murder trial. CNN's Kara Scannell outside the courthouse in New York for us.

What are you learning about the items from his backpack? These are really important pieces of evidence, obviously, here, as you've been following this case all along.

KARA SCANNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Sara, it is. And that is why this ruling is so critical today. And as you said, Mangione's lawyers have argued that the search of the backpack was illegal because the officers in Altoona, Pennsylvania, where Mangione was found at that McDonald's there, had searched it without a warrant.

And the items inside the backpack include that 3-D printed handgun. It includes a magazine, foreign currency, hand-drawn maps, and another critical piece, this diary. This handwritten diary where Mangione wrote out many thoughts he had about the health care industry. He said in one of them, the target is insurance. And he talked about getting at the bean counters. And the allegations in this case is that Mangione went and gunned down the UnitedHealthcare CEO, Brian Thompson, on a Manhattan sidewalk just outside their annual investor conference.

[08:45:07]

So, obviously, key pieces of evidence here.

The prosecutors say that the search was legal, that the evidence would have ultimately been found in through exceptions in these warrantless searches. And so they say that it should stay in.

Now, there are other issues that are at play here today, including whether the statements that Mangione made to the officers at the McDonald's and while he was in their custody before transfer to New York should be allowed in. His lawyers say that he was not given his Miranda warning, that is your right to remain silent, in an appropriate time, and that any statements he made should not be allowed in.

Some of the statements we heard from suppression hearing in December included Mangione asking about the social media coverage and the normal mainstream media coverage of the shooting. So, these are things that his lawyers don't want the jury to hear. The judge has been -- has heard nine days of evidence in December. It will come down today to decide where he's going to be in this. Authorities say, though, that even if some of this evidence is thrown out, they do have other evidence that links Mangione to the crime scene, including his DNA on some items that were found there.

Sara.

SIDNER: Yes, a lot of evidence in the case. He's got two -- he's got some fierce professional lawyers. We will have to see how this case plays out. But I know you'll be covering every aspect of it. And we do appreciate all your coverage.

Kate. BOLDUAN: I am coming.

SIDNER: Oh, hey. Hey, girl.

BOLDUAN: Don't you worry. Here I am. Coming up for us, a wave of backlash against FIFA right now in Dallas as a famous mural is being painted over ahead of this summer's World Cup.

And Southwest Airlines is banning humanoids now. And you can apparently thank or blame Stewie, the robot, for that.

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[08:50:45]

BERMAN: A new report released by the California attorney general describes conditions at immigration detention facilities in the state as, quote, "cruel, inhumane and unacceptable." After inspecting seven facilities, the California Department of Justice found multiple violations, they say, are relating to conditions of confinement and basic medical health care, as well as insufficient staffing and an overcrowded intake process.

With us now, California Attorney General Rob Bonta, obviously behind this report. I should note, the attorney general is running for re- election in the state. Tell us exactly what your team found.

ROB BONTA, CALIFORNIA ATTORNEY GENERAL: Well, we have a special authority to go into these for-profit private immigration detention facilities in California and inspect them. We talk to staff. We talk to the detainees. We look at documents. And we found what had been substandard conditions over the past years getting worse.

We found a lack of access to clean, potable water, a lack of access to nourishing meals, a lack of access to health care, whether it be the health screenings upon intake or appointments or the follow ups. We found lack of staffing. Basics. Fundamentals.

These are people who are in the custody and care of the federal government, and they are not being taken care of. Their basic needs are not being taken care of, from food, to water, to health care. It's unacceptable, it's cruel, it's inhumane, and it needs to change.

BERMAN: There were six detainees reported to have died in the last several months, dating back to last September. Ultimately, who do you believe is responsible for this?

BONTA: Well, those who are in charge of the care of those individuals, I think, bear a responsibility. Of course, people come into these facilities with different health conditions. But if there's a lack of access to health care, if there's neglect, if there's abuse, and we've seen all of those things in the past, then the for-profit private operators, organizations -- companies like CoreCivic and GEO Group may very well bear responsibility. We've got to look into the details of each of those cases, but it's very disturbing to see deaths in custody like this. BERMAN: Now, there is a statement from the Department of Homeland

Security on reporting that CNN has done on your new findings. And DHS, a spokesperson says, quote, "as bed space has rapidly expanded, we have maintained higher a standard of care than most prisons that hold U.S. citizens, including providing access to proper medical care. For many illegal aliens, this is the best healthcare they have received their entire lives."

What's your response to that?

BONTA: First of all, these are not prisons. These are not jails. These are not criminal. These are civil detention centers. These people are not charged with committing any crimes. Most of them, we found, are folks with strong ties to their communities. They work hard. They've never committed a crime. They have children. They have families. They should be released on bond instead of being in these detention centers.

So -- and second, you know, the words are fine. It sounds like a lot of spin and script. But the facts are what matter. And what we saw through our investigation that was thorough, fair and objective is the opposite of what DHS just said, that the healthcare was inferior. It was substandard. It was -- they didn't have access. It wasn't properly staffed. They didn't have access to quality health care.

