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CNN This Morning
Man Shot And Killed After Opening Fire Near White House; Trump: Agreement With Iran Has Been "Largely Negotiated"; Iran: Trump's Claim About Strait Reopening "Inconsistent With Reality"; Crews Race To Prevent Chemical Tank Explosion In California; Russia Strikes Ukraine With Massive Drone And Missile Attacks. Russia Strikes Ukraine With Massive Drone And Missile Attacks; Trump: Agreement With Iran Has Been "Largely Negotiated"; China's Worst Coal Mining Blast In Over A Decade Kills 82; Family: NASCAR Driver Died After Pneumonia Progressed To Sepsis; Storms & Heavy Rain Threaten Flooding Across The East; Africa CDC: Current Ebola Outbreak Is 2nd Largest On Record. Aired 6-7a ET
Aired May 24, 2026 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[06:00:29]
VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to CNN THIS MORNING. There are several urgent headlines we're following right now. Shots fired outside the White House. The gunman is dead. What we're learning about him and what led to that violent incident.
Plus, is a deal to end the war with Iran really closer than ever? What we're learning about the proposal President Trump says is largely negotiated and how it lines up with what Iran is claiming
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARCO RUBIO, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: I think we've made some progress. I'm always cautious when I say that, because you can agree to things on paper, they actually have to be implemented.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: Plus, spill or explode. Officials in Orange County, California, are trying to avoid two really scary scenarios. They're evacuating homes nearby and they're trying to cool down a tank containing toxic chemicals.
Plus, this. A violent, fiery night in Ukraine. Russia fires a series of missiles in retaliation for an earlier strike carried out by Ukraine. We'll have a live report on the aftermath.
Good morning. It's May 24th. Thank you for joining us. I'm Victor Blackwell.
We begin this morning with the man who was killed after shooting near the White House. A bystander was also shot and is in critical condition. An eyewitness captured the sounds of the rapid fired gunshots there. The Secret Service says it happened near a security checkpoint. The president was at the residence. The White House was immediately placed on lockdown and officers were mobilized. The tense moment, journalists on White House grounds reacting to the threat was also caught on camera.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SELINA WANG, ABC NEWS CORRESPONDENT: That President Trump has said a deal is close only for the two sides to remain far apart --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: That was ABC's Selina Wang. The correspondent was recording a social media video when she heard those shots. She ducked for cover as you saw.
Let's go to CNN's Brian Todd live in D.C. Brian, good morning to you. What have you learned about this gunman and what happened?
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Victor, we have new information on the suspect from our colleagues, Josh Campbell, Holmes Lybrand, and Evan Perez. They cite three law enforcement sources as saying that the suspect is identified as 21-year-old Nasire Best.
According to one source, Best did have previous encounters with the Secret Service. Our sources telling us that in June of 2025, he blocked an entry lane at the White House. At that moment, he apparently claimed that he was god, and after that he was admitted for psychiatric evaluation.
A month later, in July of 2025, he was arrested after attempting to enter a White House complex driveway, and the judge ordered him to stay away from the White House grounds. According to our sources, he had also made several statements on social media, including at least one with -- stating some kind of an intent to harm President Trump.
And speaking of President Trump, he did respond to this shooting in a post on Truth Social. Here's part of it. He said, quote, "This event is one month removed from the White House Correspondent's Dinner shooting, and goes to show how important it is for all future presidents to get what will be the most safe and secure space" -- excuse me, "safe and secure space of its kind ever built in Washington, D.C. The National Security of our country demands it," end quote, from the president.
He's referring, of course, to his construction of the White House ballroom there, which he has emphasized after the White House Correspondent's Dinner shooting that's the best place, he believes, to have that event. He believes that would be more secure at the White House.
Now, taking you down through the scene here. We were here late last night when the police were combing through the scene. Our photojournalist, Christine Lien, is going to zoom past me, down to the scene right there, straight down the block. We're at 18th and Pennsylvania Avenue. The shooting was right down there at 17th and Pennsylvania Avenue. We still have a police presence. We still have streets cordoned off as a result of the shooting. Now, what I can tell you also is that right to the left of that shooting scene, there is Lafayette Park.
[06:05:00]
It's to the left in about a half a block down, Lafayette Square Park. But Lafayette Square Park has been closed off, fenced off because of construction for several months now. Because of that, you cannot enter Lafayette Park and you can't go in front of the White House as you might usually do on Pennsylvania Avenue.
