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The Situation Room

Seven People Trapped in Flooded Cave; Texas Senate Primary; Trump at Walter Reed For Medical Checkup. Aired 11-11:30a ET

Aired May 26, 2026 - 11:00   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 HOST: Happening now, breaking news: Iran's new promise. Tehran is now threatening to hit back after the U.S. carried out what it's calling self-defense strikes.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Plus: dodging drones on the front lines, a CNN crew embedded with troops in Ukraine as they try to elude the aerial attackers stalking them.

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 this hour with the breaking news.

Right now, President Trump is over at the Walter Reed military hospital here in Washington for his annual medical and dental checkups. This will be his third visit during this, his second term, in a span of just 13 months.

BROWN: The president turns 80 in a few weeks, and his health is coming under more scrutiny. His swollen ankles have prompted repeated questions from independent physicians and so have his often bruised hands. You see it right here. Sometimes, those bruises are covered with thick makeup.

BLITZER: All right, let's begin with CNN senior White House reporter Kevin Liptak, who's watching all of this.

What's the latest, Kevin?

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes, the president has been up at Walter Reed for about two hours now. Oftentimes, these presidential physicals last several hours, the president seen by a number of different specialists.

You mentioned it's his third time up at Walter Reed since he returned to office. It's actually his fourth medical checkup altogether. After each one, the White House physician gave him a clean bill of health, said that he was in excellent condition, despite some of the ailments that we have seen pop up over the last year.

His hands, the White House says that that's a result of a high dose of aspirin and shaking a lot of people's hands. The swollen ankles, they say it's the result of a common vein condition. You also have seen the White House say that he's using a cream to treat a rash on his neck.

There have also been multiple instances that the president appears to doze off during meetings, which the White House actually says is just an extended blink. None of that necessarily tamping down on the concerns that some Americans have about the president's health.

In a poll last month, ABC asked Americans whether Trump is in good enough physical health to serve effectively as president. Only 44 percent said yes, which is down 10 points from last fall. When they asked whether the president had the mental sharpness it takes to effectively serve as president, 40 percent said yes, that also down from September.

Now, the White House hasn't said specifically what the president will undergo up at Walter Reed. They say it's just a routine medical and dental examination, although we should point out that he's already been to the dentist twice this year.

They haven't said whether he will undergo a cognitive exam. They also haven't said whether the president will go under anesthesia. If he, for example, would be getting a colonoscopy, if he did that, it would require transfer of power temporarily to the vice president.

And so, clearly, I think still a lot of questions about the president's health. We do expect to get the results of this physical over the next day or two, but the president isn't legally required to disclose anything about his physical condition.

So, anything we do get will be filtered through the White House and basically what the president wants us to know about his health -- Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, Kevin Liptak reporting.

Kevin, thank you very much -- Pamela.

BROWN: All right, let's continue this conversation with CNN medical analyst Dr. Jonathan Reiner. He was the late Vice President Dick Cheney's cardiologist for years.

Dr. Reiner, thank you so much for being here.

And, as you heard Kevin just say from the White House, this is actually the fourth time President Trump is getting a checkup in his fourth term. Now, the White House says this is all routine, but is it?

DR. JONATHAN REINER, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: Well, what has become routine for the last several decades is a yearly exam. It's often done at Walter Reed. It's a little bit of Kabuki theater and a little bit testing.

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A lot of the exam for the president is actually done before the day of his sort of official visit to Walter Reed. You can bring any consultant in the world to the White House, and that's often done. And there's a lot of testing that can be done in the White House. There's a dental chair there. There's an eye lane.

So, many of the consultants will see the president before the official day. So the president usually goes to Walter Reed to obtain some testing that is not available at the White House, like scans, C.T. scan, MRI scan, or to undergo a procedure.

So, we haven't been told that the president is going to have any kind of specific procedure today, but we will wait and see.

BROWN: Right, because, previously, as I recall, he said on Air Force One that he had gotten an MRI, which turned out to be, I believe, a C.T. scan of his heart. That wasn't in that initial report.

What will you be looking for in today -- whatever the White House decides to release, because it is not legally bound to release the health information here?

REINER: Right.

