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Trump Slams Iran's Response; Passengers Disembark From Hantavirus-Hit Cruise Ship; VA Supreme Court Strikes Down Democrats' Redistricting Plan; Rising Prices For FIFA World Cup Too Steep For Many Fans. Aired 5-6p ET

Aired May 10, 2026 - 17:00   ET

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

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JESSICA DEAN, CNN ANCHOR AND FIELD CORRESPONDENT: You're in the "CNN Newsroom." Hi, everyone. I'm Jessica Dean here in New York. Just moments ago, President Trump responding to Iran's answer to the latest U.S. proposal to end the war, calling Iran's response totally unacceptable in a new post. Iran said it sent its latest proposal through Pakistani mediators this morning.

And it comes just days before the president's long anticipated meeting with China's leader, Xi Jinping, in China. They are expected to discuss the war with Iran and its disruption of global energy markets during a two-day summit that begins on Thursday.

Setting that stage, we bring in CNN's Julia Benbrook, who is at the White House. Julia, just hearing from the president on Truth Social again a few moments ago with a very clear, very forceful response. Tell us more.

JULIA BENBROOK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. It had really been a waiting game here at the White House. We knew that the Trump administration had sent over this proposal. They were waiting on Iran to respond. It was taking longer than they had expected it to. In fact, on Friday, Trump and other administration officials had said they thought they would receive a response that day. Trump now says that he has received it, he has read it, and he doesn't like it.

I want to pull up this post for you now. It's a relatively short Truth Social post on his platform. He said, I have just read the response from Iran's so-called representatives. I don't like it. Totally unacceptable. He then signed it as he normally does. Thank you for your attention to this matter, Donald J. Trump. Now, on Friday, when he was pressed about the timing of this as they were still waiting on it, he was asked specifically, did he think that Iran was slow rolling this response? And he said, we'll find out soon enough.

But while we know how he feels about this, there are still not a lot of details that we know about it. We have reached out to the White House to see what exactly was included and how Iran is addressing those key issues related to their nuclear ambitions, enriched uranium, the things that we've been talking about for quite some time now. DEAN: And Julia, OK, so we have that happening. We also know the president obviously preparing for this meeting with Xi Jinping of China, something that has had to be postponed and rescheduled, happening later this week. What more can you tell us about that?

BENBROOK: Well, as you alluded to earlier, this topic of the war in Iran and everything that it impacts will no doubt loom over this meeting with the Chinese leader, Xi Jinping. Trump is expected to arrive in Beijing Wednesday. And then Thursday morning, we do expect there to be a welcome ceremony, a bilateral meeting between the two leaders, and then that will all lead up to a state banquet, a dinner.

Now, White House spokesperson Anna Kelly has said that this will be a visit of tremendous symbolism and significance, but that no trip that the president takes is just about symbolism, that he will be looking to get things done for the American people. They talked about trade as well as just discussing a number of agreements on a number of industries spanning from aerospace, agriculture, and energy. So, lots to look out for there.

And we already know that Trump expects to then hold Xi here, hold a meeting with Xi here at the White House sometime next year. So that will be a reciprocal visit. We will see both of them visit each other.

DEAN: OK. Julia Benbrook at the White House, thank you for that. We are joined now by Josh Rogin. He's the lead global security analyst for Washington Post intelligence. He's also the author of "Chaos Under Heaven: Trump, Xi, and the Battle for the 21st Century."

Josh, a good person to talk to as we prepare for this meeting with those two leaders. I do want to start first though with this response, the president's response to Iran's response to the U.S. proposal. What does it say to you that that's what we're hearing from the president, totally unacceptable, he does not like it?

JOSH ROGIN, LEAD GLOBAL SECURITY ANALYST, THE WASHINGTON POST: Right. Well, although we don't have every detail of Iran's response, what's clear from the president's reaction is that the two sides are still very far apart. And what that means is that despite the fact President Trump has said previously that Iran has -- quote -- "agreed to everything or almost everything," that's not true. The Iranians are still not giving in on some of the key issues, including Trump's demand that they hand over their nuclear enrichment capability and their nuclear enriched stockpiles.

