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GOP's Paxton to Face Dem Talarico in Battle for Texas Senate Seat; 5 Villagers Trapped in Flooded Cave Found Alive, 2 Still Missing; Trump Suggests Iran Deal Could Hinge on More Nations Joining Abraham Accords; Trump Says Nobody Will Control Strait of Hormuz. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired May 27, 2026 - 15:30   ET

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

[15:30:00]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: The president again proving he has a firm grip on the Republican Party as Trump backed Ken Paxton, resoundingly defeated incumbent Senator John Cornyn in the Texas primary runoff last night. This means that Democrats are also getting the opponent that they want in November, though it's still going to be an uphill battle for James Talarico. If history is to decide, Democrats haven't won a statewide Senate race in Texas since 1988, the year before Tallarico was born.

Let's discuss with the host of the Chuck Toddcast, Chuck Todd. Chuck, great to see you as always. So this general election between Paxton and Tallarico, likely going to be one of the most expensive, not only in the country, but in history.

Do you think Democrats are wise to invest in the Lone Star State in 2026?

CHUCK TODD, HOST, THE CHUCK TODDCAST: Well, the answer to that question is yes to a point. And it's because, look, this is still a tough road for Democrats in the state. Republicans have nominated probably the candidate that will have the hardest time holding the state.

There is a shift. The state has moved from dark red to light red over the years. We've seen this margin of victories in major statewide races, whether for president or even Senate races.

They've become slowly more competitive over the years from double digits down to high single digits. So there is certainly some movement there. But, you know, what makes this such a big problem for Republicans and a good opportunity for Democrats is not the state of Texas itself.

It's how much money the Republicans have to spend now in Texas. Ken Paxton is not as good of a fundraiser as John Cornyn. There's a whole bunch of money, people who don't like Ken Paxton.

And so it's going to be difficult to raise money. They may need a half a billion dollars, OK, be a billion with a B, in order to rescue Paxton and turn it into a referendum on James Talarico, which is what I expect the race to become. But what does that mean?

The more money they have to spend in Texas, that's less money available to them to defend a seat in Ohio, to defend a seat in Iowa, to defend a seat in Alaska or to target a Democratic held seat in Georgia or New Hampshire. The expense of Texas is now giving Democrats more opportunity across the board because Republicans are going to have to concentrate. So Republicans have to win Texas.

For Democrats, it's still a luxury. And that's why I say spend money to a point. You know, it is not the be all end all.

There are other races that are probably more winnable than that.

[15:35:00]

But if you spend just enough to make them spend more money, and that's what the Paxton victory has meant for the entire chessboard, that is the Senate camp -- the Senate campaign.

SANCHEZ: Yes, there were other races, obviously, in the primary of significance. Democrats breathing a sigh of relief today that Maureen Galindo lost her primary. Remember, she drew national attention for using anti-Semitic tropes and criticizing Zionists in Israel.

What were your takeaways from that race?

TODD: Well, look, I think it's one of those where you saw I think if without the attention, the progressive might have done a little bit better there. We had low turnouts. And the you know, the candidate that was more connected to the base, whether on the right or the left, seemed to overperform what their numbers were in the primary.

So in some ways, Democrats dodged a bullet. It's a good thing. These comments surfaced before the runoff.

I'm not sure they would have defeated or the attention cemented the victory there for the more electable candidate in that in that seat, which is a bit of a long shot for Democrats in a general election. But, you know, that's the challenge for both parties right now. Can they get electable enough candidates nominated?

And, you know, this is sort of the story of, you know, with Ken Paxton. Is it too far? Have they pushed the envelope too far to the right that suddenly leaves an opening for the Democrats to claim the middle?

But can the Democrats claim the middle if their brand identity isn't associated with too far to the left? And that's what her victory would have done is it would have actually done real damage to Talarico as he tries to represent himself as more mainstream, which I think is going to be his challenge in order to make this race truly competitive.

SANCHEZ: Yes. So former Congressman Colin Allred actually unseated incumbent Democrat Julie Johnson last night. You'll remember Allred dropped out of the Texas Senate race in December.

Why do you think he came out on top in that district?

