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Isa Soares Tonight
CNN Founder and Philanthropist Ted Turner Dies at 87; K-Pop Legend Psy on What Keeps Him Performing; Lutnick Questioned Over Epstein Ties; Pope Leo Defiant in the Face of New Trump Criticism. CNN Founder Ted Turner Dies at Age 87; Iran Expected to Respond to U.S. Proposal for Ending War; Three People Suffering from Hantavirus Taken Off MV Hondius Cruise Ship. Aired 2:00-3p ET
Aired May 06, 2026 - 14:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[14:00:00]
RICHARD QUEST, HOST, ISA SOARES TONIGHT: And a very warm welcome to one and all, I'm Richard Quest, I'm in for Isa Soares. Tonight, a profound loss
for the CNN family as our founder Ted Turner dies at the age of 87. We'll be looking back at Ted's life and legacy.
New hopes and new threats. Are we any closer to peace between Iran and the U.S.? It depends very much on who you listen to. And three people have been
taken off a cruise ship that's been suffering from the hantavirus outbreak.
There are dozens more people on board, we will bring you up-to-date. There are those stories and so much more. We begin this hour with the news that
the visionary CNN founder Ted Turner has died. A statement says he passed away peacefully, surrounded by his family. He was 87 years old.
There are many words that come to mind to describe Ted Turner. The energy, the drive, the swagger, the focus.
(CLEARS THROAT)
QUEST: He was known as "the Mouth of the South" and a maverick businessman. He created the entire concept of what you're watching now. The
concept of 24-hour news. He then used wealth and influence to make the world a better place through his environmental activism and his
philanthropy.
My colleague, CNN Wolf Blitzer looks back at the life and legacy of one of the greatest visionaries of our time.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TERRY MCGUIRK, FORMER CEO, TURNER BROADCASTING SYSTEM: He broke every mold, he changed the world.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Known as "the Mouth of the South", and "Captain Outrageous", Ted Turner built a media empire that changed
cable news forever.
TED TURNER, LATE FORMER FOUNDER OF CNN: I didn't have any upper limits to how far we could go.
BLITZER: Champion, philanthropist, environmentalist.
TURNER: I don't know how to quit. It's not in my genes.
BLITZER: But growing up wasn't easy for Ted. Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1938, his parents sent him to boarding school when he was just four years
old.
TURNER: I didn't like boarding school. I wanted to be home.
BLITZER: Ted's little sister whom he adored, died of lupus at 17. About two years later, Ted dropped out of Brown University. He'd been studying
classics until his father cut off the money.
TURNER: He thought I was wasting my time.
BLITZER: So, he went to work for his dad's billboard company, but tragedy struck again when his father killed himself.
TURNER: He went against everything that he taught me. You know, be courageous and hang in there.
BLITZER: Ted took over the family business and coped with the loss by working even harder.
TURNER: He said, set your goals so high that you can't achieve them in your lifetime.
BLITZER: When Ted wasn't working, he turned to the sport he loved, sailing.
TURNER: We've got to go fast as we can here.
BLITZER: And won the sports top race, the Americas Cup.
TURNER: I had worked very hard. It took me a number of years to become a champion.
BLITZER: He put that same drive into expanding the business. In 1970, Ted bought a struggling TV station.
MCGUIRK: It was a broken-down UHF television station in Atlanta. He was going to transform UHF television into this new world of satellite
television.
BLITZER: Ted renamed the station WTBS, and it became the country's first superstation.
MCGUIRK: What Ted made happen was just as important as the internet revolution of the '90s and 2000s.
BLITZER: But starting out, Ted needed content. He bought the Atlanta Braves and broadcast their games nationwide.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Atlanta Braves.
BLITZER: The Braves became America's team.
MCGUIRK: So, when we bought them in 1976, they were terrible.
BLITZER: By 1995, Ted and his team were World Series champs. As he built the superstation, he set his sights even higher on a 24-hour news channel.
TURNER: I worked until 7 O'clock, and when I got home, the news was over, so I missed television news completely, and I figured there were lots of
people like me.
[14:05:00]
JIMMY CARTER, LATE FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: People did look upon that as a foolish idea that was destined for failure, but they underestimated Ted
Turner.
TOM JOHNSON, FORMER CNN PRESIDENT: Most of the leaders of the world thought Ted was nuts.
TURNER: We signed on, on June 1, and barring satellite problems in the future, we won't be signing off until the world ends.
(LAUGHTER)
TURNER: We'll be on, we will cover it live.
I dedicate the news channel for America, the Cable News Network.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Take 11, mic cue.
