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Iran And U.S. Closing In On Deal To End Conflict; Crack Found In CA Chemical Tank At Risk Of Exploding; Drivers And Fans Remember Kyle Busch; AAA: Gas Prices For Memorial Day Weekend At Four-Year Highs; "Why We Dream" Premiers Memorial Day. Aired 5-6p ET

Aired May 24, 2026 - 17:00   ET

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

[17:00:00]

KARIN CAIFA, CNN REPORTER (voice-over): Karin Caifa, CNN, Baltimore.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: And thank you so much for joining me this weekend. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. The "CNN Newsroom" continues with Jessica Dean right now.

JESSICA DEAN, CNN ANCHOR AND FIELD CORRESPONDENT: You're in the "CNN Newsroom." Hi, everyone. I'm Jessica Dean here in New York. And tonight, the United States and Iran said they're inching closer to a deal to turn their current ceasefire into a longer lasting agreement.

But while many key details are still being negotiated, both countries are describing them quite differently. After announcing last night that a deal was imminent, President Trump said today the U.S. is not rushing into a deal. A senior U.S. official telling CNN nothing is expected to be finalized today. Some Republicans are already skeptical. Here's North Carolina Republican Senator Tom Tillis earlier today on CNN.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. THOM TILLIS (R), NORTH CAROLINA: There are a lot of things that need to be explained. And as I've said before, any agreement with Iran that isn't subject to ratification by Congress is going, I think, going to be doomed to fail just like the agreement we're trying to replace, which was the failed agreement by Obama.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: For more on the Trump administration's thinking around this, let's go now to CNN correspondent Julia Benbrook, who is live at the White House for us today. So, Julia, the final details being hashed out of this potential agreement, what are we learning about what might possibly be in there?

JULIA BENBROOK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the big question that we have been discussing for weeks, Jessica, is, will the United States and Iran be able to come to an agreement in the conflict? And that question remains today as a senior administration official tells me that they do not expect an agreement to be signed today. Those details, those specifics are still being worked out. That comes though just a day after President Donald Trump made an agreement sound imminent. He said that framework had been largely negotiated and that those details would be shared shortly. Today, he is saying that he's not in a rush to come to a deal, that he believes that time is on his side and he has told his team that they don't need to rush here.

I want to pull up part of his post from earlier today. He said -- quote -- "The negotiations are proceeding in an orderly and constructive manner, and I have informed my representatives not to rush into a deal in that time is on our side. The blockade will remain in full force and effect until an agreement is reached, certified, and signed. Both sides must take their time to get it right."

Now, Secretary of State Marco Rubio in recent remarks, he said that he does believe that some progress has been made over the last 48 hours. He once again emphasized the main goal here. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARCO RUBIO, UNITED STATES SECRETARY OF STATE: What is the goal here? The goal here ultimately -- the ultimate goal is that Iran can never have a nuclear weapon. Iran can never possess a nuclear weapon. The president has been clear about that. They will never possess a nuclear weapon, certainly not as long as Donald Trump is president of the United States.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BENBROOK: Now, an administration official says that the framework for a deal here would then give 60 days to reach a final agreement. So, in some ways, it would kick the can down the road to get things finalized. They did say that any deal would make it sure that Iran gave up access to a nuclear weapon and that they would also commit to getting rid of their highly-enriched uranium, which the president often refers to as nuclear dust. They said that how that stockpile would be disposed of, that would be decided later on down the road as those negotiations go forward.

Now, when it comes to the Strait of Hormuz, they said that this agreement would make sure that it reopened, that it would be demined and open for business once again, but they did not go into detail on how this critical waterway would function going forward.

DEAN: Yes, some of those very, very sticky -- sticking points still there and unresolved. Julia Benbrook at the White House, thank you so much for that.

Let's go for -- let's talk about more about this from the perspective of the Middle East. CNN correspondent Jeremy Diamond is joining us now from Tel Aviv. Jeremy, there is the question, too, of the Israel of this all. What is -- what is being said there about this potential deal?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, listen, it's no secret that the Israeli prime minister was hoping for a return to war against Iran. It was only a few days ago, in fact, that he was on the phone with President Trump, telling him that he thought it was a mistake to call off what was supposed to be planned strikes against Iran earlier this week.

