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Four Remaining Men Pulled Safely from Cave; Trump Wraps Meeting on Iran Deal with No Decision; Trump Warns Oman away from Strait of Hormuz; Trump Physical Exam Results; Super Speller Wins Scripps Bee in Record-Breaking Speed Round. Aired 5-6a ET

Aired May 30, 2026 - 05:00   ET

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

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): This is CNN breaking news.

KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Hello, I'm Kim Brunhuber in Atlanta. This is CNN NEWSROOM.

We begin in Laos with the remarkable recovery of men who are trapped in a remote flooded cave for more than 10 days. Now we are showing you live pictures. And we were told just recently that men were taken out on stretchers. We don't know whether those were the men who came out of the cave just now.

But we can tell you that rescue teams have been pumping water out from the cave for days to try to clear the way out. And then just a short time ago, the four men emerged, having climbed out all on their own.

Now crowds that gathered erupted into cheers as the men emerged. Despite the dramatic development, this is not over. Two people who also entered the cave are still inside. The location is unknown and the operation to find them is still going on.

Now the rescue team said they are currently assessing the situation and planning the next steps for their search and rescue.

Now last hour, I -- OK. We are we're going to talk to our reporter, Will Ripley, shortly.

But we just want to tell you again how amazing it is that these men are out because there were fears that the bad weather that is apparently on its way might have meant that the men wouldn't be able to be extracted from the caves because of the amount of water that would be introduced.

They have been pumping that water out and that's what enabled the men to get out. We're going to get more live information here from Will Ripley, who is en route to the cave. He joins us now by phone.

I know your connection has been spotty but, Will, what more can you tell us?

Oh, there he is.

WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Kim, I think I think you might be able to see me.

BRUNHUBER: Yes, I can see you now.

RIPLEY: Just want to get you a little bit closer. Come on in here. They're just loading. Just getting closer. Just go over here. John's on camera here. I'm just going to get out of the way so you can see this incredible scene. People gathering with their phones.

They just loaded the men I believe into these ambulances which are on standby. You can see they're carrying a third villager down now. This is number three; the first two that we just saw. This is number three. OK.

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.

They climbed out on their own. They showed the world how it's done here in central Laos. They made it out on their own power. Let's just take this moment in for a second.

(INAUDIBLE) for a second.

(OFF MIKE COMMENTS)

RIPLEY: Get right in there.

Obviously, there's a lot which makes it all the more extraordinary that they crawled out of that cave, 250 meters, 850 feet on their own. A testament to the hard work, the days of pumping water out of the caves.

And, frankly, flushing (ph), the rain has not fallen yesterday and hasn't fallen yet today.

There he is, getting (INAUDIBLE) hospital. It's just an extraordinary ending to really an extraordinary story here, an ending that really nobody saw coming in.

BRUNHUBER: Will, just an absolutely incredible moment that we're witnessing right in front of us as we're seeing those men being taken out of the cave.

[05:05:00]

And going off into that ambulance, talk to us about just the challenges that they must have gone through.

First of all, the rescuers trying to -- trying to get in there, trying to get everything ready for that extraction and all of the challenges in terms of the space, in terms of the amount of water, in terms of the air that they were facing as they were trying to get out.

RIPLEY: So let me show you, Kim. Let's pan around this way. And we have -- we have the fourth villager coming down.

Also, if somebody in the audio booth, I have mixed minus (ph) right now. I'm hearing myself in my ear. If we can fix that.

But look, they used heavy machinery, Kim, to carve this road out of that mountain.

Guys, I'm still hearing myself in my ear.

Can we fix that, please?

So you can see, they have -- this road didn't exist three days ago.

Audio booth still needs to fix this please.

I'm going to stop talking until you guys get the audio fixed and we're going to watch for a minute as -- OK.

Are we good?

Are we good?

OK. We're good. Thank you.

No, we're still not good. I'm hearing myself repeating in my ear but I'm just going to wing it. OK.

So they have carved a path through this mountain using heavy equipment. This road essentially was created just within the last few days. I got to take my earpiece out, Kim. I'll put it back in when I stop talking so you can ask me a question.

