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Polls on Trump's Health; Trump Congratulates Paxton on Runoff Win; Rep. Eugene Vindman (D-VA) is Interviewed about Iran; Alyson Shontell is Interviewed about the Top 100 Most Powerful Business Women List. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired May 27, 2026 - 08:30   ET

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

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[08:32:07]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: President Trump, he spent three hours at Walter Reed Medical Center for his annual physical yesterday. And he posted on social media afterwards that everything checked out perfectly. Questions about Trump's physical and mental fitness, though, have followed him since before he entered office and are back in the headlines recently ahead of his 80th birthday next month with some of those visible issues that we have talked so much about renewing health concerns for the president once again. The White House insists the president is in excellent health and shape.

But what do voters think? CNN's Harry Enten is running the numbers on that.

So what do they think? Where do you want to begin?

HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: Where do I want to begin? Look, I think the American people are having increasing concerns about the president's physical health. And these are just the numbers, because we're just running the numbers here. And you could see it right here, say Trump's physical health to be president is good enough.

You go back to 2023, it was 64 percent. 2025, 54 percent. Within the last month, look at this, down to just 44 percent of Americans who say that Trump's physical health is good enough to be president. It has been on a steady decline. The American people are viewing with their eyes. And what they're viewing, they are not pleased with. And as you can see here, for the first time ever this year, less than 50 percent of Americans actually say that Trump's physical health is good enough to be president.

BOLDUAN: So, how does that compare to other presidents in advanced age?

ENTEN: Yes, other presidents in advanced age. Why don't we look at those presidents who are over the age of 70. OK, you can see it right here. OK, highest share -- I took the highest share of any poll for either of these -- any of these presidents, saying not good enough to be president. Now, the majority of Americans say that Trump's physical health is not good enough to be president at 55 percent. That's not as high as Joe Biden's was back in 2024 with 69 percent. But it's a whole heck of a lot higher than Ronald Reagans was back in 1987, when it was 38 percent. Of course, there were massive issues about Reagan's mental and physical health back then.

So, at this point, what you're seeing here is Donald Trump, for the first time ever this year, the clear majority of Americans saying that his physical health is not good enough to be president. It's not at Biden's levels, but it far exceeds Ronald Reagan's level. And this, of course, was after Iran-Contra.

BOLDUAN: You also took a look at how voters and Americans feel about just the concept of age limits for a president.

ENTEN: Yes. OK. So, you see Trump here. You see Biden here. You combine the two of those. Americans, simply put, they want age limits. They want age limits for their presidents. And this is true across the political spectrum. Want presidential age limit to be age 80 or under, about 67 percent of Americans say that they want that. Even 59 percent of Republicans, when you take Trump's name out of the equation, want that. And many want this to be even lower than age 80.

So, the bottom line is this, Americans increasingly concerned about Trump's physical health. And when you put it together with Biden, what they simply want is they want age limits. It's going to be very interesting to watch the next presidential campaign, because now we've had two consecutive presidents by the end of next month who -- they've had presidents at least 80 or north and Americans may want to choose someone actually younger for a change.

[08:35:10]

BOLDUAN: Harry Enten, not an old man.

ENTEN: Although old at heart and old at mind. You know, I still think that I'm a big fan of the New York Giants and them playing at the polo grounds.

BOLDUAN: Oh, thank you, Harry Enten.

ENTEN: Thank you.

BOLDUAN: J.B.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Never trust anyone older than 30 or Harry Enten.

ENTEN: That's true.

BERMAN: All right, this morning, a new statement from President Trump after his candidate won the Texas Senate primary runoff. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton beat incumbent four term Senator John Cornyn. It was really a landslide. This after the president endorsed Paxton at the last minute. This morning, the president congratulated Paxton while writing that John Cornyn will, quote, "remain my friend for a long time to come." Will he?

Let's get to CNN political commentator David Urban, who joins us now.

What are the chances that John Cornyn will remain the president's friend for a long time to come after the president ran him out of office?

DAVID URBAN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes, John, it's all -- it's all relative, right? What's a long time? I guess you get -- you know, Donald Trump is smart enough to realize that John Cornyn is going to remain in the Senate and a -- and be a vote for a long time to come until this -- until next January right, and so he needs him to be his friend and needs him to be on his team.

