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U.S. And Iran Reach Tentative Deal But Needs Trump Approval; Hawaii Triple Homicide Suspect Captured After Intense Manhunt; Shrey Parikh Crowned 2026 Scripps Spelling Bee Champ. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired May 29, 2026 - 07:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL)

[07:32:45]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. This morning former attorney general Pam Bondi answers questions behind closed doors from the House Oversight committee about the Epstein files. Now, she will not be sworn in under oath, and the interview will not be videorecorded. It will be transcribed.

With us now is journalist Tara Palmeri who has been reporting on the Epstein files for years. Tara, great to see you this morning.

What, if anything, do you expect to learn from this today?

TARA PALMERI, JOURNALIST, AUTHOR, "THE RED LETTER" ON SUBSTACK (via Webex by Cisco): Thanks so much, John.

And I do agree with you there are so many concerning parts about this. The fact that, you know, she was provided a lawyer by the Justice Department, Harmeet Dhillon. The fact that she's not under oath. And as we know, Pam Bondi has been willing to lie publicly. And she basically stonewalled members of Congress during her public hearings last time and really very little information came forward.

So there are questions about what will actually be revealed during this closed-door hearing that's not on camera. It's behind closed doors. And she's allowed to speak without impunity. And I don't understand why the House Oversight chair James Comer decided to do this if he really wanted to get answers.

And she's got a lot to answer for. In particular, why the names of so many of the survivors were revealed inside of the Epstein files that she missed the deadline on. But yet, the names of so many prominent men -- their names were redacted.

BERMAN: It is interesting even though she will not sworn in anything she says -- if she says things that are untrue in theory she could be prosecuted for false testimony later on. Of course, that would involve the committee deciding to do so and then the Justice Department actually pressing charges. But being sworn in under oath is a little bit of a technicality there but I get your point on that.

What are the -- where has Pam Bondi been silent when faced with questions before? Where has she been reluctant to be open about this process of releasing the Epstein files from the time where she was the sitting attorney general?

[07:35:00]

PALMERI: Well, she's been very evasive about the entire process. She's changed her -- you know, changed her messaging from I've got the client list on my desk to there are no clients, case closed. She sort of uses a different line to suit the situation. And at this point we've heard every which -- we've heard every side of the story, but we've never really gotten a consistent narration of what happened inside of the Justice Department. How a person who once argued that there's no legal reason for not releasing these files when she was at the Make America Great thinktank to the place in which she felt that they didn't have to release the Epstein files, or at least not reach a deadline.

So Pam Bondi has brought -- been brought back into the White House for this AI panel. The White House just appointed her to that. So they're keeping her close to vest.

The way that the Trump world works and the way we know that Washington works where people gravitate towards power for relevance, for money, et cetera. Why -- you know, she will probably be thinking about that since she's still technically being employed by the president, and how she testifies, which will eventually be public because these transcripts will come out weeks later and they'll be scrutinized.

And if they're anything like what she said publicly, she'll just be standing there in defense of Donald Trump because she's got something to lose now. You know, access to the White House -- an AI panel which is frankly one of the most important topics that's being fought over right now outside of the Epstein files.

BERMAN: Again, we will not be able to see this live when it's happening. We will not ever get to see a video of it. It will be transcribed so ultimately, we should learn what transpires behind these closed doors.

Tara Palmeri, great to see you. Thank you for your work on this -- Kate.

PALMERI: Yeah.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Protesters and federal agents got into some major clashes overnight outside a controversial ICE facility in New Jersey. Some lawmakers are now calling for the facility to be shut down after reports of inhumane conditions inside.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(Protesters and ICE agents clashing).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: We also have new video showing agents swinging batons and deploying pepper spray outside as the clashes continued.

Protests started back up after reports of people that are being detained inside starting a hunger strike over the poor conditions in there.

CNN's Gloria Pazmino is near the facility in Newark joining us right now. Gloria, what are you hearing? I mean, you can see them right behind you.

GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Kate. And this hunger strike is now entering its eighth day -- eight days in which detainees have been trying to call attention to the conditions inside. They say that they're lacking access to medical care, access to their legal counsel. Women who are pregnant who are also not able to get access to medical care.

And for the entirety of the hunger strike demonstrators have gathered here outside to echo those demands from detainees. They want to see the most vulnerable population transferred out of here. And eventually, they want this facility to close down.

Now, things behind me are relatively calm right now. I just want to show you there's a very small group of demonstrators right now and you can see the line of officers that is guarding what is actually the employee entrance to Delaney Hall. You can also see that this is a very industrial area of Newark and we're very much in the middle of traffic.

And it's overnight when these escalations -- this back-and-forth between demonstrators and officers have actually gotten pretty violent. Last night we got images of officers using their batons to push back the crowd. They've deployed pepper spray.

And Delaney Hall has really become a flashpoint in the last year or so. This is one the primary centers of detention as the Trump administration has ramped up its immigration enforcement. And we have seen a lot of activity here over the past year.

Congressman Andy Kim took to social media yesterday to say that his office had received multiple calls of people alleging that officers inside Delaney Hall had deployed pepper spray and used forced against detainees. He has called for accountability and an investigation.

And the governor of New Jersey, Mikie Sherill, has said that the health department was denied entry and unable to do a full inspection of the facility yesterday.

Now the Department of Homeland Security denies that there is a hunger strike going on. And Secretary Markwayne Mullin has said that he is considering essentially bringing officers in from the area airports -- no longer processing international flights in order to help with the response here. I should mention that plan has not been approved by the White House. But needless to say, it would cause intense disruptions in the area airports -- Kate.

[07:35:05] BOLDUAN: Gloria, thank you so much for being there. Let's see what happens today -- John.

BERMAN: All right. This morning we're standing by for more on whether there is final sign-off on some kind of a deal between the United States and Iran. President Trump is said to be weighing a memorandum of understanding that would include reopening the Strait of Hormuz, lifting the blockade on Iranian ports, and setting up a future negotiation -- a future negotiation, it's important to note, on Iran's nuclear material.

Now, Secretary of State Marco Rubio is set to meet with Pakistani officials. They have been part of the negotiations.

I want to get to CNN's Kevin Liptak at the White House this morning on where things stand, Kevin. What are you hearing?

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yeah, the two sides do seem to be moving closer here. But I have to say it is very difficult to tell whether this is real or whether this is just another mirage. You know, we've been down this road before where it appears as if a deal is in hand only to see it all collapse.

Now, the way I understand is that the Iranians came to the U.S. this week and said they were comfortable with the text of the plan. President Trump asked for a few more days to decide whether he was going to sign off.

We heard from JD Vance, the vice president, who has been leading these negotiations, yesterday. He described it as not quite finalized yet -- listen here.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JD VANCE, (R) VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, I think it's hard to say exactly when or if the president's going to sign the MOU. We're going back and forth on a couple of language points. I do think that we've made a lot of progress here.

It's very clear that I think the Iranians -- they want a deal and they want to open the Straits of Hormuz. We want them to open the Straits of Hormuz. There are a couple of issues on the nuclear stuff -- the highly enriched stockpile -- and also the question of enrichment. So, you know, we're going back and forth with them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIPTAK: So the nuclear stuff has been the thorniest part of all of these talks. The plan would push some of those conversations into a future negotiation -- in particular, what will become of Iran's stockpile of highly enriched uranium? Will it be destroyed in Iran? Will it be handed over to the U.S.? Will it go to a third country? That will be decided in the future negotiations.

Now, according to a U.S. official, Iran, as part of this deal, would reopen the Strait of Hormuz -- no tolls, unrestricted -- to traffic and would remove the mines that it has placed in that waterway over the next 30 days. The U.S. blockade on Iranian ports would be lifted progressively as the U.S. sees progress on that front.

And so a lot of moving parts here. At this point not clear yet that President Trump or the supreme leader will sign off.

BERMAN: Yeah. And, of course, we're waiting for them. It's also just interesting to hear the vice president and the language he used and acknowledgment of how much power and control Iran does have over the Strait of Hormuz at the moment.

