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Interview with Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL): No Clear Leader in Choice for Congress Ahead of Midterms; 18 Passengers from Hantavirus- Hit Cruise Ship Being Monitored in U.S.; Costs Surge for Trump's Renovations of Reflecting Pool. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired May 12, 2026 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:00]

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: According to the docket and the court, the judge said no. But then in March of this year, he said he wanted to drive again to South Carolina because his mother had just been diagnosed with cancer. According to the docket here, the judge allowed him to go to South Carolina and now he's in Italy.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: There's a lot about this case that confuses me because usually with the capital murder charge, you are in jail the whole time until your trial.

CASAREZ: Absolutely, absolutely, and the freedoms are amazing.

SIDNER: Right. Wow. I know you'll be following all the twists and turns of this case. Thank you. Very fascinating.

And also what a terribly sad story for the family, the mother who was pregnant. Jean, appreciate you.

All right, a new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: New numbers out, new CNN polling. And one big takeaway is quote, my life is not affordable. No one cares.

The surge of people saying the cost of living now top the top economic problem that their family is facing and the growing number, including a majority of Republicans saying the president's moves have made the economy worse.

We're also tracking new developments with a hantavirus, new cases reported and linked to that cruise ship. How the government is -- the U.S. government is now tracking and monitoring more than a dozen passengers under quarantine back here in the US.

And a growing line of fire in the Florida Everglades, the rush to contain these dangerous brush fires.

I'm Kate Bolduan with John Berman and Sara Sidner. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

SIDNER: All right, breaking this morning, we're just about 30 minutes away from the new inflation report that's coming out. A brand new CNN polling is now revealing just how Americans are feeling about the economy. In a few words, anxious, stressed and worried about their futures.

And a growing number, including Republicans, are blaming President Trump. 73 percent describe economic conditions in the country as poor. That's a grim outlook ahead of the midterms on what was once considered President Trump's strongest issue. It's how he got into office.

His approval rating on the economy has fallen to 30 percent, a new career low. And when Americans were asked about their feelings about the future, the top two answers were uncertainty and stress, with pride at the bottom at 15 percent.

One Ohio woman in her 20s who described herself as a Republican told CNN, quote, "Me and my husband work 12 hour days, five to six days a week, and we have to decide if we're going to buy groceries or pay for gas." And a 20-something Republican man in Georgia said this. "I don't know how anyone for my generation will ever do anything except rent" -- John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, with us now is Senator Dick Durbin, a Democrat from Illinois. He is the number two Democrat in the U.S. Senate. Senator Durbin, it's great to see you this morning. So this new CNN poll spells out real economic anxiety in the country. And the president's approval rating on the economy is really as bad as it's ever been. 70 percent disapproving, just 30 percent approve.

However, when we ask voters about their preference for Congress, Democrats enjoy only a three point edge, which is in the margin of error. So no clear leader there. So if the view on the economy is so bad in the president's performance is so bad, why is the congressional race so close?

SEN DICK DURBIN (D-IL): We have work to do. We're making it clear here in Washington that though we're in the minority party and the Republicans control Congress, we're ready to roll up our sleeves and help the American people deal with the economic issues of the day. But unfortunately, our Republican colleagues will not even acknowledge that it's a challenge.

They're just not listening. If you go home, as I did last week and went across the state of Illinois, I can just tell you families are struggling. And if there's any indication of it staring them in the eyes every day, it's the gasoline prices.

That is what's breaking the bank for families, to face these huge amounts of money that you have to dole out to fill up a gas tank really brings it home on a daily basis.

BERMAN: The president has suggested suspending the national gas tax. That would be about 18 cents per gallon of gas. How do you feel about that?

DURBIN: Any help will do and I'll support it. But let's get down to the bottom line. The reason the gas prices are so outrageous is the president's decision to go to war in Iran.

Did he consult with the American people? Not only no, but hell no. The Constitution makes it clear that Congress has the authority to declare a war. This president ignored Congress and the American people.

[08:05:00]

He started this attack on Iran and gas prices went through the roof and 1,500 tankers are sitting in the Straits of Hormuz trying to figure out what this president's up to. That's the reality of how Donald Trump does business. He makes decisions. He does them rashly, impulsively, and we pay a price.

BERMAN: So you will be questioning Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Chair of the Joint Chiefs Dan Caine at the Appropriations Committee today. What do you plan to ask them? What do you need to know this morning?

DURBIN: Well, it's an Appropriations Committee and the obvious question is, how much is this war in Iran that President Trump initiated cost us so far? And what's it going to cost to bring it to a good conclusion? We can't get a straight answer from anyone in the administration.

The Secretary of Defense will have his chance today. Listen, we all stand behind the troops, no questions asked. But when it comes to deciding to invade another nation, to destroy another nation, and to put a region of the world like the Middle East in turmoil, this sort of thing should have been thought out carefully instead of the way this president approached it.

