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CNN This Morning

Trump Returns To U.S. After Meetings With Chinese President Xi; Long Island Rail Road Workers On Strike; Sources: U.S. Preparing To Indict Former Cuban President Raul Castro; Murdaugh Retrial Likely To Focus Less On Financial Evidence; Richard Glossip Released On Bond, Will Be Retried For Murder; $1.25M Bond Set For Livestreamer Accused Of Attempted Murder. Aired 7-8a ET

Aired May 16, 2026 - 07:00   ET

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

[07:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to CNN THIS MORNING. Here's what's happening this weekend. President Trump is back in Washington after what he calls a historic trip to China. The key takeaways of what was and was not achieved, as the president now shifts his focus back to Iran.

New this morning. Transit workers for the country's largest commuter railroad are on strike.

Regrettably, as of 12:01 a.m. this morning, we are striking the Long Island Rail Road.

BLACKWELL (voice-over): By Monday, hundreds of thousands of workers in the New York area could be stranded. Cuba's former president could soon face criminal charges. What we're learning about the effort to indict Raul Castro, and the implications that could have for Cuba and the U.S.

And happening today. Voters in Louisiana will head to the polls at a stripped-down primary, but could have major implications for Republican fighting to keep his seat after crossing President Trump.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: May is flying by. Isn't it already the 16th Saturday? Welcome to your weekend. I'm Victor Blackwell.

President Trump back in Washington this morning after a two-day summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping. President Trump touted the Beijing summit as a historic moment. But the meetings between the two leaders ended without substantive agreements announced on key issues.

President Trump said in a Fox News interview last night that Taiwan was the most important issue for Xi during their talks. Trump has yet to approve a $14 billion deal to sell weapons to Taiwan. And when he was asked about that sale, here's what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm holding that in abeyance. And it depends on China. It depends -- it's a very good negotiating chip for us, frankly. It's a lot of weapons.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: CNN's Mike Valerio joins us now from Beijing. Taiwan at the top of the list. Surprising, though, that some things like tariffs weren't on the list at all, according to President Trump.

MIKE VALERIO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right. I mean, traders from New York CEOs to San Francisco, the Bay Area are shocked. And we're trying to get more insight into what exactly they discussed. And, you know, when we're talking about trade, we didn't discuss this in the last hour, Victor.

But when you have that parade of CEOs that are coming to the great hall of the people, and they leave without any announcements of blockbuster deals, we're all trying to see on both sides of the Pacific Ocean what has happened or what will come from this meeting. I think that the administration's point of view is going to be that the relationship reset, that the change in the vibes that we talked about last hour from all the things that the president has said about China on the campaign trail, going back to before he won the White House the first time, to now him seemingly wanting China to be a partner in myriad aspects of the relationship. That is the biggest change.

But let's talk about Taiwan. We're going to go back to Bret Baier's interview with the president. Just listen to how he starts talking about Taiwan. It's about a 40-second clip. We'll talk more on the other side.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: They stole our chip. If we would have had one of our presidents just say, we're going to say -- we're going to put 100 percent chip. You can leave. You can build in Taiwan, but were going to you sell it back into the United States?

We're going to put a hundred percent or 200 percent tariff. We would have never lost a chip. We lost the chip industry. I'm not looking to have somebody go independent.

And, you know, we're supposed to travel 9500 miles to fight a war. I'm not looking for that. I want them to cool down. I want China to cool down.

BRET BAIER, ANCHOR, CNN: But you're waiting on approving billions of dollars of weapons for Taiwan. Is that moving forward?

TRUMP: Well, I haven't approved it yet. We're going to see happens. I made the --

BAIER: What are you looking for?

TRUMP: I may do it. I may not do it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VALERIO: Saturday -- so, now Saturday night here in Beijing. This is -- at this moment. I should stress at this moment being seen as a victory for Beijing, because the whole, you know, animating energy of a huge portion of Chinese leader Xi Jinping's rule over China is to try to bring Taiwan under control of Beijing.

And certainly, as we look forward to 20 -- 49 years and years from now, that's going to be the centenary of the Communist Party of China. And it's part of a national rejuvenation over a hundred years of turning around the entire trajectory and image of this nation.

