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Tensions Rise at New Jersey ICE Facility Between ICE Supporters and Protesters; Four Men Emerge from Flooded Laos Cave After Huge Rescue Effort; Judge Temporarily Blocks Trump's Anti-Weaponization Fund; No Word on Trump's Decision on Iran After Situation Room Meeting; White House Physician Says Trump in "Excellent Health"; Kenya Establishes U.S.-Backed Ebola Facility Despite Court Order; Iowa Senate Candidate Tries to Spark a Rural Revival for Dems; A.I. "Voice Cloning" Scams on the Rise. Aired 3-4p ET

Aired May 30, 2026 - 15:00   ET

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

[15:00:00]

PATRICK SNELL, CNN WORLD SPORT: All right, tonight we're in for quite the treat in the NBA. A mouthwatering Game Seven of the Western Conference Finals between the Spurs and the Thunder in Oklahoma City. Victor Wembanyama and San Antonio winning Game Six in convincing fashion to force the winner-takes-all tonight.

Can the reigning champs keep their (INAUDIBLE) dreams alive or will the French phenom lead the Spurs to the finals in his first ever playoffs?

So it is all to play for, and on that note, it's right back to you, Paula.

PAULA REID, CNN ANCHOR: We'll be watching. Patrick Snell, thank you.

Hello, thanks for joining me. I'm Paula Reid in for Fredricka Whitfield.

We continue to monitor a tense standoff underway in New Jersey. At this hour, a group of people supporting ICE is facing off with protesters outside a New Jersey ICE detention facility. The anti-ICE protests have been going on for more than a week now. They started after people inside the facility began a hunger strike over what they say are inhumane conditions like inedible food and overcrowding.

Now, DHS has continued to push back against those allegations at the Delaney Hall facility. New Jersey state police and officers from local police departments have now taken over security from ICE officers outside the site. Now, the change is an effort to lower the temperature as these protests continue.

CNN's Gloria Pazmino joins us now live from outside that ICE facility.

Gloria, bring us up to speed on what you're seeing there today.

GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Pamela, and I first want to show you the images from this morning where we did see confrontations between these two different groups of protesters. The pro-ICE, pro-law enforcement protest that was staged here this morning against the other protesters that have been gathering here for several days, anti- ICE, calling attention to conditions against -- inside Delaney Center here behind us.

There were confrontations and escalations this morning. But things have sort of calmed down. And I just want to show you how police have tried to keep both groups apart from each other. They've set up these barricades here to try and keep the side that's pro-ICE, you know, in support of immigration enforcement, and the other side apart from each other.

Now, we've been here for the past few days, and I will say things look significantly different. I want to show you this line of police officers that's here behind us. They are guarding the entrance to Delaney Hall. This is actually the staff entrance to the building. And those metal fences that you see there went up overnight. They were not there yesterday. Behind the fencing you can see federal immigration officials which have been guarding this facility for several days. And they were the officers that for the past week or so were in confrontations with protesters.

Now, I will say that during the day, the tenor of things here is slightly different than what we are seeing at night. We saw much more violent clashes between law enforcement and protesters yesterday, specifically after the Governor Mikie Sherrill said that state police would be replacing federal ICE officers. We saw the presence of state police here last night, Mounted Police, and protesters who were trying to keep these barricades from being put up, that's when we saw the most intense confrontations between both sides.

I just also want to mention, you know, what this is all about. This is protesters who have been trying to call attention to conditions inside Delaney Detention Center. This is a major point throughout these protests. There's a hunger strike that has been taking place by the detainees calling attention to conditions inside, a lack of proper care, a lack of medical care, a lack of access to counsel, a lack of proper food, something that the Department of Homeland Security has denied.

They denied that there is a hunger strike going on. They deny that the conditions here are subpar, but we have been watching for several days now as the governor, local officials, all try to get access to this facility and try to keep things here under control.

I should mention, we do expect to hear from Governor Sherrill in the next hour or so. We expect to hear an update about security operations here -- Paula.

REID: Gloria Pazmino, thank you.

And more now on the extraordinary rescue of four men trapped for 10 days in a flooded cave in Southeast Asia.

They defied expectations by simply walking out of the cave today after the water levels fell, coming face to face with a team of divers gearing up to lead them to safety. Local authorities say two men are still missing after they entered the cave in search of gold.

