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U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio to meet Pope Leo XIV in Light of the Tensions Between the Pope and U.S. President Trump; CNN Journalists Share Their Experience Working with the late Ted Turner; BTS Welcomed 50,000 Mexicans Ahead of Their Concert. Aired 3-3:45a ET

Aired May 07, 2026 - 03:00   ET

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

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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.

The U.S. is waiting for a response from Iran on its ceasefire deal, but here what the President says is getting in the way of an agreement.

Plus, the Pope is set to meet with America's top diplomat following weeks of tension between the Vatican and the White House, a live report from Rome where the Secretary of State just touched down.

And an outbreak of antivirus has left a cruise ship on lockdown, which you need to know about the confirmed cases so far.

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

SANDOVAL: And we do want to begin in the Middle East, the source now saying that Iran is expected to reply today to the U.S. proposal to end the war, and this as we learn that both sides have been moving closer to an agreement on a short memo aimed at bringing the conflict to a close, finally.

U.S. President Donald Trump has touted good talks with Iran, saying there's never a deadline for an Iranian response, but that came after he issued a new threat that the bombing could start again if Iran does not agree to a deal.

One sticking point to negotiations has been future security in the Strait of Hormuz. Iran says that safe passage through that critical waterway is possible under, quote, "new procedures without explaining exactly what that means or what those procedures are."

CNN's Paula Hancocks is following those developments out of Abu Dhabi. Paula, what is the latest?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Polo, what we're hearing at this point from sources familiar is fairly positive considering what we have been hearing in recent days, certainly with that escalation of tensions on Monday and Tuesday.

So what we've heard from a source familiar is that there is a one-page memo that is being passed around internally at this point in the U.S. Now, of course, I have to caution that we don't know for sure this is what Iran is going to agree to, but some of the provisions really go to the heart of these negotiations.

There would potentially be a declaration of the end of war, also triggering a 30-day negotiation period in resolving the more sticky points, according to this source. And then when it comes to the nuclear issues, now the precise details, again, we do not have, but it would deal with a moratorium on uranium enrichments for Iran.

Now we know that, according to this source, that it would be for a period longer than 10 years. We understand that the previous U.S. proposal was 20 years, but we understand that was rejected by Iran. And also it would deal with the highly enriched uranium stockpile that is still in Iran and would need to be moved out of the country.

Now we've heard from the Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson saying that they are looking at the U.S. proposal. It is still under review by Iran, but sources suggesting that it could be as early as today that we will have a response through the Pakistani mediators.

We have heard, though, from the U.S. President, and what he has said so far does sound positive. Let's listen to him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon, and they won't. And they've agreed to that, among other things.

They want to make a deal. We've had very good talks over the last 24 hours, and it's very possible that we'll make a deal.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANCOCKS: Now, in speaking to PBS News, the U.S. President said that he did think that there was going to be a deal, but he also cautioned the fact that, I felt that way before with them, so we'll see what happens, obviously acknowledging that a deal is not done until both sides have agreed to it, and this has fallen, these negotiations, a number of times in the past.

Now, of course, one of the crucial elements is the Strait of Hormuz. We have heard from the Revolutionary Guard that there is safe passage in the Strait of Hormuz now under, quote, "new procedures."

Now it's not clear what those new procedures are, also saying that it is going to be in accordance with Iran's regulations, but that would be a red line, not just for the U.S. and Israel, for Iran to have control of the Strait of Hormuz, but for countries around the world saying that there needs to be freedom of navigation.

[03:05:02]

This clearly one of those thorny issues that would have to be sorted out once potentially that 30-day negotiation period does start.

Again, there are lots of caveats to this deal. We don't know exactly the detail that is in this deal, but what we are hearing, certainly from the U.S. side, is more positive than we have seen, especially at the beginning of this week when we saw that escalation in hostilities. Polo?

SANDOVAL: Yes, so many unknowns, as you point out. Paula Hancocks with that live report. Thank you.

Israel says that it has targeted the commander of Hezbollah's elite Fragment Force in Beirut Wednesday strike. It was the first in the city since the ceasefire in Lebanon was agreed to in April. Israel's defense minister did not say if the deputy commander was eliminated, but an Israeli official told CNN that he is believed to be wounded.

Israeli troops and Hezbollah fighters have continued to target each other in southern Lebanon, Israel claiming that their operations in that region don't violate the truce.

