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Iran's Response to U.S. Proposal; Virginia State Senator Raid; Rep. Mike Quigley (D-IL) is Interviewed about Iran's Nuclear Supply; Mamdani's Weird Video. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired May 07, 2026 - 06:30   ET

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

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[06:33:00]

AUDIE CORNISH, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. I'm Audie Cornish. I want to thank you for joining me on CNN THIS MORNING.

It is half past the hour. And here's what's happening right now.

This is drone video from Mississippi. We're showing you the extensive damage after tornadoes ripped through a mobile home park. And we've just learned, more than a thousand homes and businesses have been damaged. At least a dozen people were injured. And officials are still waiting for first light to get a real look at the impact of the storm.

And the hantavirus cruise ship in the Atlantic is now heading to the Canary Islands after three passengers had to be evacuated from the ship. So far health officials believe that eight cases of the deadly virus are tied to this vessel. The CDC is also monitoring three U.S. passengers who are in Arizona and Georgia who were previously on the voyage. So far they're not showing symptoms.

And this morning, Shell reports a $1.3 billion jump in profits due to the swing in oil prices from the war with Iran. Meanwhile, drivers in California are paying more than $6 per gallon.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I fill up my tank, $85. That's ridiculous.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's see. Oh, no, it was only 76?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're close, though.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. That's still a lot more than what I'm used to.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: And this morning, those oil prices continue their slide. President Trump met with top oil executives Tuesday to discuss the price of oil and opportunities in Venezuela. And this morning we might get a sense of whether talks with Iran are

going as well as the president claims. Sources tell CNN that Iran is expected to send its response to the U.S. proposal to end the war today. And that deal reportedly on the table is signing on to a one- page memo declaring an end to the war.

A 30-day period would then be triggered to negotiate nuclear issues, unfreezing Iranian assets and security in the Strait of Hormuz.

And joining me now to discuss is CNN senior military analyst Admiral James Stavridis.

[06:35:01]

He's a former NATO supreme allied commander. And he's got a new book, "2084: A Novel of Future War," which is actually coming out next week.

Thank you so much for being here.

And I want to -- I'm glad you're here, frankly, because at the start of the week we were talking about Project Freedom.

ADM. JAMES STAVRIDIS, CNN SENIOR MILITARY ANALYST: Right.

CORNISH: That was going to give, you know, these ships the ability to move through. Iran countered so quickly that that's out the door. So, how important is this memorandum right now?

STAVRIDIS: It's the absolute center of what happens next. Unfortunately, we just don't know what the Iranian response is going to look like, but I suspect it will come back looking for some additional specific sanctions relief and some money. They want more of those frozen assets unfrozen, Audie. So, look for a counter proposal. But the good news is, at least today, missiles aren't flying. But we need to be ready to go back to escorting ships and opening the Strait by force, if we have to.

CORNISH: There's this concern among some of the president's, I think, kind of more conservative supporters about how this deal is going to play out.

I want to play an example of this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN PODHORETZ, CONSERVATIVE COMMENTATOR: This will weaken him further, both domestically and abroad. And secondly, he will be remembered in the history books as somebody who did not follow through on a great opening military victory to secure the political victory, that is the inevitable result of a successful prosecution of a war.

HUGH HEWITT, RADIO HOST: Now, John, I think he takes in a lot of information. Do you think he's hearing this point of view? Because this point of view is, if you fold, you never get the stink off. You're not the art of the deal anymore, you're the art of the collapse. (END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: Now, Hugh Hewitt's a great supporter of the president. The president calls into that show. To hear "the art of the collapse" come out of him really surprised me.

Can you talk about this dynamic of what the president is trying to say versus what people within his point of view are talking about?

STAVRIDIS: Certainly there are plenty of critics out there. And it's interesting to watch how the criticism is rising kind of on both sides of this argument, like go faster, go harder, this is the golden moment to destroy this rotten theocracy. It's an appealing kind of argument. And you're hearing the criticism on the other side of, my God, we've got to get the global economy out of the hostage crisis it's found itself in.

