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The Situation Room

Cave Rescue Operation Continues; FBI Reportedly Finds Gold Bars in Ex-CIA Official's Home; U.S. and Iran Close to Peace Deal?. Aired 11-11:30a ET

Aired May 28, 2026 - 11:00   ET

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

[11:00:00]

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: And the next hour of THE SITUATION ROOM starts right now.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN HOST: And happening now, breaking news: Possible deal? New reporting from Axios an agreement may be coming soon to end the war in Iran. It's just waiting on President Trump's final approval. So is that coming?

BLITZER: And $40 million worth of gold bars, a couple million in cash, and 35 expensive watches all reportedly stashed at a former CIA official's house just outside Washington in Northern Virginia. The key question, why? Details ahead.

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: We begin this hour with the breaking news.

Axios now reporting that the U.S. and Iran have reached a peace deal, but that President Trump still must approve it. Here's what Barak Ravid from Axios told us just minutes ago in THE SITUATION ROOM.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARAK RAVID, CNN POLITICAL AND GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: The U.S. officials told me that President Trump still hasn't gave the final sign-off on this deal. The U.S. officials told me Trump has relayed to the mediators and through the mediators to the Iranians that he wants -- quote -- "a few days to think about it."

But U.S. officials are optimistic that this deal is likely to go through unless some surprising thing happens over the next 24 to 48 hours. This deal will basically include a statement by Iran that it will not pursue nuclear weapons, an affirmative statement.

It will include a commitment by Iran to allow commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz unrestricted, no tolls, no harassment. It will include a U.S. commitment to negotiate over the lifting of sanctions and the unfreezing of Iranian funds abroad.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: All this comes as the U.S. and Iran are unleashing new attacks. This is a new video just in posted on social media by Iran showing its military launching a missile, possibly the one fired toward Kuwait and intercepted by its forces. Several Arab neighbors are condemning Iran's latest actions.

BROWN: And U.S. Central Command calls it an egregious cease-fire violation. It says it came after Iran launched five attack drones right near the Strait of Hormuz. U.S. forces intercepted them and stopped another from launching.

CNN senior reporter Kevin Liptak is at the White House.

So what more are you learning about this, Kevin?

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes, and I think it's interesting reporting. The caveat being that President Trump has yet to sign off, I think, is an important one.

Throughout this entire process, officials and the president have made clear that he will be the only one who can kind of give the final approval here. The other piece of information that I think we will need to hear is whether the Iranian supreme leader has signed off.

You know, American officials have said constantly that they detect divisions inside Iran, but it's very difficult to get information to and from the supreme leader. So, both of those sign-offs, I think, we will have to wait and see before this deal is considered final.

But, clearly, the events over the last 12 to 24 hours in the Strait of Hormuz only underscore the imperative that the U.S. feels in trying to reach this deal, these tit-for-tat back-and-forth attacks. The way it played out yesterday was that the U.S. detected Iran firing these one- way drones towards a commercial vessel that was trying to transit the strait.

They shot them down. They also shot at a ground facility that they said was preparing to launch an additional drone. That inspired retaliation from Iran, which is what the Central Command is calling the egregious cease-fire violation, when they fired a ballistic missile towards Kuwait.

And so you see all of the ways in which this cease-fire seems to be very shaky, seems to be on the verge of falling apart, which only lends the urgency to try and get this memorandum of understanding finally agreed to.

And so we will be watching very closely over the next hour, over the next days what exactly the president says about the status of this deal, but certainly the reporting indicates that it continues to inch forward, Pamela.

BROWN: All right, Kevin Liptak live for us from the White House, thank you so much -- Wolf.

BLITZER: CNN global affairs analyst Kim Dozier is here with me in THE SITUATION ROOM.

So, what's your analysis? What's your assessment of all the latest reporting from Barak Ravid and Axios?

KIMBERLY DOZIER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Oh, this is potential good news.