There is an open street there where you can go in front of the White House. But I say all that to tell you that the gunman got about as close as he could to the White House at that point, at that checkpoint there where the gunfire occurred.
As Victor mentioned, the bystander was struck by gunfire. It is unclear whether the bystander was hit by the gunman's initial shots or whether the gunman -- the ensuing gunfire was what injured the bystander. The bystander is in critical condition. We hope to get some more information on their condition in the coming hours, Victor.
BLACKWELL Brian Todd, live from Washington for us this morning. Brian, thank you for that.
We're joined now by CNN law enforcement analyst Jonathan Wackrow, former Secret Service agent and corporate security consultant. Jonathan, good to see you this morning.
First, let's just start broadly with your assessment of how Secret Service handled this threat.
JONATHAN WACKROW, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, good morning, Victor. What we witnessed yesterday was this immediate action situation by the uniformed division officers of the Secret Service. These are the uniformed police that most often operate right around the White House complex. The situation that they were faced yesterday is something that they trained for continuously.
Once an armed individual approaches the White House complex or any one of these checkpoints right where Brian was standing and is actively firing or presents as an immediate threat, officers have milliseconds, not minutes, to identify the threat, engage and then neutralize it. Why? Because just look at the area in the high concentration of public that would be around that area at all times.
The White House -- you know, I spent five years there. The White House remains one of the most symbolically and operationally significant targets in the world. And what we see constantly are people showing up day in and day out, engaging with uniformed division officers who may have some sort of -- there may be some sort of ideologically motivated actor, someone who has mental challenges or someone that wants notoriety. So when I was at the White House, we constantly knew that this was one of the most high risk locations in the world. The actions that were taken yesterday by the Secret Service were immediate, and they presented -- they prevented more loss of life in the area. So from my perspective and what I analyze, they did a great job yesterday in identifying and neutralizing this threat before more harm could be caused.
BLACKWELL: Brian just shared the new reporting about the details about this suspected gunman, Nasire Best. According to several sources, last July, he was there at the White House, was blocking an entry lane at the White House, claimed he was god, and then returned to the complex driveway. A judge demanded that he stay away from the White House. How common is it for this type of escalation after those earlier incidents?
WACKROW: Well, Victor, this is a very typical profile of somebody who shows up as what we would refer to as a gate caller in the past at the White House. The suspect really reflects -- you know, his behavior, really reflects this clear escalation pattern, which we see in protective intelligence investigations.
What I mean by that is those prior encounters demonstrated what we refer to as persistent boundary testing behavior in which, you know, Secret Service see that as a warning indicator in a threat assessment matrix. Those repeated approaches to the White House, you know, in what we saw, in what we hear from the reporting, is that his behavior was increasingly delusional and grievance driven. That makes a very volatile individual.
And somebody who's moving down the pathway to violence very quickly, moving from what we would, you know, report as fixation initially into this operational action that we saw yesterday that, you know, was addressed by the Secret Service.
BLACKWELL: All right. Jonathan Wackrow, of course, we're hoping to get more about this bystander who was shot is in critical condition as well. Thank you so much for being with us this morning.
There is a potential deal to bring an end to the war in Iran. President Trump made the announcement on social media Saturday. He claims an agreement has been largely negotiated and the Strait of Hormuz will be reopened.
Now, the Iranians have a different take. They say the strait will remain under their control, and that President Trump's claims are not consistent with reality.
Two of our best source reporters are tracking this. CNN's Fred Pleitgen and Nic Robertson join us live. Nic, first to you. What are your sources saying about the agreement and how this is potentially coming together?
[06:10:07]
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, I think part of the headline on this is that there's a lot about this agreement that still has to be worked out, even the sort of broadest terms of what's being described as a memorandum of understanding or something that looks like a memorable memorandum of understanding. And there are essentially two parts to it. The first part is that Iran does agree to opening the Strait of Hormuz and allowing the free flow of maritime traffic, just as it was before the 28th of February, when the war began.
Iran will be allowed to export oil and other products through the Strait of Hormuz. Gas, those sorts of products. That's expected to happen. But at the same time, it's also understood that there is a commitment from Iran not to chase and try to produce nuclear weapons.
Now, again, the headline here is there's a lot of detail to be worked out. We don't know when this memorandum of understanding will be signed, whether we're talking about a 30-day or 60-day pause to do the second part. Once the memorandum is signed and the second part gets to the -- all those difficult nuclear issues, as well as some of the other broader issues that beset the region's relations with Iran.
