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CNN This Morning
Trump: Agreement With Iran Has Been "Largely Negotiated"; Russia Strikes Ukraine With Massive Drone And Missile Attacks; Man Shot And Killed After Opening Fire Near White House; Crews Race To Prevent Chemical Tank Explosion In California; Storms & Heavy Rain Threaten Flooding Across The East; Trump Admin. Makes Green Card Hopefuls Leave U.S. To Apply. Trump Admin. Makes Green Card Hopefuls Leave U.S. to Apply; NAACP Calls for Boycott of Southern College Sports; Colbert's Successor Says New Late-Night Show Will Skip Politics; Harvard Faculty Votes to Make Earning A's Harder for Undergrads. Aired 7-8a ET
Aired May 24, 2026 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[07:00:20]
VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST: Welcome back to CNN This Morning. Here's what you need to know today. Iran deja vu. President Trump says a proposal to end the war with Iran is largely negotiated. Iran is so far saying something very different. Of course, this sounds familiar. We'll break down what we know and what we still need to know.
Plus, a scary moment outside the White House. Shots fired at a Secret Service agent, a gunman killed. New details are coming in about the violent incident and the President is responding.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This reminds me of the burn pits in Iraq. You know, the smell. It's just ridiculous that we have to just sit here not knowing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: Also this morning, all of Orange County, California is closely watching a toxic chemical tank that could leak or explode. Tens of thousands of people have been ordered to evacuate. A state of emergency is in place. We'll walk you through what's being done to prevent a disaster.
ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: More rain is in the forecast for many of the same areas that have had rain the last two days, which could increase the potential for flooding. We'll take a look at where those locations are coming up.
BLACKWELL: Plus, would you pay to attend a stranger's wedding? We've got to talk about the company that's offering the service and people who are actually paying to do it.
All right, good morning. It's Sunday, May 24th. Thank you for being with me. I'm Victor Blackwell.
There may be a deal to end the war in Iran. There also may not be a deal. On Saturday, President Trump declared on social media that an agreement has been largely negotiated and the Strait of Hormuz will be reopened.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio also weighed in.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARCO RUBIO, SECRETARY OF STATE: This is an international waterway. They don't own it. They -- it's an international waterway. And what they are doing now is basically they are threatening to destroy commercial vessels using an international waterway.
That is illegal under any concept of international law that governs us. But it's also an -- if we allowed that to become normal, we would be normalizing an unacceptable status quo and setting a dangerous precedent that could be replicated here in this region and in multiple places around the world.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: Now, the Iranians see things differently. They insist the Strait will remain under their control and that President Trump's claims are not consistent with reality. We've got the team coverage for you of this developing story.
CNN's Nic Robertson is in London and Fred Pleitgen is in Berlin. Let's start with you, Nic. Is anything imminent? And what are your sources saying about the nuts and bolts of the agreement and how this came together?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, I think where this broad consensus is, President Trump makes the next move. I think the mediators in all of this, Pakistan, is expecting President Trump to make some kind of announcement on what they've been able to produce from their mediation efforts inside of Iran.
The hope is that there is going to be a memorandum of understanding. That definitely seems to be where we're at. It's not clear yet when that will be signed or where it may be signed. So I think that gives you the sort of headline understanding that a lot of this, while it's been progress, while it's been positive, there's still a lot left to be done.
But the basics of this, as we understand it so far, that Iran leaves the Strait of Hormuz back to where it was before the war began on the 28th of February, that Iran is able to export its fuel and energy products to international markets, that it's able to do that, but also that Iran gives this commitment that it is not on a path to have a nuclear weapon. That's been the thorniest of issues. Once you get to that signing situation of the memorandum of understanding, however many points, maybe 14 points, maybe a few more, maybe a few less, once you get to that, then you get into is it going to be 30 days or 60 days as a framework for the amount of time to talk and refine down the agreements over the nuclear weapons, the highly enriched uranium, the possibility of Iran's ballistic missiles, its relationships with its proxies in the region, all of those things that have been the thorniest of issues. But it does seem to point to the Strait of Hormuz as being the sort of gateway to unlocking the rest of this.
BLACKWELL: All right, Nic Robertson reporting there in London. We'll get back to Fred in just a moment. But Nic, let me stay with you. It seems like, as I've said, we've been here before with potential progress between these two parties. Is what we're seeing now dramatically different than what was on the table earlier during this ceasefire?