BLITZER: CNN aired its first broadcast on June 1st, 1980.
DAVID WALKER, FORMER CNN ANCHOR: Good evening, I'm David Walker.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And I'm Lois Hart(ph), now, here's the news.
BLITZER: It took five years to turn a profit.
TURNER: I lived for 20 years in my office.
JOHNSON: He was one of us. I mean, he would be in his half-coat down, having breakfast in the hard news cafe.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And we would get better by the end of the week.
BLITZER: Critics called it chicken noodle news. But the gulf war would give CNN the respect it deserved.
PETER ARNETT, FORMER JOURNALIST (via telephone): You can hear the bombs now, they are hitting the center of this city.
BLITZER: It was the first time a war was broadcast live on television, and it was only on CNN.
TURNER: I still believe that was the greatest scoop in the history of journalism.
BLITZER: You can see her there --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ted didn't care as much about ratings as he did about being the most trusted name in news.
BLITZER: Ted also cared about the world. Over a ten-year period, he donated a billion dollars to the United Nations.
TURNER: I'm no poorer than I was nine months ago, and the world is a lot better off.
BLITZER: And he expanded his empire, launching networks like "TNT" and "Turner Classic Movies". In his personal life, Ted was married and divorced
twice with five children before he finally met his match, Jane Fonda.
TURNER: She agreed to have dinner with me. For me, it was love at first sight.
JANE FONDA, FORMER WIFE OF TED TURNER: I can't ever forget the reasons that made me fall in love with him. I've never met any human being that
thinks the way Ted does.
BLITZER: Ted was a visionary, a titan. Even "Time Magazine's" Man of the Year. But in 1996, he sold his networks to "Time Warner". He got almost $8
billion.
JOHNSON: I said, Ted, if you sell, you will no longer be captain of your own ship.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ted Turner. Ted?
(APPLAUSE)
BLITZER: Five years later, "Time Warner" merged with AOL, and Ted was out.
JOHNSON: Ted used the description, I've been fired. Ted got shafted, and it hurt.
TURNER: It was more than just a company to me. It was -- it was a way of life.
BLITZER: He lost his empire and the love of his life. After ten years of marriage, he and Jane parted ways.
(On camera): But you love her still?
TURNER: Yes.
BLITZER: To this very day.
TURNER: To this very day.
BLITZER: But Ted never gave up. His final act, Saving the Planet. He created the U.N. Foundation and the Nuclear Threat Initiative. On his
Montana ranch, he made it his mission to save the bison.
TURNER: Hi, well, you never go home, do you?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, I know --
BLITZER: And he opened restaurants to ensure their survival.
CARTER: Ted's love of the outdoors has made him perhaps the number one environmentalist that I've ever known.
BLITZER: Before his 80th birthday, Ted revealed he had Lewy body dementia, a progressive disease. He spent his final years treasuring private moments,
his ranch and his family.
FONDA: He wants to know that when he goes out, it will be with the love of his children and grandchildren.
MCGUIRK: You can never take away what he created and what he did.
JOHNSON: We have never seen a man quite like Ted Turner before on this planet. And I don't think we'll ever see another one like him again.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST: Christiane is with me, Christiane Amanpour. Christiane, CNN have been going three years or so when you joined. When I joined some years
later, the one thing I always remember being told is that it doesn't matter who you are, there's Ted Turner and there's the three letters.
And the three -- and the three letters are what it's all about, CNN. But you obviously knew him and had worked with him, and you'd done battle with
him over the years. What was he like?
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Well, he was extraordinary. Obviously, I worked for him. I was a lowly desk assistant
when I joined nearly 43 years ago.
QUEST: Oh --
AMANPOUR: It was a start-up. In today's parlance, it was video-on-demand in today's parlance. But he created that. And the legacy just keeps going
on and on. It was really a media revolution, and he did it to make the world a better place.
It's actually as simple as that. Not only for him to have the news when he wanted, but also to use that power and that platform not just for self-
enrichment, but for making the world a better place.
[14:10:00]
And we were all extremely conscious of that. And when I did finally towards the end, get to know -- you know, when I was grown up and had achieved a
bit at CNN, and was able to, you know, sometimes have meals with him in groups.
I remember Tom Johnson; our president, even after Ted was out, after AOL, he would arrange small lunches for Ted and some of us, like Wolf and me and
Judy Woodruff and staff, we'd go down to Atlanta when we could and have lunches.
And that's because Ted was still interested in CNN, the thing that he had created and birthed. And we were still interested, even though he was no
longer technically our boss in what he had to say because it was so remarkable.
