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Trump Issues New Warning to Iran; Trump Targets Critics Ahead of Midterm Primaries; Ukraine Attacks Russia; Ebola Outbreak Sparks Global Concern; D.R. Congo, Uganda Grapple With Deadly Ebola Outbreak; Investigation Underway After Two U.S. Navy Jets Collide; Understaffing, Poor Care Blamed For ICE Detainee Deaths. Aired 2-3a ET
Aired May 18, 2026 - 02:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us here in the United States and all around the world. I'm Rosemary Church. Just ahead on "CNN Newsroom," running out of patience. Donald Trump's new threat to Iran as a deal to end the war remains elusive. The global scramble to contain a deadly Ebola outbreak with new concerns some Americans may have been affected, too. Plus, CNN goes one-on-one with the first English golfer to win the PGA Championship in more than a century.
UNKNOWN (voice-over): Live from Atlanta, this is "CNN Newsroom with Rosemary Church."
CHURCH: Good to have you with us. U.S. President Donald Trump is issuing a new warning to Iran as he considers resuming military strikes there. He posted on his Truth Social account that if Iran does not act quickly -- quote -- "there won't be anything left of them." The threat comes just one day after Trump met with his national security team to discuss the path forward on the war. Sources tell CNN the Pentagon has prepared a series of military target plans should the president decide to resume strikes. We're told Trump is expected to meet again with his national security team in the coming days.
Meanwhile, top Iranian officials hosted the Pakistani interior minister and underscored what they describe as the U.S. destabilizing presence in the region.
CNN's Oren Liebermann joins us live from Jerusalem with the latest. Good to see you, Oren. So, what more are you learning about President Trump's phone call with Benjamin Netanyahu and Donald Trump's new warning to Iran?
OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN JERUSALEM BUREAU CHIEF: Rosemary, there wasn't much info given from either side about what Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Donald Trump discussed on that call yesterday, but I don't think it's surprise to conclude that it was very much focused on Iran. That's where Trump is trying to figure out a path forward here as he met with top national security officials and top White House officials on Saturday to explore different options. And they're all out there. It's now on Trump to make decision.
The Pentagon has prepared a series of different military plans, and that could include strikes on energy and infrastructure in Iran to try to destabilize the regime and try to weaken them or soften their position. The problem is, over the first two months of this war, none of that has worked and Iran's positions have only hardened. It made them very clear at this point, but they're not going to fold on those positions and it doesn't seem that there is a diplomatic path forward because the gaps right now between the U.S. and Iran are too great.
Israel, for its part, always believed negotiations would fail and has been prepped for a resumption of the war with Iran, but that depends on the decision Trump makes.
Now, Pakistan's interior minister visited Iran over the weekend and met with some of the senior officials there, including the president and the chief negotiator and speaker of the parliament, Mohammad Ghalibaf, but it is unclear that there was any progress or any planning for more talks in Islamabad to try to get towards a more -- a more durable ceasefire agreement. In fact, the only thing we know about the meetings comes from Iranian state media and semi-official state news where really the message was that they say the U.S. presence in the Middle East is the destabilizing presence, which doesn't exactly seem like progress on negotiations.
Back to Washington, Trump will meet again with his national security team and other senior officials in the administration. In the end, he has to decide here whether he's had enough of waiting as he has signaled repeatedly in his social media posts and whether he wants to go towards military strikes again. But Rosemary, the question then remains, what's the purpose and does it soften Iran's position because, so far, it has not.
CHURCH: Oren Liebermann in Jerusalem, many thanks for that live report. Appreciate it. Well, the Trump administration is touting its latest deal making with Beijing. It says China has agreed to purchase at least $17 billion of American agricultural products per year through 2028. The White House says this is just one of the deals Donald Trump and Chinese Leader Xi Jinping agreed on during the U.S. president's trip to Beijing last week.
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The U.S. says those commitments include setting up joint boards of trade and investment and purchasing 200 U.S.-made Boeing aircraft. But the White House did not offer specifics on those deals nor did it address its tariffs on some $30 billion of Chinese goods.
