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Shrey Parikh Crowned 2026 Scripps Spelling Bee Champ; Judge in Kenya Suspends Plan for U.S. Ebola Facility; Trump and Advisers Meeting to Make Final Determination on Iran Deal; Judge Halts Work on Trump's Anti-weaponization Fund; First Survivor Freed From Laos Cave, Rescue Mission to Resume Tomorrow; Former AG, Bondi, Appears Behind Closed Doors in Epstein Probe; Protesters Clash With ICE Agents Outside NJ Facility. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired May 29, 2026 - 14:00   ET

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

[14:00:40]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": -- medication, and it's a word that some of you have probably never even heard. You've probably never spelled it. But it is the word that helped 14- year-old Shrey Parikh win the Scripps National Spelling Bee and $50,000 along with it. It was a nerve-shredding contest that went into a spell-off.

CNN's Coy Wire was there for all of the D-R-A-M-A.

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: The Scripps National Spelling Bee proving that intelligence is a spectacular spectator sport. These kids were spelling words that looked like someone just sneezed all over a keyboard. And they went to a spell-off.

It was Ishan Gupta, a 12-year-old from Jersey City, New Jersey, and Shrey Parikh, the 14-year-old from San Bernardino, California. Both published authors rattling off as many spellings as possible in 90 seconds. And it all came down to Shrey.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Melengket.

SHREY PARIKH, SCRIPPS NATIONAL SPELLING BEE CHAMPION: 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: That's Shrey. You are the two times --

(CROWD CHEERING)

(APPLAUSE)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WIRE: Some of these kids study five hours a day on weekdays, 10 on the weekends, then spelled their way through the toughest words with composure far beyond their years, and the sportsmanship. Cheering each other even after being eliminated. This wasn't about spelling. It was about hard work, dedication, and a room full of kids proving that excellence and kindness can still exist side by side.

KEILAR: All right, Coy, thank you for that. A new hour of "CNN News Central" starts right now.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": After a daring rescue operation, the first survivor is out of a cave in Laos. Four men are still stuck, and now rain could be in the forecast.

Plus, tensions boiling over outside a New Jersey detention center. Protesters clashing with ICE agents after reports that detainees are on a hunger strike over what they say are inhumane conditions.

And later, a blow to President Trump's plan to send Americans exposed to Ebola to Kenya instead of bringing them home. A judge there is blockading the setup of any quarantine facility. We're following these major developing stories and many more, all coming in right here to "CNN News Central."

KEILAR: First, President Trump could be moments away from making a decision on whether or not to accept a new Iran peace proposal. In a Truth Social post a short time ago, Trump says he's, quote, "meeting now in the Situation Room to make a final determination." In this lengthy post, he added, "Iran must agree that they will never have a nuclear weapon or bomb and reopen the Strait of Hormuz."

CNN's Kevin Liptak is joining us now from the White House with the very latest. Kevin?

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Right, and we don't know if this meeting has ended, if it's still ongoing. We've seen various comings and goings, including the Secretary of State, the Vice President, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. But no word yet from President Trump on what, in fact, his final determination is when it comes to this prospective agreement with Iran.

You know, we had heard that earlier this week, the Iranians came to the U.S. mediators to say that they were comfortable with the language of the plan. President Trump told his advisers that he would need a few days to make a final determination, all kind of culminating in this meeting in the Situation Room today.

I think the thing that he will have been pressing his advisers on is what precisely has Iran agreed to as part of this deal? And in that lengthy Truth Social post, he does tick through a number of areas that he insists Iran must submit to his demands on, including that Iran not have a nuclear weapon, that they reopen the Strait of Hormuz, that they take out the mines that they have placed in the waterway.

I will pull out sort of two interesting points that the President made here which is, one, that the naval blockade that the U.S. has imposed on Iranian ports will, quote, "now be lifted." The President saying that that is lifted, even though, at this point, we don't understand that a deal has been signed.

And then, two, when it comes to the stockpile of highly-enriched uranium that is believed to be buried very deep underground inside of Iran, the president says that that enriched material will be unearthed by the United States and destroyed, suggesting that there has been some kind of agreement on what will happen to what he calls the nuclear dust. And that's surprising for two reasons.

One is that our understanding is that the finer details of Iran's nuclear program are going to be left to future negotiations. You know, this memorandum is going to start a clock of 60 days where the two sides are supposed to really come to some kind of agreement on trying to curb Iran's nuclear ambitions.

