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Kenyan Government Pushes Plan For U.S. Ebola Center Despite Court Order; Trump Meets With Speaker Johnson On Anti-Weaponization Fund; Trump Says Talks With Iran Are Continuing At A Rapid Pace; California Professors Call For Return Of Sat Test; Tick-induced Food Allergy Hitting Martha's Vineyard. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired June 01, 2026 - 14:00   ET

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

[14:00:00]

SAMANTHA POWER, FORMER USAID ADMINISTRATOR UNDER THE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION: But things happen, people get infected, and they need to get care rapidly.

When you say that those people who are acting in the U.S. national interest to try to prevent an outbreak from becoming an epidemic, that they can't come back into the United States, that's not exactly encouraging people to be involved in the response effort. So I think it's a mistake.

I also am not surprised that there has been pushback from Kenya saying, if it's too dangerous for America, it's too dangerous for Kenya. That was the response of the doctor's union, I believe, to reports that a regional facility was being created. So I think what's good for the goose is good for the gander.

If we care about our health workers being involved in the response, we should use the systems that are tried and true, funnel individuals from areas where the disease has surfaced through specific airports where trained professionals test their symptoms and get them to the highest quality medical care available, which is available here in the United States. We have shown that we can make these systems work.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": Understood. Ambassador Samantha Power, we have to leave the conversation there. Apologize for the technical issues. Thank you so much.

A new hour of "CNN News Central" starts right now.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": President Trump now saying that talks with Iran to end the war are going on at a rapid pace after earlier, Tehran had said it was suspending talks with the U.S.

And artists are bailing on a concert series backed by President Trump celebrating the nation's 250th birthday. We'll speak to one musician who is not quitting, Vanilla Ice.

And it may be time to brush up on those SAT words. Hundreds of professors at one of the biggest university systems in the country want to bring back standardized tests. We'll explain why.

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

Happening Now, CNN is learning that House Speaker, Mike Johnson is meeting with President Trump at the White House and front and center of their talks is the president's controversial Anti-Weaponization Fund. The $1.8 billion effort that would provide payouts to people who feel they were wrongfully prosecuted by past administrations has been facing fierce pushback from Democrats and Republicans alike. And now, immigration funding is hanging in the balance.

CNN Chief Congressional Correspondent, Manu Raju is live on Capitol Hill. Manu, what are you learning?

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, this issue has brought President Trump's legislative agenda to an essential standstill in the Capitol because of the demand by a lot of Republicans, particularly in the Senate, for either safeguards to this program or for the administration to kill it altogether.

And that I'm told that the plan to move ahead with what the president's central demand is here, tens of billions of dollars in money for immigration enforcement as part of a larger bill, that that bill essentially is going to go nowhere until the administration decides on how to proceed with this $1.8 billion fund.

There are a lot of Republicans in particular, who are concerned about the possibility that January 6 convicts, even ones who were convicted of assaulting police officers, that they too could be eligible for taxpayer money through this $1.8 billion compensation fund.

And all of that has raised concerns among Republicans that if they move ahead with this proposal that to deal with immigration priorities, they can open themselves up to an amendment process on the floor of the Senate from Democrats to put them on the defensive over this issue.

And a lot of Republicans would join with Democrats in either voting to try to kill this or put in solid new restrictions on it as well, which is all raising concerns among Senate Republican leaders about how to proceed.

Now, Mike Johnson himself has said very little about that compensation fund. I've asked him repeatedly whether he supports it. He has said that he'll let the White House decide on how to proceed. I also asked him if he believes January 6 convicts should have access to that money. He has sidestepped questions about that as well.

But he knows full well that this is an issue on his side of the Capitol as well, because some Republicans like Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick, who's in a swing district in Pennsylvania, has offered legislation to kill that fund. Other Republicans would join with that as well.

So a lot of complicated issues that both sides of the Capitol are facing as Congress returns from recess and as the administration is not saying whether it would drop that compensation fund. But if it goes ahead, Brianna, that means that the president's priorities could be halted here in the Capitol amid a revolt among Republicans, including Democrats.

KEILAR: All right. Manu Raju, live for us on the Hill, thank you. Boris?

SANCHEZ: We turn now to Breaking News on the war with Iran. President Trump moments ago posting this on social media, quote, "Talks are continuing at a rapid pace with the Islamic Republic of Iran." The president sharing this message after earlier today, Iranian state media said that Tehran suspended its negotiations with the United States because of Israel's recent strikes on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon.