And at the risk of being sort of a hagiography, I do think this is a man who needs to be celebrated as a great entrepreneur, a great capitalist, a
great philanthropist, a great sportsman, a great champion, and a person who believed in bringing even the most --
QUEST: Right --
AMANPOUR: Fierce enemies together. Let's say the Soviet Union and the United States during the Cold War.
QUEST: When he -- if we go back to Gulf War One and those early gulf -- those early days, the story I once heard is that he walked into the
newsroom and basically said, spend whatever you need to do it properly. Not a penny more, not a penny less. And that was the ethos in those days. What?
You did the job and you do it right.
AMANPOUR: That's exactly right. It was before the pressure of today's economic realities and the economic model that we exist in right now, which
is very difficult. It was always difficult. I remember him saying -- he probably said it to Wolf, I can't remember what interview, but he said, you
know, it took us ten years to make a profit, to actually get revenue from the day we started, ten years.
I don't know, you're a business reporter and a business anchor. I don't know how many business people today --
QUEST: Yes --
AMANPOUR: Would be given ten years to try to survive. But he did and he did survive. And I do remember the days when he would be very close to not
making payroll, sometimes not making payroll. And as he said, having to, you know, rely on our goodwill and our love of the -- of the company and a
job to see him through it. And we did.
And so, did his investors and the people who basically financed him. You know -- you know, the great media tycoons in the United States, John Malone
of "Liberty" and Brian Roberts of "Comcast". They to this day say they owe so much to Ted Turner, and they helped finance and executive produce a
wonderful documentary about his life and his meaning to the business world that aired on "HBO" not so long ago.
And he was an example to all of them as well. And I think that, you know, in the last interview I did with him, which was ten years ago, I last saw
him three years ago, but ten years ago, we sat for an interview. And at some point, he was, you know, quoting the classics to me, and then
Shakespeare talking a passage about honor from, as he said, one of the Richards.
I'm not sure which one it was, but it was about honor, and just really listening to it, it's really special to hear a boss, talk about honor
because it wasn't just his honor, but it was the honor of --
QUEST: Right --
AMANPOUR: CNN, the honor of all of us. And it was very important that sense of integrity and trust as you point out.
QUEST: Christiane, I'm grateful for you tonight, thank you very much indeed. Joining us from London. And as we would always say, because the
news never stops, neither do we. This is CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[14:15:00]
QUEST: Three people have been taken off the cruise ship that's been hit with the deadly outbreak of hantavirus. The ship currently is off the coast
of West Africa, and there are still dozens of passengers on board.
Meanwhile, the politicians are battling over when and where the ship will be allowed to dock. Spain is insisting that it should dock at the largest
of the Canary Islands, while the local government there is demanding more information before agreeing to anything. CNN's Will Ripley reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WILL RIPLEY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Off the coast of West Africa, a cruise ship under quarantine. Three more passengers
medically evacuated, including the ship's doctor. All tied to a deadly outbreak of hantavirus, a rare typically rodent-borne disease with no
specific treatment or cure.
The open decks of the MV Hondius deserted, dining rooms empty, passengers told to stay in their cabins.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hi, I'm Jake(ph), and I'm spending the next 35 days crossing the Atlantic, visiting some of the most remote islands in the
world.
RIPLEY: This is how the journey began for Jake Rose Marine(ph); a Boston photographer, one of around 150 people on board.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People with families, with lives, with people waiting for us at home.
RIPLEY: Health officials are now retracing the ship's route, trying to figure out where and when passengers became infected. Their 35-day
expedition began from the edge of Antarctica, visiting some of the most remote islands in the south Atlantic.
MARIA VAN KERKHOVE, DIRECTOR, EPIDEMIC & PANDEMIC PREPAREDNESS, WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION: On those islands, there are birds. Some islands have
a lot of rodents, others don't.
RIPLEY: Hantavirus is usually picked up by breathing in particles from rodent droppings or urine. Symptoms often start like the flu, but can
quickly cause severe breathing problems organ failure and death. The incubation period, 1 to 8 weeks.
Lab tests have yet to confirm it, but investigators think this may be a rare South American strain that sometimes spreads not just from rodents,
but between people.
VAN KERKHOVE: Among the really close contacts, the husband and wife, people who have shared cabins, et cetera.
RIPLEY: This small boat medically evacuated a handful of infected passengers. Investigators say the outbreak began in early April. The first
victim, a Dutch passenger died on board April 11th. His wife died around two weeks later in a hospital in South Africa.