We are looking ahead to a big week in U.S. politics. Several states are holding primary elections on Tuesday. One of the biggest political battlegrounds this week is Georgia, where U.S. House and Senate primaries will set the stakes for some key midterm races. Topping the ticket is the contest for the U.S. Senate. Five Republicans are competing to take on the Democratic incumbent Jon Ossoff in November. We'll also be watching what happens in Kentucky, where Trump critic Congressman Thomas Massie is up for re-election.
The president's outsized impact on the midterms is clear after Republican Senator Bill Cassidy lost the primary race for his Louisiana seat on Saturday. The lawmaker is the first GOP senator to lose renomination in nearly a decade. Cassidy's loss comes five years after he voted to impeach the president over the January 6th insurrection. He spoke to supporters.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. BILL CASSIDY (R-LA): When you participate in democracy, sometimes, it doesn't turn out the way you want it to. But you don't pout, you don't whine, you don't claim that election was stolen. Our country is not about one individual.
(APPLAUSE)
It is about the welfare of all Americans and it is about our Constitution.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: But South Carolina's Republican Senator Lindsey Graham says the GOP is about one individual.
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SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): You can disagree with President Trump. But if you try to destroy him, you're going to lose because this is the party of Donald Trump.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: Larry Sabato is the founder and director of the University of Virginia Center for Politics. He's also the co-author of "Campaign of Chaos: Trump, Biden, Harris, and the 2024 American Election." Good to have you with us.
LARRY SABATO, DIRECTOR OF CENTER FOR POLITICS AT THE UNIVERSITYH OF VIRGINIA, AUTHOR: Thank you, Rosemary.
CHURCH: So, Donald Trump is tightening his grip on the GOP after helping knock out Senator Cassidy in the Louisiana primary Saturday. With Trump-backed candidates now advancing to the runoff, the next test of Trump's support comes Tuesday in Kentucky where Trump critic Thomas Massie is out for re-election. How do you expect him to go and what lessons were learned from Cassidy's loss?
SABATO: Some of the local Republicans in Massie's district have actually said publicly they think Massie will pull it out. But I don't know anybody outside that district who thinks he'll be able to win, particularly after the crushing defeat that the Louisiana senator got, losing by 20 points as a two-term U.S. senator, finishing third of three candidates in the primary. That was an absolute disaster. Senator Bill Cassidy, we're talking about. And, of course, it's all based on one vote. Five years ago, Bill
Cassidy was one of the Republicans in both houses who voted to impeach Donald Trump. And now, all but two of them are gone, and Cassidy is one of those who's now gone or will be as of January. So, Donald Trump doesn't forgive easily and time doesn't seem to make any difference. And I think Massie may discover the same thing.
CHURCH: So, we see President Trump influencing GOP primaries like this, but how likely is it that this actually ends up helping the Democrats instead of Republicans in the end?
SABATO: I think it will help Democrats nationally. There's nothing Democrats can do in a state like Louisiana or district like Thomas Massie's in Kentucky. They're just too deeply red, and anybody who has the Republican nomination will win the general election.
But what it does nationally is confirm what Democrats and independents increasingly believe. The Republican Party should be renamed the Trump Party. He runs it. He determines who gets nominated. He eliminates anybody who gets in his way. And it's terrific if your name is Donald Trump. It's not so good if you're a more moderate Republican or you're associated with the Republicans who used to run the GOP before Donald Trump came to the floor in 2016.
CHURCH: And Larry, President Trump returned from his trip to China with no breakthrough on the Iran war. And now, he's threatening new military action if a nuclear deal is not done, saying that the clock is ticking. And while top Iranian officials have been meeting with Pakistani mediators, there's no indication of any progress.
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So, what impact could a renewed military action have on Trump's already historically low approval ratings and, of course, on the trust and confidence of American voters?
SABATO: Well, I would expect his approval rating to take a dive even further than he is right now. He's in the mid to upper 30s, depending on the poll. He's over 60 percent disapproval, which is a terrible place to be in a midterm election year.
