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Blue Origin Rocket Explodes; Judge Halts Trump Anti- Weaponization Fund; Pam Bondi on Capitol Hill; First Survivor Rescued From Flooded Cave. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired May 29, 2026 - 13:00   ET

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

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BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Out of the darkness, the first survivor emerging from a cave in Laos after nine days underground. CNN is there bringing you live reaction.

Plus, the nation's former top law enforcement officer going on the defense, Pam Bondi on the Hill standing by the Justice Department's handling of the Epstein files. We have new details of her interviews with lawmakers.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: And legal snag. A judge temporarily blocks the Trump administration from moving ahead with plans to create that controversial $1.8 billion anti-weaponization fund. So what happens now?

We're following these major developing stories and many more, all coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

SANCHEZ: We begin this afternoon with breaking news. After a perilous rescue operation, the first survivor trapped inside a flooded cave in Laos is now breathing fresh air for the first time in nearly 10 days. This was the scene just hours ago as a team of expert divers navigated through a narrow 800-foot opening of pitch-black icy water to pull him to safety.

Right now, four other men are still trapped inside waiting to make that dangerous journey out. The mission to free them, though, had to be suspended for the night, rescuers saying they're not yet ready to be evacuated, even as there is a threat of more rain on the way.

CNN's Will Ripley has been reporting exclusively from the scene. He and a translator were on CNN live with Wolf Blitzer as they spoke with one of the divers involved in the rescue. This was their conversation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Wolf.

So Kocha is on the line right now with one of the Thai rescue divers. He's actually on speakerphone right now, so I'm going to let Kocha translate what he's just told us.

KOCHA OLARN, CNN PRODUCER: Sure. OK.OK. Let me translate that.

He just said (SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE). He just said that today's extractions, activities will suspend for tonight. They will resume again at 9:00 a.m. The reason is that all the divers and rescuers are very, very tired.

So the guys that he retrieved today has some problem with his hands and foot because of -- it's been in the water in a damp area for a long time. And he has some problem at his stomach.

Let me ask the name who is the first one who left.

RIPLEY: Yes. Yes, let's find out his identity.

OLARN: (SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

OLARN: (SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

RIPLEY: You're seeing in real time what we normally would do on tape, but this is the miracle right here of translation power.

OLARN: OK. Yes, his name is Mued. His name is Mued.

RIPLEY: Mued. OK. And what do we know about Mued? Is he a father? Is he married? Do we have any details about him?

OLARN: (SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

OLARN: OK. He's a son. He's single. And he's with his parents.

RIPLEY: OK, the call has just dropped, so I'm trying to redial the IFB line now.

OLARN: (SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

RIPLEY: But -- so if you -- I can't hear you, Wolf, but if you can still see and hear me, I'm just trying to call back.

Can we ask him about the other four? What is their condition and what is the timeline for getting them out? Is it going to happen when there's daylight?

OLARN: (SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

RIPLEY: Oh, it's not working.

OLARN: (SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

RIPLEY: I can hear.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

OLARN: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

OLARN: (SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

OK, four of them started to have some illnesses already. Some of them have, like, stomach issues. Some of them have skin issues. And also the skin at their hands and their feet have some problems, because they've been in a damp area for a very long time. And some of them have intestines issues, because they didn't have, like -- they didn't go to toilet for a very long time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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SANCHEZ: Wow. Our thanks to Will and his team. We're going to keep bringing you updates from Laos as we get them -- Brianna.

KEILAR: Right now, former Attorney General Pam Bondi is on Capitol Hill speaking to lawmakers behind closed doors about the Justice Department's handling of the Epstein files.

The Republican-led Oversight Committee is notably not requiring Bondi to answer questions under oath, and the interview will be transcribed, but not recorded on video.

Just moments ago, during a break, the ranking Democrat on the panel, Congressman Robert Garcia, gave this update:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ROBERT GARCIA (D-CA): I also personally asked the former A.G. five times in five different questions about her conversations with President Trump, whether he directed her at any given time on the Epstein files, what he knew, what he asked her to redact or not, and she refused to answer any questions about President Trump.

In fact, she said she would not speak or respond to any questions that had anything to do with President Trump.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: CNN chief legal affairs correspondent Paula Reid is on the Hill following the latest for us.

Paula, what are you learning there?