[07:05:08]

And it's a signature goal of Xi to bring, again, the island under Beijing's control, sowing doubt within the minds of the Taiwanese people that America perhaps would not come to Taiwan's defense in its moment of need if there ever were a scenario where Taiwan was taken by force. Conversations like this, certainly among people who live in Taiwan, leads into that strand of conversation. So, we look to DC over the next couple of days to see whether or not this $14 billion weapons deal to Taiwan is approved or not, Victor.

BLACKWELL: And we'll see how the members of Congress react as they return next week as well. Mike Valerio, thanks so much.

VALERIO: Right.

BLACKWELL: The war in Iran, another major topic of discussion during President Trump's visit to China. China holds close ties with Iran as a major trading partner. But talks between the two leaders did not produce any breakthroughs. On his way back from China, the president told reporters that the latest counterproposal from Iran was unacceptable. Let's talk about it now.

Joining me now is CNN Military Analyst and retired Air Force Colonel Cedric Leighton and Defense Reporter for Politico Jack Detsch. Jack, let me start with you -- and good morning to both of you, Gentlemen.

There is CNN reporting that the president is closer now to potentially returning to strikes on Iran. The kinetic part of this war, five and a half weeks into this ceasefire. How much of this strong consideration of ending the ceasefire is influenced by what did not come out of this summit with Xi, Jack?

JACK DETSCH, DEFENSE REPORTER, POLITICO: It's still mostly what we're seeing from the Iranians. They've refused to budge in this negotiation. And Donald Trump has been very clear that he wants the nuclear program on the deal. He wants it suspended.

Now, they're talking about a 20-year moratorium, perhaps, where the Iranians couldn't enrich nuclear weapons -- couldn't get towards nuclear weapons-grade capabilities. So, it seems like the sides just very, very far apart on what the U.S. wants. U.S. security needs coming out of this and where the Iranians have been -- the Iranians still feel like they have a lot of leverage with the Strait of Hormuz effectively closed.

BLACKWELL: I want to come back to that 20-year pause, instead of ending the nuclear enrichment program in just a moment. But, Colonel, let me come to you. U.S. Intel has determined that Iran retained much of their missile capabilities. Sketch out the Iran's positioning now if this war were to return to the earlier phases pre-ceasefire.

CEDRIC LEIGHTON, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Yes. Good morning, Victor. So, what would happen with the Iranians is they would be able to use a lot of the weapons that they've got left over. So, were talking about 70 percent -- at least 70 percent of their missiles and their launchers that they have available to them, according to these intelligence reports.

So, if that's the case, the Iranians do have a capability that could result in retaliation against the Gulf Arab States, against U.S. installations once again. And it could potentially go a bit further afield with asymmetric means. For example, we had a report yesterday here on CNN about the gas stations that had their tanks basically attacked via a cyberattacks.

So, when you have that capability -- that asymmetric capability coupled with the weapons that the Iranians are, you know, still able to use, that could basically present a bit of a thorn in the side of U.S. military efforts. And it could not prevent U.S. attacks. But it could certainly make them more difficult to execute.

BLACKWELL: Colonel, let's walk through this. Because the president has said for weeks now -- really, since the first week of the war -- that the U.S. and Israel have obliterated the Iranian military. The Navy has done, the Air Force has done that, the U.S. has won this military victory. What would be the likely targets -- in addition to what you said about the missile launchers that would hasten some deal with the Iranians? What was accomplished early in the war didn't break the Iranian will, short of the war crimes the president suggested in his tweets last month, what would be of value to hit that still left?

LEIGHTON: Well, they can restrike a lot of the targets that they hit. And the president alluded to something when he was talking, I think, with Bret Baier on Fox. It was a -- you know, basically go after the infrastructure. It was, you know, go after the bridges, go after, you know, other installations like the electric grid, things like that.

[07:10:01]

Now, one of the things that's a problem here is that we are basically mirror-imaging Iran onto us. So, if -- you know, our electric grid were attacked or our defense installations were attacked, that would be a real problem for us. It's not exactly the same thing in Iran.