And here where you'd be talking about ballistic missiles. You'd be talking about proxies. The Iranians have made it clear that they want the Lebanese ceasefire to remain part of the bigger, broader picture. But this does appear to be an opportunity to kind of slow down the talks, get them to get into some detail, but also take some of the heat out of the possibility of a quick return to conflict.
BLACKWELL: Fred, it seems like we've been at this point before where the president has said there's been great progress. Remember a few weeks ago, the president said that the Iranians agreed to everything. The Iranians said, we agreed to nothing. What are they saying now about this potential memo? What's their reaction?
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, first of all, the Iranians certainly do agree that a great deal of progress has been made. But as we've heard, there are still sort of sticking points that they're also talking about that they say still needs to be worked out.
The things that I'm hearing from the Iranian side, they say that some of these are very small points, but certainly ones that are very difficult. But by and large, exactly what Nic says seems to be the case. What these two sides are trying to do is they're trying to get to sort of a general memorandum of understanding to then give themselves some breathing room, to be able to deal with some of the very tough issues around Iran's nuclear program.
Now, as far as that memorandum of understanding is concerned for the Iranian side, what's very important is for the United States to lift its blockade and also for some of their assets to be unfrozen, because, of course, they are in somewhat of a financial crunch right now with that blockade on.
One of the things that we've heard from the administration is that they do believe that there is significant progress and that a deal or this memorandum of understanding can be reached in the very near future. I want to listen in to what the secretary of state had to say to that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RUBIO: There is a chance that whether it's later today, tomorrow, in a couple of days, we may have something to say. But this issue needs to be solved, as the president has said, one way or the other.
Iran can never have a nuclear weapon. The straits need to be open without tolls. They need to turn over their enriched uranium. They need to turn over their highly enriched uranium. We need to address that issue. We need to address the issue of enrichment. These are the president's points consistently.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PLEITGEN: So the strait needs to be open, is what we heard there from the U.S. secretary of state. One of the interesting things, of course, that we have heard from the Iranians in the past couple of hours is they say that they still have control over the Strait of Hormuz. However, that does not mean that the strait is going to be closed.
The Iranians are saying that it is possible for vessels to transit through the Strait of Hormuz if they follow Iranian rules. Now, of course, we had heard from President Trump in his Truth Social post saying the Strait of Hormuz will be open. And so, both of them actually could be the case that it is open. But nevertheless, there might be some Iranian rules on that as to which ships are able to transit and how they're able to transit.
Both sides still working that out. But certainly what I can say from the sources that we've been speaking to is they say that there is indeed a good deal of momentum and that a deal could indeed be imminent.
BLACKWELL: So, momentum. And Nic, let me ask you this. Is this potential memorandum of understanding they could close in on pretty soon, is it dramatically different than what's been on the table for the past few weeks, what they've been discussing? Or have they just now reached a point where they need to get some progress on what's been on the table for some time?
ROBERTSON: Yes, I think there's been an ability to try to finesse the differences and close the gaps. The gaps are still far from closed. And I think you're right when you suggest that we've sort of been here before. If we think back to about four weeks ago, the Pakistani mediators had their field marshal, their interior minister in Tehran for almost three days, and they were able to get the Iranians to agree to lift their blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.
[06:15:11]
Then there was backlash in Iran because the foreign minister, who announced it was accused of not getting the language in it right. Then President Trump said that he would keep the U.S. blockade in place. Iran went ahead and reimposed their blockade. So, the tension spiked. But what we seem to have here is sort of more of the traditional diplomatic legwork that's gone into trying to get this sequencing of what people would call confidence building measures so that you can get this de-escalation around the Strait of Hormuz.
The oil products can flow to the world again, and that does create a little bit of trust, not a lot, a little bit to get around the table and get into the much harder issues.
BLACKWELL: All right. Nic Robertson, Fred Pleitgen, thank you both for helping us understand it.
Fifty thousand people in California have been told to leave their homes as emergency crews are fighting to prevent a tank filled with toxic chemicals from exploding. After the break, the potentially catastrophic effect it could have on that surrounding community.
Plus, Russia's deadly air assault on Ukraine overnight was meant to send a message to Kyiv. We have the latest on the attacks.