So this road didn't exist. Let me show you -- let me show you these. These are some of the locals who have 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 Coacha (ph). This, I think, Coacha (ph) is coming. This is the mother of one of the men who is rescued.

Hey, Coacha (ph)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mother of the last guy who was like sent to the hospital.

RIPLEY: (INAUDIBLE), let's talk. Come on over here.

You guys remember Coacha (ph) from yesterday?

How are you feeling?

Congratulations.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you for helping me.

RIPLEY: Thank you for helping me. Come stand over here so we can hear you in the mic.

Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, I mean look (ph) --

(Speaking foreign language)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK. Sure.

Now look, OK. Her son just left. The last one who just got out down here. And her son is in, in -- OK.

(CROSSTALK)

RIPLEY: So Ian (ph) has now been put in the ambulance, is that right?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. That's right.

RIPLEY: OK, we'll let you get over to the hospital to care for him. God bless you. Thank you.

Let's pan over here. Let's see the next stretcher coming.

So this is now the fourth villager being taken down.

(INAUDIBLE), can you please talk to them and ask them to fix the IFB, please?

(OFF MIKE COMMENTS)

RIPLEY: I can't stress enough what a physically demanding task it is, even for these men. You have to carry these guys down, going up and down. I'm told it takes about an hour and is physically taxing, even for somebody who's in great shape.

They didn't have an ambulance for this fourth villager. But he's gone into the back of this pickup truck. They're going to improvise. They're going to get him the medical help that he needs. Just watch this again.

(OFF MIKE COMMENTS)

RIPLEY: They've got these heat blankets on. They gave these to them down in the cave as well, just to make sure that they stay warm in their very cold temperatures. And also the water, that's 2 degrees Celsius.

(CROSSTALK)

RIPLEY: -- rancid air, (INAUDIBLE) bad, (INAUDIBLE) quality. Things were fighting (ph) in the cave and it smelled -- some of the rescuers said frankly it smelled like death down there. You can understand how bad it must have been down there for 11 days. These guys said, we're not staying down here a minute longer. As soon

as they saw that the water levels were low enough, under their own power, amazing.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (Speaking foreign language).

[05:10:00]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Speaking foreign language).

RIPLEY: Alive, getting the medical care that they badly need. Breathing fresh air for the first time in more than (ph) 11 days.

(OFF MIKE COMMENTS)

RIPLEY: And Kim, I can hear. I don't have -- the audio is better now so we can chat.

What is it?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Can you dial the number again?

BRUNHUBER: Will, if you can hear me, just give us a sense of -- because our viewers will have seen the men being taken down the road. Just to give us a sense of how far the caves are from the site where you are right now.

RIPLEY: Sure. Well, just walk up a little bit so you can get a sense. We'll get you closer. We are now able to step here because the rescue operation has (INAUDIBLE).

This road that they carved out, just a couple of days ago, within the last week or so, when this search began. And if you look at satellite imagery, you can see it didn't exist. And then days later it did.

It's a very steep incline just to walk up here. So every day, the rescue workers and their families would just walk up; in many cases, walk back down, sometimes more than once a day. But as you know, grueling as this could be, taking about an hour, people even in good shape, were saying it really knocked the wind out of you.

But it is nothing compared to the climb that the villagers had to make to get out of the cave. Let me just show you. Let's pan around here so you can see what the jungle here in central Laos looks like.

This is one of the most remote areas here in Southeast Asia. You have incredibly dense jungle canopy and these very sharp limestone peaks.

Pan over a little bit more there. You can kind of see (INAUDIBLE) the stones there. When it rains, the rain just essentially disappears into these mountains. And it's created this vast underground network of caves. And there are lots of hidden rivers and sinkholes. And there are also gold deposits. And so the villagers got word of 11, 12 days ago, maybe for the past

couple of weeks, that people were finding gold in the cave. That's about 40 minutes hike, up, straight up this way. So everybody was going to get the gold.

Some of the villagers were sick. They went up there thinking, hey, maybe there's a chance they could find some gold. And so this road didn't exist. They basically had to kind of trek through the woods to get up to the cave.