Frankly, I think, the president is trying to steer something of a middle course here. A longer debate is, how did we get here? Why are we here? How much is all this costing? But in this tactical moment, you know, Audie, we have a saying in north Florida, where I'm from, sometimes you got to be for what's going to happen anyway, meaning, this might be the best chance to at least stop the bleeding, get the Strait open, keep the Iranians from using terror and cyber, keep them from permanently declaring ownership of the Strait. I think that's probably the best package you're going to get. And that means, final thought, you're going to have to park the nuclear negotiation off to the side and kind of come back to it. I think that's how it's going to come out.

CORNISH: Yes, although interesting to hear you say that, since that was supposed to be the whole point of this.

Admiral James Stavridis, thank you so much. Appreciate it.

And remember, his new book, "2084," is out next week.

I want to turn to this FBI raid in Virginia that has some people asking questions this morning. So, agents basically executed a search warrant targeting Democratic State Senator L. Louise Lucas, who recently had spearheaded that Democratic effort to redraw the state's congressional maps. So, the FBI raided her personal office, as well as a marijuana shop that she co-owns, and a couple other locations.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You have this high-profile raid happening just a few weeks after. So, a lot of people are going to say this is political.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I believe it's coming from Washington. I believe it's all a political thing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To me, it is a character assassination.

(END VIDEO CLIP) CORNISH: OK. Some constituents there of hers. Senator Lucas released a statement overnight that reads in part, quote, "today's actions by federal agents are about far more than one state senator. They are about power and who is allowed to use it on behalf of the people. What we saw fits a clear pattern from this administration. When challenged, they try to intimidate."

I should be clear, we do not have information about what this investigation is about. I -- just knowing what I know of speaking to people in marijuana shops and those organizations, like legally it's a very frustrating place to be.

[06:40:08]

As someone who is a business owner in that space, that makes you vulnerable to attack. But what do you think of this timing with this person?

JASMINE WRIGHT, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, "NOTUS": I mean, I think the constituents said it all when it comes to the timing. And these are the questions that the FBI and the larger Trump administration are going to have to answer and show what they found via this raid, and try to make the case that it wasn't political, as we've seen Todd Blanche, not specifically on this issue, but the acting attorney general kind of going around and saying that he's not prosecuting folks who believe -- who Trump believes and others in the administration believe should be prosecuted on political gain (ph).

CORNISH: Right. Which matters in court.

WRIGHT: Sure.

CORNISH: Like, people -- like, end up --

WRIGHT: I mean, I think that's why you're seeing the kind of trouble in court.

CORNISH: Yes, pushing back on -- yes.

WRIGHT: But again, I think that so many Americans are viewing what's happening with the FBI and with the DOJ and saying, are these political prosecutions? And that is a tedious and difficult place to be, and particularly when you want to take your cases to a body of Americans who now view the DOJ tinged (ph) with all of this.

CORNISH: Can I ask you, Mike, about what Jasmine is saying? Because when I look at Trump's so-called enemy list, and we've ranked it by indicted all the way to just public calls to investigate, the list is pretty long. But what's important here is that Pam Bondi's out of a job reportedly because she was not going after enough people hard enough. So, does it -- it feels like not -- those constituents aren't making a huge leap.

MIKE DUBKE, FORMER TRUMP WHITE HOUSE COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: I don't think they're making a huge leap. I don't see Senator Lucas on your list. Is she on -- no, she's not -- CORNISH: Only because it just happened. But I can -- I can draw her in there.

DUBKE: This is -- this is -- if you have a teleprompter and you --

CORNISH: If that would make you feel better.

DUBKE: You can draw her in.

CORNISH: You are hilarious.

