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50,000 Under Evacuation Orders in California Amid Chemical Tank Threat; Interview with Rep. Madeleine Dean (D-PA): U.S. and Iran Signal Progress in Negotiations to End War; Millions of Americans Hit the Road as Gas Pries Near All-Time Highs. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired May 25, 2026 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:00]

TIM REAM, USMNT DEFENDER: To us to be able to play on home soil and have them in the stands and watching from home and supporting the team. We're going to do obviously everything that we possibly can to make them proud. And hopefully at the end of it, everybody is feeling really, really good about where the team is, how we performed and where we are as a country.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Tim Ream, thank you so much. Go Team USA.

DANNY FREEMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, go Team USA.

REAM: Thank you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN HOST: Race against the clock in California, a brand new video just in as crews work to prevent a tank filled with a toxic chemicals from exploding, evacuations already underway.

And is the U.S. inching closer to a deal to end the war with Iran? President Trump saying this morning, quote, negotiations are proceeding nicely and warning what could happen if the deal doesn't meet his expectations.

And then the unofficial start to the summer travel season is already looking pretty pricey for Americans. We'll have a look as well at today's holiday travel forecast.

Kate, John and Sara are out today. I'm Omar Jimenez. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

So the breaking news this morning, new images out of Southern California where a state of emergency is in effect. Tens of thousands of evacuees are spending this Memorial Day away from their homes as crews race to cool a massive tank holding 7,000 gallons of a toxic chemical. About 50,000 people inside the potential blast zone in Orange County have been told to evacuate, but there may be a break in the crisis. Crews have discovered a crack in the tank that could actually be working in their favor. And fire officials tell CNN that they were checking overnight to see whether the crack is actually easing the dangerous pressure inside. CNN's Veronica Miracle has been on scene for us in Cypress Creek, California. Can you just tell us what the latest on the ground is there as the sun begins to come up?

VERONICA MIRACLE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Omar, about 800 local and state first responders have been working around the clock trying to neutralize this threat. We are waiting for a press conference to hear if there's any good news or if there's bad news. Did that crack relieve any pressure?

If it hasn't relieved any pressure, really worst case scenario here because we know the temperature gauge at last check was maxed out at 100 degrees. MMA, this toxic chemical prefers to sit at 50 degrees. Now, if there is good news and we get that update, then potentially the evacuation zone will shrink and people will -- some people will be allowed to return home.

Some of those 50,000 people that have been forced out of their homes, so much uncertainty, not only this holiday weekend, a holiday weekend where it's been hard for people to try and get hotels, but they don't know what's exactly going to pan out for their future when kids have to go back to school because there are schools within the evacuation zone. Here's what one evacuee had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PATRICIA RIVERA, EVACUEE: I'm scared because I don't know what's going to happen. And I don't know if anything that already is in the air is going to affect us, or if it blows, what's going to happen, you know, that's the unknown is really scary.

ROBERT PARMER, EVACUEE: We got an evacuation notice and we had to get out, you know, so we did. I've worked in refineries my entire life, so I know the danger of the chemicals that they're talking about.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MIRACLE: And Omar, I'm sure it's no surprise to know that there's already been one lawsuit filed by a couple and we understand it's been filed as a class action lawsuit. Their lawyer says about a couple hundred people are interested in potentially joining it.

GKN Aerospace, the company here at the center of this crisis, released a statement. They've apologized. They say they're working with first responders to try and bring this crisis to an end.

So we'll just be waiting to see here this morning what kind of update first responders can give us and how this all night mission went to find and try and figure out what exactly is going on inside that tank -- Omar.

JIMENEZ: And for those folks just having to leave their homes so suddenly waiting as you are to for whatever update might come here this morning, Veronica Miracle, appreciate the reporting there for us on the ground.

Also new this morning, both Iranian and U.S. officials are downplaying the possibility of an imminent deal to end the war, but they do indicate there's progress. A spokesperson for Iran's foreign ministry, for example, says Tehran has reached a, quote, degree of understanding, end quote, with the United States.

As President Trump says, he's in no rush to make a deal. CNN's Betsy Klein is at the White House for us. And Betsy, the president just posting on social media, what is he saying and what else are you learning?

[09:05:00]

BETSY KLEIN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, Omar, President Trump spent the weekend working the phones with Gulf leaders and both the U.S. and Iran are signaling that there has been some progress toward reaching an agreement that could ultimately result in a more lasting conclusion to this war. So what that means is that they are working toward a deal to get to another deal.

Now, both sides are working toward this memorandum of understanding. This is essentially a framework that will allow them to work out some of those thornier issues in more intensive negotiations. But there's a lot that we still don't know.