It's a problem for them. But they have ways around it. They've been spending decades trying to perfect their asymmetric defense capabilities in addition to asymmetric offensive capabilities.

So, the target sets that they would have to hit would potentially include going after targets right along the Strait of Hormuz to prevent launches into that area and prevent minelaying operations. That would be the kind of thing that would be effective against Iran if it were executed properly. But it would be a bit of a difficult military operation. Not impossible, but something that they would have to concentrate on, on the U.S. side.

BLACKWELL: Jack, let's talk more about this rejected response from Iran. Here's what the president said on Air Force One.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: On Iran. Have you rejected the latest proposal from Iran or where does that stand?

TRUMP: Well, I looked at it. And if I don't like the first sentence, I just throw it away.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What was the first sentence?

TRUMP: An unacceptable sentence because they have fully agreed no nuclear. And it's -- if they have any nuclear of any form, I don't read the rest of it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 20 years is not enough for you. It's got to be a permanent --

TRUMP: No. 20 years is enough. But the level of guarantee from them was not enough. In other words, it's got to be a real 20 years.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: So, the president says he'd accept a 20-year moratorium, not the end of the nuclear enrichment program, which had been the president's position. Is this a result of the presidents frustrations in the delay? I mean, this -- is this something that could have been negotiated as an extension of the JCPOA, which the president tore up in his first term?

DETSCH: Well, it's hard to just immediately go back to the JCPOA.

BLACKWELL: Sure.

DETSCH: Because, like you said, Victor, it's gone. So, you would have to go build a negotiation team. And remember, when you look at what the president has done with his negotiation team, he has Steve Witkoff, he has Jared Kushner, he has JD Vance. But this is a much smaller team that he would be bringing to negotiations with the Iranian foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, and others.

So, it seems like they're not focused, at least for the time being, on building up a rim of 40-page document, a 70-page document that would look like the JCPOA. This would be much leaner. They'd be trying to get restrictions on civilian nuclear program, probably more severe restrictions than the Obama administration had before 2018, of course.

And you're just looking at a situation where the military situation could kick off again. The Iranians feel like they have other cards to play immediately after the summit. Abbas Araghchi said he had been talking to the Chinese about getting more wiggle room. So, it seems like the Iranians cleverly trying to reach out to their allies to avoid pressure from the United States.

BLACKWELL: Jack Detsch. Colonel Cedric Leighton. Thank you both.

Hundreds of thousands of commuters could potentially be stranded this weekend. Still ahead. America's busiest commuter train is shut down after workers went on strike overnight. And passengers are told to stand on the wing of their plane after it made an emergency landing.

Plus, a former death row inmate is out of prison for the first time in 30 years, thanks to -- in part to the help of Kim Kardashian.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:18:28]

BLACKWELL: Morning headlines for you now. Long Island Rail Road workers are on strike. And that could potentially leave hundreds of thousands of weekday commuters stranded in the New York area. 3500 transit workers went on strike just after midnight. The five unions representing the workers could not reach an agreement with railroad management on a new contract. Wages and work rules are the sticking points.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN LIEBER, CHAIRMAN, MTA: We have great health benefits, great retirement benefits, and we have pensions of a kind that are no longer available to almost everybody in the private sector. And on top of all that, the workers at these unions who are going on strike get to feast on overtime.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Now, the unions say that they want their first raise since 2022. The LIRR is the country's largest commuter railroad.

An American Eagle flight with U.S. congressman on board was forced to evacuate after an emergency landing. This happened just -- happened yesterday, just before the flight landed in Kansas City, Missouri. The Federal Aviation Administration says smoke was reported in the cabin of flight 5318. A Kansas representative, Tracy Mann, was aboard the flight. He posted videos and photos of the scene online.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. TRACEY MANN (R-KS): Man, minute on our flight into the Kansas City airport, there was smoke on our aircraft, and so we landed and are now sitting on the tarmac. Everyone evacuated the aircraft. Everyone seems to be OK. Really appreciate our first responders. Folks from fire. You know, they do a fantastic job every day. They're prepared for things like this. That's why it's important that we support all of our first responders and really appreciate them coming out right away and making sure there's no issues.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[07:20:2]

BLACKWELL: Now, the airline says all 76 passengers were evacuated from the plane. The FAA is investigating.

