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Two Americans Flown To Atlanta, One With Symptoms, Both At Emory; Press Dinner Gunman Pleads Not Guilty To Trying To Assassinate Trump; Trump Speaks At Maternal Healthcare Event. Aired 11-11:30a ET

Aired May 11, 2026 - 11:00   ET

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

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: -- coronavirus response coordinator.

[11:00:02]

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: And later, suing Nike. The company is now facing a class action lawsuit, all tied to how it responded to President Trump's tariffs.

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.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN Breaking News.

BLITZER: And we begin with the breaking news. Only minutes ago, state and federal health officials spoke at Omaha, Nebraska. That's where 16Americans returned to the U.S. overnight after being evacuated from the cruise ship that was struck by a deadly outbreak of the Hantavirus.

BROWN: Three people aboard that ship, the MV Hondius, have died and several others are sick. Minutes ago, a French woman was just confirmed as the seventh person to test positive. At least one American passenger has tested mildly positive for the deadly virus and another has shown mild symptoms but is still testing negative.

Health officials in Omaha say all the American passengers are not displaying any symptoms, are being assessed. They're monitored at this highly specialized quarantine unit there. Two others we learned this morning are being cared for at Atlanta's Emory University Hospital. A lot to keep up with here, lots of moving parts. So let's bring in CNN's Dianne Gallagher in Omaha, where officials there just wrapped up their news conference. So what did we learn there, Diane?

DIANNE GALLAGHER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: So, Pamela, I think first we should address the fact that the assessment from medical officials here at the University of Nebraska Medical Center have not happened yet. That is going to happen and begin sometime today with each of those patients that arrived in the wee of the morning here in Omaha.

Now, look, there are a total of 15 in the National Quarantine Unit here in Nebraska. They did have a very quick sort of assessment. Initially, just all of them are asymptomatic at this moment. There is one person in a bio containment unit here that tested positive. Now, that is separate from the other individuals who are in those quarantine units. But that person is still asymptomatic, we're told.

And look, the belief is at this point that there is not asymptomatic transmission of the Hantavirus. But they are going to continue to monitor. That assessment here is going to look something like asking them questions, trying to determine what type of contact they may have had with anybody who has tested positive or had symptoms of Hantavirus on that cruise ship, on the plane and just sort of get a determination of exactly what their life has looked like over the past several days or weeks.

We're talking about a 42-day quarantine type period, but it's not a true quarantine. They're basically going to need monitoring. Now, if they want to stay here in Omaha to do that, they can do so in these facilities. They described it as kind of like a hotel almost where they can have access to doctors and not have to worry about potentially going back into their communities.

However, if they do not test positive, if they don't have symptoms, there are protocols in place, including escorts to take them back to their homes as long as they do have that ability to do daily check ins and monitoring. Now, you mentioned two individuals are at Emory in the biocontainment unit area there in Atlanta. That was part of the contingency plan that they came up with to make sure that they could sort of divide and conquer.

One of those individuals does have symptoms showing. But again, all of these assessments are going to be taking place through the day here and in the coming days. Officials want the people in the United States to understand that this is a virus that is known, this is not an unknown and that they believe that there is very low risk to Americans for any site type of transmission at this point.

BLITZER: Dianne Gallagher, thank you very, very much for that report.

Still ahead, I'll speak to Dr. Deborah Birx about this. She served as the White House coronavirus response coordinator. Pamela?

BROWN: All right. Wolf, breaking news, the man accused of trying to assassinate President Trump during last month's White House Correspondents' Dinner was just arraigned in federal court and pleaded not guilty to all counts. Thirty-one-year old Cole Tomas Allen now formally faces charges of attempted assassination of the police President, discharging a firearm during a crime of violence, transporting a gun across state lines to commit a crime and assaulting an officer with a deadly weapon.

Joining us to discuss is CNN senior legal analyst Elie Honig. He previously served as the assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York. Great to see you. Elie, so what stands out to you from these charges and the suspect's appearance today?

ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Well, Pam, this individual now faces four federal charges, including one new one that was added last week that I think is really significant. So from the start, Mr. Allen was charged with attempting to assassinate the President. And the two firearms crimes you mentioned. Last week, prosecutors added this charge of assault on a federal official. And that shows me it took a few days and that's normal for the authorities to work out the ballistics here.

[11:05:10]

But it tells me that fourth charge that they have now confirmed that one of the shots fired by Mr. Allen did indeed hit the Secret Service officer. There was some question about what the source of that shot was, and it now appears that prosecutors are able to tie that back to this shooter to Mr. Allen, hence the fourth charge. So he's facing a very serious slate of charges looking at potential and very likely certain life imprisonment if he's convicted.

BROWN: All right. I want to follow up with this argument from Allen's legal team. They asked the court to disqualify top Justice Department officials like U.S. attorney for D.C. Jeanine Pirro and Acting AG Todd Blanche from this case because they were present during the shooting incident. Now, we heard the judge say he'd be surprised if they were victims in an illegal sense. But how notable was that exchange?

HONIG: The right and easy thing for prosecutors to do here for Todd Blanche and Jeanine Pirro is to recuse themselves. It's not punishment. It doesn't mean they've done anything wrong. It's simply a bedrock principle of prosecutorial ethics that if you are a potential witness or a potential victim, you're going to have a conflict of interest or at least the appearance of a conflict of interest.

And so the safe thing to do is to pull yourself off the case. But Pirro and Blanche have made clear they have no intention of doing that. I think the judge is wrong today when he says, well, they didn't see anything. The shooter never made it into the ballroom. Hence, they're not witnesses or they're not victims. First of all, they heard gunshots. They've confirmed that you don't have to physically see something to be a witness.

If you hear something relevant, that can make you a witness. And with respect to the claim they're not victims, Jeannie Pirro herself said in an interview on May 2nd to "Fox News," she said, "I was in the line of fire. I could have been killed." So sounds like at least a potential victim to me. I think it's a mistake if they leave these two on the case. It could give him an appeal issue down the line.

BROWN: All right, Elie Honig, thanks so much. Wolf?

BLITZER: I want to go to the White House right now. The President is speaking about maternal health care at an event there right now. Let's listen in.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: -- media, their approval rating went down just today, 12 percent, you know, 12 percent. That's why I got elected with 97 percent bad stories. I win in a landslide because you have no credibility. So I wish the media would write about it. It's probably the biggest story. Certainly it's got to be maybe the biggest story in medicine, if you think.

I mean, where you get drug reduction prices of 60, 70, 80 percent a pill that costs a $10 in Germany, cost in New York City cost $130, $140. Now the pill is going to go to $20 in Germany and $20 for us. In other words, we're going to have the lowest prices anywhere in the world. And I can't -- we can't get a story about it. They won't write it. It's the biggest medical story there is and we cannot get a story about it.

I think I'm going to ask Walmart for a little help, if you don't mind, because you people seem to get very good. You get very good, professor. I think if you can explain the trick, let me know. But since we launched a website just a few months ago, over 19,000Americans have used those fertility medicines and discounts and saved more than $15 million just in a short period of time, a matter of weeks.

The Council of Economic Advisers projects that the number will rise to $4.6 billion over a fairly small number of years. Nobody's ever seen anything like this. And we had to get the countries. First, we had to get the companies. And the companies were pretty good, but they knew I couldn't get the countries, so they didn't care that much. I think when we got the countries, I think they said, what's going on? And yet they've done fine.

They do more business and they do it from -- they made it up in volume, right? They made it up in volume. As the old story went, there are many other ways our administration is supporting moms and women. We passed the largest working family tax cuts in American history, by far. We passed the largest tax cuts not only for women, for everybody, but for women, so many working women. We passed the largest tax cuts and history.

We also made a historic investment in rural health with $50 billion distributed across all 50 states. And that gives each state a lot of money. Over the next five years. $10 billion has already been distributed. And you see the results all over the rural part of the United States, which I'm proud to say I won by about 80 percent of the vote.