And an update on the mounting Ebola crisis in Central Africa and the global race to find a vaccine for this deadly strain driving the outbreak.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:21:11]
BLACKWELL: A state of emergency is in effect in Southern California. Officials are racing to prevent a potentially catastrophic chemical disaster. An overheating tank filled with toxic chemical known as MMA, is at risk of failing. It would force the evacuation of about 50,000 people in Orange County. They're already been told to leave their homes.
The site is located in Garden Grove. That's a short drive from Disneyland and Knott's Berry Farm. Hazmat crews have been working around the clock to cool the tank. New shelters are opening and people who live there are being urged to stay out of the evacuation zone. CNN's Veronica Miracle has more.
VERONICA MIRACLE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Victor, this appears to be a race against time. Officials are saying that there are two potentially very bad outcomes that could happen here. The first being that thousands of gallons of toxic chemical could leak into the area out of the tanks. And the second scenario is a catastrophic explosion. Of course, neither of those are good.
Officials are working very hard to make sure that doesn't happen. And fire crews have been spraying water on the tanks to try and cool them down. But the bad news is, we've been told that hasn't been working.
The chemical inside has been increasing in temperature about a degree an hour. On Friday morning, they calculated it at 77 degrees. And by Saturday morning, it was at 90 degrees. Officials have painted a picture of the potential worst case scenario, what would happen. Here's what they had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NICK FREEMAN, DIVISION CHIEF, ORANGE COUNTY FIRE AUTHORITY: So if this tank fails and we have an explosion, these represent our blast zone. The innermost circle represents areas where we can expect severe structural damage and significant harm.
The next ring out is our moderate blast damage. We would expect again structural damage and harm to those within that zone. And then our third layer is our light blast damage, where we might see some structural damage, but it would be a little bit more limited.
As we move up to our oblong shapes, you have three represented. Our red up here indicates areas of flammability where we could have fire or flash fire in those zones. Beyond that, you'll see an orange oblong. That represents areas that are immediately dangerous to life and health, where it would cause injury if anybody inhales or is impacted by the product in question.
And then the yellow is our non-hazardous zone, which is our odor threshold. This product has a very low odor threshold and can be smelled very easily. So, that's why that representation is very large. But again, it is non-hazardous at that level.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MIRACLE: The chemical in question, MMA, it's used to manufacture plastics and smelling it doesn't necessarily mean that it's going to be bad for your health. However, there have been issues where residents in the area have been reporting that they have experienced dizziness and other respiratory issues, so there are some health concerns.
Officials say 15 percent of people who have been ordered to evacuate have not left the area. But officials have also said that if you are outside of the evacuation zone, outside of the red zone, that there are no concerns for health. You don't even need to wear a mask.
Now, what officials are hoping will happen is that they continue to spray water on these tanks. They'll cool the tanks down. The chemical will reduce in temperature, and then it will harden from the outside in.
That's what they're hoping will happen and that it will neutralize this situation. But there's no guarantees that that is going to happen. So, this really is an hour by hour situation. And officials are closely monitoring it. Back to you, Victor.
BLACKWELL: All right. Veronica Miracle, thank you so much. Still ahead, emergency crews across Ukraine now are working to rescue survivors of Russia's latest wave of missile strikes, the latest on a specific powerful missile used in that attack.
[06:25:05] ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: And a soggy Sunday for this holiday weekend. We'll take a look at where it's raining now and where it's expected to move as we progress through the rest of the day.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BLACKWELL: It was a violent, terrifying night in Ukraine's capital. Watch. Russia fired 600 drones and nearly 100 missiles, mainly targeting Kyiv. Four people were killed, dozens more injured. The mayor of Kyiv called it a terrible night. It was one of Russia's biggest aerial assaults on Kyiv so far in this four-year war.
[06:30:04]
Thousands of Ukrainians forced to shelter in a train station, or several train stations, I should say.
CNN's Sebastian Shukla is tracking these developments. He joins us live now from Berlin.
Sebastian, what are we hearing, if anything, from the Kremlin?
SEBASTIAN SHUKLA, CNN PRODUCER (on-camera): Well, we haven't heard anything specifically from the Kremlin on this attack, but we do know that this appears to be the retaliation attack ordered by President Putin as a result of a Ukrainian attack on a Russian position, which the Russians say hit a college school killing 18 people. The Russians called that a terrorist incident. The Ukrainians say that that is not the case in any way.
