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Trump Says, I'll Make a Determination About Arms Sales to Taiwan; Border Patrol Chief Michael Banks Resigns Effective Immediately; American's Wages No Longer Outpacing Inflation. Aired 10- 10:30a ET

Aired May 15, 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, possible policy pivot? New comments from President Trump about his meeting with Xi Jinping that could calibrate decades of the U.S. stance on Taiwan.

Plus, deadly plane crash. Shocking video shows an inferno engulfing a home in Ohio after a plane slammed into the house.

And later, Eric Church's advice to grads, we'll talk to the country superstar about his viral commencement address at my alma mater, UNC Chapel Hill.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: And Cuba's energy crisis, the island nation is suffering massive blackouts that last almost all day, prompting protests. The government is warning it's going to get even worse.

Plus, surging food prices, the cost of groceries sees the highest jump in almost four years. Is relief coming any time soon?

And later, Natty in The Situation Room. My Washington Nationals' new team dog will be here live before his Major League debut.

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.

And we begin this hour with the breaking news. President Trump is on his way home from Beijing, where he met with Chinese leader Xi Jinping for a second straight day. Today, their one-on-one time included a stroll through the compound of China's Communist Party. But it was aboard Air Force One just a short time ago that the president delivered news that's sure to rattle Taiwan. He says he and President Xi discussed a pending multi-billion dollar U.S. arms deal to the self-governing island which China claims as its territory. Listen.

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DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: So, we have discussed the Taiwan, you know, the whole thing with the arms sales and this, in great detail actually. And I'll be making decisions. But, you know, I think the last thing we need right now is a war that's 9,500 miles away. I think that's the last thing we need. We're doing very well.

REPORTER: Would the U.S. defend Taiwan if it came to it?

TRUMP: I don't want to say -- I'm not going to say that. There's only one person that knows that. You know who it is? Me. I'm the only person. That question was asked to me today by President Xi. I said, I don't talk about those things.

REPORTER: He asked you today? Did he ask you if you would send troops, if you would --

TRUMP: He asked me if I'd defend them. I said, I don't talk about that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: All right, let's go live right now to CNN's Julia Benbrook over at the White House. Julia, how significant are the president's comments on Taiwan?

JULIA BENBROOK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Potentially very significant. President Donald Trump did not go into a lot of detail here, but what he did say, what he didn't say, both lead to a lot of questions.

Now, this is following that summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, and Trump said that he did not make a commitment either way on Taiwan. When it comes to the arms sales specifically, he said that he will make that determination at some point.

Now, this comes after Secretary of State Marco Rubio, in an interview with NBC News following those meetings, said that the United States policy on Taiwan remains, quote, unchanged. And diving a bit deeper into that, the United States acknowledges China's position that Taiwan is a part of China, but has never officially recognized the Communist Party's claim to the self-governing island. And Washington has robust, unofficial business with Taiwan.

And so in these questions, there's also been -- of course, the United States policy has been intentionally ambiguous when it comes to if it would intervene militarily if China were to attack Taiwan. And Trump was pressed on that specifically. He declined to answer, but he did say that Xi actually asked him about that question as well. He said that he did not answer it there either.

Now, overall, this summit seemed to end on a high note for relations between the United States and China. Both of these leaders have been touting that there is a steadier relationship. In Trump's last remarks before he headed home, he praised China.

Now, he also said that the two leaders fixed a lot of problems during this summit, but that is where we're lacking a lot of details, what each side got.

[10:05:03]

There are not a lot of concrete specifics to look into at this point. Wolf?

BLITZER: All right. Julia Benbrook at the White House, thank you very, very much. Pamela?

BROWN: All right, Wolf. This morning we're following another shakeup at the Department of Homeland Security just two months after President Trump fired DHS Chief Kristi Noem, Border Patrol Chief Michael Banks is stepping down. That's effective immediately. Banks says, after nearly 37 years in public service, he wants to spend more time with his family.

CNN's Priscilla Alvarez is here in The Situation Room. So, Priscilla, you cover immigration issues extensively. What does this departure mean?

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, generally, a year into the Trump administration, and particularly at the Department of Homeland Security, where there is a change in who the secretary is, we can anticipate that there are going to be agency leadership changes.