If he restarts the war with Iran, I think his approval rating will not only drop, but many people who have been associated with the MAGA movement may finally begin to edge away from him, not in large numbers, but elections are determined by the margins, by 2 or 3 percent of the vote. So, this is not going to be a good thing for Trump or Republicans.
And we've heard this movie over and over again. We've seen this movie before. Every week, Trump says, I'm going back to fighting and they'd better get ready for the drubbing of their lifetimes. Well, it also loses its punch after a while if he doesn't actually go back to war.
CHURCH: Right. Of course, we mentioned Trump's poll numbers being at historically low levels with Americans hurting over the affordability issue. The majority of voters saying they don't support the way Trump is handling the war with Iran. Of course, the effect that decision is having on high gas prices as well as the economy as a whole. So, what impact will all this likely have on the midterms come November?
SABATO: It is bound to reduce the chances that Republicans will hold the House representatives, even with the Republican victories in the redistricting war. And they've gained seven to 10 seats, which is a substantial number just through redistricting and the recent Supreme Court decision about voting rights, primarily for minority Americans.
But it isn't enough. This is probably going to be more of a wave election. They won't be necessarily a tidal wave, but it will be enough of a wave so that Democrats can take over the House. It's too soon to say on the Senate. Although Democrats are at least competitive there, they never expect it to be. So, this is not good news for Republicans or for Donald Trump. There's plenty of time for it to change, but it's hard to see how these gas prices will drop as much as Donald Trump is suggesting or that food prices will drop as much as he's suggesting.
This has been a disaster for Trump on the issues that really matter even to his base, which is foreign wars, they thought they were getting away from that with Donald Trump, and food costs and affordability, which Trump said he was going to go right to work on.
CHURCH: So, Larry, what more should the Democrats be doing to try to take advantage of Trump's historically low approval ratings, and who is their best bet to lead the party, do you think?
SABATO: Right now, they have no obvious leader, and they probably would be better to rely on the dozen or so prominent Democrats who are out front campaigning around the country, some of them where they can do the most influence.
As far as what the Democrats should do for the midterm, they need to stress the war and the costs of food and gas, not get into a democratic agenda and not emphasize some of their more controversial issues that may excite pieces of the democratic base but do not appeal to a broader electorate. This is the time for them to focus on Republicans and point to the inadequacies of Donald Trump and the republican agenda.
CHURCH: Larry Sabato, always great to have you with us. Many thanks.
SABATO: Thank you Rosemary.
CHURCH: Severe weather is threatening large parts of the United States. Over a dozen tornado reports and more than 100 hail and wind reports were recorded Sunday in Eastern Nebraska and Western Iowa. There were tornado watches in place covering more than four million people. Several homes and buildings were destroyed after a tornado tore through parts of Nebraska on Sunday. Volatile thunderstorms are in the forecast across much of the Plain States and Midwest through Tuesday. And this same system is bringing very dry and windy conditions to some areas and a significant risk of wildfires stretching from Arizona to Southwest Kansas. Well, days after Russia unleashed a deadly wave of strikes on Kyiv, Ukraine follows with a massive attack of its own on Moscow. We will have details after the break. And later this hour, North Korea has sent a women's soccer team to compete for the Asian Cup in South Korea. We will explore the historic nature of the visit and the limits of sports diplomacy. That's just ahead.
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CHURCH: At least four people were killed after Ukraine launched a massive drone attack on Russia with state media calling it the largest attack on Moscow in more than a year. Russia's Defense Ministry says it intercepted 556 Ukrainian drones overnight Sunday with Moscow's mayor saying air defenses shot down more than 120 drones. This came as Russia launched nearly 300 of its own drones at Ukraine. Ukraine says its forces had targeted facilities in the Moscow region, including an oil refinery. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had this message for Russia.
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VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE (through translator): The Russians need to think about their refineries, their oil facilities, their enterprises, and not about how to disrupt the lives of other people in Ukraine, Moldova or any other neighboring country. This is a very serious result. We will increase all forms of supply for our armies, drones, ground robots, shells, all resources to maintain proper protection and our active frontline operation.
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CHURCH: CNN's Anna Cooban is following all the developments from London.