You get a sense these guys, themselves having probably gone into that mine many times before, are pretty hardy gentlemen. But think about being stuck underground, going without food for the first week, breathing in that air, skin problems, digestive issues, having problems with congestion.

But having this determination and this understanding that they wanted to live. And being supplied with some basic equipment, including -- I'm not sure if they left the wetsuits with them in their chamber.

But they certainly had headlamps and they had some other gear that allowed them to make that trip 260 meters or more than 850 feet across that 100 feet of icy water that apparently the pumps had got in the water level low enough so they could make it without the diving equipment.

And then climbing their way, sometimes at a 45-degree angle out of the entrance to the cave.

So you see a lot of the villagers out here now that have been up there at the rescue site.

(INAUDIBLE) these people, those are the ones that just walked out. I mean, just look, look again, we're going to see, you know, it takes a while to walk up there. It's quite a steep incline. So this is the -- this is the situation.

BRUNHUBER: Yes. And Will, we're --

RIPLEY: I'm not sure what to say, Kim.

BRUNHUBER: Yes. It's just incredible. We're just showing again the pictures when those miners came out of the caves. And they were -- they were just crying with joy. Others were laughing.

And we've now seen just the emotional interview that we -- that you were showing us with the mother of one of the men who came out there. Absolutely incredible scenes. We'll have more on this later on in our program. Thank you to Will Ripley on the scene there in Laos.

We'll be right back with more here on CNN NEWSROOM. Stay with us.

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BRUNHUBER: We're following breaking news out of Laos, where four men have successfully been brought down from a flooded cave. CNN's Will Ripley is live at the site.

Will, I mean, you and I were watching there together as the men were brought out on stretchers and loaded onto ambulances and, in some cases, flatbed trucks, to be taken to hospital. Just walk us through these moments we've been witnessing here.

RIPLEY: So I think we should just play the video that was released, what was it now, an hour ago?

This has all happened very quickly. We thought we were going to be coming here to talk about the divers, the professional divers that have come in from all over the world, going back into the cave to try to attempt, possibly to remove one of the villagers.

They've been planning for this operation all throughout the morning hours, since about 9 am local time. And it's now it's now about 3:20 -- 4:20, right, 4:20?

I'm losing track of time. The days are starting to run together, Kim. Not -- we haven't had a lot of sleep out here. So from 9 am local time and then they got on the buses to head to the scene around 11.

And for the last three, four hours, they were kind of planning and strategizing. They didn't have communication with the villagers themselves because they didn't get internet all the way down to the cave. So it's not like they were talking with them on radios or anything.

So they thought they were going to go in and find them in the chamber and have to carry them out. And they were going to try to do it before these rain clouds dropped rain on this area.

Because if there -- if the heavy rains come, they'd have to call off the entire search. So they thought maybe there's a chance they'll get one person out. Maybe they'll just bring them some food and more supplies.

[05:20:00]

Then these divers are going down, the first wave. Some of them were still putting on their wetsuits. And then they saw the four villagers meeting them in the opposite direction.

They had pumped the water levels low enough, apparently, after days and really frustration that the pumps weren't working effectively or fast enough. They actually put the pumps in two different locations on the cave. So they had a pump in one spot, pump in another spot. So trying to pump the water out from two directions.

Apparently during the overnight hours, in the morning hours, that got the water levels down. And that one particularly dangerous stretch, which is a 30-meter stretch, where they were -- they were going to have to dive through, very jagged, very narrow, shockingly cold water and zero visibility.

Even with a headlamp, all you could see is brown water or you turn the headlamp off and you see pitch black. So you have a choice. Either you see brown or you see black but you see nothing.

Apparently the pumps worked well enough that they got the water levels low enough that these guys just went for it. They sensed an opportunity. They said, we're not going to wait for the divers to get down here.

And the four of them together. And we're going to hopefully learn how they did it. Some of them look like they were in pretty rough shape when they were carried down the mountain.

Did they, did they -- I mean, we don't know. We don't know if they had to carry each other, if they had to, what they had to do.

Did they lean on each other?

