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Stephen Colbert Bids Farewell in The Late Show Finale; Republicans Revolt Over Trump's $1.8 Billion Anti-Weaponization Fund; Memorial Day Sticker Shock as Gas Prices Near All-Time Highs. Aired 7- 7:30a ET
Aired May 22, 2026 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[07:00:00]
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: The end of an era. Stephen Colbert says goodbye to The Late Show, flipping the lights off at the Ed Sullivan Theater. His final guest and his final message to fans.
Plus, Republicans revolt, President Trump facing pushback from his own party on the nearly $2 billion anti-weaponization fund.
DANNY FREEMAN, CNN ANCHOR: And after days of dangerous floods, more messy weather is expected across the country, just as millions are about to head out for the holiday weekend. The forecast that could put a fork in your barbecue plans.
John, Kate, and Sara, they're off today. I'm Danny Freeman with Fredricka Whitfield, and this is CNN News Central.
WHITFIELD: All right. After 11 years and more than 1,800 episodes, Stephen Colbert signed off The Late Show for the final time last night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEPHEN COLBERT, HOST, THE LATE SHOW WITH STEPHEN COLBERT: If you're just tuning in to The Late Show, you missed a lot. Tonight is our final broadcast from the Ed Sullivan Theater where -- no, we were lucky enough to be here for the last 11 years, all right? That was --
WHITFIELD: Colbert's monologue was interrupted by celebrity friends, like Bryan Cranston, Paul Rudd, and Tim Meadows, all vying to be his last guest. Colbert pretended that honor, you know, went to Pope Leo, the first pope from the U.S., but the fake pontiff refused to come out because he wasn't provided the right snacks.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COLBERT: He asked for hot dogs. We got him hot dogs. Let me talk to him. Put him up. Put him up. Your Holiness, please come out. Leo. Leo, please. We got a show.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No way, Colbert. You call that a Chicago dog? Pope don't play like that. Leo out. (END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: Oh, wow. That was actually a good shot.
So, in the end, it was Paul McCartney who sat down with Colbert for the show's final interview. McCartney presented Colbert with a framed signed photo of The Beatles playing on the same stage back in 1964 on the Ed Sullivan Show. Who could forget?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COLBERT: You're better than The Beatles. Paul McCartney.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, it doesn't say --
COLBERT: It does. That's what I read.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It doesn't say that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: And he's funny. So, in the show's final moments, Colbert gave McCartney the honor of turning out the lights.
So, what is next for Colbert? Well, he addressed that question in his monologue.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COLBERT: Now, a lot of people have been asking me what I plan to do after tonight, and the answer is drugs. But --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: Funny all the way to the end.
CNN Chief Media Analyst Brian Stelter with me now. Brian, oh my gosh, so sad. I mean, tears, laughter, all of it last night.
BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA ANALYST: Yes, Colbert really gave a master class in how to go out with grace and gratitude. He clearly did not want The Late Show to end this way, and he clearly suspects that he was a sacrificial lamb, a pawn of sorts, in an effort by CBS parent company Paramount to appeal to the Trump administration. His show was canceled last summer just as Paramount's old owners were very urgently trying to win a takeover deal with Paramount's new owners, and win Trump administration approval for that takeover.
But knowing all that, Colbert could only control what he could control. He could only control what he said, what he did, what his show was all about toward the end. And you know what he didn't do last night? He didn't talk about President Trump. He didn't talk about the proverbial elephant in the room. He didn't make all those jokes at Trump's expense that he was known for for the past ten years. In some ways, politics inevitably defined Colbert's role on The Late Show during Trump 1.0 and now again during Trump 2.0. But Colbert put on a much more personal show last night, much more emotional, much more existential. You know, he basically claimed he wanted to put on a totally normal show, but he kept getting interrupted by celebrity guests, by friends, by technical difficulties.
[07:05:06]
And the joke, the commentary of course, was that, yes, the CBS overlords were taking him off the air. Yes, there was this political cloud hovering over everything. But Colbert just wanted to make people laugh. And he says that through it all, he was never trying to win elections or influence people, he was just trying to make people laugh.
Here's another great moment with McCartney. McCartney and The Beatles played right there in that theater in 1964, some of their first performances in America. It was a historic moment. So, to have McCartney back there on stage was also a big deal.
Here's part of what Paul and Stephen talked about.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COLBERT: When you close your eyes, do you hear the girl screaming?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
COLBERT: Okay. Okay.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STELTER: So, it really was perfect, you know, to have McCartney there back for the finale of the show. And now, yes, it's a moment where CBS is shrinking. You know, later today CBS is also shutting down the CBS News radio division. So, there are very real pressures that broadcast television is under. But Stephen Colbert, if he wants to, there's going to be a lot of places where he can reemerge if he wants to, a lot of platforms, mostly online. Netflix is looking more like CBS every day, even as CBS gets out of the late night T.V. business.