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And what that translates to is that means the stalemate and the blockade and the war is going to go on for a long time. No one anticipates that President Trump will start major combat operations this week because he's about to head to Beijing and that would be awkward, to say the least. After that, he faces a choice. He can either resume bombing in order to put more pressure on the Iranians or he can play a waiting game and hope his blockade pressures the Iranians by itself. Either way, it doesn't look like Iran is feeling pressured. And so, I would say we're in this for the long haul. DEAN: And you used that word stalemate. Is that where we are at this point?

ROGIN: Yes. Make no mistake that a blockade is an act of war. So, we are still at war but without major combat operations, without any concessions. What we've got is a push. The Iranians are not yielding on their control of the Strait of Hormuz. Trump is not about to back off of his blockade. So, that means we have rising energy prices, rising economic pain not just for the United States but for every single country in the world, including Iran, that's true, and that means that neither side believes that time is -- that they're on the clock and, you know, President Trump thinks he can wait out the Iranians and Iranians thinking to wait out President Trump.

One of them is wrong. We just don't know which one yet. Meanwhile, your gas prices, everyone's prices around the world are going to continue to rise and all of our economies are going to continue to suffer. That seems clear.

DEAN: And so, while all of these is happening and kind of in its holding pattern, let's call it for the time being, the president heads to China to meet with Xi Jinping. What is at stake in that meeting?

ROGIN: Right. Well, imagine the optics. President Trump is arriving in Beijing to meet the leader of the other world power in the middle of a war that he's fighting and China is in the middle of that war because the Chinese government has been helping the Iranians. The United States government sanctioned three Chinese firms for providing signal intelligence that allowed the Iranians to target Americans. That just happened last week.

So, you can expect that President Trump is going to pressure Xi Jinping to stop helping the Iranians so much and maybe try to push them to make a deal. But I don't think Xi Jinping is going to do that. I think the dynamic here is that Trump is going in with his hat in hand, that he needs Xi Jinping's help. I think that Xi Jinping knows that, and he's not going to give Trump what he wants.

On the broader relationship, I think we are going to see not much new, some trade deals, maybe some agricultural deals, maybe some technology deals. But the fact -- what I'm hearing from my sources is that there is not a lot of huge announcements coming from this trip. It is two old friends meeting each other. Trump thinks Xi Jinping is his very good friend, right or wrong, and he has been wanting to go over and see his friend and he's going to see his friend. There could be a lot of parades, a lot of nice dinners, not a lot of big announcements, and the Iran war will cast a shadow of the entire affair.

DEAN: Yes. What is the relationship that the war is going to play here? I mean, how big of a topic do you think that might be?

ROGIN: You know, it is clear that President Trump sees China as a potential bad actor that needs to be pressured and also a potential good actor that could aid in negotiations. So, he needs something from Xi Jinping. I don't -- you know, there's a lot of people who watch China and say, well, China is really suffering from the war, too. That's true. The Chinese do get something like 11 percent of their energy from Iran. So, they're not thrilled about this.

But it's really the United States that needs help getting out of this thing. President Trump wants out of the war. Xi Jinping could help him do that. Again, I don't think Xi Jinping is going to do that, but it changes the power dynamic between the two leaders because Trump is in a bind and Xi Jinping holds the keys to getting him out of that bind. I think that will definitely be a point of leverage and Xi Jinping is surely going to use it.

DEAN: Yes. So, to that point, Tehran's ambassador to Beijing said today China could guarantee any potential agreement. So, how has this, if you think it has, raised China's political standing or leverage in the broader global order?

ROGIN: Jessica, it's a great question. You know, I spend a lot of time talking to diplomats from a lot of countries in Asia, and they all say the same thing. They see the United States is distracted. They see the U.S. Military as using a lot of its weapons that should be used to deter China in the Middle East. Its stockpiles are low. And basically, if you're some country in Southeast Asia or East Asia, China, all of sudden, seems like a more reliable and more stable partner as crazy as that sounds. And that's new. That wasn't always the case.