Now, U.S. Border Patrol Chief Banks, or former now, is an example of that. He abruptly resigned yesterday. And what he said in the statement to me was that he was ready to move on. And this comes right after Acting ICE director Todd Lyons made a similar decision where he is leaving at the end of May and he also said that he was ready to move on from the role.

These are very high pressure jobs, but these are two individuals who were also under the Noem tenure, so former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem. Mike Banks, for example, was an ally of Noem's at the department.

Now, there's nothing to indicate here that this was directed by now Secretary Markwayne Mullin, but it does indicate that there is a change that's happening at the Department of Homeland Security. We've heard some of that publicly.

The secretary now says he wants to take a quiet approach to immigration enforcement, that he wants it to be more low-key in those immigration enforcement operations. That doesn't mean that they're any less aggressive, however. It just means that he wants to stay out of the headlines. He's thinking about this in a way that is different than Kristi Noem.

And so these two changes at the agency level matter too because he also doesn't want to micromanage and he wants to hand it over to the agencies. So, the question is, how does he navigate that with these new leaders coming in, going into the midterms when of course this is a huge political issue.

BROWN: It certainly is. All right, Priscilla Alvarez. Thank you so much. Wolf?

BLITZER: And still ahead, expect to spend more on your Memorial Day barbecue. Grocery prices here in the United States hitting a four-year high. Up next, a closer look at ways to save on your next trip to the store.

BROWN: And caught on camera, a police chase ends in a crash, but then a toddler emerges from the wreck. The story just ahead.

You're in The Situation Room.

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BLITZER: Happening now, from the gas pump to the grocery store, higher prices are weighing on Americans' wallets.

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ISMAHEL SOURNHONO, TRAVLER: Even if you go to the grocery now is very scary, because before with the $10 you could have your lunch, but then now, everything, everything more expensive.

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BROWN: New data released this week showed for the first time in three years, Americans' paychecks no longer outpaced inflation. And as for grocery prices, those rose more than half a percent last month. That is the most grocery prices have increased over a one-month period in nearly four years since August 2022.

Joining us now is Stew Leonard Jr., CEO of Stew's Grocery Store. Stew, it's always great to have you on. It looks like a beautiful day where you are.

I want to start by asking you what you are personally seeing at your stores, and what products are being hit the hardest.

STEW LEONARD JR., CEO, STEW LEONARD'S GROCERY STORES: Well, I think the gentleman you just had on says it all. You know, you're just hearing from customers all the time, you know, prices are up on, on grocery.

Now, you know, first of all, we get targeted a little bit. I mean, it's Stew Leonard's, it's like, you know, you're the culprit, are you making extra money. We're not. You know, just as an example, in the morning, I got a phone call yesterday from our farmer down in Florida with all the tomatoes, watermelon, and he said, you know what, Stew, I used -- it's costing me $2,000 more to send a tractor trailer from Florida up to your stores in New York, Connecticut, and New Jersey.

And then I go down on the store floor and a customer comes up and says, I just filled my Suburban up. It was $50 more than it did cost me. So, what do I do? I can't raise prices over here, but then, again, I got my farmers in Florida telling me their labor costs have gone up and the fuel prices have gone up. So, we're stuck in the middle a little bit.

What I've done basically is asked the farmer in Florida if I could split the difference with him, and he pays half of the freight and I pay the other half, and that's been working out so far.

BLITZER: We're just a week or so away, Stew, from Memorial Day weekend. What do you think this all might mean for families looking to celebrate the holiday with a backyard barbecue? Do you anticipate this continuing into the summer months as well?

LEONARD: Now, you know what, with the barbecue coming up, you know what that's about? You're getting some hot dog and hamburger buns. You're going to have, of course, look it, you got some great -- you got some great hamburgers, okay? This is only about $4 or $5 a pound right now. But you know what, you know, one way you can save money is here, here's like a rib eye steak. We just we just had our ranchers back from the Midwest, and this is what they wanted to eat. But this is really expensive right here, you know?

So, if you want to save money, go to the hamburger right there and do that.