And many states are investing and improving maternal health care. Every Democrat in Congress voted against this historic funding. The Democrats, well, they suffer from Trump derangement syndrome to be honest. They don't even know what they're looking at. They can't even see straight. But I have a new way out. I'm going to propose something the opposite of what I want. And we will have massive amounts of legislation. No, just -- all I have to do is sign. But we will not build a wall (inaudible).

[11:10:20]

I'm going to go the opposite. Whatever is bad, I'm going to go for it and they'll approve what's good finally. No, they're got serious Trump derangement syndrome, which actually is a disease. I'm hearing it is actually a disease. It's an honor. Today, we're also enacting groundbreaking childcare reforms to improve federal childcare programs, including Head Start and Child Care Development fund that goes to each state. It's big stuff. These reforms will give states more flexible, lower costs, increase options, and empower parents to choose what care works best for them. There's a lot of options that you're going to have under this plan. You have, I think, pretty much maximum, Heidi, I think maximum options. And that's what we were looking for, maximum options at the lowest cost. And you've got a cost that if you were here a year ago or if you were here like during the last administration, you're talking about a cost that would be eight to 10 times more expensive than what we're doing, same exact, same exact prescription, same exact medicine, same care at 10 percent.

It will also free up childcare funding for hundreds of thousands of additional children to support stay at home parents. In recognition of this ambitious agenda to support American mothers, today we're announcing a new website that is online right now. It's moms.gov, moms.gov. You couldn't have put that in the Trump deal. You had to give me a new one with competition. This guy, he wants to make me work so hard. So explain moms.gov would you please, Dr. Ross?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, we're going to have a whole discussion about it, sir, a little bit later, if we could. We have -- we want Katie to speak a bit about the first issue you mentioned. But moms.gov is a beautiful site, folks. Want to check it right now while we're talking.

SEN. KATIE BRITT (R-AL): Yes, you really should. And it's pretty incredible, something that Senator Rubio and I tried to do, sir, but you're the one who actually did it along with --

TRUMP: Well, I like trumprx.gov. And I love moms. I love moms, but I like trumprx.gov you put me in there. I got to make sure he gives me competition. Now he wants her to work. That's all right. We're only kidding. I have to say. We're kidding. Otherwise, they'll do. Trump and ours had a major dispute. It was terrible. When Bobby broke him up, it was a terrible, terrible dispute. These people.

I encourage every mom to visit this new page where they will find helpful information about addressing clinical care, pregnancy resources, nutrition tips, TrumpRx and Trump Accounts. Trump Accounts has been amazing for the kids. It was Michael & Susan Dell. They put in six. $6.25 billion started it. And that's another one that's gone through the Trump Accounts, where young kids, they turn 18 or 20 or 21, and they feel like a billionaire used to say a millionaire. Now you say a billionaire. But they certainly feel rich as opposed to having absolutely nothing. It's so popular. So many people are doing it.

We have people, in one case took over the entire state of Ohio. It's putting up the money for every kid in the state of Ohio. Supporting the journey of American moms at every stage is so important to the success of our nation. I'd now like to ask Senator Katie Britt. She's the one that got me into this. I have to tell you, I hope she always remains loyal to me so I can continue to support her. I would hate to go against her. That will never happen, Katie, right?

BRITT: That's right, sir. TRUMP: But to say just a few words, she's really a fantastic woman. She's a great senator. And I got lucky. I was supporting somebody else, and then I realized that somebody else wasn't very good. And I said, who's that young woman I met that was so impressive? They say her name is Katie Britt. I said, let me talk to her. I talked to her. I endorsed her. She won a landslide. And you've been winning in landslides ever since. So you've been doing a great job, Katie. Thank you very much. I thought I should explain it.

BRITT: Thank you.

TRUMP: To say a few words. Katie is going to say. And followed by Monique Pruitt and then Olivia Walton, then Dr. Oz and Dr. Dorothy Fink and Dr. Alex Adams. And you'll speak not too long because I am being waited on by a large group of generals. And that's also important, you know, having to do -- having to do with the absolutely lovely country of Iran. That's the way they pronounce it.