[15:05:05]

Now CNN was the only team on the ground for this daring operation. CNN senior international correspondent Will Ripley takes us there.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We are just -- want to get you a little bit closer. Come on in here so you can see this incredible scene. They've just loaded two of the men I believe into these ambulances which are on standby. You can see they're carrying a third villager down now. So you can see the entire village is coming out here. People are recording with their phones.

You've got smiles. You've got people with looks of absolute astonishment because these men, they thought, everybody thought, they were going to need to be ushered out by this team of highly skilled international divers, and they climbed out on their own. They showed the world how it's done here in central Laos.

Obviously, there's a lot of medical care that they're going to need, which makes it all the more extraordinary that they crawled out of that cave, 260 meters, more than 850 feet, on their own, a testament to the hard work. The days of pumping water out of the cave and that the rain has not fallen yesterday and hasn't fallen yet today.

And here he is, getting in the ambulance on the way to the hospital. It's just an extraordinary ending to really an extraordinary story here. These are some of the locals who've been gathering, some of the people who've been assisting with the search. You have dozens of people in this village, and we now have -- Kocha, is this -- I think Kocha is coming. This is the mother of one of the men who is rescued.

Hey, Kocha.

KOCHA OLARN, CNN PRODUCER: The mother of the last guy who just like sent to the hospital.

RIPLEY: Kocha, let's talk. Come on over here. You guys remember Kocha from yesterday. How are you feeling? Congratulations.

OLARN: She said, thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you for helping me.

RIPLEY: Thank you for helping me.

This is one of those moments, really one of those once-in-a-lifetime moments that you take a mental snapshot and you always remember. And that's just us standing here at the bottom of this mountain. You can only imagine what it was like for the rescuers from Thailand, from here in Laos, from all over the world.

And you can see these fellas now. You've got Robin there, who's from France, based in Indonesia. You've got Mikko, he's based here in -- here in Laos, based actually over in Thailand I should say. Hey, guys. Can we talk to you? We're on live. Can I just -- can I just

-- Joshua from Australia. Mikko. Robin. Holy molly. Congratulations.

ROBIN CUESTA, FRENCH RESCUE DIVER: I was very worried this morning that we had to extract them by diving because I don't think they would have made it alive. They could still like have a laugh and --

RIPLEY: They were laughing.

CUESTA: Yes, they were laughing and said like, oh, thank you. So I think that's strong guy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The fact that they actually crawled, they crawled out by themselves. That talks a lot about it. It's not -- it's quite physical.

RIPLEY: It's rainy season. This is the exact kind of storm that caused the cave to flood 11 days ago. This is why they got stuck down there. And now the storm is coming up again after an extraordinary two-day almost pause in the rain. It was supposed to rain yesterday. It was supposed to rain all day today, but it's just now starting to rain at 5:17 in the evening. And they are out, they're at the hospital getting the medical care they need. They're back with their families. We're going to wait for an update on the two that are still missing.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

REID: Our thanks to Will Ripley for his extraordinary reporting on the ground in Laos.

Now, rescue crews in Washington state have recovered a seventh body of a paper mill worker following a deadly explosion in Longview, Washington, earlier this week. A total of 11 people are believed to have been killed after a chemical tank ruptured and exploded on Wednesday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF BRAD HANNIG, LONGVIEW FIRE DEPARTMENT: Our entry crews have recovered a seventh individual from the scene. Recovery efforts continue today on expanding into new areas that we have not been able to access until now. Our top priority is ensuring responders safety while treating every victim with the greatest dignity, care and respect possible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

REID: Recovery crews continue to search for two people who remain missing and are presumed dead. Eight others were injured in the explosion.

And today we're getting a closer look at what remains after this week's massive rocket explosion in Florida. Video taken above the Cape Canaveral launch pad shows the charred wreckage after a Blue Origin rocket exploded Thursday during a test, filling the night sky with a massive fireball. [15:10:08]

Blue Origin, founded by billionaire Jeff Bezos, is warning people against touching or even approaching debris from the rocket that could wash ashore in the coming days. The former director of NASA's jet propulsion lab told CNN this incident is a huge setback for the company's space ambitions.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LAURIE LESHIN, PROFESSOR OF SPACE FUTURES, ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY: This was during a test. So what happens is they put fuel onto the rocket and they hold down the rocket really tight, and they fire the engine. And it seems that there was a problem when they were firing those first stage engines and a massive explosion ensued.