[07:05:11]
ROBERTSON: I think a lot of it seems to be the same. We're talking about approximately the same number of points in a memorandum of understanding, which has been sort of central to discussions. It's been sort of floated back from the United States to the Iranians and back again.
So we seem to have come some distance down that path. But it all does look very much the same. They're going to be the key issues there. But it's how they're framed. And I think both Iran and the U.S. have approached these talks from different prisms.
Iran goes slow. They like to nitpick. They like to get into detail. President Trump has clearly wanted something more immediate, wanted those firm, hard commitments from Iran that it didn't want to give up.
So what has happened in the past few weeks has been this slower process. It's more normal in these types of international negotiations, where some of the detail is hammered out, some of the language is finessed, to get to a point where you can really bring the two parties in and advance the situation.
But, yes, if we look at back about a month ago, you had the three -- the two, rather, principal Pakistani mediators, the field marshal, the interior minister inside of Tehran. They were there for a number of days. They got the Iranians to lift their blockade on the Strait of Hormuz.
The Iranians had expected the United States to do the same. President Trump didn't lift the U.S. blockade. The Iranian foreign minister was criticized for the way he rolled out their lifting of the blockade. And then Iran reimposed it. Trust broke down.
And I think what is happening here is a slowing down, getting into some of the detail. But we're back to this confidence building. It is again about allowing international maritime traffic to freely use the Strait of Hormuz. And that looks and feels, depending on how it's phased, how it's worded, as sort of confidence building.
So in many ways, we're back to where we were a month ago. Now the stage seems to be set potentially for success. But I think there's a long way to go on this yet.
BLACKWELL: Yes. Potentially for success. Nic, thanks.
Fred, to you now. Fill in more of the Iranian reaction this morning, not just to their side of this potential agreement, but the framing and the characterization of President Trump.
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, first of all, the Iranians are also saying that they believe that a lot of headway has been made and their deal is indeed very close. That's something that I've been hearing from Iranian sources. At the same time, they do say that there are still certain questions that are open.
But one of the things that I think Nic said is extremely important, and that is, what we're talking about here is a bare bones memorandum of understanding to try and end the armed conflict that's been going on, and then to try and move on to some of those more thorny issues.
For the Iranians over the past couple of weeks, it's been extremely important to say that this is a two-stage process, where the first order of business is going to be to end the war, the shooting war, then to deal with the Strait of Hormuz and with the American blockade. And then in that 30 or 60-day time period to move on to those more difficult issues, specifically Iran's highly enriched uranium and, of course, the future of uranium enrichment by the Iranians as well.
The Iranians are saying that it is very close to a memorandum of understanding being reached, but one of the things that they also do caution is that right now, with the decision-making process in Tehran remains very difficult. The supreme leader still has to weigh in. The Supreme National Security Council also still has to weigh in.
And as far as the Strait of Hormuz is concerned, Victor, the Iranians are saying they are going to retain control over the Strait of Hormuz, but at the same time, that doesn't mean that there isn't going to be, to a large degree, a free flow of maritime traffic, but then, of course, in coordination with the Iranians and potentially also with the Omanis as well, because those, of course, are the two nations that the Strait of Hormuz is situated in.
BLACKWELL: Fred Pleitgen reporting for us this morning. Thank you.
A terrifying night in Kyiv and across Ukraine. Look.
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(BOMBING)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: Russia bombarded Ukraine's capital with a massive wave of more than 600 missiles and drones, killed four people, injured dozens. And the mayor of Kyiv called it a terrible night. Thousands of Ukrainians were forced to take shelter in train stations.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translation): We walked under the explosions. We saw things flying up there. It was terrifying, scary. We've been sitting here for more than three hours now, listening to the explosions up there.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translation): The more they bomb us here, the more confidence we have that we are right, you know, our justice and our goodness. They often say that God is with them. What kind of God is with them? It's terrifying even to hear that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: According to Russian media, at least four people were killed Friday in a Ukrainian drone attack that targeted the Samara region in southwestern Russia.
[07:10:03]
Now to the latest on that shooting outside the White House that sent the Secret Service agents and journalists who were on site scrambling. Sources have identified the gunman as 21-year-old Nasire Best. He was shot and killed after opening fire just before 6 o'clock last night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(GUNSHOTS)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: You just heard there the sounds of the gunshots. An eyewitness recorded as they rang out a bystander was also shot and is in critical condition in a hospital. President Trump was at the residence there. He's safe. But officers immediately locked down the White House.