A third passenger, a German national, died on board on May 2nd. A British passenger remains in intensive care. Everyone else stuck on board
undergoing medical checks, a situation Kent and Rebecca Frasure know all too well.
REBECCA FRASURE, DIAMOND PRINCESS PASSENGER: You don't know how long you have to stay in the hospital.
RIPLEY: I met them back in 2020. They were quarantined on the Diamond Princess cruise ship off Japan.
(On camera): What's the hardest part?
R. FRASURE: I'd say the unknown.
RIPLEY (voice-over): Rebecca, one of the first Americans to test positive for COVID.
(On camera): There she is, she's sitting in the window right now, Rebecca. Here we are. Hi!
(Voice-over): She spent weeks in a Tokyo hospital. Kent was quarantined in their cabin.
(On camera): What would be your advice for passengers stuck on this ship right now?
KENT FRASURE, DIAMOND PRINCESS PASSENGER: If you -- if you start thinking about what's happening around you, it is so difficult to stay away from a
mindset where you're getting depressed and just like really fearful of what's going to happen. You have to try to stay as upbeat as you can.
RIPLEY (voice-over): They know how difficult staying upbeat can be for everyone on the MV Hondius facing fear and uncertainty on a floating
quarantine zone.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
QUEST: Pau Mosquera is with me from Madrid. This rather ugly disagreement between Madrid and the local government there, I mean, at the end of the
day, who has the primacy to be able to say, yes or no, this ship can dock.
[14:20:00]
PAU MOSQUERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, in this case, Richard, both governments have responsibilities with when it comes to this, because from
the Spanish government, they have committed to receiving the ship. But it's the regional government that one, that has to make, like everything go as
planned.
So far, it seems like there are several tensions between both governments from the Canary Islands government. They say that they have never been
informed nor consulted regarding this decision, and they believe that also, this decision doesn't follow any technical or health-related criteria,
something that the Spanish government denies from their side, from the side of the government that leads Pedro Sanchez.
They stress out the fact that they have to carry out the requirement that they got from the World Health Organization, this means complying with the
international law and also showing some humanitarian spirit. Being -- this said, Richard, if everything goes as planned by the Spanish government, the
cruise ship should get to the south of Tenerife this very Saturday.
And once the ship gets to the island, to the Port of Granadilla de Abona, the authorities are planning to deploy a whole process where they will
transfer all the passengers and crew members to the south Tenerife airport, which is just ten minutes away from --
QUEST: Right --
MOSQUERA: This port. And they defend that all this process will be safely, and it will avoid any contact with the local population. Now, as you know,
amongst these, around 150 passengers and crew members, there are people of 23 different nationalities, and 14 of them are from Spain. What are the
plans of the Spanish government for these people? Well, have a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MONICA GARCIA, HEALTH MINISTER, SPAIN (through translator): What is happening with the Spaniards currently on board? The Spaniards on board,
who, as I mentioned, consist of 13 passengers and one crew member will be evaluated.
They'll be examined upon their arrival on the islands and will be transported by military aircraft to the Torrejon Military Base, and from
there, to the Gomez Ulla Military Hospital in Madrid. There, they'll receive care, undergo examination and remain in quarantine for whatever
duration is deemed necessary in accordance with clinical protocols.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: All right.
MOSQUERA: So right now, what we're expecting, Richard, is to get more details on the protocols --
QUEST: All right --
MOSQUERA: So far, what we know from the Spanish government is that they have located the space and the transport to transfer all the passengers and
crew members --
QUEST: Right, all right --
MOSQUERA: And as we said earlier, everything is going to happen without putting any risk to the local population, Richard.
QUEST: I'm grateful, Pau, that we understand that it's now being reported that the ship has left Cape Verde, and it is now on its way. So, as you
say, within a matter of days it will arrive in Gran Canaria in Tenerife. Thank you, sir.
Guarded optimism! Probably the best way to describe the latest developments in the U.S. war with Iran. Pakistani negotiators say the Iranians are
making progress towards a diplomatic solution. And Iran's Foreign Ministry says the latest U.S. proposal is still being reviewed. As a short time ago,
President Trump described the conflict.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're in a -- I call it a skirmish because that's what it is. It's a skirmish. And we're doing
unbelievably well as we did in Venezuela, where it was rapid over in one day. And we're doing pretty much equally as well, I would say.
Larger, but we're doing very well in Iran. It's going very smoothly and we'll see what happens. They want to make a deal. They want to negotiate.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: Now, despite some hope -- signs of hope, speaker of Iran's parliament is warning Iranians of difficult times ahead, possibly fresh
U.S. military strikes. And earlier, there was a familiar warning from President Trump to Tehran.
