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CNN Headlines: Blue Origin Rocket Explodes During Test In Florida; Former A.G. Pam Bondi Facing Questions On Her Handling Of Epstein Case Files; Vance: "TBD" Whether Trump Signs Agreement With Iran. Aired 5-5:30a ET
Aired May 29, 2026 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[05:00:25]
BRAD SMITH, CNN ANCHOR: A massive explosion. This Blue Origin rocket blew up during a ground test. What we're learning this morning.
And in the hot seat today, former Attorney General Pam Bondi expected to be grilled over the DOJ's handling of the Epstein files.
Plus --
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My little cat is in there, and everything I own, of mine and my kids is in there.
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SMITH: A deadly fire destroys an apartment building. Now, crews are looking for those who are missing.
And stuck 100 feet off the ground and hanging backwards. Yeah. No thank you. We'll tell you about that rescue effort that had to take place.
Good morning, everyone. I'm Brad Smith. This is CNN HEADLINE EXPRESS. Glad that you're with us this morning. Let's get this started.
Dramatic new video shows the moment that a Blue Origin rocket exploded during a ground test. Take a look at what happened.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, yeah, that blew up. That is not normal. We're about to feel.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good job, Elon.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There it is. Holy (EXPLETIVE DELETED). Excuse my French. I've never seen that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SMITH: French, excused and bleeped that company, saying that all the staff are accounted for after this huge fireball lit up the sky yesterday. Now, they're saying that the rocket experienced an anomaly or mishap during a ground test known as a hot fire. This is a Blue Origin new Glenn rocket, and the company announced plans for its return to flight earlier this week.
Now, it comes after a failure during the rockets third flight. That was on April 19th, and that prompted an FAA investigation.
As for the FAA, they're saying that it was aware of the explosion, but the test was not within its scope and didn't affect air traffic. The head of NASA says there will be a thorough investigation, though.
Well, happening today, former Attorney General Pam Bondi is in the hot seat on Capitol Hill. House lawmakers have been pushing for months to question her about how the Justice Department handled Epstein case files under her leadership. Bondi will not be under oath, and the interview will not be recorded.
Some advocates for survivors say that they're thankful she's finally coming in to testify. But one survivor tells CNN that she's frustrated Bondi isn't being sworn in.
Marina Lacerda says that she was just 14 years old when she met Jeffrey Epstein, and she was identified as minor victim one in the 2019 federal indictment
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MARINA LACERDA, EPSTEIN SURVIVOR: We want to understand what happened inside the DOJ with the redactions, why names and photos, information of victims revealed, while names of those who were exploited are redacted. It is -- it is very confusing for us. This is not a hard job. Why are there numerous investigations, leads not being investigated?
We have so many names. I mean, people have been asking for names, names, names, names. We have all these names in the files. Why aren't we taking a step forward?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SMITH: Bondi was originally supposed to appear in April, but the DOJ had argued against it. Now, once she was ousted as attorney general, that's when that took place. That all took place. And the committee says it will release a transcript soon after the hearing.
Well, the U.S. and Iran appear to be inching closer to a breakthrough, as U.S. officials say the two sides have reached a tentative agreement. However, it's still unclear whether president Trump will sign off on it. And according to Iranian state media, no deal has been finalized.
Now, this temporary agreement does not mention Iran's nuclear program, but sources say it would start a 60-day period to address it. Vice President J.D. Vance says negotiators are still going back and forth on key details, including Tehran's enriched uranium. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
J.D. VANCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I do think we've made a lot of progress here. It's very clear that I think the Iranians, they want a deal. Hopefully, we'll continue to make progress. The president will be in a position where he can endorse the agreement, but obviously, that's still TBD.
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SMITH: Now, what this potential deal does include is reopening the Strait of Hormuz and lifting the U.S. blockade on Iran's ports.
[05:05:04]
But the Trump administration is making it clear that key conditions still have to be met before a final agreement is reached.
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SCOTT BESSENT, TREASURY SECRETARY: I think that we can see that the president very clearly stated out, stated his three -- the open the strait, highly enriched uranium, no nuclear program.
REPORTER: Those three aspects that you just outlined, part of the temporary deal that has been agreed upon?
BESSENT: That if there can be no deal without those, why would there be a deal without those?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SMITH: Despite a recent exchange of attacks, U.S. officials say that a ceasefire is still holding for now.
Well, at least three people have died after an apartment building in Dallas exploded, causing it to go up in flames.