Moving on now, the top U.S. supplement is set to meet with Pope Leo XIV today. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, you see some of this footage just into CNN arriving in Rome in the last hour. He is dismissing the notion that this trip is meant to essentially reset those strained diplomatic relations between Washington, D.C., and the Vatican.

President Trump has been especially critical of the Pope's calls for an end to the war with Iran, and he repeated that criticism on Wednesday, accusing the pontiff of endangering Catholics with his stance on Iran. However, Pope Leo has never said that he wants Iran to have a nuclear weapon. He has said that the mission of the Catholic Church is to preach the gospel and promote peace.

Let's bring you now CNN's Vatican correspondent Christopher Lamb, who is joining us from Rome as he's following the visit of Secretary Rubio. Christopher, as you watch here, the coverage, of course, the President does continue repeating this false claim about Pope Leo, but then Pope Leo is saying, look, I'm fair game for criticism. Just tell the truth.

CHRISTOPHER LAMB, CNN VATICAN CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's right, Polo. I mean, the criticisms of Pope Leo by President Trump really are extraordinary and unprecedented. We haven't seen this before from a U.S. President, and of course, Leo is the first American pope, and that gives it an added edge and an added sort of intensity.

Now, Leo has been outspoken, as you say, about the war in Iran, calling for peace, actually naming President Trump, saying he hopes the President can find an off-ramp to end the war. And Leo, on Tuesday night, responding to reporters about the latest comments from the President, and this is what he had to say.

(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)

LAMB: Well, Leo responding calmly to President Trump, but stating the facts and wanting, you know, any criticism of him to be done so truthfully. And of course, this all comes as Secretary of State, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is in Rome for this meeting with Pope Leo.

We're expecting a number of topics to be discussed, including Cuba. The Vatican's played a close attention to Cuba, has a diplomatic role and influence there.

And I think, you know, we're seeing from this meeting, I think on the Vatican side at least, an attempt to try and open up some dialogue with the Trump administration. Because President Trump has not, as far as we know, had any direct contact with Pope Leo, not even a phone call.

And so this meeting is the most high-level meeting between the Pope and the Trump administration for about a year. Polo?

SANDOVAL: That's CNN's Christopher Lamb with that live report from Rome.

And we do continue our coverage of that, as Christopher points out, very important meeting a little later in the hour. I do speak with a CNN Vatican analyst about the Secretary's visit. And also how the Pope reportedly called a customer service line and then got hung up on.

Plus also the cruise ship experience, an outbreak of antivirus. That cruise ship, it is currently bound for the Canary Islands. But officials there, they have reservations about the ship's arrival.

More on that when we return.

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SANDOVAL: Health officials in the state of Georgia are currently monitoring two people who just returned home from the cruise ship at the center of a hantavirus outbreak. Officials say that they aren't showing any signs of infection and they are following CDC recommendations.

The M.V. Hondius is currently en route, sailing to the Canary Islands after spending days just off the coast of Cape Verde. CNN's Pau Mosquera has more details surrounding their controversial arrival there. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAU MOSQUERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: After some days anchored off the coast of Cape Verde, the M.V. Hondius has already set sail to the south of the island of Tenerife.

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So if everything goes as planned by the Spanish government, the cruise ship is expected to get to the port of Granadilla de Abona this very Saturday. But this will happen despite the opposition of the regional authorities. The President of the government of the Canary Islands, Fernando Clavijo, claimed over this Wednesday that the Spanish government has never informed or consulted them on the matter.

Also adding that they believe that this decision doesn't follow any technical or health-related criteria, something that they deny from the Spanish government's side. They defend that they are carrying out the request made by the World Health Organization as to comply with international law and to show some humanitarian spirit.

So once the ship gets to this port located in the south of Tenerife, the authorities are planning to deploy a very controlled sanitary circuit where they will directly transfer all the passengers and crew members from the port to the south Tenerife airport that is located just 10 minutes away from the port.

And from there all the passengers and crew members that are from other countries, they will be immediately taken to there. But in the case of the 14 passengers and crew members that are from Spain, will be taken to the capital, to Madrid, to this military hospital that you can see here behind me. Here they will be quarantined for some days and in case any of them show any symptoms, they will then be moved to a special unit where they treat those with high-risk infectious diseases.

Pau Mosquera, CNN, Madrid.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL: A federal judge has unsealed a purported suicide note from Jeffrey Epstein. The unverified and undated document was placed on the court docket in the case of a former cellmate to the late convicted sex offender who said that he found this note.