A judge in New York has declared a mistrial in the retrial of Harvey Weinstein. So, the jury here deadlocked on the rape charge against the former Hollywood mogul. This was on Friday.

This was the third trial involving the same charge after another jury failed to decide last year. And an appeals court overturned his 2020 conviction. Weinstein's defense team is calling this a win.

They vowed to keep fighting. Prosecutors are now weighing whether to try the case for a fourth time. Weinstein is in jail on separate convictions.

Sources are telling CNN that the U.S. is planning an indictment against Cuba's former president, Raul Castro. He's the brother of the late dictator Fidel Castro. And according to our sources, the indictment against the 94-year-old possibly relates to a 1996 incident. It was the shootdown of planes that belonged to a Cuban American exile group. CNN's Senior Justice Correspondent Evan Perez has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: The Justice Department is working to secure criminal charges against former Cuban President Raul Castro. The exact nature of the charges are unclear. But if approved by a grand jury, they could come as soon as next week. Cuba celebrates its Independence Day on May 20.

A federal prosecutors have examined a number of possible charges, including some related to the Cuban military's 1996 downing of two planes belonging to the Cuban American exile organization Brothers to the Rescue. Four men, three of them American citizens, were killed in that attack. Cuban American Republican lawmakers have pushed the Justice Department to bring charges.

In a February letter to the-Attorney General Pam Bondi, lawmakers including Representative Mario Diaz-Balart, urged the Justice Department to prosecute Castro, citing evidence, including reports that there was -- from that era, that there was a recording of radio traffic that included the Cuban MiG pilots that shot down those planes, indicating that Castro, then the defense minister, ordered the shootdown of the planes in international airspace. Now, the potential U.S. criminal charges come amid rising tensions between Cuba and the United States. CIA Director John Ratcliffe traveled to Cuba on Thursday to meet with government officials as the government -- as the Trump administration has been tightening sanctions that have worsened Cuba's severe economic crisis, including fuel shortages and near-daily power outages. The Justice Department declined to comment for this story. Evan Perez, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Evan, thank you very much. A major murder conviction overturned. Did you hear about this? Former attorney Alex Murdaugh will be likely retried for the murders of his wife and son. He's not a free man, though. Attorney Julia Janay will be with us to explain what happens next. But, Melissa, we're also watching some storms.

MELISSA NORD, CNN METEOROLOGIST :We are, indeed. A near-record heat going to be a lot of fuel for those thunderstorms. Today will mark day number one of a new multi-day thunderstorm outbreak. Will break down the details ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:27:57]

BLACKWELL: Top stories for you now this morning. President Trump is back in Washington after a visit to China that resulted in no concrete solutions on several thorny issues. Iran trade, whether the U.S. will go ahead with arms sales to Taiwan.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We discuss Taiwan. You know, the whole thing with the arms sales. It was in great detail, actually. And I'll be making decisions.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What was his request?

TRUMP: But, you know, I think the last thing we need right now is a war that's 9500 miles away.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: President Trump was asked if the U.S. would defend Taiwan in the event of a conflict with China, and he declined to answer. And he told reporters that President Xi posed the same question to him earlier in the day.

The Supreme Court rejected a long-shot bid by Virginia Democrats to use a new voter-approved congressional map in this year's midterm elections. The Supreme Court decision, no dissents here, leaves a ruling in place by the Virginia Supreme Court that found legal flaws in the new map. And that map was proposed by Democrats as part of a nationwide redistricting fight started with President Trump's call to Texas to draw a map more favorable to Republicans.