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Now, for our allies in Asia, we can do a lot of things to reassure them that we still care about that region. We haven't done those things but we could. And for the other countries in Asia, I think they're going to increasingly look toward China as an alternative because they see the United States is having started a war that has nothing to do with them but that is raising the cost of living and the gas prices for every citizen in the country and bring their economies at risk, and they're right about that So, you know, all wars have consequences that you don't really calculate.

When it comes to China, you know, the fact is that a lot of countries in the region see China as a more reliable and responsible world power. I don't agree with that, I don't think that's right, but that's what I'm hearing from a lot of Asian diplomats. And you can understand why they think that. Because all of their citizens in all of these countries are asking them, why is Trump doing this to us? Why are my gas prices going up for Trump's war? I don't get it.

DEAN: Yes. Quickly, before I let you go, what does it mean for Taiwan?

ROGIN: Well, it's interesting. You know, the White House is signaling that there will be no policy change on Taiwan. That's a good thing. The fear had been that President Trump would go to China and ask Beijing for something. And what does Xi Jinping want? Well, he wants Trump to say something new on Taiwan. We don't support Taiwan's independence. We want Taiwan to do A, B or C. And the White House is aware of that. So, it seems like their strategy is to not make any news on Taiwan.

But then there's President Trump. He can do whatever he wants. He's a wild card. It's not like the people in the White House can tell him what to do or knows what he's going to do. So, I think everyone is just watching.

When he gets out of that meeting, did he -- did Xi Jinping get him to say something or do something on Taiwan that's new, that's not good for Taiwan, that's good for China? I think the people in the White House are hoping that doesn't happen. Taiwanese are surely hoping that doesn't happen. But, you know, Trump is liable to do anything in that situation. So, I think everyone both in Taiwan and in China and, frankly, here in Washington, is pretty concerned about that. We'll just have to wait and see what happens.

DEAN: All right. Josh Rogin, good to have you. Thank you.

ROGIN: Any time.

DEAN: The first Americans stuck on a cruise ship with a deadly outbreak of hantavirus are now off that ship and preparing to leave the Canary Islands as we learn a French passenger that has been evacuated is now showing signs of that deadly disease. We are live in the Canary Islands with the latest. Plus, Democratic efforts to gain more seats in the midterm elections took a blow this week. What it might mean for the party headed into the midterms and beyond. We're going to break that down with two of our Democratic strategists. Plus, the World Cup kicks off in one month, but you might not know it if you look at how many tickets still are available. You're in the "CNN Newsroom."

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DEAN: We do have breaking news tonight as American passengers are on board a plane home after disembarking from the cruise ship hit by the hantavirus. Health officials say none of the 17 Americans showing symptoms at this moment. They were met by CDC officials. They're due to fly tonight to a quarantine facility in Nebraska. If they continue to show no symptoms, they can go home where they will be monitored daily over the next 42 days.

Not everyone is off that cruise ship yet. Tinder boats will start bringing the remaining passengers to shore tomorrow morning. Also, one French passenger has become sick and started showing symptoms. That happened today while on a flight home to France after they cleared medical screenings. Three people have died in this outbreak so far. Others have gotten sick from the virus that is typically spread by rats.

CNN's Rafael Romo is at the CBC headquarters in Atlanta. Melissa Bell is in the Canary Islands where that ship is now anchored and people are coming off the boat. Melissa, let's go first to you. What you've been seeing? What you're learning tonight?

MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The operations here that were handled by the World Health Organization have finished ever since the sunset. And what we did see were those last passengers. You can probably just see it over my shoulder there in the dark. The MV Hondius is just over there still.

The last passengers to be offloaded before the sunset were those 17 Americans taken from here as all of the other nationalities had. They were taken in groups by nationalities in order, Jessica, not to have the people stay on the island for too long. So, straight from the ship through on these little boats to the shore, through buses, and onto the airport where, on the tarmac, each plane waits for the whole group to arrive in order to take off.

So, those Americans now waiting to leave Tenerife at the end with - of what will have been an extraordinary ordeal for all of them, more than five weeks on this ship, with all of that uncertainty ever since May 2nd about their fate, where they would land, how -- whether or not they would stay safe despite the quarantine measures that were taken as soon as this virus was identified on May 2nd.

