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Hegseth Campaign For Massie's GOP Challenger In Kentucky; Trump: Holding Off "Planned" Attack On Iran Amid "Serious Negotiations"; Judge: Seized Gun, Writings Allowed In Mangione Murder Trial. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired May 18, 2026 - 15:00   ET

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

ADAM FRANK, PROFESSOR OF ASTROPHYSICS, UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER: Spacefaring civilization where we can ensure that we never meet the dinosaur's fate. So, it's both kind of scary and also kind of awesome at the same time.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: We're going to have to do better than 40 percent, though. That's -- that's essential. Adam Frank, thank you ...

FRANK: We're working on it.

KEILAR: ... we're working on it. All right, Adam Frank, thanks so much.

FRANK: Okay.

KEILAR: A new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: From the military campaign in Iran to a political campaign in Kentucky, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth raising serious questions as he appears on the trail in the bluegrass state today while voters head to the polls in a primary election.

Plus, too little, too late, a verdict in a lawsuit filed by Elon Musk against OpenAI ending with disappointment for the tech tycoon and amid several unresolved questions about the future of A.I. for the rest of us.

And public health officials confirming one American, at least one American, has contracted the Ebola virus. The latest on the outbreak that's now being blamed for dozens of deaths and hundreds of infections.

We're following these major developing stories and many more all coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

KEILAR: Today, President Trump is ramping up his efforts to oust a Republican foe, Kentucky Congressman Thomas Massie. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is stumping for Massie's primary challenger, former Navy SEAL Ed Gallrein. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETE HEGSETH, DEFENSE SECRETARY: At some point, being against everything becomes an excuse for accomplishing nothing. At some point, constant obstruction is not leadership. It's just commentary. It's obstruction. President Trump does not need more people in Washington who are trying to make a point, especially from his own party.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Let's go now to the Hill where Manu Raju is.

Manu, on Saturday, we saw Louisiana Senator Bill Cassidy lose his primary after he was targeted by President Trump. I wonder what lawmakers are saying up there. Are they surprised that he didn't even make it to the runoff?

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, some of them really thought that he would make the runoff, but we were seeing as a small number of Republicans in the House, in the Senate, who have broken with President Trump occasionally, they are now starting to leave the party, either losing their reelection, deciding not to run for reelection, or being pushed out one way or the other.

Now, Bill Cassidy suffering that fate after voting to convict Donald Trump in that second impeachment trial after the January 6th attack, despite Cassidy taking serious steps to try to get into Trump's good graces, namely by being the decisive vote to confirm RFK Jr. as the Health and Human Services Secretary. Thomas Massie now about to meet his fate.

There are a lot of Republicans who wonder and worry that the President's focus is on these vengeance campaigns in these red states and red districts that are unlikely to affect the outcome of the House and Senate majority in the fall, and instead should be putting his muscle behind those more winnable seats or seats they have to defend in order to protect the majority in both chambers. I did catch up with Massie late last week, and I asked him about this race and the message that it would send to voters if he ends up losing tomorrow.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: And if you lose, what message would that send?

REP. THOMAS MASSIE (R-KY): If I lose, I think it's going to disenfranchise a large part of the coalition that was formed to give us the majority here and to give us the White House. I'm holding up the MAHA wing of the party, the privacy warrant for spying wing of the party, the less war wing of the party. If I'm gone, I think you showed that the tent has significantly been diminished and will make winning the majority harder in the fall.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: Now, Massie told me he expects that this race will ultimately be close, and a big reason why is the significant amount of money that is being dumped into this district, into this race on both sides, but a large part by Trump allies themselves. This could be the most expensive House primary ever in history, which shows you the length that the president is willing to go to try to knock off one of his critics here, someone who has voted with Donald Trump a majority of the time, but has broken with him on some key issues, namely leading the charge to force into law a bill calling for the release of the Epstein files over the president's objections. The question now is, is that effort and will that vote ultimately cost Thomas Massie his career here in the House? Brianna.

KEILAR: We'll be watching. Manu, thank you so much. Boris?

SANCHEZ: Let's get some perspective now with former Republican congressman of Illinois, Adam Kinzinger. He's also the honorary chairman of Country First.

Adam, thank you so much for being with us.

First, what's your reaction to the Secretary of Defense getting involved in a primary campaign?

