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Trump Strengthens Grip on Republican Party with Massie Loss; Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche Defends $1.8 Billion Fund for People Who Claim Government Mistreatment; Charges Against Cuba's Raul Castro Focus on Deadly 1996 Plane Attack; Former Assistant Principal on Trial After Teacher Shot by 6-Year-Old. Aired 8:00-8:30a ET

Aired May 20, 2026 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:00]

CHIEF SCOTT WAHL, SAN DIEGO POLICE DEPARTMENT: ... deterred these two individuals from gaining access to the greater areas of the mosque where as many as 140 kids were within 15 feet of these suspects.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Now as far as where the investigation goes from here, there is a question about how the suspects actually obtain those firearms. Again, we're talking about teenagers. Here in California there are strict laws for the safe storage of firearms.

And then the last thing, the big question that we always see in these incidents and the aftermath is what, if anything, did anyone know that actually knew the shooters? You know, I looked through that 75 page screen. I mean, this appears to be a textbook case of what law enforcement behavioral analysts call the pathway to violence, where you see there's some type of grievance that they continue to build on.

They say that there's something that they don't like and they're the ones who are going to act on it. Again, the big question through that pathway, did anyone pick up on any of these warning signs, John?

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Key moments in this investigation, which is just getting underway. Josh Campbell, thank you so much for that update.

Brand new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: What does a big night for President Trump's retribution campaign mean today for the Republican Party? One take from a White House advisor. It's not revenge, just quote basic political management of a party and occasionally you have to shoot a hostage.

And an unprecedented tax deal. The IRS is now forever barred from bringing claims against President Trump, his family or his businesses for any past tax issues. Why this fine print is raising serious eyebrows? And we are standing by for the expected indictment of Raul Castro, the former Cuban president who is still very much involved in running the country. What now?

Sara is out today. I'm Kate Bolduan with John Berman. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

BERMAN: All right, President Trump flexing his political muscle in Kentucky, defeating Thomas Massie, the Republican incumbent congressman who he very much wanted out of office after Massie led the charge to release the Epstein files just months ago. He was one of the president's top targets in a series of six primaries overnight. We can put those results up so people can see Thomas Massie lost to Trump back challenger Ed Gallrein. Of course, as I just said, Massie pushed to force the release of the Epstein files.

But perhaps bigger news came from Texas, where the president endorsed the attorney general, Ken Paxson, over incumbent Republican Senator John Cornyn. The move has some Trump allies warning Republicans could lose that seat in Texas.

Let's get right to Jeff Zeleny live in Covington, Kentucky, with the results and the aftermath, Jeff.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Hey John, good morning. Thomas Massie did suffer a pretty remarkable defeat here in Kentucky, largely because of the not being able to gather enough support here in the suburbs of northern Kentucky, just right across the Ohio River from Cincinnati. Thomas Massie had campaigned on an ability to separate himself from the president, even though he said he voted with him 90 percent of the time. Of course, those key differences infuriated the White House.

Now, what Thomas Massie is doing this morning is flying back to Washington, Senator John Cornyn also back in Washington. That raises the point here, even though the president is trying to expunge these members from his party, they are still around.

And that is the conundrum for the White House, because for the next six months, the fragile Republican majorities that are going to determine the president's agenda and his power going forward are filled with people who Trump has thrown out. So make no mistake, that is one of the challenges here. But Thomas Massie last night in a very defiant concession speech said this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. THOMAS MASSIE (R-KY): For 14 years, those SOBs in Washington tried to buy my vote. They couldn't buy it. Why did this?

Why did the race get so expensive? Because they decided to buy the seat.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENY: So it was the most expensive House primary so far that we have ever seen, more than $32 million or so. And what does that get the party? That gets the party a Republican seat here in reliably red Kentucky.

[08:05:00]

So going forward, for the next six months or so, as the White House is trying to hold on to its Republican majority, there are deep concerns here. So, yes, the president can flex his muscle in a Republican primary with only registered Republican voters. But on the flip side, independent voters have fled the White House, have fled the party. Democratic voters are excited and enthused.