DUBKE: I -- but my point is -- my point is this. I think the real political move would have been if they had done the raid prior to the vote in Virginia on April 21st. So, I -- what I find disturbing about this --

CORNISH: And we should say, that case is being challenged by Republicans and is at a standstill.

DUBKE: And we're waiting for the supreme court in Virginia --

CORNISH: What the voters have voted for is currently not approved (ph).

DUBKE: Yes. What I find disturbing about this is exactly how you introduced this. We don't know what these charges are. And that's what leads -- if I'm going to agree with Jasmine on this, that leads people to question any move by the FBI or the DOJ when they don't clearly state why we took this action.

This is a very public action. They very publicly went into the senator's offices, and they didn't have an explanation as to why. And we are waiting. And that's the part -- that is the part, I guess as a communications professional, I think destroys the public trust. I can't give you an answer. I have no idea if this was legit or not.

CORNISH: But if the point is humiliation, does this serve? Like, now instead of being involved in the -- in the appeal process fighting, she's going to be tied up in this.

MEGHAN HAYS, : Well, right, but that's not -- she's not going to just be tied up in this. And this is not going to be humiliating for her. It's humiliating for the administration and for the DOJ, who looks like they are going after her to weaponize the DOJ against her and politicize it.

I mean, there's no coincidence that Fox had a reporter there when the office was being raided. They just happened to be in Virginia Beach and knew that it was going to happen? I mean the whole thing just reeks of, that they are going after their enemies. And it -- and to your point, it does look -- and if it is a credible case, they're losing their credibility with the American people. The optics matter.

DUBKE: Totally.

CORNISH: Yes. And in the meantime, I'd like to be more informed. DUBKE: Optics --

CORNISH: If you are going to do something like this, we'd like to be able to deliver the facts to you out there as well.

I want to follow up on one other thing. There's this CNN analysis that is looking at Iran's nuclear supply chain, finding much of it still intact. So, how does this track with the intel that we have been hearing? I'm going to talk to a Democratic congressman, Mike Quigley, who sits on the intelligence committee, next.

Plus, we have this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEN GRIFFIN, CITADEL CEO: The tax itself is a tax that discriminates against a narrow group of people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: So, Mamdani said he was going to tax the rich. But one billionaire says this is putting him and other people who are wealthy in harm's way.

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[06:48:17]

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DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We obliterated that nuclear capacity of theirs, and -- so they never -- they didn't get the nuclear bomb.

It was complete obliteration.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: So, we hear the president say this all the time, that Iran's nuclear program has been, quote, "obliterated" by U.S. military operations from both last summer and this year. New analysis of satellite imagery by CNN is showing that some of their capabilities are, in fact, still intact.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Back last June, French outlet Le Monde found this truck visible in imagery taken just days before the strikes. These blue containers are likely carrying uranium into the tunnels, experts told CNN. Days later, these facilities were substantially damaged in Israeli attacks. You can see several buildings wiped out.

Then, in early 2026, Iran covered over several entrances to these underground tunnels with earth, preventing people from accessing them. Further measures were taken this April when these roadblocks were put up in front of the entrances to the tunnels. It could suggest there still remains something valuable down there. They were not, however, hit in the latest U.S.-Israeli strikes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: So, we're bringing in someone who knows to talk about this, Democratic Congressman Mike Quigley. He's from Illinois, but he also serves on the House Intelligence Committee.

Thank you so much for being here.

REP. MIKE QUIGLEY (D-IL): Glad to be back.

CORNISH: So, I feel like my first question needs to be, have you ever been given a clear assessment of what has been destroyed, what has survived and what could be rebuilt?

QUIGLEY: Oh, well, first of all, anything can be rebuilt, as we've seen before. I mean last fall the president said the program was completely obliterated. And then now here we are, in May, and it's been completely obliterated again.

[06:50:08]

I think anyone who's been on any of these committees will tell you that all the time we've been briefed on this. If you're going to obliterate this program, or you're going to eliminate it, it's going to take troops on the ground. It's going to take pretty much full scale war at that point. And that's something that's simply not in the cards.

