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Sources Say, U.S. and Iran Closing in on Memorandum to End War; CNN Founder Ted Turner Has Died. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired May 06, 2026 - 10:00   ET

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

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PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now, breaking news, a possible breakthrough and a new threat. Iran says there may be an opportunity for safe passage of ships through the critical Strait of Hormuz, as President Trump says, if no agreement is reached, the bombing starts.

Plus, alarming virus outbreak, three people are now being evacuated from that stranded cruise ship dealing with Hantavirus. Nearly 40 percent of those who get respiratory symptoms from this rare virus may die.

And later, was the FBI, quote, kept out of the Nancy Guthrie case? The Bureau's director, Kash Patel, is now claiming the agency was sidelined for four days. The local sheriff is now forcefully denying that allegation.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: And Trump-backed revenge. The president bets big in Indiana's primaries and comes away with a massive win.

Plus, Eric Holder live here in The Situation Room. The former attorney general of the United States will join us to discuss how he's taking on the Supreme Court's decision that limits the reach of the Voting Rights Act.

And later, record-high anti-Semitic assaults in the United States. An alarming new report from the Anti-Defamation League finding there were, on average, 17 anti-Semitic attacks every day last year, including the horrific murder of this young couple at the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C.

Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer with Pamela Brown, and you're in The Situation Room.

We begin with breaking news and a possible breakthrough in the U.S. war with Iran. New this morning, sources telling CNN that the U.S. and Iran may be close to an agreement that would end the war and fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz. This comes as President Trump pauses what's called Project Freedom, the U.S. military mission to guide commercial ships through the vital oil and shipping route.

The president cites diplomatic talks and what he calls, and I'm quoting him now, great progress, end quote. CNN's Alayna Treene is over at the White House for us. Alayna, let's begin with your new reporting on these diplomatic efforts that are underway right now. What can you tell us?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Look, this is new reporting from me and our colleagues, Nic Robertson and Kevin Liptak, Wolf. And, essentially, what we are told is that the US and Iran are moving closer to an agreement. That is according to one regional source. And I did speak, Wolf, with two different Trump administration officials who told me that the White House had received positive feedback, a positive message, really, from the Pakistanis yesterday regarding this idea that Iran is moving closer to a compromise.

I should note, though, that these officials, and I think this is also pretty self-explanatory, were a bit skeptical of some of this. You know, we have heard the Pakistanis in the past be very optimistic of the Iranian side of this. There have been many times previously when we've heard the Iranians and the Pakistanis, and even the president himself, saying that they were close to a deal just to see the negotiations fall apart. So, I would keep that skepticism in mind as we discuss all of this.

But to get into some of exactly what we are learning, we heard or hearing that they are trying to work toward a memorandum of understanding, essentially this one-page framework where they could have some of the key issues to agree upon, and then later have some of the thornier ones dealt with down the road. This was a similar approach we know they were trying to take when the vice president, Jared Kushner, and Steve Witkoff were expected to attend a second round of in-person talks. Of course, we saw that fall apart at the last minute.

Now, this one-page plan that we are told is kind of floating around internally. It focuses on a number of the provisions we know that have been discussed throughout this entire war, this idea of the fate of Iran's nuclear program, of having a specific moratorium, a suspension of Iran of doing its nuclear enrichment, and also, of course, this idea of trying to reopen the strait. We are told that the current document that is being floated would trigger a 30-day negotiation period to then allow for some of these more thornier issues to be worked out.

All to say, from the conversations I am having with sources, they say they aren't exactly ready to say a deal is imminent, but that talks are in a more positive place than they have been in days. Wolf?

BLITZER: You know, I thought it was interesting, Alayna, I just want to get your thought. He posted a statement on his Truth Social website earlier this morning, 7:41 A.M.

[10:05:04]

He said, if they, the Iranians, don't agree, the bombing starts, and it will be, sadly, at a much higher level and intensity than it was before. It's a real threat to the Iranians. Is the thought among White House officials and U.S. negotiators that a threat like this to Iran could have an impact on convincing the Iranians to accept this latest proposal?