And two, the President suggesting here that Iran has submitted to having the U.S. come in, which would be a very dangerous mission, and destroy the material. What we have heard from Iran is that, in fact, the details of their nuclear program are not under discussion.

[14:05:00]

And so, I think a lot of questions still about what Iran has actually agreed to here, but President Trump, at least, seeming as if he is nearing some kind of decision.

KEILAR: And Kevin, today, a judge temporarily blocked the Trump administration from working on that controversial $1.8 billion Anti- Weaponization Fund. Tell us about this ruling and how the White House is responding.

LIPTAK: Yeah, and this is really the first roadblock that we have seen to this Justice Department "slush fund" for individuals who think that the system has been weaponized against them. And what the judge said in this case was that it would need to be halted before a hearing that will unfold next month. Now, this case has been brought by individuals who say that the Trump Justice Department has been weaponized against them.

They claim that because this fund is being set up by Trump and his allies that they wouldn't be able to benefit from it because they're sort of on the opposite side of the political spectrum. And what the judge said in the ruling was that the status quo needed to be maintained, i.e., no fund "to ensure that no funds are irreversibly dispersed." And saying that the transferring of money to the fund, the consideration of any claims submitted to the fund, and the dispersing of any funds from the fund would need to be halted.

And so, this is a major setback. What you've heard from the White House is a real defense of this project, saying that the claims of weaponization are real. But clearly, this judge, I think, needing more time to determine whether it is legal and sort of above board. She will have another hearing on that matter next month.

KEILAR: All right. Kevin Liptak at the White House, thank you. Boris?

SANCHEZ: Today, former Attorney General, Pam Bondi was on Capitol Hill defending the Justice Department's much-criticized release of the Epstein files. She spoke to the House Oversight Committee behind closed doors, notably not under oath, with the interview not being recorded.

Democrats on the committee say that Bondi refused to speak about President Trump or about any conversations the two may have had about the files. Here's more from Ranking Democrat, Robert Garcia.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT GARCIA, (D-CA) RANKING MEMBER, HOUSE OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE: She said, and I quote, "Acting AG, Blanche was managing the entire investigation." 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 AG, 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 AG, Todd Blanche who, by the way, was Donald Trump's former personal lawyer.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: We're joined now by one of the Democrats who is in the room and in that scrum, Democratic Congressman, Suhas Subramanyam of Virginia. He's a member of the Oversight Committee.

Congressman, thank you so much for being with us. What did the former AG reveal today that stood out to you?

REP. SUHAS SUBRAMANYAM, (D-VA) HOUSE OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE: Not a lot. I will say that she had some interesting discussions about, for instance, the movement of Ghislaine Maxwell. She said she didn't have anything to do with that. But she also said, almost defending it, that it makes sense to move prisoners like Ghislaine Maxwell because they might be a risk to her safety in the more maximum security prison. I don't think that justified the move at all. I think she should be moved back, for instance.

She also seemed to defend the Department of Justice generally, saying there are so many files to release, that's why they made so many mistakes. She also seems to defend her position on not meeting with the survivors. She said that it made no sense to meet with the survivors, for some reason. It wouldn't be appropriate, was the word she used.

And she didn't seem to have any awareness of the survivors reaching out to her, wanting to meet -- or reaching out to her about wanting their own files, the own statements that they made to the DOJ. So, in that sense, you know, it was really -- she was combative throughout and she also seemed very uncomfortable with our questions.

SANCHEZ: One of those things really stands out to me because during an appearance of hers on Capitol Hill, there were survivors in the room that were asked to stand if they had reached out to the Department of Justice, and even specifically her office. Many of them stood, so they were in the room with her standing. And she said that she didn't think it was appropriate for them to meet, that she wasn't aware of their efforts.

SUBRAMANYAM: At one point, she said she didn't think it was appropriate to meet with survivors. At another point, she seemed to not recall their outreach to her or to her office. And she didn't seem to recall a lot of things, even things that happened very recently.

SANCHEZ: When you hear from Ranking Member Garcia there, talking about her reference to Todd Blanche, the current Acting Attorney General. Is it your sense -- was it your perception that she was trying to blame him for some of the errors in what was published?

SUBRAMANYAM: She seemed to want us to ask him many of the questions that we had, because she said she delegated the Epstein files, the whole issue, to Todd Blanche.

[14:10:00]

So she said, he oversaw this, so ask him. He oversaw this. And she also talked about Kash Patel a lot. She seemed to indicate that we should be asking him questions as well. So we will. We're going to subpoena both of them.

SANCHEZ: Wow. And do you expect that you'll get a response? Do you expect an agreement to appear?