So, you know, it gets us back to, what was this all about? Was it about eliminating the nuclear program? You know, we're in discussions now in which maybe, through diplomacy, not $1 billion a day war, they might get us back to where JCPOA was, that same treaty that President Trump criticized so roundly that I supported and the Iranians were in compliance with.

CORNISH: Yes. But can I follow up on this because --

QUIGLEY: That's how you prevent them getting a bomb.

CORNISH: The reason why we're so interested in this is because this is going to be a huge part going forward in assessing the state of Iran as a threat, right, when a Benjamin Netanyahu or whoever comes to the U.S. and says, we are x amount of months from a breakout period to them creating a weapon, et cetera. We want to be on firm ground about what data we have. And I was under the impression that much of this nuclear material had been essentially buried. So, do you guys know, or is CNN ahead of the intelligence committee?

QUIGLEY: Yes, look, I would say a couple things.

First of all, you're not going to get a true picture from space, a total assessment of what's going on, because as was mentioned, these are facilities that are deep, deep, deep underground. And second, you raise a good point. I've served on the Intel Committee for now nine plus years. Never have I felt before, even under the first Trump administration, that I wasn't getting all the information I should. I wasn't getting solid, good briefings, complete information. So, if the Intel Committee is in the dark, the American people are certainly going to be in the dark. We're not going to have a true assessment.

I think we go back to that first assessment, though. The fact that the president keeps saying that this information is totally obliterated, that this -- these materials and the program has been totally obliterated. The fact that he has to keep saying it should give you some sense that he's not giving you the complete story here. And you can't believe him.

CORNISH: Well, I hope you're able to come back to the show, especially given that the 60-day window on that war powers resolution should be coming to a close at some point.

Congressman Mike Quigley, thank you so much.

QUIGLEY: Anytime. Thank you.

CORNISH: All right, I want to turn to something you guys probably hear a lot, the phrase, "tax the rich." So, there's this New York billionaire who is saying that slogan is a slur. This is Steven Roth. He's the CEO of a real estate investment trust called Vornado. And he said this on an earnings call this week. Quote, "I consider the phrase 'tax the rich' when spit out with anger and contempt by politicians both here and across the country, to be just as hateful as some disgusting racial slurs and even the phrase 'from the river to the sea'."

Now, he and other New York billionaires are against a city plan to tax luxury second homes with values on the market of $5 million or above. And they are especially upset at Mayor Zohran Mamdani's choice to film this video promoting that policy outside the home of a hedge fund CEO. It was Ken Friffin.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR ZOHRAN MAMDANI (D), NEW YORK: When I ran for mayor, I said I was going to tax the rich. Well, today, we're taxing the rich.

I'm thrilled to announce we've secured a pied a terre tax. The first in New York's history. This is an annual fee on luxury properties worth more than $5 million, whose owners do not live full time in the city. Like for this penthouse, which hedge fund CEO Ken Griffin bought for $238 million.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: All right, group chat is back.

There's a lot to unpack here. First --

HAYS: Where to start.

CORNISH: Yes, where to start? I'll start with the most direct reasoning of the outrage. That when you film something directly outside that person's home, you are putting them in danger, in an era when the UnitedHealthcare CEO was assassinated on the street --

DUBKE: Yes.

CORNISH: And Sam Altman saw a threat to him personally. So, we'll just -- before we get to this comment, I just want to say, does everyone, like, how are we feeling about that criticism?

HAYS: Terrible. Shouldn't do it.

DUBKE: Should not do it.

HAYS: He should not have done it. There's many ways to call out rich people in New York without calling out one single person.

DUBKE: Or one -- yes, exactly, one single --

HAYS: One single person, in front of their home.

DUBKE: Right.

HAYS: Like --

DUBKE: That is --

CORNISH: Yes. You had Ken Griffin himself actually respond to this. So, I feel like I should play it. He was on CNBC on Tuesday.