PAULA REID, CNN CHIEF LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: So, Brianna, this actually just wrapped.

The former attorney general testified for a little under four hours, but now the question-and-answer session is done. As you noted, the only way we will really know what happened behind closed doors is when they release that transcript next week, because this was not actually recorded.

So, we have been relying on lawmakers who've come out and spoken to us. And, interestingly, Bondi's lawyer also came out and gave us her perspective. Let's start with lawmakers.

Earlier in the hearing, they came out and shared with us that Bondi was repeatedly trying to pin the blame for the review and the mistakes in redacting some of those documents on acting Attorney General Todd Blanche. Let's take a listen.

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GARCIA: She said -- and I quote -- "Acting A.G. Blanche was managing the entire investigation" -- end quote.

And what you're going to hear in that interview and what she's saying here in her words and remarks is that it was Todd Blanche, the current acting A.G., that was leading the Epstein investigation and, quite frankly, all of the mistakes that we saw, the redactions, not protecting survivors, she continues to push that back onto the acting A.G., Todd Blanche, who, by the way, was Donald Trump's former personal lawyer.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

REID: So it is accurate that then-Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche oversaw the lawyers who were tasked with reviewing and releasing those documents.

He did oversee that process. And towards the end of Bondi's term as attorney general, Blanche increasingly took over the messaging on the Epstein issue, as it was apparent to other top officials in the administration that she had made repeated missteps and they told me just could not handle this.

So it was passed on to Blanche, who is now, of course, the acting attorney general. Now, at the end of this, Bondi's lawyer came out to talk. It's notable that her lawyer today is Harmeet Dhillon. She's a top Justice Department official. She heads the Civil Rights Division.

She's also been talked about as possibly getting another promotion soon, as the chairs at the top sort of move around. But there were a lot of questions about why a Justice Department official would be representing her in this capacity. Dhillon defended that, saying she was representing a former attorney

general and the interests of the Justice Department. When it came to questions about Blanche and whether Bondi was trying to pin the blame on Blanche, Dhillon said -- quote -- "The former attorney general had thousands of responsibilities. And it is common for many components of her job to be delegated to other senior officials, myself in some cases" -- so she's saying she was a deputy that sometimes handle things for Bondi -- "and many others."

So, she dismissed this as a common arrangement. Now, Republicans also behind closed doors, they were being pressed by survivors up here on Capitol Hill to make sure they got answers to a lot of the questions that have been lingering out there.

Again, we won't get the full picture of exactly what happened until they release that transcript. The chairman has vowed to be as transparent as possible. We hope to get that trans -- that transcript as early as next week.

KEILAR: All right, Paula Reid, we will be looking for that. Thank you.

A federal judge has temporarily blocked the Trump administration from working on the controversial $1.8 billion anti-weaponization fund.

SANCHEZ: Critics on both sides of the aisle have called this a slush fund for Trump allies, as it already faces several legal challenges.

CNN's Katelyn Polantz is following this for us.

Katelyn, walk us through what the judge said.

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE REPORTER: Well, this judge, this is a judge in Alexandria's federal court, and she says, at least for two weeks, nothing can be done related to this anti- weaponization fund.

Specifically, she says that she is blocking for now -- until she gets to hear arguments over whether this fund is legal or not, she's going to block to make sure that no funds are irreversibly disbursed from the anti-weaponization fund that the Trump administration last -- announced last week, that $1.8 billion -- quote, unquote -- "slush fund" for people that would be saying that they're unfairly targeted by Democratic administrations.

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And then the judge spells out, there's a lot of different things that she's stopping. There can be no steps taken to create or operate the funds, so they can't put the people on the board who would then be looking at claims. There can't be any money transferred to the fund within the Treasury Department.

There can't be any consideration of any claims people are making. We're already seeing people like the head of the Proud Boys saying, I want to make a claim. Michael Caputo, an adviser, had -- who had been around Trump world politics for some time, him saying he wanted to make a claim. Those claims can't be submitted.

And then there can't be any disbursement of money from the funds at this time. But this is specific to a lawsuit in -- before Judge Brinkema in Virginia where there are a bunch of different people trying to stand up their legal argument, saying, we're being harmed.