[14:05:00]

President Trump said that he spoke with Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu as well as top Hezbollah officials. All of this, of course, rattling oil markets yet again as reports of the talks stalling sends up prices.

Joining us now is Gregory Brew, a senior analyst on Iran and energy for the Eurasia Group. Gregory thanks so much for being with us. So U.S. gas prices are actually at a one-month low today. I'm wondering what you're expecting as this back-and-forth over whether talks are suspended, what will that do to prices?

GREGORY BREW, SENIOR ANALYST ON IRAN & ENERGY, EURASIA GROUP: Well, prices are currently going through a bit of a roller coaster. Last week, they fell sharply based on the news that the U.S. and Iran had agreed at least in principle to a one-page memoranda that would end the war, allow the Strait of Hormuz to reopen, take pressure off the global economy, while also allowing more time for negotiations on other substantive issues including Iran's nuclear program.

There have been a few steps away from that in the last few days. The president reportedly sent back revisions on the proposal, indicating he wasn't happy with the final draft, and then all of the events this morning. Iran indicating that they would walk away from talks if there wasn't a ceasefire in Lebanon.

Something of a rush of diplomacy by the president. He spoke to Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. There was contact made with officials from Hezbollah and then the posts just a few minutes ago indicating that there was going to be a de-escalation in Lebanon.

Still no word from the Iranians. Prices are moving up and down based on this news. In general though, I would say we're inching towards a deal. Both sides need to have satisfaction that the issues they care about are being resolved. There's still a lot to resolve in future rounds of negotiations, but I think the risks of a war resuming, of hostilities breaking out again and the desire to avoid that scenario, that's keeping both sides on track towards a deal, even if we're moving fairly slowly in that direction. SANCHEZ: One of the principal issues, the cloud hanging over the world economy, is the closure of the Strait of Hormuz and there were indications from Tehran and its allies, specifically the Houthis in Yemen, that they are considering activation of other fronts, as they describe it, including the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. What would that mean for the oil market and other commercial shipping if these two major thoroughfares for global trade wind up either getting completely shut down or at least slowed down?

BREW: Well, naturally the closure of the Strait of Hormuz remains a reality. There's over 10 million barrels a day that would normally be flowing into the global economy that can't get out because the Strait remains closed to traffic. Some of the oil that would normally be going through the Strait of Hormuz out of the Persian Gulf is now being redirected to the Red Sea via a pipeline that runs across Saudi Arabia.

The Saudis built this pipeline years ago with just this scenario in mind. If the Strait is closed, they can move crude to the Red Sea. The problem though is that tankers carrying that crude have to go through the Red Sea and they have to go through the Bab el-Mandeb, which is right along the coastline of Yemen where the Houthis are located.

Now, the Iranians have threatened if war breaks out again, if the U.S. resumes bombing, they'll activate the Houthis and they'll close the Bab el-Mandeb and that would close off even more oil that is currently able to get to the global market, that would be shut in or at least be much harder to access. So that just speaks to, if we do see the war resuming, the risks of escalation could do even greater damage to the global oil market as well as the global economy.

SANCHEZ: Gregory, before we go, I wanted to get your thoughts on something that National Economic Council Director, Kevin Hassett said yesterday, arguing that on oil supply, as the U.S. is draining the strategic petroleum reserve to try to offset some of these rising prices, how do you see U.S. supply and global supply?

BREW: Well, the U.S. is draining its inventories of both crude oil as well as refined products pretty rapidly. The last few weeks have seen the sharpest reduction in inventories really on record. So we are getting through what we have at a fairly rapid pace. We haven't really reached the level of critically low inventories, we probably have at least another month in order to lower our inventories at the current rate of consumption.

Globally, inventories remain dropping it again at fairly historic rate. We still have the month of June to get through. One area of note is that China has radically reduced its imports of oil. They've cut their oil imports by 50 percent from December to May from 12 million barrels a day to six million barrels a day. That's freed up a lot of remaining supply that other economies can import.

But if we don't get a deal that reopens the Strait of Hormuz by the end of June, the pressures will be mounting to reduce demand. That means demand destruction, which means very high prices, to force consumers to take less oil and reduce the pressure on the supply. SANCHEZ: Gregory Brew, appreciate you sharing your expertise. Thanks for joining us.

BREW: Thank you.