Journalists working on White House grounds were caught on camera, look at this, reacting to that sudden threat.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SELINA WANG, SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, ABC NEWS: -- that President Trump has said a deal is close only for the two sides to remain far apart --
(GUNSHOTS)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, no!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: That was ABC's Selina Wang. Now the correspondent was in the middle of taping a social media video when she heard the gunfire and as you saw, ducked for cover.
CNN's Brian Todd has been following all of these developments. He's live in D.C. Brian, good morning to you. Set the scene for us of what happened there outside the White House.
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right, Victor. We're going to do that in just a second, but I do have one update logistically for you at least. The streets around the White House have just been reopened. I'll step aside.
We can see down Pennsylvania Avenue. That whole section of Pennsylvania Avenue had been closed since the time of the shooting about 13 hours ago. It has just been reopened in the past half hour. So traffic now free to go at least that far down Pennsylvania Avenue.
As our photojournalist Christine Leon (ph) trains her camera down the street, that one block straight ahead is where the shooting occurred right at that checkpoint there in the northwest corner of the White House. That's where the shooting occurred and it was a chaotic scene.
As the video that Victor played in the intro told you, our colleagues inside the complex there, which was just beyond that shooting scene right there, they heard what they said were that seemed like dozens of shots being fired. And as we've mentioned, there was a bystander struck in addition to the suspect who was shot and killed by the Secret Service Uniform Division.
A bystander was struck. That bystander, the last we heard, was still in critical condition. It's not clear if the bystander was struck by the gunman's initial gunshots or whether that person was hit in the ensuing crossfire.
But we do have new information on the suspect himself. According to three sources who spoke to CNN law enforcement sources, he's identified as 21-year-old Nasire Best. One source says that he has had previous encounters with the Secret Service, including two in the summer of last year.
In June of 2025, he blocked an entry lane at the White House. At that time, he claimed he was God and then was admitted for psychiatric evaluation. One month later, in July of 2025, he was arrested for attempting to enter a White House complex driveway. And a judge at that point ordered him to stay away from the White House grounds.
Our sources tell us that he also had several statements on social media, including at least one statement purporting to want to harm President Trump. And the President did respond to that late last night or early this morning with a post on Truth Social saying that this entire incident really speaks to the need for what he believes is that secure White House ballroom that he is trying to get set up there on the White House grounds.
Victor?
BLACKWELL: Brian Todd, reporting from Washington. Thank you. Right now, there's a race to cool down a toxic chemical tank before it leaks or potentially explodes. 50,000 people are under evacuation orders. We'll tell you what's being done to stabilize that tank, next. Allison?
CHINCHAR: And we're continuing to watch more rain in the forecast for many of the same areas that just continue to see rain day after day. We'll take a look at exactly where the forecast calls for the heavy rain coming up.
BLACKWELL: And the legal immigration process is about to get a lot tougher. Green card seekers will now have to leave the U.S. and apply from their home country. We're breaking down the new process in the Morning Roundup.
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[07:18:53]
BLACKWELL: A state of emergency is in effect in Southern California as officials race to prevent a potentially catastrophic chemical disaster. An overheating tank filled with a chemical, a toxic chemical known as MMA, is at risk of failing. It forced the evacuation of about 50,000 people from Orange County.
MMA is used to make plastics. Now, it can cause respiratory problems if released into the air. Some residents have already reported symptoms. We're talking nasal and throat irritation.
The site is located in Garden Grove. It's about 40 miles south of Los Angeles and just a short drive from Disneyland and Knott's Berry Farm. Hazmat crews have been working around the clock to cool and stabilize the tank. Officials are warning it could crack and leak or even trigger an explosion.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HARRY ALLEN, ON-SCENE-COORDINATOR, EPA: We deployed 24 stationary monitors which are operating around the clock. Also, we're happy to report we have not seen any contaminants in those monitoring stations and we'll continue to do that until the scene is secure.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: New shelters are opening and people are being urged to stay out of the evacuation zone as crews work to contain that threat.
[07:20:05]
Storms spreading across the southeast and Gulf Coast are bringing a threat of flooding for some Memorial Day travelers and the wet weather is not isolated. Rain is also expected across the eastern half of the country. CNN's Allison Chinchar is tracking these storms and who could see the worst of it. A lot of people potentially.