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REPORTER: Officials have confirmed fatalities as a fire destroyed a two story building in Dallas. The search for missing people is still ongoing.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The commotion was everywhere because the whole apartment was shaking, but the explosion felt like it came from like coming upstairs or somewhere around there.
REPORTER: The mission has changed from rescue to recovery, according to Dallas Fire & Rescue.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My little cat is in there, and everything I own, of mine and my kids is in there.
REPORTER: Firefighters were responding to a call of a gas leak when an explosion occurred. (END VIDEO CLIP)
SMITH: An update for you now is eight people are now confirmed dead after crews recovered the remains of six people from a paper mill in Washington state. They died when a tank containing hazardous chemicals ruptured on Tuesday. Crews are trying to reach three people who remain missing and are presumed dead. Officials say that they haven't found any contaminants in the air or the local water system.
A high court in Kenya is stepping in to stop a new Ebola containment facility for Americans in that nation. The court says that Kenya will not admit anyone exposed to or infected by Ebola until a case challenging the United States plan is heard. The hearing is planned for next week in the White House said Thursday that it would set up a facility at a Kenyan air base to quarantine American citizens who might have been exposed to the deadly virus. The outbreak has been centered in the Democratic Republic of Congo and is blamed for more than 200 deaths. No cases have been reported in Kenya.
And the U.S. is allowing American passengers who were exposed to hantavirus on a cruise ship to return home as early as Monday. They'll have a monitor outside their homes 24/7 for the last three weeks of their quarantine. The 18 Americans have been in isolation in Nebraska since leaving the ship on May 10th.
Well, eight kids are safe after being stuck for hours at the top of a roller coaster in Texas. It is the tallest coaster at Pleasure Pier in Galveston, with a 100-foot vertical lift. The park closed during the rescue operation.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is about 100 feet up right now and our ladder is 105 feet. So we're working with feet and inches here.
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SMITH: The company that owns the park says it will do a thorough inspection of the ride before it lets people back on it.
We've got lots more to come on CNN HEADLINE EXPRESS, including this.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Okay, ma'am, we got help coming. Okay? They're coming right now.
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SMITH: A woman is trapped as her car teeters off an embankment, and the body cams were rolling on that rescue. We'll bring you the full story.
Plus, a manhunt comes to an end. Three elderly men killed, and now a suspect is in custody. We've got the details you need to know.
And police say that a man decided to use an excavator on his house with his family still inside.
That's all coming up on CNN HEADLINE EXPRESS.
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[05:13:15]
SMITH: Federal investigators are calling it an inside job as a former CIA officer is accused of stealing tens of millions of dollars in gold bars and foreign currency -- foreign currency, excuse me, from the very agency that he worked for.
CNN's Holmes Lybrand breaks down the case.
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HOLMES LYBRAND, CNN REPORTER: A senior CIA official has been arrested after the FBI seized $40 million worth of gold bars from his Virginia home. The FBI also seized 35 luxury watches, as well as $2 million worth of U.S. currency.
Now, agents also say that this officer years ago lied in applications to the CIA, including about his background and education, and that he was a pilot in the navy. He was in the navy, but he wasn't a pilot. He'll remain behind bars until a detention hearing.
Rush's attorney declined to comment on the case against her client.
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SMITH: A tense manhunt on Hawaii's big island has come to an end, with a murder suspect now in custody. Police have arrested the 36- year-old Jacob Daniel Baker. He is accused of killing three elderly men in different locations, with no clear connection between them.
Authorities say that Baker was found hiding in a small cave after someone tipped off police. Investigators had warned that he was armed and dangerous, as the search stretched for several days across the island. Two of the three victims have now been identified as John Carr and Robert Shine. Both were 69 years old.
Shine is shown here. He was the first victim found on Monday. An autopsy shows that he died from strangulation.
Carson's body was found during a welfare check at his home, and the third victim, a 79 year old man, has not been identified as police work to notify his family.
[05:15:01]
Officials still have not determined a motive for the killings.
Well, a judge has approved a change of venue for the upcoming trial of an accused school shooter in Georgia. The new location for Colt Gray's trial hasn't been decided yet, but a likely option is the Augusta area. That's about two hours away from the crime scene. The teen is charged with killing two teachers and two students. His
father was already convicted in connection to the case.
Big time commute complications. A brush fire right next to the 405 in Los Angeles. Crews briefly closed all of the southbound lanes of the interstate right in the middle of the afternoon rush. But firefighters got things under control and no buildings were damaged.
And now to the Southeast, a week of heavy rain has put a dent in the extreme drought there, with more to come.
