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Ex-CIA Officer Accused Of Taking 300+ Gold Bars Will Stay In Jail; Iran Supreme Leader's Adviser Says Talks Are Deadlocked; Lebanon's President Slams Iran Amid Israel Strikes And Fraying Ceasefire; Senate Republicans Push Through $70 Billion Immigration Bill; Platner Says He Won't End Senate Campaign Amid New Allegations; Sherpa Guide Missing For A Week On Mt. Everest Found Alive; Knicks Lead Series With Spurs 1-0, Game 2 In San Antonio Tonight. Aired 1:30- 2p ET

Aired June 05, 2026 - 13:30   ET

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

[13:30:00]

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: And when the investigators went in, they just Googled it and found very quickly that he did not go to Clemson, did not have the background that he said.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": Really amazing. Evan, thank you so much for the latest there.

A top Iranian official speaking exclusively with CNN, saying that talks with the U.S. are deadlocked. We're going to break down the major sticking points. And the new threat from Tehran of a wider war. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": A top Iranian official is now exclusively telling CNN that a potential peace deal to end the war is deadlocked. Iran's Supreme Leader's adviser says that negotiations are stalled until President Trump releases $24 billion in frozen Iranian assets. The adviser then goes on to threaten the possibility of a wider war spreading to the Mediterranean, into the Indian Ocean as well, if the U.S. resumes fighting.

Let's discuss with Democratic Congresswoman and House Foreign Affairs Committee member, Madeleine Dean. Congresswoman, thank you so much for being here. It's great to see you in person.

REP. MADELEINE DEAN (D-PA) HOUSE FOREIGN AFFAIRS COMMITTEE: (Inaudible).

SANCHEZ: How should the U.S. respond to this threat of expanding the war and the demand for $24 billion before a deal is even secured?

[13:35:00]

DEAN: What I wish we would do is work with diplomats. You've seen that the president has not relied upon diplomats. We had Marco Rubio, Secretary of State, before us this week in committee, and I told him I had wished that he would have been the leader in this and very many other things diplomatically needed around the world. Unfortunately, the president is relying upon real estate dealmakers instead of diplomats. Obviously, that has to be an extraordinary non-starter.

It shows that there's a terrible misconnect between what the U.S. should be seeking, which is an end to this war, an end to hostilities, and some of those ambitions that shifted back and forth with this president, whether it had to do with missiles, whether it had to do with human rights. Remember those causes --

SANCHEZ: Sure.

DEAN: -- for the citizens and folks who were just slaughtered by the Iranian leadership or about the nuclear weapon.

SANCHEZ: Yeah. I want to ask you about some of those priorities in a moment, but if to you this $24 billion is a non-starter, what is an alternative that would, in the words of this Iranian official, build trust with Tehran while still maintaining leverage for the United States? Because if these assets are unfrozen, then what leverage does the U.S. have to extract concessions on things like nuclear weapons?

DEAN: We mustn't -- we mustn't unfreeze those assets without actually getting some sort of justice and a deal. Sadly, what should have happened is we should have built from the JCPOA, how it is that this president in his first term just simply tore up a deal with no better alternatives and then goes to war, goaded on by Mr. Netanyahu, and really against what we understand to be some of his top advisers.

But he goes into this war, I think, under a false assumption that it would be quick and easy because he had had the Venezuela hit, and he just didn't understand the consequences. We need to get out of this war. We need to be sure that Iran never possesses a nuclear weapon, and the only way to do that is through diplomacy and actual understanding of the complexity of that, putting back in place inspectors and an international community around this issue.

SANCHEZ: Back to the priorities that you'd mentioned, one of them initially had been to prevent Iran from supporting proxies in the region, and this gets to the dynamic between Israel and Lebanon and Hezbollah. Lebanon's president told CNN's Christiane Amanpour that Tehran was using his country as a bargaining chip through continued support of Hezbollah, obviously eliminating Iran's proxies has been a point for the United States on domestic policy for a long time. I wonder if you see that as a requirement currently for any agreement.

