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DOJ Indicts Former Cuban President, Raul Castro; Trump Endorsee Takes Out GOP Rival, Massie, in Stunning Primary Loss; Jan. 6 Police Officers Sue to Stop Anti-Weaponization Fund; Graduates Boo References to A.I. At College Commencements. Aired 2-2:30p ET
Aired May 20, 2026 - 14:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[14:00:25]
BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": We begin with Breaking News. Today, a historic indictment in the decades-long contentious relationship between the United States and Cuba. Just a short time ago, the Department of Justice unsealed criminal charges against former Cuban President, Raul Castro.
Prosecutors charging him with conspiracy to kill U.S. nationals, destruction of an aircraft, and four counts of murder. Acting Attorney General, Todd Blanche, saying this to Cuban Americans who have been demanding justice for years.
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TODD BLANCHE, UNITED STATES ACTING ATTORNEY GENERAL: we also do not forget the families, the loved ones, and the friends who have carried grief and heartache for 30 years. For the first time in nearly 70 years, senior leadership of the Cuban regime has been charged in this country, in the United States of America, for acts of violence resulting in the deaths of American citizens. Nations and their leaders cannot be permitted to target Americans.
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SANCHEZ: Let's get reaction on this historic indictment live from Havana with CNN's Patrick Oppmann. Patrick, how are Cuban officials reacting to these new criminal charges?
PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT AND HAVANA BUREAU CHIEF: We're finally getting some reaction after really silence all day long that this indictment was coming, as everyone has known for days. And this is Cuba's President, Miguel Diaz-Canel. Let's read a little bit of it.
But he says that "The indictment against Raul Castro just announced by the U.S. government, only reveals the arrogance and frustration that the representatives of the empire feel toward the unyielding resolve of the Cuban revolution." He goes on to say that there's no legal basis, that Cuba 30 years ago was defending itself against the Brothers to the Rescue planes which, as we know, were unarmed. But the Cuban government had accused them of coming into Cuban airspace previously.
So officials here are very angry. They're not surprised by this, certainly after we saw Nicolas Maduro get taken by U.S. Special Forces at the beginning of the year, they have known that this could be coming, that this was in the works. They have been threatened by the U.S. as we have seen this relentless pressure campaign go on to try and force Cuban government officials to make larger concessions to the United States, to open up their political and economic system.
Here's something they have refused to do now, as they have engaged with the Trump administration. But negotiations just really don't seem to have gone anywhere. And the question is now, does this added pressure, indicting not only a former president, but still the most powerful person on this island, the individual who is head of the military, that has handpicked every political and military leader that is in power at this point, that officials tell us still oversees all the major decisions from retirement that this island takes, particularly when it comes towards relations with the U.S., does indicting him make a deal more likely or is less likely?
There is a lot to say about the fact that Cuba feels that an invasion is coming. You see every day officials telling their population to get ready. There are military maneuvers taking place. So certainly, what the Cuban officials are telling the people who are very worried about this, not particularly about what's going to happen to officials, but what it means for themselves on already an island that is on the point of breaking. You know, if there is some sort of attack on this island, what would that mean for them. Already the power is off most of the day, food has become more scarce and expensive.
So there is a lot of concern amongst regular Cubans about how this could impact them, if the breakdown of law and order of their government would essentially create a humanitarian crisis.
SANCHEZ: Patrick Oppmann, live for us in Havana, thank you so much for that update. Brianna?
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": We're tracking the fallout on the Hill after yet another Trump critic, Republican Congressman Thomas Massie, has lost a primary race. It's a sign that GOP Senator, John Cornyn could be next. Trump has endorsed Cornyn's opponent, Texas Attorney General, Ken Paxton, as they're heading to the runoff election next week.
CNN's Manu Raju is live on the Hill on this story. Manu, what are you hearing?
MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, a lot of concern among Republican Senators in particular about the president's decision to get behind Ken Paxton as the Republican candidate in Texas ahead of that Tuesday runoff. The real fear among Republican leaders here is that the vulnerabilities and liabilities from Ken Paxton's past. He had faced an impeachment trial, was later acquitted in during in the -- from the Texas state legislature, among other personal matters as well. All those things will come back to haunt them they fear in November, if Ken Paxton is the ultimate nominee. Trump got behind Paxton after dilly-dallying and not making a decision on who to get behind for months, despite furious lobbying by Republican leaders to get behind Cornyn, a long-time veteran, someone who was viewed by the Republican leadership as more electable in what will be a hugely expensive race against the Democratic nominee, James Talarico.