BERMAN: So the head of the Secret Service is going to brief Senate Republicans on what he sees as the need for a billion dollars for security and what will be the new White House ballroom. How supportive are you to the idea of that type of security in the ballroom and the kind of money?

DURBIN: One of the worst ideas at one of the worst times in American history. This notion of a billionaire's ballroom being built as an add-on to the White House, take a look at it. The courts have stopped it because the president ignored the law, which said you need congressional approval to undertake this situation.

Instead, he called in the heavy equipment and just tore down the structure. It's a bad idea. He told us, don't worry, my billionaire buddies will pay for it. We'll cut a deal with them. And now he's backing off of that and asking the American taxpayers at this moment in history to put a billion dollars on a table, for God's sake, for a ballroom.

BERMAN: What if that money is for security? This is in the wake of the shooting of the White House Correspondents' Dinner and whatnot. What if that money is needed to keep the president, the administration, dignitaries who might be in that room safe?

DURBIN: Listen, security is a high priority, but the president once again has decided he wants to be the man to put his name on a ballroom. But he promised the American people they weren't going to have to pay for it. And now a billion dollar price tag.

That just shows you how much you can trust this president's promise.

BERMAN: So you are very aware, as all members of Congress are, of these redistricting battles that are going on around the country. The Supreme Court paved the way for Alabama to change its map. Virginia Democrats going all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court to try to get maybe the map that they want back in place. But my question to you is on Illinois. Not for 2026, but for 2028. Illinois right now has a 14-3 Democratic edge, but there's been some suggestion that Democrats in that state, where you pull all the levers, could juice it even more, could have a map that would be 16-1 or even 17-0.

Do you feel that Democrats should redraw the map in Illinois heading into 2028?

DURBIN: I understand how we got started in this. President Trump challenged Texas and other states to redistrict immediately. Don't wait for the 10-year normal period.

Do it immediately so we can pick up more seats so that we won't lose control of the Congress in the election in November. And that's what triggered the conversation in California, in Virginia, and all across the United States. What Illinois does moving forward, I'm not sure.

I haven't heard any statements from the governor or members of the General Assembly as to what their goals are. But I will tell you this, there reaches a point where you can't predict what's going to happen. When you diminish the Republican majority to create a district, a yearning district, you could just find yourselves in trouble with the existing map and the existing delegation that is supposedly going to come out ahead.

BERMAN: Sounds like you're warning Democrats to be careful.

DURBIN: Of course. You know, voters have the last word as they should. And they may just basically look at this situation and say, we don't like Trump initiating this mess. We'd like to see it come to an end.

We have to be reasonable as a party. What we're trying to do is to give an opportunity for voters to have their will reflected in the November election. It's a critical election. Trump is trying to rig it. He's not going to get it done.

The American people will have last word.

BERMAN: Senator Dick Durbin, good to see you this morning. Thank you very much -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: New cases of the Hantavirus now reported as passengers from that cruise begin to quarantine in the U.S. We have the latest update coming in this morning from health officials about it all.

The president facing a new lawsuit over his Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool renovation, just as the cost of that project just jumped in a big way.

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And a California mayor stepping down and facing charges accused of being an agent for China.

And a California mayor stepping down and facing charges accused of being an agent for China.

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BOLDUAN: An update today from the World Health Organization. There are now 11 hantavirus cases tied to the outbreak aboard the cruise ship. We're also hearing from one of the American passengers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAKE ROSMARIN, QUARANTINED AT UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA MEDICAL CENTER: I do not have the virus. I'm well. I have no symptoms. I feel good and I'm in good spirits right now.

Each room is equipped with some exercise equipment. So I actually have a stationary bike behind me, which I will definitely be getting some use out of while I'm here in quarantine.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: I'd say so. He is among your passengers now at a special quarantine facility in Nebraska.

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Two other passengers are at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta. All of this though raising lots of questions about how this virus spreads, how it is contained.

Let's bring in CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta to help with some of these answers. Let's start with what we were just saying, and that one of the passengers in quarantine in Nebraska, what do they face in quarantine?

DR. SANJA GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: So, you know, it's interesting. They went through this medical assessment. They wanted to get an idea of how they're doing but also get some sense of what their exposures likely were. Did they have contact with someone who was sick? Did they have contact with someone who subsequently tested positive? Trying to assess all that. And then, basically, there's a 72-hour assessment period where they're sort of going to put this all together and see how the person does.

The issue at hand, as we've been talking about, Kate, is this long incubation period, which basically means from the time that someone is exposed to the time that they might develop symptoms, if they're going to develop symptoms, can be a long time, you know, several weeks. And I think that's going to be sort of the question. What we're hearing from these officials at these various places in Nebraska and Georgia is they're sort of trying to recommend people stay for the entire incubation period, which would be around 42 days.

But we may hear over the next few days if the cause for concern is low because of some of the things I just mentioned, they're not particularly worried in terms of the person's overall exposures and they're doing well, they may allow people to go home.

