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The Situation Room

Israel-Lebanon Peace Talks; Ethics Questions Emerge at DOJ; Trump in China; Interview With Former U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan. Aired 11-11:30a ET

Aired May 14, 2026 - 11:00   ET

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

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: That bounce -- bounce of that puck in game four, where it fluked in and scored for -- there may have saved the Sabres' season.

[11:00:06]

You confident going into this one?

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: As we always say, let's go, Buffalo. Go, Sabres. I'm with you 100 percent.

SCHOLES: All right.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN HOST: All right, go, Sabres.

Andy Scholes, thank you so much.

SCHOLES: All right.

BLITZER: And coming up tomorrow, we will have a very special guest here in THE SITUATION ROOM. There you see a picture. Natty, the Washington Nationals' new team dog, will be a special guest here in THE SITUATION ROOM tomorrow.

And the next hour of THE SITUATION ROOM starts right now.

BROWN: And happening now, breaking news: a rosy reception, President Trump and Chinese leader Xi both praising the countries' relationship during a state banquet. But China's compliments included a veiled warning.

Plus: deadly new strikes, missiles and drones pounding targets across Ukraine overnight, as Kyiv fights to regain momentum on the battlefield.

BLITZER: And, later, a SITUATION ROOM exclusive: The former National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan will join us to talk about President Trump's China visit, the wars in Ukraine and Iran, and America's shifting international role.

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.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news. BLITZER: And we begin with the breaking news.

We're learning more about the first day of talks between President Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping, the two men toasting each other today at a state banquet in Beijing and praising the long, sometimes strained relationship between the two countries, Xi and Trump both emphasizing the value of cooperation between the world's two economic superpowers, and Xi even seemingly reaching out to the president's base in these comments through a translator.

Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

XI JINPING, CHINESE PRESIDENT (through translator): Achieving the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and making America great again can go hand in hand. We can help each other succeed and advance the well-being of the whole world.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Two-and-a-half centuries later, that first connection has grown into one of the most consequential relationships in world history.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Also new today, a red line over Taiwan. China's state media was reporting that Xi warned President Trump that Taiwan is the most important issue between the two countries and Xi says, if mishandled, could create -- quote -- "a very dangerous situation" -- end quote.

The Chinese Communist Party has long vowed to unify the island with the mainland, even if it requires military force.

CNN's Kristen Holmes has more from Beijing.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: This is an incredibly consequential meeting, particularly when you get to the top two topics, which are Taiwan and Iran.

We heard a readout from state media saying the President Xi has issued somewhat of a veiled threat to the United States over Taiwan, saying it was the single most important issue when it comes to U.S.-China relations and, on top of that, that if it was handled poorly, it would create instability and be dangerous.

We also know President Trump was expected to push President Xi to help with Iran, to pressure Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz -- of course, Iran and China have a close relationship -- and to potentially pressure them even into signing a peace deal.

Now, what we heard from the White House, from a White House official, saying essentially that President Xi agreed with President Trump that the Strait of Hormuz should be opened and that Iran shouldn't have any nuclear capability, that's not new. We have already heard President Xi himself say that, that the Strait of Hormuz should be open.

He's losing a lot of money. That's where he gets a significant amount of his oil and gas. But, in addition to that, he's also said that he is happy that Iran has agreed to have a commitment not to have any kind of nuclear capabilities. So that part wasn't new.

So, really, what we're looking for now is the nitty-gritty and sticky details of what the -- what that conversation looks like and if they have even had it yet, because they still have tomorrow another bilateral meeting. And this one is expected, I'm told, to be much smaller.

And they are going to be hammering out some of the details. And one of the things to keep in mind is President Trump feels most powerful when he's in this kind of small setting, looking straight into the eyes of a leader, feels like he has his negotiating power. It's not one of these giant tables that we saw kind of spanning with 30 people on each side.

So that will be something we're watching for too, how they come out of that meeting and if we do get any sort of details on what was promised, other than statements they have both kind of said already out loud.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Kristen Holmes, thank you very much.

Kristen is in Beijing.

I want to continue our conversation right now with David Sanger, who's also in Beijing. He's a CNN political and national security analyst. He's also the author of a book entitled "The New Cold Wars." He's been covering the summit in Beijing.

[11:05:10]

How significant is President Xi's warning over Taiwan, David? What do you think?