[17:04:56]

And then yesterday, you see President Trump announcing that the negotiations are in their final stages, that there's going to be this deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Netanyahu gets back on the phone with President Trump.

And following that call, the Israeli prime minister is trying at least to, you know, dissuade any kind of notion of daylight between him and the president of the United States, instead focusing in this latest post on social media on the points of agreement that he has with President Trump and trying to frame President Trump's position as well as in line with his own, in particular, as it relates to the one issue that is not a part of this initial agreement with Iran that is still in the final stages of negotiation, and that is the nuclear issue.

The Israeli prime minister says that he and President Trump agreed that any final agreement with Iran must eliminate the nuclear danger, as he calls it. He also says that his and President Trump's policy both remain unchanged, that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon.

But as the Israeli prime minister is trying to frame his position and where President Trump is, it's also important to note that right now in the Middle East, we are watching the ways in which these last few yards of this negotiation could still potentially go wrong, and that's because the United States and Iran are framing this budding agreement in very different terms on several key issues as it relates to the Strait of Hormuz, as it relates to the future of Iran's nuclear program, the unfreezing of Iranian assets.

The question now is whether this is a question of how these two sides are framing this agreement for their two very different domestic audiences or whether it's actual concrete disagreements that could potentially hold up a deal from actually being signed. Jessica?

DEAN: And Jeremy, what do we know about what's going on in Lebanon?

DIAMOND: Yes. Well, this could also be one of those thorny issues of potential disagreement between these two sides because the Iranian officials through -- largely through Iranian state media have indicated that Lebanon would be part of this end of hostilities agreement here that -- which would mean that the Israeli military would have to cease its strikes against Hezbollah in Lebanon. But the Israeli prime minister in that same post said that President Trump -- quote -- "reaffirmed Israel's right to defend itself against threats on every front, including in Lebanon."

If this sounds familiar, this is very similar to what we heard after the initial ceasefire agreement with Iran went into effect. You'll recall at the time the Pakistani mediators said Lebanon was part of this agreement. The Israeli prime minister initially resisted that notion, ultimately did go along with the ceasefire. But the ceasefire that has been in place in Lebanon has seen daily Israeli strikes against Hezbollah. Hezbollah on a near daily basis as well has been attacking Israeli troops in Southern Lebanon.

So, we'll see whether this is going to be another potential issue that could unravel this emerging agreement or whether, again, this will be a question of how these two sides interpret it, reading between the lines. Again, there are still those negotiations that have been ongoing between Israel and Lebanon mediated by the United States. In fact, in just the last hour, the secretary of state, Marco Rubio, is talking about the importance of that dialogue. So, clearly, that's something that the U.S. is still going to try and push forward. Jessica?

DEAN: All right, Jeremy Diamond for us live in Tel Aviv, thank you so much for that reporting. Here to discuss this further, Jason Campbell, a senior fellow at the Middle East Institute. Jason, it's great to have you here. Thanks for being with us on this Sunday. Let's just start first with going off of your expertise, how you assess this potential agreement and what we know about it right now.

JASON CAMPBELL, SENIOR FELLOW, MIDDLE EAST INSTITUTE: Thanks for having me, Jessica. I think first is what we're seeing is the fruition of a stance that has really become increasingly obvious since the second week or so of this war and certainly since the closing of the Strait of Hormuz is that the administration has an uncomfortable choice to make either to escalate the war to include likely ground forces and more uncertainty and risk there or to come to an agreement that is going to be diplomatically unpalatable but necessary to break what has been a multiple-week stasis now with the closing of the strait and the increasing economic pressure it's putting on not only U.S. interests but also on the global economy.

DEAN: And this agreement would start a countdown clock for further negotiations on Iran's nuclear program. And that is what we keep hearing as a talking point from the secretary of state, from the president, from the Israeli prime minister, Iran will never have a nuclear weapon. That is the goal here. Two parts. What does a successful nuclear agreement look like? And is that a realistic expectation that Iran will never have a nuclear weapon?