John Cornyn's a class act, and I suspect will be there, will be there for the president and for the Republicans voting. But, you know, it is -- it's a strange way to treat your friends

BERMAN: David, how awkward will it be for the president, or how much of a challenge will it be for the president and Republican leadership now with lame duck John Cornyn, lame duck Bill Cassidy, lame duck Thom Tillis, and sort of quirky Rand Paul, you know, all of whom have varying degrees of umbrage with the president?

URBAN: Yes, listen, it's going to be difficult, John. You know -- look, the Senate is a -- is like herding 100 cats to begin with, right? You have, even on good days, it's tough to get all the folks lined up. And so, when you have people who have a lack of incentive to kind of be -- and you're rowing in the same canoe as the president, then you throw in always independent Lisa Murkowski and others, it becomes -- it becomes much, much more difficult. You'll see -- I think you'll see that play out when they return. And you have, you know, this -- the 1776 fund and the ballroom and other things that were, you know, kind of prickly before they left for this recess. That's going to have to be dealt with when they come back. And the administration needs every Republican to be with him on these things.

BERMAN: So, David, how much more challenging or what will the different challenges be for Paxton to hold this seat for Republicans than would have existed for John Cornyn?

URBAN: Yes, listen, obviously they just had a bruising primary. I mean it was the most expensive primary in the history of Senate primaries. And they really took the gloves off and went at each other with mallets. And so, there's -- you know, Democrats, Republicans, everyone was saying that negative advertising had played out. So, those numbers on the Cornyn side and the Paxton side got dragged down. So, their favorability, their likability, all those things got dragged down because of this really, you know, sanguine gloves off primary.

But, listen, Texas is a ruby red state. You got a little blueberry in there with Austin. I think that Ken Paxton is going to win. I mean you already heard kind of how he's going to define low t Talarico, six gender Jimmy. You know, a lot -- a lot of the other --

BERMAN: Yes.

URBAN: You know, he just -- Talarico is going to be defined as not being fit for Texas. He's not a Texan. He's not a boot wearing, gun carrying, you know, truck driving Texan. And that may be great in Austin, but Texas is a big state, as you know. And it's still ruby red MAGA to the core. And I do not think that -- look, this is like Lucy and the football. I think that, you know, the football is going to be there and Democrats are going to whiff again.

BERMAN: David, very quickly, there's a cabinet meeting today. If you were in the cabinet, if there were a secretary Urban, and you were speaking honestly to the president at this cabinet meeting on -- and not just keeping the adulation that they tend to do there. But if you were going to level with them honestly and say, hey, this is the one thing you should fix before November if we want Republicans to do OK, what would that one thing be?

URBAN: John, I think that the president needs -- we need to figure out what's going to happen here with Iran. The Iranians obviously have a say, but I think the president needs to make the case more forcefully to the American people that what's going on is a -- is something that's good for them in the long run.

Listen, Iran is a state sponsor of terrorism. You know, proxy -- there are proxies all over the world doing bad things.

[08:40:01]

I think he needs to stay the course there. But I think he needs to explain to people. I think he needs to really focus on driving down prices, affordability. I know gas is a big part of that. So, it's kind of a, you know, it's a -- it's a push me, pull me. If you stay in Iran, you stay the course in Iran, gas prices are going to remain high. I think he just needs to let people know that we're on the -- we're on this. The president's on it. He understands that it's tough for him, but he's asking people to kind of stick with him because things are going to get better. If you're going to vote for Democrats in the fall, it will not be better. It will only be worse. So, I think the president needs to stick to that messaging and get it out more broadly.

BERMAN: Secretary David Urban, thank you for your time this morning. Always a pleasure to speak with you.

Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Wow. Gave him a new title and everything. Thank you, John.

As John just mentioned, just hours from now, President Trump will gather his cabinet as his administration pushes towards trying to get a deal to end the war with Iran. That effort is unfolding against a very tense backdrop and a ceasefire that keeps being tested as strikes are traded between the two.

And just in, Iran state TV says that ships that belong to, quote, "hostile countries" are still blocked from traveling through the Strait of Hormuz. Joining me now is Democratic Congressman Eugene Vindman of Virginia.

He serves on the House Armed Services Committee. Look, there's this meeting with the cabinet and the president as this war presses on. At this point, there have been some strikes traded back and forth. But ultimately, they're trying to get a deal. Do you see anything better in any of the details that you are privy to so far then what President Obama negotiated in the JCPOA with Iran?