[15:05:00]

ADAM KINZINGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Oh, I -- I've -- and I may be wrong, but I can never remember a Secretary of Defense doing any campaigning for anybody whatsoever. On top of that -- I mean, aren't we at war? I thought we were at war the last I checked -- but on top of that, to do it within your own party is, I mean, clearly Hegseth wants to impress Trump. Clearly, the whole Trump machine is in against Massie.

And the crazy thing about it, Boris, like it's all because Massie pushed for the Epstein file release, which Donald Trump himself ran on. So, regardless of what happens, whatever the outcome is, this is extremely damaging to the Republican coalition, as -- as Massie said.

SANCHEZ: What message do you think it sends service members, especially those stationed in the Middle East, that the defense secretary is at a campaign event like this?

KINZINGER: Yes, that he's not serious. I mean, listen, I've -- you know, I -- I did 22 years in the military. And every military member has opinions of different presidents and, you know, everything else, just like every American. But I've got to tell you, in all honesty, I've heard from more of my friends, negative things about Pete Hegseth than I have heard of any other defense secretary since my time in office.

And it didn't start out that way. Initially, there were some things he were doing that they liked, you know, reduction in some of the ancillary training that each military member had to do. But it's turned into a show. It's turned into an act. And -- and then on top of that, many of them are engaged in the war in Iran in some way or another. They knew the truth. Some of the missiles were getting through the defenses, et cetera. And, you know, Hegseth would go out there and say, everything's fantastic and perfect and we won.

And so, yes, there's a -- I think there's been real damage to the trust that military has of Pete Hegseth, which, again, interestingly, the military, not hugely, but generally is a little more Republican than Democratic.

SANCHEZ: So, Trump has not only attacked Massie and -- and campaigned with his primary rival, but he's also attacked Republicans that have campaigned alongside the congressman, including Congressman Lauren Boebert. This is from the weekend. He called her weak minded, a carpetbagger. He also, at one point, implicated that if somebody were to challenge her in a primary, he might withdraw his endorsement of her. What impact do you think this kind of pressure is going to have on the midterms?

KINZINGER: Well, it's going to be terrible for the midterms. I feel like he's already written those off. He's -- and if he hasn't, then he has no idea how to campaign because this is again, it's just you're -- there in the middle of this kind of civil war within the GOP while they need to be trying to do everything they can to try to hold their majority.

Lauren Boebert has been one of the biggest Donald Trump enablers out there. And then she created the cardinal sin of going to support the guy that pushed for the Epstein files release, which Donald Trump himself pushed for. I mean, it really is unbelievable, but it goes to this message. First off, this is how you build a cult. You -- you make it very clear that you cannot cross the cult leader in any way, right? And so, Lauren Boebert evidently did.

And I think that's just -- that's the message. But the other thing is you're -- you send up -- if you're a Republican, you need to know that you have two options. You can either stand up for what you believe or you have to 100 percent, a thousandy (ph) percent do everything Donald Trump wants. But if you stand up for what you believe, you're not going to win an election. And, you know, at least enjoy that part of it. You can do what you want for once.

SANCHEZ: We saw Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana lose his primary on Saturday. He came in third. In Trump's eyes, he betrayed the president by voting to convict in his second impeachment, though he did wind up maybe not eleventy (ph) thousand percent, as you said, wind up aligning with Trump. But he did largely seemingly toe the party line, especially with his confirmation vote of RFK Jr. Do you expect that Cassidy now might be more of a thorn in Trump's side before his term is up?

KINZINGER: I certainly hope so. I mean, you know, I know Bill Cassidy. I was sad by kind of where -- what he had become in the aftermath of this and trying to please Trump and the RFK thing. He could have shut down RFK -- he actually could have shut down any number of these appointees that are awful because many of them came through basically a tie. But he does have seven months left. And this is a -- a real important time. This is an opportunity to get out there, to do what you know to be right, not just what can get you reelected.

And to every Republican, I'll just say this. If you want to have any semblance of independence, if you want to do this job for any reason, you know, besides just -- I want my name to have a congressman after it or before it, then I understand you may not win an election again. But you can look at yourself in the mirror, and trust me, that's worth gold when you can talk to your kids and grandkids about doing the right thing and you don't have to try to hide all the history books from them, so they call you out.

[15:10:04]

SANCHEZ: Wow. Former congressman, Adam Kinzinger, always appreciate you sharing your point of view.