[10:15:02]

You also have hot dogs. And the other thing, Wolf, you mentioned, you had some salmon last night. Check this guy out right here, okay? This is about $10 a pound. You know, how's that guy? Look it, he's like, mwah, my little buddy there.

BROWN: That's, what, 30 pounds?

LEONARD: That's a 30-pound salmon. And, you know, we'll cut it fresh, but that's about $10 bucks a pound for fresh salmon. Beef is up in $15 to $16 to $17 a pound. Chicken, I talked to Jimmy Perdue from Perdue Farms yesterday. That's come down. He's noticing a spike in customers moving from the higher priced proteins, like meat, down to lower priced like chicken. So, he's seeing an increase in sales at Perdue Farms.

BROWN: Interesting. And, you know, you were mentioning earlier that the people who bring the food up to you, the truck drivers and so forth and those companies, are battling the higher gas prices, and so you're trying to help them out. But also customers are also dealing with these rising gas prices, and that could be affecting their buying habits at the grocery store. How else is high fuel costs hitting your business? What are you hearing from customers?

LEONARD: Well, you know, fuel touches every part of food, even from fertilizer that's stuck over in the Strait of Hormuz right now, you know? I mean, that is coming over, you know, needs energy to get here. You look at the diesel that the farmers have to put into their tractors. And right now, this is like prime time for a lot of our beautiful East Coast fruits and vegetables right now.

So, you know, you're seeing fuel touch everything. That's a big driver. My fingers are crossed that we're going to work this fuel problem out and we're going to see fuel prices drop. When they do that, we'll see food prices drop, but not back to where they were, you know, just after COVID, because a lot of labor costs have gone up, you know, along the way also. BLITZER: The salmon I had last night, Stew, was delicious by the way. Stew Leonard Jr., as usual, thank you very much for all you do.

LEONARD: Okay. I'll come to visit you.

BLITZER: All right. I love that salmon.

BROWN: That seems like a lot.

BLITZER: A lot of salmon, yes.

BROWN: I want to know what went into the salmon because --

BLITZER: I had a little piece.

BROWN: Oh, well, yes, but not 30 pounds.

LEONARD: Hey, if I could if I could just quickly, today's Water Safety Day right now, and I just want to encourage all the moms and dads. Unfortunately, I had a little son that drowned. I do a lot of work with teaching, you know, needy children to swim. And I just encourage all the moms and dads out there right now, the pools are opening back east and water safety's a huge issue at this time of the year. Get your kids in for some swim lessons.

BLITZER: Yes. Good advice.

BROWN: And I'm so sorry to hear about your son, Stew.

BLITZER: Yes, me too.

BROWN: But what an important message. Thank you for getting that out there as well. I think about it a lot as a mom --

BLITZER: Yes.

BROWN: -- with a two-year-old.

BLITZER: It's so important.

LEONARD: Happy Memorial Day.

BROWN: Yes, Happy Memorial -- early Memorial Day to you too.

BLITZER: Thank you.

BROWN: And coming up, country music superstar Eric Church joins us in The Situation Room after delivering a commencement speech to remember.

BLITZER: And the most battle-tested Fed chair finishes his first term, but Jerome Powell isn't leaving the Fed completely. The unprecedented move, we have details. That's next.

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[10:20:00] BLITZER: We have breaking news. President Trump making new comments this morning on Taiwan as he makes his way back from a two-day summit with President Xi Jinping in China. The self-governing island east of China has been one of the biggest sources of contention between the U.S. and China for decades. President Trump telling reporters aboard Air Force One that the two leaders had a lengthy discussion about U.S. arms sales to Taiwan.

CNN Senior Political and Global Affairs Commentator Rahm Emanuel is joining us. He's also a former chief of staff in the Obama White House, and the former U.S. ambassador to Japan.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Rahm, said that the U.S. position on Taiwan hasn't changed, but President Trump said he has made no commitment either way to Taiwan. But does it look to you like President Trump may be about to take the U.S. on a significant pivot as far as Taiwan is concerned?

RAHM EMANUEL, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL AND GLOBAL AFFAIRS COMMENTATOR: Yes, well, there's a big decision now about arms, but also about other pieces of relationship as it relates to the Taiwan government. And by saying he'll wait to see, he's just playing this out for the theater part.