This is going to be a setback for sure for the Origin's plans and for NASA's plans potentially because Blue Origin is a key partner in the next set of Artemis missions, which are ultimately designed to get our crew down to the surface of the moon.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

REID: Still to come, a series of legal setbacks for President Trump. From the Kennedy Center clash to fraud claims tied to an IRS settlement. Just ahead, the mounting fights on multiple fronts.

And later, a mother's terrifying story of the phone call where she heard her scared daughter's voice and the demands from kidnapers. Turns out it wasn't real. How to avoid being a victim on this nearly billion-dollar scam.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:16:07]

REID: This week, a setback for President Trump's controversial anti- weaponization fund. A federal judge on Friday ordered the Justice Department to hit pause, blocking the agency from moving forward on a $1.8 billion plan to compensate people who claim they were wrongfully targeted by the government.

Now, let's discuss this more with the lead counsel in the case. The president and CEO of Democracy Forward, Skye Perryman.

All right, Skye, thank you for being here. First, I want to get your reaction to the judge's ruling here.

SKYE PERRYMAN, PRESIDENT AND CEO, DEMOCRACY FORWARD: We were really pleased to see that the judge sees the urgency in this. The government refused, the Trump administration refused to say that it would not disburse funds out, that it would not pay these corrupt payments, you know, while this case was pending. And so it's helpful that the judge saw the urgency and made it clear in no certain terms by ordering that the administration not move anything from the fund, put money in the fund, pay payments out of the fund until the court can hear the merits of our case.

REID: Now, the Justice Department, in a statement to CNN, says, it's "extremely confident in the funds legality and it will not allow the policy preferences of judges to interfere with our efforts to provide restitution to victims of lawfare."

What is your response to that?

PERRYMAN: I mean, this is a typical response from the Department of Justice. The administration has a losing record in court. It continues to lose. It loses before judges that President Trump himself appointed. It loses before Republican judges. It loses before Democratic appointed judges. All because what the administration is doing has no basis in our laws or in our Constitution, and is deeply harmful.

So we're very confident in the merits of this case. There's no authority for this fund to begin with. And the way the government has said it will operate, it's clear that it would operate in violation of the Constitution and of federal law. We would also just take issue with the Department of Justice statement saying that there are people who are, quote, "victims of lawfare." What the Department of Justice is referring to is people that have either pled guilty themselves or have been found guilty under criminal laws in this country.

I mean, that is in part the people that the administration is seeking to compensate here, people that it disagrees with their pleas and with the justice system here. So we would take issue with that as well.

REID: Well, to be clear, I believe anyone who believes they've been wrongly targeted, even if it's just an investigation, can apply and there's no partisan requirement. But it does appear that this is aimed at the president's supporters, particularly those who participated in January 6th.

I sat down with acting Attorney General Todd Blanche last week and pressed him on this. It appeared that he was in the very early stages of trying to pick the members who will serve on this fund, to pick the rules. Do you believe that this decision prevents him from even having conversations with prospective members?

PERRYMAN: I think that the court has been very, very clear that it wants nothing done here. I would also just say that the administration does in fact and has in fact said that this is quite partisan. I don't know what they're saying in talking points, but essentially the official statements have been that they are looking to only have people come in and file claims if they believe that they have been targets of, quote, "Democrat," which is how they say it, administration.

So we do have a big concern about viewpoint discrimination here that's protected under the First Amendment. But I think the judge has been very clear that there can be nothing happening with this fund until she hears argument just in a few weeks. I mean, it's in on June 12th.

REID: Well, to be clear, the Justice Department and the acting attorney general have said that there is no partisan requirement to apply. But I think we need to see who actually gets money before we see if that statement is actually true.

[15:20:00]

Look, at the end of the day, most legal experts we've talked to have questioned whether the courts can actually stop this or if Congress will ultimately have to legislate this.

How do you see this playing out?

PERRYMAN: We believe that this that our case and that other cases will succeed in the court of law because there is no -- there is no basis for this. But we also believe that the court of public opinion and the people want this shutdown as well. And so we do think that there is a role for Congress here. You hear and see even members of the president's own party pushing back against this in Congress over the past week.

So I think that, you know, we believe that this is something that needs to be shut down. We think the courts will do it. We think the people will demand that it be done to from their elected representatives.

REID: Skye Perryman, thank you.