But somehow as a group, these four made it out together. And they climbed out of that cave on their own. So the world came to help them. Maybe the rescue by diving, of the first villager, motivated the other four to say he's outside breathing fresh air. We want to get outside and breathe fresh air. And now all five of them are.

But you saw, they had to put them on stretchers. They had to bring them away in ambulances. They definitely need medical care. Let me show you over here.

This is one of the stretchers that they -- that they carried them down the mountain on. So the cave is about a 40-minute hike up the mountain. And they just -- they just cleaned this off.

So once they got out of the cave -- and they'd actually been practicing putting the guys on these. They practice how they needed to get them on. You could see they had those blankets to keep them warm. I mean, they've got a whole lot of health issues.

They've only been able to eat in recent days, even when they were being provided with food, they could have like electrolytes, fresh water and white rice because they had not eaten so long and their digestive systems were so out of whack and many of them were really feeling sick. They couldn't give them much more than that as far as sustenance.

And then all of the people waiting at the -- at the mouth of the cave, thinking there was going to be a multi-hour rescue operation, basically saw them coming out in their own power. Got them on the stretchers, just brought them down here minutes ago. And now they're on their way to get medical treatment.

And all five of those who have been found alive are now safely back up here. Kim, just two more still missing. And the new information that we've just learned is that there -- the divers up there are now making a decision.

Are they going to try to go back in now while it's still dry and look for the other two today?

Is that search going to continue or are they going to call it off for the day?

They're still making that decision right now. We will keep you posted.

BRUNHUBER: Yes. I want to ask you, I mean, you talked about the world coming together. I mean, they were facing an incredibly complex technical extraction.

Now the fact that the men in the end were able to get themselves out doesn't invalidate the incredible work that the rescuers were doing, as you described, just to keep the men alive. I mean, give us a sense of who these rescuers and divers are.

RIPLEY: These are some of the most extraordinary people, Kim, that you are ever going to meet when you're talking about rescue divers. These are people who obviously love to be in the water. They love to explore natural caves.

And for fun, these guys will do things that might kill ordinary people and sometimes kill even the trained divers themselves because of the spaces that they go in. I mean, if you look at the social media, you know, Mikko or Benz or Robin, three of the divers who are here.

Is there some activity up there?

What's that?

What are we seeing?

I don't know, there's some more people walking down. I'm not sure if it's just people leaving the site but we'll keep we'll keep an eye. They're still far away.

But, you know, these guys, these guys love what they do. One of them, Robin Cuesta, who is a French diver based in Indonesia, he actually has left -- had left diving and was getting his PhD. But when he heard that this rescue was unfolding and they needed help, he hopped on a plane as fast as he could.

Same thing for the divers who came over from Thailand. You know, Benz, they basically -- and they drove in some cases, drove for 10 hours after landing in the capital to get here. You know, they didn't have a fancy helicopter to bring them in.

And then they arrived here in this highly remote area after braving, you know, mountain roads and jungles that are full of unexploded American bombs from the Vietnam War. And they suited up and did what they could and got in there in the cave and they were going down in the cave searching for these villagers.

[05:25:03] They found them. They were able to provide them with the food to keep them alive. They also gave them headlamps. They gave them clothing to keep them warm. So they gave them the tools that they needed to survive.

And in the end, what the villagers did, they had those tools. The water levels had been pumped out because of this road that they carved into the mountain with huge generators that they had to bring in.

And then it was the villagers at the very end whose bravery and determination and will to live got them over the finish line. They decided this might be their one shot. It hadn't rained in a couple of days. It was raining every day. That was keeping the water levels high. But the rain has miraculously held off.

Who knows how much longer the rain is going to hold off?

Obviously it'd be great if it held off longer so that they could go into the cave and find those other two who are missing.

BRUNHUBER: Yes.

RIPLEY: They're going to make that determination shortly.

BRUNHUBER: Let me ask you about them. Obviously, the fears were even greater for them than these five, because no one had been in contact with them. Take us through what rescuers are up against now.

RIPLEY: Well, what the rescuers are really up against now is two factors. One, the weather. If rain floods the cave again, it's too dangerous for them to go down there. The other factor is the location in the cave where these remaining two would have to be is not an area that these divers have been able to safely access yet.