[11:15:01]

BRITT: All right. We will get started then.

TRUMP: OK.

BRITT: Mr. President, thank you for your work. We are here, guys. This is another example of promises made, promises kept. I mean, we look at what President Trump did when we dealt with this issue in Alabama. He stepped up to the plate immediately to make sure that we had nationwide access to IVF, to making sure that we had comprehensive fertility treatment so that men and women who, couples who were longing for their child could continue to have that hope and also have that reality today doubles down on that yet again. I mean, we see the savings that have happened across the country.

And I've had more and more people come up to me and tell me a story about what it has saved them. But we also know that there was opportunity for continued growth. President Trump saw that, and he acted on it. So now more people are going to have access through their employer, just like they would dental or vision insurance.

And there are people right now who this is out of reach because of affordability, and President Trump is bringing that back in. When you look at the comprehensive nature of what we're doing today and coming on the hills of Mother's Day, I mean, we are thrilled to support mothers everywhere, whether it's that mom that is getting to experience growing life for the very first time, or the one chasing toddlers or wrangling teenagers, or being there when their adult child calls for advice.

Moms are the heartbeats of our families, our communities, and our country. President Trump knows that, and he's made sure we've created a comprehensive culture of life. That's what you see right now with moms.gov. Moms.gov was something that then Senator Rubio and I talked about doing with Senator Cramer and now Senator Schmitt. But, of course, President Trump is actually the one that put it into action. It supports moms through the prenatal, postpartum, and early childhood development stages of motherhood.

Also, as we tackle rural health. Look, I stand up here in front of you not only as a mom of two, but also as someone who lives in the great state of Alabama, where about 28 percent of women live in a current maternal care desert. The work that we did in the working families, tax cuts, guys, that hits it head on. We have an opportunity now to reach those who haven't been reached. When we look at maternal mortality rates, we continue to invest both in the research that will help us resolve that issue, but also in the women that deal with so many issues during their pregnancy. We want them to be supported.

And then in addition to all of that childcare. So we know last year alone you had about 455,000 women leave the workforce due to affordability and accessibility of childcare. We've often said, and the President and I have talked about this, if you have or want the opportunity to stay home, we want that for you. But if you want or need the opportunity to re-enter the workforce and want to be a part of building back America like President Trump is doing, we don't want affordability or accessibility to be an impediment to that.

So not only at his direction, and I was proud to lead the effort in the working families to tax cuts, to modernize the tax code to make sure that childcare is front and center for the first time since Ronald Reagan, sir, you're the first one to do it. But today, that comprehensive nature of whether you're staying home or you're in a faith based provider or you have a childcare center that you lovingly send your child to during the day as you work to provide for your family today, that is easier as a result.

And we are proud of what that means for the economy. We know 24 percent of young families, young families spend about 24 percent of their annual income on childcare. So, Mr. President, thank you for all that you've done, creating a comprehensive culture of life.

TRUMP: Thank you.

BRITT: This is really groundbreaking.

TRUMP: So do you see now why I endorsed her? So, yes, and always will. I'd be afraid not to. She also is married to the largest human being.

BRITT: He's right there, sir.

TRUMP: Your husband is great. He's a 11-year player in the NFL, an All Star, one of the greatest college football players ever at what he does. So he's -- and he's a fantastic person, both two really fantastic people. Monique --

BLITZER: We're going to get -- we're going to continue to -- excuse me. Excuse me.

BROWN: Yes, we're going to continue to monitor this because you just hear that this event at the White House and family maternal health website called moms.com. I want to go to Julia Benbrook at the White House for the latest on that and some other news the President has been making today. Julia? JULIA BENBROOK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right. You hear President Donald Trump here at this event focused on maternal health, just following Mother's Day, putting an emphasis there. This is one of several times that we do expect to see him in front of the camera throughout the day. We will see if the reporters there in that room are able to get in questions because no doubt the conflict in Iran is top of mind right now. We know that the White House has received a response to from Iran to their proposal to end the conflict.