And still to come, a new message from the Pentagon as President Trump considers the tentative peace deal with Iran.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:25:17]

REID: Right now, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth says the U.S. is ready to resume its military attacks on Iran if needed. His comments come as President Trump weighs the terms of a tentative ceasefire deal with Iran after meeting with his advisers on Friday.

Now speaking to reporters on his trip to Asia, Hegseth struck a positive tone on the talks.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETE HEGSETH, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: They're coming in our direction. The talks have been productive. I think they know where it needs to go. And I'm quite confident with this -- with our president, who makes nothing but great deals that ultimately it will be something he's proud to defend, that ensures that Iran, which everyone knows should not have a nuclear weapon, never does.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

REID: CNN's Julia Benbrook is at the White House.

Julia, what are we to make of the messaging coming from Secretary Hegseth? JULIA BENBROOK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, he's reiterating President

Donald Trump's red lines. We have heard him repeatedly say that the Strait of Hormuz must be reopened and that the United States must be able to confirm that Iran does not and will not have a nuclear weapon.

But there are a lot of questions here this weekend. Just yesterday, Trump held a high stakes meeting with top advisers, including Vice President J.D. Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio in the situation room. And prior to that meeting, Trump said that he would make a final determination on that tentative agreement that you mentioned. We have still not heard what that determination is.

Now, sources have told us that the memorandum of understanding that it would open a 60-day negotiation period to address Iran's nuclear capabilities, including its highly enriched uranium, which the president often refers to as nuclear dust. But, again, Trump has not said following that meeting exactly where he stands on this. An official told CNN this following the situation room meeting, they said that, "The meeting has concluded and lasted approximately two hours. President Trump will only make a deal that is good for America and satisfies his redlines. Iran can never possess a nuclear weapon."

So a bit of a familiar pattern here. The main question remains, will the United States and Iran be able to come to an agreement? And the answer right now is we don't know as we wait for Trump's takeaways from that meeting that took place yesterday.

REID: Now, separately, we're learning new details from the president's latest physical. The physician said he is, in, quote, "excellent health," but also recommended relatively more exercise. What else can you tell us?

BENBROOK: Yes. So this physical took place on Tuesday. And following that, Trump simply said that everything checked out perfectly. We are getting some more details, though, now as the White House has released a memo. The White House physician did say that Trump is in, quote, "excellent health," but he also recommended more exercise and weight loss.

I want to pull up part of his summary for you now. In it, he gave a few more details. He said, quote, "President Trump remains in excellent health, demonstrating strong cardiac, pulmonary, neurological and overall physical function. His demanding daily schedule, including multiple high level meetings, public engagements and regular physical activity continues to support his overall well- being. Cognitive and physical performance are excellent."

He did add that Trump is fit to carry out all the duties of commander- in-chief. Now this exam it included guidance on diet, recommendation to take a low dose aspirin, increased physical activity and continued weight loss. He had a physical back April of 2025 where they released his weight at that time. He has gained 14 pounds since then according to this exam. The president is six-foot-three, 283 pounds.

Important to note that he is the oldest president at the time of inauguration. When he started this second term he was the oldest to be inaugurated and he will turn 80 in just a couple of weeks now.

REID: Julia Benbrook, thank you.

And still to come, continued concern over Ebola in Central Africa as the outbreak escalates. Just ahead, the warning signs, the World Health Organization's response and fears the crisis could grow worse.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:34:06]

REID: As officials race to contain a deadly Ebola outbreak in Central Africa, the Kenyan government is defying a court order and moving ahead with plans to make an Ebola quarantine facility in partnership with the U.S.

The facility is for Americans potentially exposed to the virus in the Democratic Republic of Congo more than 1500 miles away. Now, Kenya has not recorded any Ebola cases in this outbreak.

I want to bring in Dr. Peter Hotez for more perspective on this. He is the dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine.

Doctor, doctors in Kenya, along with CDC officials, have criticized this plan. Were you surprised to hear that it's moving forward?

DR. PETER HOTEZ, PROFESSOR OF PEDIATRICS AND MOLECULAR VIROLOGY, BAYLOR COLLEGE OF MEDICINE: Yes, I mean, we'll see how it works. And hopefully there won't be too many American healthcare providers that will require the facility.

[15:35:01]

But, you know, in the past, we've not done that. We've brought them back to the United States for treatment or therapy. And whether or not we can adequately train people in the use of protective equipment, PPE, as we call it, in time in order to take care of these individuals if they do get sick, is a big question.