And as a result of that, the President ordered his generals to make retaliatory measures. Those devastating pictures that we've seen from overnight, those waves of missiles, 600 drones, you said, 900 missiles, including the highly devastating Oreshnik missile, which is one of the most powerful weapons that Russia has in its arsenal reserved for moments and attacks, really like this, really delivered and designed to send a message.
Those videos that we've seen, we saw those missiles and drones slamming into various different targets across the Ukrainian capital, wreaking almost unspeakable damage, and plumes of smoke that were visible across the city, some of it even captured and heard by our CNN teams that we have in Kyiv. And Victor, the thing to say here is that these attacks, both on Kyiv and the ones wrought by the Ukrainians on Moscow and other cities around Russia, too, are becoming more and more prevalent, particularly as the fighting in the east grinds to a near stalemate. Territory is large, small swathes of territory are hardly being exchanged, let alone big, huge land grabs.
So, both sides are having to result to this as a way to continue this war and to bring the war home to residents of each particular country. We may continue to see more attacks like this throughout the summer, Victor.
BLACKWELL: Sebastian Shukla, thank you so much. We're also tracking the political response to the potential deal with
Iran announced by President Trump. House Speaker Mike Johnson says that he looks forward to learning more about the specifics, but he's praising the President as the only one who could have gotten Iran, the world's largest state sponsor of terrorism, to the negotiating table. Well, not everyone, including the GOP -- in the GOP, is offering up that same reaction so far.
CNN national security analyst Alex Plitsas is with us now. He's Director of the Counterterrorism Program at the Atlantic Council. Alex, welcome to you.
And of course, as the Speaker of the House says, that the President's the only person who could get Iran to the negotiating table. President Obama got them to the negotiating table during his terms as well.
But let's stay on what's happening today. What are your sources telling you about the prospects for reaching even this first step of a memorandum of understanding?
ALEX PLITSAS, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST (on-camera): So this was quite the feat to get to this step, because the Iranians have really been digging in their heels to date, and that was part of the problem. What this, you know, alleged memorandum gets to, because again, we haven't seen official details released yet, is that there is a lifting of the blockade by both the United States on Iran itself, and then Iran holding the Strait of Hormuz at risk using drones and missiles, et cetera, for a period of 60 days to facilitate negotiations over the more contentious issues, which is really their nuclear program. But in the interim, they're going to get economic relief, is what it sounds like, to a certain extent, being able to sell some oil. Some of the sanctions lifted a little bit here and there.
So Iran is really getting financial relief, only to take the Strait back to where it was before the war started, because they didn't control the Strait before this. Nobody paid tolls. The Iranians weren't stopping ships from leaving. So, they're getting financial concessions to essentially return the Strait to a pre-war status without the U.S. getting any nuclear concessions at this point, only to set up negotiations.
BLACKWELL: And so, from your understanding, from your sources, that would be free passage of the Strait again?
PLITSAS (on-camera): And that's correct. And that's what we're seeing here. As is correctly articulated here on the screen to the right for the viewers at home that are watching, ending hostilities right now in terms of the war continuing to sort of be frozen, extending that ceasefire, unfreezing Iranian assets, because they really need cash. I mean, that's really what this is at the end of the day.
When they were looking to toll ships, when they're looking to unfreeze assets or looking to get access to cash, it's really about liquidity. Because even when you lift sanctions, right, I was in Syria at the end of August after President Trump had lifted sanctions against the new Syrian government. It still takes a while to undo those mechanisms and reintegrate banks into the international financial system, et cetera.
The Iranians know that they're going to need cash in the interim. And they're really starting to feel the effects of the blockade as well as the destruction of a lot of their infrastructure. So the U.S. is essentially providing them what they're looking for, which is a short- term financial relief.
[06:35:06]
BLACKWELL: And so on unfreezing these assets, one of the points of the JCPOA that President Trump has been so critical of President Obama, was the returning of their $400 million that was part of a lawsuit and a deal on interest adding up to $1.7 billion. Let's get a reminder of what the President said earlier in this war.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF UNITED STATES: Very importantly, I terminated Barack Hussein Obama's Iran nuclear deal, a disaster. Obama gave them $1.7 billion in cash, green, green cash, took it out of banks from Virginia, D.C. and Maryland. All the cash they had flew it by airplanes in an attempt to buy their respect and loyalty, but it didn't work. They laughed at our president and went on with their mission to have a nuclear bomb.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: Now, we don't know the specific numbers that would be made available to Iran in this deal. But any deal, correct me if I'm wrong, Iran would be looking for more money under this agreement with the President.