Kevin Liptak, great reporting from the White House as always -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: Yeah.

And joining us right now is Karim Sadjadpour. He's a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Karim, thank you for getting up this morning for us.

You know, as Kevin was kind of putting it very well -- very well and simply, which is is this real or is this another mirage, what's the sense you're getting?

KARIM SADJADPOUR, EXPERT ON IRAN AND THE MIDDLE EAST, SENIOR FELLOW, CARNEGIE ENDOWMENT FOR INTERNATIONAL PEACE: I think, Kate, at some point, whether it's this week or next week or the following week, we will see a phase one deal, which is essentially for both parties to end their mutual blockade of the Strait of Hormuz because Iran's economy is really suffering perhaps as much as $450 million a day it's losing as a result of the U.S. blockade. And President Trump wants oil and gases to come down ahead of the summer travel season.

So the first phase of this deal I think is going to happen at some point. The second phase is going to be the very difficult part -- resolving the nuclear issue.

BOLDUAN: So on that, in an interview with Russian state -- a Russian state news outlet, Ebrahim Azizi, a top Iranian official, said just today that Tehran "does not intend to transfer its enriched uranium to a third country," which is really at the core of what is really the key sticking point, right? What happens with the uranium?

How far apart do you think the Trump administration and Iran have been when it comes to what happens to this nuclear material?

SADJADPOUR: I think they're very far apart, Kate, in part because this is what President Trump seemingly cares most about. In his own words, the nuclear dust. And the challenge -- the dilemma that President Trump has is that he needs to extract very strong concessions from Iran in order to justify this incredibly costly war. He can't afford to get a worse deal than he would have three months ago before the war began. And that is going to be a tall order for the president.

[07:45:00]

BOLDUAN: But the setting of expectations we have seen over and over again. And as word of a possible agreement emerged yesterday around a memorandum of understanding, I was watching you talk about this and you said very clearly that getting everything hammered out, especially on the -- this key issue of what to do about the nuclear program -- getting it hammered out in 60 days basically just is not going to happen. Why?

SADJADPOUR: Well, for context, the Obama nuclear deal was a deal that took around two years to negotiate, so two months is probably quite ambitious.

BOLDUAN: Yeah, to say so -- yeah.

SADJADPOUR: The other issue, Kate, is that, you know, this has been a 47-year ideological war between America and Iran. And you have a regime which doesn't really prioritize their country's national interest. So on our end we're prepared to Iran -- offer Iran pretty significant sanctions relief and economic incentives to conduct itself differently. But it's a regime that doesn't want to conduct itself differently and it's thinking about its own regime survival, not the well-being of its people. And that -- its nuclear material is a key part of its -- of its -- of its survival instincts.

BOLDUAN: Absolutely.

Karim, it's great to see you. Thank you so much -- John.

SADJADPOUR: Thank you, Kate.

BERMAN: All right. In Dallas, a gas leak caused an explosion that destroyed an apartment building, killing at least three people, including a child. Five others were injured. Officials say a construction crew accidentally damaged a natural gas pipeline nearby. Firefighters were already responding to the gas leak when the blast leveled the apartment. The search for more victims is currently underway.

All right, we do have breaking news. CNN on the scene as rescuers are trying to free five men trapped deep in a cave. They've been underground for more than a week. And we're getting new updates just in.

And then spelling overtime. The most dramatic way you could possibly end the National Spelling Bee.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Melengket.

SHREY PARIKH, WINNER, SCRIPPS NATIONAL SPELLING BEE: M-E-L-E-N-G-K-E- T.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Teraglin.

PARIKH: T-E-R-A-G-L-I-N.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Homelyn. PARIKH: H-O-M-E-L-Y-N.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL)

[07:51:20]

BERMAN: So this morning in Hawaii a suspect in a triple homicide is in custody after an intense manhunt. Police say Jacob Baker was arrested for the killings of three elderly men over a two-day period.

CNN's Jean Casarez is here with the latest on this and how police tracked him down.