You know, it's not trivial taking care of Ebola patients in order to keep the healthcare providers safe. Remember back in 2014 when we had a patient who came in to Dallas and was in a very good hospital in Dallas, two of the ICU nurses became infected. So it's not trivial to take care of someone with Ebola. And whether or not this facility in Kenya will have the ability to do it safely and adequately is a big unknown.

REID: Now, the virus is responsible for more than 230 deaths and 1,000 suspected infections. What is it that makes this strain so dangerous?

HOTEZ: Well, I think, Paula, what happened was this epidemic got picked up fairly late in the game. So it had a lot of time to accelerate. And the reason is likely because it's a different strain from what we're used to seeing. Typically, the big epidemics that we've seen, the ones in West Africa, the ones in Democratic Republic of Congo in 2019 were from the Zaire strain. This is a different strain called Bundibugyo.

And the reason that's important to know is the diagnostic reagents that were used were more or less specific for Zaire. So there were a lot of false negative results that got picked up early on in the epidemic. And so, you know, I think it was fairly late in the game when the public health community, the global health community, realized that they had a pretty large Ebola epidemic.

So it gave it a lot of momentum. And now we're exceeding 1,000 cases. And if you look at the numbers in terms of the pace, the cadence of this epidemic, it's very scary.

REID: And this week, the World Health Organization, they've been in the outbreak's epicenter in the DRC to assess the overall response. What have we learned from that visit?

HOTEZ: Well, I think, you know, what we're seeing is that this is -- this is a big one. And, you know, when -- historically, historically, I mean, what happened in 2019 with a similar very large outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo, what saved the day was monoclonal antibodies and an Ebola vaccine, the vesicular stomatitis virus, Ebola vaccine that was developed and deployed by Merck and Company.

The problem is, we don't know if that 2019 vaccine that was made specifically for the Zaire strain will cross protect against this new one. There's a little bit of glimmer of data from non-human primates that it might have some protective effect, but I think that's first order of business is, one, looking at the epidemiologic data from 2019 and seeing if there's evidence that there could be some cross- protective activity of this vaccine, comparing it to the new patients, whether some of those had been vaccinated or not.

Because remember, back in 2019, there were 350,000 doses administered. So we may already be able to compare whether or not there's been some protective effect from retrospective epidemiologic evidence. But in the meantime, we still have to do the clinical trials, both with the current vaccine and we have to accelerate a second vaccine that's very specific for this Bundibugyo virus strain.

REID: Dr. Peter Hotez, thank you.

And still to come, a Senate candidate is turning his wheelchair into a symbol of determination. Just ahead, see how he's campaigning door-to- door and making the case that his disability is not a liability but a powerful connection to voters.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:43:32]

REID: Next Tuesday, six states will hold primaries to select their candidates for this November's all-important midterm elections. One of those is Iowa, where the Democratic pick for the U.S. Senate race in the state could determine whether the party flips the chamber later this year. Josh Turek, a Para-Olympic gold medalist who went on to become the

first permanently disabled member of the Iowa legislature, is one of the Democrats vying for the nomination.

CNN's Jeff Zeleny caught up with the self-proclaimed prairie populist as he goes door-to-door to try to turn the seat blue again.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOSH TUREK (D), IOWA SENATE CANDIDATE: This is how I won all my statehouse races so I've got a lot of experience on stair climbing. There's nothing, nothing like face-to-face interaction, and especially, I mean, like you've got a guy in a wheelchair that crawls up the stairs to get your vote. It means a lot.

I was born with a condition called spina bifida. I had 21 surgeries before I was 12. So also in a very deeply personal way, I understand the importance of affordable and accessible healthcare.

What are the issues you care the most about?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a long list of, you know.

TUREK: Right. Grievances?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That aren't going to plan, you know.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: So most U.S. Senate candidates don't go door-to-door like this, knocking on every door.

[15:45:05]

But in Turek's first race, he won it by only six votes. That's why he believes every single vote here counts.

TUREK: I'll give you a hug.

THERESA WEEKS, IOWA VOTER: I love you so much. I was just watching your commercial today.

TUREK: Oh, excellent.

WEEKS: Saying what a wonderful person you are.

TUREK: It's feeling good. Iowans are ready for change.

WEEKS: I get emotional, I really do. You know? I mean, it's just, it's our life.