[06:55:03]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEN GRIFFIN, CEO, CITADEL: It took a moment to digest what I was watching. What really upset me about the video was the fact that it put me in harm's way.

It was just in poor taste. Really poor taste. The tax itself is a tax that discriminates against a narrow group of people is also disconcerting.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: OK, so -- yes.

DUBKE: I -- but let's be clear. It's not just Ken Griffin here. It's Ken Griffin's family. Anybody else that lives in the building, whether they're full-time residents or not. I mean you -- when you start to put individual buildings in videos like that, you create the atmosphere for people to want to protest in front of that building, because the mayor has kind of blessed it as, this is an evil place to -- that we need to focus on. And it creates a level of danger. So, on the one hand --

CORNISH: OK. So, we're agreeing on the poor taste.

DUBKE: OK.

CORNISH: So, I want to get to the poor taste of the comment. No, no, why -- but we agree that, why do we keep doing it?

DUBKE: I mean, it's just like we're at the end. We just had the White House Correspondents' Dinner have a runner try to --

CORNISH: OK.

DUBKE: Yes, anyway. This is ridiculous.

CORNISH: But in the meantime, tax the rich's racial slur. I'm going to go out on a limb and say, I'm sorry, what? Like, what do --

HAYS: Because this is exactly why people --

WRIGHT: I just need to know what racial slur that he has had hurled at him, because somebody who has had racial slurs hurled at them -- hurled at them.

CORNISH: Yes. Right.

HAYS: But this is exactly why people aren't --

WRIGHT: I don't know if I would concede that.

HAYS: Want to tax the rich, because of statements like that where you're so disconnected from reality and actual people. What is he actually talking about? And I am surprised that his shareholders or whomever are not putting out statements saying that we condemn what he said.

CORNISH: Maybe it's just a safe space. Like he was in the community.

HAYS: It's his -- it's his community (ph).

CORNISH: You know what I mean? Like you're on -- you're on an earnings call.

DUBKE: It's not his -- it's not his community. It's an earnings call. It's different. I mean that's --

HAYS: Which are people that he needs to make money for.

DUBKE: Yes. Yes.

CORNISH: OK.

HAYS: And they should be outraged. And people --

WRIGHT: Well, that could be a community of sorts.

CORNISH: Third point. Let's get to the policy.

DUBKE: Yes.

CORNISH: The second home tax.

DUBKE: Can we go back to the Catholic Church? CORNISH: For those of you who haven't Googled pied-a-terre, it's your second home. And there's around 11,000 of these homes in New York.

And then I want to bring up one other thing, the real hourly wage growth in New York City. So, if you are in any class but the top three percent, I'm going to show you the boxes here on this graph of the wage disparity. Your wage growth is low. And that one on the far end, top three, is apparently dangered (ph), protected class we need to start talking about. The top three percent have seen their wage grow 34 percent.

All right, enough jokes. I care about it because the number of states now implementing some kind of billionaire tax, and this movement on the left has got legs. Tell me why you think it's got legs and if it's just an activist push right now or has this gone mainstream?

HAYS: No, because I think people are pissed that they're paying so much for gas. And then you see these companies making so much money. You saw Delta Airlines saying they're not going to serve snacks and drinks to people on certain flights and their CEO is making tens of millions of dollars. People are ticked off about that.

CORNISH: Certain people like coach or certain -- like, it just depends on what you pay?

HAYS: They're just -- I think it's the people in coach and economy --

CORNISH: Yes.

HAYS: Not first class, are not getting drinks and snacks, but their CEO is making millions of dollars. People are mad that they are not being able to have basic functions and paying so much for gas and don't have health care, but the people who are running these companies are making millions and millions of dollars.

CORNISH: Yes.

