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Trump Halts Supposed Project Freedom Operation, but the U.S. Blockade in Iran Remains in Effect; California Gubernatorial Candidates Squared Off in a Heated CNN Primary Debate; Hantavirus-hit Cruise Ship to Dock at Spain's Canary Islands. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired May 06, 2026 - 03:00   ET

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

[03:00:00]

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POLO SANDOVAL, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: Hey everybody, thank you so much for joining us. I'm Polo Sandoval, live in New York and here's what's coming your way here on "CNN Newsroom." A complete 180 as the U.S. President pauses an operation to guide ships in the Strait of Hormuz, only after being in place for a couple of days.

And high political stakes. President Trump vowing revenge in Indiana, we'll tell you whether Republican voters delivered. Plus the highlights from CNN's California governor's debate. And this. Nearly 150 people stranded on a cruise ship hit by a Hantavirus outbreak, finally sent to get some relief.

UNKNOWN (voice-over): Live from New York, this is "CNN Newsroom" with Polo Sandoval.

SANDOVAL: We do want to begin with the latest developments out of the Middle East, where the White House appears to be shifting its strategy as it works to strike a deal with Iran. President Donald Trump says that Project Freedom, that effort to guide ships through the Strait of Hormuz, has now been paused. And Iranian state media touting President Trump's decision to pause that as a, quote, "U.S. failure to achieve its objectives."

Meanwhile, Washington's top diplomat says that combat operations against Tehran have concluded. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio insisting that Iranian control over the Strait of Hormuz should not be normalized and that the waterway should operate as it did before the war.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARCO RUBIO, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: The primary responsibility for this Project Freedom is on the United States because we're the only country that can project power in that part of the world the way we're doing now. We're the only ones that can do it and we're going to do it as a favor to the world, understand this.

This is a favor to the world because it's their ships that are stranded. It's their fuel supplies that are stranded.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: Despite both sides trading shots earlier this week on the Strait of Hormuz, the fragile ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran appears to be holding, at least for now. I want you to hear more of the remarks coming from the U.S. Defense Secretary.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETE HEGSETH, U.S. DEFENSE SECRETARY: No, the ceasefire is not over. Ultimately, this is a separate and distinct project. And we expected there would be some churn at the beginning, which happened. And we said we would defend it, defend aggressively, and we absolutely have. Iran knows that. And ultimately, the President's going to make a decision whether anything were to escalate into a violation of a ceasefire.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: Let's bring in CNN's Paula Hancocks now, she joins me live from Abu Dhabi. Paula, with Operation Project Freedom now on pause, what's the latest on the ground? What does it look like there?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Polo, this was definitely a very fast turnaround from the Trump administration. It was just Sunday evening when this Project Freedom was announced, it came into effect Monday morning, and then following some 36 hours of escalation, the U.S. President has now paused it on Tuesday, his time.

And it seemed to be unexpected as well to many other members of his administration, as we did hear from the U.S. Secretary Marco Rubio just hours before he made this announcement. He had been touting the fact that there is going to be this focus on the operation now to try and guide vessels through the Strait of Hormuz before Trump said that it was going to be temporarily paused.

Now, what we heard from the U.S. President was the reason he's doing this is because he wants to give diplomacy a chance. He said it will be paused for a short period of time to see whether or not the agreement can be finalized and signed. Now, he did also say that it was a mutual agreement, suggesting that Iran had input into this as well, but that the U.S. naval blockade, preventing Iranian ships from leaving ports or getting to Iranian ports through the Strait of Hormuz is still in place.

Now, we hear a very different version from Iran. Obviously, we know there is intense diplomacy going on behind the scenes and this is a battle of the narrative as well. So we would expect to hear this from Iran.

But we did hear from state media saying that, quote, "the U.S. failure to achieve its objectives in the so-called Freedom Project -- following firm positions and warnings from Iran." Also saying that Trump has backed down.

[03:05:05]

So we're hearing this battle of narratives, but the U.S. President is insisting that it is a decision that was taken because they believe that there can be a deal that can be done. So certainly we'll be watching closely for that.

It comes at a time when we also see the Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in Beijing. He has met with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi. We had a readout from the Iranian side, from state media, saying that the China-Iran cooperation will be stronger than ever.

Also saying that Iran is only going to accept what it called a fair and comprehensive agreement. We've yet to see a readout of that meeting from Beijing as well.