CHINCHAR: Honestly, Victor, I mean there's really some people that just can't seem to catch a break. You've got some of these areas that have had rains Thursday, Friday, Saturday and are once again going to see it again today.
So here you have a look at where it's raining right now. You've got this large cluster of mostly showers, no thunderstorms really across the northeast, but more of the thunderstorm activity is really kind of focused down near the Gulf Coast. You've got the panhandle of Florida, Alabama, Mississippi and portions of Louisiana.
This is more of just nuisance rain. It's there, it's kind of causing some problems on the roadways, but you don't necessarily have any strong or severe thunderstorms at the moment. But it is raining in New York, raining in Philadelphia, not really helping anyone who's trying to go outside and do some Memorial Day activities.
Through the rest of the day today, that blob shape in the northeast is going to linger there. It's going to move ever so slowly off to the south or north and east. Down in the southeast, you're really going to start to see more of those showers and thunderstorms fire up late this afternoon, say, especially after 2, 3, 4 o'clock. They will continue through the evening hours, even into the overnight time frame too.
So some of the areas could end up getting several hours of steady rainfall through the overnight timeline. Then tomorrow, you've still got this long line of showers that extends from Maine all the way back down to Florida. You also have another cluster of storms across the Midwest.
The best chance for flooding today exists in this particular area of the Ohio Valley and the southeast. And tomorrow, once again, many of the same areas.
BLACKWELL: All right. Thanks, Allison.
So is it an anti-weaponization fund or just a slush fund? An IRS deal puts up nearly $1.8 billion taxpayer, your money, for President Trump's allies. We're taking a look behind the partisan messaging gap on that fund coming up in your Morning Roundup.
Plus, some Ivy Leaguers may have a harder path to graduating cum laude while Harvard is cracking down on who qualifies for an A, just ahead.
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[07:26:43]
BLACKWELL: Hundreds of thousands of immigrants who are in the U.S. trying to get green cards are facing a tough choice now. The Trump administration says that if they want a green card, they will need to leave the U.S. and apply from their home country. This surprising policy change could upend the lives of hundreds of thousands of immigrants seeking the right to legally and permanently live and work in the U.S.
Joining me now for the Morning Roundup, we've got Ernie Suggs, Race and Culture Reporter with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Attorney Cody Randall, and Journalist JaQuitta Williams. Welcome to you all.
Cody, let me start with you, the attorney at the table here. There have been lawmakers who have come out and condemned this choice from the administration. There will be, it just came out on Friday, there will be lawsuits. Do you think it stands up to legal challenges?
CODY RANDALL, ATTORNEY: I think it's going to be a complicated one to do because the administration has a lot of control over how you, you know, do administrative policies. This is less of a statutory issue and more of how they view applications.
To be clear, the new rule is saying that individuals that are applying for green cards after they've come here on a visa for other purposes would then have to go back home to apply for a change in status. So I came here on a student visa and then while I'm here I want to apply for a green card.
They're saying no, you got to go back to your country and then reapply. It's not affecting people that are here doing a change of status for marriage or if you're here as a refugee or an asylum seeker. That's governed by different statutory policies.
But the concept of used to be -- when you did a change of status, you were looked at it in the most favorable light towards you --
BLACKWELL: Yes.
RANDALL: -- of applying from here. And now they're using that as a negative inference. So they're asking people to go back and reapply. It's going to be challenged because it's changing the status quo and how things have been applied for 40 years.
BLACKWELL: Yes.
RANDALL: How likely that challenge will be? I'm uncertain, but --
BLACKWELL: Let me ask you about the politics of this because this President was re-elected primarily on two issues, the economy and immigration. Well, the economy in a selling point for Republicans at the moment. Is this a political argument even when they were saying that illegal immigration was the focus coming into 2025?
JAQUITTA WILLIAMS, JOURNALIST: Cody? What did you say?
ERNIE SUGGS, RACE AND CULTURE REPORTER, THE ATLANTA JOURNAL- CONSTITUTION: Well I think it's --
WILLIAMS: Or Ernie?
SUGGS: I think it's just another attempt by the Trump administration which has been very, very hawkish on illegal immigration, on immigration from Trump as you said. And this is just going to upend the process even more. I did a story a couple of months ago about a student who was applying for a prestigious scholarship.
He had to go back to his country to apply for it and he was worried about coming back, just getting back. And this was even before all of this happened. So what this is going to do is going to separate families, it's going to make this process longer.