PLITSAS (on-camera): Which has been par for the course for the Iranians in their engagement in negotiations over the last 20 years. They always offer minor, nonsensical nuclear concessions and ask for maximum financial relief in terms of lifting sanctions and then giving them, you know, immediate access to cash.
So yes, once again, the Iranians are looking for money here. This would be a significant sum that they're looking to get a hold of. And again, because they're looking for that short-term liquidity to make up for the fact that they're actually under duress. So this is giving them essentially a short-term lifeline that they're looking for.
And if we take this out 60 days from right now, we're 163 days to the midterm election. So, yes, who knows when this is going to be signed, if it is. Assuming it gets signed in the next 72 hours and they take this down the wire, that takes us to 100 days before the election. I don't know of any American president that's going to want to restart hostilities over an unpopular war 100 days before a midterm election. This is a very precarious situation to be in.
BLACKWELL: Let's talk about this massive Russian strike on Ukraine after Ukraine's broader, more recent attacks on Russia.
Ukraine has made some territorial gains as of late. Does the changing landscape create a space for some diplomatic progress in that war?
PLITSAS (on-camera): You would think so at this point, because the Ukrainians really have turned the tide a little bit. I mean, earlier this year, it looked like they were on course to lose, you know, a significant portion of the remaining territory the Russians were seeking.
And now, just to give it to the viewers, if you're watching again here on the screen with the missiles coming in from last night, this is the equivalent of giving a sociopathic maniac access to ballistic missiles, who acts like a five-year-old at a checkout counter looking for a Snickers bar. And while that sounds a bit ridiculous, this is a man who has had, you know, the Russian economy now under significant duress after the Ukrainians have launched, you know, a number of drones that have been successful in taking out oil and gas infrastructure, which is really hitting the heart of Russia's ability to take in money.
At the same time, they've frozen the front lines, as you alluded to just a few moments ago, because the first-person view drones have effectively frozen a 35-kilometer kill zone, no-go zone between Russia and Ukraine. And then also, what most people are not really aware of, is over the last few months, the Ukrainians have figured out how to turn the tide and have inflicted enough casualties on a monthly basis that it's virtually impossible for the Russians to start replacing them without a major mobilization, when the Russians really can't afford that. We're talking nearly 400,000 Russians dead since the beginning of this war. That's nearly one in 300 people in Russia at this point would have been killed in Ukraine just before it started.
BLACKWELL: Yes, the numbers are staggering.
Alex Plitsas, thank you so much.
NASCAR will honor Kyle Busch today. Still ahead, what led to the sudden death of that racing legend at just 41 years old?
And remember, if you're heading out, you can always stream our show from anywhere in the U.S. Do it right from the CNN app, or you can go to CNN.com/Watch.
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[06:43:54]
BLACKWELL: We're tracking several major stories this morning including a deadly mining disaster in China.
Rescue teams are still searching for survivors after a gas explosion. This was at a coal mine. It killed at least 82 people. This is the country's worst mining disaster in more than a decade. Crews have been working for almost two days now but efforts are being slowed by inaccurate maps of the mine. Officials also say some workers may not have been wearing required GPS trackers and of course that makes them harder to find. The family of NASCAR driver Kyle Busch is now sharing new details
about his sudden death. They say the 41-year-old died after severe pneumonia progressed to sepsis. Busch was taken to a hospital in North Carolina on Wednesday and died less than 24 hours later.
The two-time NASCAR cup series champion. He was in the middle of his 22nd season and scheduled a race this weekend. His team says the number eight car will be set aside until his son is ready to race.
Heavy rain is spreading across the southeast and gulf coast and that could mean flooding for some Memorial Day travelers. It does not stop there. The rain chances stretch across the entire eastern half of the country today.
[06:45:07]
CNN's Allison Chinchar is tracking the weather and who needs to watch it closely.
ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST (on-camera): It's pretty much an equal opportunity at this point from other nature --
BLACKWELL: Yes.
CHINCHAR (on-camera): -- really across the east. Now, some will get heavier rain than others, but there really is at least a small chance for pretty much everyone from this, you know, the Great Plains all the way over to the eastern seaboard.
Now, where we're seeing the heaviest rain right now, you can see on the map is actually down towards the Gulf Coast. That's where we also have the greater thunderstorms that we're dealing with at the moment. You can see again, a lot of these down here, right there across portions of Louisiana, the panhandle of Florida into areas of southern Mississippi and Alabama.