But what we do know about the preliminary details of this is that it would reopen the Strait of Hormuz, that critical oil thoroughfare. It would gradually end the U.S. blockade of Iranian ports. It would include commitments by Iran to not pursue a nuclear weapon.

And it's going to set a 60-day clock for those more intensive negotiations. President Trump has repeatedly said that he is not in a rush to get this deal done. He's also now making joining the Abraham Accords mandatory for countries in the region.

The president saying in a post to social media, a very lengthy post, quote, "Negotiations with the Islamic Republic of Iran are proceeding nicely. It will only be a great deal for all or no deal at all. Back to the battlefront and shooting, but bigger and stronger than ever before. And nobody wants that." The president goes on then to name countries that he says have not yet signed on to the Abraham Accords. That is that agreement from his first term normalizing relations with Israel, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Pakistan, Turkey, Egypt and Jordan.

He says, quote, "I am mandatorily requesting that all countries immediately sign the Abraham Accords and that if Iran signs its agreement with me as President of the United States of America, it would be an honor to have them also be part of this unparalleled world coalition."

Now, among the outstanding major sticking points is how the Strait of Hormuz would operate. What is going to happen to Iran's highly enriched uranium and how long that moratorium on the highly enriched uranium would last? We've heard some pushback from Republican lawmakers who say that this deal would not end the nuclear threat from Iran. But we know that the president is hesitant to resume this conflict. There is significant political pressure on him with gas at $4.50 a gallon.

And of course, on this Memorial Day, we are honoring the 13 U.S. service members who have sacrificed their lives during this conflict -- Omar.

JIMENEZ: Yes, honoring so many more as well. Betsy Klein appreciate the reporting for us there from the White House.

I want to bring in Democratic congresswoman of Pennsylvania, Madeline Dean. She serves on the House Foreign Affairs and Appropriations Committees. Congresswoman, I appreciate you being here.

As you heard, we still don't have a finished framework of any potential deal, but it sounds like if it happened, it would start with getting the Strait fully reopened and then get and then get to the core issue of nuclear enrichment and material. How confident would you say you are in the current direction of any deal?

REP. MADELEINE DEAN (D-PA), FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEES: Well, I'm hopeful. I'm optimistic. I do want to acknowledge it is Memorial Day, and I'm thinking of those families of the fallen, particularly the fallen in this conflict, this war of the president's choosing in Iran. So for a moment, I just want to think the fallen.

But I'm somebody who is optimistic, hopeful for a peace deal, hopeful for, of course, the reopening of the Straits, hopeful for a return to where we were before, which was keeping their nuclear ambitions in strategic check. Unfortunately, we've blown past that.

You know, the president, June of last year, told us that he had obliterated Iran's nuclear program. Why didn't we build from that point instead of going to this reckless war? In terms of the negotiations, it's hard to say.

I'm happy to hear the president is at the White House working the phones. That is what he should be doing because of this war of his own making. I hope for peace.

I hope for the Iranian civilians as well.

JIMENEZ: You know, there also comes down to what the role of Congress is going to be in this. And Democrats and some Republicans want to pass this War Powers Act, which would limit Trump's power and mandate the exit of U.S. troops from the conflict. There was a sort of attempt last week, but that vote was canceled.

But I just wonder, do you think the U.S. can just pull out at this point? What options do you see?

DEAN: Well, actually, the vote was canceled because the Speaker could see that he was about to lose that vote. And his loyalty to the president was much more than his loyalty to the Constitution of the United States. Article 1, Section 8 says that we, Congress, has the power to declare war.

And he was about to lose the vote, so he pulled the bill down and then canceled votes the next day. That was Ranking Member Meek's War Powers Resolution. We will bring it up again.

I think it will be successful. We must reassert ourselves.

[09:10:00]

I don't understand why the Republican majority both in the House and in the Senate has become so feckless to this president. And you see what happens as a result of that. The president gets way out beyond himself because he has been surrounded by sycophants and weak legislators. That I don't understand.

But in the case of this war, it is time for us to be much more involved. It was from day one.

JIMENEZ: And sorry, I was just going to say that on the vote that you were talking about and the canceled vote, there were some absences there. But to your point, the votes from the Republican side, or at least the support from the Republican side, has seemed to pick up more support in recent weeks. And I just wonder in your conversations with some of those Republican colleagues, how would you characterize the common ground with those Republicans?

DEAN: I would say, and this is from colleagues I speak to either on the floor or in committee, they are well aware of the lost ground underneath them. They are well aware that they're about to lose the midterms. I think they're just trying to hold tight.

Some have said that. Just trying to hold on to get through the midterms. And I know that they are troubled by this war, even as they sometimes proclaim, oh, we've been at war for 47 years.

