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Iran State T.V. Reports, U.S. Will End Blockade, Iran Will Reopen Strait; Rescuers Say, Five of Seven People Trapped in Cave Found Alive; Justice Department Wants to Interview 2020 Election Workers in Georgia. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired May 27, 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. Soon, President Trump will hold a cabinet meeting as the Iran war looms, and most Americans say his policies have increased their cost of living. We'll bring you that to you live.

Plus, found alive. Rescuers locate five of the seven people trapped in a cave filled with floodwater. How they now plan to get them out safely as divers keep urgently searching for the other two.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: And stunning, truly stunning defeat. Longtime Senator John Cornyn loses his Texas primary. The victor, the Texas attorney general, Ken Paxton, points to President Trump's endorsement as the ace up his sleeve, calling it, and I'm quoting him now, the most powerful force in politics.

And later, deadly implosion, one person was killed and nine people are missing when this chemical tank ruptured. Officials say recovery efforts are extremely complex because of ongoing safety hazards.

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 with the breaking news. This morning, Iran state T.V. is reporting that it has a draft memo to end the war with Iran. The so- called memorandum of agreement calls for Iran to fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz, and in exchange, the U.S. would lift its blockade of Iranian ports and pull military forces from the vicinity of Iran.

And right now, President Trump is getting ready to convene his cabinet at the White House, and this new development will surely be a key focus. We'll have coverage of the meeting when it gets underway, live coverage coming up. Stand by.

And CNN's Kevin Liptak is at the White House. Kevin, what are you learning about these reports of a new draft memo?

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Right. And this report is fascinating, not necessarily because their description differs greatly from what the White House has been saying, because it doesn't, but more on what they're trying to emphasize to their own internal audience about what is contained in this memorandum of understanding.

So, they say, for example, that U.S. military forces will withdraw from the vicinity of Iran as part of this deal. It's not clear whether that means just the forces that have been added as part of this conflict or all American forces in the region, which would be quite significant. They say that the U.S. Navy will lift its blockade of the strait, and that Iran has committed to restoring traffic through the Strait of Hormuz to levels that were intact before this over the next 30 days.

And so, you know, the U.S. has said that the president is willing to lift the blockade but only if Iran restores the Strait of Hormuz traffic.

I think what's more interesting is what is not included in this state T.V. report, which is any mention of Iran's nuclear program. We know that that has been an enormous sticking point as the president tries to get this agreement over the finish line.

You don't hear either any mention of financial relief for Iran, you know, lifting of sanctions or unfreezing of assets. That, too, is something that we understand has been a major point of contention as the two sides haggle over wording and sentences in this deal.

So, certainly a point of discussion at this upcoming cabinet meeting. Officials say that it will be a combination of foreign policy and domestic policy as the president convenes his team. You know, it was originally meant to take place at Camp David but the president moved it back here to the White House because of the cloudy weather in Washington today.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: A quick question Kevin. What are officials there saying, if anything, about the fact that the Iranians are calling this a memorandum of agreement, because they used to call it a memorandum of understanding?

LIPTAK: I think that may be just a point of distinction in the language. It's not clear that that is going to put a hamper in how the U.S. is approaching this deal.

You have, as you correctly point out, President Trump describing it as a memorandum of understanding. I think what is clear is that this is not a final agreement.

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Both sides seem to suggest that this will be an initial deal that will put off for further negotiations, the thorniest issue, which is the ultimate future of Iran's nuclear program. They say that that will be the subject of this 60-day negotiating period after this memorandum is signed.

BLITZER: All right. Kevin Liptak at the White House for us, thank you very, very much.

Also happening now, another victory in President Trump's ongoing retribution tour. This morning, he congratulated his pick in yesterday's Texas Republican Senate runoff, Ken Paxton, saying it was a tremendous win after the scandal-plagued state attorney general trounced the longtime Republican senator, John Cornyn.

Listen to how both Paxton and Cornyn reacted after their brutal primary came to an end.

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KEN PAXTON (R), TEXAS SENATE CANDIDATE: President Trump is the leader of our party, and his endorsement in this most powerful force in politics.

Change was on the ballot, and change won.

SEN. JOHN CORNYN (R-TX): I've said throughout this race that I trust the voters of Texas, and they've made their decision, and I must respect it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Paxton has a long history of legal and ethical troubles. Back in 2015, he was indicted on felony securities fraud charges, but was not convicted. Eight years later, the Texas House impeached Paxton on accusations of corruption and bribery. The State Senate later acquitted him. Paxton's wife has also accused him of infidelity. Paxton is now set to face off against the state's Democratic candidate, James Talarico, in November. We'll have much more on this very important and very critical race coming up later this hour. Stay with us for that. Pamela?