So the big takeaway, yes, a very strong month of May for the president. But what does that mean for November? It could be the opposite. That's what many Republicans are worried about, John.

BERMAN: You know, as the Incredible Hulk learned, sometimes when you flex your muscles, all you do is rip your shirt. Jeff Zeleny in Covington, Kentucky, thank you very much for that.

Jeff's playing along. He's like, Incredible Hulk? What's he talking about?

BOLDUAN: Jeff's just trying to get be done with you.

BERMAN: Yes, no, he's done.

BOLDUAN: He's just the kindest man alive who also has not slept. It's like you and I are the only people who slept on the show today.

BERMAN: It's like, who knew?

BOLDUAN: Exactly. There's something wrong with the world. All right, here we go.

There was already plenty of outrage about the Justice Department's new fund to essentially compensate Trump allies with taxpayer dollars. But now there's even more to it. The DOJ quietly posted a one-page addendum barring the IRS now from bringing any claims against President Trump, his family or his businesses for past tax issues.

Forever barred. The $1.8 billion fund to compensate people who believe they were unfairly targeted. This was all announced Monday, but Democrats and Republicans are skeptical a lot about a lot of this, worried that the funds could even go to pay violent January 6th rioters.

Here's what Democratic Congresswoman Debbie Dingell just told John last hour.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. DEBBIE DINGELL (D-MI): How do I feel about that? I think this is one of the most outrageous, unethical things I have yet to see this administration do. And all indications are that they clearly are targeting some of the January 6th people that have been convicted, are talking about taking this money and using it to compensate people that were then victims of other crimes that they did.

And this deal that he's cutting for immunity is absolutely outrageous. Absolutely outrageous. We've never seen anything like this in the history of the United States.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: CNN's Alayna Treene tracking this one for us. What are you hearing about this now?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I just want to break this all down. I want to start with, you know, some of the claims that you just played from the Congresswoman Debbie Dingell, because what she is arguing is what we're hearing from a lot of critics of this settlement, which are saying this is essentially self- dealing. Now, to get into what we did hear from the Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche yesterday, someone who I should note was previously, prior to, you know, Trump being elected into office again and becoming president for a second term, previously served as his personal attorney.

Now, Blanche insisted yesterday, he was testifying before the Senate, that this settlement is not, and you know, what they had set up with this, you know, this weaponization fund, essentially, of different justice departments. He said that there are no partisan requirements, trying to argue that this will go to Democrats and Republicans alike. But you have heard now from many different members of Congress like Dingell, but others as well, you know, who are concerned that this could disproportionately go to the president's allies and people who, you know, would be benefited from it, could be people who, you know, the president is more aligned with.

Now, the form is not formally -- the fund is not formally set up yet. We're still learning the architecture of it. But one of the key things I want to point out here, Kate, is about the commissioners.

Now, if Todd Blanche, who is acting attorney general, if he ends up getting confirmed, he would be the one overseeing all of this. He is the one who would also choose the five different commissioners to oversee this fund. Now, he would also be the only one to audit their decision. So that's something to keep in mind here.

I now also want to talk about what we saw yesterday be added to this entire settlement, something that they kind of quietly posted online to the press release on this entire announcement. It says that the president, his family members, and their businesses cannot be audited for past -- you know, for past tax provisions and things like that. It's backwards looking.

But again, raises a lot of questions about how the president is able to do this, because obviously these are Trump administration lawyers who are overseeing this agreement. And I think taxpayers have, you know, questions about why you can file a $10 billion lawsuit against your own government and then have your government lawyers negotiate with your personal lawyers, not only to create this one point or nearly $1.8 billion fund that could potentially go to compensate a lot of your allies, but then also protect you personally. So there's a lot of scrutiny that is coming into this.