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ANNA COOBAN, CNN BUSINESS AND ECONOMIC REPORTER: Ukraine's massive attack on Moscow involved over 500 drones fired toward the Russian capital. That's according to Russian state media agency TASS. And TASS says that this was the largest attack on Moscow in over a year. This comes a few days after, over Wednesday, Thursday, we saw a huge bombardment of Russian drones and missiles towards Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, where at least 25 people died, according to Ukraine authorities. It says this attack involved over 1,500 drones and over 50 missiles.
Now, it's paint to start picture from where we were a little over a week ago when there was a limited three-day ceasefire agreed between the two sides, an agreement to exchange prisoners. And comments from Putin suggested that he believed the war was nearing its conclusion. But quite clearly, with huge attacks over the past few days, it seems the war is very much raging on. Now, zooming out, it's important to note that Ukraine had some recent
successes or at least Russia has been stalling in its territorial gains. Last month, for the first time since August 2024, Ukraine managed to liberate more territory than Russia was able to seize. However, it is still a deadly war that's raging on. Last year, according to the U.N., marked the deadliest year for Ukrainian civilians since 2022, which is the year the war started, and Russia still controls around a fifth of Ukrainian territory.
Anna Cooban, CNN, London.
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CHURCH: Ukraine's massive drone attack comes just days ahead of Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit to China, which the Kremlin says will kick off on Tuesday. Putin will hold talks with Chinese Leader Xi Jinping during the two-day trip. The Kremlin says the two leaders will discuss bilateral issues and the Russian president is expected to discuss U.S. President Donald Trump's recent visit to China.
Well, some of the world's top divers have begun a new dangerous recovery mission in the Maldives. They are searching for the remains of four Italian nationals who died in a scuba accident last week. The body of the group's dive instructor was found soon after the disaster. On Saturday, a Maldivian Coast Guard sergeant died during a search operation. Now, a highly expert team with the Divers Alert Network Europe are starting their mission in an underwater cave. It begins at 55 meters deep. Investigators are also looking into how the Italian group ended up in a cave some 20 meters deeper than the legal dive limits.
A deadly Ebola outbreak in Central Africa has the world on notice. Coming up, the latest on the international efforts to help the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda contain the spread. We're back with that and more in just a moment.
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CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is mobilizing resources in Central Africa in response to the deadly Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda. The CDC is also working to relocate a small group of Americans who were reportedly affected by the outbreak. Health officials say at least 80 people have died among more than 200 suspected cases. There are currently no approved vaccines or treatments for the rare strain of the virus driving this outbreak.
CNN's Kristie Lu Stout joins me now. Good to see you, Kristie. So, what more can you tell us about the Americans who have been exposed to this latest strain of Ebola? KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: Yes, this is very worrying, Rosemary. A small number of Americans in the Democratic Republic of Congo have been directly affected by the Ebola virus. This as cases rise in Central Africa. This is according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control.
The CDC also says that it's working with supporting partners to get these Americans out. In a statement, this is what we heard from the CDC. They said this: Quote -- "The CDC is supporting interagency partners who are actively coordinating the safe withdrawal of a small number of Americans who are directly affected by this outbreak."
The U.S. government is reportedly trying to get these Americans out of the DRC to an area where they can be isolated and treated if they are infected. Now, this comes amid a very worrying outbreak of the Ebola virus in Central Africa, centering in Ituri Province in the DRC. It's also happening with cases in neighboring Uganda. There have been at least 80 suspected deaths. The case count is on the rise.
Ebola is, of course, a severe and often deadly disease. Historically, it has a fatality rate of anywhere between 25 percent and 90 percent. And this has all prompted the World Health Organization over the weekend to issue that declaration, calling this a -- quote -- "public health emergency of international concern."
Now, I recently spoke with Dr. Peter Piot. He's a world-renowned microbiologist. He's also a co-discoverer of the Ebola virus. And he told me that this outbreak in Central Africa is a -- quote -- "serious regional threat." And he also told me this: Quote -- "Let's not forget this is a region with high insecurity," he's making a reference to the ongoing fighting there, "high population mobility and this is an unusual strain of Ebola called Bundibugyo." " We have no proven vaccines or treatments. So it has all the elements for a much larger outbreak" -- unquote.