"Agree or the bombing starts at a high level and intensity than before." Stephen Collinson is with me. Nic Robertson -- Stephen Collinson is with me
from Washington. And Stephen, you just heard President Trump there saying it's going well. It's going better, as good as Venezuela, much bigger.
I mean, the squaring of that circle between the President's comments and what would appear to be the reality is somewhat challenging, I think.
STEPHEN COLLINSON, CNN POLITICS SENIOR REPORTER: Yes, I mean, it's clearly not true that this is just like Venezuela, which was a raid that was over
in one day, as the President said. This is a war that was supposed to be a maximum of 4 to 6 weeks.
[14:25:00]
We're getting towards its ninth week, and the President is in two boxes, one geopolitical, one political, both of which are reinforcing themselves
and constraining his actions. He isn't able to beat Tehran at an acceptable cost in the gulf.
Tehran, Iran, has leverage, as it's shown in the Strait of Hormuz. Whatever the U.S. blockade of Iran does, this doesn't look like it's going to end in
a matter of weeks, and that's what the President wants. Domestically, this war is deeply unpopular.
The President's approval rating is in the 30 percent, in mid-30s. He doesn't have the political space to prolong this war and perhaps to try to
bring Iran to its knees in the blockade. So, this is why he constantly tries to keep the prospect of a negotiated solution open.
Sure. What they're discussing right now appears to be a one-page memo about how this war can end. I don't think even if that stops the fighting and
eases the situation in the Strait, anyone thinks that, that alone is going to defuse all the disputes the United States and Israel have with Iran.
QUEST: So, it's -- back to what the President said, I mean, who is his audience for those comments when the reality is so obviously different to
what he's saying? He either comes across as out of touch, delusional, or just, I suppose, lying some would say. But who is he aiming it at?
COLLINSON: You know, sometimes I -- I sometimes think that his audience is himself, if you like, because the American people are not listening to him
on this war. Two-thirds of them disagree with the war and think it's going badly according to recent polling over the weekend.
The Iranians aren't listening. They clearly believe that they have the upper hand, or at least, are able to survive this conflict and are willing
to use what leverage they have. And they believe that the President will blink first.
So, I think it's all about first trying to experiment -- Donald Trump is an experimenter. He's trying to improvise his way through this conflict. You
could argue that, that improvisation is what has got him into this set of two constraining boxes.
And the more he improvises, the worse it gets. But he's trying, and I think, to preserve the capacity at the end of this, to say, look, we won,
it's time to come home, and this war was worth it. But you know, politically at home, internationally, everywhere in the world, apart from
the United States, nobody really believes that's true.
QUEST: I'm grateful, sir, thank you very much indeed.
COLLINSON: Thanks.
QUEST: We got them. As we continue tonight, he was our founding father. A news pioneer, philanthropist and a sports team owner. Ted Turner, the
legacy.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[14:30:00]
QUEST: More thoughts and comments are being received as we report the death of our founder, CNN's founder, Ted Turner.
The pioneer, no doubt, described as one of the most important figures in media history who reshaped the television landscape. He was 87 years old,
billionaire, entrepreneur. He passed away peacefully, surrounded by his family, according to a statement from Turner Enterprises.
Ted Turner's signature achievement was, of course, creating this. The 24- hour news network, CNN, which started nearly 45 years ago.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TED TURNER, CNN FOUNDER: Well, I actually thought about it back in '74, '75, six years before I did it. I thought it would be really convenient
whenever you got home to be able to tune into the news instead of having to get home at 6:30 or wait till 11:00, because in those days the news only
came on in the early evening and very late.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: The range of Turner's activities, philanthropist, environmentalist, owner of two professional football teams, and the legacy, not just by CNN,
but on television news globally. With me is a colleague of ours, former colleague of ours, former CNN White House correspondent and Washington
bureau chief, Frank. There you are, Frank.
FRANK SESNO, FORMER CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Richard.
QUEST: You and I overlapped by a matter of a few months after I joined in 2000 and you left in 2001. But you were here in '84. And, I mean, you
remember the swashbuckling days, I guess.
SESNO: Oh, I remember the swashbuckling days. I remember the there's no money days. I remember the this will never work days. I joined CNN in its
infancy, and before it was making money. I like to tell people that when I was a White House correspondent for CNN, one day I called the lower press
office and I said, hi, it's Frank Sesno from CNN, and there's this silence. And they said, what's CNN? Oh, they said, is this the phone company?