KINZINGER: You bet. Yep.

SANCHEZ: Still to come, a new warning from President Trump, this time telling that -- telling Iran that the clock is ticking. But now we've learned new details about why the U.S. rejected Iran's latest peace proposal. And he just put out a message regarding more potential conflict with Tehran.

Plus, health officials scrambling to contain a growing Ebola outbreak in Central Africa, why the World Health Organization is calling it a public health emergency of international concern.

And we're following breaking news out of California. These are live images as multiple evacuation orders in the Simi Valley area are underway after a morning brush fire spread quickly, engulfing several homes. CAL FIRE says that the Sandy Fire has burned through 184 acres. It is zero percent contained right now. They say it's spreading dangerously fast, threatening structures as well as infrastructure. We're staying on top of it and we'll get you an update with more details right away.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:15:32]

KEILAR: We have some breaking news just into CNN. President Trump says he's holding off on a planned military attack in Iran that he says he was planning to launch tomorrow.

SANCHEZ: The president's saying that serious negotiations are happening now. Let's get right to CNN's Kristen Holmes at the White House. Kristen, what are you hearing about this? Has there been a substantial shift in the tenor of negotiations?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's really what's unclear at this moment, particularly given that we were just learning from a U.S. official that the U.S. does not believe that Iran's latest proposal goes far enough, that Iran has made enough concessions, particularly when it comes to enriching uranium. But what we're hearing now is President Trump essentially saying that his Gulf country partners, including Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, have essentially asked him to hold off on this planned military attack that he says was scheduled for tomorrow.

And this is the quote, "In that serious negotiations are now taking place, and that, in their opinion, as Great Leaders and Allies, a Deal will be made which will be very acceptable to the United States of America, as well as Countries in the Middle East and beyond." Then, it goes on to talk about no nuclear weapons. And then, it goes on to say that he's instructed his Department of Defense, et cetera, that he will not be doing the scheduled attack.

But I do want to read one line that says, "I have further instructed them to be prepared to go forward with a full, large-scale assault of Iran on a moment's notice in the event that an acceptable deal is not reached."

Now, of course, we have been reporting that President Trump has been growing increasingly frustrated by the negotiating that Iran is doing, essentially feeling as though it's not moving quickly enough. I will remind you that a couple weeks ago, I asked President Trump if he believed Iran was slow-walking this process. He said he really wasn't sure at that point. But that was still weeks ago, and we seem to be in the exact same place.

And this is also happening, as President Trump has expressed this frustration to aides, to U.S. officials as well. It's not just about the negotiating, but it's also about the Strait of Hormuz and this extended closure, which is having a ripple effect throughout the global economy, the global oil industry, and, of course, sending prices here in America skyrocketing. There is a real concern that gas could go above $5 a gallon in some places.

So, right now, we are hearing President Trump saying that he's having these conversations with these Middle East partners, that they're telling him to hold off. We've heard this kind of thing before, where he says he's not going to do something because there's a peace deal in the works. It's just unclear now what is happening behind the scenes in the moments after they're telling us one thing, that this latest deal didn't go far enough. And this post, which came again moments later with President Trump, saying we're going to not attack because there's a deal that might take place soon.

KEILAR: Yes, a deal will be made. That is their opinion, meaning Qatar and Saudi Arabia, according to this post.

Kristen, thank you so much.

Let's bring in former Republican Congressman of Illinois Adam Kinzinger. He's back now with reaction on this.

The President has this habit of making these threats about essentially, not even essentially, about destroying Iran and then not following through on them. There's obviously questions about whether he should have made the threats in the first place, but I wonder what your reaction is to him again finding an off-ramp from his threat.

KINZINGER: Yes, that's the whole thing. This is so damaging. You know, regardless of -- let's just be agnostic on whether he should attack again or not for the moment. When you make threats and then you're eager to back down from those threats, which he has been every single time. I mean, he's gone from we will destroy an entire civilization to we have a deal, which we never actually had, by the way, claiming the Straits open, claiming it's closed, claiming he was going to pull the trigger on May 19th and now everybody wants him to deal because (INAUDIBLE) like, you lose all of your strategic, like, strength.

One of the greatest things the United States had is our ability to say we will do something, the enemy knows that, and then hopefully we won't have to do that. This has just been like threat, back off, threat, back off. And I haven't seen the Iranians move in any way here. And we find ourselves in the worst-case scenario, which is a closed strait, this nebulous future, and gas is now having to price in and futures are pricing in the uncertainty.