It was not signed, but reads in part, quote, "They investigated me for a month, found nothing. It was a treat to be able to choose one's time to say goodbye," it read. A justice department indicated that it did not know if the document is even legitimate.

The cellmate said that the note was from Epstein's prior unsuccessful suicide attempt back in July of 2019. Last year he gave an interview where he described finding it.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP) NICHOLAS TARTAGLIONE, EPSTEIN'S CELLMATE: It was in my book, yes, when I got back into the cell, I opened my book to read and there it was. And he wrote it and stuck it in the book. And that was, I believe, the reason why he stopped saying, because he didn't want to go to suicide watch, because I think his first thing was, oh yes, he tried to blame me for attacking him.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: A medical examiner ruled that Jeffrey Epstein died by suicide in August 2019.

Some House Democrats are calling for U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick to resign following his testimony about his ties with Jeffrey Epstein.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. SUHAS SUBRAMANYAM (R-VA): Howard Lutnick should resign. That was absolutely mind-boggling what we just heard in the room.

He was evasive, nervous, he was dishonest. He would not admit to lying, which he clearly did in the podcast. He said he was never in the room with Jeffrey Epstein ever again after the first time he met him.

Yet he then admitted that he was in the room with Jeffrey Epstein. I had to ask him whether he and I were in the same room just now, because I couldn't understand his meaning of we were in the same room together.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: Lutnick is currently the highest-ranking Trump administration official, prominently named in the Epstein files outside of the President himself. Lawmakers grilled Lutnick for more than 4.5 hours behind closed doors on Wednesday about his multiple interactions with Epstein. That includes a 2012 visit to the convicted sex offender's infamous Caribbean island just years after he was said to have cut ties with Epstein in 2005.

A Commerce spokesperson did say that the Secretary did explain repeatedly that he did not have a relationship with Epstein, but the White House has so far expressed confidence in Lutnick.

Well, it's certainly a sad day for many of us here at CNN. Coming up next, some of my colleagues, they reminisce about the incredible force that was Ted Turner and how he changed their lives forever.

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SANDOVAL: Hey everybody, I'm Polo Sandoval, live from New York, and these are today's top stories.

A source says that Iran is expected to respond today to a U.S. proposal to end the war. U.S. President Donald Trump says that Iran wants to make a deal and touted good talks between the two sides over the past 24 hours. He also says that there is no deadline for when he expects a response from Iran.

Health officials in the state of Georgia are monitoring two people who just returned home from that cruise ship that's at the center of the Hantavirus outbreak. Officials say that they aren't showing any signs of infection and they are following recommendations from the CDC. About 150 people are still on board that vessel and those people continue to undergo health tests.

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And the war with Iran and humanitarian aid, those are two issues that are expected to be top of the agenda as U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio meets with Pope Leo XIV today. America's top diplomat denied that he traveled to the Vatican to smooth over President Trump's recent criticism of the Pope.

CNN Vatican analyst Katie Prejean McGrady is host of the "Katie McGrady Show" on Sirius X.M., the Catholic Channel. And she is with us from Lake Charles, Louisiana. Katie, it's always great to see you.

KATIE PREJEAN MCGRADY, CNN VATICAN ANALYST: Thanks for having me.

SANDOVAL: So help us look ahead to the visit between Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the Pope. As you know, they'll be meeting during a period of some pretty historic tension between the Vatican and Washington, D.C., mainly the White House.

What will you be looking out for, what do you expect to come out of this meeting between the U.S.'s top diplomat and the Holy Father?

MCGRADY: I think it's interesting that Rubio is the one being sent because it's a mission, I think, of diplomacy, a conversation around, as they've both said, the shared interests, one, with regards to humanitarian aid to Cuba. That was something that Marco Rubio specifically mentioned.

But two, as the Holy Father said at a press gaggle on Tuesday evening, do we have a shared understanding? Can we come to a shared understanding of not only how to find peace, but how to lay down arms?

I think, yes, we're at war, but I think the ultimate goal would be to not be at war anymore. The Vatican, I think, can advise on that. And so Rubio being sent to have that conversation is important, and I think the Holy Father's ready to discuss at length.

SANDOVAL: We're about a day early or so, but I'd love to see if I can get your thoughts on looking back over the last year of Pope Leo's papacy, some of the more remarkable moments that stand out.

I mean, clearly, it seems like his message is really just beginning to resonate, and in some cases, his statements, certainly ruffling some feathers in the White House, particularly with Donald Trump. We're just now beginning to see some of his apostolic trips. I think it was late December when he took his first.