One was a January 6 prosecutor that was fired. Others are nonprofits, the city of New Haven. They're all in court in this case. They're going to be arguing that, this fund, it's discriminatory, it's legally secret, it violates separation of powers by depriving Congress of the ability to determine how money is spent, and it is -- quote -- "an implicit endorsement of dangerous conduct," say, by potentially rewarding January 6 rioters.

That's just one of many cases here, the first one where a judge is stepping in and saying, stop everything for now. We're going to hear court arguments and then determine whether this is a legal strategy that the Justice Department is trying to give to Trump and his supporters.

KEILAR: And what is DOJ saying about all of this?

POLANTZ: Well, the Justice Department is still -- we're still waiting to see their defense of this. What we know at this time is that they are putting into the terms of this what they're calling a settlement.

And they're saying that there shouldn't be any ability to review any part of this, that this is not part of the court system at all. This is going to be entirely done by the executive branch. Now, what's happening in court are, there's all these different parties that are trying to come in different cases.

There's the four different types of people that are in this particular case that put the stop. But there's judges in Florida, going to a judge saying, we want someone to determine whether this is even legal. And so all of those cases are going to move along, and we will see the Justice Department respond to every single one of those claims and their arguments.

KEILAR: All right, Katelyn, thank you so much for keeping an eye on this for us. We appreciate it.

And still to come: President Trump says he's meeting in THE SITUATION ROOM to make a final determination about the tentative deal with Iran.

Plus, a Blue Origin rocket explodes, and, boy, did it explode during this ground test. What this setback could mean for NASA's plans to head back to the moon.

SANCHEZ: And, later, students get suspended, but not in the way you think. We will take you to one of the worst field trips ever.

Stay with CNN.

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SANCHEZ: We're following breaking news on the war with Iran.

Just a short time ago, President Trump posted on TRUTH Social that he is -- quote -- "meeting now in the Situation Room at the White House to make a final determination on a new Iran peace deal."

After weeks of negotiations, Trump is weighing a major breakthrough that would extend the current cease-fire and reopen the Strait of Hormuz. The deal would set up a future negotiation on Iran's nuclear material too.

Let's discuss with retired Air Force Colonel Cedric Leighton. He is a CNN military analyst.

Colonel, great to see you, as always.

So it appears that, at this point, we're in a bit of a stare-down, because the U.S. -- sources at the White House have indicated that President Trump doesn't intend to sign this until the ayatollah has signed it. Iranian officials, meantime, have said that there will be no action until there is a step by the White House.

So, I wonder, what are you watching for to find out when one of those two things happen?

COL. CEDRIC LEIGHTON (RET.), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Yes, I think that's an excellent question, Boris, because one of the things we have to watch for is what kind of military activity the U.S. is going to be conducting.

Is there going to be something going on here in the Gulf, in the Strait of Hormuz or the Gulf of Oman? Is there something going on in the northern part of the Persian Gulf, like right around here at Kharg Island?

Those are the kinds of things that could potentially indicate whether or not there's going to be some kind of a signature or whether there's going to be military pressure put on the Iranians, because what they have to do is -- one of the things that the Iranians are going to demand is a cessation of the blockade.

And here you have all the ports. You have the container terminals on the Iranian coast. You have their sea and river ports. All of these are critical to the Iranian economy. And if the blockade isn't removed, that's going to be a real problem for the Iranians, and that may slow down any processes that they have in approving any kind of agreement with the U.S.

SANCHEZ: I was looking closely at the president's statement. And he effectively told the folks that have been stuck in the Persian Gulf for quite a while, all those vessels, that they should get ready to go home, saying that the blockade would now end.

But it wasn't clear if he meant that it would end upon the deal being signed or if it was actually that the U.S. was now moving folks out of the way. He also said that the U.S., along with Iran -- Iran's help and the observance of the IAEA, would remove the enriched uranium that's buried underground in Iran.

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If that does come to fruition, what does that look like?

LEIGHTON: Yes, that's a really good question, Boris, because the area that they're looking at here is really Isfahan.

So, this area right in here is basically going to be the area where we believe the highly enriched uranium is buried. So, in this particular case, what they will have to do is, they will have to -- if the U.S. is going to remove this, they have to have cooperation from the Iranians.

That's unless we're going in using military force, which is not the purpose of a cease-fire agreement, obviously. We're going to end up in a situation where the Iranians are going to have to cooperate. There's going to have to be an inspection mechanism. They're going to have to be all kinds of things put together.