SANCHEZ: I wonder if you think that there is a path for the U.S. to somehow exit this situation in a better position than it went in.

[15:20:07]

Is the only way out of this, essentially, to have this new Persian Gulf strait authority that Iran has installed in the Strait of Hormuz intact and -- and to -- to essentially find some form of concession that Iran will accept in order to reopen the strait to their liking?

KINZINGER: Yes, I mean that's what's crazy is we did go in with overwhelming military power and now -- in the White House they are trying to figure out what Iran needs to be satiated, to be pleased. And I mean, this is why they should have fought this through. You either -- if you're going to do something like attack Iran, you have to know what the contingencies are. And honestly, those contingencies, you have to be willing to do them. Otherwise, you probably should not have gone to this fight in the first place.

And so, what does the future here look like? You know, I don't know. Are they going to find something that Iran wants? Maybe. Are they going to actually denuclearize them or whatever? I don't know. Is there going to be an Iranian, you know, toll on every ship that passes? But I know this much. I know that my kid, who's four and a half years old, is going to probably be in a country that has a worse situation based on what's going on because of this war than had we done nothing.

I think Donald Trump needs to figure out if we resume hostilities with Iran, you need to have a plan in place to reopen that strait and stick to the use of the military until it's done or quit these threats, because it's just making it worse.

KEILAR: All right. Adam Kinzinger, thank you so much for your reaction there.

Ahead, a New York judge ruling on what jurors will and will not see in Luigi Mangione's murder trial. We're going to take a closer look at the evidence against him next.

And then, we're also following some breaking news out of California. These are live pictures, multiple evacuation orders in the Simi Valley area after a morning bushfire has spread quickly and engulfed several homes. CAL FIRE says the Sandy Fire, as it's being called, has burned through 184 acres. It's zero percent contained. They say it's spreading dangerously fast and threatening structures as well as infrastructure. We're on top of this story and we'll bring you more. Stay with CNN

NEWS CENTRAL.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:27:03]

KEILAR: Prosecutors will not be allowed to use some key pieces of evidence in their murder case against Luigi Mangione. A judge blocking a number of items that were found in Mangione's backpack from being presented at his trial. The defense had argued local police illegally searched his belongings when he was arrested for the fatal shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson. CNN's Kara Scannell has been in court tracking all of this.

Kara, this was actually a mixed ruling, but the judge did agree with the defense on at least part of this.

KARA SCANNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They did, Brianna. It was a mixed decision, and some of it was certainly a victory for prosecutors. But the defense did get a piece of this, something that helps them out of this as well. And what the judge said was that some of the evidence could not come in. And that was evidence that was discovered during the search of Mangione's backpack at the McDonald's in Altoona, Pennsylvania, when he was first identified by a manager there and called it into the police department as the potential shooter of the UnitedHealthcare CEO just a few days after the shooting in a Manhattan sidewalk.

And so, the judge said that the search at the time was not legal because there was no warrant. And he said that as a result, the materials that was taken out of the backpack then were not admissible and could not be used by the prosecution when this case goes to trial later this year. That includes a magazine of ammunition, his cell phone, his passport, his wallet, and a computer chip.

But the judge said that some other evidence that was later searched -- found as a result of a search back at the precinct, was allowed in. And the difference there is because that was part of an inventory search. He said the officers in Altoona had followed their procedures, and so the items that they recovered then can be used by the prosecution. And that includes some pretty key pieces of evidence, including the alleged murder weapon and a diary of Mangione's writings.

And in that diary, Mangione has written that the target is insurance. He said that he'd been contemplating this. He was looking for the bean counters. And according to prosecutors, Brian Thompson, the UnitedHealthcare CEO, was gunned down on the sidewalk just before he was speaking at an investor conference. So, that is something that the prosecution will now be able to use in this case. So, certainly a win for them there, but not necessarily everything that they wanted, because they're not going to be allowed to use some of the evidence that the judge said could not be used in the case. Brianna?

KEILAR: All right, Kara Scannell, thank you for the latest there. Coming up, an urgent international effort is underway to contain a

deadly Ebola outbreak in multiple African countries. How American officials are getting involved. Stay with us.

[15:29:00]

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