It could give both the U.S. and Iran and Gulf countries the economic relief that they all need. Global oil markets are again inching higher. This could free up some of that pent-up supply that's waiting to be delivered inside the Gulf if it can get out.

[11:05:15]

What we have to see is, can President Trump maintain message discipline and not blow up this potential deal with the TRUTH Social posts or push for more right now, as some GOP hard-liners might push him to do, rather than letting Steve Witkoff and the Iranian negotiators get behind closed doors?

Peace negotiations, they're like mushrooms. They do best in the dark. They need to get this behind closed doors.

BLITZER: The president yesterday stressed during his Cabinet meeting, as you know, that he would not be rushed into what he described as a bad deal with Iran. Listen to what he actually said. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: They thought they were going to outwait me. We will outwait him. He's got the midterms.

I don't care about the midterms. Look what happened last night. That was the prelude to the midterms. People understand that. They know that, very simple, Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. I'm doing that for the world. I'm not doing it just for us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: What are you hearing from folks out there in the diplomatic circle about all of this?

DOZIER: That it's going to be very hard to get an Iran nuclear deal that's better than the one Obama got, because you have removed some of the Iranian -- quote, unquote -- "moderates" who were willing to negotiate things like very intrusive IAEA inspections of all of their nuclear and university-type facilities related to nuclear weapons or related to nuclear science.

But what Trump hasn't used yet as his argument is, even if we get an Iran nuclear deal that's similar to that one, we have massively taken arms off of the battlefield, taken capability away from the Iranians, so we're starting at a different foundation. From the Iranian perspective, they need economic relief. So, if they

can get sanctions relief, this is likely to succeed, at least in the short term.

BLITZER: And this latest threat that we heard from President Trump, it was pretty outrageous, about Oman...

DOZIER: Yes.

BLITZER: ... which has been a very strong U.S. ally over these years, what do you make of that?

DOZIER: It was an offhand comment said without thought to the fact that Oman has been there for the U.S.

And it speaks to the larger way that Trump has been treating the Gulf nation, saying things like Saudi Arabia, et cetera, you should all sign up to the Abraham Accords, ignoring the fact that the U.S. hasn't met its part of the bargain. Saudi Arabia said it will only sign up to the Abraham Accords if Israel agrees to two states, including one for the Palestinians.

Nothing like that has happened. Trump isn't going to get his way on that one.

BLITZER: I want to play that little clip of what the president, President Trump, actually said about a threat to Oman. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

QUESTION: Would you accept a short-term deal that allows Iran and Oman to control the strait, and would they have to open it immediately, or would you be open to that happening over a period of time?

TRUMP: No. No. The strait is going to be open to everybody. It's...

QUESTION: And who would control it?

TRUMP: It's international waters. Nobody's going to control it. We're going to watch over it. We will watch over it. But nobody's going to control it. Oman will behave just like everybody else or we will have to blow them up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: He will have to blow them up, Oman. He's talking about not Iran.

DOZIER: Yes.

BLITZER: He's talking about Oman.

DOZIER: Yes, it's a warning that anyone who works with Iran to maintain its control of the Strait of Hormuz could face U.S. firepower. Surely, it will make negotiations down the road harder. But, at this

point, it is the way President Trump is treating everything and everyone. Just got back from a trip to Europe, and it's become very clear to European politicians, everything with President Trump is transactional. There is no loyalty. If you don't do what he says, he threatens to go to firepower.

BLITZER: Yes, the Omanis, I'm sure, were encouraged by the U.S. to go ahead and try to help reach a deal.

DOZIER: Yes.

BLITZER: And, all of a sudden, now it could be blown up if it gets involved in securing the Strait of Hormuz.

DOZIER: All of this makes it harder later for Gulf countries to continue to work with the U.S. or expand the Abraham Accords, because their populations are all watching this, watching the U.S. throw its weight around.

And that's going to make it harder for U.S. businessmen to do deals in the future, for U.S. diplomats to maintain relations. It's a hard way to -- when you act like the world's bully, then you have also got to back it up with firepower, and there's only so much firepower the U.S. has.

