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Stephen Whitburn is Interviewed about the Mosque Shooting; Trump's Political Influence; Polls Open on Georgia; Massie Faces Trump-Backed Candidate; Iran War Weighs on U.S. Economy; Maui Doctor Asks for New Trial. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired May 19, 2026 - 08:30   ET

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

[08:30:00]

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Police say two teenagers, ages 17 and 18, were found dead in a nearby car from self-inflicted gunshot wounds. The shooting is being investigated now as a hate crime.

Joining me now is San Diego City Council Member Stephen Whitburn.

Thank you for being here this morning.

First of all, to you, what are you learning about this investigation? Any details that you can tell us about, for example, how investigators came to the decision that this is indeed likely a hate crime?

STEPHEN WHITBURN, SAN DIEGO CITY COUNCIL: Well, good morning, Sara, and thank you.

We heard fairly early on that police had received communication from one of the suspect's mothers about the young man apparently having taken weapons from the home and leaving a note and some discussion of hate. And so there was an extensive search already on for this young man when this shooting occurred.

SIDNER: Are you learning anything more about the security guard who's friend has said that he is certain that he put his life on the line in order to save many others, including so many children that we saw who go to school there, who were being taken out in long lines that you see from the scene, terrified of what was going on.

WHITBURN: That security guard is being hailed as a hero. He not only put his life on the line, he gave his life for the children and for the other people who were at the mosque. The police department is also being hailed as heroic. They got to that scene very quickly. As mentioned, they were already looking for one of the suspects. And fortunately, because of the security guard, because of the police, as tragic as this is, additional lives were likely spared because of the response of the security guard and the police.

SIDNER: Look, this shooting, as any would when it comes to a house of worship, especially, has really shaken San Diego's Muslim community. And it does raise these big concerns about the safety at houses of worship, which are known soft targets. What should the city do immediately and in the future to reassure

communities that want to be able to go and peacefully pray without having to worry about this sort of attack?

WHITBURN: Well, the police department is already stepping up its patrols around houses of worship citywide so that there is a police presence that should act as a deterrent, but also serve to give people who are at those locations some comfort that they are protected. So, the police department is already doing that.

You will also have a renewed conversation about the importance of celebrating the very many diverse cultures that are here in San Diego. We're a border town. We're a navy town. Many immigrants from around the world have settled in San Diego over the years. This is a community that values diversity, that celebrates diversity, that is outraged by what happened yesterday, that is deeply concerned for the Muslim community and that will rally to do everything in our power to prevent this from happening again.

SIDNER: Well, it is a true tragedy with someone who did help save a lot of lives in the midst of all this.

Stephen Whitburn, I know you'll be looking into this, trying to figure out all the details as much as you can, as will we. Thank you so much for taking the time this early morn there in San Diego.

Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: It is Election Day in America. And one big question today and beyond, how much political influence does the president have over his party right now, and what does he mean and how much will he factor in the midterms come November? The president's approval rating hit a new second term low in the latest "New York Times" poll. Something we should talk about.

CNN's Harry Enten is running the numbers.

"The New York Times" poll had a lot of people talking.

HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: Oh, it did.

BOLDUAN: What are they talking about?

ENTEN: What are they talking about? I mean, look, the bottom line is this, there's been all this talk about, oh, Donald Trump has this floor. Well, I'll tell you, that floor looks like it was built by the worst carpenters I've ever seen, because he just keeps falling through that floor.

And it's not just "The New York Times." This is what I think is so important. Yes, "The Times" poll got people talking, but it just follows a slew of polling data that all shows the same thing, and that is that Donald Trump is not just under 40 percent, he's well under 40 percent in terms of his approval rating. Thirty-seven percent, "New York Times." CBS came out on Sunday, 37 percent. Ipsos, 36 percent. Our CNN poll, 35 percent. You put it all together and it is just very clear at this point that Donald Trump is hitting new lows in his polling data. And this one poll is no outlier.

[08:35:01]

It is part of a much larger trend, Kate Bolduan.

BOLDUAN: And you talk about sub 40s. What -- put that in like a historical context then? What does it look like for the president?

ENTEN: Yes. OK. So, you see sub 40, sub 40, sub 40, sub 40. Well, you go back and term twos, right, for different presidents and there are only other two presidents who were sub 40 at this point in a term two. And what happens in the midterm elections, well sub 40 approval ratings besides Trump at this point in term two. Well, one was Richard Nixon back in 1970. His party absolutely got crushed in the 1974 midterm elections, suffered huge losses, House and Senate.