TREENE: I think that's certainly the -- I think that's certainly why the president uses this type of rhetoric. We've seen this time and time again, Wolf. The president has used really strong, aggressive language, these types of threats, to try and force them to the table. They haven't always worked. There's many times he's kind of issued threats like these and we haven't really seen the Iranian position move at all.

I think what is clear, and I've continued to hear this in my conversations as latest today, is that the president wants a diplomatic solution. That is still his priority. He wants there to be some sort of negotiation, some sort of deal worked out to avoid further major combat operations.

Now, of course, the military has those plans ready to go. We heard the Pentagon make that clear as well yesterday. But that's certainly not where the president wants this to head. But we have to see whether or not some of the positive conversations that are happening behind closed door can actually lead to effective change in, really, the stalemate we've seen between Washington and Tehran for weeks now.

But, again, I will emphasize they think things are moving in the right direction, but that skepticism is still here that, you know, we've heard this before and things have fallen apart. So, I think everything is in a very fragile, tenuous place right now. Wolf?

BROWN: And just to follow up with you, Alayna, from the point that Wolf made about this threat from the president today. This comes just after you had his secretary of state at the White House podium yesterday saying that that initial military operation, Operation Epic Fury, was over. So, is this the president essentially walking back and keeping that leverage on the table, given what you just heard from Marco Rubio?

TREENE: I mean, it was fascinating to see this. It wasn't even just Rubio, it was also -- you heard Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and also the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Dan Caine, kind of reiterating that idea yesterday as well, that the focus of the administration was going to be on Project Freedom moving forward, that, you know, initiative to try and help ships, guide ships through the Strait of Hormuz. And then the president just hours later saying, actually, we're pausing this.

Now, I was told in my conversations with these Trump administration officials that part of the reason the president decided to press pause on Project Freedom was because he was getting this positive feedback from the Pakistanis and hearing that the Iranians may be moving closer to a compromise. But, again, I mean, I think we've seen the president many times throughout this war because of his eagerness to try to find some sort of diplomatic solution, be willing to halt U.S. aggression to try and allow talks to have breathing room to try and be successful. We'll see if that strategy actually serves him this time around.

BLITZER: Alayna Treene over at the White House for us, thank you very, very much. Pamela?

BROWN: All right, Wolf. Let's go live now to CNN International diplomatic editor Nic Robertson. He's in Islamabad, Pakistan. Nic, what more are you learning about this potential diplomatic progress, particularly given how fractured the Iranian regime is believed to be right now?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes. The principle here is to have a document, a memorandum of understanding, one page, as it has been described by some, that is incredibly simple, that it really strips down things to just a very, very few key lines, just a few lines. And by doing that, you don't allow the hardliners to get involved and say, well, that side's added that, and so we have to add this, and you don't get into detail before you're trying to sort of flesh out what could become an agreement. You don't get into to the really hard detail.

We've heard that before, but this seems to be, and what I'm understanding here, is a really renewed, reinvigorated, absolutely strip everything back to the absolute bare minimum to get the two sides to the table. Because the sense here is, from a mediator's perspective, that if you can get the two sides together in a room, as happened with J.D. Vance about a month ago, you can actually get more progress. And the kind of view on that is because the real hardliners aren't in the room. They don't have the influence in the room, or they don't have the same influence that they do when you're trying to draft up documents and marry and match up those documents.

And I think as well, what we're witnessing the president do Epic Fury, the end of, according to Secretary Rubio, Project Freedom put on pause, that is being interpreted by the Iranians.

[10:10:00]

We've heard from the hardline news agency that represents the IRGC saying that this retreat has actually allowed them to examine the way forward.

BROWN: All right, thanks, Nic.

Wolf, I'm going to go to you with some breaking news.

