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Trump May Miss Son's Wedding; Sophia A. McClennen is Interviewed about Colbert; Ebola is Spreading Rapidly; Holiday Floods and Storms; Laura Ulrich is Interviewed about the New Labor Report. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired May 22, 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]

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Continue.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARCO RUBIO, SECRETARY OF STATE: We await word on those conversations that are ongoing. T Here's been some slight progress. I don't want to exaggerate it, but there's been a little bit of moment. And that's good.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Rubio's comments come as President Trump says he might miss his son, Don Jr.'s wedding this weekend, citing, quote, "Iran and other things."

Joining me right now is CNN global affairs analyst Brett McGurk and CNN national security analyst Alex Plitsas.

Great to see both of you gentlemen.

Brett, you first.

I mean the president, you know, is being rather ominous there, that he may not attend his son's wedding this weekend because of a little thing called Iran. This after threatening that there would be possibly military action. And then backing off. So, what is all of this signaling indicating to you?

BRETT MCGURK, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Well, Fred, we're heading into a really pivotal week. I mean right now we're in a stalemate. A chance for diplomacy. I would watch for Asim Munir, the Pakistani army chief, where is he? Because he has said, I will only go to Iran if we might be close. Some reports this morning, he might be heading to Iran. So, I'd keep an eye on that.

But even there, the diplomacy is very stuck because the two things we want, open the Strait of Hormuz and turn over the highly enriched uranium, Iran is really holding on to. And it's a card they believe they have. They think they have power in their hands. And the price they will demand for those two things will be extremely high. So, I would put low odds on a breakthrough deal. And the next week,

Fred, just to put this -- set the context, will be the annual pilgrimage to mecca and the hajj. Unlikely you'll see a renewal of military action during the next week. But once you get into the end of the month, if there's not a deal, I think that window opens again. So, that could be why the president is staying in Washington for consultations.

WHITFIELD: Alex, the U.S. military, you know, including CENTCOM, you know, is used to operating more methodically. You know, staying out of the politics of it all. But what's the sense of how it is operating while being peppered with questions about damage and results from previous strikes

ALEX PLITSAS, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: So, I was at the U.S. Central Command headquarters yesterday. And in speaking to a number of officials that were there, they are backing Admiral Cooper's testimony, saying that internal damage assessments actually do reflect his testimony in terms of the level of damage, which obviously does conflict with reporting, even from our own network here. So, it's possible that there's conflicting damage assessments from different institutions, but CENTCOM is sticking by those numbers.

WHITFIELD: And then, Alex, you know, from your sourcing, you know, does it seem like the U.S. and Iran are moving further away from working out a deal?

PLITSAS: I think Brett's entirely right. Just for some context as well, what we're really talking about at this point is negotiations about a negotiation, right? So, this is a framework to then open up the Straits, at least, and end the war in the short term for a temporary ceasefire to facilitate the actual negotiations on the more difficult, substantive issues, which Brett mentioned. You know, obviously, both the highly enriched uranium and the permanent opening of the Straits.

And again, I think he's right. They'll be -- they'll be extracting some pretty high prices in response to that because they've learned over the last two conflicts, right, so the 12 day war over the summer, they learned that their ballistic missiles served as strategic deterrent, separate from a nuclear program. And now this conflict has taught them that they can hold the Straits at risk with a couple of drones that don't actually require them to mine the Straits to keep it closed. So, for a net exporter of drones before the war started, this is a very precarious situation going forward.

WHITFIELD: I mean, and, Brett, you know, overall, there's a lot going on involving U.S. military assets. Ukraine, still happening. You know, Iran, Now Cuba with a U.S. carrier group, Nimitz, you know, heading there or in the, you know, Caribbean. The president dangling words like, you know, takeover as it relates to Cuba. You know, it's falling apart.

I mean, what do you see on the horizon potentially?

MCGURK: Well, to step back, try to put things together. I think, in Ukraine actually, Ukraine is turning the tide against Russia in Ukraine. It's kind of an extraordinary story.

In Iran, we have a stalemate. And one thing there that ties in Russia and China, Secretary Rubio said today, we are working on a U.N. Security Council resolution. It has more countries than ever endorsing this resolution, calling on Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz. If you get that resolution, it allows the Europeans to come into the mission to try to open the Strait of Hormuz. That would be very important. But Russia and China are threatening to veto that resolution because they are very much standing, I think, behind the Iranians here.