CAMPBELL: Well, you're absolutely right.

[17:09:58]

I think, right now, this memorandum of understanding is basically just a path to what would be a more constructive negotiating platform to discuss first and foremost a nuclear issue, but also other ballistic missile program and likely their proxy elements throughout the region as well.

Now, what -- you know, again, an imperfect nuclear deal looks like the JCPOA that the Obama administration was able to, after years of negotiation, confirm with the Iranian regime back in 2016 whereby you had, albeit for a limited amount of time, very strict restrictions on the enrichment program, you had very tighter agreement on how they would be guided and watched as they went through the program. Right now, I think they're going to have to try to get back to an agreement that focuses on that nuclear program and isn't as comprehensive as President Trump had hoped to cover all of these very complex issues under one agreement.

DEAN: Yes. And, you know, you mentioned that it took years for the Obama administration to negotiate that. Ostensibly, the Trump administration doesn't want this to take years. But is this something, it is so complicated, that you can get -- that you can achieve in a shorter amount of time? Is that realistic?

CAMPBELL: It's very difficult to say. I would say though, right now, the atmosphere is more complex even than it was back a decade ago. You now have -- you know, Israel is very much involved here and being assertive in voicing their concern about sort of number two and three on the list being the ballistic missile program and the proxies. You have Iran now at least perceived to have more leverage now that it has been able to successfully keep the strait closed for so long. So, I think you've got a couple of factors now here that were not there a decade ago, which makes things all the more difficult to, you know, negotiate and talk through as we move forward.

So, I will say that in terms of trying to make some sort of an assessment of how long this might take, it's going to be a while. You know, quite frankly, the United States needs to get a team together that is, I think, better prepared and able to talk through some of these very specific technical details that they reportedly really didn't have available to them during the negotiations earlier this year.

DEAN: We heard that reporting from Jeremy Diamond about Israel and the prime minister and how that factors into all of this. What -- how do you kind of look at all of these in the present moment? We started this war and what we saw was Israel and the United States really in lockstep at the beginning. And now, here we are potentially at the end of it. And we do -- as Jeremy was just laying out, it was no secret that Netanyahu wanted to push forward that Trump wants to find a deal. What do you think of that dynamic and where do you think it is?

CAMPBELL: Well, I think step one here is, again, a cessation of hostilities that will allow for the signing of a memorandum of understanding that will at least put some sort of a timeline in place for more fruitful, hopefully, negotiations. Now, what that means is that Tehran has been insisting now for months that this include not only guarantees that the United States and Israel will not strike Iran, but also that Lebanon will no longer be hit by Israeli attacks.

That's certainly something that I think Prime Minister Netanyahu will be very reluctant, to give up that option. And I think President Trump is going to have to expend a pretty significant amount of political capital with Netanyahu. Even if though they have stronger relations, he's going to have to press him very hard, I think, to get him to agree to move forward on what we're talking about right now.

DEAN: Yes, a key dynamic in all of these. All right, Jason Campbell, thank you so much. Great to have you. We appreciate it.

CAMPBELL: My pleasure, Jessica.

DEAN: Now, if the Strait of Hormuz does reopen, how long until there's relief at the pumps? Well, here's a hint. I wouldn't be holding your breath. Plus, a massive tank filled with a toxic chemical now has a crack in it, but this could actually reduce the explosion risk. We've got new details from California ahead. And dark clouds hanging over one of NASCAR's biggest races as sports -- as the sport remembers Kyle Busch this weekend. You're in the "CNN Newsroom."

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DEAN: A step in the right direction. That's what authorities in Orange County, California are saying, is they race to keep a massive tank filled with a toxic chemical from leaking into the air, or worse, triggering a catastrophic explosion. Last night, firefighters went in to inspect the tank, and they found a crack they believe could be relieving pressure, which actually may lower the risk of an explosion. The tank contains a hazardous chemical known as MMA that is typically OK at 50 degrees Fahrenheit, but last night maxed out at 100 degrees.

The EPA is leading the efforts to monitor the air for any signs of the chemical. MMA can cause major respiratory issues, irritation to the lungs and nasal passageways, as well as dizziness and nausea.