WHITFIELD: My goodness. All right, well, hopefully we all see him again, just it'll be interesting what integration, what form, where, what medium.
All right, Brian Stelter, thank you so much. I appreciate it. Danny?
FREEMAN: To this now, a rare Republican revolt on Capitol Hill against President Trump. There's backlash against his $1.8 billion so- called anti-weaponization fund, and that defiance is now threatening to derail other major parts of his agenda. Now, the fund would use taxpayer money to compensate people who claim they've been treated unfairly by the Justice Department, including potentially January 6th defendants who attacked police officers. And the whole idea is not sitting right with a growing number of Senate Republicans. Take a look. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. SUSAN COLLINS (R-ME): I do not support the weaponization fund, as it has been described.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We need more information on it.
SEN. JOHN KENNEDY (R-LA): I just don't know how this puppy dog will work.
SEN. THOM TILLIS (R-NC): This is -- I mean, this is just stupid on stilts.
This is bad policy, it's bad timing, and it's bad politics.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FREEMAN: CNN's Betsy Klein is live for us this morning at the White House. Betsy a lot of intense words coming from Capitol Hill.
BETSY KLEIN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes, Danny. President Trump has largely been able to keep Republican lawmakers in line during his second term, but Senate Republicans are now straight up in revolt over this $1.8 billion so-called anti-weaponization fund that they say is going to make taxpayer money available to allies of President Trump who say they were treated unfairly under the Biden administration.
And now one of the president's top legislative priorities hangs in the balance, Senate Republicans lashing out, saying that they were blindsided by the fund. We heard from Senator Mitch McConnell, who described it as, quote, a slush fund to pay people who assault cops and morally wrong.
So, the White House, in some damage control mode, deploying acting Attorney General Todd Blanche to Capitol Hill for what, by all accounts, was a very tense meeting yesterday. And now it is unclear whether a broader immigration package, which is going to provide tens of billions of dollars for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, along with Border Patrol, is going to have the 60 votes that it needs in the Senate to pass. There's so much frustration that this weaponization fund has been linked to that broader package.
And I want you to listen to very telling remarks to our colleague, Manu Raju, from House Speaker Mike Johnson yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MANU RAJU, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: There's so much opposition to this. Why don't you just drop the weaponization fund?
REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA): It's not my call. We're waiting to see what the Senate sends us. They're working through that.
(END VIDEO CLIP) KLEIN: Now, all of this comes as President Trump earlier this week has taken aim at senators that he deems to be disloyal. We saw that as Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana lost his primary on Saturday, and then on Tuesday, the president announcing that he would not be endorsing Senator John Cornyn of Texas. Danny?
FREEMAN: All right, a lot of updates as we head into this holiday weekend. Betsy Klein, as always, thank you so much. Fred?
WHITFIELD: Thank you so much, Danny.
Millions of people hitting the road for the Memorial Day holiday. Should we be among them? Maybe we are soon. Maybe you are, Danny.
[07:10:00]
All right, but it's going to be tough because it is going to cost everybody more to fill their gas tanks. How and when will they get there?
All right, plus, what we're learning this morning about the shocking death of NASCAR legend Kyle Busch at the age of 41. He was scheduled to compete in a race this Sunday.
And nicotine is having a moment. Influencers have been promoting it as an all-natural miracle cure that has dozens of health benefits, but does it really?
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FREEMAN: It is Memorial Day weekend, and this morning, millions of Americans are getting ready to hit the road for the holiday. But this time, when they fill up their tanks, they will be facing the highest gas prices in years. Take a look at this. The national average this morning is $4.55 a gallon, and right now is the first time in almost four years that gas in all 50 states tops $4 a gallon. This as AAA says more than 39 million people are expected to drive at least 50 miles from home over this long weekend.
[07:15:05]
Nearly 45 million Americans in total are set to travel.
And for more on all this, we go to CNN's Pete Muntean. He's at Reagan National Airport following this for us. I mean, Pete, so many people are traveling, but it's expensive out there.
PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: It's so expensive, and the average price for an airfare ticket domestically, according to travel site, Going, has gone up 15 percent in the last year. It is not daunting, the millions of people who are traveling today.
This is the Terminal 2 North checkpoint here at Reagan National Airport, taking folks about 11 minutes to get through general security screening here right now. 3 million people, according to TSA, will pass through airport security checkpoints nationwide today. That is one of the busiest days for air travel in TSA history.
The airlines insist that they are ready, even though they have trimmed schedules and changed flights because of the added expense of the war in Iran.
Take a look at the departures board here. Here's what's going on at National Airport. Right now, not a lot of yellow, not a lot of red. That's good. But it could change. The Federal Aviation Administration says we could see ground stops and delays as the day goes on. There is some crummy weather essentially from Texas all the way up to Pennsylvania.