In about 30 minutes, polls opened in Louisiana. And Republican Senator Bill Cassidy -- he's facing a Trump-backed primary challenge. He's trailing in the polls. Cassidy's vote to convict Trump during the second impeachment trial and his frequent criticism of the administration, have made him a target of the president. Ken Thomas of the Wall Street Journal told us last hour that the odds are stacked against Cassidy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEN THOMAS, NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER, WALL STREET JOURNAL: The polling shows that Cassidy is in a very difficult spot. And you have to keep in mind that this is also a closed primary. So, only Republicans will be voting. I think that makes Cassidy's task even more difficult.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Louisiana's House primaries were postponed after the Supreme Court struck down the State's current congressional map, which includes a majority black district that favors Democrats.

[07:29:57]

The Trump administration is reportedly considering setting up a $1.7 billion fund to compensate Trump allies investigated by the justice department.

That's according to the New York Times and several other media outlets.

Now, in exchange for establishing the fund, the president would drop his reportedly bill -- multi-billion-dollar and multi-million-dollar lawsuits against the federal government.

Now, the settlement could also include the IRS agreeing to drop audits of Trump and his businesses. Former government officials and Democrats have slammed the plant as a slush fund on the taxpayer's dime. The Justice Department and Treasury Departments and the IRS have not commented.

All right, we witnessed a pretty shocking turn in two high-profile murder cases this week. The South Carolina Supreme Court overturned murder convictions for disgraced former lawyer Alex Murdaugh, and that sets the stage for another trial for the shooting deaths of his wife, Maggie, and his son Paul.

Now, in Oklahoma, 63-year-old Richard Glossip is out on bond. The now former death row inmate was scheduled for execution nine times before the Supreme Court overturned his conviction.

Court T.V. attorney Julia Jenae joins me now to break down what happens next in these cases. Thanks for coming in.

JULIA JENAE, LEGAL CORRESPONDENT COURT T.V.: Yes, thanks for having me, Victor.

BLACKWELL: So, let's start here with the Murdaugh case. I mean, there have been books and series and movies and podcasts, just national attention on this.

He is not getting out of prison because he's been convicted of financial crimes.

(CROSSTALK)

JENAE: Yes.

BLACKWELL: But how could this next trial look different than the one the country watch?

JENAE: Oh, it will look different. There is no doubt about that. This was such a shock. This was one of the most highly watched trials of the decade.

And for the Supreme Court there in South Carolina to overturn that because of conduct of the clerk, that was a huge shock to many who watched this trial. But for those who looked at it legally, in the analysis of all of it, that was the way to go. It's --

(CROSSTALK)

BLACKWELL: It wasn't a surprise.

JENAE: Wasn't a surprise as much. So, in terms of the second trial, there will be a lot of the same witnesses, of course, and the same evidence coming in. But the South Carolina Supreme Court gave guidance, saying that they really went too far with the motive, with the financial evidence that they brought in of those crimes.

You mentioned that he is already behind bars for admitting his guilt to swindling people all over South Carolina. His clients, his law firm, and the prosecution used that to say this was his motive. He killed his wife and his son trying to cover up and to keep people from investigating his financial crimes.

We might not see as many financial crime witnesses at this trial.

BLACKWELL: So much attention, as I mentioned. Talk to me about the difficulty of seating a jury for this second trial.

JENAE: I think, there may be a bit of a difficulty, but it always happens, no matter what. Even if the defense attorneys say that they can't find fair and impartial jurors, you usually find that you can seat a jury. There are some people who just don't keep up with the things that are going on.

And even if they've already watched some of the trial or know about what happened, as long as they are not going to hold it against them, and they tell the judge that they can be fair and impartial, then, they can still be jurors.

But we do know from interviews with the defense team that they plan to ask for a change of venue. They don't want this to happen in Colleton County, that small town where Alex Murdaugh was someone who was pretty influential. BLACKWELL: I mean, the Murdaugh family, for generations, had been influential.

JENAE: Right.

BLACKWELL: Yes.

JENAE: And I think that's what intrigued people so much about this case. It was about abuse of power. This man who seemed to have been wielding his power in this town, finally brought down, and then, to have his conviction overturned by a clerk who may have been using her influence to bring him down.

BLACKWELL: Do you think the change of venue is likely?

JENAE: I think a judge may --

(CROSSTALK)

BLACKWELL: Yes.

JENAE: -- give a change of venue, just because of all of the attention and how much these trials -- because it was so high profile, just upset everything inside of that town.