[17:20:04]

Some residents say they've already started feeling symptoms. Officials say, though, that the chemical has so far not been detected in the air. About 50,000 people are being told to evacuate and shelters outside the evacuation zone are helping house those affected, but many say they simply fear the uncertainty.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNKNOWN: I'm scared because I don't know what's going to happen, and I don't know if anything that already is in the air is going to affect us or if it blows what's going to happen. You know, that's -- the unknown is really scary.

UNKNOWN: We got an evacuation notice. We had to get out, you know, so we did. I've worked in refineries my entire life so I know the danger of the chemicals that they're talking about. What I don't understand is why they haven't been able to contain this. If this was in a refinery, this would have been contained already.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: Joining us now, interim Fire Chief TJ McGovern with the Orange County Fire Authority. Thank you so much for being here with us. I know this is a very stressful and busy time, but give us the absolute latest as things stand right now. CHIEF TJ MCGOVERN, INTERIM FIRE CHIEF, ORANGE COUNTY FIRE AUTHORITY: All right. Thanks for having us. So, basically, yesterday, we brought in a team of experts. We have a subject matter expert with Hazmat. He has material experience from local fire agencies around here. These are the top SMEs in Hazmat. They came in and assisted us and developed a plan, kind of thinking outside the box of what we can do. So, they developed a plan. And last night, late last night, we went ahead and executed that plan.

And what we were able to do is we were able to put our firefighters in full PPE protective gear, and they were able to get up to the tank to assess the tank. They looked at the crack that we've been talking about. They looked at the continuity of the tank. They also looked at a gauge to show us the internal pressure or internal temperature of the tank.

So, we had more objectives to do. However, due to safety mechanisms, the temperature was one of our safety bullet points to where we had to abort the mission. But we're deeming this as a successful mission because of the intel we received by the visualization of the tank and some of the other elements to change our operational footprint today and our strategic approach.

So, it was a successful operation last night. And right now, what we're doing, we're taking all that information, and we're vetting and validating to make sure that now, we can implement a new plan to start attacking this incident.

DEAN: And so, what would you say is the threat to the public right now?

MCGOVERN: So, the biggest thing, and we go back to that crack, is we know there's a crack. And what we're trying to confirm is that crack releasing the pressure. So, our biggest concern right now is, is this tank pressurized? When we remove that element, this is definitely a step in the right direction. We're seeing indicators that we think that the pressure has been released. However, we have not confirmed that, and we have the SMEs right now confirming that. We're hoping to get positive info.

It's looking good, but we're not there yet. And within probably the next couple hours, we might have to do another operation for it just to confirm it. And once we do that, that's when we're definitely going to change our strategic approach and start focusing in on the explosion potential rather than the blebby. Right now, we're worried about the blebby piece of it.

DEAN: The blebby piece of it. And so, would you say, in listening to you talk, are things then -- have you -- do you feel like you have a better sense and a better sense of control today than you did yesterday?

MCGOVERN: Absolutely.

DEAN: Yes. MCGOVERN: And that had to with the operation we -- absolutely. That has to do with the operation we did last night. We actually had our subject matter expert, hazmat technicians to go in, you know, confirm the crack. They made an assessment. They saw the internal pressure. They got good visualization. And right now, they're taking all that, and they're going to confirm that there's no pressure in that tank, and that's going to open the doors up to continue us to mitigate this situation. So, it was a successful operation based off the intel.

DEAN: All right, Chief TJ McGovern with the Orange County Fire Authority, I know you all are working quite hard right now, good luck to all of you. Thanks so much for your time. We appreciate it.

MCGOVERN: Thank you very much.

DEAN: One of NASCAR's biggest races of the season taking on a different tone tonight. It is being run without superstar Kyle Busch. We're going to be live at the Charlotte Motor Speedway with more on that. That's next. You're in the "CNN Newsroom."

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DEAN: Tens of thousands of fans are packing Charlotte Motor Speedway tonight for one of the biggest races of the NASCAR season, but it will feel very different than the usual Memorial Day weekend race. Tonight's 600-mile event is turning into a memorial for NASCAR superstar Kyle Busch, who passed away Thursday following what his family says was complications from severe pneumonia that turned into sepsis. Busch's fellow competitors will have a special decal on their cars tonight to honor the two-time Cup Series champion.