You mentioned a moment ago those French nationals. They were some of the first taken off the boat this morning after the Spanish and the Dutch. The fact of one of them showing symptoms on a flight is really significant for a number of reasons. Not only because we've been hearing from health authorities that ever since they left Cape Verde and arrived here, all of the passengers were asymptomatic. That continued throughout the day. Through all these screening procedures and checks, they continue to be asymptomatic.

What we've been hearing from health officials is that as a result of this outbreak, they've really been able to study as they go along how these contact cases have gone, how this and this virus appears to be transmitted.

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And what they're concluding, say officials at the World Health Organization, as a result of this particular outbreak is that it appears that its transmission happens when someone is showing symptoms. So, you'll remember back during COVID times, you could be asymptomatic and still passing COVID onto someone else. Not so with this one. They say you have to be showing symptoms, and then it is very close proximity that appears, they say, to lead to transmission. So, the fact that that passenger started showing symptoms is really significant. Immediately, the French announced that special measures will be taken to keep those five French nationals that were taken off the MV Hondius yesterday safe and quarantined.

Now, each country then has its own protocols. But we were speaking to the head of the director of the World Health Organization here tonight as the operation is wrapped up. He's very pleased with how it's gone. It has been a very efficient and transparent system of getting the people off the ship.

The only people left on it now are some of the passengers, the last group of Australians that will only come off tomorrow afternoon, some of the crew that are going to take this ship now back to Rotterdam in the Netherlands where it will be fully disinfected, and this extraordinary journey that we've all been following for the last couple of weeks. Jessica? DEAN: All right. Melissa there on the Canary Islands, thank you for that. Let's go now to Rafael again outside the CDC in Atlanta. Rafael, we're talking to you as these Americans are standing by. They're now on this plane to come back to the U.S.

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Jessica. Well, as we see that live image from the Canary Islands with the plane that is going to transport the Americans back home, we have to talk about how a multi- step process must happen, officials say, before those American passengers can return home here in the United States after disembarking the MV Hondias cruise ship in Tenerife, in Spain's Canary Islands earlier today.

Those 17 U.S. passengers will initially be evaluated by U.S. centers for disease control and prevention staff after disembarking in Tenerife. According to a CDC official, that was expected to happen. This means the CDC will conduct a risk assessment on each American passenger.

The next step, according to a source familiar with the matter, involves transporting the Americans back to the U.S. aboard a charter aircraft. That airplane is equipped with a biocontainment unit similar to those used during COVID-19 evacuations. Their first stop once those passengers are back here in the United States will be the National Quarantine Unit at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha where they will be evaluated further for symptoms and the possibility of infection.

Jessica, in an interview with CNN's Jake Tapper on State of the Union this morning, CDC Acting Director Jay Bhattacharya also explained what will happen once those passengers arrive in Nebraska where a team of experts will be waiting for them.

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DR. JAY BHATTACHARYA, ACTING DIRECTOR, CDC: We are going to interview them and assess them for risk. Risk meaning, in this case, risk doesn't mean the risk of dying from the disease or anything. The risk is high risk if they've been in close contact with somebody who was symptomatic. If they weren't in close contact with someone who is symptomatic, then we're going to deem them low risk. If they were in close contact, we're going to deem them, you know, medium or high risk.

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ROMO: And Jessica, Dr. Bhattacharya said that once that assessment is made, health officials will offer the passengers several alternatives. Those options include staying in Nebraska where the National Quarantine Unit, which is a federally funded facility, is located. Another option, according to Bhattacharya, is allowing the passengers to -- quote -- "safely drive home without exposing other people on the way." Those people would be monitored by their state and local public health agencies.

One point that the acting CDC director seemed eager to emphasize is that even though the memory of COVID is fresh in people's memories, it would be wrong, he said, to assume we're dealing with similar risks. Jessica, now back to you.

DEAN: Yes, that is a message we've heard from officials all across the globe throughout this. Rafael Romo outside the CDC in Atlanta, thank you for that. Democrats are hoping for big pickups in the midterm elections in November. We're going to talk with two Democratic strategists about the state of the party as they head into that critical timeframe. You're in "CNN Newsroom."