So I think aside from the political thing that's going on, there's also this kind of terror -- not terroristic, but there's also this kind of like terror going on where people who are in this country illegally, who are trying to do it the right way, are going to be forced to go back to their own country to try to reapply and try to start this process all over again.
RANDALL: But it is terroristic. It is designed to terrorize.
SUGGS: I don't want to use that.
RANDALL: No, it is designed to punish people.
WILLIAMS: The bottom line with the --
RANDALL: They are trying to make this so hard and so harsh -- this administration has a preoccupation and obsession with immigration. First it was the criminals, then it was the illegals, and now it's the people that are here doing it the right way through the legal process.
Some people in this administration just don't like people that weren't born here or that look different from them, and they're trying to do everything they can to get rid of them or to make them not want to be here.
WILLIAMS: It sounds like this administration is, the bottom line is, we don't want you here and we're going to do everything that we can to ensure that you're not or make it hard to be here and remain here.
RANDALL: Unless you can provide an economic benefit.
VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Yes.
WILLIAMS: Yes, absolutely.
BLACKWELL: Speaking of economic benefit, there are going to be applicants for this $1.8 billion fund for the anti-weaponization, as they call it, from the White House. Some people are calling it a slush fund. Republican senators, I want you to listen to Ted Cruz here of Texas, are seething over this proposal from the White House. Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX): There were fireworks at an epic level. And I got to say, it's one of the roughest meetings I've seen in my entire time in the Senate. There were a lot of Republican senators who were just pissed. Almost every Republican senator was there, so my guess is there are probably 45 senators in the room. At least half of them were blasting the attorney general. People were, the entire meeting, they were screaming at the acting attorney general.
(END VIDEO CLIP) BLACKWELL: Yes, this is Cruz talking about a meeting late in the week with Todd Blanche. We've seen Republicans, you know, hold out or delay a vote or support or wince at a proposal and then eventually line up with the president. Is this different?
ERNIE SUGGS, RACE AND CULTURE REPORTER, THE ATLANTA JOURNAL- CONSTITUTION: I think -- I don't think it's different. I think that, you know, on January 6th, those same senators stood on the House floor and Senate floor and said this is appalling and we're not standing for this anymore. Then they turned around and they supported Trump. I think this right here is just another attempt by the, or another act by the Republicans to act outrage.
But I think at the end of the day, this is all going to go through. We're all going to be -- you know, next year or next month we're going to be talking about this and people are going to be getting, and if you have to ask whether it's anti-weaponization or a slush fund, it's a slush fund. And I think that this is where we are right now in this country. And I think the Republicans are talking that stuff now, but they're not going to do anything about it.
RANDALL: If you have to ask if it's a slush fund, it's a slush fund. Like if you're, -- if the intents are not clear, then the intent is clear. I think this is different. I have a different view on the situation. This to me seems like someone who's trying to put his ducks in a row.
Like you're trying to get a bill so that you can have this $1.9 billion slush fund that you and your friends can control. And included in that is the promise that the IRS will never investigate you, your friends, your family, your businesses ever again. This seems like someone who's trying to make sure that at a certain point in the future they have assets and protections from other things. I think these are the actions of a man who thinks he's not going to be in office much longer.
BLACKWELL: Let me ask you about this. NAACP urging Black athletes, fans, alumni to boycott public universities in states that are redistricting after the Callais decision. Tennessee, Louisiana, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, South Carolina, Texas, Georgia. The NAACP says this, that we will not watch the same institutions that depend on black athletic prowess to fill their stadiums and their bank accounts remain silent while their states strip black communities of their voice. If they rely on black talent, they should protect black interests. Thoughts?
WILLIAMS: I see it on both sides. I think it's a really difficult ask to ask a student trying to go to college something like this. I can see if it was somebody older, NFL. But you're talking about young people who are just starting their career. But I also understand how sometimes you have to do the hard thing and the hard thing requires sacrifice.
SUGGS: But this is a tremendous sacrifice.
WILLIAMS: It is. SUGGS: You know, I wear my pin North Carolina Central University all the time. And I went to a historically Black college.
WILLIAMS: Me too.
SUGGS: We had -- let me tell you a quick story. We had a running back who was fantastic. He did everything right. He was at a perfect school. Central is a great black college football program. It's a great football program. At the end of his senior year, he was poached by the University of Virginia for $400,000. They were able to pay him $400,000 in an NIL deal to go to the University of Virginia and finish his football career. And we had a great career at North Carolina Central University. But we could not compete with that.