TODD: I think it was simple that he's he was on a statewide ballot and '24 as the Senate nominee. He represented most of that district in Congress when he was in Congress. And it was just recent and some ways he was in the role of challenger, but he was really the more well- known incumbent. And Julie Johnson was a bit less known to the electorate. And so I think that that advantage mattered.

Throw in that I think he was just the runoff electorate is more party loyalists that show up both on the on the Democratic side and the Republican side. And Colin Allred was just a more familiar name. And you do have Democratic activists who are happy that he sort of cleared the field and allowed out of the Senate race and didn't create sort of a complicated three or four way race.

So I think all those factors helped Allred. But the biggest thing is that he was just seen as more of the familiar face over the supposed incumbent in Julie Johnson.

SANCHEZ: Chuck Todd, always appreciate the perspective. Thanks for being with us.

TODD: You got it, my friend. Thanks, Boris.

SANCHEZ: Of course.

President Trump appears to be considering new conditions on Iran peace talks as he clarifies some of his other positions. That story is next.

[15:40:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: So rescuers say five of the seven people trapped in a flooded cave in Laos have been found alive, healthy and in good spirits. Now the issue is they have to get them out.

Cave diving expert Ed Sorenson has called in. Ed, I'm sorry for the technical issues, but I'm glad that you're back on with us. Walk us through the process of actually getting these survivors out of the cave.

EDD SORENSON. REGIONAL COORDINATOR, INTERNATION UNDERWATER CAVE RESCUE AND RECOVERY: Well, like I said earlier, I don't speak on ongoing rescue efforts that I'm not there for. But in this particular case, it looks like they've got a few things going for them. Other than the daunting task that they have.

But the few things going for them -- looks like there was cables already in the cave, probably for their mining operations. So that really, I'm assuming, helped out a tremendous amount of getting to them quickly and efficiently. And it looks like, and from what I hear, that there's not a tremendous amount of the passage that's completely flooded.

So the super tight areas where it's less than two feet wide, those are always problematic. Obviously, those guys are miners. They've been in and out of there probably quite frequently. So they're used to it. They know the way. So those are all things that are helping them.

The things that are hurting them, of course, are the horrible muddy conditions. The zero viz when they do have to go in the water. But luckily, those super tight passages aren't completely water filled because that's when you can have a serious problem.

If you're going single file like that, especially with people that are, even though they're used to tight cramped quarters, they're not used to open circuit scuba. So if they had a problem with their open circuit scuba or they just were going into a panic mode, there would be no way to reach back and get to the victims. It's so small and cramped.

But it looks like most of the passages do have head space where they can keep their heads out of the water. So they shouldn't have to be on scuba a lot. But it's going to be a tough task.

They're doing a great job from what I can see and hear. And I just pray that they can find the other two alive.

SANCHEZ: Yes, and to that point, Edd, what is the process of searching for missing divers in this situation look like?

[15:45:25]

SORENSON: Well, the best source of information is probably those miners, because they know where all the leads or offshoots or other tunnels are, probably, if they've been mining them. Are there mining cables or whatever they've got in there that appear to be for their mining operation? Do they have that going to those as well?

If they're just having to crawl through muddy, partially filled, water-filled passages or completely water-filled passages, it's going to be a really daunting task. But the best source of information is probably going to be those miners. Were they with them in that open space? Did they get separated going to that open space?

So I would say once they get back to them, get them water and food, get their strength up, they seem to be in good spirits. So that would be where I would start if I was there, is I would question them. That's going to be the best source of information as far as I can see.

SANCHEZ: Edd Sorensen, thanks so much for sharing your expertise with us.

SORENSON: Thanks for having me.

SANCHEZ: Of course -- Brianna.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: President Trump is now suggesting that he may refuse to make a deal with Iran until a host of Middle Eastern countries agree to join his Abraham Accords, a framework aimed at normalizing ties with Israel. And when pressed about it, the president declined to say that any agreement would be contingent on nations joining.

With us now, CNN National Security Analyst and former Deputy Director of National Intelligence Beth Sanner. Let's talk about that first. What did you think of what he said? Because we've talked with so many experts who have said this is enough of an uphill battle to get an Iran deal here.

That adding this normalization of relations is going to be really tough.