ZELENY: You remember when Iowa was not that uncommon for a Democrat to win, obviously. Harkin. Obama won it twice here.

WEEKS: Absolutely. That's right.

ZELENY: But President Trump won the last three times. Has the state changed do you think or is this year going to kind of determine that?

WEEKS: I'm hopeful that there is this quiet sentiment of change that will erupt and that we will see that change come to fruition. I don't know. I'm on a tightrope. I'm on pins and needles as to what our future holds.

ZELENY: Josh Turek is in a competitive Democratic primary. He's noted that he's seen his signs here on the streets. He's not seen any for his opponent, Zach Walz. But the primary on June 2nd, of course, is going to determine which Democrat runs. And Iowa is going to be one of the most competitive Senate races in the country, certainly among them.

Could this race determine the Senate majority?

TUREK: Good morning.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nice to see you.

TUREK: Good to see you. This isn't like a gun show. This is legitimately my day. My goal in my life was always just to try to represent my country in a Paralympic Game and to win a gold medal. And I was able to represent in four Paralympic Games and won back-to-back gold medals. You know, not everyone can win the genetic lottery. Certainly I didn't. And -- but I played the hand I was dealt the best that I could.

ZELENY: It's cool to be a jock, but, I mean, you know, do you want that person to be yourself?

TUREK: That wasn't the hard part. The harder part was there's a stigma associated with individuals with disabilities, that if there's -- if you have a physical disability, I think that there's an automatic assumption that there is some level of intellectual disability as well.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You've got a busy, I imagine.

TUREK: I do. I do indeed. We're getting to the finish line. Did you vote yet?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nope.

TUREK: OK, keep me in mind.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK.

TUREK: I appreciate it.

Trump's first midterm, we win three of the four congressional races, and I think that there is -- in traveling the state that there's much more energy now than even then than you've got open Senate race, open governor's race. I say, I really do believe, not hyperbole, that Iowa is --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (speaking in foreign language) TUREK: Gracias.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (speaking in foreign language)

ZELENY: So do you think this opportunity is presenting itself a bit more for Democrats because of the president's policies?

TUREK: Certainly the president's policies that they've had on Iowans, yes. The Medicaid cuts have really hurt us, especially in older states, a state with a growing cancer rate. The tariffs have absolutely decimated rural communities. It's not -- and it's not just the tariffs. The word that I hear the most when I'm in rural communities with farmers is betrayal. For sure, bar none. And that is we've supported Trump, we've supported the Republicans.

ZELENY: Yes. But at the same time, you all know tribal politics is such that some people will vote Republican anyway.

TUREK: For sure. But we don't have to win this 100 to zero. But in a state like Iowa, where you've got 35 percent, 37 percent of the voting bloc that are going to be independents, they're the kingmakers in the process.

ZELENY: In the fall, if you win this primary, obviously, you know what's coming for you, or maybe you don't. But I mean, a lot is coming for you.

TUREK: Oh, I know what's -- I know what's coming. I've already gone through this process.

ZELENY: And you know the Democratic brand is not so hot.

TUREK: Yes. I -- which is why I am out there calling myself a commonsense prairie populist. And I think that that's the way forward.

Thank you for coming. Sir, thanks for coming. Josh. Nice to meet you.

The amazing opportunity that people would have thought would have been blasphemous to talk about a year ago is to flip the U.S. Senate. We need four seats. But we know what those four seats are. We've got a road map. North Carolina, Maine, Ohio. Seat number 51. It's right here. It's Iowa. And this isn't pie in the sky.

So we got to walk all the way down into this doldrum. Don't be scared.

(SINGING)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Wheeling and dealing on behalf of everyone. If it's Turek, that's terrific.

ZELENY: Have you ever written a song for a candidate before?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, that's brand new for me.

(SINGING)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tough times need good guys to overcome obstacles and see all sides.

The ring of "just Turek" and terrific. It was really that that spawned a lot of it, as well as just getting to know Josh's story and thinking, you know, what an inspiring character here.

ZELENY: Have you heard there's a song?

TUREK: I do know there is a -- yes. And honestly, I think if you've got people organically making songs about you as a candidate, that's a --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's brewing.

TUREK: There's something brewing. Yes, we got a little momentum there.

[15:50:02]

ZELENY (voice-over): Jeff Zeleny, CNN, Des Moines.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

REID: And on Tuesday, don't miss key primary races across the country, including that Iowa Senate race and the crowded governor contest in California. Get election results all night Tuesday on CNN and the CNN app.