DAVID SANGER, CNN POLITICAL AND NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, it was interesting, Wolf, not necessarily that there was anything new there -- he's said those words before -- but that he laid it out right at the beginning of the sessions, that this is what Chinese media picked up on, that it was sort of the first thing that came up out of his mouth, or at least as described in the readouts that the Chinese gave us.

It wasn't mentioned at all in the American readouts of it. So it tells you that President Xi wanted to make it clear this was his top priority, and if they can't figure out something on Taiwan, you can forget about the rest of the relationship.

BLITZER: Should we view this as a threat, David? What do you think?

SANGER: You know, I don't think it's a big difference, Wolf, from what we have heard before.

I think that President Xi, though, is quite serious about making it clear to the United States and everyone else that the project of reunifying with Taiwan is something he intends to do before he leaves office. He's 72. So, let's assume he's got another 10 years or so.

I think that would give you the rough timetable he's on. That doesn't necessarily mean it'll be done by force. In fact, I think he wants to do any -- everything he can to avoid using force in doing it. There are all kinds of theories about how you bring Taiwan in politically, how you do a sort of anaconda squeeze on their economy and their imports.

But he's made it pretty clear he does not intend to leave this issue untended to.

BLITZER: The secretary of state, Marco Rubio, who's traveling with the president, says Trump raised the issue of Iran with China, but downplays that significance. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARCO RUBIO, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: Not asking for China's help or -- we don't need their help.

QUESTION: But he raises the issue?

RUBIO: We raise the issue to make clear what our position is and to make it clear so they understand, because, I mean, it's logical we would talk about it, given how dominant that issue is.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: So, David, China, of course, is a key ally to Iran and Tehran's biggest buyer of Iranian oil. Do you believe this came up more as a mention than seeking China's actual help to at least try to reopen the Strait of Hormuz?

SANGER: Well, they clearly need China's help, and China needs everybody else's help. China gets about 30 percent of its oil and roughly that of its gas through the Strait of Hormuz.

That's a lot more dependency on the -- what goes through the strait than the United States has. On the other hand, the Chinese view this as a crisis of America's making and thus one for President Trump to go solve.

I think that they might be willing to intervene with the Iranians, but it's going to be at a price, and that price may be wording on Taiwan. It may be something else, but it's not going to come for free.

BLITZER: David Sanger in Beijing, thanks so much for joining us. Appreciate it.

And still ahead, we're live from Israel, as the IDF continues trading deadly attacks with the Iran-backed group Hezbollah, pushing a fragile cease-fire closer to collapse.

BROWN: And CNN's exclusive new reporting about ethics concerns within the Justice Department and how its top officials have responded.

You're in THE SITUATION ROOM, and we will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:13:32]

BROWN: Well, this morning, a CNN exclusive, new reporting just into THE SITUATION ROOM revealing acting Attorney General Todd Blanche just weeks after taking on the role of deputy A.G. last year was advised to recuse himself from legal cases involving President Trump.

CNN's Evan Perez is here, and he is one of the reporters who broke this story.

So, tell us about the significance of this and what more you're learning here, Evan.

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, the significance and why this is important is that the acting attorney general, Todd Blanche, which -- who was the personal attorney for the president back during the Jack Smith investigations over the last couple of years, is now essentially switching sides.

And he potentially could be overseeing cases like the one that is being led by Joe diGenova, former U.S. attorney down in Miami. He's working on this so-called grand conspiracy case that spans from 2017 and the Russia investigation all the way through 2024, the idea being that former officials that the president believes targeted him should now be investigated and perhaps prosecuted by the Justice Department.

So, the question that we have been asking for the Justice Department is whether the attorney general, the acting attorney general, is recused from those cases, because it's clear from the guidance he's received, including from Joseph Tirrell, the top ethics official, a couple weeks after he took office told him, you have to recuse from cases involving President Trump.

And so we have been asking the question. They have tried to not answer the question, it appears. They did send us a statement, which I will read you just right now.

[11:15:04]

It says: "He is recused from many cases before DOJ. In any cases that are still ongoing where he previously represented someone, he is recused."

Now, we followed up with questions about whether this applies to the so-called weaponization cases that are top of mind for President Trump. And we haven't received a response. We're still waiting.

But here's the problem. You and I covered Jeff Sessions when he was attorney general.

BROWN: Oh, yes. How could we forget it?

(LAUGHTER)

PEREZ: Right, exactly.