CNN meteorologist Allison Chinchar explains.
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ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: The end of the week is going to look very similar to the beginning of the week, and that a lot of these same areas are going to continue to get additional rain chances, especially the Southeast, along the Gulf Coast and even portions of the Mississippi Valley and Central U.S.
You can already see some of those showers and thunderstorms early into the day on Friday. But once we get later into this afternoon, you'll start to see more of them fire back up from the heating of the day across areas of the Southeast. Now, most of these locations likely only to pick up about one to two inches of extra rainfall. But it's on top of all of the rain they've already had so far this week. So, even an extra one to two inches could exacerbate some flooding concerns in a few of these areas.
Temperatures not very warm in portions of the Northeast. You're looking at mid to upper 70s only in New York, about 80 in D.C., Boston going to be topping out at about 67 degrees.
But it gets even cooler as we head into the weekend. Take a look at this high of only 52 on Saturday before we rebound just a little bit. By the time we get into Sunday.
But again, much of the Northeast as a whole, you're going to see those temperatures at least five to 10 degrees below where they normally would be this time of year.
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SMITH: Still to come on CNN HEADLINE EXPRESS, cashaw. That was the winning word in the Scripps National Spelling Bee. More on this year's winner coming up.
And a major decision by CVS could be a game changer for some people using a popular weight loss drug.
That's all coming up after this short break.
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[05:21:51] SMITH: All right, marinate on this -- President Trump's face on a new piece of currency soon. During a White House press briefing, CNN's Kaitlan Collins pressed Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on reports that the government is making plans to potentially print a commemorative $250 bill with an image of Trump on it.
Bessent says that they were preparing in case Congress passed legislation that calls for the Trump bill. Listen to this exchange.
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KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: You said that it's up to Congress if the presidents face is on a $250 bill, but it is actually "The Washington Post" that's reporting two political appointees from the Treasury Department who have asked agencies to be ready to do that.
Do you think politically it's a good idea to put his face on a $250 bill when people are struggling again?
SCOTT BESSENT, TREASURY SECRETARY: You know, I don't really understand this "Washington Post" article that -- who here's from "The Post"? Yeah. Terribly written, terribly edited, because basically what it says is that treasury is following the law and that we've created the bill and that it's up to Congress, but that we follow the bill and it's up to -- I didn't really understand what the story was, but anyway.
(CROSSTALK)
COLLINS: These aren't involved in that, two of your political appointees?
BESSENT: Yeah, of course, but we prepare for everything if it gets passed, just like we -- we were ready six months in advance for the One Big, Beautiful Bill for tax guidance that -- so we have to prepare in advance. You can't draw something up the day before.
COLLINS: Politically, do you think it's a good idea, though, when people are struggling to afford gas and groceries?
BESSENT: Look, I think it has -- I think that it's bifurcated that. Do you think we should have a 250th anniversary, the celebration?
COLLINS: Well, that's happening anyway. But putting the president's face in the $250 bill --
BESSENT: No, no, no, no, no, no. But, Kaitlan, it's not happening anyway. It's happening because it's being funded by private citizens, by the federal government, by state governments, by municipal governments to celebrate our country.
And I don't think that there's anything untoward about having the president of the United States, the person who was president of United States on the 250th anniversary bill.
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SMITH: ABC is accusing the FCC of unconstitutional retaliation after being ordered to renew its local TV station licenses years early. The network filed the applications Thursday under protest, arguing the move is meant to punish speech the government doesn't like. FCC chairman Brendan Carr has tied the review to an ongoing probe into Disney's diversity initiatives, something ABC strongly disputes. ABC also noted the FCC renewals like this in more than 50 years.
In this morning's health express, e-cigarettes, also known as vapes, may increase the risk of some cancers. A recently published scientific journal shows a possible link between vaping and the cancers of the mouth, bladder and lungs. Researchers, they found that vaping can also damage DNA and expose users to potentially harmful chemicals and heavy metals. The authors did note that there isn't much data available on e-cigarette use, since they've only been widely used over the past decade or so.
[05:25:00]
Straight ahead on CNN HEADLINE EXPRESS, a major explosion on the launch pad. No one was hurt. What Jeff Bezos is now saying about the Blue Origin ground test that did not go as planned?
And new clashes overnight between protesters and federal agents outside that immigration facility in New Jersey. The latest on the allegations there.
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SMITH: It is half past the hour. Let's hit the refresh button on our top stories.
In just hours, former Attorney General Pam Bondi.