[08:10:00]

I do believe we have a clip of Senator Chris Coons, who was really pressing the acting attorney general, Todd Blanche on this yesterday and pointing out the unprecedented nature of this. I want you to listen to that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CHRIS COONS (D-DE): Has it ever happened that a sitting president sued his own government for $10 billion and then directed the settlement of the case and the establishment of a payout fund?

TODD BLANCHE, ACTING ATTORNEY GENERAL: Not that I'm aware, but there's a lot of things that President Trump's the first of.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TREENE: So there you have Blanche kind of acknowledging, again, kind of the unprecedented nature of this. So look, we are in uncharted waters here, Kate, and I think taxpayers can have a lot of questions about this.

BOLDUAN: Alayna, thank you so much. Alayna Treene at the White House for us -- John.

BERMAN: All right, we are standing by for the expected indictment of the former president of Cuba, Raul Castro, a huge move for the Trump administration. Why now and what does it mean?

Google changing the way you Google with AI all over it.

And then gas prices so bad, one man goes to extraordinary lengths for an affordable drive, turning to his pink Power Wheels Barbie dream camper. God bless that man.

BOLDUAN: By the way, would you get in those things?

[08:15:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: This morning, the Justice Department is preparing to indict former Cuban President Raul Castro. Sources tell CNN the criminal charges to be announced today in Miami focused on the 94 year old -- the 94 year old's alleged role in ordering the 1996 shoot down of two civilian aircraft belonging to the Cuban American group Brothers to the Rescue.

Let's get right to CNN's Evan Perez who has all this new information on what we can expect today.

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, we expect that the acting attorney general, Todd Blanche, is going to be among the VIPs down in Miami later today as this indictment is announced. Now, we don't yet have the specific charges, but what we know is this. We know that the Justice Department is preparing to announce an indictment of Raul Castro, who is 94 years old, for his involvement in ordering the shoot down of those two civilian aircraft that belonged and that were flown by members of the Brothers to the Rescue group.

Now, you know, back in the 90s, ancient times for a lot of the folks who might be watching, you know, we covered, you know, I personally covered the Brothers to the Rescue as some of they took these flights to the edge of Cuban airspace. Sometimes they would let out leaflets for them to drift over into Havana. And a lot of what they did was to spot rafters, refugees who were leaving Cuba, fleeing Cuba, and on their way to try to get rescue for them to be rescued at sea.

Now, what happened on that day in 1996 is that the FBI found that the Cubans knew that they were coming because they had infiltrated the Brothers to the Rescue group. So this is an indictment that has been 30 years in the making. The first time a draft indictment was drafted against Raul Castro was back in the early 90s after the Manuel Noriega trial.

And so what we are expecting to see today is really the culmination of 30 years of work to try to bring some justice on behalf of these families, the four men who were shot down, three of them American citizens. Now, we expect, John, that this is part of a broader play by the Justice Department, by the Trump administration. They're trying to pressure the Cuban government.

You've seen, of course, the tightening of the embargo and, of course, the economic crisis in Cuba. They're pressing for changes in Cuba as a result of that -- John.

BERMAN: Yes, there's a lot going on here, both politically and legally and historically. As you point out, 30 years ago, ancient history to a lot of people. But I remember being covered, and I also know that it's not ancient history to the Cuban people and a lot of the Americans who are connected to it as well. Evan Perez, thank you so much for that update.

Breaking overnight, the world's top health organization says they are concerned about the scale and speed of the Ebola outbreak, a new spike in the death toll.

And a shipwreck sailor writes SOS in ashes to get rescued. The problem is it was his flare that might have started one of California's biggest wildfires.

[08:20:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BOLDUAN: So, minutes from now, the former assistant principal at the elementary school where a six-year-old child shot his first grade teacher will be back on the stand after a very dramatic day in court. Ebony Parker faces multiple charges. Prosecutors claim that she did not take any action after multiple teachers warned the child had brought a gun to school. Her defense team, though, is trying to flip the case on its head, essentially, blaming the teachers in the classroom for failing to take action. That child shot teacher Abby Zwerner in the chest and in the arm.