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DEAN: House Democrats left scrambling after Virginia's Supreme Court handed Republicans a win Friday in the redistricting tit-for-tat by blocking a referendum passed by voters that would have helped Democrats win up to four more House seats in the Commonwealth.

It was a major setback for Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries. He tells CNN, though, Democrats can still win the House back in November. He's also got an eye on 2028, calling out several blue states that are under pressure to redraw congressional maps in favor of Democrats next cycle.

Let's discuss now with two Democratic strategists, Antjuan Seawright and CNN political commentator Paul Begala. Good to have both of you. We did this last week with Republicans and it's nice to have two Democrats here because, sometimes, it's just good to dig in on one party and see what -- see there is to see.

Paul, let's go first to you. I do want to talk specifically about this redistricting war. Again, this mid-decade redistricting war set off by what the president wanted in Texas and now we're seeing it all over the country. How do think Democrats are handling this?

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And do you think doubling down at this point is the right move from Jeffries and leadership moving into these midterms?

PAUL BEGALA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Well, first, I'd say it's outrageous. Right? In Virginia, 1.6 million Virginians voted for those maps. So, that's completely legitimate. It was a fair, free election. And 1.6 million Virginians voted for it. And four unelected Republican lawyers on the state Supreme Court get to set that aside. It's outrageous. But I guess that's, you know, the final word on it. So, Democrats have to use that to motivate their voters. And believe me, it's going to work.

I got to say, Jess, people are totally missing this story. They say, well, the Democrats may lose four seats in Virginia. First, I think they'll win a couple of those four, actually. But set that aside. They're putting their house up on Republicans on a four-foot stilt, and there's a 40-foot wave coming. This is going to be the best year the Democrats have had in decades.

And Republicans are trying to stack it in every way they can. They're changing the maps. They're messing around with this system. It's not going to save them. I could be wrong. I often am, as you know, but I'm never in doubt. This is going to be a landslide Democratic year.

DEAN: And Antjuan, what do you think about what Paul is saying? Because when we've been talking about this in the past, you do -- look, you have what's going on with redistricting, which is what Republicans are really focused on, and they are having some wins there. There's also history and what it tells us about what happens to parties when they have all levers of government in a midterm election. Typically, the House is going to flip. And we have these historically low approval ratings for the president specifically on some of these issues that voters like affordability really care about.

ANTJUAN SEAWRIGHT, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Well, we've moved past calling it redistricting. This is an intentional effort from a long- term playbook brought to you by your neighborhood Republican Party to exterminate and eliminate Black participation and Black political representation, particularly all across the south. This is also a new effort to essentially if you can't beat them, cheat them strategy by Donald Trump, who is now the leader of the Republican movement.

What I would say is that elections are won on Main Street and my street. We talk about these things on K Street. When Democrats have message, disciplined, and focused in every single election since the election of Donald Trump to the presidency, not only have we outperformed the narrative, we've been able to outperform the expectation and win seats that no one thought we would be able to win. And part of the reason we've been able to do that is because we've been able to focus on this unnecessary affordability crisis created by Donald Trump and the Republican Party.

If you add to that this war of choice that's costing us a billion dollars a day, the American people are pissed off and they continue to express their disappointment and their frustration at the ballot box when given an opportunity.

And to one more point that Paul made, I would also add we've learned this in previous elections. It's easier to vote against something than it is to vote for something. So, when people say Democrats are just as bad as Republicans, I will remind you, sometimes, it's not a vote for Democrats, it's a vote against the people who are in charge calling all the pain that most of us as Americans feel every day.

DEAN: OK. So, to that point, Paul, I want to talk about the -- what Democrats are selling to people out there as we look to the fall. And I want to play something from former president, Barack Obama, and there's another clip. So, this is the former president. This is what he said last week.

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BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: But what I'm more interested in for Democrats is, do you know how to just talk to regular people like we're not in a college seminar? Right? You know, can you talk plain English to folks? And so, what I'm looking for --

STEPHEN COLBERT, CBS HOST: Is there a strict no gobbledygook?