And we remember, when he recused, the president never forgave him, tormented him. And, in the end, he was pushed out because of this. And so Todd Blanche really faces that quandary, right? He either can manage the cases that the president really cares about and risk damaging those cases.

It'll certainly be an issue in court. Or he can recuse and risk getting essentially the Sessions treatment.

BROWN: The ire of -- the Sessions treatment.

PEREZ: Right, the Sessions treatment from President Trump.

BROWN: But if he doesn't recuse, couldn't he also lose his law license?

(CROSSTALK)

PEREZ: Absolutely.

BROWN: Yes.

PEREZ: This is an issue of his law license. It's also an issue of whether those cases could be viable in court.

BROWN: Yes.

PEREZ: Because, certainly, if John Brennan, for instance, who is under investigation in Florida, if he is charged, one of the first things they're going to do is ask a judge to see whether there is vindictive and -- selective and vindictive prosecution. And this question will arise.

BROWN: Just as an aside very quickly, Joe diGenova is -- he has pushed numerous conspiracy theories. And now he's overseeing this case of...

(CROSSTALK)

PEREZ: Right. And he believes -- right.

He believes strongly that there is this grand conspiracy against President Trump that dates back to 2017, to 2024. This is a reinvigorated cases -- case now that Todd Blanch has pushed out the career lawyer who was handling it and has put Joe diGenova down in Fort Pierce, Florida, to oversee it.

BROWN: All right, Evan Perez, great reporting. Thank you so much.

PEREZ: Thanks.

BROWN: Wolf.

BLITZER: And also happening now, a new round of peace talks between Israel and Lebanon is now under way. Amid rising tensions, officials from both sides are here in Washington. They're meeting face to face at the State Department as the clock ticks down on the effort to try to save a very fragile cease-fire.

A military official tells CNN Israeli forces crossed the Litani River in Southern Lebanon this week, reaching a key boundary, as fighting between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon clearly continues.

Let's go live right now to CNN's Jeremy Diamond. He's joining us from Jerusalem.

Jeremy, so what demands are both sides making as these talks get under way?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, we understand that these negotiations are indeed now under way, with the U.S. mediating between the Israeli and the Lebanese sides.

And there are additional officials that are being brought to the table by both Israel and Lebanon, a sign that perhaps these negotiations are progressing and advancing towards kind of the more substantive stage of these discussions.

Because, keep in mind, the Lebanese government has repeatedly said that these are merely preparatory talks, that the substance of negotiations about disarming Hezbollah, for example, and ultimately normalizing relations between Israel and Lebanon could only happen once Israel ceases its attacks in Lebanon altogether, rather than the daily airstrikes that we have been witnessing over the course of this cease-fire.

The Lebanese government has brought in Simon Karam, a former Lebanese ambassador to Washington, who had previously been tapped to lead direct negotiations with Israel. And on the Israeli side, Israel's deputy national security adviser is also now attending these negotiations.

But these talks, Wolf, are happening against the backdrop of continued Israeli airstrikes in Southern Lebanon, but also Hezbollah attacks against Israeli troops in Southern Lebanon, as well as against Israel's northern communities.

And we have witnessed these attacks take place on a daily basis, basically over the course of the last four weeks, since this cease- fire actually went into effect. But, this week, we also saw something else, and that was, according to an Israeli military official, Israeli troops actually pushing beyond the Litani River.

That's that key river in Southern Lebanon that has often been used as a kind of geographic marker to delineate the southernmost area of Lebanon, from which the Israeli government has demanded that Hezbollah be completely removed from that area in order to remove threats posed by anti-tank missiles that Hezbollah can fire towards Israel's northern residents.

And so the fact that Israeli troops crossed that line does appear to be a significant military move. But, again, Wolf, the bigger question here is whether these two sides can actually begin to advance towards the substance of these negotiations, as we are watching that the cease-fire that exists right now in Lebanon is very much in some ways a cease-fire in name only -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Yes, we will see what happens.

Jeremy Diamond in Jerusalem for us, thank you very, very much -- Pamela.

BROWN: All right, up next here in THE SITUATION ROOM, Wolf: Russia is slamming Ukraine with hundreds of drones and missiles in what has been the biggest aerial assault of the war. One of those strikes caused this building right here in the capital to collapse, killing several people.

[11:20:02]

After the break, we're going to get reaction to these latest attacks and the state of the war with former National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan.