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN REPORTER: Well, it was a citizen. And he was hiding in a grassy area. There was a highway near that, and he was going up and down in the grassy area. A citizen saw it and called police. He was found hiding in a cave right there.

Now he has been charged this morning. These are arrested charges, right? Second-degree murder, burglary, and theft. But police believe that this is murder. And if this is murder, John, this is a murder mystery because there is so much we don't know yet.

It started on Monday, May 25, and it was about 8:00 at night. And a man was found submerged in a cement pond -- partially submerged. He was deceased. They thought maybe it's a medical incident. They didn't know. But they went and they had an autopsy done and the manner of death was ruled homicide. So they knew we've got something here.

Next day, May 26, about 12:30 in the afternoon, 400 to 500 feet away -- and they all live in homes in this area -- another man deceased by blunt force trauma injuries.

And then on May 26 around 8:30 at night -- 10:00 at night, a third victim -- this one 69 years old. So we've got two 69, one 79-year old 19 miles away was deceased.

This is the east coast of the Big Island. It's lush, it's tropical, it's rural. There's lots of farms.

And so there was a manhunt and they said he was armed and dangerous, but no guns were used. But they did not say what the murder weapon was. And somebody at the press conference said well, was the murder weapon something other than his human body? And they said yes. So we do not know what the murder weapon is. We don't know what the motive was. Why would you do this?

But here is one more thing that's amazing. A week ago today on a farm -- there are lots of farms in the area -- a woman went to the courthouse, and she said I want a temporary restraining order because there is man that is harassing me. He is threatening to kill me. My farm -- he's threatening people on my farm. He is taking things from the farm that do not belong to him. He is saying he's going to be a squatter. Another woman who was a guest on the farm -- she separately goes to the courthouse and asks for a temporary restraining order, saying he's threatening to kill us. People are leaving the farm because they believe that he's dangerous. TRO -- temporary restraining order denied. The judge said no probable cause that anything or any harassment has occurred to you.

And that's the same man that is now charged with second-degree murder --

BERMAN: All right, a whole lot --

CASAREZ: -- of three people.

BERMAN: A whole lot going on in one area and three people dead. Now a person in custody.

CASAREZ: Yes.

BERMAN: Jean Casarez, thank you so much for bringing us up to speed on this. We know we'll get updates on this fairly soon -- Kate.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ok, ma'am, we've got help coming, OK? They're coming right now.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Crying for help).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Incredible, heart-stopping video. Rescue -- a rescue caught on police dashcam in Massachusetts. Officers responding to calls and found an SUV teetering on a steep hill moments from just plunging down. A woman was trapped inside and crying for help. Police and firemen used chains and hooks to secure the vehicle and chainsaws to cut through the tree. It took 20 minutes, but they were able to get her out and she was taken to the hospital with minor injuries.

[07:55:00]

And eight kids not having the fun last day of school that they were expecting to have, getting stuck on a roller coaster instead. And not just stuck on a roller coaster. Here's the backstory.

They hit the boardwalk in Galveston, Texas and eventually made their way to the Iron Shark roller coaster. It malfunctioned on its ascent, coming to a halt, leaving the kids stuck about 100 feet in the air and looking straight into the sky for hours. The kids were part of a middle and high school group on a field trip.

They finally did get them down. The fire department brought in a ladder and one-by-one brought the kids down attached to a safety harness. This took four hours.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) CHIEF MIKE VARELA, GALVESTON FIRE DEPARTMENT: You can tell they were shaken up visually and then you can see a sense of joy as well once their feet hit the ground. They have been checked for dehydration, and everyone seems to be doing pretty good.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: It's still not clear what caused the malfunction, but a thorough investigation will now be done -- inspection will now be done before the ride is back in service -- one would hope.

A Pennsylvania man is facing charges now for trying to tear down his own house. The key detail here is with his family still inside. Police say that he and his wife were in the process of separating and in an argument, he shouted -- and here's the quote, according to police -- "If it's over, I'll tear the house down." He then climbed into an excavator and tried to do exactly that. His wife and two kids were inside, guys. They did get out safely. The man is now facing charges, including reckless endangerment -- John.