Even the professionals haven't been able to safely go there because the chamber where the five villagers were found alive, there's also another chamber, maybe 30 meters or so away but again separated by another one of those dangerous caverns that are very difficult to navigate. And they hadn't even attempted to navigate it yet.

But they said that -- and we're hearing thunder now -- less than an hour after those five got out, we're hearing thunder, almost as if on cue. The weather is starting to turn.

Can you imagine if those villagers hadn't gotten out when they did?

There could be a thunderstorm moving in and they might still be down there.

And who knows what would happen?

Oh, I got goose bumps thinking about that.

BRUNHUBER: Yes.

RIPLEY: Amazing. But, so they would have to get to that chamber, Kim. That's even more difficult and dangerous to access.

And then there's also the factor of time. It's now been more than 11 days.

Are they, is there a chance, is there any hope that that they could still be alive down there, not having had any food?

We know one of them who has two young children. When he went up there, mining for gold, was sick when he entered the cave his family says.

So are they going to be able to search for them or are they going to have to call off that search?

We hopefully will find an answer to that very soon. But I'm telling you, the thunder is not a good omen.

BRUNHUBER: Yes, exactly what I was going to say. So ominous. It highlights how lucky those men who just got out were. And also it highlights the challenges ahead to find the two who are still missing.

Will Ripley, don't go anywhere. Appreciate your reporting on the scene there.

And now we'll be right back with more here on CNN NEWSROOM. Stay with us.

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[05:30:00]

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BRUNHUBER: Welcome back. I'm Kim Brunhuber. We're following breaking news out of Laos, where four men, trapped for days in a flooded cave, walked out on their own and have successfully been brought down. CNN's Will Ripley is live at the site.

So Will, we don't have the how yet on how these men were able to get themselves out of the cave. But take us through what we do know about the incredible ending that we saw unfold there.

(AUDIO GAP)

BRUNHUBER: All right. We don't have Will Ripley there. It's a it's a remote area. And our connection has been unstable but we'll try to get Will Ripley back.

All right. Well, there is still no word on whether president Trump has reached a decision on a peace deal with Iran after wrapping up a two- hour meeting in the Situation Room. Now that's despite saying he planned to make a final determination before walking into the meeting.

He gathered his top advisers on Friday to discuss an emerging deal that would reopen the Strait of Hormuz and begin nuclear talks. But now it's not clear where the president stands.

As for Iran, the country's foreign ministry says both sides haven't yet finalized the so-called memorandum of understanding. CNN's Nada Bashir is following developments on the Iran peace talks.

So Nada, take us through the latest.

NADA BASHIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: But as you mentioned, Kim, no clear conclusions just yet from this two-hour meeting in the Situation Room between the U.S. president Donald Trump and his special advisers.

Of course, this is something that we have been hearing for some time now. Just last weekend, we had heard from the secretary of state, Marco Rubio, indicating that there had been some hope around a positive conclusion to this memorandum of understanding.

But he did also warn that these things, in his words, take time. And clearly, we are seeing this once again, no clear conclusion out of that meeting just yet.

But we have been hearing from the U.S. defense chief, Pete Hegseth, who has suggested that there might be some positive indications but, in his words, he has said that the U.S. president is pursuing this with some patience, focusing on hammering out the finer details of this memorandum of understanding.

In his words, he has said that this will not be concluded unless it is a good deal. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETE HEGSETH, U.S. SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: The status as of right now is that any deal will be a good deal and I had a chance to talk to President Trump this morning.

He wanted me to reiterate how patient he is in ensuring that with America undertaking this kind of historic endeavor, any deal will be a good one, a great one and he is patient in the pursuit of that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASHIR: Now, of course, the stakes around this memorandum of understanding are extremely high. The Defense Secretary has also said that American forces are fully prepared to resume hostilities in Iran if this deal does not go through.

And, of course, this is focused on a memorandum of understanding, not a final peace agreement.

And the expectation would be that this memorandum of understanding was set out the parameters for a 60-day process, according to officials familiar with this current agreement on the table, to allow for those very tricky points within the deal to be fully carried out and established before a full peace agreement can be established.