And it requires a lot of detailed work. And what we see right now doesn't indicate that that detailed work has happened. We could be wrong about that, because it might not be public. But what could happen is, there will be a lot of negotiations after even this agreement is signed, either by the ayatollah or by the president, or hopefully by both, if they're going along that route.

SANCHEZ: There's been a disagreement, at least publicly -- We don't know what's been said privately to this point -- about whether or not Iran would agree to actually having that material removed from Iranian territory, whether the U.S. would accept that it might go to a third party.

Which do you imagine might be the most effective course of action to ensure that whatever Iran decides to do with future nuclear capability is observed closely and that they may not just have access to undo the process of diluting that highly enriched uranium?

LEIGHTON: Yes, so what that points to is exactly what you said in your question, observe closely.

SANCHEZ: Right.

LEIGHTON: There has to be an inspection mechanism that handles all of these areas.

So what you're looking at here are the sites that you have the research facilities, they're going to be critical, and then, of course, the enrichment facilities. Both of these elements are incredibly critical to determine whether or not the Iranians are actually moving forward or regressing in their nuclear designs, in their nuclear weapons building capacity.

So if you're talking about the highly enriched uranium, one possibility, in addition to removing it from Iran itself, either to a third country or to the U.S., the other thing is to minimize its capacity, its potency in Iran itself, and render it basically useless, at least temporarily, in the making of a bomb.

So that is the kind of thing that would have to happen. But, again, that would require a major inspection regime, and that would have to be done usually through the International Atomic Energy Agency or some other party that has the capability of really assessing whether or not the nuclear capabilities are there and whether or not they have been removed, because Iran's a vast country, and there's a lot of things that they can do that are not public knowledge.

SANCHEZ: Yes.

I do want to ask you, from the Middle East to Europe, about these strikes in Romania, the Kremlin believed to have struck I believe it was an apartment building or a residential area in Romania. NATO responded by putting out a statement, saying that this is unacceptable.

How do you expect the alliance is going to respond to this? Obviously, Romania, a NATO ally.

LEIGHTON: Yes, exactly. Romania is a NATO ally.

And this particular apartment building was struck right here. There's a town, a city really of 300,000 people called Galati. And Galati is right on that tripoint between Moldova, Ukrainian territory and Romania.

So what this looked like was actually quite severe. This apartment building was struck by a Russian drone that came into this area. And for it to hit a NATO country like this, that then really puts things into perspective, because the Romanians, of course, are not happy with this.

Ukraine has stepped forward and said that they would provide, try to provide more defenses against Russian incursions into Romania. And that is, I think, going to be a critical thing. Basically, what the NATO alliance is saying, Boris, is that not only are those attacks unacceptable, but there may be a NATO response to these attacks.

And, if that happens, then there's a risk of escalation. And you have to be very careful how that plays out.

SANCHEZ: Yes, no doubt, something that the West has been concerned about now four years-plus into this war.

Colonel Cedric Leighton, appreciate the expertise. Thanks for joining us.

LEIGHTON: You bet, Boris. Thank you so much.

SANCHEZ: Of course.

Still ahead: a fireball lighting up the night sky in Florida, Blue Origin's rocket exploding during a ground test. We have new details on that.

Plus, could you spell 32 words in 90 seconds? We have a dramatic conclusion to show you at the Scripps National Spelling Bee, a nail- biting spell-off -- when we come back.

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KEILAR: Blue Origin is warning today that debris from this rocket explosion may show up in nearby water for weeks and that people should stay away from it.

This powerful blast happened last night at Cape Canaveral in Florida during a test, a ground test. This was a fireball that consumed the New Glenn rocket just before it mushroomed into the sky. Thankfully, Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos says no one was hurt in this.

We have CNN correspondent Pete Muntean here with the latest.

This was incredible to watch, this blast.

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Yes, and they're calling this an anomaly, in space terms. Doing a lot of work with that one single term, because this is a significant setback.

The New Glenn is one of the largest rockets in the world, stands about 30 stories tall, designed to launch some of the biggest and most valuable payloads into orbit. Blue Origin was finally beginning to build momentum in what are called heavy launches, and the company starting to look like a true competitor to SpaceX, until now.

This happened during what's known as a hot-fire test. That's when the rocket's engines are ignited on the ground.