Very sad breaking news indeed, and for me, very personally sad breaking news coming into The Situation Room. Ted Turner, Ted Turner has died at the age of 87. The innovator and icon, a legend, he revolutionized the television business by creating the first 24-hour news channel right here at CNN. And he hired me many, many years ago.

Here's a closer look back at the life and legacy of one of the greatest visionaries of our time.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He broke every mold. He changed the world.

BLITZER (voice over): Known as the Mouth of the South and Captain Outrageous, Ted Turner built a media empire that changed cable news forever.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I didn't have any upper limits to how far we could go.

BLITZER: Champion, philanthropist, environmentalist.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 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.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 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.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 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.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 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.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 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.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We got to go fast as we can here.

BLITZER: And won the sport's top race, the America's Cup.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 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 T.V. station.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 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 super station.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 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.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 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.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I worked until 7:00, 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.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People did look upon that as a foolish idea that was destined for failure, but they underestimated Ted Turner.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Most of the leaders of the world thought Ted was nuts.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We sign on June 1, and barring satellite problems in the future, we won't be signing off until the world ends. We'll be on. We will cover it live.

I dedicate the news channel for America, the Cable News Network.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Take 11. Mike here.

BLITZER: CNN aired its first broadcast on June 1st, 1980.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good evening. I'm David Walker.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And I'm Lois Hart. Now, here's the news.

BLITZER: It took five years to turn a profit.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I lived for 20 years in my office.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He was one of us. I mean, he would be in his housecoat down having breakfast in the Hard News Cafe.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And we'll 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.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're going to 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.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I still believe that that was the greatest scoop in the history of journalism. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can see her there. She's --

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.

[10:15:00]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 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.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She agreed to have dinner with me. For me, it was love at first sight.

JANE FONDA, TED TURNER'S FORMER WIFE: 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.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I said, Ted, if you sell, you will no longer be captain of your own ship.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ted Turner. Ted?

BLITZER: Five years later, Time Warner merged with AOL, and Ted was out.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ted used the description, I've been fired. Ted got shafted, and it hurt.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was more than just a company to me. 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.

But you love her still?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

BLITZER: To this very day?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 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.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hi. Well, you never go home, do you?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, I know.

BLITZER: And he opened restaurants to ensure their survival.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 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.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You can never take away what he created and what he did.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 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)

BLITZER (on camera): A very, very sad moment, and, you know, Pamela, especially for those of us who worked so closely over the years with Ted Turner. He hired me back in 1990, and I remember he told me when he hired me, remember, we're the Cable News, capital N, capital E, capital W, capital S. We're the we're the Cable News Network. This is where the news comes first and your vacations and everything else comes second.

So, he was so determined to make sure that the news was strong, was reliable, was fair. And he inspired me and so many other journalists to work and report the news fairly and accurately, and if possible, break those stories first. It was just so -- I saw him a few months ago in Atlanta and we had lunch. And it was just so painful to see how he had deteriorated his health over the years. Because a while earlier, I went out to Montana, spent some time with him at his ranch out there, and it was a very different kind of Ted Turner at that time.

But it was just painful, and we're going to miss him. I'm going to miss him a lot personally, because of all the wonderful things that he did.

BROWN: We wouldn't be here without Ted Turner. CNN wouldn't be here without Ted Turner. He was truly an entrepreneur, a maverick, and he made his vision come to life, and has had a tremendous impact all around the world, Wolf.

And you've told me so many times over the years what Ted Turner told you about the news coming first, and, Wolf, you have lived that every step of the way in your career. He has just been such an inspiration for all of us.

And his family released this statement saying that he passed away at age 87. It says, on behalf of the Turner family, it is with great sadness that we announce the passing of philanthropist, environmentalist, and cable pioneer Ted Turner, who died peacefully today at age 87, surrounded by his family. And it goes on to talk about all of his accomplishments.

But, Wolf, you knew him on that personal level. So many of us know him as the founder of Turner Networks and CNN, but you knew him on that personal level. Tell us more about him at that level.