So, it sounds like a lot of spin, unfortunately. What we need to see is action. Really providing adequate health care, access to food and water. Basics. This should be easy, but these for-profit private operators are cutting corners, raking in profits and allowing their detainees, those in their care and custody, to be harmed.

BERMAN: I want to ask you a question about a completely different subject, and that has to actually do with the federal Department of Justice. There's new reporting that the Trump administration is considering creating a $1.8 billion fund to compensate those who they say were wrongly investigated under previous administrations. Some of these political allies of President Trump.

As someone who conducts investigations of your own, what do you think about this notion?

BONTA: I think it's outrageous and unprecedented in a bad way, not a precedent we want to set where an administration is making subjective decisions, not necessarily based on fact or truth, about what was an appropriate past investigation and what wasn't and seemingly very political.

[08:55:14]

This is a hyper politicized Department of Justice, not one that makes decisions based on law and fact dispassionately, objectively. They do it subjectively, politically. They've gone after political enemies, like Mr. Comey and Ms. James, and that's wrong. This sounds wrong too.

BERMAN: Attorney general from California, Rob Bonta, we appreciate your time this morning. Thank you. Kate.

BOLDUAN: And there you have it. Aaron Rai sinks a 68-foot putt on the 17 hole. That was the moment during yesterday's final round of the PGA Championship, all but cementing his place in golf history. The putt secured his commanding lead heading into the final hole, where he did, obviously, win it all. Rai is the first English-born player to win the PGA in more than a century. He finished the tournament at nine under par, three shots ahead of two-time major champion Jon Rahm and Alex Smalley.

And then let's go to this. The ACM Awards took over Las Vegas last night and break out country star Ella Langley pulled off a sweep. She took home all seven of the trophies that she was nominated for, including female artist of the year. The night's biggest honor went to Cody Johnson, who won the coveted entertainer of the year award.

And then there's backlash in Dallas. A well-known mural is being painted over as part of a project to promote this summer's FIFA World Cup. You see the painting happening right there. This mural is number 82 of 100 massive "Ocean Life" murals created by environmental artist Robert Wyland, and has covered the side of that building for nearly three decades. The mural was almost completely painted over by -- last week. Wyland says that he was never contacted about his work being painted over, only found out about it when someone sent him a picture as it was already underway. And he says the mural is protected under the Federal Visual Artists Rights Act and -- oh, sorry, Visual Artists Rights Act, and that he also now plans to sue.

And a humanoid. Yes, your daily robot news. A humanoid robot named Stewie took his first and final flight on Southwest Airlines, it appears. The airline has now banned all human-like and animal-like robots from its planes. Stewie the robot turned heads at the Las Vegas Airport. He was dancing. He was high-fiving passengers all along the way. But now the fun is over. The new policy bans robots from being transported both in the cabin or as checked baggage. I mean, let's be honest, if he was taking a seat for someone who needed to fly, I have opinions on that. I digress. Southwest tells CNN the new policy is about safety concerns involving lithium batteries, not triggered by a single event, though.

Sara.

SIDNER: Did you see the lady in 5C (ph)? She was like, oh, ewe, what is this thing?

BOLDUAN: I'm just saying, it's hard enough to pay for a flight these days. For robots taking my seat, I got issues.

SIDNER: Yes, me too. We'll be fighting in the streets. Or in the aisle.

BOLDUAN: Or -- yes.

SIDNER: As if we didn't have enough to worry about with A.I. and robots, computer analysts at Google are now warning the public that the dreaded "Q-Day" may arrive earlier than anticipated. That's when quantum computers become powerful enough to easily break all encryption keys and effectively render the world's current digital defenses obsolete. Encryption keys protect everything from banking transactions to classified government communications and, of course, your home and office computers.

CNN business tech reporter Clare Duffy joining us now.

Yikes. I don't even know where to go from here. This is not good news.

CLARE DUFFY, CNN BUSINESS TECH REPORTER: It is not good news. Although I will say, and we'll get to it in a minute, that people are working to prevent this from happening.

This is sort of like the new Y2K. The next milestone that cybersecurity experts are very concerned about. Only the disruption here could be even bigger. As you said, this is the point when quantum computers could break the encryption that protects all of our sensitive internet communications, our business data, our financial information. And this is possible because quantum computers are not just more powerful traditional computers. They work in a fundamentally different way based on the principles of quantum physics. They can process far more information much faster. They have been still in development, but experts are now warning that that development is advancing at a quicker pace than previously realized.

This is also expected to lead to some good things, potentially breakthroughs in science and finance. But what this means is that they could also do the math that is essentially the backbone of this encryption that protects the internet much faster than traditional computers and break that encryption.

[09:00:02]

Now, as I said, there are companies and governments that are working to address this by adopting what's called post-quantum