BLITZER: Yes, good point.

Kim Dozier, thank you. Thank you very, very much -- Pamela.

BROWN: All right, still ahead here in THE SITUATION ROOM: It reads like a spy novel. The FBI says it found $40 million worth of gold bars at the home of a man "The New York Times" reports worked for the CIA.

[11:10:12]

BLITZER: Plus: survivors' stories. For the first time, we are hearing from the people trapped deep inside a cave. You're going to hear the poignant messages to their families.

That's coming up ahead live here in THE SITUATION ROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:15:04]

BLITZER: Happening now: A former U.S. government employee has been arrested after the FBI says it found more than $40 million worth of gold bars that he got from his work at his Virginia home outside of Washington, D.C.

According to "The New York Times," the man identified -- there's a picture -- as the identification being David Rush, was a senior CIA official. But the charges he faces appear unrelated to the fortune in gold. Court documents show authorities alleged Rush falsified his academic and military credentials and took fraudulent military leave pay.

CNN national security analyst Beth Sanner is here with me in THE SITUATION ROOM. She's a former deputy director of national intelligence in the U.S. government.

A lot of unanswered questions here, Beth, as you know. We don't know why he had these gold bars. Plus, investigators are -- reportedly found cash and more than 30 luxury watches. Why might he have had all of this in his home in Northern Virginia just outside of Washington?

BETH SANNER, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: I think it's clear to me from reading the affidavit, which this is just my reading, is that it wasn't supposed to be at home, right? It was supposed to be in the storage in work at CIA headquarters, and that he had requisitioned these gold bars, foreign currency.

It didn't make any mention of the U.S. currency, but -- or of the watches, but that he had collected these things on the premise that they were required for a work kind of operation or work expenses. So that raises all sorts of questions about, well, what could that be? Who are you paying gold bars with?

Why would a science and technology senior executive officer, what we call senior intelligence officer, why would he need that? So there are a lot of unanswered questions. But, clearly, this was justified as a work expense or work operation, and then he surreptitiously took these home.

BLITZER: Do you think national security was already compromised, or was it prevented?

SANNER: That's a great question.

To me, this looks pretty much like embezzlement, rather than a national security-type situation like spying. I feel like this is -- my instincts, my gut is that this is embezzlement. But we know so little about this case.

And, as you noted in the opening, they're starting off with these charges that are about technicalities. I almost feel like it's going after the old-time money laundering against organized crime figures, which is something that the FBI or Treasury Department would do way back in the day. So they're going after leave fraud and fraud in his employment records and seeking employment.

But they're not going after the money yet because maybe they don't know.

BLITZER: You're a former deputy director of national intelligence. What would the F -- would the CIA be doing with $40 million in gold bars, even if the CIA was keeping them? Were they just holding them potentially to pay off someone who might become a source for the CIA?

SANNER: Well, I mean, this is what I think.

Given that the -- this was -- according to the affidavit, it was requisitioned and then put in storage, that this was being put aside for some operational reason, so the kinds of things -- for example, at the very beginning, after 9/11, in Afghanistan, CIA officers flew into Afghanistan, drove into Afghanistan.

And they were carrying huge amounts of currency in order to pay off warlords and other officials in order to get things going for attacking and countering Osama bin Laden. So this is the sort of thing that CIA does in denied territories.

But I guess I really think that the bigger picture here also is the whole point that this reveals a systemic problem in the whole security clearance process. And somebody who was maybe doing a good job -- he got promoted very quickly.

But, somehow, the polygraphs and what is called continuous vetting, which is a continuous look at people's financial records, criminal records, social media even, failed to detect that he was a fraud all along.

BLITZER: They have to investigate how, if, in fact, this is all true, these allegations, he managed to get all these bars of gold out of the CIA headquarters in Northern Virginia and take them to his home.

SANNER: Exactly. They might show if you're just putting them in your pocket.