Because at the time there was a phone company here, CNP, and they thought it was the phone company. And I said, no, it's Ted Turner's new news cable
news network. Then they knew. Ted's swashbuckling style, as you know, preceded him everywhere. So, once you said, invoke Ted Turner's name, it
went.
But, Richard, and this is something that the audience, especially our younger audience, you got to kind of really imagine to appreciate. There
was no cable then. There was no internet then. There was no email then. So, the idea of information moving in real time was brand-new. And Ted launched
a revolution. Those of us who were there early, I like to say we're on the front lines of the revolution. And it not only changed the way news was
done, but also the way television was consumed, because he launched a whole bunch of channels, and the way leaders around the world communicated,
because now they were communicating to one another across CNN in real-time.
QUEST: When did you -- when do you think you realized this was going to work, this was going to be big? I mean, we can easily sort of point to Gulf
War I as being a defining point, but was there a moment when it suddenly became clear that this institution was actually a success?
SESNO: There were two very early stories, one domestic, one international, where CNN -- suddenly, people were gathered around the CNN hearth, right?
The domestic story was baby Jessica. This was a little girl who'd fallen into a well. And there were efforts to save her. Our cameras were there,
and everybody was watching, and they were completely glued.
The next one was a hijacking in 1986 or '87. Now, TWA 847, I believe, is the number. I'm not positive of that. But the plane is held in Beirut. I
was a White House correspondent for CNN at the time. The captain was a man by the name of John Testrake. I remember that very clearly. And we, again,
CNN, was live there.
[14:35:00]
And in that case, I actually -- the White House chief of staff came to me and half-jokingly said, in the middle of all that, we're not going to need
the CIA anymore because you're bringing information in across CNN that's quicker and more present than the CIA could possibly be.
So, there you started to see the early threads of how this real-time, always-on news was going to change the way the world communicated and
worked in bed and floor.
QUEST: I can ask you this question because you are such an expert on the media landscape, both pre and post. Ted Turner, did he regret -- at one
level, we know he regretted selling, but it made sense, in a sense, to sell to Time Warner. But the deal with AOL, did he subsequently wish he'd never
done it?
SESNO: Well, the deal with AOL became the deal with Time Warner. And I was at an event where he was in the room with some of those other corporate
execs and loudly saying it was the biggest mistake he ever made. Yes, he regretted it. He felt that he got sidelined. He ultimately got fired. That
was a word he used. It was more as the Time Warner thing took on. But it never worked.
The cultures didn't -- and I was there for that. I mean, the first thing I needed to do after the merger, as bureau chief, was start laying people
off. That wasn't a good thing. We wanted to grow our coverage, not cut it. And so, that was a disaster. I also remember the stock price crashing. So,
that hurt Ted a lot too, because Ted went in multi-billionaire and he came out seeing a lot of his wealth having evaporated.
QUEST: Frank, I'm grateful. Thank you, sir, for joining us on that. Brian's with me.
SESNO: It is my pleasure.
QUEST: Chief Media, and it's Brian Stelter, is with us. Listening to -- do you see anyone in today's industry with any parallels to what Ted Turner
would have done?
BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA ANALYST: Well, these days, it's Elon Musk, it's Jeff Bezos, it is these titans of the tech industry who are building
the systems of the future, the communication systems of the future. But Ted Turner was doing that decades ago, and it's so striking, Richard, to hear
from people like Rupert Murdoch today, Turner's rivals who, you know, were frenemies, but, you know, I want to emphasize the friend part today,
because those relationships were really important back in the day. Murdoch, for example, saying, Turner's impact as a trailblazer left an indelible
mark on our cultural landscape. He was a great American and a great friend. There's that word, friend.
You know, these days, there are similar relationships in the tech world, but I think that's what Turner represented in the 1970s and '80s, someone
who's democratizing technology, democratizing news, and access to news around the world. It's amazing today to think about just how different that
world was in 1980 when CNN launched.
QUEST: OK. But just listening to what Frank was saying, there was no Internet, there was no cable, or cable was nascent, there was all this. If
we move forward at great speed to what we are now facing today, we are adapting. You know, obviously, I'm employed here, so I'll say it. We are
moving faster than most other networks into a digital product and a digital future to an extent, the sort of thing that Ted would have done. Does that
make sense?
STELTER: It absolutely does, and that's what we've heard from CNN CEO Mark Thompson today, pointing out that we're going to need Ted Turner's spirit
to get across this digital canyon. In order to get to the other side, so to speak, it's very much a present-tense challenge that CNN and all the CNN
copycats face.