DUBKE: But here's the thing. Is --

CORNISH: But I am interested in this because on the right what people are saying is, this is socialism. You're going to drive away business. But how do you counter that with the populist movement that conservatives had cultivated a relationship with, which thinks very similarly.

DUBKE: No, very -- very similarly. And I think this is -- this is a false comparison. I think you're absolutely right that -- that there -- with rising gas prices, with inflation and all of this, we do need to address those problems. The problem is, this is -- this kind of stuff coming -- coming out of Mamdani's mouth, and other Democrats, is really just rhetoric. It is a -- it is a quick fix that means nothing because, at the end of the day, it's not going to change the graph that you just put out there, number one. Secondly, it's not going to -- when you drive job creators out of areas of this country and drive them to lower tax states, like you see California to Texas, New York to Florida -- CORNISH: Yes. Although I -- look, I have just a minute left. I think I just want to add --

DUBKE: It's a bigger problem than this --

CORNISH: Because if you're gen z, you don't look at those people as creating jobs right now. That is not what the market is doing for them.

WRIGHT: No.

HAYS: No.

DUBKE: Well, no.

CORNISH: What is in your group chat?

WRIGHT: Talking about rich people. "It's Devil Wears Prada Two."

CORNISH: Oh.

WRIGHT: I saw it last night.

DUBKE: Oh, my goodness.

WRIGHT: And I can say, I love Meryl Streep.

DUBKE: Who can afford that dress?

CORNISH: Yes, exactly.

WRIGHT: OK, the outfits were bomb. But I saw -- I love Meryl Streep. I love Anne Hathaway. It didn't have the magic of the first one.

CORNISH: It didn't.

WRIGHT: And I think it's because they've gotten too rich.

CORNISH: But, you know what, it is an excellent film for billionaires' history month.

WRIGHT: Yes.

CORNISH: Which I'm glad has been kicked off this year. Mike's glad that we're now --

DUBKE: In what?

CORNISH: Billionaires' history month.

[07:00:01]

It's like when we look at marginalized communities and talk about how they've contributed to the culture.

WRIGHT: It's (INAUDIBLE) greatest dream (ph). CORNISH: Dubke.

DUBKE: Is that the same time --

CORNISH: Is that what (INAUDIBLE) -- that is what (INAUDIBLE) talked about.

(CROSS TALK)

HAYS: This dovetails nicely to your group chat, though.

CORNISH: Yes. Is that in your group chat?

DUBKE: Well, my group chat is really just, very quickly, it's now college graduation season.

CORNISH: Hey.

DUBKE: All of my friends are down there at their college graduations, and all of their kids are wondering, where am I going to find a job?

CORNISH: OK.

HAYS: Yes, because the billionaires are cutting jobs.

CORNISH: Shout out to the grads. We know it's hard to find a job. We see you. We're making jokes. But we know you are out there being frustrated. But you know what? Take this moment and be excited, right? Like, this is your time to enter the world with some joy.

Meghan, do you have anything in your group chat?

HAYS: Yes, I was in North Carolina speaking at the North Carolina Chamber and then at the New Deal Forum with center Dems. And I would just like to say, your online is not the real world and people are more moderate and having civil conversations out in the states. And it's refreshing to see.

DUBKE: I mean this is the thing we need to talk about is that in real America, outside of social media, outside of New York, outside of tapping glass with Mamdani that they're --

CORNISH: Outside of the cable news greenroom, perhaps.

DUBKE: Yes. Outside of the cable news greenroom, the conversations revolve around a lot more things --

HAYS: That's right.

DUBKE: Than taxing the rich or petite-terre. I mean, what -- oh.

CORNISH: You don't want to get into pied-a-terre?

DUBKE: I'm -- look, my French -- my French is so bad that I am --

(CROSS TALK) WRIGHT: When did you first learn the world of pied-a-terre?

CORNISH: Look, we all have Google, OK, as I did before we started.

DUBKE: Fine.

CORNISH: You guys, thank you so much for being with us. The headlines are next.