REP. EUGENE VINDMAN (D-VA): The short answer is no. Look, this war started February 28th. We're now three months in, about to start the fourth month. And the American people are asking themselves, are they better off now than before the war started? And the answer is no. Because right now the president is stuck between a rock and a hard place. He's either got a bad deal that forfeits potentially some control over the Strait of Hormuz, puts aside the issue of Iranian nuclear program, provides sanctions relief, provides potentially billions of dollars in funds released to the Iranians. These are all terrible positions to start with.

And, oh, by the way, this is just a deal to begin negotiating the deal. This is not even the full deal. So, now, three months into this conflict, the American people are not better off. Gas prices are high. Fertilizer costs, farmers are planting currently, are double, and grocery prices are spiking. So, this is all bad news for the American people.

SIDNER: I want to go now to the war still raging in Ukraine. It's now in its fourth year. Ukraine is regaining quite a bit of ground. But Russia pounded Kyiv over the last couple of days. The president, while running, complained of the cost of helping Ukraine, now spending even more on Iran. Is there any appetite for the U.S. to do more in this war in Ukraine?

VINDMAN: Well, there needs to be. The Iranians -- or the Ukrainians are on the front line. Remember, the Iranians have been supplying a lot of the drones that the Russians are using to attack Ukraine. And so, the Iranians are aligned with Russia against Ukraine. Well, the Iranians and Russia are aligned against the U.S. as well in this conflict. There's been reporting that the Russians have provided intelligence data to the Iranians to target U.S. assets.

And so, you know, the Ukrainians are our friends. The Russians are our enemies. The Ukrainians are providing significant technology and assets to defend Americans, American lives, American equipment in the Middle East. They're helping our allies against drones, drone strikes, and we owe them a debt of gratitude. We ought to continue to support them and recognize that they're our -- that they're our allies.

SIDNER: I do want to ask you about the political battle that is playing out here at home when it comes to redistricting. A federal court has blocked a couple of new Republican drawn redistricting maps. In Alabama, in particular, a panel of three judges said that the map that was drawn by Republicans intentionally discriminated against black voters.

But there's this battle also going on in Florida because of a map there, which is brutal for Democrats. And there has been this big fight over who should be running in this particular district, which is historically black and majority black. You have Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz now vying for a slot there, a spot there. And there's been this huge backlash by two-thirds of Florida's members of the Democratic National Committee issuing a statement condemning Schultz for getting in on that race. Is this a bad look?

[08:45:02]

VINDMAN: Look, Debbie is a tremendous American. She's done a great work in Florida. I think the voters will decide who will represent them. There's going to be an election in August, a primary election. And so, the president started a redistricting war, gerrymandering across the country. Florida is the latest battle. But Democrats are going to win this the old fashioned way at the polls. The president is enormously unpopular. His policies are unpopular. I've seen polling in Florida that has the president underwater in his home state. And so, this will be a referendum on the president and Republicans and MAGA in general. And I think Democrats are going to do great whoever the nominee happens to be.

SIDNER: Congressman Eugene Vindman, it's a pleasure talking to you this morning. Thanks for coming on.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: Just out, the new list of the world's most powerful women in business. "Fortune's" editor-in-chief is our guest to go through it all.

And a kangaroo on the lam. How Bingus is doing today after escaping from a local wildlife rescue.

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[08:50:08]

SIDNER: New this morning, the Justice Department is seeking to interview some poll workers and ballot counters who participated in the 2020 election in Fulton County, Georgia. Prosecutors revealed the new effort to dig up details at a court hearing last week. The Atlanta area county was a chief target of President Trump's false claims that the 2020 election was rigged.

Joining me now, CNN senior analyst Elie Honig.

Look, you -- you're looking at these particular cases and what's happening in this one, which is unprecedented. How much ultimately discretion do the prosecutors have here?

ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Well, Sara, prosecutors have very broad discretion over who they subpoena and who they interview, but it's not quite limitless. Essentially, judges will only get involved. And there is a judge now involved, and block a subpoena if there's a finding that the prosecutors are acting in bad faith or just looking to harass somebody. Now, Fulton County here argues that's exactly what's happening. They

say this is all about sustaining a political agenda. There's too many people. They've just sort of engaged in a fishing expedition and want to talk to anyone who ever touched the ballots who worked for Fulton County.