And I'm reminded today there's not just a few of them in the U.S. There are hundreds of 24-hour channels around the world, all inspired by Ted Turner's
vision. That's an amazing accomplishment, and that's something that is going to immortalize him. That will be his legacy still decades from now.
QUEST: He was very modest about it. I mean, he sort of -- it wasn't even a humble brag. He was genuinely modest about being -- and I -- how about
this? He was genuinely modest about it because it had succeeded in exactly the way he had intended. Does that make sense? Again, he wanted it to be
this and --
STELTER: Yes, I appreciate it as a business story.
QUEST: Yes.
STELTER: Yes. Yes, he looked at the broadcast networks in America, and he said they were smug and self-satisfied. They only did a half-hour news a
night. They were disserving the American people. That's what he believed. He said they were too focused on their own market research studies, which
told them people didn't want more news, and instead they weren't looking for original ideas. So, it's a great lesson for today, as it was in the
1970s, to look for that opening in the marketplace, look at what others had dismissed, look at business market-entrenched forces that were too smug and
self-interested. That's what he was doing back then. And, you know, there's a new generation of media innovators who are doing that today.
[14:40:00]
And I still -- I said to Christiane, when I spoke to the top of the program, I remember the day I joined here. The day I joined, and it's,
what, 25 years ago? More than. They said to me, Richard, never forget -- we can't see him on the screen at the moment. Let's have the bug and the logo
up. I remember somebody saying to me, never forget the three -- nobody and nothing is more important than the three letters. And that is as true
today. Brian, I'm so grateful. Thank you, sir. Good to have you.
This is CNN. In fact, you know, they teach us how to say it. You train, you practice, but you always want to try and get it right, because none of us
will ever get it quite like it should be, like James Earl Jones ever used to say it. But you practice it. This is CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
QUEST: Welcome back. Exploring the global rise of Korean pop music as part of a new series, an original series, called "K-Everything." For many of us,
"Gangnam Style," was -- up by Psy, was the first exposure to K-pop. Now, since that song's debut, it was in really 2012 when it came out, K-pop's
became a cultural force, and K-Everything host Daniel Dae Kim finds out what motivates Psy to keep entertaining.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DANIEL DAE KIM, HOST, "K-EVERYTHING": Your summer festivals are now legendary in Korea. You've done them for a number of years. You do this in
the heat of a Korean summer. That's not easy.
Did they know they were going to get wet?
PSY, ARTIST AND FOUNDER P NATION: Yes.
KIM: OK.
PSY: But they didn't expect that much. When I do the show, I usually do four hours.
They are so great.
KIM: I know, as a performer, what it feels like to feel like you're giving everything. And I think, how does he do that every night?
PSY: When I was young, I felt happy when I see someone happy. So, the concert is the maximum of the maximum.
[14:45:00]
So, when I do the concert, let's say if I have 25,000 audience, I see 25,000 happy faces in front of me. And because of me. I was like, wow, I
can die right now.
From reality to heaven.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: "K-Everything," premieres on CNN International this Saturday, May 9th at 8:00. And you can stream the series on the CNN app. In a moment,
we'll be back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
QUEST: Now, we are waiting for President Trump to make some comments. The pool has been summoned. And they'll be going into, I think it's the Oval
Office, and they'll be -- as soon as we know what it's all about, we'll bring it to your immediate attention. So, we are waiting for that. And that
should happen, who knows, in the next hour or so.
U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has been on Capitol Hill testifying about his ties to Jeffrey Epstein. Now, Lutnick is the highest-ranking
administration official to face such questioning by a House committee. Howard Lutnick lived next door to Epstein for a time, and Lutnick said he
cut all ties with him back in 2005. But the Epstein files show otherwise.
And now, the secretary has acknowledged further contact, and that includes a visit with his family to Epstein's island. The committee's Republican
chair spoke to us.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. JAMES COMER (R-KY): We're going to ask him all these questions, and we'll let the American people judge whether the credibility was damaged or
not. At the end of the day, I haven't seen wrongdoing in the email correspondence, but he wasn't 100 percent truthful with whether or not he
had been on the island. So, we'll see, and we'll obviously release the transcripts, and everyone can see for themselves.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: Now, later this month, the committee will hear from the former Attorney General, Pam Bondi, who has been issued with a subpoena. The
Justice Department is facing allegations of a cover-up, as millions of documents in the Epstein files remain under seal.
[14:50:00]
Annie Grayer is with me on Capitol Hill. How much trouble is Howard Lutnick in, do you think?