And Rosemary, Dr. Peter Piot also adds that he believes that this latest outbreak of Ebola may have been circulating undetected since March. That's two months ago.
CHURCH: Unbelievable. And Kristie, what effect have massive U.S. cuts to overseas aid had on the ability of central African countries and, of course, international bodies to respond to this outbreak?
LU STOUT: Rosemary, this is the key question that our editorial teams at CNN is digging into at this very moment. We've had those massive cuts to U.S. aid. We've also had the United States withdrawing from the World Health Organization. And experts have long warned that cuts like this could have a devastating impact on disease surveillance as well as emergency response, especially in very fragile areas.
The World Health Organization is saying that it is ramping up its international response and international coordination is needed here.
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Again, citing my conversation that I had with Dr. Piot, he said the immediate priorities are patient care, isolation, frontline protection, making sure that the frontline health care workers have their PPE. And he says international support and coordination will be essential to contain this outbreak -- Rosemary.
ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong -- many thanks.
Anne Rimoin is a professor of epidemiology at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health.
Appreciate you joining us.
ANNE RIMOIN, PROFESSOR, DEPARTMENT OF EPIDEMIOLOGY, UCLA FIELDING SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH: It's my pleasure.
CHURCH: So, the World Health Organization is warning that the latest outbreak of Ebola is a public health emergency of international concern. And it comes after a delay in reporting the outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo and in Uganda. What do we need to know about this specific strain of Ebola?
RIMOIN: Well, this specific strain, the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola, is in many ways similar to the Zaire strain. What we've seen in other wide scale outbreaks. The difference here is that this particular strain does not have a vaccines or therapeutics, and frankly, diagnostics that make it easy to detect it. The problem is that you need a much more sophisticated laboratory to be able to actually identify this strain, because the more common kinds of diagnostics that we use in the field for Ebola, Zaire, do not detect this strain.
CHURCH: So and the World Cup is not far away, which means a lot of people will be traveling right across the globe. How will this outbreak be contained and controlled, given there is no vaccine to stabilize this particular strain in Central Africa?
RIMOIN: Well, Rosemary, I don't think that this is necessarily a threat to the World Cup. This is something that's happening in Central Africa at present. But we do need to get in front of it. And it is a reminder that an infection anywhere can potentially and in fact, be an infection anywhere in the world. And, and so, what we need to be able to do is to make sure that we throw everything at this to be able to contain it. It is now we know that there are chains of transmission that have occurred. We missed because the diagnostics don't work very well and they missed all of these cases that have been transmitting for the last month.
You know, we need to make sure that there can be good surveillance and contact tracing and, you know diagnostics deployed to places so that more of these cases can be detected. And we need to have the treatment available for people, even supportive care, which is the only thing that really works in this scenario to date available to the Democratic Republic of Congo and to Uganda and to any other countries that might be affected.
CHURCH: So what would be happening there in Central Africa right now? And what do people generally need to be doing and looking out for to protect themselves in that particular region and beyond?
RIMOIN: Well, it's important to remember that that Ebola is spread through close contact with individuals who have Ebola. And this is pretty well documented through all of the outbreaks that we've had. And it's, you know, this, again, is a strain that we've seen before. This isn't a strain that we haven't seen before. Its just something that we didn't anticipate, or didn't have the tools to be able to, to anticipate quickly in place. So, you know, what I would say is for, for people who are in central Africa and in the region to, you know, make sure that if, if they're ill, that they make sure to let somebody know if they've actually been exposed to a case of Ebola.
I think that that's, you know, in particular important for health care workers who may be working in this region. I also think that to that, what we really need to be worried about is how we're actually going to contain this in the area and the way to be able to do that is to have good coordinated international response, to be able to empower the Congolese and the Ugandans to be able to get out there and to do the work that they need to do.
These are both countries that have dealt with Ebola outbreaks previously. They are the experts in being able to do this. But what they need are the resources, brought to bear, and all of the technical support from countries all over the world to be able to get in front of this.