[05:35:00] But, of course, as you also mentioned, Kim, on the Iranian side, we are also seeing and hearing some hesitance, according to the Iranians, it has again been no clear conclusions just yet that there are still some points to hammer out.

And, of course, the terms of this agreement are significant, to say the least. This is not just focused on bringing an end to the hostilities in Iran but crucially, for the United States, they want to see the Strait of Hormuz reopen to a pre-war level in terms of operationality.

And, of course, on the Iranian side, there are many demands, including lifting the blockade on Iranian ports, including unfreezing Iranian assets. And, of course, there's also the question of the nuclear issue.

Now we've been hearing from Iranian officials in the past few days that this current agreement wouldn't necessarily focus on the exact ins and outs of that nuclear agreement but this would perhaps lay the foundations for future discussions on that front.

But these are, of course, significant issues. And again, there is a lot of pressure on both sides for a variety of different reasons at this stage. Again, coming from the White House, we haven't had any clear indications that that deal has been agreed upon. But we certainly have been hearing positive indications over the last few days, Kim.

BRUNHUBER: All right. Appreciate that. Nada Bashir, thank you so much.

And for more on this, I want to bring in Gary Grappo, former deputy chief of mission at the U.S. embassy in Saudi Arabia. He's also a retired U.S. ambassador to Oman.

Thank you so much for being here with us. So as we were just hearing there, I mean, coming out of that two hour meeting, president Trump still hasn't announced that he's made a decision.

So what does that tell you about how close a deal really is?

GARY GRAPPO, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO OMAN: Well, it does appear that they're rather close. And we have to keep in mind that this is an extension of the ceasefire with some explicit understandings of what each side will be required to do in the process of maintaining that 60-day ceasefire.

But this in no way is going to resolve the really major, outstanding issues; that is, the permanent status of the Strait of Hormuz going forward. And, of course, the nuclear file and how that -- that will be addressed.

And so I suspect that this administration may be -- are trying to determine how they present this to the American public and to the Congress, given that this is not the end all to be all, of this matter. BRUNHUBER: So trying to trying to frame this as a win, even though,

as you say, those two big sticking issues, Hormuz and the nuclear issue still haven't been resolved. But let's talk about, first, the Strait of Hormuz. President Trump says, I mean, nobody is going to control it. It will be open to everyone.

But I mean, given everything we've seen from Iran, how realistic is it for the U.S. to actually guarantee that?

GRAPPO: Well, it's going to require that the United States engage in some very, very serious negotiation with the Iranians. And by the way, this is going to have to be face-to-face. And the Iranians have succeeded in really altering the chessboard when it when it comes to this conflict between the U.S. and Iran. Before, it was strictly the nuclear file.

But now we've gone from weapons of mass destruction to a weapon of mass disruption, i.e. the Strait of Hormuz. And we've seen what this has done, this disruption has done to the global economy, to oil markets and specifically to the economies in the Gulf.

And so it's going to require some real horse trading on the part of the administration if he is going to guarantee that the strait will be open to all traffic.

BRUNHUBER: I want to ask you about Oman, where you served as ambassador; a longtime ally, a country that has been a longtime ally. I mean, the president just threatened to blow it up over this strait.

So when you heard that, I mean, what went through your mind?

GRAPPO: Well, when I first read it, I could not believe it, that any American official would say such a thing about Oman of all countries. It was a shameful thing to say. It was uncalled for, especially for a country that is one of America's oldest and most reliable allies in the Middle East and most definitely in the Gulf.

Look, we've had issues with Oman before. It's in a unique situation, a small country next to a giant to its north and a giant to its west, in the case of Saudi Arabia. And so it has to watch itself very, very carefully and manage its foreign relations.

But nevertheless, the United States has always been able to speak with the Omanis. And in fact, the Omanis have always been prepared to listen, very often to act and respond to what we ask.

[05:40:05]

So to engage in this kind of bluster and threatening is simply uncalled for, for a friend and ally like Oman.

BRUNHUBER: I really appreciate getting your unique perspective on these issues. Gary Grappo, thank you so much.