Well, typically, the White House releases what they want people to hear. They will release a normal blood pressure and a good fasting blood sugar and a well-controlled cholesterol, things like that. The president did have unexpected scans in October. And I will be interested to see whether those scans are repeated today.

If they are, that would signify that they are watching something, that they're surveilling something. I'd also like to hear them discuss what his most recent evaluation of his daytime somnolence has been. Have they -- has he had a sleep apnea study? Does he use any CPAP at night?

Because that doesn't seem to be getting better.

BROWN: Right. And just to correct earlier, it was the fourth checkup of his second term, obviously.

And the president...

REINER: Right.

BROWN: ... there's been a lot of focus about the noticeable bruising of his hand.

Now, the White House has blamed too much handshaking and a large dose of aspirin. Do those claims seem credible to you?

REINER: Well, the handshaking doesn't make any sense, particularly because he sometimes -- the president sometimes has bruising on his left hand. So you can get -- you can be more prone to bruising if you take a high

dose of aspirin, but the usual dose of aspirin recommended by physicians and cardiologists is 81 milligrams of aspirin. Now, the president has said that he takes a higher dose, against the wishes of his physician.

And the reason we recommend the lower dose is that it's just as effective at preventing clots as the higher dose, but it does that with a lower risk of bleeding. So, it doesn't make sense to me, particularly if the president is self-conscious about his bleeding -- and he does appear to be conscious of it.

He does cover it with a concealer and sometimes places his left hand over his right hand. So, if he was bruising as a consequence of a higher dose of aspirin, and his doctor told him that the lower dose would lessen the risk that he bruised, but with the same benefit in terms of preventing any kind of clotting problem, then it doesn't make sense to me that he wouldn't do that.

BROWN: Right, because...

REINER: So, there are other entities that can cause -- there is a benign condition called senile purpura, which the senile meaning only older age, which is -- has to do with sort of atrophy of the skin.

Other -- some other medications, blood thinners that people take, other blood thinners can cause it. So there are -- the bruising is not necessarily any kind of ominous finding, but it may be simply associated with some of the therapy that he's receiving.

BROWN: All right, Dr. Jonathan Reiner, thank you so much -- Wolf.

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BLITZER: And still ahead: John Cornyn's last stand, the Texas Republican's uphill battle right now as he tries to fend off President Trump's pick to replace him in the U.S. Senate.

And later:

BROWN: Terrifying new video from Ukraine, CNN's Nick Paton Walsh sprinting and ducking for cover as deadly Russian drones fly overhead.

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

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BLITZER: Happening now: Voting is under way in Texas in a major test of President Trump's endorsement.

Longtime Republican Senator John Cornyn is fighting for his political survival against the Lone Star State's Attorney General and MAGA firebrand Ken Paxton. The president endorsed Paxton in the GOP primary last week, and that sparked disappointment and backlash from several of Cornyn's Senate colleagues. They believe Paxton is a weaker general election candidate.

Today's winner will face off against Democrat candidate James Talarico coming up in November.

CNN's Arlette Saenz is in Plano, Texas, for us. That's right near Dallas.

Arlette, what are voters there telling you?

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, Republican voters will soon decide whether they will try to extend Senator John Cornyn's more than two decades in the Senate or if they will go with the Trump- endorsed candidate in state Attorney General Ken Paxton.

Now, we have spoken to a mix of voters today, some saying that they are sticking with Cornyn, while others saying that they are going with Paxton. And here is -- are two voters that we spoke with, one who said that she was heavily influenced by President Trump's endorsement of Paxton, while the other said that that did not weigh on his mind.

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Take a listen.

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GENA TATUM, REPUBLICAN VOTER: I was torn because I was going to go with Croman.

SAENZ: Cornyn.

TATUM: Cornyn. But then Trump backed. And I like who he backs, and so I went Republican.

SAENZ: So the president's endorsement was the deciding factor for you?

TATUM: Yes, it was. It was. And it was, because I wasn't sure. I listen to Trump. I like Trump. I like Trump a lot.

CHRIS WOOD, REPUBLICAN VOTER: It's a shame that the president didn't give Cornyn the endorsement, but he had his reasons, I guess. But, yes, I'm backing John Cornyn at this point. And that was my vote.