[14:05:20]
I caught up with Cornyn today in the aftermath of his return to the Capitol, and I asked him about continuing in this race despite facing now the president and the president's endorsement, which has proved to be decisive in primary after primary.
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RAJU: Why stay in this race?
SEN. JOHN CORNYN (R-TX): Well, because only Texans get to vote. And we've had two days of early voting, which looks very encouraging. And I believe that we still have a very good chance of winning in the race.
RAJU: Trump just said that he believes that Paxton could win?
CORNYN: I think it's a toss-up. And I also think he's going to be a drag on down-ballot races that are important for us to keep majorities in the State House and keep our judges.
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RAJU: Now what President Trump cited as a reason for not endorsing Cornyn, in part, was because he was not with him when "times were tough." He also contended that Trump -- that Cornyn did not endorse him early enough in the 2024 presidential campaign, even though Cornyn did not endorse a primary challenger in that race.
Cornyn did criticize Trump after the January 6 attack, but did vote to acquit him as well. And Cornyn had been talking up his Trump ties all throughout this campaign, boasting of a voting record that it was nearly 100 percent alongside Donald Trump as well. And I asked him whether or not that was enough, whether he made a mistake in trying to get into Trump's good graces and promoting those Trump ties.
And he told me, well, you tell me how the president thinks. Brianna?
KEILAR: All right, Manu Raju, live for us on the Hill. Thank you.
Still to come, Capitol police officers on the front lines during the January 6 attack are now fighting back against the president in what they say is a slush fund for violent rioters. Former officer, Harry Dunn will join us next to talk about his lawsuit.
Plus, Iran sending out a warning, saying the war may extend beyond the region if the U.S. doesn't agree to a deal. And recent graduates facing a grim future as uncertainty over A.I. looms large in the jobs market.
We'll have that and much more coming up on "CNN News Central."
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SANCHEZ: Breaking news to CNN. The event at Miami's Freedom Tower where the Department of Justice unsealed this indictment against former Cuban President, Raul Castro, has just wrapped up. Important to remind our viewers that the former Cuban leader is now being charged with four counts of murder as well as several other charges over the 1996 shoot down of a humanitarian rescue mission. Two planes aboard that mission. Four Americans, as the acting attorney general put it, were killed on that flight.
The acting AG, Todd Blanche, was actually asked what was next? What was the next step in this? Would we see the United States intervene in Cuba and extradite the 94-year-old Castro, the way that the U.S. did in Venezuela in its extradition of Nicolas Maduro? Here was his response.
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BLANCHE: Yes, go ahead.
GLORIA ORDAZ, REPORTER, TELEMUNDO 51: Attorney General, Gloria Ordaz from Telemundo 51. Thank you for this opportunity. The next step is going to be an arrest warrant. And I ask you this because the Cuban exile would love to see Raul Castro in the same position of Nicolas Maduro. And --
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ORDAZ: And a lot of legal experts that we have interviewed during these days have said that Raul Castro, that this indictment would be more symbolic than practice and that Raul Castro should probably die in Cuba. What is your message for them?
BLANCHE: Well, I'm not going to compare cases for one.
For two, like I said a few minutes ago, we indict men who are not physically within the United States all the time. This is not a new endeavor or adventure for us. And so the way that we get people here who are charged with a crime varies. There's all kinds of different ways.
And this is not, you know, there's an arrest warrant issued for a reason because we certainly expect and believe that Mr. Castro is entitled to his day in court right here in Miami. Yes?
JESSE KIRSCH, CORRESPONDENT, NBC NEWS: Thank you, sir. Jesse Kirsch with NBC News. You mentioned that the grand jury approved these charges weeks ago. Curious to know -- (END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Notable response there from the acting attorney general. We will pose that question and more to a sitting member of Congress in the next hour. The only Cuban-born member of Congress, Republican Congressman Carlos Gimenez of South Florida. Stay tuned for that. Brianna?