And then on Cuba, if past is prolog, it seems like a replay of Venezuela. There's now an indictment against Raul Castro. We're moving forces. The CIA chief was in Havana. Unclear what the demands are of Cuba, but it seems like we're moving into something there with coercive diplomacy for it to start and a possible military operation, though it's unclear to see what that would achieve.

But to do that, I think the president would like a diplomatic off ramp on Iran. And that brings us back to where we started. The Iranians have the cards here of whether or not they're actually going to do a deal that we can accept.

[08:35:02]

And I think that's going to be extremely difficult. But that will play out over the course of the next few days and this week.

WHITFIELD: All right, Brett McGurk, Alex Plitsas, thanks to both of you. Appreciate it.

Danny.

DANNY FREEMAN, CNN ANCHOR: 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 --

CROWD: (Booing).

COLBERT: No, no, we were lucky enough to be here for the last 11 years.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

COLBERT: All right, that was --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FREEMAN: Colbert's monologue was interrupted by celebrity friends, like Bryan Cranston, Paul Rudd and Tim Meadows, all vying to be his last guest. But, in the end, it was Paul McCartney who sat down with Colbert for the show's final interview. McCartney, you can see right there, presented Colbert with a framed, signed photo of The Beatles playing on the very same stage back in 1964 on "The Ed Sullivan Show."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHEN COLBERT, HOST, "THE LATE SHOW WITH STEPHEN COLBERT": To Stephen, you're better than The Beatles.

PAUL MCCARTNEY, MUSICIAN: No.

COLBERT: Paul McCartney.

MCCARTNEY: No, it doesn't.

COLBERT: It does. That's what I read.

MCCARTNEY: It doesn't say that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FREEMAN: In the show's final moments, Colbert gave McCartney the honor of turning out the lights.

So, the question is, what's next for Colbert? Well, he addressed that, too, in his monologue.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHEN COLBERT, HOST, "THE LATE SHOW WITH STEPHEN 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)

FREEMAN: All right, so we didn't exactly get the answer there.

Joining me now, though, is Sophia McClennen. She is the author of the book "Colbert's America: Satire and Democracy." The exact person we want to speak with today.

Sophia, first off, let me just get your reaction. What did you think of last night's show and how are you feeling now that Colbert is off the air?

SOPHIA A. MCCLENNEN, AUTHOR, "COLBERT'S AMERICA: SATIRE AND DEMOCRACY": I mean, it's bittersweet. I've already got to see him. And one show, which I thought was super important to American politics, which was "The Colbert Report." And then I had the experience of watching it again. I think it's all the things you expect. It's got a lot of joyfulness and extraordinary celebrity turnout, but it's all very, very bittersweet.

FREEMAN: You know, Sophia, I'm glad you brought up watching both ends of both of his shows, because last night's show was great. It was emotional and all of that. But if "The Colbert Report" conclusion felt like a jumping off point, this really felt sadder in a way, and an ending. What was your take on that?

MCCLENNEN: Well, I think the way to think about it was that, when he left "The Colbert Report," he was leaving "Comedy Central." So, he was leaving cable. And then when he goes to "The Late Show," he's now on a network. He's on five nights a week for an hour, not four nights a week for a half hour. So, you know, there was a real move up.

But when you've been the host of the late show, there's not really a move up left. And I think that's the thing that most of us are processing. You know, there's, sure, I believe Colbert will continue to make great political comedy. Great -- he'll be a great entertainer. But that platform is really somewhat irreplaceable.

FREEMAN: Yes, it's the pinnacle of so many comedian's careers over the course of, you know, American media, right?

Sophie, I'm curious, you wrote that Colbert is one of the most important satirists in American history. We know the cultural importance of "The Colbert Report." But I'm curious, what do you think the legacy will be of his helm at "The Late Show"?

MCCLENNEN: Well, I think you really need two pieces to be considered a great American satirist, right? You need to refine and develop and add creativity to the form of satire itself. And those of us that study Colbert can tell you without a doubt that his craft, his art was really exceptional, and he did things we simply hadn't seen. He put words into the public lexicon like truthiness. We don't have a parallel to Colbert on something like that.

But then the other side is, did he change how people acted? Did he change how people thought about politics? And did he change how people felt about things? And we can also prove that he had really significant impact in that regard.

So, when you put those two things together, I think Colbert will continue, perhaps, you know, who knows, right? But he, up till now, is certainly, without a doubt, one of the most important satirists in U.S. history.

FREEMAN: Sophie, I'm curious your perspective here. Do you think in five years, let's say, there will be late night shows anymore or is this the beginning of the end of this format, as some have suggested it might be?

MCCLENNEN: I mean, this is a fantastic question.