Still, Wolf, my view is everybody walks away in saying stability. That's what the relationship was, that's what the meeting was. Well, stability in service of what? Stability for the sake of stability? I mean, did he raise that China's engaged in massive intellectual property theft? Did he raise what China's doing in the South China Sea that changes the demographics and -- not the demographics, but the strategic context of one of the most important bodies of water in the world? Did he raise the issue of Japan, our long pole of our Indo- Pacific policy, and the economic coercion that China's -- that Japan is a victim of from China? So, I don't know, when everybody goes, oh, stability, in service of what?

And as it relates to Taiwan the only person that would change the status quo is President Xi. We've actually said consistently a policy that there's a One China policy, and that force should not be used to change the status quo. And if force is used, it is China the initiator, not us.

[10:25:00]

The president has a big decision on weapons, but that's a piece of a larger strategic play, because you can't get out of the supply chain as it relates to chips without Taiwan as your partner.

BLITZER: You know, Rahm, you're the former U.S. ambassador to Japan. Tell our viewers why people in Japan right now, the leadership there and others, are so nervous about what's going on in this U.S. relationship with Taiwan.

EMANUEL: Sure. Wolf, we have a strategy, at least through 30 years of U.S. presidents, that we are a permanent Pacific power and presence, so you can bet long on America. Now, that underpinning, when we had the historic meeting at Camp David between Japan leadership, the South Korea leadership, and the United States leadership, that was in service of a principle. That was China's worst day, and that was America's best day. South Korea, Japan, the United States joining forces with a singular strategic, political, and economic benefit.

That is why it is said China was so upset, and they said we're trying to isolate them. When we used to get together with the Quad, which was India, Australia, Japan, the United States, that was isolating the isolator in their own backyard, and China wants to bust out. That's what Taiwan is a part of.

And I think that in this case, what we are doing is undermining the reliability of the United States as a strategic partner because every country, whether it's Japan or Vietnam, that are in strategic differences with the United States but both aligned, want the United States to be a permanent Pacific power and presence as a counterweight to an unbridled, uncontrolled China. They have all been victims of when China steps on them.

BLITZER: Good explanation. President Trump also says he's considering --

EMANUEL: Do I get an A in the Wolf's class?

BLITZER: What'd you say?

EMANUEL: Do I get an A in Wolf's class? Is that what --

BLITZER: You get an A in Wolf's class in the answer to that question, yes.

EMANUEL: Okay. Okay.

BLITZER: Next question, President Trump says he's considering lifting sanctions on Chinese companies buying Iranian oil. China, of course, has deep ties with Iran and is anxious to see the war end. Is this handing China a small win if tariffs are in fact dropped by the U.S.?

EMANUEL: It's a more -- it's a small win, but again, in service of what? What was the trade? What did we get out of it? You know, I say this like the only reason we're selling now more soybeans is because the president of the United States' failed tariff policy that cut off our soybean farmers from the Chinese market, and they went to Brazil and they went to Argentina. We're getting back to a place we were before the president started his failed tariff policy.

Now, you're going to -- not only does China get a win, but Iran gets financial lifeline. I've -- this is crazy to me what the president has done. He's basically fighting, or in a place -- fighting now and also in a standoff with Iran, and yet you're throwing economic lifelines to a government that is not actually abiding by the international agreement that the Strait of Hormuz is an international body of water.

So, it's not only a win for China, more importantly, it's a win for Iran, and, again, reflects that there is no strategic, overarching objective to having started this war, understanding what the ramifications of this war. And I think we're going to leave ourselves in a far worse position in that region, i.e., the Middle East, and also around the world because people have now seen the emperor wears no clothes.

BLITZER: Rahm Emanuel, good grades all around, thanks very much for joining us.

EMANUEL: Thank you, Wolf. You're -- wait until you get the end of the year teacher report.

BLITZER: Yes, you'll get a good report. Don't worry.

BROWN: If I get one too, Wolf. My goodness.

All right, coming up here in the Situation Room, I'll speak with Republican Senator Bill Cassidy ahead of his high-stakes primary race tomorrow as he faces a Trump-backed challenger and Louisiana State treasurer.

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