CHURCH: And hopefully, they'll get that support. So what are the symptoms of Ebola?
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How is it treated? And what should people be looking out for in terms of early symptoms?
RIMOIN: Well, Ebola is a very serious disease. It's a -- it's a filovirus and its called a viral hemorrhagic fever because, it's something that actually can produce hemorrhaging, but, that's in the later stages. The early stages are no fever, fatigue, headache, gastrointestinal symptoms, vomiting, and then it can progress further to the kinds of serious symptoms that we've -- that we've seen associated with viral hemorrhagic fevers, including bleeding.
CHURCH: Let's hope this gets contained sooner rather than later.
Anne Rimoin, thank you so much for joining us. Appreciate it.
RIMOIN: Thank you for having me
CHURCH: The cruise ship at the center of the deadly hantavirus outbreak is expected to arrive soon in the Netherlands after weeks at sea. Dutch officials say quarantine facilities are being prepared for the 25 remaining crew members and two medical staff still on board. Once the ship arrives, it will undergo a full biomedical cleaning and will be disinfected. Meanwhile, global health authorities continue to monitor and contact trace those who have already disembarked, including a newly announced presumed positive test for one of the four Canadian passengers.
Still to come, an exclusive CNN investigation into the growing number of deaths inside ICE detention centers since Donald Trump returned to office. And the story of one family's desperate plea for answers after the loss of their loved one.
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CHURCH: An investigation is underway after two U.S. Navy fighter jets collided during an air show in Idaho on Sunday. Officials say all four crew members from both jets ejected and were able to parachute to safety.
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CNN's Rafael Romo has details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The midair crash happened on the second day of the gunfighters air show, held near the Mountain Home Air Force Base in Idaho, located about 50 miles southeast of Boise, the state capital.
A video of the crash obtained and geolocated by CNN, shows the two jet fighters colliding. And after a few harrowing moments, the four crew members on board ejecting, followed by the two airplanes crashing on the ground away from the public. "The Associated Press" reports that a naval air spokeswoman said the four crew members are safe and being evaluated by medical personnel.
In a statement, the Mountain Home Air Force Base gunfighters said the following an aircraft incident has occurred at Mountain Home Air Force Base during the gunfighter skies air show, two miles northwest of the base. Emergency responders are on the scene. An investigation is underway and more details will be released as they become available.
In a statement published last month, Mountain Home Air Force Base announced the gunfighter skies air show was scheduled to be held on Saturday and Sunday, May 16th and 17. Calling it a free event open to the public featuring the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds.
Mountain Home Air Force Base announced on its Facebook page that it went on lockdown after the crash and the Mountain Home police said the remainder of the air show was canceled. The base was the site of a Thunderbirds F-16 airshow crash in 2003, according to the U.S. Marine Corps. Then, in 2018, a hang glider pilot was killed during the same show, according to local station KTVB.
Rafael Ramos, CNN, Atlanta
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHURCH: Now to a CNN investigation which has found a spike in deaths at ICE detention centers during President Trump's second term. CNN's Priscilla Alvarez examines one such case the death of 52 year
old Jose Ramos. He is one of dozens of detainees who has died since the Trump administration ramped up its immigration crackdown last year. But as our investigation uncovered, it appears many of these deaths could have been prevented.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANTONIA TOVAR, HUSBAND DIED IN ICE DETENTION (translated): Very hard. That is why I tell my tree. I tell it my husband won't be eating its avocados anymore.
PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Antonia Tovar's husband, Jose Ramos, died in March, only about a month after being detained by immigration officials. He's now one of nearly 50 ICE detainees who have died since President Donald Trump's return to office.
TOVAR (translated): They used to call him "big hands" at work because he was muscular, right?
ALVAREZ (voice-over): Ramos came to the U.S. nearly 30 years ago. Last year, he was charged with theft and possession of a controlled substance and was placed in a diversion program, which meant that if completed, those charges would have been dismissed.
ALVAREZ: We know from ICE that Jose was arrested on February 23rd. His wife said they were making a stop here at the Superior Courthouse in Torrance so he could deliver some paperwork.