In a moment, A.I. voice cloning scams are getting more convincing and more costly. Just ahead, hear how scammers try to pressure you to send money fast and how to protect yourself.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DEBORAH DEL MASTRO, SCAM VICTIM: It was my daughter's voice having an absolute panic attack, trying to breathe, scared, telling me that, you know, I love you, mom. I'm so sorry. I'm so scared. And then they just cut it off.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:55:33]

REID: This month, a California mom received a call saying her daughter had been kidnaped and sent thousands of dollars to try to save her. She believed the call was genuine because she heard her daughter's voice on the line. But she has since learned the whole thing was an A.I. scam.

CNN tech reporter Clare Duffy has more details, including how to protect yourself from similar scams -- Clare.

CLARE DUFFY, CNN TECH CORRESPONDENT: Right, Paula. This is every parent's worst nightmare. And unfortunately, this is a growing problem. This is what's known as an A.I. voice cloning scam, where scammers take even just a few seconds of recorded audio of someone's voice, maybe from social media or from an earlier scam call that was recorded, and using now widely accessible A.I. tools, they can create a really convincing replica of someone's voice.

Then they make this phone call that sounds like your loved one is on the other end of the line in distress, having been kidnaped or in jail. And scammers will often demand thousands of dollars in exchange for their release. Last year, according to the FBI, Americans lost $893 million to A.I. related scams. That includes these A.I. voice cloning scams, but also things like phishing e-mails and romance scams.

So it is really important for people to be aware that this is happening. And experts say it's no longer realistic to expect that people are going to be able to tell the difference between an A.I. generated voice and a human voice. This technology has just gotten too good. And the California mom, who was recently targeted, Deborah del Mastro, described this call that she got as sounding exactly like her adult daughter.

Take a listen to what she said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DEL MASTRO: My daughter's voice said back to me, I'm so sorry, mom. I love you. I mean, it was my daughter's voice.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DUFFY: Now, experts say there are still some other ways that you can protect yourself from these types of scams. The first and most important thing is if you get a call like this, take a deep breath, slow down. It could be really difficult in this scary situation, but scammers will often try to play up the sense of urgency. They might tell you not to tell anybody what's going on. Those can be red flags for you that something strange might be happening.

You should try to contact the loved one who they say is on the other end of the line through other means, so you can stay on the call, but send that person a text message. If you have another device in the home, try to call them from that other device. Call someone who might know where they are. Try to confirm whether they are just at work or at school like normal before proceeding with the call.

And then the other thing that's really important, experts say, is for families to have proactive conversations, to develop a family code word. This is something that you should talk about only with a small group of family. It should not be put in a text message or online, where hackers could access it. But that family code word could be used to confirm whether somebody really is who they say they are on the other end of that phone line -- Paula.

REID: Clare Duffy, thank you.

And comedian Craig Ferguson hits the road, going coast to coast to uncover what it really means to be an American today. He's exploring the country's chaotic, triumphant and controversial 250-year journey with his sharp insight and signature humor. Here's a preview.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CRAIG FERGUSON, CNN HOST, "CRAIG FERGUSON, AMERICAN ON PURPOSE": All right, let's give the painting a try.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right. You see this line?

FERGUSON: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Angle it up.

FERGUSON: That works. I feel like I look at it, and all I can see is this line sticking out of it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Step back. A lot of times, especially when you're at a wall, you've got to step back and look at it.

FERGUSON: You know what? It's OK. Yes. I feel like it's all right.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it's cool, man.

FERGUSON: Yes. I feel like it gave a little -- give a little thing. This is my, I did this now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. It's a collaboration.

FERGUSON: With graffiti art in particular, I think it's such an American form of art because it starts like, it starts out like you're a bunch of outlaws, like you're the founding fathers.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sure.

FERGUSON: You're -- it's a revolution. Everybody is like, oh, these guys are bad. And it's all going to end badly. And then slowly over time, it becomes this multibillion dollar business.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Absolutely.

FERGUSON: It changes the whole world.

Yes. There you are. There you are. I love it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

REID: The new CNN Original Series, "Craig Ferguson, American on Purpose," premieres tonight at 9:00 Eastern on CNN and the next day on the CNN app.

Thanks for joining me. I'm Paula, Reid. "THE ARENA SATURDAY" starts right now.