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CNN This Morning

Trump Meets With National Security Team, No Decsion On Iran; Delegations From Qatar And Pakistan In Tehran; Chinese State Media: Coal Mine Blast Kills At Least 90. Aired 8-9p ET

Aired May 23, 2026 - 08:00   ET

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

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[08:00:36]

DANNY FREEMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to CNN this morning. Here's what's new. First up, this could be a very consequential weekend in the war with Iran. President Trump huddled with his top national security officials yesterday as delegations from Qatar and Pakistan are in Tehran, hoping to avoid conflict starting up again. We have new reporting on what Iran is saying about the state of talks.

Plus, we're following breaking News. At least 90 people are dead after an explosion at a mine in China. We're live in Beijing with the latest on the search for people still missing.

And the White House is doubling down on their support of a $1.8 billion so called anti-weaponization fund for their allies. We'll talk about how that's coming at the expense of the president's other priorities as some Republicans revolt and then this.

We'll tell you why SpaceX is applauding one of their rockets exploding. Plus, Allison.

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: That's right. We've had a lot of thunderstorm activity move across areas of the country. This is earlier in Houston as the thunderstorms rolled in. But they're not the only one. We'll take a look at the rest of the country's forecast coming up.

FREEMAN: A very good Saturday morning to you all. It is May 23rd, and thank you so much for joining us. Victor Blackwell is off. And first of all, we'll be back next weekend. For now, I'm Danny Freeman, live from New York.

We'll begin here. This could be a consequential weekend for the way forward with the war in Iran. Right now we're learning no decision was reached on Friday when President Trump met with his national security team. But notably, the president is skipping his own son's wedding this weekend, citing his, quote, "love for the United States." And he changed his weekend plans to stay at the White House.

Meanwhile, Iran's foreign ministry insists a peace agreement with the U.S. is not close. Meantime, U.S. Intelligence reports that the Iranians are rebuilding their military industrial base faster than expected and already producing more drones.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: They're not going to ever have a nuclear weapon. They're never going to have a nuclear weapon. And we'll have that over with soon. It'll be over with soon.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FREEMAN: CNN's Seb Shukla is tracking the latest developments live for us from Berlin. Seb, what can you tell us?

SEB SHUKLA, CNN FIELD PRODUCER: Yes, good afternoon, Danny. What we're seeing from the negotiations and the talks that are happening around the war here is that on the surface, everything is as it was. But what we are seeing behind the scenes now are the rumblings of two threads. The first one, which you mentioned, which is the following that meeting that the president had with the vice president, with the Secretary of Defense, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff in the White House yester, where they clearly, given that was the meeting of the four of them, were looking at potential military plans of action.

But what we're seeing in Tehran are the arrivals of the Pakistani, Iranian, and Qatari mediators trying to push forward the diplomatic effort to continue the ceasefire and even to be able to bring the war in its totality to an end. So those are the two tracks that we're monitoring right now.

But I want you to take a listen to what the U.S. believes the way those talks and negotiations are happening right now as the Secretary of State Marco Rubio left Europe before heading to India. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARCO RUBIO, SECRETARY OF STATE: So I think there's been some progress, but I wouldn't. We're not there yet. And hopefully that'll change. It may not.

Honestly, it may not. We're -- we're dealing with a very difficult group of people. And if it doesn't change, then the President's been clear he has other options. He prefers the negotiated option and having a good deal. But he himself has expressed, you know, concern that maybe that's not possible.

But we're going to keep trying. I know our guys are still working on that very hard.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SHUKLA: And so we hear that our guys are working on it very hard. And as the secretary arrived in New Delhi, India, he released a statement which said the secretary emphasized that the United States will not let Iran hold the global energy markets hostage and that it will not allow the U.S. energy products to have any potential to diversify by the Indian energy supply. What that is saying here, Danny, is that the U.S. are still hoping that negotiations are the way forward and that will release the deadlock, but they are dangling still that potential, that military strikes is the way to escalate this. Danny.