SUBRAMANYAM: We hope that enough Republicans will join us in that vote, just like they did in subpoenaing Pam Bondi.

SANCHEZ: Has Chairman James Comer given you any indication on where he stands on this?

SUBRAMANYAM: He doesn't, but I wouldn't expect him to be joining us in this.

SANCHEZ: I see. There was another moment that I wanted to ask you about specifically. One of your Democratic colleagues, Melanie Stansbury, at the presser, said that when the former Attorney General was asked specifically about a conversation with Donald Trump, one of the Department of Justice attorneys intervened and said that she did not have to answer the question because it was a voluntary interview. Was it your sense that Bondi intended to respond and then was held back? How did you read that situation and any other in which she was asked about her conversations with the president?

SUBRAMANYAM: So remember, Pam Bondi is a private citizen now. She is not attorney general anymore. Yet, she had the assistant attorney general in the room as her lawyer. And not just that, the assistant attorney general is there to butt in whenever she thought it was appropriate, which was a lot.

And so, she would come in when we asked questions about President Trump, for instance, or any conversations, or any awareness of situations or conversations, the assistant attorney general is there to basically block the answers to those questions.

SANCHEZ: What is your view of how this situation has been handled up to now by Bondi? As you noted, she's a private citizen at this point. And yet, it appears that DOJ is there to, at the very least, you'd say support her through this process. Do you think there will be a situation in which she answers these questions under oath and being recorded?

Taking a step back, why wasn't this under oath? Why wasn't it recorded?

SUBRAMANYAM: Well, the subpoena said that it should have been a deposition, right? We didn't even want her at a hearing because we saw what she did with the Judiciary Committee. But the reality is the Oversight Republicans continue to want their witnesses from the administration to be in the best situation possible, not having to answer certain questions, not being on tape, for instance.

And so, this is all because of the Oversight Republicans. But Democrats are going to continue to push that. If we're in the majority, we're going to ask everyone to be under sworn deposition, on video. They're going to need to do that if we're in charge.

SANCHEZ: Would you say that this is something that some Democrats will campaign on as we get closer to midterms, to do as you're saying and actually act upon some of these depositions and questioning Trump officials?

SUBRAMANYAM: Well, I think the American people are starting to agree that all this is a cover-up and that the Trump administration has joined the cover-up. And so, if there's going to be a party that's going to be pushing for transparency and accountability, like Democrats, I think voters will respond to that.

SANCHEZ: Congressman Suhas Subramanyam, we'll leave the conversation there. Thanks so much for the time.

SUBRAMANYAM: Thank you.

SANCHEZ: Of course. Still to come, a miraculous scene in Laos as a villager is led above ground after spending more than a week trapped in a flooded cave. Officials say the men still awaiting rescue, though, are beginning to have health issues and rain is in the forecast, complicating rescue efforts.

We have a report from Laos. Plus, an ICE agent involved in a shooting during an immigration crackdown in Minneapolis has just been arrested. We'll break down the charges he's facing.

And later, CDC officials advised against this, and now a Kenyan court has rejected the Trump administration's plan to send Americans potentially exposed to Ebola to the African country instead of routing them back to the United States. That and much more coming your way on "CNN News Central."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:18:04]

KEILAR: Breaking News, one survivor rescued, four more to go. Earlier today, divers pulled off an extraordinary rescue deep inside a flooded cave in Laos. This was the moment when the survivor took his first breaths of fresh air in almost 10 days. And now for the first time, we're hearing from the man who was rescued. Here's what he said while he was being saved.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MUED, RESCUED FROM CAVE (through translator): My name is Mued. I'm all right. I'm still strong.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We'll move on to the next chamber.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Rescue operations for the four more survivors who are still underground and have been located have been paused for the night, but they're expected to resume in the morning.

CNN's Will Ripley is the only international reporter on the scene and he filed this report.

WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I just want to play for you the last 15 seconds of a phone call that we were just on, right before this live shot, with a rescue diver inside the cave.

Just as we were wrapping up the interview, just listen. I hope you can hear it.

[Foreign Language]

RIPLEY: So they're coming out is what he said. So obviously, it was -- it was kind of chaotic there. We talked to him for about 10 minutes. He was explaining to us how they've been working with the villagers trapped inside the cave, actually having them put on wetsuits and train with diving equipment, because even though they've managed to drain some of the water, he said the water levels are still very high.