So, when you're asking all these 18- and 19-year-old black kids to say, I'm not going to go to UGA or I'm not going to go to University of Tennessee, I'm not going to go to University of North Carolina to play basketball, that's a big ask to do to anyone when you're offering that kind of money.
WILLIAMS: I agree. I agree. I see both -- like I said, I see both sides. I really, really do. But I also think that, you know, going to a historically black college, the University of Tennessee, I just -- I see it both ways. But I agree. If it were me, I would take them.
BLACKWELL: The point you brought up here, and as we go -- before we go to break, Georgia State -- Georgia Senate Minority Leader Harold Jones said this, all those states have NFL teams. Ask those guys to step up. You do have adults sitting there making money for those same states just playing on Sunday, and no one's asking them to do anything.
[07:35:00]
We'll see how many students, football and otherwise, take up this call from the NAACP. Everybody stay with me. A lot to talk about. We've got placeholders at the Oscars, so why not at your wedding, too? Why some people are choosing to let random people buy a ticket to their weddings.
And if you are heading out, remember, you can stream my show from anywhere in the U.S., right from the CNN app. You can also go to cnn.com/watch.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[07:40:00]
BLACKWELL: Welcome back to the Morning Roundup. There's a big shift coming to CBS Late-Night. Comedian and media mogul Byron Allen is taking over Stephen Colbert's old time slot with the show Comics Unleashed. His big promise is that there will be no politics, just comedy. Ernie, Cody, and JaQuitta are back.
I actually spoke with Byron Allen. The first episode in this time slot, it's been on for 20 years, was on Friday. I watched it. We talked about the promise of no politics. Here's what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BYRON ALLEN, HOST, "COMICS UNLEASHED": I think there's a place for that, political humor. And there's, you can go get that from Jimmy Fallon and Jimmy Kimmel and Bill Maher and John Oliver and Seth Meyers. If you want political humor, go get it. That is not what we're doing here.
And I think, you know, there's a huge audience out there that appreciates the fact we're not doing political humor. We don't care. We don't care who you vote for, what's going on. We're just here to make you laugh.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: Do you guys think that works at 11:35?
SUGGS: I think it's going to work. I mean, I think -- you know, I've been watching that show for 20 years. Like you said, I've been watching. It's not a great show. I love Byron Allen, but I think the show is really, really vanilla, which is kind of cool, but, you know, which is what they're looking for.
But I do think that there is an appetite for people who, you know, are getting off work and you want to get away from CNN, no offense, but you want to get away from CNN for a little bit --
BLACKWELL: Why would you ever want that?
SUGGS: -- at night and just kind of watch these comedians talk about, you know, what they had for lunch. And I think that's great.
RANDALL: I think there's a difference, though, between the conversation of what is comedy and what is like Jimmy Fallon or Stephen Colbert. Their monologue is social commentary through a lens of comedy. Now, I agree. Maybe the palette for the consumer is not there. Maybe you just want to tone out, zoom out and not be like bombarded by political content all the time.
So, the political content of like monologues, sure. But comedy is a social lens. Politics is real. How are we going to put people on there and expect them not to make a single joke that's not politically motivated?
BLACKWELL: Well, they did it.
RANDALL: In one episode.
BLACKWELL: Yes.
SUGGS: In every episode.
WILLIAMS: I'm already turned up by vanilla. If it's not funny or, you know, getting me into, I don't know. I just, I just think that we, we should be able to do it all. And if there's a little politics sprinkled in there and if it's funny, then why not do it?
BLACKWELL: Not exclusively politics, but not barring it.
WILLIAMS: No exclusive but just --
BLACKWELL: Not excluding it.
WILLIAMS: Absolutely. Sprinkle it in.
BLACKWELL: Yes.
WILLIAMS: Yes.
SUGGS: And this show -- I mean, if you haven't -- have not seen it, it's straight up comedy.
BLACKWELL: Yes.
SUGGS: There's no politics involved.
BLACKWELL: It's mother-in-law jokes, first date jokes, talking about your kids, four comedians in club chairs.
RANDALL: It sounds like PG comedy to me, and that's not my style.
WILLIAMS: Yes.
BLACKWELL: yes.
WILLIAMS: Particularly not that late at night. You better do something to keep me up, or I'm not watching.