But of course it comes just the week before the U.S. President Donald Trump is going to go to Beijing as well and to meet with the Chinese leader Xi Jinping. Showing that Araghchi's travel around the world trying to shore up diplomatic support is continuing.

So at this point the project freedom, which is allowing and guiding these ships through the Strait of Hormuz, has been paused. The U.S. though is very insistent that the naval blockade will continue.

We did hear from President Trump as well. He is very supportive of this policy, saying the blockade has been amazing, it is like a piece of steel.

Also once again saying that he hopes that this will put enough pressure on the Iranian financial system. Also saying that he hopes that it will fail.

Of course it is causing huge economic pain to Americans as well and people around the world. But he does say that the high cost of gas is a small price to pay.

So just in the space of really from Sunday night to where we are now, Wednesday morning local time, there has been an awful lot that has changed when it comes to the Strait of Hormuz, when it comes to the U.S. strategy. But on the ground, very little has changed. Because there is still a fraction of the ships that usually can traverse that crucial waterway that are actually managing to get through, Polo?

SANDOVAL: Yes, absolutely remarkable as you point out. Just a couple of days that that was in place, that mission.

Paula Hancocks with that live update from Abu Dhabi. Thank you, Paula.

Hassan Al-Hassan is a Senior Fellow on Middle East Policy at the International Institute for Strategic Studies. He joins me now from Bahrain. Hassan, thank you so much for joining us.

HASSAN AL-HASSAN, SR. FELLOW ON MIDDLE EAST POLICY, INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR STRATEGIC STUDIES: My pleasure. Thank you for having me.

SANDOVAL: Let's get straight to the latest developments out of Washington.

This sort of, these conflicting narratives as you just heard in that last report. After Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the operation, this Project Freedom, was basically, I should say, he said that Epic Fury, the initial operation, that that was over, that the focus then would be on the new mission to guide ships through the Strait of Hormuz. Well, shortly after that, President Trump then pauses that effort to guide ships through the Strait.

What do you make of this latest mixed messaging from the White House? What do you think Iran takes away from that in addition to what we already discussed?

AL-HASSAN: I think mixed messaging has been a hallmark of U.S. policy towards this conflict. This is something that I think we've gotten used to by now. But what I think remains unchanged is that there is clearly a U.S. preference, especially by the Trump administration, to really reach an off-ramp and reach a deal with Iran, as opposed to go back to military operations.

I think clearly the Trump administration has realized the limits of military force and what that can achieve in the Iranian context. It hasn't been able to achieve regime change, and it hasn't really been able to achieve much positive behavioral change on the part of the Iranian regime, which sees this as a fight for its survival.

The issue, however, is that the Trump administration realizes that it cannot credibly claim success while leaving the Strait of Hormuz under effective Iranian control. I think Project Freedom was a symbolic attempt. It wasn't an escort mission in reality, it was more of an information-sharing operation by the U.S. Navy.

But nevertheless, it was a symbolic attempt, I think, to demonstrate a change in the status quo in the Strait of Hormuz, to show that it wasn't really under Iranian control. And I think it was seen by the Iranians as a test of Iran's resolve to resort to military force. And I think clearly the Iranians have used military force to send a clear message that the Strait of Hormuz remains under their control.

So I think we're running a real risk here of the U.S. running out of options. On the one hand, these symbolic attempts haven't really gone anywhere. They haven't led to any positive outcome for the U.S.

[03:10:01]

The Trump administration knows that it cannot leave the Strait under Iranian control if it wants to claim success. And so the U.S. could be running out of options here and could be left really with no option but to resort back to the use of military force and engage in another round of military escalation to try and change the strategic equation at the moment.

SANDOVAL: And there continues to be obviously a very real risk to some of the U.S.'s partners in the region. I'm wondering if I can get some of your thoughts on recent attacks there. How much strain on the ceasefire do you think that we're seeing from Iran targeting some of the Gulf nations there?

AL-HASSAN: For the Gulf nations, there's really strain on every level because even though the U.S. might be shielded somewhat from the direct effects of the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, really so long as the Strait is inoperable, it's not just Iran that's unable to export as a result of the U.S. blockade. It's also the Gulf states who rely heavily on the Strait, who aren't able to export oil, gas, fertilizers, or many other industrial outputs that are vital for their economies.