BLITZER: It was it was a dramatic moment, and a moment that really changed CNN, the start of Operation Desert Storm, the war with Saddam Hussein in Iraq. And I was the Pentagon correspondent. We had three reporters in Baghdad at the time. And the decision had to be made, do we keep those reporters in Baghdad once the U.S. airstrikes start, or do we tell them to get out as quickly as possible?

[10:20:06]

And I was getting calls from the secretary of defense at the time, Dick Cheney, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Colin Powell. I was the Pentagon correspondent saying, you got to get those -- your people out of the Al-Rashid Hotel in Baghdad. That's where Iraqi intelligence has a huge base. We're going to bomb that place. Get your people out as quickly as possible.

And I passed that along to Ted Turner, and he and the other leaders of CNN, especially him, spoke to all of our people in Baghdad, whether it was Bernie Shaw, Peter Arnett, you know, John Holliman, all of our reporters in Baghdad. And they all said, we want to stay and report the news from Baghdad. This war is beginning. It's important that our viewers in the United States and around the world actually see what is going on.

So, they stayed. They risked their lives. And it was just a major moment in the history of CNN. But it was Ted Turner who said to them, if you want to stay, we'll support you. We'll do whatever we can to help you. You don't have to come back. It was his decision, and it was a powerful decision.

And I remember at the time, I was worried about our people in Baghdad because it was a dangerous -- it was a real war that was about to begin. And he was determined to have the news come first. And we were the only television news network that kept reporters and had a camera there to report what was going on. It was just a very dramatic moment.

And, Pamela, when he hired me, he also said something that has always stayed with me. He said, CNN will be seen in the United States, but it's also so important that it's seen around the world. And that's why he created CNN International because he felt -- and he was an idealistic guy. He felt that if people all over the world were seeing the same news, maybe the world would be a little bit more peaceful and a little bit better. And that's why he created CNN International and CNN U.S., so that people all over the world would be watching the same news, and it was really important.

And to this day, people all over the world, they're watching my show, they're watching our show. And everybody is seeing what's going on, and it's really an important milestone that Ted Turner helped put forward. It was just a very, very powerful moment indeed. And we're going to miss him. He was just such a great, great guy, and it's so sad to have to report that he has passed away.

BROWN: Yes, truly a legend, creating something that didn't exist before. And you have to think about all the times he was told, you can't do that. You can't create a cable network all around the world. And he did. And it has sustained for so many decades.

I want to bring in someone who is very familiar with his work, and that would be Tom Johnson, the former president of CNN, who was a close friend of Ted Turner.

Tom, are you there?

TOM JOHNSON, CNN FORMER PRESIDENT: I am, Pamela.

BROWN: Tell us first how you're feeling with this news, I was sad to report it to be the first person to tell you this morning.

I'm very saddened by it. I mean, Ted had become not just my I guess my leader, my -- the chief executive to whom I reported directly for 11 years, but became really my very, very close personal friend. And I have to say, you don't use this expression too often, I guess, man-to- man, but I truly loved the guy.

BROWN: Tell us more about why you loved him and the impact he has had on this world, Tom.

JOHNSON: When Ted was recruiting me to come to CNN in 1990, I asked him, Ted, what do you expect of me? His exact words were, Tom, I want us to make CNN the best news network on the planet. And then I asked, what else? And he said, that's it, pal.

BLITZER: Yes, that's what he often -- he often told me that too, Tom. So, I can definitely confirm. He would often say to me, just report the news. Don't worry about any fallout. Just be honest and fair and responsible, and get that news out there. And if you can break the story, do that, obviously. That's really important. We want the whole world, not just people in the United States, the whole world to be watching CNN. And the whole world has been watching CNN.