BERMAN: All right, that's scary.

All right. This morning bromocriptine. It's a drug and a word likely never used in recorded conversation before. But it was the word that sort of delivered the National Spelling Bee title overnight to Shrey Parikh, who went on a record-breaking streak in the speed round spell- off, which is basically spelling bee overtime.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Melengket.

PARIKH: M-E-L-E-N-G-K-E-T.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Teraglin.

PARIKH: T-E-R-A-G-L-I-N.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Homelyn.

PARIKH: H-O-M-E-L-Y-N.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Chikungunya.

PARIKH: C-H-I-K-U-N-G-U-N-Y-A.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Bromocriptine.

PARIKH: B-R-O-M-O-C-R-I-P-T-I-N-E.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Cashaw.

PARIKH: C-A-S-H-A-W.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Shrey Parikh can spell and spell fast.

CNN's Coy Wire on the scene where the magic happened. We've got a new champ.

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: John, these kids are as cool under pressure as Adam Vinatieri lining up for a 60-yard field goal. This spelling bee proves that intelligence is a spectacular spectator sport. These kids were spelling words that looked like someone just sneezed all over a keyboard.

And the spell-off, John -- it was Ishaan Gupta, a 12-year-old from Jersey City, New Jersey, and Shrey Parikh, that 14-year-old from San Bernardino, California -- both published authors -- ratting off as many spellings as possible in 90 seconds with the eighth grader. Shrey Parikh ripping off the record-breaking 32 words faster than autocorrect can put us in our place.

A $50,000 prize, a trip to Universal Studios, and proof that hard work pays off.

He wrote a book, John, about two brothers making their way through the pandemic of 2020. He plays about eight different percussion instruments.

I caught up with the champ after the win -- listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WIRE: What was going through your mind when you were lifting that trophy about your head?

PARIKH: You know, I was just so relieved and excited, to be honest. It was -- it's -- it was -- it was just such an amazing moment for me. Yeah, I was just so happy.

WIRE: How are you going to celebrate?

PARIKH: Not sleep tonight.

WIRE: Yes, let's go.

How proud are you right now?

SHREY'S MOTHER: Very.

SHREY'S FATHER: Super proud.

SHREY'S MOTHER: Super proud.

SHREY'S FATHER: Beyond words.

SHREY'S MOTHER: This was a hard bee and the spell-off -- of my God, I can't even.

SHREY'S FATHER: Yeah.

SHREY'S MOTHER: I -- yeah.

SHREY'S FATHER: We could not watch, you know. We were --

SHREY'S MOTHER: Yeah.

SHREY'S FATHER: -- having, you know, skipping heart.

SHREY'S MOTHER: I mean, spell-offs are always hard to watch, but this was so hard. And 32 words in 90 seconds -- I mean, I never imagined he would do that, but he did it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WIRE: Some of these kids, John, studied five hours a day on weekdays, 10 on the weekends, and they spelled their way through the toughest words with composure beyond their years.

And the sportsmanship, John. Cheering each other even after being eliminated. This wasn't about a spelling bee. It was about hard work, dedication, and a roomful of kids proving that excellence and kindness can exist side-by-side. It's inspiring, it's adorable until a 12-year- old confidently spells a word that we can't even pronounce. Then it is just downright humbling.

Congrats to all who competed at this year's Scripps National Spelling Bee.

BERMAN: It's not even that you can't pronounce the words, it's that it's hard to believe these words even exist, right? I mean, that they're almost made up words in the moment.

WIRE: Yes.

BERMAN: Seriously, I still think there may be made up words.

WIRE: Yeah.

BERMAN: But the speed round is amazing, Coy.

WIRE: So John, one of the -- it is. It's like they're putting the dictionary through a machine gun. And I just learned so much from them. Like, how to say Pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis. It's the longest word in the dictionary at 45 letters, and these kids all just knew it. They rattled it off like it was nothing. Incredible stuff.

BERMAN: Coy, no one likes a showoff but thank you for being with us this morning. Coy Wire in Washington, D.C. as the site of the National Spelling Bee.