And at the same time, if the ceasefire breaks under pressure from U.S. and Iranian essentially provocations, then the Gulf nations know and realize full well that they will be once again at the front lines and at the center of Iranian retaliation against the United States and Israel. So I think they run risks in every direction.

If the ceasefire continues to hold but there is no movement on the Strait of Hormuz, then this is economically very bad news for them. And if the ceasefire breaks and we see a return to military hostilities, then obviously they will be at the front lines of the next round of escalation.

SANDOVAL: And Hassan, let's expand this even wider and talk about the China of all of this. Obviously that nation has really worked hard to keep this conflict kind of at arm's distance.

But as we look ahead to next week, and then also focus on what's happening right now with Iran's foreign minister in the region, in Beijing, meeting with his Chinese counterpart, and this of course ahead of the president's planned trip to China next week. Since China is Iran's close partner, obviously their biggest crude oil buyer, what could China's potential role be in helping facilitate some sort of agreement between the U.S. and Iran?

AL-HASSAN: For the short term, I would say the Chinese really have no means to intervene in any meaningful way. They've insulated themselves quite well from the Strait of Hormuz and from the shock to oil and gas supplies from the region by building up massive oil strategic reserves. They have over a billion barrels of reserves, and that's multiple times larger than what the U.S. even has by way of strategic reserves.

So they have the oil cushion that allows them to weather this crisis. They've invested heavily in renewable energy as well. And so in the near term, from an energy perspective, they're well insulated from the shock.

They have every incentive to see the U.S. essentially entangle itself in this strategic quagmire, the drain that this is putting on U.S. military resources, including the resources that are being shifted away from China's periphery, away from the Indo-Pacific theater. I think this is all good news for China, not to mention the harm that this is doing to U.S. reputation and U.S. strategic credibility.

So, in a sense, I think in the short term, they have no reason to help extract the U.S. from the mess in which the Trump administration has currently entangled it in. Longer term, yes, the Chinese are probably one of the very few parties that have sufficient leverage over Iran to play a mediating role. The Chinese played a very important role in brokering Saudi-Iranian de-escalation through the deal that was signed in 2023 in Beijing.

And so the Chinese could once again play an important role through the leverage that they hold over Iran, not only as Iran's principal customer of oil, but also as one of the two nations that shield Iran at the U.N. Security Council.

And so, yes, longer term, countries in the region, the U.S., might want to reach out to the Chinese. The Pakistanis certainly have been trying to do that in their capacity as mediators.

And the Chinese might be tempted to play a constructive role. But in the short term, I think the Chinese have somewhat of an interest, actually, in seeing the U.S. sink deeper in the Iranian quagmire.

SANDOVAL: Yes, you certainly have given us something to look out for in the days and weeks ahead to see if China potentially fills at least part of that role as a mediator out of this conflict. Hassan Al- Hassan, always a pleasure to have you on. Thank you so much for your thoughts.

AL-HASSAN: Thank you.

SANDOVAL: Well Pope Leo XIV, he is pushing back against fresh criticism from U.S. President Donald Trump. On Monday, Trump claimed, falsely, that the pontiff thinks that it's just fine for Iran to have a nuclear weapon. Well, the Pope has never said that.

[03:15:10]

But he has repeatedly expressed his opposition to the war with Iran. And on Tuesday, he said that the mission of the Catholic Church is to preach the gospel and peace.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

POPE LEO XIV, HEAD OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH (through translator): If anyone wants to criticize me for proclaiming the gospel, let them do so with the truth. The Church has spoken out against all nuclear weapons for years, so there is no doubt. I simply hope to be heard because of the value of God's word.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: The Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, will be meeting with the Pope on Thursday. He says that there is a lot to talk about, and that includes U.S. humanitarian aid to crisis-hit Cuba through the Catholic Church. But the Secretary denies that he is on a mission to improve relations with the Vatican after recent Trump attacks.

A CNN projecting that at least five of the seven Republican candidates backed by Donald Trump in Indiana will win their state Senate primaries. The U.S. President vowed revenge against incumbents who rejected his redistricting plan, endorsing challengers to run against them.

Democrats managed to hang on to one seat. You see here, CNN projecting that Republican State Senator Greg Good will win his primary against Trump's pick, Brenda Wilson.

Another race that is too close to call, incumbent State Senator Spencer Deery is locked in a tight battle with Trump's choice, Paula Copenhaver.