What utter nonsense. This is a very dangerous making. This is something that the president went into with Mr. Netanyahu's ambitions at the forefront, not America's. And now, sadly, the president has been boxed in. So I hope, I pray for this framework of a deal that will actually open the Strait, stop the conflict, bring our military safely home, and of course, make sure that Iran never has a nuclear weapon.

JIMENEZ: You know, you mentioned the midterms. I want to ask you about this 2024 autopsy that the DNC released last week. And look, while a lot of the data in it wasn't fully verified, at least in the version that was released, one of the things it did say was that Democrats indexed too heavily into anti-Trump and not so much the pro-Democrat message.

And heading into these midterms, I wonder how much do you buy into that assessment from the 2024 cycle, and how do you fix that?

DEAN: I, you know that Democrats are often blamed for being bad messengers. I think Donald Trump has made the case all by himself, and by the people he has infected. So I'm not so much against Mr. Trump. I'm against the things he has done, and those who have enabled it. Look at where we are. The economy is in the tank.

I filled up, speaking of tank, I filled up yesterday, it cost almost $100 to fill up my car. And I bought the cash price to save 8 cents a gallon. Just insane where we are in this economy.

The cost of living for everybody is up. And this is entirely of the president's making, whether it's tariffs or war or a ruthless immigration policy, the economy is in a very bad place by the president's making. Then you add to that the fact that we're in a war that he can't seem to figure out how to get out of.

And the grotesque corruption going on around this president. You know, we're about to have Mr. Acting Attorney General in front of us, forgive me for forgetting his name.

JIMENEZ: Todd Blanche.

DEAN: Thank you, Todd Blanche.

The corruption goes all the way through those who he has surrounded himself with. Mr. Blanche is showing no interest in prosecuting anybody for the Epstein files. He's showing no interest in making sure all the Epstein files are released according to the law.

So it's less about being against Mr. Trump. It's about being against everything he is doing, everything he is standing for. Democrats simply believe in the rule of law.

We believe you shouldn't profit from your office. We believe you shouldn't set up deals for a president, giving him amnesty from paying his taxes or his businesses or his family paying taxes. I have to ask you, Omar, who asks for such an agreement?

Why would a president say, I don't want anybody to be able to look at my tax returns? Why would a president say that? Why wouldn't he say, I'm a proud American paying my taxes just alongside all of you?

What we're against is everything this president stands for.

JIMENEZ: I was going to say it'll soon be in the hands of voters to send their message on what they're feeling. Congressman Madeline Dean, I got to leave the conversation there. Thank you for being with us on this Memorial Day.

[09:15:00]

All right, meanwhile, record-breaking travel numbers this weekend with tens of millions of Americans hitting the road and with gas prices at a four-year high, the busy travel rush comes at a cost.

Plus, Pope Leo taking on the issue of artificial intelligence with a historic message this morning, his stark warning for the future. And then chaos at the beach. Several people injured during a stampede

at a motorcycle rally. We'll tell you what sparked the panic coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JIMENEZ: You know gas prices are high, but these high gas prices are not slowing down the millions of set to travel this Memorial Day. For example, AAA projects a record-breaking 45 million Americans are traveling at least 50 miles from home for the holiday. Nearly 4 million expected to fly to their destinations, with an estimated 39 million filling up their cars and hitting the road.

The millions filling up are going to feel the pain at the pump. The national average right now hitting $4.51 a gallon.

[09:20:00]

I want to bring in our folks covering this out in the world for CNN Aviation correspondent Pete Muntean is live at Reagan National Airport and CNN's Ryan Young is in Atlanta for us this morning.

Pete, I want to start with you. How are things looking for the millions flying on this holiday?

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: It has been a huge weekend for air travel, Omar. People not daunted by the fact that there's so much talk about gas prices for your car, fuel prices for airlines, the number two cost behind labor, and that means according to travel site Going, that the cost of a Memorial Day weekend domestic trip is up 20 percent compared to last year.

Here's a live look at a Terminal 2 North Checkpoint here at Reagan National Airport. We have essentially gone through the morning rush. Now folks are going to flights, boarding around 9:30. The only issue is there's a ground stop here at National Airport because of low cloud ceilings or some bad weather in the mix. That is throwing things for a bit of a loop.

Today the number anticipated at TSA checkpoints nationwide like this one, 2.78 million in total. That is a huge number. We're talking numbers similar to days on Thanksgiving. We saw 2.98 million people on Friday. That number only five percent off from the all-time air travel record. 46,000 flights in total.