[08:05:12]

FREEMAN: Yes, you can see that clearly there's hope for diplomacy here at the moment. All right, Seb Shukla, thank you so much for that report. Really do appreciate it.

We're also following the race against time to try to find survivors in northern China. That's after a gas explosion at a coal mine that killed at least 90 people.

Right now, there's a massive rescue operation underway. Hundreds of emergency responders are at that scene. State media says this is the deadliest mine disaster in more than a decade.

CNN's Mike Valerio is in Beijing, China, following all of these developments. Mike, good to see you. What can you tell us about this really tragic story?

MIKE VALERIO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I mean, Danny, this is just notable because of the size of this, with so many people who have lost their lives, 90 people, and Xi Jinping, the leader of this superpower on this side of the world, getting involved here. And since the last time we spoke to you two hours ago, we now know that there are new rescue teams who are going underground. But going underground with new challenges facing them, they are telling state media and translated by our own Sylvie Zhuang, who's working on this story for CNN in Hong Kong.

She's reporting that they're going underground, and the maps that they've been given don't match the maps of the conditions that they are seeing. So bottom line, they need to go tunnel to tunnel to look for survivors because the maps that have been originally drawn up are not matching what they are seeing underground. Furthermore, we're also learning through Sylvie's reporting and Simone McCarthy, our lead China reporter, that usually all miners are supposed to go underground in this mine with their GPS devices turned on and not all of them did. So that's why it's almost -- well, now it is more than 24 hours after this happened and the search is still continuing.

So to bring you through what happened really fast, 7:30 last night, that's when there are elevated levels of carbon monoxide. An alarm goes off. Local authorities know about this. An explosion happens with 247 people trapped underground.

By 6:00 a.m., people underground and above ground, in the premises, on the premises, about 200 of them are evacuated by this whole cadre of rescue teams that have amassed on this site.

This is Shaanxi Province, which is about seven hours south of here. And it's where China gets about a quarter of its huge coal supply. And putting this in perspective, you know, we saw a lot of accidents like this in the early 2000s, but safety has certainly improved, which is why this is so notable, because this is an industrial superpower, that this is the worst mining accident in more than a decade.

Xi Jinping telling state media that he has ordered an all out rescue. Notably, when somebody and his echelon orders this and says there will be accountability pursued. So, the question that we're going to be researching and hoping to find out in the next day or two why exactly this happened and if it has larger consequences for China's industry, Danny.

FREEMAN: All right. Well, I know that you'll continue to be on it. Mike Valerio in Beijing, thank you so much for that report. Appreciate it.

VALERIO: Yes.

FREEMAN: New this morning, Russian President Vladimir Putin is ordering retaliation for a deadly Ukrainian attack. He accused Ukraine of striking a college dorm in an occupied town.

Russian State News says 10 people are dead and 38 people are hurt. Ukraine has been stepping up its long-range drone attacks in recent weeks. There were two earlier this week on Russian military facilities.

And more headlines were following domestically. One person is dead after a fire and two explosions at a Staten Island shipyard in New York on Friday. Officials say at least 36 others were injured, most of them firefighters and other first responders.

New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani says the fire was still burning but under control last night. With more than 200 firefighters still at the scene. An investigation into the cause of the fire is expected to begin in the days ahead.

And approximately 40,000 people in Orange County, California, are under evacuation orders. Authorities say they're trying to prevent a tank filled with a toxic chemical from leaking or exploding after it began to overheat. Orange County fire officials say the temperature of the tank is decreasing, and they are working to reduce it to at least 5050 degrees. The industrial site where the tank is located is about five miles from Disneyland.

And the 12th test flight of SpaceX's Starship mega rocket has come to a dramatic close, let's call it. The spacecraft managed to complete a controlled splashdown in the Indian Ocean despite operating without one of its engines. The new prototype, called Starship V3, released mock satellites during a brief suborbital journey. And then you can see exploded.