The concern areas are as follows, Austin, Dallas going into Florida Tampa, Orlando, Atlanta, which is a huge hub, one of the busiest airports in the world, Charlotte, and then, of course, here at DCA.
One of the big stories unfolding right now is the sinkhole that has closed one of the two main runways at New York's LaGuardia Airport. Runway 422 is closed until at least 6:00 A.M. tomorrow. That's the latest update from the Federal Aviation Administration, delays there, about 90 minutes on average, according to the FAA.
Of course, given all of that about air travel, so many people will elect to drive, and AAA, as you said, 39 million people anticipated to drive 50 miles or more over this long holiday weekend, the national average, $4.55. AAA, though, tells me it's really not going to take much of a dent in people's decision matrix when it comes to driving. They say that folks really only begin to consider not driving when the national average for gas reaches about $5. We'll see as the day unfolds.
The big headline when it comes to driving, if you've not left around now or not thinking about leaving, maybe wait until tomorrow or at least late tonight, Danny.
FREEMAN: Yes, if you haven't left already, it's too late. You've already missed it. Those people in that airport behind you, Pete, they are so much braver than I am because that is an intense scene.
Thanks, Pete. I appreciate you as always.
And, of course, we're going to have your Memorial Day forecast coming in about 20 minutes. But in the meantime, still ahead, toxic chemicals spew into the air in one Southern California neighborhood. We're going to tell you what we know about the danger.
Plus, the world of NASCAR is mourning the sudden loss of Hall of Fame legend Kyle Busch at just 41 years old.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[07:20:00]
WHITFIELD: All right. The racing world is in shock after the sudden tragic passing of two-time NASCAR Cup Series Champion Kyle Busch. He was just 41 years old.
CNN's Andy Scholes joins us now with more on the incredible legacy of Kyle Busch. My gosh, what in the world happened? Do we even know a cause of death yet?
ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Not yet, Fredrika, and this, I mean, just devastating news for the entire sports world. You know, Kyle Busch was one of the best drivers of all time. He won 234 races across three national series. That's more than any other driver in history. And Busch, you know, he'd just competed at Dover last weekend and won the Truck Series race he competed in. And listen to the interview he gave after winning.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REPORTER: Your 69th victory in this series, your fifth right here. Why do these moments never get old, Kyle?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because you never know when the last one is, you know? So --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCHOLES: Yes. Now, Busch, as I mentioned, won 234 races. He won 63 Cup Series races, which ranks ninth all time, and he won two Cup championships in 2015. In 2019, he was as consistent as they come. Busch holds the all-time NASCAR record with 19 consecutive seasons with at least one victory from 2004 to 2023.
Now, at the end of the Cup Series race on May 10th, Busch radioed into his crew saying he wanted to see a doctor right after the race. He had been battling a sinus cold.
Now, earlier Thursday, his family posted on social media that he was hospitalized with a severe illness, but they did not specify what.
Now, in a statement, NASCAR said it was heartbroken by the sudden loss, adding, a future Hall of Famer, Kyle was a rare talent, one who comes along once in a generation. He was fierce, he was passionate, he was immensely skilled, and he cared deeply about the sport and fans.
Now, so many in the racing world are just in disbelief at the news. Clint Bowyer posting on X, I just talked to him Friday, in complete shock, as we all are. The devastation and sadness is beyond words.
Now, Busch, who's the younger brother of NASCAR Hall of Famer Kurt Busch, is survived by his wife, Samantha, and their young children, Braxton and Lennox. He was just 41 years old.
NASCAR officials say the Coca-Cola 600, which Busch was scheduled to compete in will still go on as planned on Sunday. But Fredericka, they will surely be paying tribute to Busch, who was one of the best drivers, you know, the sport has ever seen.
WHITFIELD: I mean, unbelievable at just so young.
All right, Andy Scholes thank you so much for that, terribly sad.
All right, we are now just moments away from the World Health Organization giving an update on the deadly Ebola outbreak. New details this morning on how it's impacting U.S. travelers.
And the end of an era in late night, Stephen Colbert signs off. His legacy at the historic Ed Sullivan Theater.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[07:25:00]
WHITFIELD: All right. President Trump is facing a rare revolt from his own party. At the center of it is his $1.8 billion anti- weaponization fund. The fund would use taxpayer money to compensate people who claim they've been treated unfairly by the Justice Department, and January 6th defendants could potentially be eligible.
And now a growing number of GOP senators are pushing back. Here are some of the quotes. Mitch McConnell, he says, utterly stupid, morally wrong. Thom Tillis, stupid on stilts. Susan Collins, I do not support the fund as described. And Bill Cassidy calling it a slush fund.
Joining me right now is Jackie Kucinich, the Washington Bureau chief for The Boston Globe, and Daniella Diaz, a Congressional reporter for NOTUS.
[07:30:02]
Great to see both of you ladies. Jackie, you first. I mean, this $1.8 billion anti-weaponization fund, I mean, that was the tipping point.