So far only delays here at Reagan National Airport today, although the FAA Command Center in Warrington, Virginia warning of possible delays here. New York, some of the most sensitive, delay sensitive airspace in the country. Also San Francisco, a huge hub for United Airlines. And Atlanta, one of the busiest airports in the world, the main hub for Delta Airlines.

We'll see as the day goes on. We're anticipating some more delays here at National Airport because of some Memorial Day flyovers. The good news here is that the cancellations have remained relatively low. Only 400 yesterday, about 100 today. So things really paling in comparison to the meltdowns we've seen on some other big holiday travel rushes -- Omar.

JIMENEZ: Still last time we checked in with you there were no colors on that board. Now at least a few delays here and there. So things to watch for as the day goes on.

And Ryan Young for us is in Atlanta. The delays we look for in Atlanta is usually traffic based on I-75 or wherever. But what are you seeing out there on the roads right now?

What are people telling you at the gas station?

RYAN YOUNG, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Road's been pretty clear so far. Look, Omar, anyone who travels through Atlanta knows that traffic here can back up, especially on the Connector or out in East Cobb, where we see a lot of people sort of traveling through the holidays. The number that is in everyone's mind though is the numbers that here on the board, you look at the dollars for what it costs to fill up a tank of gas these days.

And people are talking about that. Of course, Pete Montean at the airport. We have Hartsfield Jackson International Airport here, one of the busiest airports in the world.

And of course, they're going to hit a huge number, over 2 million people. But this is where people talk about the driving. 39 million people hitting the road.

One of the things they have to do or everybody has to do is gas up. So you can see right here, 14 gallons of gas, just about $56. That's a price tag that shocks a lot of people.

When you think about travel as well, especially a family of four, about $200 to $400 a day is what the average spin is. Now, we've been looking at the numbers and where people have been going in terms of rental cars. What we've been able to see when it comes to rental cars is that Orlando is at the top of the list. Miami and other big cities are seeing a record number of people try to rent a car and get ready to go out and have a good time.

Despite the numbers being up, people want to travel. And of course, if you're traveling if you're driving, you got to keep the kids fed. You got to have them have something to drink. So they're going to stop at a Kwik Trip. They're going to stop somewhere else, go inside, get drinks.

That stimulates the economy. We also see people booking hotels. So they have to stay somewhere as well.

As we were talking to a business owner a little earlier this morning, he was telling us that he thought more people would be coming in to eat at the restaurant over the weekend. That hasn't happened so far. He's wondering where they're spending the money. But guess what, Omar? People want to get out on the roadway. They want to get out for the summer. And I can understand it. It's been a long year so far.

JIMENEZ: Yes, no doubt. And a quick shout out to your photographer. Keeping up with you is no easy task on a morning like this. You're moving around all over the place.

YOUNG: Why not?

JIMENEZ: Yes, it's Michael Calloway.

YOUNG: 100 percent.

JIMINEZ: Oh, man, Michael Calloway, one of the best. Shout out to him. Ryan Young, good to see you.

All right. We're following other headlines this morning as well, including -- we want to show you live pictures right now out on the West Coast -- an urgent situation in California as crews work to prevent a tank filled with toxic chemicals from exploding. We're following that. We'll have some more details as the hour goes on.

And then the biggest weekend in racing, turning into a somber memorial service for one of NASCAR's own. We'll show you how fans, friends and family remembered legendary driver Kyle Busch.

[09:25:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JIMENEZ: As college graduates get set to leave campus and enter the workforce, AI is altering their lives and job prospects. In a New York Times guest essay, Stanford senior Theo Baker writes about students' deepening fears.

Quote, "... for many who came to Stanford just four years ago, when a degree seemed like a guaranteed ticket to a high-paying job, the door has been slammed shut. For all of us, AI has permanently changed how we think and behave."

I want to bring in Theo Baker, college senior, and author of "How to Rule the World, An Education in Power at Stanford University." Theo, thanks for being here.

One, I just want to start with, you know, you were part of this first class to go through college in the AI era. I wonder, how do you feel it shaped your experience?

THEO BAKER, WROTE NYT GUEST ESSAY, WHAT AI DID TO MY COLLEGE CLASS: Well, thanks for having me. You know, AI is this great accelerant, right? It takes all of these trends that are already brimming beneath the surface, and it makes them far more pronounced.

Stanford is sort of a hyper-concentrated version of this, where you see the stratification really take hold. Some people are getting exceedingly, exceedingly wealthy based off of this, you know, the teenage dropouts who now have access to more capital than ever before. But the vast majority of people are seeing sort of the entry-level positions disappear.

JIMENEZ: You know, I've got brothers that are going through this process now, either applying to schools and trying to figure out, like, what am I going to -- what path am I going to go down? Or another brother?