(LAUGHTER)

BLITZER: Well, these are pretty...

(LAUGHTER)

(CROSSTALK)

BLITZER: I don't know how many gold bars you have.

SANNER: I don't have any. I was an analyst.

(LAUGHTER)

BLITZER: They're probably pretty heavy.

(LAUGHTER)

[11:20:00]

BLITZER: All right, Beth Sanner, thank you very, very much.

SANNER: Thanks, Wolf.

BLITZER: Pamela.

BROWN: Yes, I don't have any gold bars either, Wolf.

(LAUGHTER) BROWN: All right, up next here in THE SITUATION ROOM: complex cave rescue. Picture this, five people trapped more than 850 feet inside a pitch-black cave, and the narrow tunnel to reach them keeps flooding.

We will take you right inside the urgent rescue operation up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:25:02]

BROWN: Happening now: a remarkable moment captured on video when searchers found five men trapped for more than a week deep inside a cave, a dark flooded cave, that is.

They finally had a chance to reach out to their worried loved ones.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): There are people here to help now. The important thing is that you're alive. It's OK. It's OK. You have done really well. Don't cry. How many of you are there? Six people, five people. Then where's the other one? Read this first. Read this first.

My name is Venz (ph). I'm Thai. I came here to help everyone. We will find a way to get you out. So, stay calm, OK?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): Hello. My name is Mueh (ph). Don't worry, Mom and Dad. I'm still strong. I will be able to go home soon. Love you, mom and dad.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): My name is Khiam (ph). Mom, my wife, my child, don't worry about me. They have reached us already. Tomorrow or the day after, I should be able to get out. My wife, stay strong and wait for me.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): I'm going to pump the water out and bring food in. Then, will everyone be able to climb out? For now, get some rest first. I will come back.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Wow, they seem to be in pretty good spirits considering those circumstances.

And divers say they hope to be getting those men out of the cave soon.

CNN's Mike Valerio has more on this complicated rescue effort.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MIKE VALERIO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, I'd say the primary aim, to get these people out of the cave system, is to pump as much water as possible out of there, because rescuers figure that the five men and the two people who still remain missing were able to get into the depths of that cave before the floodwaters came rushing in. If they're able to get the water that came rushing in more than a week

ago out of there, amazingly, the team is saying that these five men who have been found should be able to get themselves out of there with the assistance of the cave divers.

We want to share with you some of the most compelling moments that came through Facebook today with one of the cave divers from Thailand, Norrased Palasing. He's a veteran of the 2018 Thai soccer team rescue. He shared on his Facebook page what it was like to meet the five men for the first time when they were perched on that ledge.

Lets's watch and then listen to what one of the survivors said to that rescuer. Let's listen in.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): There are people here to help now. The important thing is that you're alive. It's OK. It's OK. You have done really well. Don't cry.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. OK. My name is Ing. Don't worry, Mom. The rescue team has reached us now. We're safe. I miss Mom and Dad so much. We will probably get out tomorrow or the day after.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VALERIO: So I want to show you one of the reasons why this is going to be so challenging, 60 centimeters, 23 inches.

This is one of the smallest cave entry points, which rescuers are going to have to try to squeeze themselves through. And they have told us that in order to get through that small space, they have had to exhale as much oxygen as possible, squish their bodies through that space, and also take off their equipment, reach through the opening, and then put the equipment back on again.

Making things even worse are also pockets of hydrogen sulfide, which is a toxic compound and makes it more difficult for you to breathe, even in high quantities, working to shut down your respiratory system.

So we're told that, when the moment is right, oxygen tanks will have to be put throughout this cave route so that, when these five individuals, and hopefully the two others will be found as well, when all of these men are able to make their way out of the cave, they will have clean oxygen from those tanks to breathe.

Mike Valerio, CNN, Beijing.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: And just ahead: emotional revelation. Dale Earnhardt Jr. opens up about the final text messages he exchanged with Kyle Busch just before Busch's sudden death last week.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)