Now voters will also be casting ballots in primaries in Ohio. A CNN projecting that former U.S. presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, he will be winning the Republican primary for governor. He will be facing Democrats Amy Acton, the state's former health director.

Now the Democrat Sherrod Brown is currently looking to return to the U.S. Senate. CNN projecting that he will win the party's primary. He will take on incumbent Republican Jon Husted in what is likely to be a marquee matchup this coming November.

And in California, seven leading candidates for governor tried to set themselves apart from the rest of the pack in the latest primary debate. It's one of the most contentious topics that really has the Trump administration's, I should say one of the biggest topics, was the Trump immigration crackdown.

Listen to this exchange about California's so-called sanctuary law.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KATIE PORTER (D-CA), FORMER REPRESENTATIVE, AND CALIFORNIA GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE: It's the job of the governor to protect every single Californian, period. There are no qualifications on that.

CHAD BIANCO, RIVERSIDE COUNTY SHERIFF-CORONER, AND CALIFORNIA GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE: Are you doing that? Are you doing that by having a sanctuary state policy? Absolutely not.

ANTONIO VILLARAIGOSA, FORMER LOS ANGELES MAYOR, AND CALIFORNIA GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE: You say you're a sheriff, and I know you are, but you clearly don't know what the sanctuary law does.

BIANCO: I'm the only one up here that has to work with it.

VILLARAIGOSA: Mr. Bianco, excuse me.

The fact is, since 2019, the state has turned over 12,000 violent criminals to the federal government. Sanctuary law does not protect violent criminals in the way that you constantly say they do.

BIANCO: Oh, yes it does.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: Reminder, Democrats are dominant in California, but the two top candidates in the, I should say the top two candidates in the June primary, they will be advancing to the November election regardless of the party. CNN's Marybel Gonzalez bringing us some of the key moments from Tuesday night's debate.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARYBEL GONZALEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Sixty-one names on this California ballot are hoping to lead the fourth largest economy in the world as governor. We're talking about the state of California.

Tuesday night, seven candidates, two Republicans, five Democrats, faced off on the debate stage hoping to set themselves apart in this crowded election. The governor hopefuls took fiery swipes at one another on hot button issues, including the recent immigration rates in the state, artificial intelligence, homelessness, and the proposed billionaire's tax.

Now, these candidates clashed over offering undocumented people healthcare and the possibility of a single payer healthcare system in California. But front and center was the affordability crisis many Californians are experiencing with high housing costs and gas prices now exceeding $6 a gallon.

Now, the race remains wide open at this time, and we're just weeks away from the primary elections. Californian voters will decide on their top two candidates regardless of party preference and who will advance to the general elections in November. In Monterey Park, California, I'm Marybel Gonzalez.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: And still to come this hour, about 150 passengers are stranded on a cruise ship after a deadly Hantavirus outbreak. What medical experts are saying about the spread of the illness after the break.

[03:20:10]

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SANDOVAL: Three passengers have been evacuated from a cruise ship that has been hit by a deadly antivirus outbreak. Medical experts are saying that all three are clinically stable and will be transported to the Netherlands by air. The ship has been anchored just off the coast of West Africa, but it's now sailing to the Canary Islands over the next few days after gaining some permission from the Spanish government to head there.

Three people have died on board from the rare virus that is usually spread through rodents. Additional cases have also been identified. The cruise has initiated strict health and safety measures, including social distancing, hygiene protocols, and also limited access to indoor areas.

CNN's Randi Kaye has more on how the outbreak may have started.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JAKE ROSAMARIN, CRUISE PASSENGER: I'm Jake, and I'm spending the next 35 days crossing the Atlantic, visiting some of the most remote islands in the world.

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Passengers like Jake Rosmarin were looking forward to an adventure at sea. Then people started dying on board the M.V. Hondius cruise ship. And now the World Health Organization suspects the Hantavirus, which usually occurs after exposure to rodents, may be spreading person to person.

[03:25:07]

DR. MARIA VAN KERKHOVE, DIRECTOR OF EPIDEMIC AND PANDEMIC PREPAREDNESS AND PREVENTION, WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION: Passengers have been asked to remain in their cabins while disinfection and other public health measures are carried out. Medical teams from Cabo Verde are providing support on board the ship.

KAYE (voice-over): The first sign of trouble came when a 70-year-old Dutchman suddenly fell ill on the ship with a fever, headache, abdominal pain, and diarrhea. South Africa's health department told CNN he died on April 11th, just 10 days after the ship had left port in Argentina.