This test flight is the Starship program's first since October. And SpaceX hopes to fulfill NASA's plan to use this spacecraft to land its astronauts on the moon by 2028. All in the name of science.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mike, is that a tornado? Look at it. Is that a tornado? (END VIDEO CLIP)

[08:10:07]

FREEMAN: Again, videos so scary. Severe weather slams parts of Alabama with multiple possible tornadoes reported. In the Holly Pond, one woman you see right here was on her back porch recording the scene with her phone when she caught the moment a twister touched down near her house. Meanwhile, in Vance, about 40 minutes from Birmingham, dashcam video shows the tornado crossing Interstate 20.

And these are pictures from just a short time ago from Houston. Look at that lightning. Unbelievable. More heavy rain and thunderstorms are expected across parts of the Gulf coast and the east this holiday weekend, with flooding a major concern in some areas.

CNN's Allison Chinchar is tracking, who needs to watch closely. Allison, yes, not feeling like barbecue and hot dogs for a lot of people out there this weekend.

CHINCHAR: Yes, the soggy start to the weekend is not really, I think, the ideal circumstances most people were hoping for. And yes, it's not just in one or two places. You have dozens of right now that are dealing with some type of showers. Some are light, some are very heavy downpours with a lot of lightning and thunder.

That includes this area of the country down to the south, closer to the Gulf Coast. That's where we have all of our thunderstorms, especially this strong line moving through Oklahoma and eastern Texas, that's about to push into areas of Louisiana and even into Arkansas in the coming hours.

Farther to the north, it's not so much thunderstorms but just widespread rainfall across the Great Lakes region, and that's pushing into areas of the Northeast and will continue to do so throughout the day today.

You can see by about 4:00 or 5:00 o'clock this afternoon, you have a lot more of those summertime thunderstorms firing up across the Southeast and the Gulf coast region, while that initial kind of blob of widespread rain continues to slide across the Northeast.

But even that area could end up picking up a few isolated thunderstorms as well. Pushing into Sunday, it's going to be much of the same that we see today. You've got more of those summertime thunderstorms continuing to pop back up. The excessive rainfall or the risk for flooding exists not just today, but also Sunday and Monday too.

For all of these areas you see highlighted in green even going into Sunday. Again, you'll notice the at some of the exact same areas that had the potential for the flooding today. The main concern for that is even though most of these storms widespread, you're looking at maybe about 1 to 3 inches of additional rain. Some spots could pick up 4 or 5 or even 6. But it's also on top of what they've already had the last few days. So many cases, Danny, that ground is already saturated. And now we're

just adding more rain on top of it, which exacerbates the flooding.

FREEMAN: Seeing all that green and yellow on top of New York and Atlanta, I'm thinking, Allison, you and I should have gone to L.A. this Memorial Day weekend. Next time.

CHINCHAR: Could be an indoor holiday.

FREEMAN: Yes, exactly. Exactly. Allison Chinchar, great to see you. Thank you very much.

All right, coming up in just a moment, the tragic death of a NASCAR great is still shrouded in mystery. But a 911 call may give clues to what happened to driver Kyle Busch. That's coming up just ahead.

Plus, charges dismissed against a man wrongly deported to El Salvador last year. The judges key reason for tossing the case against Kilmar Abrego Garcia. That is next as well. And the hunt is on for a new director of national intelligence as President Trump weighs a path forward on the war with Iran.

Tulsi Gabbard is out. What led to her exit? Just ahead.

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[08:17:49]

FREEMAN: We're learning new details about the health of NASCAR driver Kyle Busch in the days leading up to his death. A 911 call obtained by CNN indicates the 41-year-old needed medical attention on Wednesday after coughing up blood, experiencing shortness of breath. In the recording, the caller states that Busch was lying on the bathroom floor. But was awake.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've got an individual that's shortness of breath, very hot, thinks he's going to pass out, and is producing a little bit of blood, coughing up some blood.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FREEMAN: Busch's family announced his sudden death 24 hours after that call. The Associated Press reported, citing sources that Busch was testing a racing simulator when he became unresponsive. Later this hour, CNN's Andy Scholes will have more on the tributes pouring in from for Busch.