KEILAR: Police officers who defended the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, are now suing to block the creation of the nearly $1.8 billion Anti-Weaponization Fund. They argue that it could be used to pay people who stormed the Capitol, which is something both Acting Attorney General, Todd Blanche, and Vice President, J.D. Vance, yesterday would not rule out.
[14:15:00]
More than 140 police officers were injured during the seven-hour siege, which led directly and indirectly to the deaths of five police officers and four Trump supporters who were part of that mob. On the first day of his second term, President Trump pardoned more than 1,000 people who were charged in the attack. And former U.S. Capitol Police Officer, Harry Dunn, is joining us now to talk about this. He is one of the plaintiffs bringing this lawsuit. He's also a Democrat who is running for Congress.
Harry, thank you so much for being with us.
HARRY DUNN, FORMER U.S. CAPITOL POLICE OFFICER: Thanks for having me.
KEILAR: Let's talk about this lawsuit. You say in it that the creation of the fund endangers your life and safety. Tell us how.
DUNN: Yeah. So obviously, on the day of January 6th, we all saw the violence that would happen that day. What a lot of people don't see is afterwards, on January 7th, 8th, 9th, all the way up until last week, the messages that we get, the confrontations that we get into, people sending us death threats over and over again.
I believe that on the pardons that Donald Trump issued to the individuals that forgave them for their crimes and their actions, and this fund seeks to reward them for their behaviors, which also would create an incentive for more people to join. And I believe it's more so of Donald Trump putting a retainer on a mob that will do violence and commit violence in his name.
KEILAR: When you heard the reaction yesterday of the acting attorney general and the vice president, and they weren't able to unequivocally say no money will not be given to people who were violent toward police officers, whether they are charged or convicted. What did you think?
DUNN: I'm not surprised. They couldn't deny it because they would be lying if they said that no, absolutely not, they wouldn't get it. This is something that Donald Trump campaigned on. This was a campaign promise of Donald Trump. So a lot of people are upset and surprisingly shocked about the creation of this illegal fund. But I'm not surprised.
I mean, it's a slap in the face, it's salt in the wound, whatever you want to call it. But this is something that Donald Trump believes in, and he said this from day one. This is something that he wants to do, and he's running this. It's not Todd Blanche. Todd Blanche has to take every single decision that he makes, they're marching orders from Donald Trump.
KEILAR: You're suing the president, you're suing Blanche, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, all in their official capacities. What do you want from them?
DUNN: First of all, this has to go away. This is -- I believe, this is an illegally established fund and also using funds to pay insurrectionists. I think there's some 14th Amendment things in there. My lawyers will get into the fine mechanics of it, but on the surface of it, it's wrong. It's fundamentally wrong.
Taxpayers, this is taxpayer money that they are giving away to this. They can't find millions of dollars for health care. They can't find it for school, for education, but they got billions of dollars for wars and magically $1.776 billion to pay to traitors and terrorists of this country.
KEILAR: This isn't a light lift, though. I mean, you're talking 14th Amendment -- you're alleging 14th Amendment issues. There would be a lot to prove if this were to move forward. This is going to be a tough fight if you have a chance at this. Are your objections moral ones or are they legal ones?
DUNN: Well, we wouldn't bring the lawsuit, obviously, if we don't believe that we actually have a chance of winning this thing. But absolutely, on the surface, morally, this is 100 percent wrong. And in years where the courts, I believe, used to be fundamentally aligned with the morals of the American people, we're getting further and further away from that.
I'm really encouraged by the feedback we've seen from the American people that are upset about this and say, hey, can we join? Can we join? Taxpayer money should not be funding, rewarding the people responsible for January 6th.
KEILAR: Harry, I think one of the things that we -- it's undeniable when we see polls, the acceptability of violence is alarmingly high.
DUNN: Yeah.
KEILAR: Political violence. And that's actually true for people across the political spectrum. How do you think that this fund impacts that?
DUNN: Well, they thought they were right from day one, from January 6th, 2021, during that attack. Those people that were attacking us, they thought that they were fundamentally right because Donald Trump told them to. So anybody that says that they are against political violence, yes, we all should absolutely be against it. But Donald Trump not only forgave them with their pardons when he was inaugurated last year, he forgave them. Now he's rewarding them, which in turn incentivizes them to do it again.