We also have some pretty widespread showers across areas of the northeast and into the mid-Atlantic that you can see. No, no thunderstorms per se with this particular cluster, but it's just impacting a lot of people because of how widespread it is. When we take this out forward to kind of show you where those storms are going to go, that blob that's kind of hovering over the northeast is going to continue to spread eastward.
But by the afternoon and evening hours, you're really going to start to see more of those storms firing up across the southeast, especially the Gulf Coast region. As we go through the rest of the day, those will linger overnight and into the early morning hours of Monday before we get yet another round that ramps back up on Monday.
The potential for flooding exists in these green and yellow shaded areas you see here for today. And then by Monday, many of those same areas all over again.
BLACKWELL: Alison Chinchar, thank you. Still ahead, anger and public distrust may be slowing the response to the Ebola outbreak. We speak with a health care expert in Central Africa about the growing crisis.
And get to know legendary comedian Chevy Chase, the "CNN FILM I'M CHEVY CHASE AND YOU'RE NOT," features candid interviews with his family, his friends, co-stars and of course, Chevy himself. The film airs tonight at 8:00 on CNN or watch on the CNN app.
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[06:51:19]
BLACKWELL: The Ebola outbreak in Central Africa is now the second largest ever. Health officials there confirmed 91 cases along with more than 850 suspected cases.
Three Red Cross volunteers are believed to be among the earliest fatalities after reportedly contracting the virus on a regional humanitarian mission in March.
Joining me now is Heather Kerr, who is the International Rescue Committee's Country Director for the Democratic Republic of Congo. Thank you so much for being with me, Heather.
First, let me just start here. We speak about this in confirmed deaths and confirmed cases and suspected cases. But tell us what practically life is like there as this spreads.
HEATHER KERR, COUNTRY DIRECTO, INTERNATIONAL RESCUE COMMITTEE D.R. OF CONGO: Well, it's -- I mean, people are obviously very worried. I mean, it's a very complex outbreak in that it's taking place in Ituri where this ongoing conflict going on. There's huge displacement that nearly a million people displaced in Ituri. And there's just generally a lot of movement in the in the province.
And people are particularly worried because, as you just said, it seems this outbreak's been going on since March. And it really feels very large. And people need desperately need information. And they almost need information more than they -- than they need health care, because the way really to reply to an Ebola outbreak is to get into the communities with the community leaders and get them to spread the messages to their population.
BLACKWELL: Yes.
KERR: Tell them what Ebola is, tell them where they need to go, et cetera. So but it's very complex, as I say. And also, it's not the normal strain of Ebola that we had in the last outbreak, for instance. It's Ebola Bundibugyo, which has only been seen twice before. And this was another reason why it took so long to reply to the outbreak, because people were testing for Ebola Zaire when, in fact, it was a different strain.
BLACKWELL: Yes, let me --
KERR: So as to say all of this is compounded.
BLACKWELL: Yes, let's talk about one of the elements that I've read that you are pretty critical of. And the response from the -- the administration, the Trump administration and some of the changes and cuts that have been made in this second term of the President. The President has or this administration has withdrawn funding from the World Health Organization, dissolve the U.S. Agency for International Development USAID, make cuts to the CDC, now reducing health aid to DRC and to Uganda countries at the center of the epidemic.
Talk to me about the correlation you see between those decisions and the severity of this outbreak.
KERR: Well, funding cuts, obviously, that came last year have made have had a huge impact on humanitarian response generally in -- in DRC. But that's also compounded by the fact that we've had years and years of lack of investment in the health system, especially in things like surveillance.
So, you know, if we'd had more investment in surveillance, perhaps we would have detected this outbreak, this outbreak sooner. But there's no doubt that the cuts have had -- have had an impact globally across people working in DRC, as you said, but what's needed now, really, as I say, is investment in the health system generally.
[06:55:19]
BLACKWELL: Well, the Department of State announced $23 million to support surveillance, lab capacity, risk communication, safe burials, they say, entry and exit screening, also clinical case management. We'll see if that catch up in some ways can fight this spread across Central Africa.
Heather Kerr, thank you so much for being with me.
Much more ahead on the next hour "CNN This Morning Weekend." Question, would you pay to attend a stranger's wedding? There's a business that lets you buy a seat at someone else's big day.
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