We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Well, breaking news: President Trump is wrapping up the first full day of his state visit to Beijing, where he held high-stakes talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

The president toasted close and historic ties between the U.S. and China.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Just as many Chinese now love basketball and blue jeans, Chinese restaurants in America today outnumber the five largest fast- food chains in the United States all combined. That's a pretty big statement.

[11:25:01]

The American and Chinese people share much in common. We value hard work. We value courage and achievement. We love our families and we love our countries.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: And joining us now for an exclusive interview is Jake Sullivan. He previously served as President Biden's national security adviser and is the co-host of "The Long Game" podcast. Jake, thanks so much for joining U.S.

Based on what you have seen so far from the president's trip to Beijing, how do you evaluate the current state of U.S. relations with China?

JAKE SULLIVAN, FORMER U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: Well, I think what's apparent -- Wolf, thanks for having me, first of all.

I think what's apparent from the readout on the Chinese side is that what they want to get out of this summit is basically a long-term truce, where they stabilize relations with the United States, because they believe basically time and momentum are on their side.

So they spoke about a relationship that would be constructive, that would be stable, and then they pointed out the one issue that really is at the top of their minds that could disrupt all that, and that was Taiwan.

And we heard quite a sharp statement from President Xi, basically saying that, if the United States interferes in any way in cross- strait relations that is at odds with how Beijing sees things, it could even potentially lead to conflict.

So, from my perspective, China has tried to seek and seems to be seeking the outcome it wants, which is essentially a degree of calm. On the U.S. side, it's not clear to me what exactly we were trying to get out of this, but I think President Trump will come home and tout this as some great success, even though it's unclear whether he's gotten anything.

BROWN: And on the issue of Taiwan, President Trump did not respond to reporters' questions about whether he and Xi spoke about Taiwan during their meeting.

But, as you pointed out, Xi warned that Taiwan is the -- quote -- "most important issue" in U.S.-China relations that could create a -- quote -- "very dangerous situation if mishandled."

As you know, Jake, China has historically warned American presidents about Taiwan. Do you see this as different, though?

SULLIVAN: They have used this kind of language before in their readouts in public, but I do think President Xi doing it in the room with President Trump in this way meant to put a fine point on the Chinese position, meant to really emphasize this for them is the highest-priority thing that they wanted to signal in the public portion of this visit.

And they certainly got the world's attention by doing so. So, bottom line, not a new position for China, but a point of real emphasis here just to reinforce what a priority this is for Beijing.

BLITZER: And, Jake, remind our viewers what the U.S. policy of what's called strategic ambiguity is when it comes to Taiwan and some of the challenges the Trump administration is facing right now when it comes to managing this issue.

SULLIVAN: Well, as you know very well, Wolf, and your question sort of tees this up, the U.S. policy towards Taiwan is a bundle of very complex propositions.

We have the One China policy, where we recognize that Beijing is the capital of the People's Republic of China and we acknowledge that China believes that Beijing believes Taiwan is part of China, but we do not accept that.

At the same time, we also say we do not support Taiwan independence, but we want to make sure that there are not unilateral changes to the status quo from either side. And then, finally, to your point about strategic ambiguity, when the United States is asked, would you come to Taiwan's defense,we don't answer that question one way or the other.

We say, basically, it is our purpose to maintain peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and to prevent war from ever breaking out. And so President Trump is dealing with this basket of quite ambiguous statements that even have some internal contradictions within them.

And one of the things that China has talked about trying to do is get the U.S. to be more clear in saying, we oppose Taiwan independence. They asked that of the Biden administration. We would not do that. And it's not clear to me whether we will see that from the Trump administration. It sounds like maybe not on this visit, but it will continue to be a demand of China.

BROWN: And Taiwan is also important to the U.S, of course, with the semiconductors and advanced chips that it produces. And there's a law on the books, Jake, that complicates this even more, right, that says that there should be cooperation and help from America to Taiwan when it comes to arming them and legal cooperation in other areas, right?

So how does that fit into this equation?

SULLIVAN: Right.

So there are two other elements going on here that your question raises. One is what's called the Taiwan Relations Act, which has been on the books since 1979. That was the year that the U.S. switched recognition from Taipei to Beijing. Congress passed this law.

And what the law says is that the United States has to continue to support Taiwan's self-defense. And, since 1979, we have actually provided weapons to Taiwan or sold weapons to Taiwan year in, year out over the course of the past now, you know, several decades.