The man's wife, a 69-year-old Dutch woman, died two weeks later on April 26th at a hospital in South Africa. She'd collapsed at the airport while trying to get home to the Netherlands.

The cruise company, Oceanwide Expeditions, confirmed the woman tested positive for a variant of Hantavirus.

KERKHOVA: We do believe that there may be some human-to-human transmission that's happening among the really close contacts, the husband and wife, people who've shared cabins.

KAYE (voice-over): On April 27th, after the ship left St. Helena, a British national on board, got sick. He's now in intensive care in Johannesburg. He also tested positive for the Hantavirus, according to the cruise company, though his condition is improving.

And on May 2nd, a third victim died. She was a German national who came down with pneumonia. It's being treated as a suspected case of the Hantavirus.

ROSMARIN: What's happening right now is very real for all of us here. We're not just a story, we're not just headlines.

KAYE (voice-over): The ship is currently moored off Cape Verde with 149 people on board.

KERKHOVE: We are operating and working with the ship to make sure that anyone who is symptomatic, anyone caring for patients is wearing full personal protective equipment.

KAYE (voice-over): Medical evacuations like these of those on board suffering from Hantavirus symptoms was a top priority, according to the World Health Organization, which still says the risk to the general public is low. It is less contagious than many other viruses.

KERKHOVE: This is not a virus that spreads like flu or like COVID. It's quite different.

KAYE (voice-over): How might this have happened?

KERKHOVE: The cruise did stop at many different islands up the coast of Africa and, again, seeing a lot of different wildlife. On those islands, there are birds. Some islands have a lot of rodents, others don't.

KAYE (voice-over): The WHO suspects it's the Andes virus, a strain of Hantavirus that has spread person to person before.

KERKHOVE: We need sequencing. So the sequencing is currently underway by the South Africans, and we hope to have a result soon.

KAYE (voice-over): Randi Kaye, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL: And still ahead, the war in Iran. It has caused the demand for oil to fall as prices skyrocket. The latest reaction from the markets on the way.

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[03:30:00]

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SANDOVAL: I'm Polo Sandoval in New York, and these are today's top stories.

Seven candidates for California governor clashed on the debate stage just a few hours ago. Among the heated topics, immigration, gas prices, health care, a billionaire's tax, and President Trump's policies. The top two vote-getters from the June primary in California, they will get to advance to the November general election, regardless of their political party.

A cruise ship hit by a deadly Hantavirus outbreak has received permission to dock in the Canary Islands after the deaths of three people on that ship. Spain's health ministry says the crew and passengers will be examined and treated upon arrival on their shores. Then they will be allowed to return home.

President Donald Trump says that the U.S. will temporarily pause Project Freedom in the Strait of Hormuz to see whether a deal with Iran can potentially be finalized, and this after Trump's top diplomat said that the military operation in Iran is over. Marco Rubio suggesting that Washington's priority now is to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, Iranian state media claiming that the U.S. failed to achieve its objectives.

Live now to Dubai and CNN's Eleni Giokos has been following oil markets. Eleni, it's great to see you. So now that this latest mission from the United States is essentially on pause, I'm curious what you can tell us about the immediate effects on oil markets, at least for now.

ELENI GIOKOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, so the futures market has been obviously very volatile, and it's always been very successful to any kind of news headlines, specifically around the Strait of Hormuz.

And, you know, we saw earlier in the week that it closed at the highest level since the start of the war. It's gone down a little since then. In fact, right now it is lower.

It's quite interesting to see the moves on Brent Crude as well as WTI. Brent Crude sitting at $108.29, about around 1.4 percent, WTI also losing around 1.5 percent.

But by all accounts, in terms of what we're seeing on these futures markets, we have to look forward. And (inaudible), which is a consulting firm here in Dubai, has been planning out scenarios, and they're looking at where realistically the oil price will go, given that nothing has changed in the Strait of Hormuz, and clearly there's no signal that anything will let up as Iran is still trying to assert its control.

They're predicting oil prices are going to hit between $130 a barrel to $140 a barrel by the end of May if we see the persistent closure of the Strait of Hormuz, where 12 million barrels of oil are closed in right now. When I look at what's happening at gas prices in the United States, it's incrementally gone up since the start of the war. We're looking at close to $4.50 a gallon, Polo.