BLACKWELL: Let's talk about Richard Glossip now. Oklahoma City motel owner Barry Van Treese, killed in '97, hired handyman Justin Sneed, and Glossip, the motel manager. They were arrested.

Sneed admitted to beating Van Treese to death with a baseball bat and avoided the death penalty himself by pleading guilty, testifying that Glossip organized the killing, so, he could run the motel himself.

After rounds of appeals, Supreme Court finally decided to overturn Glossip's conviction and death sentence. They said the prosecutors didn't correct false testimony from Sneed at trial. He is now awaiting trial. Retrial that's coming nearly 30 years after the initial crime.

What are the challenges that come with retrying a case decades later?

JENAE: Oh, so many challenges, but I think the big one here to keep in mind about Richard Glossop's case is that both the prosecution, the attorney general's office, and the defense team agreed to this release. They felt that he did deserve it.

[07:35:00]

So, I'm wondering what a retrial is going to look like if the prosecution has admitted that there were problems with that first trial. That their office allowed false testimony in by Justin Sneed, this co-defendant. He stood on the stand that he didn't have any mental health issues. He never been diagnosed, and it turns out that the prosecution knew all along that he did have a diagnosis and was taking medication.

So, there is other evidence that they were accused of hiding, and in this retrial, that's something that they won't be able to use, and there is a lot of problems with what many say is the sole witness who could put any connection between Glossop and this killing.

BLACKWELL: We have a write on cnn.com about this. But can you quickly explain why double jeopardy doesn't apply to these cases?

JENAE: Oh, because even though they were convicted and this was a case that was overturned, it is remanded for retrial. So, not necessarily on the merits of the case, but that there was an issue that made it fundamentally problematic.

So, it's not that they are being tried again for the same thing. Right now, they are back to square one, where they started. They are presumed innocent, and the prosecution gets a chance to go back and try them again.

BLACKWELL: All right. Julia Jenae, thanks so much.

JENEA: Thanks, Victor.

BLACKWELL: New details this morning after a live streamer appeared in court. Bond is set at more than a million dollars for the streamer of racist content known as Chud the Builder.

Up next, what we learned about a shooting outside a Tennessee courthouse.

Remember, if you are heading out, you can stream our show from anywhere in the US, right on the CNN app. Also, check out cnn.com/watch.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:41:12]

BLACKWELL: Right now, millions of people from Texas to Iowa are facing a severe weather threat, including thunderstorms and damaging winds and large hail, the risk of tornadoes.

Meteorologist Melissa Nord is with us now for a closer look at what's ahead. When is it hitting?

MELISSA NORD, METEOROLOGIST, ATLANTA METROPOLITAN AREA: Well, starts today.

(CROSSTALK)

BLACKWELL: Yes.

NORD: But Victor, this round of thunderstorms that we're going to see, it's a multi-day threat. So, we'll see some storms today, and gradually the system pushes east. So, yes, a lot of people going to be facing more threats of large hail, damaging winds, that tornado that really ramps up as we get into early next week, as well.

Here is the big picture that you can see here. This is the next three days, the outlooks from the Storm Prediction Center.

Each three of those days, you see those orange dots on the map, the bull's eyes? Those are our greatest chance of severe weather. That's a level three out of five risk of severe storms. So, today, that level three out of five is going to be southwestern Nebraska, also northeastern Colorado, and the parts of Kansas as well.

We do have some showers, storms ongoing right now. The Corn Belt up into the Midwest. None of these are severe at the moment, but what I do expect to develop later on today are those stronger storms in the high plains, and that is going to ramp up later on this afternoon and evening.

You can see pretty quiet start to the day out there. We'll see the storms that are in the Corn Belt, the Midwest, keep ramping through, through the afternoon.

Then, we get into the evening, a few isolated, discreet storms develop, and clusters of thunderstorms, and it's each of those storms that start firing off that could bring that risk of very large hail, damaging winds, and there is a chance that we can see a couple of tornadoes, as well.

Storms will continue through the overnight, and then, by tomorrow morning, you can see stretching throughout Iowa, even entering into Chicago.