How about George W. Bush, back in 2006. His party lost the House. His party lost the Senate. Again, 30 seat loss in the House for George W. Bush in 2006. A six-seat loss in the United States Senate. So, historically speaking, of course, we'll have to just wait and see what happens here.

BOLDUAN: Yes.

ENTEN: But historically speaking, Kate Bolduan, when you have a president who has a sub 40 approval rating at this point, their party goes down to defeat in the midterm elections. Big losses for Nixon in '74 with the Republican Party and Bush's Republican Party lost both the House and the United States Senate.

BOLDUAN: So, the party suffers. What has history shown? Do the presidents recover?

ENTEN: Yes. OK. Do these presidents ever recover? Let's look beyond just the midterm elections. Let's talk about legacy, right, the idea, hey, you know what, we've still got more than two years' time until the end of Donald Trump's second term. But again, you just go back and look at the sub 40 approval ratings besides Trump. Did their approval rating ever recover?

Well, I try and make it as simple here sometimes. Sometimes it's numbers. Sometimes, simply put, it's words. The answer is, no, in red. Nixon, of course, was out by August of '74. He ended up with, what, a 24 percent approval rating. And George W. Bush, you know what happened to him by the end of his term in 2009, he was actually in the high 20s. He wasn't just sub 40, he was in the 20s. Both Bush and Nixon ended up in the 20s in approval rating.

Again, I'm not saying that's going to happen with Donald Trump. This is a sample size of two. But this is history that you definitely don't want to be a part of. You do not want to be part of this brotherhood. You want to be way, way, way beyond it because of if Bush -- excuse me, if Donald Trump is a part of this brotherhood, that means he ended his term historically unpopular.

BOLDUAN: Harry Enten, thank you so much. ENTEN: Thank you, Kate.

BOLDUAN: Sara.

SIDNER: All right, right now, polls are open in several key primary elections across the country. In Georgia, a crowded field of Republicans are running for the chance to unseat Democratic incumbent Senator Jon Ossoff. Georgia voters are also casting ballots in the race to replace Republican Governor Brian Kemp. That field includes some really high-profile names. Former Republican Lieutenant Governor Geoff Duncan, who is now running on the Democratic ticket, and former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms.

CNN's Ryan Young is live on the ground in Acworth, Georgia.

Ryan, look, there are seats on Georgia's supreme court that are also on the ballot today. There is a slew of things to bring out voters. What are you seeing?

RYAN YOUNG, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Oh, there's a slew of options here for people to talk about. And, of course, I felt all that energy from Harry a little bit early this morning. But so far you can see Georgia voters are really paying attention to this vote. More than a million of them have already cast their ballots already in early voting. That closed on Friday. Today, it's been steady at polling locations throughout the state.

Just talking to some of the folks who've walked past me, some of them have said, look, they are here because they want to make sure that they see some of the policies they want to see in terms of economics move forward.

But this has been a nasty race when you talk about the governor's race. In fact, look at some of the ads that have been hitting the airwaves over the last 60 days or so.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Creepy (ph) Rick Jackson and big baby Burt Jones are too busy slinging mud at each other to care about you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In politics, some makeovers are only skin deep. Meet Rick Jackson. Before the primary, he made a few changes. A new look. A new story.

BURT JONES: We're incredibly grateful for his leadership and his friendship and his knowledge. Thank you again, Rick, for all that you do for Georgia.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When you see Burt's new attack ads, remember, he doesn't believe them either.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

YOUNG: Yes, Sara, people across the country may not know this. We have a very popular governor here in this state. And he's actually stepping to the side. Now it's Burt Jones versus Rick Jackson. Those two have been locked in the battle that's really locked up the airwaves when it comes to commercials. People are sort of out there casting a vote to see who the next governor could be on that Republican side.

And then, of course, you talked about the Democratic race in terms of the governor. You have Keisha Lance Bottoms, who in all the polls seems to be leading. Of course, there's a lot of conversation about what's going to happen under her, because, of course, whoever doesn't get that 50 percent vote that they need could have a runoff, which happens next month.

I will tell you, though, the people here have been energized about this vote. It's -- we've seen a lot of folks show up early. And other polling centers, and I've actually talked to a few other reporters, they say they've seen a steady path of people who are casting their ballots pretty early this morning.

[08:40:02]

Should be interesting to watch throughout the day.

Sara.

SIDNER: Yes, two things. You hit the nail on the head. Economics is big in people's minds. But when you said that it was dirty, I didn't realize it was actual mudslinging.

YOUNG: Gas prices.

SIDNER: Like real mud. I'm like, oh.