To this now, the Trump administration will now require people seeking green cards to return to their home countries during the application process. Well, this could potentially affect a large swath of legal immigrants who would have to leave their jobs, families, and communities while their case is being processed. The new rule is already facing criticism from attorneys, lawmakers, and immigration advocates and is likely to face legal challenges. A high-profile Justice Department case is now falling apart in court.

A federal judge has dismissed criminal charges against Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the man who became a flashpoint in the Trump administration's immigration policies.

The decision is already sparking a new legal fight with the justice department pushing back. CNN's Paula Reid has details.

PAULA REID, CNN CHIEF LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: One of the Trump Justice Department's most high profile criminal cases has been tossed out by a judge. Now, Kilmar Abrego Garcia came to national attention after he was sent to El Salvador despite a judge's order saying the administration could not remove him. Now, once he was returned to the U.S., the Justice Department filed a criminal case against him, accusing him of transporting unlawful migrants back in 2022. Now, his lawyers have been fighting this case, arguing that it should be tossed out because it's politically motivated.

Now, on Friday, the judge overseeing this case agreed, saying the objective evidence here shows that, absent Abrego's successful lawsuit challenging his removal to El Salvador. The government would not have brought this prosecution.

[08:20:09]

Now, the Justice Department pushing back against that on Friday, alleging that this judge is an activist and that this dangerous decision is going to be appealed. So over the next couple weeks and months, we will watch to see how this appeal plays out. Paula Reid, CNN, Washington.

FREEMAN: Thank you, Paula, for that reporting.

To this now, the U.S. is expanding health screening at major airports as an Ebola outbreak spreads in parts of Africa. Essentially, passengers who have been in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda, or South Sudan will now be directed to specific U.S. airports, including Atlanta, Houston and Dulles outside of Washington, D.C.

Now, the new rules take effect in phases starting this weekend. And officials say the move is meant to strengthen screening and limit the risk of spread. Atlanta and Houston are also set. I'll remind you to host the Congo's national soccer team for World Cup matches just next month.

Well, it turns out congressional Republicans may have a breaking point with President Trump, and it's boiling down to a nearly $2 billion so called anti-weaponization fund. We'll tell you what presidential plans could stall as senators start to leave town. That and much more coming up after a quick break.

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[08:25:45]

FREEMAN: Yet another member of President Trump's cabinet will be stepping down soon. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard says she is resigning at the end of June. CNN's Camilla DeChalus is live for us now in Washington. Camilla, tell us, what were we learning about Gabbard's surprise resignation yesterday?

CAMILLA DECHALUS, CNN REPORTER: Well, Danny, the news of her resignation really broke yesterday afternoon, and she's saying that the reasoning is deeply personal. She said that her husband has been diagnosed with an extremely rare form of bone cancer, and her resignation is going to be effective June 30th.

Now, in her letter to President Trump, she wrote, "At this time, I must step away from public service to be by his side and fully support him through this battle." Now, President Trump himself took to Truth Social the same day, praising her service in his post. He wrote, "I have no doubt he will soon be better than ever. Tulsi has done an incredible job, and we will miss her."

Since her resignation, the White House has announced that her principal deputy, Aaron Lucas, will now serve as an acting director of national intelligence. And what's really notable here, Danny, is that CNN has been reporting that this has not come out of nowhere.

For weeks now, the White House officials have been hearing rumors that Gabbard was planning to leave, but she was denying those reports as early as two weeks ago.

FREEMAN: Well, those health reports for her husband are very, very troubling. We hope he gets better. But Tulsi Gabbard is the latest cabinet member planning to depart. As you noted among a number of cabinet members to depart in recent weeks, her messaging, in particular on the war with Iran at times seemed to make that relationship with the White House tense. What more can you tell us about that?

DECHALUS: That's right. CNN has been reporting that there has been this mounting tension Gabbard has faced with inside. CNN has just came out a report just really detailing how Gabbard was routinely sidelined by some of the administration's biggest foreign policy decisions that she wasn't really there with Trump while he's making them during his second term in office. And there was even one instance that was pretty notable that stuck out where Trump himself was very annoyed at her, that before he made the decision to strike the nuclear facilities in Iran, he noted that Gabbard posted a video on social media warning that the world was, quote, closer to the brink of nuclear annihilation than ever before.