BLACKWELL: All right. Control room. I'm calling an audible. We're going straight to the weddings. We're going straight to the weddings. We've been talking about it all morning. There is now a service. It's a website, notaweddingcrasher.com, where you can buy tickets to a stranger's wedding. They say that it connects vetted guests with couples who have open seats at their wedding. Instead of letting those seats go unused, couples can welcome respectful guests, offset some costs, share their day with people who genuinely appreciate the experience.
WILLIAMS: Sign me up.
BLACKWELL: Yes.
WILLIAMS: I'm ready to go. We can go together.
BLACKWELL: Right. We can do that.
WILLIAMS: Because here's the thing, if it's a minimal cost and you look at the couple and if they're fun. And who does not love a wedding? Drinks, particularly if it's open bar.
BLACKWELL: And some of them are.
WILLIAMS: OK. Dancing. And you don't really know the people, so you could cut up. Not too much.
RANDALL: See, that's the problem, is you don't the people.
WILLIAMS: But not too much, not too much. But here's the thing, even if you don't know the people, they don't know you. So, you can bop in and bop out.
RANDALL: I have been to 125 weddings. I am not joking. That is not an overstatement. And some of them are great. Some of them are less than great. These are people that I know with friends and sometimes I'm like, whoo, this is a struggle to get through. Going through a stranger's wedding, oh, my God. I don't want to sit through that.
WILLIAMS: I love it. I love the idea of a date where you don't know the people and there's something different to do.
RANDALL: And what if you're the bride and groom? Should they let random people come in?
WILLIAMS: They had a whole wedding called wedding crashers.
BLACKWELL: Ernie, get in here.
SUGGS: I love the idea of offsetting costs. You know, May 18th was my first-year wedding anniversary. My wife --
BLACKWELL: Congratulations.
WILLIAMS: Congratulations.
RANDALL: Congratulations.
SUGGS: But I'm still paying for the wedding. So, if I could have gotten about 50 people to come and pay for the wedding or help pay and sit down, I would have loved to have done it. So --
BLACKWELL: OK. Well 50 is high. 50 people you don't know. This is ranging from maybe two to four. There's one that has 18 there, but I think it's a great time. It's like I took sushi making classes as a date. I'm never making sushi, but it's one fun night. You go out and do something. It ranges between 30 and 60 bucks.
WILLIAMS: I love it.
RANDALL: If you have 18 empty seats at the wedding, I'm looking at the guests going, there's 18 empty seats. Why did 18 of your friends not come to your wedding? That says more about your wedding.
WILLIAMS: That's the one you don't go to.
RANDALL: I don't want to go that wedding.
BLACKWELL: That's the one you don't go to.
WILLIAMS: Don't pay for that one. Yes. BLACKWELL: One more here. Harvard Faculty of Arts and Sciences. We're talking undergrad now. They're limiting the number of A's that are awarded to undergraduates.
[07:45:00]
Not the professional schools, not the graduate schools. Next fall, they're limiting no more than 20 percent of students in a class, plus four additional students can get an A. Thoughts?
WILLIAMS: How do you decide that though, who will get an A and who won't?
RANDALL: I mean, a lot of universities do this. I mean he said undergrad, but professional schools have been doing this for years. Med school, dental school, PhDs, law school. There's a curve and there's a limited amount of like grades in each section. They're just implementing that in an undergraduate form.
SUGGS: I mean, at Harvard 60 percent of all students were getting A's. 60 percent of all students are getting A's as opposed to 24 percent 20 years ago. So, there is some great inflation that is going on. So, I think it's going to be -- and the faculty saying that now an A makes sense. Now, an A is really earned at Harvard University, which I think it's good.
RANDALL: I think it's different about how you're looking at how it's being awarded, right? It's not about general knowledge on did you know the information, it's how does the information you know or the answer you provide compare to the other people that are in your class, right? It's comparing your answers versus the next person and whoever got the best answer gets the best grade.
WILLIAMS: Here's the thing, in the grand scheme of things, when you get out into the real world, is somebody going to ask you, did you get an A?
BLACKWELL: No, they will ask, did you go to Harvard though?
WILLIAMS: There you go.
BLACKWELL: Right.
WILLIAMS: But you have to get an A.
RANDALL: That's the point. It's like whether you got an A or a C, you went to Harvard, no one's asking that question. It doesn't matter at that point.
WILLIAMS: No. It doesn't matter to me.
BLACKWELL: Ernie, Cody, JaQuitta, thank you all. This was a good one.