[08:40:01]

And it's a really important one because, when they first announce canceling Colbert, everyone sort of thought, well, you know, we saw it coming. People don't watch TV. And then look at what happened when they announced it, though, more viewers, more engagement. So, it seems clear that the American public still wants late night. What we have to see is whether the media corporations will continue to sustain it.

FREEMAN: Well said. A question still to be answered. Sophia McClennen, thank you so much for your perspective on this morning after a busy and late night I'm sure. Appreciate it.

Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right, breaking news. Just moments ago, the chief of the World Health Organization issuing a major new warning on the deadly Ebola outbreak in central Africa.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TEDROS ADHANOM GHEBREYESUS, DIRECTOR GENERAL, WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION: The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is spreading rapidly. Previously, WHO assessed the risk as high at the national and regional levels, and low at global levels. We're now revising our risk assessment to very high at the national level, high at the regional level and low at global level.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Spreading rapidly. I mean, key words there.

CNN's Meg Terrell joining us now with more details. I mean, what more can you tell us about that? That's frightening.

MEG TIRRELL, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Right. So, revising that risk assessment to very high now at the national level. And, of course, national, we're talking about the Democratic Republic of Congo, where this outbreak is based. It's centered in this Ituri province. And there is just tremendous unrest there. A lot of conflict. One hundred thousand recently displaced people. It's also a mining area. So, there's a lot of population movement.

Now they're also saying the risk level is high in the region and low globally. So, they are emphasizing, this doesn't have the same kind of pandemic risk, like something like Covid. So, that's important to know.

We also got new outbreak numbers today, up to 750 suspected cases, 177 deaths thought to be associated with this. And this is expected to already be bigger than this. They don't quite yet have a handle on how big it is. They think it was spreading for possibly two months before they detected it.

We also just got a new update on potential therapeutic interventions and clinical trials they might be planning there in DRC. So, they say there are two monoclonal antibodies that they are planning to take into clinical trials as potential treatments for Ebola. And while we don't have any approved drugs for this strain because it's a rarer strain than the one we typically see, there are some with promising animal data. I've talked with experts about this, so that is good news.

There's also an antiviral called obeldesivir, which they are looking at for post-exposure prophylaxis. So, actually, people who are thought to have been exposed to the virus, they can give them this. And it's a pill, which is really good because the other antiviral this is similar to is an IV, which is very difficult to administer in this kind of setting. So, they're hoping that can actually prevent people from developing Ebola if they've been exposed.

And, of course, the king of prevention is vaccines. But these are a little bit further off from even being ready to test in people. But there are candidates there too. So, the toolkit isn't completely empty, but it's not where we need it to be.

WHITFIELD: So, the monoclonal antibodies, I mean, that's sort of -- sort of promising right now because the doctor, who is being treated in Germany now, is being treated that way. But to bring that to, you just mentioned, you know, the area in the Congo, that would be very cumbersome, difficult to administer. So, this kind of pill form, how far away are we talking about the potential there?

TIRRELL: That's a great question. So, Gilead Sciences is the maker of that drug. And I've been in touch with them even this morning trying to get more information about what is the supply of that? How much is there available? When can this start to be rolled out? We don't yet know about that.

But that was a very good connection to the American patient because we did hear that he was treated with a monoclonal antibody. And those are typically administered via IV infusion. So, as you noted, that's going to be difficult, but it's not impossible, I'm hearing from researchers, to administer in this outbreak setting.

And we know about him. He's being treated in Germany right now. We've heard from his aid organization that he's critically ill, but he's not deteriorating. And he received those two IV treatments. He has six contacts who are clearly -- are currently asymptomatic, including his five family members. His wife, who's also a doctor, and their four children. They're also in Germany. There's another physician in the Czech Republic who is in isolation. Also asymptomatic right now.

The United States, of course, trying to ban folks who have been in this region from entering the country.

WHITFIELD: Yes.

TIRRELL: For Americans who've been in that region, they're all being diverted back through Dulles International Airport for entry screening. This is something that's getting criticism, not the entry screening, but the differentiation between what your passport says in terms of how you're treated coming into the country.

WHITFIELD: And from where you were coming.

TIRRELL: Yes.

WHITFIELD: Yes. All right, Meg Tirrell, thank you so much.

TIRRELL: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: Appreciate it. All right, Danny.

FREEMAN: The final generation of World War II veterans returned to Normandy, France, for the 80th anniversary of D-day in the powerful new CNN film "Why We Dream."

[08:45:01]

Here's a preview.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I had always wanted to go back to Europe to see and understand that I could have been part of one of those tombstones.