TOVAR (translated): There's his truck. That one.
ALVAREZ (translated): This one?
ALVAREZ: OK. That's their car.
ALVAREZ (voice-over): Antonia told us she briefly stepped away and when she looked back, she saw this.
Antonia worried about Ramos' medical conditions, diabetes and high blood pressure. He was sent to the Adelanto ICE processing center, about two hours from where they lived. According to ICE records, Ramos went through a medical intake and was prescribed medications.
GLORIA RAMOS, FATHER DIED IN ICE DETENTION: I don't think it really hit me until I walked into the room and I saw him.
ALVAREZ: What was that feeling like?
RAMOS: And when I walked into the room, his back was towards us and we walked in and I walked towards him and he was just sitting there looking down.
ALVAREZ: We're driving to the Adelanto detention facility. This is where Jose was held for several weeks and it's one of many facilities across the United States where ICE holds detainees. As you can see in this case, it is in a pretty remote area of California, about an hour and a half or more outside of Los Angeles.
Now, Adelanto had stopped accepting new detainees because of a federal judge during the coronavirus pandemic, but that was lifted in January of 2025. And since then, the population ballooned from around three people to nearly 2,000.
ALVAREZ (voice-over): A CNN investigation found that deadly outcomes in more than a dozen cases could, at times, be linked to substandard treatment at facilities where populations are rapidly growing. At Adelanto, four people in detention have died since 2025.
A spokesperson for GEO Group, the private company that operates Adelanto, did not answer questions about Ramos's death, but told CNN that the company provides detainees with, quote, "around-the-clock access to medical care" and is, quote, "independently accredited by industry groups."
[02:45:15]
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This call is subject to recording and monitoring. Press 1 to accept the call.
ALVAREZ (voice-over): We spoke to one of Ramos's cellmates, Marco Martinez, who called for help when Ramos collapsed.
MARCO MARTINEZ, ICE DETAINEE: The guard didn't do anything at all. Like he just sat there and watched him shake, and it got to a point where his eyes rolled into the back of his head, and he still didn't do anything. The medical showed up, but they didn't show up until another 10 minutes.
ALVAREZ (voice-over): According to a public ICE detainee death report, a registered nurse arrived one minute after a guard first noticed Ramos in medical distress and began providing aid. Emergency medical care services arrived 10 minutes later and began administering care. Ramos was transferred to a nearby hospital and was pronounced dead three minutes after he arrived.
ROB BONTA (D), CALIFORNIA ATTORNEY GENERAL: Lack of adequate health care staffing has been a theme across the facilities, including in Adelanto.
ALVAREZ (voice-over): The California attorney general has the unique authority, as of 2017, to inspect detention facilities in the state. The AG's office exclusively shared those findings with CNN.
BONTA: I think a big part of the really difficult set of results and data that we're seeing, including the deaths, is the surge in number of detainees and the complete inability and unpreparedness of the facilities.
ALVAREZ (voice-over): Ramos' family still has not been notified of the cause of death. The uncertainty over what happened is a living nightmare. TOVAR (translated): My god. We want justice. Let justice be served, because my husband did not deserve to die.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ALVAREZ: A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security disputed there had been a spike in deaths, saying in a statement, quote, "Consistent with data over the last decade, as of April 30th, death rates in custody under the Trump administration are 0.009 percent of the detained population. As bed space has rapidly expanded, we have maintained higher a standard of care than most prisons that hold U.S. citizens, including providing access to proper medical care."
Priscilla Alvarez, CNN, Washington.
CHURCH: CNN NEWSROOM continues in just a moment.
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[02:51:27]
CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone.
South Korea is hosting North Korean athletes for the first time in more than seven years. The North Korean women's soccer team is there for the Asia Club Cup. The visit comes despite strained relations between the two nations, as Kim Jong Un continues to harden his stance against the South.
CNN's senior international correspondent Will Ripley has more on the historic visit.
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WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: On Wednesday, millions of Koreans in the North and South may be watching the same soccer game, but they'll be living in two completely different realities. And those worlds collided during the arrival of Pyongyang's Naegohyang women's soccer team over the weekend, creating a massive media frenzy.