The response from DOJ is essentially, no, we have a good basis for this. It's not clear what that is. But sometimes prosecutors know things that we don't know in the public. And DOJ said, frankly, it's not a fishing expedition, but we are allowed to splash around in the pond a little bit. The judge said something like that as well.

So, it will be interesting. I think the judge seemed really torn. He may look for some sort of middle ground here, where maybe he narrows the subpoena a bit. It's a tough call for the judge.

SIDNER: Looking forward, how unusual is it for the DOJ to lose a case at the grand jury level? Because we all know the saying that you can basically indict a ham sandwich. But how -- when it comes to precedent, how unusual is that?

HONIG: Well, I'm here to tell you there's a lot of truth to that saying. I've been in the grand jury many times. It is really hard to lose a case at the grand jury level. I never lost a case at the grand jury level. And that's not a brag. That just means I was normal as a DOJ prosecutor.

SIDNER: Elie, I don't think you've ever lost a case. Let's be clear.

HONIG: Oh, I have. Trust me. But at the grand jury level, the burden of proof is so low, all you have to do is prove your case by probable cause, not beyond a reasonable doubt. All you need is a majority of grand jurors and not unanimity like you would need in a trial phase.

So, the fact that DOJ has seen these indictments, potential indictments, rejected at the grand jury level, again and again. For example, they twice tried to re-indict Letitia James after that case was dismissed.

SIDNER: Right.

HONIG: Grand juries rejected that. They tried to indict Mark Kelly and Elissa Slotkin, senators and other Democratic lawmakers. Grand juries rejected that. We've seen grand juries reject case against protesters. So, I think this shows a real systemic problem within DOJ.

SIDNER: Yes, it shows how thin their cases must be because, as you said, this is -- is it possible that a crime occurred, right, and -- or that malfeasance occurred? That's all that the grand jury needs to figure out?

Elie Honig, it is always a pleasure. I'm going to have to talk to you about those cases you lost. We'll have to go back and see what happened there.

HONIG: Thanks, Sara. SIDNER: I'm sure you don't want to revisit that.

All right, thank you, Elie.

John.

HONIG: I'll tell you. I'll tell you all --

SIDNER: Oh, he's about to tell us. That was a tease.

BERMAN: We'll continue that conversation offline.

All right, in central China, a car fell off a broken bridge and right into the rushing river there. According to local media, the car malfunctioned and was unable to reverse off the bridge. They also report that once the car fell in, the people were able to get out before the vehicle was just swept away. So, that's terrifying.

New video captures the aftermath after a tourist ferry from Alcatraz slammed into San Francisco's Pier 31. It happened as the ferry was docking. You can see all the broken windows there. The company who runs the ferry says there were no reported injuries.

Kangaroo on the lam. This is not Australia, but, of course, it's Waco, Texas. A kangaroo led police on a chase after escaping from a local wildlife facility. Somehow, because that thing's pretty fast, the animal was ultimately captured and safely returned.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: Adorable. Just like you, J.B. Thank y'all.

Let's move to this.

This morning, "Fortune" just released its list of the top 100 most powerful women in business. The list spans 94 companies, 20 different countries and territories. The woman at the very top, Jane Frazier, the CEO of Citigroup. Frazier took over the role five years ago. She's been a trailblazer for a long time, though. she was the first woman to ever run a major Wall Street bank. And earlier this month, she was one of just two female executives to join President Trump on his trip to China.

Coming in the second spot is Mary Barra, the CEO of General Motors. She is the first woman to run one of the big three automakers.

[08:55:02]

This year's list for "Fortune" is unique in another way because, as "Fortune's" editor-in-chief put it, "almost half are from outside of the U.S., reminding us that the impact of women leadership is being seen globally."

And that editor-in-chief, Alyson Shontell, joins us right now.

It's good to have you here.

ALYSON SHONTELL, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, "FORTUNE": It's so great to be here.

BOLDUAN: And thank you for sharing us -- sharing this with us. And it's great to put a spotlight on it.

Jane Frazier is a huge player. I mean, no question.

SHONTELL: Massive.

BOLDUAN: What was it about her, her record, what she's doing or has done that puts her at the very top of the list for you guys?

SHONTELL: So, we've been tracking her for a while, since she first got the job about five years ago, and she became the first woman to run a major Wall Street bank. It was a really tough job. Her predecessors struggled to really get it out of a sleepy mode and into a really competitive territory. And a lot of people called it the glass ceiling job, where it's just like, OK, Jane, you got the job, but you're never going to succeed.