And that didn't really go over well with the White House. And so you see this simmering tension. But it is notable, Danny, that she is now the fourth cabinet member to officially have left the Trump administration in his second term. You had the former Attorney General Pam Bondi and the former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who is also they were fired.

And then recently, the former labor Sec -- Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer. So these are just a few names that have left. And now she's joining that list. FREEMAN: All right, Camille DeChalus, thank you for updating us on this consequential story that broke late yesterday. Appreciate it.

Staying in D.C., a second lawsuit has been filed against the Trump administration's nearly $1.8 billion compensation fund for the president's allies. A diverse group of people and organizations, including a former federal prosecutor and a prominent government watchdog group, have asked a judge to block any money from being distributed.

They argue the fund is unconstitutional and violates a series of federal laws. And even while facing bipartisan backlash, sources tell CNN the White House has no plans to make any changes to the fund.

Joining me now to discuss is Rupa Bhattacharya, a former Justice Department lawyer who was the special master for the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund. Thank you so much for joining us this Saturday morning.

Let's start here. There's been a lot of criticism raised with this particular fund. But given your experience, what red flags do you see with this fund?

RUPA BHATTACHARYA, FORMER SPECIAL MASTER, SEPT. 11th, VICTIM COMPENSATION FUND: So I think there's a number of them. Thank you, by the way, for having me on.

First of all, is the collusive nature of the litigation that gave rise to the settlement in the first place. The president was on both sides of the V. He was both the person asking for the settlement money and he was also controlling the agency providing it. And so that should raise a number of red flags to start.

Secondly, the source of the money here and how it's being diverted into this fund I think raises really significant legal questions. The judgment fund was not set up to allow for money to be paid to third parties who had no -- no connection to the underlying litigation that was being settled.

[08:30:05]

And once the money is moved from the judgment fund into the U.S. treasury, it is not at all clear how they are then diverting this money into this new fund. Ordinarily, money that is received in settlement by the United States government would go into the general treasury so that Congress could appropriate it.

And the third major problem is that there are no criteria or guidelines that have been established for who is eligible for this funding from the anti-weaponization fund, for what injuries might be compensable, and for how the amount of compensation would be determined. In previous funds all of those requirements were put in place by Congress.

FREEMAN: Rupa, I want to take a moment to listen to the acting Attorney General talk a bit about who might be eligible for this fund to your point, let's take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Would you be OK with people who were convicted of hurting police getting taxpayer money?

TODD BLANCHE, ACTING ATTORNEY GENERAL: Just to be clear, people that hurt police get money all the time. OK. There's a process where if you are -- if you are -- if you believe you have your rights violated, you can apply for funds, you can sue, you can file a claim, you can go to court.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FREEMAN: Now, Rupa, again, you were the special master for the September 11th fund. Can you break down how involved was the actual process to determine who would ultimately receive funds?

BHATTACHARYYA: It was incredibly involved. It was a two-step process that involved an administrative adjudication where claimants who were seeking funding had to come in first, prove that they were eligible by demonstrating that they met a number of factors that were established both by statute and by regulation at the Justice Department.

And then there was additional evidence that needed to be submitted as to what sorts of harms were suffered so that my staff and I could evaluate how much compensation was being paid. And those compensation amounts were controlled in part by statute.

In terms of there were caps that were placed, there were certain conditions that could not be compensated and those sorts of requirements. None of that is evident on the face of the Blanche memo.

FREEMAN: Rupa, the President's proposed fund has been criticized as a slush fund for January 6th rioters and election deniers. I'm just curious, do you expect it to -- you laid out all the red flags that you see. Do you expect it to ultimately get blocked by a court?

BHATTACHARYYA: So there have now been, I think, three lawsuits that have been filed challenging the fund. There was another one that was filed late yesterday. I think they have strong legal claims for all the reasons we've been talking about. There are numerous red flags and legal concerns with how this fund is being established.