Now, the next couple of days, as we see the severe storms ramping up, in advance of it, there is a lot of heat. We are talking each one of these dots on the map, Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday represents a potential record high temperature. Places like Cleveland could see their first 90-degree temperature of the season so far. Victor?

BLACKWELL: All right. Melissa, thanks so much.

"NEW THIS MORNING", President Donald Trump says a major ISIS leader has been killed in an operation in Nigeria. He posted on social media that U.S. and Nigerian forces had tracked down the group's second in command. The post says that he will no longer terrorize people in Africa or plan attacks on Americans, and that his death has greatly reduced ISIS's global operations.

This morning, we are learning new details about a live streamer accused of a shooting outside a courthouse in Tennessee. A judge set bond at more than a million dollars for Dalton Eatherly, who is facing charges that include attempted murder. Eatherly is known for posting racist content online under the name Chud the Builder.

Investigators say the shooting followed a confrontation outside the Montgomery County Courthouse on Wednesday. Here is CNN's Isabel Rosales.

ISABEL ROSALES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We just got a hold of an arrest warrant for Dalton Eatherly that reveals new details, including the name of the man that he got into an altercation with, and is alleged to have shot. That he is facing this very serious charge of attempted murder.

He -- that other man, has been identified by Montgomery County officials as Joshua Fox. We also got a narrative here within the affidavit. They gave a lot more details into what happened outside of that Montgomery County courthouse on Wednesday.

Officers noted that they watched surveillance video. And in that video, they saw that this started out as a verbal fight that Eatherly turned toward Fox, and then, reached for his firearm. And then, a physical fight ensued.

Eatherly, according to this affidavit, then, shot Fox multiple times. Fox was then airlifted over to Vanderbilt Hospital, where he underwent emergency surgery.

The officers also noted that video shows what appears to be rounds that ricocheted off of nearby walls there, where innocent bystanders were nearby.

[07:45:03]

Of course, this is a courthouse, a busy traffic area.

Now, Eatherly live streamed himself, the interaction. It's caught on audio. The interaction that he had with first responders shortly after he is alleged to have shot Fox. Listen to what he said happened.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DALTON EATHERLY, LIVE STREAMER ACCUSED OF ATTEMPTED MURDER: I walked past him. He was sitting on the corner. I walked up to them because they are pointing at me. They were laughing and they were pointing at me, and I said, what's up guys how are you all doing? I said, you all like the -- you all like the new suit?

He said walk away from me and I walked away from him. He came back up to me. He literally said, I have PTSD. I feel like I'm in --

He said, you start saying all that -- to me, I'm going to hit you. He hit me. Started wailing on me. Even after I had to defend myself by shooting him, he is still wailing on me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROSALES: Now, in that live stream, Eatherly says that he didn't start shooting until Fox started to beat up on him. But it's important to note that in the actual narrative of the affidavit, officers note that in the surveillance video that they witnessed, this never turned physical until Eatherly pulled out his gun.

Of course, we have reached out to his attorney for comment. But again, this is -- this is a live streamer who's made a name out of himself, out of essentially rage baiting, of seeing vile content, of going up to people, especially minorities and black people, calling them the N word, calling them chimps. So, there is been a major backlash from the community about this individual for a long time before this happened. BLACKWELL: Our Isabel Rosales, thank you for the report.

Still ahead, the top of the leaderboard is tight at the 2026 PGA Championship. We have the highlights in "SPORTS".

And tonight, on CNN, Kara takes on death, meeting believers, billionaires, and even an A.I. version of herself to ask, is immortality a fantasy or the key to life?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KARA SWISHER, HOST, KARA SWISHER WANTS TO LIVE FOREVER: But what is -- what is that narcissism and that godlike feelings? Somebody --

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, it's your God.

SWISHER: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And you believe that technology can solve everything, or some kind of hack can solve everything. They all believed, and I never heard Jobs say that, but they all believed it.

(CROSSTALK)

SWISHER: Yes. The attitude that someone like Jobs had was very different. He gave that famous speech at Stanford, which was mortality creates scarcity of time, and then innovation.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was.