That is sort of a reality check right now in terms of what's happening in the United States, which is a net oil producer, by the way, and importantly is able to fulfill its own domestic needs.

If we take a wider view on what's happening at a global level, there are jet fuel shortages, and one analyst says we're facing a cliff on jet fuel that is going to have a massive impact on holiday travel. Europe could be running out of jet fuel. We're looking at flight cancellations, we're looking at real domestic issues that are playing out on the ground in Asian economies that have been so reliant on crude that comes out of the Strait of Hormuz, and there's one real answer to all of this, getting traffic back to normal.

But unfortunately, when you look at the scenarios, they're not looking very good. One analyst says that this could bleed into 2027, and in that kind of worst-case scenario, we're looking at much higher oil prices for much longer.

SANDOVAL: Eleni Giokos in Dubai, thank you so much for that live report.

Samsung's electronics market value, it has actually topped $1 trillion thanks to a surge in market shares. The company reporting an operating profit of more than $38 billion in the first quarter of 2026, and revenue, it was up 69 percent up from a year ago, so that gives you some perspective.

[03:35:06] These gains, they're in large part due to the continued demand for semiconductors used to power artificial intelligence.

Well, we are now less than 40 days from the opening match of the FIFA World Cup. We'll see matches in many North American cities come June 11th, including Mexico City.

But some Mexican fans are struggling to get excited due to the extremely-high ticket prices. You see, when FIFA released a second round of tickets in April, prices for the first match, they ranged from $3,000 to $10,000, which is basically unaffordable for so many fans there.

Now, FIFA says that at least 1000 tickets starting at $60 were made available for each Mexican match. Mexico will soon make history as the first country to host three World Cups. It is expected to co-host this time with the U.S. and Canada, 13 of the 104 matches will be held in Mexico.

Still to come here on "CNN Newsroom," Ukrainians doubting that Russia intends to stick to its proposed ceasefire later this week after deadly strikes on Tuesday and a new barrage of aerial attacks overnight.

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SANDOVAL: Welcome back.

Now the latest on Russia's war on Ukraine. The Ukrainian foreign minister says that Russia has violated Ukraine's new unilateral ceasefire.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called for an open-ended pause in the fighting to begin at midnight on Wednesday. But Ukraine says that Russia has already launched 108 drones and three missiles overnight and into this morning. Ukrainian officials say that this is proof that Russia's calls for a brief ceasefire later this week to coincide with Moscow's Victory Day celebrations have nothing to do with diplomacy.

[03:40:01]

The parade marking the defeats of Nazi Germany in World War II will be scaled back this year after the Kremlin cited concerns of Ukrainian attacks.

And all of this follows a flurry of Russian attacks across eastern Ukraine on Tuesday. Ukraine's interior minister says 27 people were killed by strikes in the hours before that ceasefire took place. Residents of Kyiv say that they doubt Russia will hold to even a temporary pause in the fighting.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNKNOWN (through translator): Putin cannot be trusted. He won't actually do anything he promises. The truce will be such that we are not going to not bomb the Red Square. UNKNOWN (through translator): I would like to see a ceasefire, to see

the war end. Because when you live under attacks every day, it's impossible to believe what they say.

Unfortunately, it's impossible to believe. But I would like to believe it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: Authorities in Somalia, they're currently working to clear out some of the clogged drainages in Mogadishu. And this after heavy rains flooded parts of the city on Tuesday.

The floodwaters, they blocked roads and inundated low-lying neighborhoods. Weather forecasters say that Mogadishu usually experiences more rainfall and high humidity during the month of May. Somalia has also become increasingly vulnerable to flooding and extreme weather after years of drought, rapid urban expansion, and also damaged infrastructure in the region.

I'm Polo Sandoval, in New York, thank you so much for joining me. We leave you now with "World Sport" for international viewers. And if you're watching in North America, I'll join you again after a short break.

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[03:40:00]

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SANDOVAL: Welcome back.

Let's talk about those far-reaching implications because of the war in the Middle East. Spring planting season, it has been upended by the crisis in the Middle East. Supply chain strains are now creating a nightmare scenario for U.S. farmers.

Take your ordinary corn farm. Fertilizer shortages have driven prices up by 26 percent. And to actually harvest those crops, well, farmers use machines.