So what are some of those moments that really stand out just a year into Pope Leo's papacy?

MCGRADY: The first thing he said was, Peace be with you, and then referenced the peace of Jesus Christ as an unarmed and disarming peace. And here we are a year in, and that unarmed, disarming peace is absolutely driving the narrative of the day.

The Pope has become a very loud voice on the global stage when it comes to conflicts like this, and so I think that's become kind of a hallmark. He, at first, seemed to be a little more reserved, a little quieter, and we've seen him come out of his shell.

We've certainly seen him embrace the crowds. It's quite obvious that the Holy Father likes being close to the people of God, and whether it's kissing babies or blessing nuns or going to rooms of powerful people and speaking directly to them.

When he went to Africa, four countries in 11 days, I mean, and it was a crisscrossing the country kind of a trip, and we know he's got plans to go to Spain in June, and then we're hearing potentially France in the fall. The Holy Father is going out to the people and speaking to the rooms he's in, and I've been deeply moved, as a person of faith, to see the Holy Father really meet the moment, and it all started with that unarmed and disarming peace. He's an unarmed man, and as he approaches people, it's incredibly disarming.

It's very charming, I've met him. He's remarkably charming, and I think the world is responding to a leader that's a counterbalance to the way some others lead.

SANDOVAL: So you think that, you know, covering Pope Leo, so you think that his message is really extending beyond just the 1.5 billion Catholics in the world?

MCGRADY: Oh, absolutely. He's gone to mosques, he's sat down with Jewish leader, he's certainly speaking to Christians and to Catholics. He recently met with the Archbishop of Canterbury, so another Christian denomination.

So yes, there is an ecumenical approach, as well as just people of goodwill, people who desire the common good, people who seek human dignity and want to uphold it.

The Pope is a figure that rises above both politics and in some ways even religion. Yes, he is a religious leader, but he's a global figure, and I think that message, it's certainly resonating with people. It may be drawing them into the faith, but it's also just something that is refreshing.

Look at his poll numbers. Not that the Pope cares about his poll numbers, but we have poll numbers. He is seen as a widely popular and beloved global leader, and I think if you were to pit poll numbers of Presidents versus Pope, the Pope's kind of always going to come out on top that says something about how the world is hungry for a message of peace and unity and not one of hostility and division.

[03:29:57]

And apparently for one bank, he's also a customer. I'm sure you saw this. A close friend of the Pope, Reverend Tom McCarthy, recalled a story of what happened when his friend, the Pope, had to call the bank after being elected as the leader of the church and well over a billion Catholics.

I want our viewers to listen to this, and then we'll close with your takeaway.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FR. TOM MCCARTHY, FRIEND OF POPE LEO: And so he gets a lady, he says, yes ma'am, I'm Robert Prevost, I'd like to change. She asks all the security questions, and then he says, oh I'm sorry sir, it says here you have to come in person. And he said, well that's not going to, I'm not going to be able to do that.

Would it matter to you if I told you I'm Pope Leo? She hung up on him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: I mean I want to know, did that representative put the Holy Father on hold for an extended period of time? Perhaps what's your takeaway? I mean is this a sign of the times?

MCGRADY: I think if anybody should be able to get out of customer service calls, it's the Holy Father.

At least it was a real person and not an A.I. agent, right? Like that probably would have really annoyed him.

I'm more shocked that every Chicagoland business didn't immediately go look at their logs and see if they had a robertprevost@gmail.com so they could advertise the Pope as our customer. I mean even his favorite pizza place was promoting he comes here for deep dish.

So I think the bank missed a real great P.R. opportunity. But hey, the Pope probably wanted to make sure that his brothers could access his accounts. He had taken a vow of poverty, but the man was not starving.

And we actually now know the Holy Father has given some of his own income to various peace efforts in Ukraine. So the Holy Father is certainly concerned about where his money is going, even though he doesn't really have to worry about picking up the tab anytime soon.

SANDOVAL: No, absolutely not. Katie Prejean McGrady, thank you so much. Always a pleasure having you on.

MCGRADY: Thanks for having me. SANDOVAL: CNN employees are remembering the life and the legacy of Ted

Turner, the pioneer of cable T.V. news and founder of this very network. He died on Wednesday at the age of 87 after a long battle with lewd body dementia.

CNN employees say they left notes on those famed red letters at CNN's headquarters in Atlanta. And that's where the billionaire businessman launched this 24-hour news network back on June 1st, 1980.