SANCHEZ: Of course. Still to come, professors at one of the country's largest university systems are sounding the alarm on students' math skills.

[14:10:00]

Why they say it's time to bring back SAT and ACT requirements. And later, the return of a legend, Serena Williams set to step back on the tennis court. That and much more coming your way on "CNN News Central."

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KEILAR: Faculty members of the University of California system want standardized tests like the SAT or the ACT reinstated for STEM college applicants.

[14:15:00]

Hundreds of these faculty members, professors, penning a letter stating their concerns that many students are woefully unprepared for college-level math studies and that the controversial testing is sorely needed. Zvezda Stankova is a teaching professor at Cal in the mathematics department. She's one of the letters lead organizers.

Thank you so much professor for being with us. What led you to raise these concerns?

ZVEZDA STANKOVA, PROFESSOR OF TEACHING MATHEMATICS, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT BERKELEY: Brianna, thank you for having me on CNN. So right now, we are seeing deeply polarized classrooms split into thirds. We have the top third who are ready to fly, the middle third who need massive amounts of catching up, and unfortunately, the bottom third who are in free fall. They have a near flip-coin chance of failing their first college STEM class.

And when we talk about severe math deficits, we mean it. One U.C. professor who signed the open letter noted that in their second year engineering class, students actually stopped the lecture to ask why 1/2 plus 1/3 is 5/6. The entire class had to wait for the explanation. So we do have a crisis.

We are admitting students based on inflated high school grades and A.I.-assisted essays, but we are not checking if they have the foundational tools to actually survive a rigorous STEM degree.

KEILAR: Yeah. And I want to talk to you about that A.I. issue in just a moment because it is real and I think we all know it's real. But just to catch people up what happened here in the U.C. system, the SAT requirement went away during the pandemic and it stayed away because of a court decision. The letter that you and other professors wrote leans in part on data about the math capability of first-year students at U.C. Berkeley in 2021, '22 and '23. So these are students who actually they went through the pandemic when they were in high school, which is arguably pretty tough.

How are you able to know for sure that what you're seeing is the effect of this standardized test not being considered in admissions versus the effect of interrupted schooling because of the pandemic that this particular generation of students has endured?

STANKOVA: Great question. We studied this during our report, writing the report. If it were only the COVID, the pandemic, we would be seeing a different distribution of abilities and preparation. We would be seeing essentially a normalized bell-shaped curve.

What we are seeing in our classes is what I just described earlier. We are seeing a polarization or bimodal U-shaped distribution of preparation and that is not natural. It means that humans have interfered in that kind of spread of abilities and preparation.

So unfortunately, even though COVID and A.I. these days have a big share in this crisis, the admissions offices, the admissions criteria, and the lack of an objective measure to who can survive a rigorous college STEM degree are the most important factors.

KEILAR: Talk to us about the A.I. effect, whether you can measure it, what you think is happening with how students may be using it in high school to do their homework, and what you think it's doing for them in college.

STANKOVA: It is everywhere. I can tell you that community college course this summer, the instructor allowed students to actually use A.I. on every single quiz and every single exam. I don't know what kind of learning happened in that class.

We at U.C., the faculty, and a lot of the students are actively resisting A.I., but that has, as I said, another negative, huge negative effect on learning. So we want students to come to college with some of their learning and the way they are ready to take off. If they don't have the elementary mathematical foundational basis, they are going to fail their very first college class and their dream of becoming scientists and engineers will never happen.

[14:20:00]

So we need those students to be placed, to be matched with the correct U.C. CSU or community college system. They are alternative paths that students who are not prepared should take instead of directly being placed into a very competitive U.C. program.

KEILAR: And certainly, we are unfortunately out of time. As you are aware, there are critics of the test who believe that it unfairly favors privileged students. But certainly, this is an ongoing discussion that we are going to keep having because your university system is not the only one raising concerns in this day and age. Professor Stankova, thank you so much for being with us.

STANKOVA: Thank you for having me.

KEILAR: Still to come, cases of an unusual meat allergy are on the rise. They're forcing some people to rethink everything they eat. We'll go inside one of the hot spots.

Plus, celebrating America's 250th birthday. As some artists bail on the Trump-backed concert series, others are staying in the show. Just ahead, we'll talk with Vanilla Ice about his decision. We have that and much more coming up on "CNN News Central."