CNN's Rafael Romo is live inside the Charlotte Motor Speedway with more. Rafael, set the scene for us.

[17:29:58]

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jessica, the opening ceremony is getting on their way already here at the Charlotte Motor Speedway. The world of NASCAR racing has been honoring the memory of Kyle Busch since he unexpectedly passed away on Thursday with different tributes and words reflecting on the many contributions the 41-year-old made in his very successful career.

But those tributes go beyond officials and competitors. We have been talking to NASCAR fans in and around the Charlotte Motor Speedway, Jessica, who admired Busch not only because of his many victories and his dedication to racing, but also because they say he was someone who took the sport to a new level.

We ran into entire families who have been camping here the entire weekend and who had planned this week in advance because this would have been a weekend for Kyle Busch to show the world once again why, in the words of fellow racer Dale Earnhardt, Jr., he was one of the greatest drivers in NASCAR history. The two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion who died Thursday at the age of 41 was set to race in Saturday's Truck Series race and again today in the Coca-Cola 600 which is starting in a little over 30 minutes.

Earlier, I spoke to a father and his son who told me that Kyle Busch leaves a void that cannot be filled.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JASON SHERRILL, NASCAR FAN: His passion, his fierceness. He was driven. He only expected the best perfection on a weekly basis, on a daily basis. And when someone like that is absent just so unexpectedly, it just leaves a void and it's very emotional.

ROMO (voice-over): I see that you're probably wearing the "Rowdy Nation Forever" t-shirt. What does that mean for you?

HUNTER SHERRILL, NASCAR FAN: I mean, it was hard to lose him so unexpectedly. I want everyone to know I respect him. Rowdy Nation, he's someone that will never be forgotten like Dale Earnhardt. I think that's my generation's loss.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMO: Jessica, the Las Vegas native was in the midst of his 22nd season in NASCAR's top edition, credited with 63 victories over 762races starts, which ranks 9th on the all-time wins list. His two Cup Series titles came in 2015 and 2019 while -- with Joe Gibbs racing as driver, Busch often reveled in being the villain, playing the villain, and was given the nicknames of "Rowdy" and "Wild Thing. But, again, a lot of emotional tributes here today at the Charlotte Motor Speedway. Now, back to you.

DEAN: Probably still so many people still in shock over this. Rafael Romo there in Charlotte, thank you so much for that. And when we come back, if the deal with Iran is firmed up and actually signed and if the Strait of Hormuz does, in fact, reopen, how soon could that impact gas prices? Could they go down? We'll talk more about that when we come back. You're in the "CNN Newsroom."

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[17:35:00]

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DEAN: It is Memorial Day weekend and millions of Americans are hitting the road. They're paying $4.55 a gallon on average, the highest prices for a Memorial Day weekend in four years. AAA says every state in America is now paying more than $4 a gallon. And if you look at this map right here, if you're on the West Coast, you'd probably be happy to pay that. Drivers there are looking at more than $5 and $6 a gallon, where you see those heavily red states.

Oil expert Bob McNally is joining us now. He's formerly a White House energy adviser under President George W. Bush and now runs his own energy analysis firm. Bob, thank you so much for being here with us. It's always good to have you here to walk us through all of these. And now, it is kind of still a moment of uncertainty in that the president says the Strait of Hormuz is going to reopen although that is not finalized. Iran obviously saying something very different. Where does the oil market fall in all of this and how do they metabolize that information?

BOB MCNALLY, OIL MARKET ANALYST, FORMER WHITE HOUSE ENERGY ADVISER TO PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH: Great to be with you, Jessica. So, the oil market is front and center. The president now realizes he has a big problem with Iran choking for now 85 days, the world's most important oil and natural gas artery. And while Asia has felt the brunt of that so far, it's now coming to pump prices near us, as you just described. And it's only going to get worse this summer.

And so, the president, I think, is focused like a laser beam now on getting boats moving through Hormuz, get that artery unblocked. The problem is the Iranians aren't making it easy for him in this weekend. As you noted, there has been contradictory information as to whether they'll allow an easing of that chokehold.