BROWN: All right, Wolf. Breaking news, rescuers say five of the seven people trapped for a week in a flooded cave are alive. Meanwhile, rescuers are searching for the two remaining people.

Look at the incredible moment rescuers found those five people.

Wow. The people who were trapped went into the cave a week ago to search for gold, but then heavy rain triggered flash floods blocking their way out.

CNN Senior International Correspondent Will Ripley is following this story for us. And, Will, the rescuers still have their work cut out for them, even though this is such a positive development to find those five alive.

WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: They do, Pamela. Yes, it's certainly great news that five are alive, but actually getting them out of that cave alive is going to be perhaps even more dangerous than this initial phase of the search effort to find them, because this cave and the area where they are, this air pocket which is about 1,000 feet underground, to get there, the rescuers have had to at sometimes crawl and dive through caverns that have been flooded with very heavy and unpredictable rains because it's monsoon season right now in Central Laos, where this cave is located, and where those seven villagers went into the cave to mine for gold a week ago. There are rainstorms popping up almost every day, and that can cause the water to rise very quickly.

And some of these passages, Pamela, are so slim. You're talking about 23 inches across. One rescuer who is about 5'11" was describing it that he basically had to take off his equipment, exhale, wiggle his way through in order to continue down to dive through this pitch black, muddy water to find the area where they thought these people were located, and it turned out that's where they were, at least five of them. Still unclear what the status is of the other two.

But it's remarkable the technology that they used to find these trapped men. They basically installed an internet router underground in the cave that allowed them to send these pictures back almost in real time as they were searching, providing updates for the hundreds of rescuers who were on the ground. It's a very massive search effort from Laos and rescuers from Thailand, and then they even called in a Finnish cave expert who said it's one of the most difficult operations that he's ever experienced.

And so the search effort is going to continue. Obviously, they're going to be looking very carefully at the weather conditions and trying to figure out how, when it takes specialists, it's taken them a week to figure out how to find these men, how do they now extract them safely and alive from such a narrow and dangerous cave?

BROWN: Watching those rescuers go through those tiny spaces, Will, I mean, it just gives me a pit in my stomach what they're having to go through and now having to get those five out of the cave, and hopefully they find the other two as well.

This is an ongoing story. Will, thank you so much for bringing us the very latest. Wolf?

BLITZER: All right, Pamela.

Still ahead, breaking news, the former Attorney General Pamela Bondi tells CNN she's recovering from cancer treatment. What we're learning, we have details. Stand by.

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And caught on camera --

BROWN: And caught on camera --

BLITZER: Go ahead.

BROWN: An amazing sight, Wolf, right here, a severe thunderstorm churning up a massive dust tornado. We're going to have more of the video.

You're here in the Situation Room, and we'll be right back.

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BROWN: Breaking news, former Attorney General Pam Bondi tells CNN she's undergoing treatment for thyroid cancer, including having surgery a few weeks ago. Bondi says she was diagnosed after leaving the Justice Department back in April.

Joining us now is a senior fellow at the Harvard Belfer Center, Dr. Ashish Jha. Hi, Dr. Jha, good to see you.

So, Bondi told CNN she's recovering from the surgery, that she's doing well.

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Tell us more about thyroid cancer and what the surgery for this diagnosis typically entails.

DR. ASHISH JHA, SENIOR FELLOW, HARVARD BELFER CENTER: Yes. So, first off, Pamela, thanks for having me back. This is one of the most common types of cancer, and if you're going to get cancer, it's one of the good ones to get, 98-plus percent survival at five years. Most of the times, the cancers are caught early. The most common demographic is Pam Bondi, a woman in her 50s, sometimes early 60s, and most of the times it's kind of caught incidentally, maybe on a scan or if somebody feels a lump. So, it's a pretty straightforward cancer to deal with.

BROWN: Why does it impact women more than men? Because from what I understand, women are about three times as likely to be diagnosed overall.

JHA: Yes. We don't actually know. There is not very good data on, like, what exactly is driving it. Is it something about is it hormonal? Is it -- is there -- there's some people that have speculated that we just do a better job of catching it in women. The bottom line is we don't know why women get it more often. But, thankfully, with a relatively straightforward surgery, it's curable, as I said, more than 95 percent of the times.

BROWN: And what are the symptoms? Because you said sometimes it's just caught during a routine scan.

JHA: Yes. Actually, almost -- I would say most people are found -- for them, the cancer is found incidentally. Sometimes either they're getting a CAT scan for some other reason, and it get, shows up. Other times they see a little lump in, in front of their neck and that turns out to be a nodule. You know, in more advanced cases, those rare cases, people can have hoarseness, they can have other -- they can have large lymph nodes. But that's -- those are very rare, and that's usually those few instances where it has spread.