It took her five years, but she has really made incredible progress. And the bank just hit its top revenue,-generating quarter in the Q1 of the last decade. So, really the numbers are starting to prove it. The stock is up 80 percent year over year. So, she's really doing great. And she's done that by focusing the company, shedding things that weren't working, getting rid of a lot of layers of management and really just executing well. So, she's our number one.

BOLDUAN: She is the number one.

The numbers of -- just when I look at kind of women in business across the board, and it's something I've been looking at a lot, the number of women-owned businesses has grown in the last few years by 12 percent, which is nearly double the growth rate for businesses owned by men. There's now more women leading Fortune 500 companies, I believe, than ever before.

SHONTELL: Correct.

BOLDUAN: Still could be more for sure.

SHONTELL: Yes.

BOLDUAN: Of course.

SHONTELL: But that's true.

BOLDUAN: Exactly. With this kind of growing field to choose from, as you put -- as you get to look through this and track these executives, what does it come down to for you and who makes a list, who moves up on the list and otherwise?

SHONTELL: So, there's an actual methodology we use and we quantify it as well. So, we start with a quantified list. And that basically -- I would. BOLDUAN: Expect nothing less from "Fortune."

SHONTELL: Yes. Yes. And we're not just like, hey, I think this person sounds good.

BOLDUAN: Yes.

SHONTELL: It's really the size of the P&L and the size of the team that they oversee. And also where they are in the trajectory of their career. Is this a person on the rise? Are they mid-career and about to break through? Could there be another even bigger job on the horizon? Where are they in the trajectory? But it really comes down to the size and scope of their role and their influence externally outside of the company as well we take into account.

BOLDUAN: Talk to me about what I -- how I quoted you off top and how it really is a global list. Yes, the United States is most of the executives. But what about how global it is this time?

SHONTELL: Yes, there's nine companies from China. There's nine from Europe. There's a bunch from southeast Asia. There's some from the Middle East. So, really, we took a global perspective. We have editors all over the place. We have some in China, some in southeast Asia, some in Europe. And so, we've got boots on the ground to be really assessing the rising power everywhere. And by the way, we also do a most powerful people list. And a lot of these women are on it. They're not just powerful women --

BOLDUAN: Exactly right.

SHONTELL: They're powerful executives really getting measured results.

BOLDUAN: Who are you keeping your eye on? Who's new on the list that you were like, ah, here's one to watch?

SHONTELL: I mean, I think, just a category to watch, is the women in A.I.

BOLDUAN: Yes.

SHONTELL: A lot of the CFOs who are in charge of all this capex spending we keep hearing about, that's really shaping the global economy, is being managed by women. There's Sarah Friar at OpenAI. She's on the list. She's their CFO. Daniela Amodei is the co-founder of Anthropic. Susan Li is the CFO of Meta. And she's managing all their capex. So, those women are really changing and shaping how we're all going to be kind of living our lives based on the investments they're making.

BOLDUAN: A thousand percent. And while I have you, you had a sit-down. You sat down for an interview earlier this month with President Trump. And one -- you talked about a lot of stuff. We -- I have talked about it on this show when it came out earlier this month. One topic that really kind of stuck with you and stuck out to you was when he started talking about some of the investments that the U.S. government has made in American companies, like Intel. That was last year that the government took a -- secured a 10 percent stake in Intel. A lot of talk about it, criticism. He defended that move to you. Why did this part of your conversation stick out?

SHONTELL: Yes, you know, we've been tracking the Intel investment. It was something totally unprecedented. You normally don't mix government and business in the U.S. I mean it's pretty much a staple of free markets and democracy. Just don't do it.

BOLDUAN: Yes.

SHONTELL: And he is saying, well, why would I give intel, this free grant from Biden, when the American people could potentially get upside if the company turns itself around. If a company can go from bankrupt to billions, shouldn't that be, you know, something the taxpayers can benefit from? So that was his perspective. And in our discussion, he said, you know, shoot, I should have actually asked him for more because the CEO gave me the 10 percent I asked for. Maybe I should have asked for more.

And, you know, he talked about doing this strategy over and over again. And there are some deals that he spoke about that he's currently trying to get in the works where he'd like an even bigger percentage of the mergers that are on the table.

[09:00:01]

So, he's not done with this strategy.

And Intel, I have to say, if you look at the stock chart from when he invested to what it is now.