DEAN: Yes. And so, what are you looking for in the next -- as these negotiations go on, what are you watching for?

MCNALLY: Well, what I want to see is if this 30-day sort of ceasefire plus can really be arranged. And that would entail Iran allowing free navigation. No tolls, no permits, no check.

[17:40:01]

Iran is sort of enjoying. It's getting comfortable with its control over that waterway and it's thinking, maybe we'll just do this going forward. That would be a disaster. So, Iran has to really let go and let those thousands of boats, about 150 million barrels of oil, let it flow.

And in return, the president got to make some difficult concessions. He'll probably have to ease sanctions, if not hand them some of their free -- their assets. So, both sides have to do something painful, and that's not even getting at the real issues, which is -- which is nuclear -- which is a nuclear weapon. So, it's those painful first steps, I think, that we need to see both sides take.

DEAN: And I'm curious, just looking ahead, the question on so many people's minds. OK, but so when are gas prices going to come down? When should we expect to see some relief? What would you say to that question?

MCNALLY: Well, I'd say you have to be cautious because even if the Strait of Hormuz were declared free and open tomorrow, the way the oil market works, it takes many weeks to really months now for supplies to restart and reflow. It just takes a while.

And while prices can react pretty quickly if they see the future getting better, they're forward looking. We're getting into the summer driving season. We have 11-year lows in gasoline inventories in the United States. It's very tight.

And so, I would be cautious. The consumers, we probably won't see much relief until later this year after Hormuz opens, if it does, and we get those fields up and that oil system restarts. But I would be cautious. It's going to be a while. We'll be lucky if we chop around in the $4 per gallon range and don't go higher. I think that would be lucky. And then by the end of the year, maybe we're coming down to the old levels.

DEAN: Wow. And so, just to kind of underscore because, again, we don't know when the strait is going to reopen and be kind of normalized again. But even if that were to happen, let's call it tomorrow, in the immediate future, it sounds like, and we've talked about this several times, it's going to take some time. That doesn't immediately mean you go to the pump and see the relief.

MCNALLY: That's right. I mean, we will see that evening oil prices, crude oil prices drop sharply, and we may get a little bit of relief, a little stall, if you will, in the next couple days and things. However, I think after folks look at it and they realize, first of all, will Iran even continue to allow the flow? Remember, all we're talking about here is a ceasefire deal, that it would allow some oil to flow while the nuclear negotiations were going on. If those failed and they will be tough, then we're right back to a chokehold there.

And so, countries like Saudi Arabia, these big producers that have reduced their production, they're not going to bring that oil back unless they're sure that Hormuz is going to remain open for the long term. So, there's a lot of doubt, a lot of uncertainty. It would be a huge relief short-term if we can get that strait open. But then some realities, some logistical realities, geopolitical realities come into play. So, I'm afraid we should get used to high gasoline prices for a little while here.

DEAN: Yes. I do also want to -- before I let you go. The head of the International Energy Agency recently said that unless this bottleneck opens up with the world supply shrinking quickly, they said -- quote --"We may be entering the red zone in July or August." What might a red zone look like if that is what transpires, if it doesn't open up?

MCNALLY: Yes. My firm did an analysis similar to that. We asked ourselves, OK, if we don't get Hormuz back through the month of July and it's August, I mean, I'm not even sure you're going to invite me back now if I tell you, but it's pretty awful. Meaning, so far, we've been drawing down inventories. That's the way we've been skating by.

But if we get to August or September without Hormuz, I think we won't be able to draw inventories anymore, and we'll need demand destruction, painful demand destruction, and that means oil price increases well into the high hundred-dollar range.

And when that happens, Jessica, it starts to spill over into other aspects of the economy, financial markets, credit markets. This is what has happened usually since World War II. When you get this big blow off oil price spikes, they tend to detonate other fragilities in the economy and lead to a great recession. So, I believe that is what Fatih Birol, the head of the IEA, may have been referring to. It is similar to our analysis. If God forbid, we don't get Hormuz back until the late summer, it's not going to be pretty.