So, he had death, and he had shortness of career time on his mind -- and family time on his mind. It focused him, it sharpened his goals. And when I would talk to him privately, he would talk to him about that. In fact, he lectured me about my health once, which is hilarious.

This is a guy that ignored his cancer for nine months.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Back-to-back final episodes of "KARA SWISHER WANTS TO LIVE FOREVER". Aired tonight at 9:00 Eastern on CNN, and next day on the CNN app.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:52:19]

Third round of the 108th PGA Championship is happening now, just outside of Philadelphia. And for the second straight day, the course is pretty tough. CNN's Andy Scholes is here. ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Yes. I mean, it's just a battle out there for those guys. Victor, and Iran and Mink (PH), I mean, no one is been able to go low. Coming in today, 29 guys are within four shots of the lead. Rory McIlroy, he is five shots back, but he said, you know, if you made it to the weekend, everyone has got to feel like they have a chance.

Justin Rose, he made it to the weekend yesterday. Thanks to a clutch shot on his final hole, Rose was on the bubble. But he chipped in here for the Eagle. He was pumped up about that.

Michael Kim also had to have this from just off the green in order to make the cut. And look at this, he gets it to go, and give a nice fist bump as he gets to play the weekend.

Now, world number one, Scottie Scheffler, he's two shots off the lead. And he says, so far, this has been the hardest set of pin locations he's ever seen on tour.

SCOTTIE SCHEFFLER, RANKED WORLD NUMBER ONE AMERICAN PROFESSIONAL GOLFER: I love hard tests of golf, but it's also the hardest game in the world, and we are trying to make it harder. And there is different ways you can do that. You can do that on a golf course like this. I mean, I truly believe they can have the winning score be whatever they would want it to be. I think it's the hardest game in the world, and still just trying to solve a bit of the puzzle.

SCHOLES: All right. We will see what today has in store.

Meanwhile, in the NBA, for the first time since 2017 the Spurs are on to the Western Conference Finals. Stephon Castle, he set the tone in game six from the start for San Antonio, scored 14 points in the first quarter. He finished with 32. Spurs like wire to wire in this one. The final is 139 to 109 and the wind now sets up a juggernaut matchup between the Spurs and the Thunder.

Wemby in San Antonio, they beat the Thunder four out of five times this season.

Pistons, meanwhile, living to fight another day in their series with the Cavs. It was just a three-point game at halftime, but Detroit coming out on a mission in the third.

I'll show you a sequence for Detroit. Paul Reed saves the ball there, then Duncan Robinson saves it. Then, Reed's going to get the ball back, and he takes it to the basket. He gets fouled.

Watch how long this ball stays on the rim. It's there, it's there, and finally goes in, drops in for the three-point play. Pistons, did go on to win 115 to 94 to force a Game Seven. That game will be tomorrow night back in Detroit.

And finally, Caitlin Clark and the Fever, they were down three to the Mystics in the closing seconds. But Indiana runs a perfect play to get Clark a great look. She ferries the three. That was in the game to overtime. Clark hit five threes in the fourth quarter, while scoring 17 points in the period. She finished with 32, but it wasn't enough. Kelsey Mitchell missing a potential game winner here at the buzzer. Mystics would win that one in O.T. 104 to 102.

Victor, Clark, off to a little bit of a slow start to this season, but maybe that game right there will get her going.

[07:55:04]

BLACKWELL: She will catch up.

SCHOLES: I'm sure.

BLACKWELL: All right. Andy, thank you.

"FIRST OF ALL," is coming up at the top of the hour. From Selma and Montgomery to cities across the country, a day of action for voting rights is planned to rally against the redrawn voter maps across the South. I'll speak to one of the organizers about their message and their mission.

Plus, you will hear from the relatives of two Americans jailed in China for more than a decade now. Their message to President Trump, as it appears their loved ones did not come up during President Trump's meetings in China this week.

And later, you are going to meet the Spelman seven. How these inspiring members of the class of 2026 are making history together at their graduation this weekend.

Those stories and conversations you will not see anywhere else coming up after a short break on "FIRST OF ALL".

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