At the airport in Seoul, crowds turned out to cheer on the North Korean delegation of more than three dozen players and staff. The athletes certainly stood out in their matching dark blazers and skirts and heels and lapel pins featuring the faces of North Korea's late leaders.
The players carefully followed protocol, avoiding interaction with cheering crowds as they move quickly and quietly past the cameras. The two Koreas are technically still at war, so the team had to fly through Beijing because direct inter-Korean flights remain banned. Instead of a one hour flight, the trip took closer to half a day. The bus carrying the team left the airport under police escort. South Korea approved a special entry exemption for the delegation, while civic groups organized so-called peace cheering events for both sides. Officially, both governments insist this is about sports, not
diplomacy, but sports on the Korean peninsula almost always, never really is just about sports. The last major thaw in inter-Korean sports diplomacy helped pave the way for the historic 2018 summits involving Kim Jong Un and South Korean leaders and President Donald Trump.
Still, experts caution against reading too much into this moment. Relations between the North and South remain deeply strained. Kim Jong Un has abandoned decades of official policy, favoring peaceful reunification, while North Korea continues weapons testing and increasingly close military ties with Russia. Naegohyang means "my hometown" in Korean, and women's soccer has become one of North Koreas biggest sources of national pride. Kim Jong Un reportedly treats these players like national heroes.
Will Ripley, CNN, Taipei.
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CHURCH: A renowned mountaineer has smashed his own record by scaling mount Everest for the 32nd time. Kami Rita Sherpa reached the highest peak in the world on Sunday. The 56 year old Nepali sherpa was guiding clients from the 14 peaks expedition company at the time. Kami Rita has climbed to the summit nearly every year since 1994. Nepal's department of tourism congratulated him for achieving the historic milestone.
Well, pro golfer Aaron Rai has become the first Englishman to win the PGA championship in over a century. This 70-foot birdie putt on hole 17 all but sealed his spot atop a highly competitive leaderboard. Several major champions teed off Sundays final round, trailing American Alex Smalley, but Rai's eagle putt on the ninth hole set off a chain reaction with several more birdies, boosting him to a winning score of nine under par.
CNN World Sports' Patrick Snell caught up with Rai after the tournament as he reflected on the historic win.
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PATRICK SNELL, CNN WORLD SPORT: Well, many congratulations to Aaron Rai. You are a major golf champion. I wonder how that sounds to you. And also the fact from Wolverhampton in England, in the midlands over there, could you ever have dreamt this day possible?
[02:55:06]
AARON RAI, ENGLISH PROFESSIONAL GOLFER: It's -- it's an amazing its an amazing journey to, to get to this point. There's so much that goes into it and so much sacrifice from so many, from people, from parents, from family, from coaches, from friends.
So yeah, it's still hard for me to get my head around it. Because I also think what's required to perform in a tournament like this, it's very different than having a larger view of things and larger perspective on the journey to this point. And you have to stay extremely present and extremely focused on what's in front of you.
But, to try and reflect on it, it's absolutely incredible. Truly a dream come true.
SNELL: You are the first English golfer since 1919 to win this famous old tournament. That's 107 years ago. Put into context what it means to you, your family. And you just mentioned your parents there, the sacrifices as well that they made along the way.
RAI: Yeah, definitely. From a very working class family, my mum and dad, works a hell of a lot just to be able to get me into the game to pay for equipment, had an amazing sponsor along the way as well, Shabir Randeree who, helped me with my education, helped me with paying for golf expenses. So there's so many people, there's so much that goes into it.
And yeah, it's absolutely incredible. I actually didn't realize no Englishman had won it in the modern era since 1919. I didn't realize that until yesterday. It was mentioned in one of the interviews. But yeah, that's incredible as well. A lot of amazing English players over that time and they've gone on to achieve so many things, but it's absolutely incredible for me to be here and to have won this week.
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CHURCH: Congratulations on an impressive win there.
And thank you for your company this hour. I'm Rosemary Church. CNN NEWSROOM with Polo Sandoval is next.