And to power those machines, you need diesel fuel, which has actually gone up 48 percent recently. And on top of that, certain parts of the country, they're currently being hit by droughts in the heart of the planting season. Farmers say that rising costs of fertilizers and fuel, that they are straining their budget with prices climbing far beyond what they're prepared to pay for.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN BOYD JR., PRESIDENT, NATIONAL BLACK FARMERS ASSOCIATION: Well, it's difficult right now because fertilizer really isn't readily available. And the Agriculture Secretary noted about a month ago that farmers had already purchased their fertilizer, which is clearly not true. I don't have fertilizer. Fertilizer is the first step in the process and planting. So farmers

apply fertilizer to all of their fields so that they can have the maximum harvest. Fertilizer is up about 30 percent since the Iran war started, and that really hurt American farmers because it increased the price to about anywhere between $140 a ton to $200 a ton for the good fertilizer that farmers, you know, we just simply wasn't prepared to pay such a drastic increase.

And then you have diesel fuel that's risen, you know, through the roof. Again, those are two costs that farmers have to have.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: And you just heard directly from John Boyd Jr. He is the founder and president of the National Black Farmers Association.

American taxpayers, they could end up footing some of the bill for the ballroom that President Trump said would be paid for by private donors and himself. Senate Republicans, they're requesting $1 billion in funding for the project security upgrades. The cash, it's tucked inside a broader immigration package with specific wording saying that it can't be used for, quote, "non-security elements of the construction."

Some Republicans have been arguing that the ballroom is needed much more, especially after last month's shooting at the White House Correspondents' Dinner. But using taxpayer funds, that goes directly against what the president had said since the inception of the renovation plans.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: We have no taxes. This is taxpayer-free. We have no taxpayer putting up $0.10.

We did this no charge to the taxpayer whatsoever.

I'm paying for it. I'm paying for it.

We're donating a $400 million ballroom.

Myself and donors are giving them free of charge for nothing.

It's being paid for 100 percent by me and some friends of mine donors.

Rich people and people are putting up the money. Zero taxpayer dollars.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: And those are statements going back months. And when the ballroom project was announced, it was originally estimated to cost $200 million. With the price, it's now ballooned to $400 million.

A federal grand jury has indicted the suspect in the White House Correspondents Dinner shooting last month, the indictment alleging that, or at least bringing at least one more charge against Cole Thomas Allen, which is assaulting an officer with a deadly weapon. He's also facing three other charges, including attempting to assassinate the president, discharging a firearm during a crime of violence, and transporting a gun across state lines to commit a crime.

Allen is accused of shooting a Secret Service officer as he stormed through the security checkpoint just outside of the dinner. Officials say that the officer, who was wearing a bulletproof vest, survived.

Allen has not entered a plea. However, he's expected to be arraigned next Monday.

White House Border Czar Tom Homan says that mass deportations are coming. As he spoke in Phoenix on Tuesday, a defiant Homan pushed back against criticism from within President Trump's base who say that the administration is not deporting enough people.

He's vowing to, quote, flood the zone with more immigration officers in certain places, he says that people will see more ICE agents than they've ever seen before. He also acknowledged that 35 to 40 percent of undocumented people who have been arrested during Trump's second term have no criminal record.

[03:50:05]

Homan says that the detentions are necessary to, quote, send a message to the whole world.

Now to a CNN exclusive. Some Department of Veterans Affairs workers have faced internal investigations after they attended vigils for Alex Pretti. He was a V.A. nurse who was killed by federal immigration officers in Minneapolis last year. CNN's Brian Todd spoke to one of those workers.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This person's name is Becky Halioua, a recreational therapist at the Charlie Norwood V.A. Medical Center in Augusta, Georgia. On January 28th, four days after V.A. nurse Alex Pretti was killed in Minnesota, Becky went to a vigil for Pretti outside her V.A. facility.

Becky is the president of the local chapter of the union, the American Federation of Government Employees. That union and two other unions helped organize the vigil.

While she was there, Becky did a short interview with a local T.V. station telling them Pretti's death was terrifying to her. She says she made it clear at this event and in that interview she was not speaking on behalf of the V.A.

A few days later, though, Becky Halioua learned that an internal investigation had been launched into whether she violated V.A. rules regarding employee interviews with the news media. As part of the probe, she was asked if she had gotten authorization to speak to the media from the V.A.'s public affairs arm. Now, the V.A. rules state that employees who are not authorized to

speak officially on behalf of the agency need to refer the media request to their administration communications office, and the rules say anyone not authorized to speak on behalf of the V.A. needs to make clear they are speaking in a personal capacity.