DEAN: I hope so. Obviously, Iran has had proxies within the region, has kept the region unstable because of its flood of proxies and the use of resources, illegal resources, to support terroristic activities in other countries.

Look where we are, though, however, and we see Israel, in southern Lebanon in particular, flattening whole suburbs, flattening buildings, killing civilians. This is not the way we should be going about this. It's sadly reminiscent of Gaza, just go in and flatten. Fortunately, the United States is not participating in that military endeavor by Mr. Netanyahu. But look how unstable the region is, and we are partners with Mr. Netanyahu in the war. Take a look and listen to what conflicting things Secretary Rubio said about the war.

The war is over. The war is not over. We've won the war. We've not won the war. It's not over, but Epic Fury is over, that portion of it. Nobody believes any of that. That is not the way to actually see your way clear. The administration is in a war of its own making, never went to the American people with a clear message of why we are at this war that has cost $100 billion, 14 American lives, thousands of civilians, hundreds of wounded soldiers, never came to Congress, never went to the American people, and now they are bogged down in it.

SANCHEZ: I want to ask you about domestic politics as well, Congresswoman. Senate Republicans passed this immigration enforcement bill without any amendments blocking the president's $1.8 billion weaponization fund, money that could pay January 6th rioters. When the bill lands in the House next week, what steps are Democrats prepared to take, potentially, to try and block that fund?

DEAN: Well, we will do everything in our power to try to block it, but this is another example of the administration flailing. What is it? Two-and-a-half weeks ago that this insane fund was put forward, a settlement agreement, Trump suing himself and settling with himself by way of his personal attorney, Acting Attorney General, Todd Blanche.

[13:40:00]

You heard what he said in front of us in committee this week, just insane things like we are not pursuing the $1.776 billion weaponization fund. And when asked by members, the Ranking Member, Grace Meng, well, will you put that in writing? After all, you know, the original is in writing. Well, no, I'm not comfortable doing that. What utter nonsense.

He gave himself wiggle room to obey the president, as the president says he really loves the fund. We'll do everything in our power. And fortunately, the president has stepped way too far. Republicans don't buy this fund.

SANCHEZ: So the Senate bill would fund ICE and Border Patrol through the rest of Trump's term, preventing any debate or future shutdown over immigration enforcement tactics. Obviously, Democrats held up Homeland Security funding for something like 75, 76 days earlier this year to try to get changes to warrant requirements, body cameras, masks, et cetera. None of that is in this bill.

DEAN: Correct. And more funding is in this bill, $70 billion more.

SANCHEZ: Right.

DEAN: ICE doesn't need another dime. In fact, we need to pull back money from ICE.

SANCHEZ: Was it the right approach for Democrats to force that shutdown earlier this year if, ultimately, none of the things that you wanted added to immigration enforcement wound up --

DEAN: Well, I don't agree that that was the framing. The Republicans were in full control. The Speaker sent his folks home. We didn't force the shutdown. The Republicans have the trifecta. They've got the House. They've got the Senate. They've got the White House.

So the shutdown was their failure and their failure to deal with that which communities want them to deal with, Republicans and Democrats. ICE has been in my community. I have visited ICE detention camps, as I call them.

I've been to Dilley and see the inhumanity of the treatment there. And these, Boris, as you know, are not the worst of the worst. They're children. They're children who are sick. There are young adults, women, parents, children who are terrified, crying, not able to sleep, not able to eat. ICE needs to be shut down in terms of all of what they have done. And sadly, they just moved them another $70 billion.

SANCHEZ: Before we go, Congresswoman, I've been asking this of all your Democratic colleagues. Do you support Graham Platner's candidacy for Senate in Maine?

DEAN: I think it's so distressing. All of the stories that are coming out, and they're more and more, it seems, by the hour. I'm not a voter in Maine, but he has disqualified himself in my eyes. He is not qualified to be a Representative, a Senator.