ANNIE GRAYER, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Well, Democrats came out of their hour of questioning, which is happening behind closed doors, Richard, and were
furious, claiming that Lutnick was lying, saying that he should resign, that if President Trump saw a video of this interview, that he would fire
Lutnick if he saw what was happening behind closed doors. And they were very critical of Republicans on this committee for not having a video of
this interview.
There will only be a written transcript. They say that just by seeing a video, you could see the sweat on the Commerce Secretary's brow, the way
that he is stuttering to answer basic questions. And Democrats are criticizing Lutnick for continuing to stand by his statements that he did
not interact with Epstein after 2005, when we know, as you pointed out, that the Epstein files show evidence of Lutnick interacting with Epstein
for years after that, including a visit with his family to Epstein's island.
So, take a listen to Democratic Congressman Ro Khanna about how he frames how Commerce Secretary Lutnick is handling himself in this closed-door
interview so far.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. RO KHANNA (D-CA): I expected him to say, well, you know, I regret what I said on the podcast. I should have -- had been transparent about
this incident with the family. Nothing happened that was terrible. But you know what? I should have had better judgment. And here are the things I
know about Epstein. He was a disgusting person. Let me try to help in the investigation. He did none of that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRAYER: So, Khanna and other Democrats are arguing that Lutnick is showing no remorse for his involvement and interactions with Epstein. And this
interview just continues this storm cloud of the Jeffrey Epstein saga over the Trump administration. President Trump had wanted to put this behind
him, but Lutnick being the highest-serving Trump administration official to testify keeps this story in the spotlight and continues to raise questions
about what Lutnick knew and when and why he wasn't forthcoming about his interactions with Epstein after 2005.
QUEST: I'm grateful. Thank you. Now, to the Pope, who is pushing back after President Trump unleashed a scathing new round of criticism against
him proposing the war in Iran. Donald Trump claims the Pope thinks it's fine for Tehran to have a nuclear weapon. The Pope never said that. In
fact, he's vehemently rejected that accusation, and he's been urging leaders to find a diplomatic solution.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
POPE LECO XIV (through translator): If anyone wants to criticize me for proclaiming the Gospel, let them do so with the truth. The Church has
spoken out against all nuclear weapons for years, so there is no doubt. I simply hope to be heard because of the value of God's word.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: Now, the Pope's words come as the U.S. secretary of state, Marco Rubio, is going to the Vatican. He's denying that the trip's about mending
the strained relations between the administration and the Vatican.
Our Vatican Correspondent Christopher Lamb, shared his thoughts with Isa on Marco Rubio's upcoming trip.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRISTOPHER LAMB, CNN VATICAN CORRESPONDENT: I think the Vatican's desire is to probably dampen down the tensions, and we obviously got Secretary of
State Marco Rubio coming to see the Pope, and that is also, I think, an attempt to dial down the rhetoric. So, I think they don't want the Pope to
be in a kind of permanent battle with the President of the United States.
And Pope Leo as a character isn't someone who is very confrontational, or he's not someone who goes out looking for a fight.
ISA SOARES, CNN INTERNATIONAL HOST: Yes.
LAMB: But he has shown a kind of steeliness and a determination to speak out recently.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUEST: You can see more of Isa's conversation with Christopher in Isa's Book Club, where they'll discuss the pontiff's successes in his first year,
as well as the challenges. All this analysis is documented in Christopher's new book, "American Hope: What Pope Leo XIV Means for the Church and the
World."
If you bought an iPhone between June 24 and March 25, you could be entitled to a partial refund. Apple's agreed to pay $250 million to settle a lawsuit
that claimed the company misled consumers about the A.I. capabilities of Siri. The settlement comes between $25 and $95 to anyone who bought an
iPhone 15 or 16 during that time.
Meanwhile, Samsung's electronics market value is now a trillion dollars, thanks to a surge in its market share. The company reported an operating
profit of more than $38 billion in Q1 of 26, and revenue is up 69 percent from a year ago. The gains are in large part because of the continued
demand for semiconductors used to power A.I.
[14:55:00]
And as they say, a four we go. The Rolling Stones have announced the upcoming release of their new studio tour, "Foreign Tongues," more than six
decades into their career, and Sir Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Ronnie Woods are still going strong. The group released their first single from
the new 14-track album. It features contributions from Paul McCartney and Robert Smith of The Cure. And there's a final recording that includes the
Stones drummer Charlie Watts, who died in 2021. It will come out on July 10th.
And that is our report tonight. Stay with CNN. "What We Know" tonight with Jim Sciutto, who's telling you what we know.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[15:00:00]
END