Our anchors and our reporters take a look back on how Ted changed their lives forever.

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WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR, "THE SITUATION ROOM": At one point, Ted Turner said to me, we have an opening. We want you to be our Pentagon correspondent. And I said, Pentagon correspondent?

I said, I'm not really an expert on the Pentagon or the military. But he said, you're a great journalist. You're breaking stories.

You can go to the Pentagon, you can go to Toledo, you can go to Timbuktu. You'll break news. That's what we want at CNN, we want you to go to the Pentagon and break news.

That was my first day at the Pentagon, May 8th, 1990. And I thought it was going to be a relatively slow beat because the Cold War was winding down. The U.S. was closing a lot of military bases all over the country.

I thought it would be a slow beat. But a few months later, Saddam Hussein invades Kuwait. Operation Desert Shield becomes Operation Desert Storm.

And then everybody on Earth is watching CNN and watching me report from the Pentagon, military affairs correspondent. And it was just, it changed my life, obviously.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: I remember, it was my first time to the United States.

And I'd obviously done a lot of research about CNN. And I got Ted's vision. And it was like, this is who I want to work for, this is where I want to be.

And I walked into the Omni Hotel in the CNN Center on the evening of Friday, the 26th of January, 1990. And you know who is sitting with his family having his dinner in the restaurant? That was Ted Turner.

I kind of, I didn't really see him again. I was hired by the chief engineer the next day. I'm back to London before I can turn around.

And I don't think I saw Ted for 10 years or more than that. That was because we were going to the ends of the Earth all the time to get the news. I met my wife because of Ted Turner. We were on the road together,

working for CNN, going into Baghdad during the war. Ted gave us the passion, the commitment to do that, the inspirational things we did.

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: He also was very clear that we had to cover all sides of the story. We could not just cover it from one perspective.

In fact, he banned the word foreign news or foreign correspondent at one point. He called us international.

And that was him saying, we're all part of one global community. And it might sound quaint today, but it's what we all believed in. And he told us that we had to be the eyes and ears of people out in the world.

[03:34:56]

We need to be able to go out into the world and report back with real facts, with real eyewitness, with real images and storytelling to make people understand the very complex and often dangerous world, often uplifting world that they lived in and their part in it.

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SANDOVAL: Welcome back to CNN, and this is your Business Breakout. We do want to begin with a check of where the Asia-Pacific markets stand at this hour with the promise of a potential deal between the U.S. and Iran. You can see that Asian markets across the board are up.

And we also want to get you now your business headlines.

When you bought an iPhone between June of 2024 and March of 2025, you could be entitled to a partial refund. Apple agreed to pay $250 million to settle a lawsuit that claimed that the company misled customers about the A.I. capabilities of its Siri digital assistant. The settlement is expected to deliver some $25 to $95 to anyone who bought an iPhone 15 or 16 during that time.

The maker of popular weight-loss drug Wegovy is nudging up its full- year outlook after reporting stronger sales of its pill version than expected. Shares of pharmaceutical giant Novo Nordisk actually finishing the session more than 2 percent higher, based on the news.

And healthy fast-food chain Sweetgreen hoping a new item on the menu will revive its sluggish sales. It's added four versions of a new chicken wrap priced under $15 as a permanent offering on the menu. And the move comes as younger consumers opt for fast-food chains with deeper discounts.

And finally, K-pop supergroup BTS paying a visit to Mexico's National Palace where they were greeted by a multitude of screaming fans. We're talking around 50,000 members of the so-called BTS Army.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

V, MEMBER, BTS (translated): Did you miss us? We missed Mexico a lot.

The energy here is incredible.

Thank you for loving us so much, see you next time.

R.M., MEMBER, BTS: Let's have fun.

R.M. (translated): I love you. Thank you very much.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: Not bad, right? A sea of fans that you see there gathering to catch a glimpse of the group who had been meeting with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum. She thanked them for promoting a culture of peace and inclusion.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ABIGAIL CASTRO RODRIGUES, BTS FAN (through translator): I have known BTS since I was 13 years old. I'm 25 now and I'm extremely excited. I've been waiting for them for almost 10 years, so I am really excited.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: And the President also invited them to come back next year. Those excited fans, they've been waiting for hours in the city's main square. BTS playing their first of three shows in Mexico City later today.

Thank you so much for watching, I'm Polo Sandoval. We leave you with "World Sport."

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