BETH SANNER, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: So I keep saying we keep adding to the level of difficulty to the deal. You know, yesterday was a Truth Social that was, you know, calling for the white flag of surrender and all of this stuff that, you know, is about the domestic audience. And then today we have the Abraham Accords.

This is the second day right on Sunday. He made the same mandatory requirement kind of request of the Abraham Accords. And I think that, you know, this whole idea when he used this term twice, they owe us about the Gulf states.

This has enormous implications for our relationships, right? I mean, think about your city in UAE. You absorbed the more missile and drone attacks in any other region there already -- or any other country. There are already members of the Abraham Accords, but you have Qatar, you have Saudi Arabia. You know, why would they owe us when we started this war without even telling them in advance so they could bolster their defenses and work with us to get ready?

It just seems so tone deaf to an alliance or partnership arrangement. And I don't understand it.

KEILAR: And what did you think about what we heard on the Strait and where we are with the Strait?

SANNER: So I heard not much. I mean, so today we had the Iranian national television put out a three point kind of this is what the MOU is about. And one of those things had Iran and Oman will oversee a Strait of Hormuz mechanism.

And then we saw the White House say this is completely wrong. And then we had President Trump say during the cabinet meeting that we would bomb Oman if they didn't behave. And so I think that this is the linkage here is that we said that's not right.

And we just threatened Oman to joining Iran in with a mechanism. So what this is about is, will the strait really be open to international navigation? And President Trump was very, very clear on that today.

It must be open as an international waterway, no tolls. And what Iran said today in their state media, right or wrong, they said basically mechanism, which equals tolls. And so I think that this is, again, we're seeing that we're not in the same place.

And there's this battle of the rhetoric going on in public, which isn't so helpful. KEILAR: So during the conflict, before we sort of hit this stalemate phase of this situation, U.S. officials were stressing, administration officials were stressing among the goals, Iran's longer range ballistic missiles must be destroyed. It's a ballistic missile shield, right? Why are we hearing less about that arsenal recently?

Does it still pose a threat?

[15:50:00]

SANNER: It does. The point that the administration that makes, which I think is correct, is that the Iran's ability to build a lot more of these missiles is very much degraded. But what we're hearing from leaks -- and so we don't know for sure whether these are correct or not -- is that they still retain a lot of missiles and they still retain a lot of launchers. And so I would say yes, because these underground facilities are probably not completely destroyed, in which case they can begin manufacturing again if they can get the precursors.

So yes, and this is the flaw that was in the JCPOA. It's why people didn't like it. And it is potentially the big flaw now if you're sitting in the Gulf states that have just been threatened by the president over the Abraham Accords.

KEILAR: Such an important point. Beth Sanner, thank you so much.

SANNER: Thank you.

KEILAR: I appreciate your insights. And we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: The all-new CNN original series, "CRAIG FERGUSON, AMERICAN ON PURPOSE," follows the writer, comedian, actor, and late-night host on a journey across America, exploring how the values that shaped the country's founding continue to affect its cultural identity today.

[15:55:00]

SANCHEZ: From immigration to capitalism, individualism, and, of course, freedom of speech and expression. Ferguson investigates American identity and how it's changed since the founding some 250 years ago.

Here's a clip.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was six years old, you know, like, as you were going on seven next summer of 69. Even the build-up to it, you know, seeing those guys, they're just like, you know, have the American flag on their arm, and they just, to me, symbolized everything that was good.

CRAIG FERGUSON, WRITER, COMEDIAN, ACTOR: I wanted to be an American. I didn't think I could be an astronaut.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let me ask you something.

FERGUSON: All right.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because those guys, the moon guys, the guys who walked on the moon, they commented that the feeling was, throughout the world, it was, you know, an American accomplishment, but in a lot of other countries helped and participated. Did you see it that way? Did you feel like, oh, these are American?

Or did you feel like it's, we're doing it?

FERGUSON: Do you know what, in Scotland, what we were saying was, you know Armstrong's a Scottish name?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Really?

FERGUSON: Armstrong's a Scottish name, aye? So basically, Scotland landed on the moon. You know, technically.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They were all immigrants.