BROWN: And just out of curiosity, I know Hashimoto's is pretty prevalent among women in terms of having a thyroid condition, which causes hypothyroidism. Does that make a woman more vulnerable to get thyroid cancer?

JHA: That's a very good question. There is some evidence that anything that causes inflammation of the thyroid can increase the risk. Hashimoto's is an autoimmune disease where your antibodies actually attack your thyroid. So, I think there is some evidence to suggest that can cause a link, but they're generally pretty separate diseases, and most people with Hashimoto's don't go on to develop thyroid cancer.

BROWN: So, after surgery, what are the next steps?

JHA: Yes. It should be -- look, these surgeries are one to two days in the hospital. Some people are trying to move it to an outpatient, just depends on the surgery and how serious it is or how big it is, but a couple of days in the hospital. Within a week to ten days, people are back to their regular activities. Obviously, depending on the surgery, if you had to have your whole thyroid taken out, then you have to be on thyroid replacement treatment for the rest of your life, but that's a pretty straightforward, well-tolerated pill.

And we don't have a lot of details for the former attorney general and what kind of cancer, what kind of surgery she got, but I expect based on what we know in general that she's going to make a full recovery.

BROWN: And she says she's doing well, which is really good news.

Dr. Ashish Jha, thank you so much. Wolf?

JHA: My pleasure. Thank you.

BLITZER: And still ahead, digging up details in Fulton County, Georgia, the U.S. Justice Department's new effort to try to get information on the 2020 presidential election.

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BLITZER: Happening now in Atlanta and elsewhere in Fulton County, Georgia, some poll workers and ballot counters from the 2020 presidential election could soon hear a knock on their doors. Federal prosecutors say when they have the names and the addresses of those election workers, investigators will try to talk to them.

President Trump has long claimed, without evidence, that there was widespread voter fraud in Fulton County and that contributed to his reelection loss to Joe Biden.

Let's go live right now to CNN Crime and Justice Correspondent Katelyn Polantz, who's working the story for us. Katelyn, is the Justice Department going to get all these lists of election workers and their addresses?

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, that's going to be the big question in court. We're still waiting to see what a judge will do. What has happened here is that the Justice Department, they've made clear they want to reopen and ask questions again about what happened in the 2020 election, especially in Fulton County, Georgia, that's the county that includes Atlanta, that Joe Biden won by more than two-thirds of the more than 500,000 votes there. It was a real wash of an election for Biden there. But Trump really does want to continue to say that the 2020 election was rigged, and now the Justice Department, they're going after thousands of names and addresses of these 2020 election workers. At a hearing last week, that was where the judge was hearing about why the Justice Department actually may want these things. This election happened six years ago. That's out of the timeframe where the Justice Department could bring voting-related federal criminal charges, if they even would get to that point with a grand jury. And a prosecutor there, his name is Will McComb, he said, we are not sure what charges can be brought. And then he told the judge, we don't know what they will tell us as far as what happened or what improprieties may or may not have happened in the 2020 election and whether that is a continuing situation in this current election cycle or in the next election cycles for the Fulton County Board.

But what the Justice Department is also saying is they just want to go out, knock on doors, potentially interview these ballot workers and poll workers. The judge, though, is looking at this, is it a fishing expedition and is this way too broad of a request? We're waiting to see what happens in this federal court proceeding.

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Wolf?

BLITZER: And as you know, Katelyn, the Southern Poverty Law Center is accusing the U.S. Justice Department of what they're calling vindictive prosecution. What can you tell us about that?

POLANTZ: Yes. So, this is this totally separate case in Alabama. And in this federal criminal indictment recently against the Southern Poverty Law Center, they are now trying to get rid of the charges that they're facing.

So, their allegations are about the work of the SPLC over four decades, and the allegations are around that organization's use of paid informants and taking donations, and then paying informants to learn about the hate groups that they then report on.

But in court now, they're trying to get a judge to toss out this whole case, saying that Donald Trump, the acting attorney general, Todd Blanche, the FBI director, Kash Patel, and several others in the Trump administration, they have wanted to go after the SPLC by saying that they're radical leftists and that they've been attacking them and pushing this prosecution because of a want to punish the First Amendment rights and the speech of the Southern Poverty Law Center.

These sorts of motions are really hard to win in court, but we'll see how far this goes. It does take into account things that Trump has publicly said about that organization. Wolf?

BLITZER: All right. Katelyn Polantz, thank you very, very much. Pamela?

BROWN: All right, Wolf.

Coming up here in The Situation Room, resign or face disciplinary action. Minneapolis' police chief out of the job after the mayor says Brian O'Hara interfered with an investigation into his own conduct. What we're learning up next.

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