But I do worry about the standing question, meaning whether or not the parties who have filed the lawsuit have sufficient injuries to state a case or controversy, which is a required element in a federal court lawsuit that will have to be litigated. And I will -- I would be very happy to see these claimants actually succeed on their claims in litigation.

But at the end of the day, this is Congress's power that's being intruded upon. Congress has the power to determine where federal money goes through its appropriations process. It has not made that determination here. And I really hope that Congress stuff to do something. FREEMAN: Yes, I think that's the key points to drill home that this was done. This has been done in the past, but again with the hands and control of Congress. Rupa Bhattacharyya, thank you so much for joining us this morning and for sharing your expertise on this subject. Appreciate it.

BHATTACHARYYA: I appreciate your time. Thank you.

FREEMAN: All right, coming up in just a moment, consumer sentiment at an all-time low rising gas prices and cost of living concerns are driving it down. We're going to discuss the political impact, next.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I've been thinking about the gas prices joking that we needed to take out a loan for the weekend.

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[08:38:46]

FREEMAN: Politics now. Americans are not happy with the economy. Consumer sentiment has plunged to a new record low of 44.8, crushed by relentless inflation, high gas prices, of course, due to the war in Iran. Americans now feel worse about their personal finances than they did during the Great Recession or the pandemic.

Joining me now to discuss it all is Democratic strategist Yemisi Egbewole and Republican strategist Jeanette Hoffman. Thank you both so much for being here on this Saturday morning of Memorial Day weekend.

Jeanette, I'm going to toss it to you first. Let's begin with these new numbers. You heard it. Americans not feeling good about their money or personal finances. In the meantime, Republicans this week fighting about this anti weaponization fund.

I guess my question to you is can -- it's Memorial Day, right? Can Republicans turn this around to avoid serious losses during the midterms?

JEANETTE HOFFMAN, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Sure, they can turn it around. Will they turn around? That's the question. But listen, these races in a lot of cases are going to be about the individual candidates. I think that's where Republicans benefit because in a lot of cases, some of the Democratic candidates are way far to the left. I'm talking about in Maine, where Susan Collins has been a great representative is running against Graham Platner. Every day we read a new headline about him that's more and more disturbing.

[08:40:02]

But back to the economy. You know, it seems like every month we reach a record low in consumer confidence and that is troubling. I don't think tariffs were the way to go and I think that is hurting us in inflation a little bit. But also the war in Iran is causing some instability with fuel prices, obviously.

But one piece of good news I would put out for you, Danny, is that AAA just released the numbers for travel plans this weekend and we've hit a record high. 45 million Americans are traveling 50 miles from home this Memorial Day weekend. So that is good news. Even though gas prices are so high.

FREEMAN: Yemisi, what's your response to that? Economy is tough right now. That seems to be the one advantage perhaps that Democrats could run on heading to the midterms.

YEMISI EGBEWOLE, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: And it's something to hammer home all through the summer. Look, Jeanette is right. High prices don't stop Americans from leaving the home. But that's where I think a lot of the grumbling can happen. This weekend people are going to drive home all across America. They're going to fill up their gas tanks in their cars and they're also going to fill up their gas tanks in their boats as well.

I think we're going to see a lot of people pay more attention to how they feel about the economy as the summer chugs along. Look, Americans are not foreign policy voters. You can talk about the Ayatollah, enriched uranium, protecting national international peace, but Americans really want you to hyper focus on their day to day lives.

And I think if Democrats really, really stick to that messaging, no matter what the grade of the candid it is because I will admit Platner is a bit concerning. They'll be able to get some leeway, especially in races that I feel like are more balanced and competitive across the nation.

FREEMAN: You know, Yemesi and Jeannete, I know you'll want to weigh on this in a second, but Yemesi, this would be a week that you think Democrats would be able to take advantage of some of this pain and infighting with the Republicans. And yet that DNC autopsy, I mean, just seems to be to come at a bad time in terms of being reflective about 2024. What do you think?