YOUNG: Full-fledged mudslinging. And then of course, on top of that you have these A.I. ads that are really got on television. People are watching these. The conversation really has been about who's going to move forward. Of course, the president has said that he wants Burt Jones to be the next governor of this state. It'll be interesting to see how this plays out when it gets in this tight, tight political race.

SIDNER: We will see who comes out the victor.

It is so good to see you there, Ryan Young, in Acworth, Georgia. Appreciate you.

John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, with us now, Leigh Ann Caldwell, chief Washington correspondent for "Puck," and Andrew Desiderio, senior congressional reporter for "Punchbowl News." "Puck" and "Punchbowl" together. They said it couldn't be done, but we did it. We'll call it "puck bowl" this morning.

Leigh Ann, I want to start with you. And I want to talk about Kentucky, the race there to unseat Republican incumbent Thomas Massie. The president really throwing everything he can at that race.

And, Leigh Ann, I want like tomorrow's analysis today. If Massie does fall there, what new will it tell us?

LEIGH ANN CALDWELL, CHIEF WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT, "PUCK": So, it will just reinforce the fact that Donald Trump is extremely strong in Republican primary races, that he is still the leader of the party despite the polls that -- showing that he's not popular, especially among Democrats and independents in some of those key voter demographics that he did well in with -- in 2024. But if Thomas Massie is defeated, it will show that Donald Trump's grip on the party, and it will also show that money is a huge, huge factor still, even in these primary races in rural Kentucky, which has become one of the most expensive House primaries in the country and a very cheap media market. So, you can only imagine what sort of advertisements and how the deluge of advertisements that the -- that voters there are seeing.

But the bigger shock will be if Thomas Massie wins. And that will be a huge, huge defeat for the president and a sign of big defiance and might from this lone congressman from Kentucky.

BERMAN: Yes. So, Andrew, to that point, what happens if Massie does win? What's the impact there? And even if he doesn't, what kind of impact will there be if Massie loses on Republicans feeling that it's even riskier to split from the president in a year when he is enormously unpopular?

ANDREW DESIDERIO, SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER, "PUNCHBOWL NEWS": Yes, you hit -- you just hit the nail on the head there. There are a lot of Republicans, especially as they get past their primaries this year, who are going to feel like they need to show some independence from the president, from this administration in order to win in a general election, right? And the risk that they run in doing that is that this is going to come back to bite them eventually in the future. It might not be this year, but it could be two years from now, four years from now, six years from now, as, of course, Senator Bill Cassidy learned just a few days ago when the president essentially recruited a primary challenger just a few months ago and ended up locking him out of a runoff in his re-election fight.

Of course, Senator Cassidy's sin in the Republican Party was being among that small group of Republican senators back in 2021 who voted to convict Donald Trump in his second impeachment trial.

BERMAN: Andrew, I want to stick with you for a second, because you spent some time in Maine looking at the Senate race there, where the Democrat, Graham Platner, is trying to unseat the longtime incumbent, Republican Susan Collins. And I want to put a poll up on the screen right now. This is "The New York Times" polling on the popularity of the president's war in Iran right now. Was Trump right to go to war with Iran? Thirty percent -- only 30 percent say it was right, 64 percent say it's wrong.

Now, you say Platner has an interesting way of talking about this. Most Democrats are just leaning into the fact gas prices are rising, the economic costs, et cetera, et cetera. Platner has that, but a slightly different take.

DESIDERIO: That's exactly right. So, I was at a Graham Platner town hall event on Sunday in Portland, Maine. It was at a VFW post. And there were veterans of all generations there, from Vietnam -- the Vietnam War, Afghanistan and Iraq Wars as well. And the message that Graham Platner focused on was not on the gas prices, as you mentioned, which is obviously most Democrats would say the most politically potent way of sort of taking advantage of the unpopularity of the war in Iraq, because it's the way that voters kind of feel the impacts the most directly. But the way that Graham Platner was talking about it was, essentially saying that a system, the -- sort of what he calls the corrupt political system in the United States built up over decades and decades and decades, has allowed Donald Trump to take the decision to go to this war and has essentially disarmed Congress, prevented Congress from having the political will or ability to do anything to stop it, or even slow it down.

[08:45:25]

And something he said that I thought was really interesting was, everyone thinks that this war is stupid, is what he said, right, referring to the unpopularity, and yet there is nothing that can be done to stop it or even slow it down. And that was the message that resonated the most with voters. He didn't mention gas prices once.

BERMAN: It is interesting, Leigh Ann, because in your newsletter that went out last night, you had an interview with Dan Pfeiffer, John Heilemann did, and it's been talked about quite a bit. The president's comments that he doesn't think at all about American's economic conditions when planning about the war. There are Democrats who think that is incredibly fertile ground for the next few months.