WILLIAMS: I know, right?
BLACKWELL: All right. WILLIAMS: Let's go to the wedding.
BLACKWELL: Yes, we should. We should. One of the most prestigious tournaments in tennis kicks off today. Who we can see today in the first matches of Roland-Garros. Next in sports.
But first, ahead of Memorial Day, a closer look at the powerful new CNN film, "Why We Dream," following World War II veterans as they return to Normandy more than 80 years after D-Day.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I had always wanted to go back to Europe to see and understand that I could have been part of one of those tombstones. Here I am, I'm present to see the slaughter of humankind because of so much hate. How blessed I was, and so many of us who had been part of that own slaughter and were able to return home. And although it was segregated, we were working on that understanding, that misunderstanding of humanity.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BLACKWELL: "Why We Dream" premieres Memorial Day at 8:00 p.m. on CNN. You can also watch it on the CNN app.
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[07:50:00]
BLACKWELL: President Trump says an agreement with Iran has been largely negotiated and the critical Strait of Hormuz will be reopened. A source tells CNN the potential deal also includes an Iranian commitment not to pursue a nuclear weapon. But Iranian state media are pushing back. They say the Strait will remain under Iranian control.
Sources tell CNN authorities have identified a man who shot a Secret Service officer at a security checkpoint near the White House as 21- year-old Nasir Best, and he is dead. Law enforcement sources say he had tried multiple times last year to enter White House grounds. He was then committed to a psychiatric institute. A bystander was also shot and is now in critical condition.
And a massive Russian missile barrage hit Kyiv overnight. At least two people are dead there, more than 62 hurt. Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered retaliation after a deadly Ukrainian attack. Moscow fired 600 drones and 90 missiles at Ukraine, mostly targeting Kyiv.
We now know what led to the tragic death of legendary NASCAR driver Kyle Busch. Severe pneumonia progressed to sepsis. He was supposed to race today at the Coca-Cola 600 in Charlotte. Coy Wire is with me now with how he's being remembered.
COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Yes. I mean, this is a driver who impacted so many, including some of the younger drivers right now on the circuit who say they wanted to be like him when they got older, right? And this is a giant of the sport gone far too soon. A two-time Cup Series champ, fiery racer, racked up more wins across NASCAR's top three series than anyone ever.
And at today's Coca-Cola 600, it's going to hit different. There were tributes planned, a giant number eight painted on the infield. His team unloaded his car that he was supposed to drive in. Then they announced that the number eight will be retired for now, with the 33- car taking its place until Busch's son, Brexton, is old enough to chase the family legacy himself.
NBA playoffs. New York Knicks are one win away from their first NBA finals trip since 1999. After beating Cleveland 121-108, New York hotter than Times Square asphalt in July right now. Jalen Brunson had 30 points. Mikal Bridges added 22. OG Anunoby tipping in 21. New York has now won 10 straight playoff games. Franchise record. They never trailed in this one. Knicks fans traveling to pack the house there in Cleveland, seeing their squad take a 3-0 series lead.
Stanley Cup playoffs. The Carolina Hurricanes blowing into overtime and storming past Montreal 3-2 to even the Eastern Conference final. Nikolaj Ehlers was the eye of the storm, scoring not once but twice in overtime. He broke loose there, buried the game winner like he had somewhere important to be. Series now tied. Pressure rising. Game three is tomorrow.
Finally, French Open underway at Roland-Garros, where the pressure can be enormous. Novak Djokovic begins his chase for a record 25th Grand Slam title. Emma Raducanu and Taylor Fritz also hit the clay today. Main draw play underway on TNT, True TV and the Tennis Channel.
And tomorrow, defending champ Coco Gauff opens her title defense against fellow American Taylor Townsend. Coco says she's hoping to receive some of the surprise support she saw the last time she was there.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COCO GAUFF, 2025 FRENCH OPEN CHAMP: I was surprised that the crowd was heavily for me. Honestly, I didn't know what the crowd would look like in that final last year. But I think the most I was just surprised that the crowd was heavily for me. And also Spike Lee was like right next to my towel box. So, that was pretty cool.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WIRE: Very cool. And doesn't get much bigger than this for tennis. You like --
BLACKWELL: Yes, yes. I was just at the Italian Open. I saw Coco walk overhead. It was great. Thanks, Coy.
And thank you for watching CNN This Morning Weekend. Inside Politics Sunday with Manu Raju is up next.
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