EGBEWOLE: Yeah, I think this was a misstep by the DNC. Look, if it was always going to be inaccurate and incomplete, then release it in December right before they do that elongated break and they come back for a new session in January, we would have been done talking about this by December 28th. But it's dragged on and continued on.

And I think it's put DNC Chair Ken Martin in a really precarious position. It didn't offer anything new. And if anything, the things that we're missing for those on the far left that see Gaza as their singular issue, the lack of a mention of it to them makes the report inaccurate.

But for a lot of people in the moderate in the middle, the lack of a mention of more support for Kamala Harris and the way that the Biden administration treated her campaign, it wasn't enough. I don't think anybody got anything out of it.

FREEMAN: Jeanette, I'm curious because the other thing that happened this week was we saw the strength of President Trump when it comes to the base, right. Bill Cassidy essentially ousted in the Senate, Thomas Massie again losing his primary.

That's no good a show of strength for President Trump. But doesn't he risk emboldening some of these Republicans now to get in the way of the president trying to achieve some things?

HOFFMAN: Yes, as you said, Danny, President Trump is extremely popular in the Republican base in low turnout primary elections. Being said, you know, he wanted a more loyal caucus in Congress. He's going to have a very difficult time in the next six months dealing with people like Senator Cassidy, Thomas Massie and also Senator Cornyn from Texas because he just endorsed his opponent, Ken Paxton.

To put that into context, the National Republican Senatorial Committee under John Thune spent a lot of money backing that race for John Cornyn. So there's a lot of grumbling in that Senate Republican caucus, not just about Cassidy and John Cornyn, but what it means for the loyalty to Senate Republicans who've been pretty loyal to Donald Trump up until now.

FREEMAN: Jeanette, how does this battle over this anti-weaponization fund play in here? I mean, is this really going to be a hill that you think the administration is going to die on, keeping this fund alive and going?

HOFFMAN: I'm not sure. I think it was a political miscalculation. You saw what happened. Half the Senate caucus was extremely frustrated. You had people like Senator Mitch McConnell, who's retiring, saying it's disgusting or morally bankrupt, stupid. Take your pick. You had Thom Tillis saying this is stupidity on stilts. Susan Collins, who's again always in a difficult race, said, you know, she asked a lot of questions about it.

So, I don't think they're going to get their way on this. And I think they have more important priorities. But, you know, the message is wrong. This is not something that Republicans want to be talking about January 6, when we're coming back into midterms.

And I think the administration has other priorities they need to focus on to really accomplish things for the American people in the next several months.

[08:45:00]

FREEMAN: Yemisi, I'm going to give you the last word here. Do you think that Democrats should, as a messaging strategy for the midterms, be talking about these sorts of programs or the, you know, Trump headline of the day, or should they try to stay laser focused on the subject? We started this conversation off on the economy.

EGBEWOLE: Yes. Complaining about Trump doesn't motivate people to actually go out and vote for Democrats. You have to give them something to fight for. We've been complaining about Donald Trump since he came down the escalator in 2015. He's been reelected twice. It's time to find a new playbook. FREEMAN: I could talk to you, too, forever. This is a great Saturday morning conversation. Yemisi Egbewole and Jeanette Hoffman, thank you both so much for joining us. Really do appreciate the conversation.

EGBEWOLE: Thanks for having me.

FREEMAN: All right, coming up in just a moment, tributes are pouring in after the tragic death of NASCAR driver Kyle Busch. Coming up next in sports, CNN's Andy Scholz will give us a closer look.

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[08:50:23]

FREEMAN: Stephen Colbert is already back hosting a TV show, but this time in a guest hosting role. And for one day only. Colbert returned to a Michigan public access television show he last hosted in 2015 when he welcomed Eminem. The latest edition of "Only in Monroe" had appearances by rocker Jack White and actor Jeff Bridges, both Michigan natives. Take a look.

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STEPHEN COLBERT, TV HOST: It's been an excruciating 23 hours without being on TV. So I am grateful to be able to be here on Monroe Community Media before they also get a acquired by Paramount.