OBAMA: No gobbledygook.

COLBERT: Here -- you should carve that into the wall somewhere.

(LAUGHTER)

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DEAN: And then we heard from Congresswoman Debbie Dingell of Michigan this morning, and she was talking about a version of this. This is what she said.

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MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You're saying that you should not just focus on strictly being an anti-Trump party. Is that right?

REP. DEBBIE DINGELL (D-MI): You can't. That's not going to win. You got to show people how you understand how they're hurting and what we're going to do to help you on multiple fronts.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: So, Paul, I'm curious what you would say to Democrats out there running on that. It's Barack Obama saying talk like a regular person and somebody like Debbie Dingell saying it's not enough to just say don't vote for Trump, Trump is bad. The Democrats have to have a solution to.

BEGALA: Well, yes. Antjuan is right, though. First off, a midterm election is a very simple choice. Do we hit the gas or hit the brakes? That's it. That's it. And this is a brake pedal election, if I've ever seen one. The last time Trump had a midterm, he lost 41 seats.

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By the way, President Obama, who I was honored to help reelect, he lost 60 seats, 62 in his first midterm. So, there is a correction that's going to come anyway.

But Democrats are at their best talking about cost. OK? Costs are too dang high. Gas was $295 on the day Trump entered. It's $452 today. That alone. And add to that the explosion in costs of health care, child care, elder care, all the things that kind of keep us going. By the way, property insurance because of climate change and fossil fuels, electric bills. So, all of those things.

Democrats need to have what they'll do to make it better. We start with raising the minimum wage, start with lowering the cost of health insurance under Obamacare, which they have raised. There's a lot of things Democrats can and should do. But, fundamentally, people are really tired of the party in power. And they're going to send a message. They have sent a message. There've been 229 elections since Trump came in. And hundred -- 193 of them, the Democrat outperformed Kamala Harris, who only lost by that much. So, we're winning everything that's not nailed down.

Here in Virginia, there are 133 electoral districts, counties, cities, and so forth. Abigail Spanberger improved the Democratic performance in all 133 of them, rural Virginia, suburban Virginia, urban Virginia. So, people are trying to tell us something, and they're telling us they want change and Democrats are part of change.

DEAN: And Antjuan, OK, to Paul's point, so as we head toward these midterms, there's also what we're seeing these primaries that are playing out right now. I'm thinking about the Michigan primary, Senate primary, but there's a lot of them playing out all over across the country. And the question before Democrats is what type of candidate is the right one to do what Paul is talking about, to win in the fall, even look ahead to 2028, which is a far way away, but I do think, you know, we are starting to kind of look that direction. Is it to go more progressive? Is it to be more moderate of a candidate? What do you think is the right thing for the Democratic Party moving forward if they want to win nationally?

SEAWRIGHT: Ballots. We can have a little hip hop and R&B. We can have a little country and a little rock and roll. And that's the diversity of our party. And that's one of the things that we value and appreciate.

But I would just say in the primary, you make a choice. In the general election, you're given a choice. We have to choose wisely because we know the big task ahead of us is how we compete in November.

And no matter who prevails in the primary, one of the most important factors we all must agree upon is that the differences we appear to have amongst each other do not compare to the differences we have with the other side. So, that's going to take unity, that's going to take message discipline and focus, that's going to take a little financing. No political romance without finance. So, money is going to be an important factor.

I would also say it's going to require us to meet the moment. That means running campaigns that include a high tech and a high touch element. We can't just do the things that are online and expect us to win. We have little grassroots to that, and we can't just do the grassroots to everyday touching. We have to make certain that we merge those things, and that's when Democrats are out there best.

Now, I don't want the expectations to be that we're automatically going to win because people are pissed off or angry at Republicans. We always knew we were going to be punching above our political weight going into the cycle.

But I am here to confirm to you, based on previous elections we've had since Donald Trump has taken office, when we've used the Republican crisis that they created called affordability as our North Star, we found very much so political currency and nutritional value in that, and that's what the voters' expectation for us is always going to be. How are we different from the people who have put us in this unnecessary choice economy?