DEAN: OK. Something to keep in mind as we watch these negotiations and their real-world impacts in so many ways. Bob McNally, thank you so much. Good to see you.

MCNALLY: Thank you.

DEAN: President Trump's push to create a nearly $2 billion so-called anti-weaponization fund with the Department of Justice is causing problems within his own party. It's also becoming a legal issue.

[17:45:01]

We'll talk more about that.

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DEAN: This Memorial Day, CNN's powerful new film, "Why We Dream," follows the last living generation of World War II veterans who journey back to Normandy, France for the 80th anniversary of D-Day. The historic operation laid the groundwork for Allied forces to liberate Europe from Nazi Germany. Here's a look.

[17:50:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE MULLINS, WORLD WAR II VETERAN: Sniper was in that stable (ph). Oh, that was a mess. Now, I understand that all these boys that were in the attack here, none left but me. I didn't have any help. (INAUDIBLE) me walk over. And I said this prayer that I wanted something to hold on to. This vision came to me. Jesus Christ put out His hands to me, but He didn't touch me. And He left. Christ has appeared as He walked over to me. And that vision stayed with me all to this day.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: And joining us now is the director of "Why We Dream," Meredith Danluck. Meredith, thank you so much for being here with us. We've gotten to see some -- that's one clip we've seen. I've seen several others. They're all incredibly powerful. Walk us through how you developed the concept for this film, why you wanted to actually take these veterans back to Normandy for the D-Day anniversary.

MEREDITH DANLUCK, DIRECTOR OF "WHY WE DREAM", CNN FILMS: Well, they were already planning on going to Normandy for the anniversary by the time that I got involved. And that was really the central question was, why would you want to go back to a place of such incredible trauma?

And, you know, in my research for the film, I came up with one of the interviews with one of our subjects, Betty Rosevear, who was a nurse in the Pacific. And she -- she said something that really sparked. She said, I often think about the people I served with. What did they go on to do with their lives? And it was at that moment I realized the film was not just going to be about stories of war, but really about how that event forged the world that we know.

DEAN: Absolutely. And I think in another one of the clips, there's a whole part about how they came back to the United States and what their lives looked like after this war. It's so hard to even comprehend going through these, you know. We're looking at photos right now. But living through what they lived through and coming back here and having a whole life beyond that, that had to be so interesting to talk to them about.

DANLUCK: It really was incredibly interesting. I feel so fortunate to have been able to spend the time that I did with these men and women and to have these conversations. You know, that's a very special generation who saw firsthand the rise of global fascism and met the moment, and then came back and had to, you know, move on with their lives.

And just so many things were born out of that moment. Whether it was the civil rights movement or, you know, this kind of booming global economy, the baby boomers, you know, it was really a pivotal time in the world. And to see it through the subjective lens of these individuals was really eye-opening.

DEAN: And what -- adding that layer of being in this place with them, I would assume some of them hadn't been back. And to your point, such a place of trauma. What was it like to speak with them in that space as well, in that place?

DANLUCK: Well, it's interesting because the clip that you just played was of George Mullins, who had been back to Normandy before, but he had not been back to that cathedral. That was a moment. He had written a book, and I had read about that story in his book. And that was the moment that really sparked what we would then go to do, which was take an individual moment from each of these veterans and bring them to a place of significance.

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For George, it was the cathedral where he had that vision, and he had never been there before. That was a tremendous experience for him and for us to share that with him and another veteran. We went to Omaha Beach, Utah Beach where they landed.

It's -- you know, being in Normandy is an experience that will stay with me for the rest of my life. It is a place where war is visceral. There are bullet holes in churches. There are bomb craters in the ground. The Nazi trenches were never filled in. They are reminders of a not so distant history and a really dark time.

DEAN: Absolutely. This goes so far in preserving that story, preserving that legacy and honoring these men and women who served and who ultimately, in some cases, gave their lives. Meredith Danluck, thank you so much. We really appreciate it.

DANLUCK: Thank you.

DEAN: And don't miss the new CNN film, "Why We Dream." It premieres tomorrow night at 8 p.m. Eastern only here on CNN. We'll be right back.

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