CNN's Jean Casarez is tracking all of this for us, and she joins us right now. What's going to happen? What has happened? My goodness.

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, at this point, this case could go either way, absolutely. Now, the policy at the school, and they touched on it in opening statements, we really haven't heard it in testimony, but that in a crisis emergency situation at the elementary school, that an administrator was in charge.

Well, that administrator is the defendant, Ebony Parker. And so the prosecution, as it's putting on its case, has gone through some of the teachers, reading specialists, that that day, Abby Zwerner went down to Parker right at the beginning of the day saying, he's violent, there's something going on, he has a violence about him this morning. And according to the testimony, there was a non-reaction from Ebony Parker.

As the day went on, there were two female students that went to a teacher reporting they were hearing something about him, what he may have on him. And then there was a teacher also that out at recess saw him go behind a rock with a little friend, another little boy. Afterwards, she then said, OK, what's going on?

I saw you guys behind the rock and the little boy was trembling. And he said, he's got a gun and he's got bullets. And so that's when the reading specialist, Amy Kovac, went to Ebony Parker, the administrator, the vice principal, listened to her testimony on that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What prompted the first time you talked to Dr. Parker briefly?

AMY KOVAC, READING SPECIALIST: The report of the gun.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: From the girls?

KOVAC: Correct.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. Briefly, what prompted the second time you talked to Dr. Parker?

KOVAC: The message that I received.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Understood. In the second conversation with Dr. Parker, what did you advise her of?

KOVAC: I advised her that the weapon of discussion was now in his jacket pocket.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And that was your belief? KOVAC: That was my belief.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[08:25:00]

CASAREZ: And on cross-examination of Abby Zwirner, and this was now in his jacket pocket.

[Speaker 16] And that was your belief?

KOVAC: That was my belief.

[Speaker 16] OK.

CASAREZ: And on cross-examination of Abby Zwerner, and this is the theory of the defense, that Abby Zwerner, the gunshot victim, the teacher that was shot in the chest, it's blaming the teachers that they should have done something. Maybe Ebony Parker never did anything acknowledged, but they had a responsibility to do something. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CURTIS ROGERS, EBONY PARKER'S ATTORNEY: OK. So if he was on, that presented a danger to your students. Is that correct?

ABBY ZWERNER: Yes.

ROGERS: OK. So you took no action to separate JT from his other classmates. Is that correct?

ZWERNER: Yes.

ROGERS: All right. And so you allowed him to go out to recess with the understanding that he may have had a gun. Is that correct?

ZWERNER: Yes.

ROGERS: You could have refused to let him go to recess. You could have removed him from the presence of his other classmates. Is that correct?

ZWERNER: In hindsight, yes, I could have.

ROGERS: OK. And then you allowed him to return to your classroom with other students. Is that correct?

ZWERNER: Yes.

ROGERS: OK. Nothing prevented you from excluding him from the classroom. Is that correct? ZWERNER: Yes.

ROGERS: OK. And nothing prevented you from actually taking JT out of the classroom and taking him down to the administrative office. Is that correct?

ZWERNER: Yes.

ROGERS: OK.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CASAREZ: We believe today will be the kindergarten teacher of JT, who according to the grand jury special report, we believe this will be her testimony. When he was in kindergarten, he went behind her back, took her neck and began to choke her so she could not breathe.

And Ebony Parker had to get involved in that situation. I want to tell everyone we have live trial coverage on CNN All Access. And today's going to be a big day with prosecution witnesses.

BOLDUAN: Already saw how dramatic it was in court yesterday. I mean, now today is going to be quite a day. Jean, thank you very, very much. I appreciate it.

We also have this coming up, a fascinating new report this morning in the New York Times saying that there was a plan by the U.S. and Israel to install the former hardline Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as the new leader in Iran. That was part of the plan. And now he's nowhere to be found.

And the primary results heard around the country were the biggest winner of the night might have been President Trump himself.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:30:00]