DEAN: And Paul, I'll give you the last word on this because I'm curious. Your thoughts on that, too, in terms of the type of -- once you get through a primary, who you -- to Antjuan's point, if you want to win in November, who are the best type of candidates? And what might that look like as Democrats play that out amongst themselves?

BEGALA: Well, you got to have -- Antjuan is exactly right. You got to have candidates who fit the district. So, in New York City, that was a Democratic socialist. Fine. In Virginia, it was a former CIA officer, moderate. In New Jersey, it was a former Navy helicopter pilot, a moderate. This is the finest class of candidates I have seen recruited in decades for the Democratic Party. OK?

They've gotten accomplished, experienced people who I think are going to win like Roy Cooper in North Carolina, like Sherrod Brown in Ohio, like Mary Peltola in Alaska, you watch Alaska, but then exciting newcomers, my buddy James Talarico in my beloved Texas. And this is going to shock everybody. Scott Colom in Mississippi. Keep your eyes on Mississippi. Scott is running for that Senate seat down there. He's an amazing guy.

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He's a prosecutor, very successful, should have been on the federal court, but he got busted by Cindy Hyde-Smith, who Scott is calling Cindy Hyde-Prices, which is pretty good thing to call your opponent in an era of high inflation.

So, I think Democrats, they're recruiting. It's mostly one in the middle. Let's be honest. Campaigns or elections are running one in the middle because it's a moderate country. But what we're doing is finding candidates who fit their districts, who fit their states, and then putting them on the track and backing them. I love that.

DEAN: All right. Antjuan and Paul --

SEAWRIGHT: Jessica, back in --

DEAN: Yes.

SEAWRIGHT: Jessica, if I can say very quickly. Every time people have counted us out as Democrats, we've always taught them that they do not know how to count. Expect that to be the order of the day in November of this year.

DEAN: OK. This is very positive. We even have Paul pushing a Democratic senator maybe from Mississippi. That could be -- that could be -- that could be something. All right, Antjuan and Paul, it's good to see both of you. It's really great. Thank you so much.

BEGALA: Thanks, Jessica. DEAN: Yes. Global health experts say the hantavirus outbreak on the cruise ship is not like COVID and yet a lot of people are still really anxious about all of this. We have a clinical psychologist joining us up next here in the "CNN Newsroom."

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DEAN: All 17 Americans are now on board a plane home after evacuating the cruise ship at the center of the deadly outbreak of hantavirus. They've been medically assessed. They're now headed to the university of Nebraska Medical Center, home to the National Quarantine Unit, where they'll be checked again for any symptoms signaling early stages of that virus.

Dr. Jeff Gardere joins us now. He's a clinical psychologist and professor of behavioral medicine at Toro University. Thanks so much for being here with us. Look, there's the medical piece to this story that we've been covering. There's also the logistics piece and how they're managing an outbreak like this. But there is sort of a collective PTSD following the global COVID pandemic that I think really sends a shiver up a lot of people's spines where they go, is this this again? Why -- you know, they're really anxious about this despite global health experts saying this isn't COVID.

DR. JEFF GARDERE, CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST, PROFESSOR OF BEHAVIORAL MEDICINE AT TOURO UNIVERSITY: Yes. Well, thank God, that's the kind of information that we're getting. That is reassuring. But you're absolutely correct. I think a lot of researchers, scientists have said, that there is a form of collective psychological trauma due to the global pandemic of COVID-19. And therefore, whatever reassurance that we may be getting, whatever news that we're getting that's showing that this is under control, people are going to revisit. They have a disproportionately intense public fear of what happened with COVID-19.

So, it re- activates a lot of these memories and emotions from what we went through with that unprecedented global pandemic, which happened in our lifetime.

DEAN: Is there a tendency for the human brain to try to connect all of these things to make it feel more similar in the sense that like we've already had this experience, so our brain has been trained to have this experience, and even though the experts are saying, hang on, everyone, this is not that, like pump the brakes, our brains can kind of get ahead of us?