Here I am. I'm present to see the slaughter of humankind because of so much hate. How blessed I was. And so many of us who had been part of that own slaughter and were able to return home. And although it was segregated, we were working on that understanding and that misunderstanding of humanity.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FREEMAN: "Why We Dream" premieres Memorial Day at 8 p.m. on CNN, or you can watch on the CNN app.

All right, coming up ahead, millions of Americans set to hit the road this weekend with gas prices higher than they have been in four years. We'll tell you what to expect.

Plus, a dumpster diving raccoon finds itself it's what's called a very tight situation. We'll tell you about the group of firefighters who came to his rescue.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:50:44]

WHITFIELD: All right, millions of Americans may have their holiday plans washed out. Thunderstorms and flood threats are stretching all the way from the Gulf Coast, to the Ohio Valley and the Mid-Atlantic. And it comes after cities on the East Coast already saw disruptive floods this week.

CNN's Allison Chinchar is tracking who needs to watch out for potential flooding again.

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: That's right. Good morning, Fred.

Yes. And it's going to be a lot of the same places that have already had several days' worth of rain earlier this week.

Here's a look at the live radar. Again, you can see, we've got some showers in the mid-Atlantic, the southeast, the Midwest, even into the Central Plains. Now, we've had a lot of rain across portions of Oklahoma this morning.

So, that has led to two separate flash flood warnings across this area as even more rain is expected to fall throughout the remainder of the day today, not just in Oklahoma, but looking through the rest of the day. Again, you can kind of see the swirl of that system as it continues to slide up through the Ohio Valley, into areas of the mid- Atlantic and eventually into the northeast as we head into the day on Saturday. But at the same time, you still have some showers and thunderstorms existing right there along the Gulf Coast and portions of the southeast.

So, this is going to be multiple days of rain for a lot of these same areas. That's why widespread totals likely to be about one to three inches. But it's not out of the question, especially where you see that orange and red color on the map, to get four, five, even six inches of rain out of these systems the next few days. The potential for flooding exists in all of these areas you see here in green. It's fast forwarding through every single one of those days.

But the one thing you'll notice is some of those states are going to get it multiple days in a row. And that is going to lead to the potential for flooding as we head into the holiday weekend.

Another concern is also going to be severe thunderstorms, especially here across portions of Oklahoma and Texas. This is for today, where we could have some damaging winds, large hail and even some isolated tornadoes around Amarillo and the Lubbock region.

Now, one thing to note, because you're going to have all of these extra rain chances and the extra cloud cover, it's actually going to keep temperatures a little bit on the cool side. Take Washington, D.C., for example. The average high this time of year is 78 degrees. We will be 10 to 20 degrees below that for the next three days. New York, Boston, also looking at temperatures well below where they're supposed to be.

Minneapolis, Chicago, Saint Louis, it's still going to be cool today, but we do start to see things rebounding by the back half of the weekend. So, you'll start to see those temperatures warming back up.

Same thing for New York City. Through the holiday weekend it's going to stay very cool, but it rebounds by next week. The opposite is taking place in the West Coast, where the holiday weekend is going to be stunning. And then we start to see the bottom drop out next week.

WHITFIELD: OK, so much to look forward to. All right, thank you so much, Allison Chinchar.

All right, Danny.

FREEMAN: All right, now to some stories on our radar.

First up, Nascar fans are mourning the sudden loss of one of the sport's biggest stars. Two-time cup series champion Kyle Busch died yesterday at the age of 41 after being hospitalized with a severe illness, according to his family. A cause of death has not yet been released. Busch had been scheduled to race in this weekend's Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Nascar honored his sharp wit and called him a future Hall of Famer. He leaves behind a wife and two children.

And to this, a judge dropped the criminal case against former Virginia elementary school official Ebony Parker. Parker faced eight felony counts after a six-year-old student brought a gun to school and shot his teacher. The judge dismissed the prosecutor's argument that Parker should be criminally charged for ignoring warnings from teachers that the boy might have a gun. The judge in the case ultimately ruled that no law was violated.

And we have new video showing a fire truck that swerved, hit a parked vehicle and then crashed straight into an H&R Block. You see right there. It was in Los Angeles. The L.A. Fire Department says that firefighters were in the truck and they were responding to a building fire Tuesday when it all happened. Two firefighters in the truck sustained minor injuries. Thankfully, no one was inside the parked car you saw there.