And, Tom, as you well know, I can't go anywhere in the world without people stopping me, whether I'm in the U.S., obviously, or in Europe, or in Saudi Arabia or Africa. People are, Mr. Wolf, Mr. CNN, Mr. CNN. They're always stopping me, every place I go, because of Ted Turner's creativity and his genius in creating a news network that was seen live around the world.

JOHNSON: And, Pamela, when Eason Jordan, the head of our international desk at the time, became convinced there would be war between the United States and Baghdad to get us in and get us positioned, I went to Ted.

[10:25:14]

I said, Ted, in order for it to cover this impending war, we're going to need to spend perhaps over $30 million more than our budget. And I said, you know, what am I authorized to spend? And I said, you know, tell me what. He said in a clearest tone but very emphatic, you spend whatever you think it takes, pal. And we did. We set out to put in place the portable uplinks, to put in place all the various logistics and personnel at the time.

And so when that war between the coalition forces and the Iraqis erupted, it was because of Ted that we were prepared to be the first, and, in many ways, the only network to provide the global coverage as we were able to provide.

BLITZER: And let me just point out to our viewers, and, Tom, you remember this well, all sorts of networks around the world were dumping their own coverage and just asking CNN, can we report, can we have access to your video from Baghdad, can we have access to your live coverage, and CNN was seen on the state media from all these countries all over the world. It was just a very, very powerful moment.

And Ted had a vision that he had created this opportunity for CNN, and it really developed and paid off. It was a turning point in CNN's history because, all of a sudden, people all over the world wanted to watch CNN for good reason. We were reporting the news fairly and accurately and powerfully with unique capabilities. It was just an extremely wonderful moment for all of us.

JOHNSON: And, Pamela, the other thing that was so important to all of us, I asked Ted, what are your policies as it relates to news coverage? He said, I have one, to be fair. And that meant to be fair to all sides and not just to be, you know, pro one side or pro the other side, but to really be fair.

And then I said, well, Ted, I have one policy coming from my years at the Los Angeles Times, which is to be accurate. And he said, well, that's it. We want to be the most accurate and the most fair network of them all with honest and reliable and unbiased information we're providing, particularly to people in the world who were living under communism in Russia and in China and in Cuba, accurate information that they could know was the truth.

BROWN: And --

BLITZER: It's true. And, you know, I just want to point out, Tom, you and I remember well when the Soviet Union collapsed, Gorbachev made the announcement, he invited you and the leaders of CNN to come because we had been reporting from the streets of Moscow, the protests that were going on, calling for a new regime, ending the communist regime of some 74 years in the Soviet Union. Thanks to Ted Turner's creativity and his honesty and his willingness to report the news, even in dangerous situations.

And you were there, I was there, when Gorbachev signed that document ending the Soviet Union, and praising CNN for our coverage. He credited our coverage in the United States and around the world for helping to lead to that moment. It was just a such a powerful moment.

And when he went to sign it -- just tell the story, Tom. He went to sign it with his pen, but his pen wasn't working.

JOHNSON: Well, when, when Gorbachev -- when Gorbachev went to sign the document resigning as the head of the then-Soviet Union and to sign the document conveying the power of government to Boris Yeltsin, his pen did not work. And the pen of his press secretary did not have one. So, I handed him my Montblanc pen, and he asked me, Tom, is it American? And I said, no, Mr. President, it's not.

And, anyway, he signed away the power that he had with, with with a Montblanc pen, and I had the audacity to ask him to get it back after he completed the ceremony.

BLITZER: That pen is, I think, hanging in your office right now. It's a real memento for a historic moment in the history of the world. Indeed, I was there, and I watched it all unfold, and it was such a powerful moment. And I always assumed it wasn't just a Montblanc pen, it was a CNN pen that was used to sign that document ending the Soviet Union.

JOHNSON: That's right.

BROWN: I also love, just to talk to him also about --

JOHNSON: There were so many qualities to him.

[10:30:00]

BROWN: Go ahead. I was going to get to that, Tom, the other qualities he had beyond his successes. Go ahead.

JOHNSON: Yes.