Because I don't believe Donald Trump is going to leave office peacefully.
KEILAR: Why?
DUNN: He's got a track record of not doing it.
KEILAR: Harry, thank you so much for being with us.
DUNN: We've got a quick set (ph), real quick. Can I also say, isn't it crazy that we have to sue? I have to sue the Department of Justice, which I have actually have another active lawsuit against, to hang the plaque to honor Capitol police officers.
[14:20:00]
But they are not objectively pushing back against this fund to reward terrorists. It's a shame, and all members of Congress, Republicans that believe in that should be ashamed of themselves.
KEILAR: Harry Dunn, we'll continue to follow your legal pursuits.
DUNN: Thank you.
KEILAR: Thank you so much.
DUNN: Thanks for having me.
KEILAR: Still ahead, this year's college graduates are facing an uncertain future as A.I. completely reshapes the job market. We'll have a look at trends that we're seeing, next.
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SANCHEZ: Today, Meta is expected to begin telling about 8,000 employees that they've lost their jobs as the company is making a hard shift to invest more in artificial intelligence. A source tells CNN that 7,000 other workers at Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, are going to be reassigned to jobs that are more A.I. focused. It's happening at a time when A.I. is rapidly reshaping the job market, making entry-level workers and college graduates very nervous.
CNN's Hadas Gold joins us now with the latest. So Hadas, how are recent grads responding to this rise that we're seeing in A.I.?
HADAS GOLD, CNN A.I. CORRESPONDENT: Not great. We've seen a widespread backlash against A.I. recently and recently we're seeing this really bubble up at graduations There have been at least four instances per my count of recent commencement ceremonies where A.I. gets brought up by the speaker for some other reason and it gets widely booed by the graduates.
Take a listen.
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ERIC SCHMIDT, FORMER CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, GOOGLE: Last December, Time Magazine selected its Person of the Year for 2025 and this time, it was the architects of Artificial Intelligence. Interesting.
(CROWD BOOING)
GLORIA CAULFIELD, REAL ESTATE EXECUTIVE: The rise of Artificial Intelligence is the next industrial revolution.
(CROWD BOOING)
CAULFIELD: What happened?
SCOTT BORCHETTA, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, BIG MACHINE RECORDS: A.I. is rewriting production as we sit here.
(CROWD BOOING)
BORCHETTA: I know it, deal with it. Like I said, it's a tool.
(CROWD BOOING)
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GOLD: Those boos are showing us what the polling shows us about how the younger generation feels about A.I. and it's just not good because look at what's happening around them. You just talked about the layoffs at Meta. They're seeing thousands of people losing their jobs. They're being told A.I. is being able to take over entry-level work.
And then take a look at this poll from Quinnipiac taken in March, where they were asked whether people feel A.I. will decrease jobs. Look at the younger generation, Gen Z and Millennials overwhelmingly feel as though A.I. will cause a decrease in jobs. In total, 70 percent of Americans think A.I. will lead to a decrease in the number of job opportunities.
This same question asked just a year ago, it was a 14-point difference, only 56 percent thought A.I. would lead to a decrease in jobs. You can see how much people are looking at the job market, looking at what's happening around them. They're seeing this coverage where people say, oh, A.I. will be able to do entry-level work and that'll replace all these entry-level workers.
Well, when you're a college graduate, that's the type of job you're looking for, that entry-level job. It's your first way into an industry. That's how you learn to work in the industry. I look at my first job in journalism, and I don't know if that job still exists anymore. I think A.I. could probably do that job.
So all of these graduates, they're looking at all this news and they're feeling not so great about A.I. and that's why you're seeing these boos at these graduation. But there's a flip side of this, you know, Scott Borchetta, he's the music executive who was the last one you saw in that clip and he was warning to these graduates. Listen, this is coming, deal with it, do something about it, make it a tool and make it work for you. And that's an important message for new graduates today. Boris?
SANCHEZ: It is a scary time. Hadas Gold, thank you so much for that report.
Coming up, President Trump says he's in no hurry to make a deal with Iran amid the months-long war. A former official with the Trump administration, who worked on negotiations with Iran, will join us in just moments.
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