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FREEMAN: So of course I meant Jeff Daniels there, not Jeff Bridges. As for Thursday night's finale of The Late Show on CBS, it was the most watched episode of Colbert's 11-year run as host with 6.7 million people tuning in.

Sports now, after the tragic death of legendary NASCAR driver Kyle Busch, tributes are pouring in, including from the CEO of NASCAR. CNN's Andy Scholes joins me now. Andy, tell us, what are people saying?

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Well, Danny, you know, NASCAR CEO Steve o' Donnell said simply, Kyle Busch is an American badass and you know the whole sport of racing obviously devastated by the loss of Busch. He was one of the greatest drivers ever.

And yesterday we did learn some more details about Busch's sudden death. CNN obtained the 911 call made on Wednesday where the caller said that Busch needed medical attention as he was coughing up blood and experiencing shortness of breath.

Now that came as he was preparing to race in Tomorrow's Coca Cola 600. Just a day after that call, Busch did pass away in the hospital.

Now, Donald says the sport will honor Busch this weekend and beyond. And there was never any discussion of not racing this weekend.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) STEVE O'DONNELL, NASCAR CEO: Kyle Busch would probably be pretty pissed off if we didn't race. So we're going to honor his memory and make sure people know what he was all about. Kyle Busch, to me, is an American badass behind the wheel. Who you want to be. That's part of being a race car driver. That's part of representing the sport. We're not always going to agree. If we did, I think people would be really bored. We certainly had our battles right, but I'd give a lot of money to have a few more battles going forward now.

SCHOLES: Now, Richard Childress Racing, meanwhile, says they are going to temporarily retire Busch's number 8 Cup Series car. That is until Busch's 11 year old son Brexton is ready to get behind the wheel. RCR said in a statement, no one can carry it forward to the level that he did. The number 8 is reserved and ready for Brexton Busch when he's ready to go NASCAR racing.

Brexton has already become quite the driver, winning 48 races in 2024.

All right. Meanwhile in San Antonio last night, game three of the Western Conference finals, Wemby and the Spurs came out on fire in this one. They opened the game on a 15-0 run, is the longest scoring run to open a conference finals game since they started killing keeping track back in 1998.

All the spurs fans there in those fiesta shirts obviously going nuts. But the Thunder weathered the storm. By the mid second quarter, OKC had grabbed the lead and they never gave it up after that. Shai Gilgeous-Alexande led the way with 26 Points and the story of the game was the Thunder bench. They outscored the Spurs bench 76 to 23. Jared McCain at 24 of those bench points, Thunder would roll 123 to 108 to take a 2-1 lead in that series. Game four will be tomorrow.

All right. Finally the big weekend of racing getting started last night with The Oscar Mayer Wienie 500. The 27 foot Wiener mobiles battling it out and the Chicago dog there. Little bit of a dirty move. Controversial block on the Wiener from Seattle. Seattle never recovers from that.

In the end, the New York Wiener Mobile top dog winning the second annual race there at the Brickyard in Indianapolis.

Danny. I know -- I wonder how hard it is to maneuver those guys around that track.

FREEMAN: That is the funniest thing I have ever seen. And I've seen races carrying boats on the ground in trailers, but this tops it all. Hell yes for the New York Wiener Dog, I love it.

Andy Scholes, thanks very much. Appreciate you.

All right, into this now, the final generation of World War II veterans returned to Normandy, France for the 80th anniversary of D- Day. In the powerful new CNN film "Why We Dream." Here's a closer look.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sniper was in that steeple. Oh, I was a mess. Now I understand that all these boys was in the attack here and none of them left but me.

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I didn't have any help. I remember I walked over and said this prayer that I wanted something to hold onto. And this vision came to me. It was Christ put out his hands to me but he didn't touch me and he left face as he appeared as he walked over to me. And that vision stayed with me all to this day.

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FREEMAN: "Why We Dream" premieres Memorial Day at 8:00 p.m. on CNN or watch on the CNN app. And thank you so much for joining us this morning. First of All, Victor Blackwell will be back next weekend, but Victor himself will be back with you here tomorrow morning starting at 6. Smerconish up next.

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