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[14:25:40]

SANCHEZ: We have to talk about the Lone Star tick. It's tiny, it's only about the size of a pencil top eraser at its biggest, but this tiny bug is causing a huge problem on Martha's Vineyard. So many people are getting bitten, it's forcing them to rethink everything they eat. CNN Medical Correspondent, Meg Tirrell explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PATRICK RODEN-REYNOLDS, PUBLIC HEALTH BIOLOGIST: People don't want to go outside anymore. They don't want to go hiking. They are scared to go gardening or even walk the dog.

MEG TIRRELL, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In Martha's Vineyard, an island people visit especially in the summer to enjoy its gorgeous beaches and trails and great food scene, ticks are making life difficult.

TOM MURPHY, MARTHA'S VINEYARD RESIDENT: We're surrounded by what is apparently a tick haven.

TIRRELL (voice-over): Tom Murphy, his wife Chris, and several of their neighbors have all contracted an allergy called alpha-gal spread by ticks. It makes them allergic to red meat.

T. MURPHY: I had a steak dinner with my son. I went to bed and everything was fine, everything was normal, and about two or so in the morning, I woke up and I was having trouble breathing.

TIRRELL: So what were the things you can't eat anymore?

T. MURPHY: Well, you can't eat beef, no lamb, no pork, no venison. A lot of people can't eat dairy.

TIRRELL (voice-over): It is spread by a tick called the Lone Star, which can transfer a sugar molecule with its bite that can spark the allergy. We found two on a quick hunt with a tick biologist in Tom and Chris' yard.

RODEN-REYNOLDS: So Lone Stars were first recorded on the island in 2011. They were probably here before that.

TIRRELL: Why has it grown so fast?

RODEN-REYNOLDS: We've got a good climate here for ticks since we're out on the ocean. We have plenty of hosts, like very overabundant deer, that the ticks just have no problem finding a meal.

LEA HAMNER, EPIDEMIOLOGIST: When it bites us, our immune system might decide, foreign invader, don't like it, and I'm going to create an allergic response.

TIRRELL (voice-over): Lea Hamner is an epidemiologist on the island. She says there's still a lot to learn about the allergy.

HAMNER: We don't exactly know who's most likely to develop alpha-gal syndrome and who's not. There's people who get Lone Star tick bites and do not become allergic.

TIRRELL (voice-over): Martha's Vineyard Hospital tested nine people for alpha-gal in 2020, and only two came up positive. In 2024 --

AUBREY STIMOLA RYAN, PHYSICIANS ASSISTANT, MARTHA'S VINEYARD HOSPITAL: We did over 1,200 tests, and 523 of those tests were positive. So you can see that we went from a positivity rate of 22.2 percent up to 41.7 percent. It can be quite frightening for patients because the allergy can be mild, including itching, rashes, some GI symptoms, but it can also be very severe and unfortunately, quite unpredictable.

REBECCA MILLER, OWNER, NORTH TABOR FARM: About one-third of our customers that come in have alpha-gal.

TIRRELL (voice-over): Farm stands and restaurants on the island are also adapting to try to help their customers.

MILLER: So many people were just shell-shocked that they had to change their diets immediately. And so they needed support with that. So I've been buying alternative dairy plant-based cheeses. This is like a feta-like cheese, and I bake with this and it's melty.

CHEF CARLOS MONTOYA, OWNER, MAKER CAFE, MARTHA'S VINEYARD: So here we have our Turkey Bolognese, which is completely alpha-gal friendly. I hate this allergy. Like, wow.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TIRRELL (on camera): And guys, experts there emphasize that prevention really does work. So you saw the cool outfit I was wearing with my pants tucked into my socks and my boots. That's what they recommend. They also say treat your clothing with permethrin. This will help prevent the ticks from being able to climb up and get under your clothes and bite you.

There's also EPA-registered insect repellent. And of course, performing tick checks after you've been outdoors, that's really important, too. There are multiple kinds of ticks on Martha's Vineyard and throughout the United States that can cause health issues. These are some of the three to look out for on the island. But, of course, as summer comes, best to take care of ourselves. Guys?

SANCHEZ: Yeah, and make a fashion statement, too, while you're on the vineyard.

(LAUGH)

SANCHEZ: Meg Tirrell, thank you so much for that reporting. Be on the lookout for those ticks.

Still to come, negotiation whiplash. The president says that talks with Tehran are back underway, contradicting what we've heard from Iranian state media. The latest after a quick break.

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