GRAPPO: You're most welcome. BRUNHUBER: Well, the White House has finally released a report on

president Trump's latest physical exam. We'll bring you the results and some expert analysis of the medical report after the break. Stay with us.

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BRUNHUBER: We now have the results of president Trump's latest physical exam after a three-day delay prompted concern over a possible lack of transparency by the administration.

The memo from the president's physician says Trump remains in, quote, "excellent health," with normal cognitive screening results and no major cardiac abnormalities. But it does recommend weight loss and more exercise. Here are CNN medical analyst Dr. Jonathan Reiner's first impressions.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. JONATHAN REINER, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: What's interesting to me also is that the report mentions that the president underwent a coronary artery CT scan, which is a very useful test, except he had that in the fall. And it's not typically a test that is done every six months. It's sometimes done more frequently if someone is having symptoms.

We don't know if he's having any symptoms because the exam doesn't list what we call a review of symptoms where you -- review of systems where you go through system by system with the patient and ask them questions like, are you having headaches?

Are you having any shortness of breath?

Do you get chest pain, abdominal pain, et cetera?

So there's no description of a review of systems in this note.

But it does mention that, again, they scanned him. So my question is, are they -- are they surveilling him for a concern?

[05:45:05]

Are they doing serial CT scans of his heart because they have an ongoing concern?

That's not listed in the note.

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BRUNHUBER: The memo also addresses the much discussed bruising on president Trump's hands, attributing them to frequent hand shaking and aspirin use. Well, it was a one-two punch for president Trump's anti weaponization fund, courtesy of a pair of federal judges. A federal judge in Virginia has temporarily blocked any action related to the $1.8 billion fund. It was created to compensate people the administration says were wrongly targeted by the government.

A hearing is scheduled for June 12th. That same day, a federal judge in Florida is set to hear a related case after taking the extraordinary step of reopening the president's original lawsuit against the IRS, which she had closed last week. CNN senior legal analyst Elie Honig explains.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ELIE HONIG, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Earlier this week, a group of 35 retired federal judges wrote a letter to Judge Williams saying, you actually have the power to reopen this and block the fund if you find that there was fraud, you were given incomplete information or this was a collusive lawsuit.

And in today's ruling, which just came out two hours ago, the judge said, I'm going to do just that.

There is a definitive note of skepticism in the judge's ruling. She said, I need to hear from you, Donald Trump and the administration within two weeks why this is not a fraud, why this is not collusive. And if the judge finds that it was collusive or fraud, she can reopen the case and she can block the weaponization fund.

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BRUNHUBER: Another federal judge has ruled that president Trump's name must be removed from the Kennedy Center building and its website within two weeks. The U.S. district judge also blocked Trump's plans to close the historic performing arts venue for a years-long renovation.

The Kennedy Center board has indicated it plans to appeal the ruling but the president appears to be backing away from this fight. CNN's Betsy Klein has more

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BETSY KLEIN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: A major blow to president Donald Trump's plans to transform the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts as a federal judge ruled against both a name change and a planned closure.

President Trump was elected chairman of the board of trustees at the Kennedy Center early in his second term. And since then, he has overseen sweeping programmatic and leadership changes at this arts institution.

That has led to slumping ticket sales as well as major artists pulling out of planned appearances, which some saw as driving this desire to temporarily close. On the president's watch, his hand-picked board of trustees voted to rename it the Trump Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

And then earlier this year, they also approved plans to close for two years for a renovation. U.S. district judge Christopher Cooper says that any Trump signage and Trump references on the website must be removed within two weeks.

He says that this is because the Center's status as a living memorial to John F. Kennedy cannot be changed without approval from Congress. And then separately, Cooper says that they must halt this planned closure until there is a more fulsome review.

Now the Kennedy Center says that they plan to appeal. But president Trump indicating he might not want to be involved anymore.

He says in this post to social media, quote, "I cannot be involved with a situation where danger to the public is allowed to flourish in plain and open sight, unless I am free to do what I do better than anyone else, bring this institution back physically, financially and artistically.

"I have no interest in continuing what could only be a hopeless journey into never never land."