So they've actually had to teach them how to dive through the water while holding onto the legs of the expert divers that are in there to try to rescue them. They also said the water underground is ice cold. And so it's obviously very difficult, very perilous.

But right at the end of that conversation, we heard people in the background on the phone call saying they're coming out, they're coming out. And then the phone cut off. It's been an excruciating experience, obviously, for the men inside the cave who went without food for a week.

[14:20:00]

And now, they have been given food. They have been given fresh water. But many of them are starting to complain about health problems, breathing in the air inside the cave, saying that they feel like their bodies are starting to break down, and now what they are facing at this very moment in that cave, 800 feet underground, is one of the most arduous climbs that even a very fit person would struggle with and would take them several hours, but you're talking about people that have been stuck in total darkness underneath the cave now for 10 days, having to basically swim through icy water, climb up 45 degree angles just to get to the mouth of the cave.

There are also family members who have been waiting at the mouth of the cave for any word. We actually spoke with a woman earlier whose husband is one of the five survivors, and we asked her if she has hope that she's going to see him, possibly in the coming hours. I just want to play for you a portion of that interview with her.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RIPLEY: What's the first thing you're going to say to him when you see him?

SAMORN IAN, WIFE OF MAN TRAPPED IN CAVE (through translator): What could I say? I'd just be so happy to see my husband again. I'm grateful and proud that people from other countries came to help us. Thank you.

IAN (through translator): I'm so excited.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RIPLEY: She hasn't slept, she said, in nine days, and she can barely eat, and yet she has been going up to the cave. She's been hiking up. You can't see it now because it's pitch black, but it's a very steep road that they have to walk up or get a ride on heavy equipment every hour or so, they keep bringing it up and down.

But she's been going up there. She's been bringing food for the rescuers, and they're also sending food down into the cave, hoping that their loved ones can receive it. And they've been camping out there around the clock.

So this has been really an ordeal, obviously, for the people underground who are now fighting to come back up to the surface, a very dangerous operation, by the way. Even skilled rescue divers can die in a situation like this, not to mention people who are weakened after spending so many days in such a precarious and difficult situation, and yet that is what's happening right now.

A lot of people praying that they can pull together the strength to make it out of this cave safe and alive, and of course, the search is still continuing for two other villagers who are still missing inside the cave. We're waiting for official word about them.

KEILAR: Will Ripley, thank you for that report. Protests erupting again outside an ICE detention center where detainees are reportedly continuing a week-long hunger strike over inhumane conditions.

We're live outside Delaney Hall right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:27:21]

SANCHEZ: Federal agents and demonstrators have been clashing outside an ICE facility in New Jersey, leading to multiple arrests and injuries. Video obtained by CNN shows federal agents swinging batons and deploying what appears to be pepper spray while protesters use umbrellas and makeshift shields.

These protests have now been going on for a week after people inside the facility began a hunger strike over what they say are inhumane conditions, like inedible food and overcrowding. Let's go live near the facility in Newark with CNN's Gloria Pazmino.

Gloria, what are you hearing?

GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Boris, that hunger strike happening inside Delaney Hall is now entering its eighth day. For eight days, the detainees and their family members outside of Delaney Hall have been trying to call attention to conditions inside this detention center.

Now, this is not the first time that we're seeing conditions and complaints about what's happening inside the center in recent memory. In fact, we've seen a lot of activity around this detention center, at least in the past year.

And that's because Delaney is one of the major points for detention in the tri-state area. This is where many people in this area are brought if they are detained by immigration officials. And what we have been seeing here for the past few days is confrontations between the demonstrators who gather outside Delaney Hall and the law enforcement officials who are here protecting this detention center.

Things are very calm right now. There's a small number of protesters that have been here all morning, all day. But things significantly escalate as we get into the later part of the day and certainly, in the evening hours. That's when we have seen the most violent outbreaks.

Like you mentioned in the video from last night, officers using their batons, deploying pepper spray to push the crowd back. And I have to say, it's a bit of a logistically complicated area. The sidewalk is very narrow. And so very often, officers are kind of pushing protesters out into what is a very busy thoroughfare here.

You see a lot of truck traffic behind me. So that has made it into a dangerous situation. Now, we've heard about the complaints from inside, both from detainees, their attorneys, family members -- lack of access to medical care, lack of access to their legal counsel, pregnant women who cannot see a doctor. That's some of what's been reported from the inside.

But the Department of Homeland Security has denied that there is a hunger strike going on. In fact, we just got a statement from them just a short while ago, which says in part, "Another day, another hoax about ICE detention facilities. Sanctuary politicians are spreading -- "