And Trump has made it very clear that he is not happy with that response. He did do a couple of phone interviews just in the last hour or so, one with "Fox," where he said that he believes that the Iranian regime is going to fold when it comes to peace negotiations. That alone is significant if that is an exact quote. This is -- we're still waiting on an exact transcript. But if he's still willing to speak with the regime after he said yesterday he put representatives in quotes that could show some potential next steps there.

[11:20:27]

He also said that he is considering renewing Project Freedom, but that the U.S. helping guiding ships through the Strait of Hormuz would only be a small part of a larger, larger military operation if he does that. And then like I mentioned yesterday, he made it very clear that he was not happy with this response.

In fact, he called it totally unacceptable. He said, I don't like it. And that response, it came even later than he had expected it to on Friday, he said, and other administration officials said that they expected to hear back from Tehran sometime that day. That did not happen. And even then, he was pressed on the timing if he thought that Iran was slow rolling this process. And he essentially said, we'll find out soon if that's the case.

Now, on Sunday, he did confirm in an interview with Axios that he had spoken this weekend with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The two discussed a number of issues, including, this response from Iran. He said it was a good call. We know that they have been in contact throughout these peace negotiations.

BLITZER: All right, Julia, stand by. I want to bring in our senior reporter David Goldman right now. He covers business for us. The President also made some other news, telling "CBS News" that he wants to suspend the federal gas tax. How significant potentially could this be?

DAVID GOLDMAN, CNN BUSINESS SENIOR REPORTER: Not significant, because there are three things you need to understand about the federal gas tax. First of all, it is generally bad policy, economists believe, to get rid of the gas tax. The reason why is that most of the money that you would give to, you know, the consumers for this gas tax are actually going to be eaten up by gas station owners.

The reason why is that gas is so expensive right now that people are buying less of it. And to make up the difference, gas station owners are not charging as much as they normally would be for a profit on top of the gas that they're paying for. So normally a gas station owner makes 25 to 35 cents per gallon to pay for all their overhead and, you know, take a little bit for themselves. Now they're doing something closer to 10 cents.

And so if the government says, we're going to give you an 18 cent rebate, which is what the federal gas tax is gas station owners are just going to pocket that. So we're not going to see that as consumers. Gas station owners would get a little bit of relief, but it wouldn't actually change anything. The other thing is that you need to understand is it shows how desperate the administration is to do something on gas. Gas has stayed very, very high.

It's been about $4.50 for many days and it seems to be approaching $5 if this oil level continues. And that's according to JPMorgan. So if they're going to make a change and it's going to be this little, I think it shows you a little bit about how desperate the Trump administration is to do something.

BLITZER: David Goldman and Julia Benbrook, to both of you, thank you very, very much.

BROWN: Thank you both.

And up next here in The Situation Room, one on one with Dr. Deborah Birx, we'll ask the former coronavirus response coordinator for the White House about the Hantavirus and if the general public should be concerned.

[11:23:47]

BLITZER: And later, we'll be -- we will never stop looking for you. Savannah Guthrie pens an emotional tribute for her mom, Nancy, solemnly marking the first Mother's Day since her disappearance. Stay with us. You're in The Situation Room.

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BLITZER: Savannah Guthrie is paying tribute to her mom, Nancy, as the "Today Show" anchor solemnly marks the first Mother's Day since her mom disappeared at the beginning of February.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SAVANNAH GUTHRIE, NBC NEWS ANCHOR: Smile mommy. I miss you. The angles are OK.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. Now do a pose.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: She captioned that video, mother, daughter, sister, Nonie, we miss you every breath -- with every breath. We will never stop looking for you. We will never be at peace. We need you. Something that can make the difference.

[11:29:33] And if you can help, call 1-800-CALL FBI. You can be anonymous and the reward remains available. Please keep praying. Bring her home. Savannah's husband posted this photo of her hugging their children, writing to the strongest person I know, surrounding you with love on Mother's Day. And we'll be right back.

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