Now the president goes on to say that he plans to transfer control of the Kennedy Center's operations and maintenance to Congress. But it's really unclear if he's able to do that.

Since its founding, the Kennedy Center has had oversight from the executive branch on its board of trustees, while Congress has been responsible for appropriations funding for its operations and maintenance.

Now I've also spoken to numerous sources who had expressed grave concerns about the consequences of a closure. They had warned that performers would find alternative venues and not return. They said that staff with expertise would leave and not come back and that both audiences and donors could dry up.

We'll be watching all of this very closely over the next few weeks -- Betsy Klein, CNN, in Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: Former attorney general Pam Bondi appeared before lawmakers Friday in a long sought-after interview but she didn't provide many specifics about how the Justice Department, under her leadership, handled the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files.

Bondi defended her DOJ's handling of the release but she also distanced herself from at least part of the process, repeatedly noting that her successor, Todd Blanche, was largely in charge.

About 3.5 million documents from the DOJ's 6 million investigative files on Epstein have been publicly released, many of them with heavy redactions. Well, some smart young spellers took to the stage in Washington, D.C.,

this week. Just ahead, the record-breaking speed round that clinched the win for 14-year old. Stay with us.

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[05:50:00]

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BRUNHUBER: One of the most prestigious club competitions in world soccer is set to take place this weekend. Paris Saint-Germain and Arsenal are set to face off in the UEFA Champions League final in the coming hours.

Both clubs completed their final training sessions at Puskas Arena in Budapest ahead of the match. Nearly 70,000 supporters are expected to fill the stands. And the winners will lift the most coveted trophy in club soccer.

Novak Djokovic's quest for a record 25th grand slam title is over at the French Open. The world number four was cruising easily, taking the first two sets. But then the 19-year-old Brazilian Joao Fonseca staged a stunning comeback. He closed out the next three sets to win the nearly five-hour thriller.

The Serbian superstar said Fonseca played an unbelievable match, while the teen said it was a pleasure to play against Djokovic, calling him an idol.

A lightning round tiebreaker sealed the Scripps National Spelling Bee championship for 14-year-old Shrey Parikh. The California teen broke a record on Thursday after successfully spelling 32 incredibly difficult words in just 90 seconds. He walked away with bragging rights and a $50,000 prize.

[05:55:02]

CNN's Coy Wire has more.

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COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: The Scripps National Spelling Bee proving that intelligence is a spectacular spectator sport. These kids were spelling words that looked like someone just sneezed all over a keyboard. And they went to a spell-off.

It was Ishan Gupta, a 12-year-old from Jersey City, New Jersey and Shrey Parikh, the 14-year-old from San Bernardino, California. Both published authors rattling off as many spellings as possible in 90 seconds. And it all came down to Shrey.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Melengket.

SHREY PARIKH, WINNER, SCRIPPS NATIONAL SPELLING BEE: M-E-L-E-N-G-K-E- T.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Teraglin.

PARIKH: T-E-R-A-G-L-I-N.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Homelyn.

PARIKH: H-O-M-E-L-Y-N.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Chikungunya.

PARIKH: C-H-I-K-U-N-G-U-N-Y-A.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Bromocriptine.

PARIKH: B-R-O-M-O-C-R-I-P-T-I-N-E.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's Shrey. You are the two times Congratulations.

WIRE: Some of these kids study five hours a day on weekdays, 10 on the weekends, then spelled their way through the toughest words with composure far beyond their years and the sportsmanship, cheering each other even after being eliminated.

This wasn't about spelling. It was about hard work, dedication and a room full of kids, proving that excellence and kindness can still exist side by side.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: Paul McCartney just released his first new album in more than five years. "The Boys of Dungeon Lane" dropped Friday. The title references a street in Liverpool, where McCartney and his future Beatles bandmates spent their early years.

The 83-year old recorded the project in Los Angeles and Sussex between legs of a global concert tour. The album includes his first recorded duet with former bandmate Ringo Starr, a song called "Home To Us."

Well, that wraps this hour of CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Kim Brunhuber. For our viewers in North America, "CNN THIS MORNING" is next. For the rest of the world, it's "AFRICAN VOICES."