CALDWELL: Yes. My colleague, Heilemann, talked to Dan Pfeiffer. And Dan Pfeiffer said that it was perhaps the most damaging political statement that has ever been made. And the reason is, is because you can make an assertion about the economy that, oh, like Biden did and President Trump is doing now, that, you know, affordability is not that bad. There's factors in the economy that are actually good.

But when you dismiss people's pain and you dismiss what is actually impacting people, and you say that you don't even care about it, is the argument that Pfeiffer was making, and Democrats are making, that Donald Trump is completely out of touch, he does not care about people, and he's also distracted by things that the American public doesn't want or isn't important to them, including this war in Iran, including overseas, you know, what happened in Venezuela as well. And the list goes on and on.

And so, that is bearing out in polling where Donald Trump's approval ratings on the -- on issues like the economy, the issue he ran on, are so underwater. And that is what is most concerning for Republicans heading into this midterm.

BERMAN: It's mid-May. Still a few months to go. But sooner or later things get baked into the cake.

CALDWELL: Yes.

BERMAN: Leigh Ann Caldwell, Andrew Desiderio, great to see both of you. Thanks so much.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: So, Alex Murdaugh, the man who's been behind bars for murdering his wife and son, well, he is now suing the woman at the center of getting his convictions getting thrown out. The federal lawsuit is against Becky Hill, the former court clerk who served during his 2023 double murder trial.

When the South Carolina Supreme Court overturned Murdaugh's convictions last week, they found that Hill, the way they put it and wrote, it placed her fingers on the scales of justice, thereby denying Murdaugh his right to a fair trial by an impartial jury. Well, now, Murdaugh's attorneys say they want to hold her accountable for her actions and make her pay up.

CNN has reached out to Becky Hill's attorney for comment. Hasn't yet heard back.

Meantime, South Carolina's attorney general says his office plans to retry Alex Murdaugh for those murder charges as soon as possible. He remains behind bars, though, on separate convictions for financial crimes.

And there's a big twist in the case of a Hawaii doctor convicted of trying to kill his wife on a birthday hike. Why he now claims the jury did not know what they were doing.

And the beret heard round the world. John Travolta goes viral for his fashion choices at Cannes. Why the star says he is going to continue sporting these hats.

We'll be back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:53:09]

SIDNER: It was a beautiful full circle moment at Iowa State University's Veterinary School graduation. On Christmas Eve a dog named Honey was rushed to the university's hospital with life- threatening injuries after being hit by a car. But take a look at her now. The room of graduates were in genuine shock as they watched Honey walk across the commencement stage. It was a surprise reunion for the very students who saved Honey's life. Talk about an unforgettable start for those new doctors. Look at that cutie pie and those ears.

Oh.

John.

BERMAN: That's very sweet.

All right, this morning, President Trump says he is holding off on resuming attacks in Iran as the two sides remain deadlocked over terms to end the war. But as the war does drag on, more and more data is painting a clearer picture of the impact on the U.S. economy.

Let's get right to CNN's David Goldman for the latest on what this data is saying.

DAVID GOLDMAN, BUSINESS SENIOR REPORTER: Yes, we got a boatload of data over the last, you know, couple weeks. And I think that it's painting a clearer picture of what's going on in the economy after the Iran War, which we haven't really seen before.

So, it's a lot. I got my cheat sheet. We'll take a look first at GDP. That's the broadest measure of the U.S. economy. Two percent growth in the first quarter. But the thing is that that only includes one month of the war, March. So, OK, maybe that's not the best way to look.

We can take a look at jobs though. Jobs. We have two months of data. OK, check this out. March was actually the best month for job growth in two years. And April, not too far behind it. So, that's good.

There's a little weirdness going on with some strike stuff in the shutdown, but, OK, that's pretty good. Retail sales, another thing, that was up a ton, 1.7 percent in March, 0.5 in April. We're looking pretty good here.

Now, that has a lot to do with gas prices, of course.

[08:55:00]

But even when you strip that out, we're looking pretty good. It was 0.6 percent and 0.5 percent. We're doing OK. So, you know, things looking all right.

BERMAN: But --

GOLDMAN: Oh, I knew you were getting to this.

BERMAN: But -- or and slash but --

GOLDMAN: Yes.

BERMAN: You know, we've been watching gas prices for some time, which are so much higher, $1.50 higher a gallon from when the war began.

GOLDMAN: Yes.