We'll see what Maine does about it. And I know Governor Mills remains on the ballot, but he has disqualified himself.

SANCHEZ: Congresswoman Madeline Dean, thank you so much for joining us. Appreciate it.

DEAN: Thank you. Take care.

SANCHEZ: Still plenty more to come on "CNN News Central." A miracle on Mount Everest, a Sherpa that goes missing, spending almost a week without food or oxygen, still managing to survive and on his way home. We'll look at how he pulled this off when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:47:25]

SANCHEZ: The story's pretty wild. The family of a Sherpa climbing guide had begun preparing his funeral rites after he didn't return from Mount Everest. Almost a week later, he miraculously appeared crawling back to Base Camp, somehow surviving without food or bottled oxygen. Hillary Dawa got separated from his client and climbing team while descending the mountain on May 29th. They were among the last group to go up climbing before the season ended.

KEILAR: And while the others returned to Base Camp, Dawa was missing. Helicopters eventually went looking for him this week, but they found no sign of him. Yesterday, Dawa was spotted by a cleaning crew and carried to safety. He was taken to the hospital where he was treated for frostbite and

other injuries before he was reunited with his family. Let's talk about this with professional mountaineer, Conrad Anker. Conrad has hiked Everest three times. And Conrad, what an amazing story. Have you ever heard of anything like this? Put this into perspective, just how difficult a survival story this is.

CONRAD ANKER, PROFESSIONAL MOUNTAINEER: Yeah, greetings, Brianna and Boris. Thanks for having me on. This is an amazing story of survival. And for Hillary Dawa to have been left for dead, and then to be able to get down from the Losay Face (ph) to Camp II, and then through the Khumbu Icefall to be rescued by the SPCC pollution control workers, it's a pretty amazing story.

SANCHEZ: Yeah, he fell into a crevice near Camp I, right, while descending. He spent two days digging himself out. That's usually a fatal situation. So what skills do you imagine went into him getting out of that?

ANKER: The challenge here is the icefall is disassembled on the 29th of May. So they bring everything down off the mountain. It's sort of the closing date for climbing on the south side. He fell into a crevice around Camp I. And then, according to stories, the snow filled up enough that he was able to climb out of that when he was there.

But this speaks legends to human perseverance and the strength that we have that we don't really realize until it's a life or death situation.

KEILAR: Yeah, I wonder what this may do in the future for other potential rescues, because his family is reportedly upset that search and rescue did not start earlier when he was reported missing. They've actually filed a police report against his employer. What kind of questions does this raise about maybe assumptions that might be made about whether someone could survive something and the kind of efforts that may need to be made in the future?

[13:50:00]

ANKER: We look back 30 years ago to the 1996 Everest tragedy, which there were instances of people that had been left for dead, and then they come back around to see where they're at. The challenge here is that the same value that we might put on a guest climber to Nepal, someone that has paid the $15,000 fee and is then climbing, as to the Nepali workers on the mountain.

Yeah, and the rescue should have happened sooner. And within the climbing team, the three climbers that were together and how they got separated and where that took place is something that we can't armchair quarterback, so to say. But it does give us insight into the severity of what climbing on Everest is.

SANCHEZ: Yeah, no doubt. Is it usual for clients to sort of, I don't want to say leave guides behind, but get separated from their guides and then expect them to catch up at some point later? ANKER: The Nepali clients, predominantly Sherpa, which is one of

Nepal's ethnic groups, are the people that work on the mountain, and usually there's a close connection. You don't leave one for the other. And there's this thought that the Sherpas are incredibly strong and that they're always there. And you see photographs of them performing rescue at 27,000 feet, but they're not all. They're human like the rest of us.

And that they had separated was a pretty good thing. Looking at this photograph here, I mean, his hands don't look that bad. And he's sitting there enjoying some snacks, and he's at the Lukla Airport just telling his story. So, yeah, hats off to the Sherpa of Nepal, incredibly strong.