FERGUSON: Technically, technically. It was a lot about, you can't go directly to the moon from Scotland. You have to go to America first, which I think is still true.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANCHEZ: Craig Ferguson joins us now. Craig, as was noted there, you were not born in the United States.

FERGUSON: I wasn't?

SANCHEZ: Breaking news to CNN.

FERGUSON: No, when I was growing up in the swamp being raised by Shrek and Fiona, I always dreamed of coming here to the United States, though.

SANCHEZ: How do you think your perspective as an immigrant, like myself, like so many others, has shaped your view of the United States?

FERGUSON: Well, let me ask you, how do you think it's shaped yours? Because I feel like we, as immigrants, right, you get, there's a kind of gratitude that never really leaves you, right? You're kind of like, I mean, I've been around a lot of places. I'm still, you know, look, I'm not an idiot.

I know America has problems. I watch the news, but I'm still, you know, big foam finger, we're number one. You know, it's still us.

We're the big dog.

KEILAR: I was born in Australia, raised by -- FERGUSON: Wolves?

KEILAR: Dingoes.

FERGUSON: Dingoes, yes, of course. Well, you're the baby.

KEILAR: Raised by an immigrant. And also, he felt that way, or he feels that way, but he always would tell me that as a kid, you know, that he felt there was something very special. What do you think it is?

What is the defining trait of America?

FERGUSON: I think it is the fact that, you know, there's a lot of talk right now, people talk about what have we got in common? How do we get along? And the thing is, we don't.

We don't have a lot in common. And that's great. That's the way it's always been.

There are so many different types of people, different backgrounds, different ethnicities, different stories in the United States. That's what I like about this place, that there's so much difference. So I think that being an immigrant is, you know, that's a club I'm very happy to be part of.

SANCHEZ: Same, same. We feel the same way.

FERGUSON: Yeah, yeah.

SANCHEZ: I wonder, is that part of the reason this story, this series felt important to you personally?

FERGUSON: Well, I wrote the book "American On Purpose" in 2008 when I became a citizen. So, I mean, it came out then. And then when we talked about making a show, I said, well, if we're making a show for America's birthday, that's what I was talking to CNN about, said I want to do something that's celebratory, but not jingoistic.

I want to do something that's upbeat without being in, you know, taking a side. I mean, it's like, it's a party. It's 250 years old.

You don't walk into somebody's house when they're having a party and go, you know, I feel your drapes are not really right. You know what I mean? It's like you, you have the party.

This is, this is the moment where we celebrate this. So that's what this show is.

KEILAR: So you probably -- I mean, you had a concept going into this, but as you go through this show, is there something during the filming that surprised you?

FERGUSON: Everything. I mean, it surprises me all the time. When I was going around the Everglades in Florida with these glades men and start talking to these erudite, interesting people who, that's not why I expected. I got to be honest.

And telling me about how they had been displaced from the Highlands of Scotland during the clearances in the 1700s. And that's how their people ended up down there. I was like, I didn't know that.

Or when I'm with the lowriders in -- lowriders sounds like horses, but it's not horses, it's cars. And it was the lowriders guys in, in LA. And they were telling me how the Mexican-Americans took the car culture in the fifties and put their own spin on it. And I didn't know any of this stuff. It was fascinating to me there.

KEILAR: Well, it is fascinating. A fascinating concept. Can't wait to really dig into this.

And I hope everyone checks this out, Craig. It's great to have you here, Craig Ferguson. Thank you so much.

And you can see Craig in the CNN original series, "AMERICAN ON PURPOSE." It premieres Saturday at 9 p.m. Eastern and Pacific, only on CNN.

SANCHEZ: He was so fun. Yes, he was really funny. I didn't know he was raised by Shrek and Fiona.

KEILAR: Yes, I didn't know that I was raised by dingoes. Who raised you, Boris?

SANCHEZ: Oh, the fine people of Hialeah, Florida. That's right. Hey, thank you so much for joining us this afternoon.

Always a pleasure, Brianna.

KEILAR: Always.

SANCHEZ: You'll be on "THE SOURCE" later tonight.

KEILAR: That's right.

SANCHEZ: So stay tuned for that. Also stay tuned for "THE ARENA" with Kasie Hunt, which starts right now.

END