And to this now, my favorite story of the day. In Arkansas, firefighters rescued a dumpster diving raccoon who got himself into a bit of a jam. The little guy got his head stuck after squeezing into a small hole at the bottom of a dumpster. Firefighters got animal services, though, to sedate their new furry friend, who they nicknamed "Rocket." They were then able to cut and expand the metal opening just enough to set him free. Good. He should be free.

[08:55:01]

And to this now. Starbucks is going to help you get in shape. The coffee giant is launching a limited edition five-pound weighted vest to promote its new protein drink. This vest costs $22 and even has a custom pocket designed specifically to hold your coffee or protein drink while you work out. I don't know, do I want a coffee protein drink when I workout -- when I workout, Fred? Maybe not.

WHITFIELD: Do you want to wear it too?

FREEMAN: Next time.

WHITFIELD: OK. No comment.

FREEMAN: I'm all ears, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. All right, there is a profound shift brewing in the American economy. One that could alter the job market as we know it. A stark, new projection from Hiring Lab, which is run by the job search site Indeed, warns that by the year 2040 the U.S. labor force could lose more than a million workers. The report also projects a stark increase in the unemployment rate to eight percent. While many have feared an artificial intelligence takeover, researchers say the real culprit here is actually collision of demographics, an aging population entering retirement and a sharp slowdown in immigration and birth rates.

Joining me right now is Laura Ulrich. She is the director of economic research at Indeed Hiring Lab.

Great to see you.

So, all right, your new report, I mean it looks at what the labor market could look like over the next 15 years. What are some of the biggest changes that we all need to brace for?

LAURA ULRICH, INDEED HIRING LAB DIRECTOR OF ECONOMIC RESEARCH IN NORTH AMERICA: Yes. Thanks so much for having me here to talk about this research.

I think the -- you (AUDIO GAP) from the start, we have multiple things kind of colliding at the same time. We have, obviously, A.I. technology is ramping up. But this is going to happen at the same time that we enter this demographic phase shift, where we see many more retirements. By 2032, all baby boomers will be eligible for full Social Security. That's an important moment for many people as they decide their retirement. And so, the reality is, we will have many people retiring over the next few years with fewer people entering the labor market just -- simply because of lower fertility rates, but also reduced immigration levels.

WHITFIELD: So, how much is A.I. poised to kind of reshape the workforce? I mean which industries might feel the impact first?

ULRICH: As you can imagine, it's very difficult to predict what A.I. is going to do over the next 15 years. But we run two different models, one where we predict that A.I. will destroy more jobs and one actually where we predict that A.I. actually will augment jobs and make workers more productive and create a lot of new jobs. And in both cases, what you see is that the sectors that are most impacted are information, which includes a lot of tech jobs, financial activities, business and professional services. And what we see is those workforces actually, on average, are younger than many other sectors, like government, manufacturing and education and health that are going to be losing a lot of workers.

And so, what we have is with demographic A.I. colliding, it's not that we don't have enough workers, and it's not that we don't have enough jobs, we just don't have people wanting to go into the jobs that are available. And so you have this mismatch.

WHITFIELD: So, your report also suggests that, you know, this isn't just a temporary shift in the labor market, but something more structural. What makes this different from past disruptions?

ULRICH: Absolutely. This is unique. It's not cyclical, right. This isn't something where the economy will recover and things will bounce back. This is more structural, which means that there are some jobs that will go away because of A.I. There are new jobs that will be created. But those jobs don't necessarily require the same skills. So, workers who maybe worked in a job that does get destroyed by A.I. will have to upskill or reskill to learn the new jobs that are available, or to move into sectors, like manufacturing or construction or health and education that will need a lot of workers. So, this is really a story about how do we reskill, upskill workers to get into the right jobs, and how do we make the matching process better to match people to the jobs that are available?

WHITFIELD: And then what does this mean for younger workers trying to plan their careers right now, and people who are -- young people who are graduating right now, who are thinking about the days ahead?

ULRICH: That's a great question, Fred. I have three -- yes, I have three sons myself that are ages 16 to 22. So, I'm having these conversations in my household almost every day. And there are important considerations, I think, for young workers thinking about the broad array of skills that you have, maybe not just what you learned in your education, you know, just what you learned in your degree program, but other skills you've gotten, you know, durable skills like communication, leadership, critical thinking, these are going to be very important in this new economy.

But also with my youngest, I am having conversations about, you know, maybe you want to go into x field, but could you do that in construction? Could you do it in manufacturing? Might the skills that you want to garner work in some of these sectors that are going to need a lot of workers as they face really massive retirement rates between now and about 2032.

[09:00:05]

WHITFIELD: Oh my goodness. All right, growing up is hard to do.

All right, Laura Ulrich