BERMAN: And we're talking about the potential impact on that. So, if prices have risen so much, why aren't we necessarily seeing that in some of this data, or are we?

GOLDMAN: Yes. Yes. OK. So, we -- prices are rising a lot. So, if we take a look at inflation, this is where it starts to get a little bit ugly. So, it was 3.3 percent in March and 3.8 percent in April. Four- year high -- three-year highs, rather. That's not looking great. And we hate this economy, John. People can't stand it. The worst consumer sentiment ever in data going back to the 1950s, OK. And so that is going to add a lot of pain to the economy. But I want you to look at this next chart. The wage growth versus

inflation. Maybe the most important thing that we can say today, because look at this, that red line is inflation. The blue line is average hourly earnings, which means that the inflation has eaten your paycheck. That's not great news, but it's not even as simple as this because there are high earners, there are middle income earners, there are low earners.

Bank of America has amazing data. They basically take all their depositors, break them up into three chunks. Folks who are making a lot of money, they're outpacing inflation by a ton. Not so much for middle and low-income earners.

BERMAN: You know that graph when you show wage growth versus inflation, it's like "Ghostbusters," when you cross the streams.

GOLDMAN: That's right.

BERMAN: I don't mean to be glib, but dangerous things happen. Whenever you see those two lines cross, that's when consumers and voters get really unhappy because all of a sudden they can't afford things that they could months before.

GOLDMAN: Exactly. Dip into savings. That's never anything that we want to be doing.

BERMAN: David Goldman, thank you very much for that.

GOLDMAN: Thank you.

BERMAN: Kate.

BOLDUAN: A brush fire in Simi Valley, California, just took off and has now forced more than 33,000 people to get out. Already the wildfire has burned more than 1,300 acres. It still isn't contained at all. More than 700 firefighters are working to put out the flames, though, and helicopters have been brought in and deployed to fight it as well, dropping water from a nearby lake. Thousands of homes, they are currently at risk. Thankfully, so far, no injuries have been reported, but there are concerns today about strong winds that could further fuel these flames.

And John Travolta has people talking at the Cannes Film Festival. Partly because he won the Cannes equivalent of a lifetime achievement award. Partly because he's premiering his directorial debut at the film festival with "Propeller One-Way Night Coach." But mostly because of his accessories at the festival. Let's call it the beret heard round the world. He's embracing his inner Frenchman very overtly in every turn, at every turn in Cannes. So much so that he was asked about it during a press event.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN TRAVOLTA, DIRECTOR, "PROPELLER ONE-WAY NIGHT COACH": I've been around for over 50 years doing movies, but I can't tell, when I look back, the difference between the events. And I said, I'm a director this time. You're an actor. Play the part of a director. Look like an old-school director. So, I looked up pictures, '20s, '30s, '40s, '50s, '60s. And the old school directors wore berets. And I said --

ELLA BLEU TRAVOLTA, JOHN TRAVOLTA'S DAUGHTER: And the glasses.

J. TRAVOLTA: And the glasses. And I thought, that's what I'm doing. I'm going to do an homage to being a director.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Fun fact, Travolta's daughter, who's sitting right there next to him, she stars in the film. As for her take on dad's beret moment, she says she loved it immediately.

J.B.

BERMAN: She's just trying to appease the director of the film. I mean --

BOLDUAN: I mean, as one does.

BERMAN: Who knows what her real feelings are.

BOLDUAN: Life imitating art. Art imitating life.

BERMAN: Yes, I can understand why she said that, even though it looks like it does.

All right, this morning, a surprising turn of events in the case of a Hawaii doctor found guilty of attempted manslaughter for trying to kill his wife on a birthday hike. Attorneys for Gerhardt Konig are now asking for a new trial nearly one month after jurors sided with his wife, who claimed he tried to kill her after she had an affair.

CNN's Jean Casarez covered this case, and the verdict. So, what's the defense team saying here?

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They're saying the jury got it wrong, that they got it wrong. They didn't understand the jury instructions. They were mistaken. And the verdict is wrong.

Now, let's go back to law school, all right, for just a minute. I want to walk you through this because I covered this trial on your show every day.

The top count was attempted second degree murder. The jurors had to believe unanimously that he intended to kill his wife. The specific intent to kill his wife. She didn't die, but that was the intent.

According to Hawaii law, if you find that, beyond a reasonable doubt, and jurors did, you have to go to attempted manslaughter. Attempted manslaughter, there are two primary elements of that. Jurors must still find, beyond a reasonable doubt, that he attempted to kill his wife.

[09:00:02] That intent. But also they must unanimously believe that the intent to kill was influenced by an extreme