SAENZ: And so when the president did give his endorsement to Ken Paxton, did that at all weigh on your mind, like maybe I should go with him?

WOOD: No, not too much. I'm sure he had his reasons, again. But I have got my positions personally, and I just felt like it would be best for Texans to have John Cornyn in on another term in the Senate.

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SAENZ: Now, Cornyn is hoping that Texan voters will, he believes, have independent minds and vote separate from what the president has told them to do.

But tonight's Senate run-off certainly will test whether President Trump's grip on the Republican Party remains firm here in the state or if Cornyn might be able to squeak this out.

BLITZER: What have the Republican candidates been saying about the Democratic Senate nominee, James Talarico?

SAENZ: Well, state Attorney General Ken Paxton really has started in full general election mode before this GOP run-off has even finished. He was on the campaign trail last week really testing out nicknames for James Talarico, the Democratic nominee, one of those being Talafreako.

They're trying to paint him as a radical Democrat. But for Democrats, Talarico really presents, they believe, one of their best chances of potentially flipping Texas blue come November. And this is expected to be an incredibly expensive contest.

Talarico is one of the Democratic Party's strongest fund-raisers this cycle. So there's a lot of big questions going forward of how exactly both Republicans and Democrats will view Texas in their path to the majority and whether the national parties will decide to spend big here come November in the general election.

BLITZER: All right, Arlette Saenz in Plano, Texas, for us.

Arlette, thank you very, very much -- Pamela.

BROWN: All right, up next here in THE SITUATION ROOM: urgent operation. Rescue divers in Laos are racing against time, the rain and the weather in their rush to save people trapped in a flooded cave.

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BROWN: Breaking news: An urgent rescue operation is under way right now.

Seven people have been trapped deep inside a cave for nearly a week. Crews have to squeeze through 1,100 feet of a tight tunnel system. Look at this video. Some areas are only 23 inches wide. And this is all happening in the Asian country of Laos. The Associated Press reports that the people were searching for gold in the cave when flash flooding blocked their way out.

CNN's Mike Valerio is following this story from Beijing.

Mike, bring us up to speed on this truly daring mission.

MIKE VALERIO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Pamela, I think the most notable element of this mission is that, from the Thai soccer team rescue of 2018, if we all remember that drama, there are two rescuers from that that are part of this rescue effort in Laos. And to give you a better idea of some of the narrowest openings, we're

talking about 23 inches here. That is this wide. I can't even fit through that, for just perspective here. The video, you're right, is completely harrowing. You see the jagged edges of these damp caves.

And to give you some perspective of the journey that these rescuers have to go on, the cave length to get to where these seven people are believed to be is about 1,115 feet. That is essentially the height of the Empire State Building in New York. So, the same distance, we're talking about here.

They have been in this cave for almost a week, but there is hope, Pamela, because they're believed to be on an elevated ridge inside this cave system that has access to air.

But when you're looking at the video, there's one of the Thai cave divers who comes up for air. And he says pretty poignantly to the video that he posted on Facebook, "This is where the seven people should be, and I don't see them."

As you mentioned, they were looking for gold in this part of Laos in Xaisomboun Province because there are gold deposits there. Flash flood came in almost a week ago. And then one person who was part of that group managed to get out of there and tell municipal authorities that the group needed help.

So this is taking on global dimensions now. It is very hard to get information out of Laos, Pamela, but people are watching this being livestreamed on Facebook and all sorts of online platforms. So we're watching to see if these cave divers who pulled off a miracle in 2018 are able to repeat this with the seven people who are looking for gold in Laos, Pamela.

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BROWN: Wow. Those rescuers are so brave.

VALERIO: They are.

BROWN: Mike Valerio in Beijing, thank you so much -- Wolf.

VALERIO: Yes.

BLITZER: And thanks from me as well.

Just ahead, breaking news: what a new Supreme Court ruling could mean for hundreds of cases claiming that social media companies are intentionally getting young people addicted.

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BLITZER: Happening now: California officials are reducing the number of people in the evacuation zone around an overheating chemical tank.