KEILAR: You mentioned that '96 climbing season, which was a bit of an inflection point of bringing a focus on just how much tourism had been brought to climbing. So many people increasingly have been flocking to the mountain there in the mid-'90s. But then we just saw this was the busiest season ever on Everest, more than 1,000 climbers summiting the south side.

A single day record set May 20th, 274 people. We've seen these videos of climbers waiting in these kind of congested lines in the death zone on their way to the summit, where the air is too thin to breathe, without oxygen for very long at all. What kind of focus is this bringing to just how congested Everest is?

ANKER: The challenge on the south side route is that there's an approximately two-week window where you don't have the monsoon precipitation and the winter winds have left. And then everyone sort of focuses in on that period of time. The first step would be to a comprehensive carrying capacity study to better understand human impact on the mountain, what it affects, what the aesthetic value is, and moreover, the physical impact of people.

Denali, Mount McKinley in North America, Aconcagua, Mont Blanc, Half Dome in Yosemite, all have carrying capacity limits of how many people they can be on there. So, taking a look and getting some research data of how many people can climb there safely and what it is, and with close to 500 permitted climbers, each paying $15,000, and their support staff, there's probably about 1,100 to 1,200 people that set up Base Camp every year to climb Mount Everest from the south side.

KEILAR: Yeah, got to look at those numbers and see the impact. Conrad Anker, thank you so much for joining us. It's an incredible story. We appreciate your time today.

ANKER: Appreciate it. Climb safe.

(LAUGH)

KEILAR: Yeah, indeed.

The New York Knicks, still three games from winning their first title in over 50 years, and Knicks fans are reacting with cautious optimism, of course, to so low key. No, they're not. They're losing their minds. We're live from Madison Square Garden next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:58:42]

KEILAR: New York may be the city that never sleeps, but right now, it's the Knicks that's keeping everyone's eyes wide open. Tonight, Game 2 of the NBA Finals as the Knicks play the Spurs in San Antonio, which that's, I mean, actually the team I'm rooting for because I have to, I have no choice.

SANCHEZ: Listen, I'm with you. I'm against the Knicks.

KEILAR: Are you? I've nothing against the Knicks. I'm just a pro San Antonio fan.

SANCHEZ: Suffered a lot of losses as a child to the New York Knicks, and now I am spiteful that they're in the finals.

(LAUGH)

SANCHEZ: Fans, nevertheless, filled Madison Square Garden on Wednesday to watch Game 1 on the big screen when the Knicks won.

CNN's Shimon Prokupecz is already there for tonight's watch party. Now, I'm pretty sure Shimon is a Knicks fan.

KEILAR: No. No, he's mad at us.

(CROSSTALK)

SANCHEZ: Yeah, he's upset.

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: I'm mad because how could you do this to me?

(LAUGH)

PROKUPECZ: I was willing to do this live shot, and then this is like a total setup -- a total setup.

KEILAR: He's going to pull it off.

PROKUPECZ: A hit job?

(CROSSTALK)

SANCHEZ: Yeah, this is a hit job.

(CROSSTALK)

KEILAR: Oh, he doesn't have the mic. He'd pull it off if he wasn't holding it.

(LAUGH)

PROKUPECZ: No, this is like, OK, I'm leaving. Wow.

KEILAR: Listen, I mean, Shimon, I'd root for the Knicks, but like, I'm married into a San Antonio family. What do you want me to do?

PROKUPECZ: No, I get it.

KEILAR: OK.

PROKUPECZ: And listen, if the Knicks were probably, weren't in the playoff, in the Finals, I'd probably be rooting for San Antonio because I have a lot of connection to San Antonio and Texas, of course.

But this is exciting, right? This is such an exciting time in New York City. I mean, everywhere you go, there's a lot of nervous energy, but people are certainly very excited. We're standing in the middle of what's going to be the watch party.