Becky Halioua says she didn't coordinate with the agency because she was very careful about not speaking on behalf of them, and also because this vigil was off the V.A. campus. She attended it in her off hours, and she did not wear her V.A. badge or any clothing with a V.A. logo on it. Here's what she said to me about the investigation.

Why do you believe the V.A. investigated you?

BECKY HALIOUA, RECREATIONAL THERAPIST: I think that it's a scare tactic, but truthfully, I don't intend to do much different. I intend to continue speaking up. I don't intend for this to stop me in any way, so if that was their intention or their thought behind initiating it, they were sorely mistaken.

TODD: We contacted the V.A. for response to Becky Halioua's claims.

V.A. Press Secretary Quinn Slavin said he could not comment citing privacy concerns. He said, quote, "privacy laws prevent V.A. from publicly discussing specific details about its employees without their written consent." He did not address CNN's more general questions about the V.A.'s media policy and how often it conducts these types of investigations.

Also, Becky Halioua is not alone. Several sources familiar with the matter tell CNN at least three other V.A. employees have been investigated for their interactions with the press, including at least one other person related to an Alex Pretti event.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL: James Murdoch's investment company is in talks to acquire "New York Magazine" and Vox Media's podcast network. The deal worth about $300 million could give Murdoch a foothold in the U.S. media market.

He's the youngest son of right-wing media mogul Rupert Murdoch, who continues to control Fox News, the "New York Post," and other global outlets. James Murdoch split with his family's company back in 2020, he's seen as a more politically moderate figure than his father.

Top tech companies, they have struck a deal to allow the use or to allow the U.S. government to test unreleased models of their A.I. programs. Microsoft, Google, and X A.I., they will be sharing those models for officials to evaluate whether they could potentially fall prey to cybersecurity threats. CNN's Hadass Gold with more details on this partnership.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HADASS GOLD, CNN A.I. CORRESPONDENT: The U.S. government seems to be tiptoeing closer and closer to some sort of oversight of these new frontier A.I. models, which is a different approach than what we initially saw from the Trump administration when it came to any sort of A.I. regulation.

And the spark for this, it does seem to be, is all of the alarm and fears caused by some of these really advanced new models from companies like Anthropic's Mythos.

They said that it was so powerful, especially when it came to its abilities in cybersecurity and finding holes in the defenses for different things, whether it be utilities or banks, that they actually haven't released that publicly yet because they wanted to give select organizations first dibs to kind of take a look at it and really build up their own defenses before this very powerful model went out into the public.

And so now the Commerce Department and its Center for A.I. Standards and Innovation announced new agreements with Google, Microsoft and X A.I.

[03:55:00]

These are in addition to their existing agreements with OpenAI and Anthropic that are being adjusted to allow the Commerce Department to evaluate new unreleased A.I. models before they get sent into the public.

And they're going to evaluate them for their potential impact on things like national security and public safety so they get a better idea of what they're capable of. It's sort of like you're crash testing a vehicle. You want to see how does it hold up in a crash, something that we see the government do already.

Now, the center is already saying that it's conducting research on some of these A.I. models. It says that it's already evaluated 40 models. Some of them have are unreleased.

And this is really sparked by the fear of what these models can do and the fact that while the U.S. government really wants the A.I. industry in the United States to be unbound and be able to develop as quickly as possible in the face of adversaries like China, that there is a recognition that this is one of the most capable new technologies that we have seen in recent decades and that there likely will need to be some sort of federal oversight or regulation of this new industry.

This is all happening while the White House is seriously considering what that regulation will look like. We have confirmed "New York Times" reporting that the White House is looking to convene a sort of working group of sorts at the White House that will include experts.

It will include members of some of these companies. It will include members of the government to come together and try to figure out what will oversight of A.I. -- new A.I. models look like, will the White House be involved in evaluating or looking at these models before they are released, and what will overall A.I. regulation really look like? And these are really critical questions because right now it's a wild

west when it comes to artificial intelligence. There are really no rules unless it touches an already regulated industry like finances and there is a recognition that the government will have to be involved at some level. But of course, the question will be what will that look like and how will it all work? Hadass Gold, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL: Thank you so much for watching. I'm Polo Sandoval, in New York. I'll be right back with you in a few moments with more "CNN Newsroom."

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