GARDERE: Yes. Absolutely. And our brains are going back to what happened. Look, we can physically get through these traumas. As we know, there was so much death, so much illness, long COVID and so on, and we've dealt with that with the reality of it.

But the mind doesn't move on as quickly. So, the mind, as you're saying, will go to something that is very similar in the experience so that it can identify what it is that's going on. In some ways, that's a healthy reaction. But in other ways, given the PTSD that many of us have had from the global pandemic, it makes that situation even much, much worse with something new like this, like the hantavirus that we're dealing with.

DEAN: And so, quickly, what is your advice to people to kind of calm their fears?

GARDERE: Sure. My advice to people is to get as much accurate information as you can, listen to a broadcast like this where we're giving a commonsense advice and actually identifying what people are going through so they know that they're not going through it alone or that it's not unusual, to stay away from fear-driven media or misinformation, and then finally, Jessica, control what you can, good hygiene, sleep, exercise, social connection, so important, and, of course, speak to your medical provider to get as much accurate information as you can.

DEAN: Accurate information is the gold standard here. Dr. Jeff Gardere, thank you so much. We really appreciate it.

GARDERE: Thank you.

DEAN: We'll be right back.

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DEAN: With a month to go before the start of the FIFA World Cup, excitement is building, but the high cost of tickets for matches being played in the U.S., Mexico, and Canada may mean a lot of fans will have to watch from home. Tickets for one of the tournament's hottest early matchups, Brazil versus Morocco in New Jersey, are selling from around $1,500 to as much as $58,000 on StubHub.

Our Leigh Waldman is at New York at Pen Station. Leigh, ticket prices vary wildly, but in general, this is not cheap. I think that is a fair statement.

LEIGH WALDMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's not cheap to get to the games, Jessica. It's not cheap to watch the games. If you're trying to save money, maybe watch from home. But you and I can go see the final game of the World Cup together at MetLife on July 19th for the low, low price of $2.2 million. Those tickets were just listed at the end of April right near one of the goals.

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If you want to snag a resale ticket, you can go to a FIFA marketplace or official resale website. But they don't control the prices there. People are reselling these tickets for thousands, even millions of dollars. Now, FIFA does take a cut from both the buying and the selling side of things. But they put out a statement when asked about the affordability of these games. They said FIFA's pricing strategy spans a broad range of price points and categories reflecting market demand for each match. Tickets have been released across sales phases such as Category 4 at the most accessible price point in a minimum of one thousand tickets priced at $60 for every match via participating teams, including the final. You're still -- you're just not really able to get any of those tickets anymore.

New York City's mayor, Zohran Mamdani, weighed in on the affordability of these games.

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MAYOR ZOHRAN MAMDANI, NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: I've been very clear about where I stand on the affordability of tickets. Soccer is a game that was born out of the working class. The ticket prices that we are seeing are not ones that many working people could even dream of affording.

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WALDMAN: Now, Jessica, if you're a Costco member, I've got some special deals for you here. If you want one match, one game match, you can pay starting at $4,750 for two tickets. If you want to go see the finale and see another game for a two-game match, you can pay $39,100 for two tickets. If you just want to catch two games, including one of the quarterfinals, you will be shelling out $21,950. But don't worry, you also get a Costco gift card with that price.

DEAN: I was just looking at that. I mean, hey, you're going to need it if you're paying $21,000 for tickets. You should get a gift card. What about lodging? How are people dealing with that?

WALDMAN: Well, so, we know, according to the American Hotel and Lodging Association, there was big predictions for people who are going to be flooding to the hotels in these host cities. That's not quite happening here. Let's take a look at just a few of these host cities. Kansas City, 85 to 90 percent of respondents are not meeting demand. That's the same story in Los Angeles and here in New York City.

Interestingly enough, though, in New York City, more than 60 percent of these New York City hotels that were surveyed were saying that travel barriers and geopolitical concerns were impacting their bookings. In Atlanta, it's kind of a half and half. Half are meeting their demand, half-armed.

The Lodging Association told us in an interview that people are just facing budget concerns and that's part of the reason why they're not meeting that demand here, Jessica.

DEAN: All right. Leigh Waldman here in New York, thanks so much. We'll be right back.

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