Now, these units, they're pretty remarkable places. You know, one is at my home institution at Emory. We've seen patients there with COVID in the past, but also Ebola. as well at Emory. You may remember that negative pressure rooms to keep people around them safe, but also you know lots of resources in the event that someone should get sick -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: Yes, and to the concern that lots of people have of what -- how concerned should I be? What is the risk to the public? We continue to hear from official after official that the risk remains very, very low. Let me just play this.

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ADM. BRIAN CHRISTINE, ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR HEALTH, HHS: Let me be clear. Let me be crystal clear. The risk of hantavirus to the general public remains very, very low. The Andes variant of this virus does not spread easily, and it requires prolonged close contact with someone who is already symptomatic. Even so, we have taken this situation very seriously from the very start.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Prolonged close contact, which is then a good question of how do you -- how is that defined, close contact?

GUPTA: Yes, so this is an interesting point, Kate. And let me preface by saying, you know, we're talking about a rare virus. It's been known for a long time, decades, but it's still rare. Thousands of cases in humans, hundreds of cases, maybe only in human-to-human contact or spread. The WHO defines close contact as basically 15 minutes or so of exposure in pretty close proximity.

I think what we've seen though in what are known as superspreader events is something that could be a little bit different than that. So look at this diagram. This is the story of a birthday party where a man who's number one in the middle of the screen enters the birthday party and he's there for 90 minutes, Kate. During that time, he infects five people. And you can see where those five people are.

Four of them are pretty close to him, within four feet or so of him. But there's one person who's across the room who also gets infected at this birthday party. And the only time they're in any kind of contact is when one is going to the restroom and one is returning from the restroom. So definitely not 15 minutes. And I think it raises this question of, like if someone is very infectious, could they spread it in even a shorter amount of time? And I think that's what these epidemiologists at these centers are trying to figure out in terms of defining that contact more precisely. BOLDUAN: And we've also heard that this is not the next COVID pandemic. I've heard that from the WHO down to HHS and other physicians as well. Where are you on this, Sanjay?

GUPTA: Yes, I think so in terms of the broader sort of implications. But I think it's important to explain why they're saying that. And I think there's three primary reasons.

One is that the idea that one person has it overall the average, overall the average, how many people are they likely to spread it to? 1.19 people. Like even in that birthday example that I gave earlier, there were 80 healthcare workers that ended up caring for that party of people who got sick. None of those healthcare workers got sick.

So, you know, I think that that makes the case that it is actually very hard to transmit after a very narrow window of spread.

And then finally, you know, the genome of this virus hasn't changed much over a few decades. COVID, you remember, Kate, there was Delta, there was Omicron. It just kept changing and mutating, at least so far at this point, we haven't seen that happen with Ande's virus. It may happen as it spreads more and more, but that's not been a problem as of yet.

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BOLDUAN: Great to see you, Sanjay. Thank you so much, answering some of these questions -- John.

BERMAN: All right the president's renovations of the Washington D.C. reflecting pool due to cost three four even five times more than originally proposed. The contractor someone who did work at one of the president's golf clubs.

And we are standing by for new data on inflation out in just minutes. This as a new CNN poll paints a bleak picture of views on the economy.

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SIDNER: In a few hours from now, President Trump set to depart the White House for his high-stakes visit to China. But this morning on his social media, his concentration was elsewhere. He posted a whole rant railing against criticism of the $13 million price tag on renovations he ordered to the Lincoln Memorial reflection pool.

And yesterday, he attacked the condition of the White House.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

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DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This place was not properly taken care of. I was told by my wife, you have to act presidential, so don't use foul language. I won't.

Therefore, normally I would have said it was a shithouse, but I don't want to say that. The columns were falling down. I won't. The plaster was falling off. This place is tippy top now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: The president is currently pushing several renovation projects across Washington that are causing controversy. CNN's Alayna Treene is following all of this from the White House. What are you learning this morning?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: I think it's no secret, Sara, that despite everything, of course, that is going on in the world and with this administration right now, the president continues to have this personal desire to be somewhat of a developer-in-chief of sorts, of course, pulling on his real estate background to a number of construction projects across the city. We know that he is working on his White House ballroom. He has redone the Rose Garden.

He's trying to put up an Arc de Triomphe similar to that of Paris. But the one I want to focus on right now, which is getting a lot of concern and spurring a lot of controversy, is his plans for the reflecting pool by the Lincoln Memorial. And essentially, he's trying to paint it blue.

It is long-featured. I should note that kind of iconic gray basin. He is now engaging in a project to turn it blue.

Now, I want to get into some of why there is controversy around this. One, we know that there is a lawsuit already arguing that the Trump administration did not go through the proper processes and asking the right agencies to weigh in on this and also criticizing the very quick timeline that they have laid out. They really want this to be done by the celebrations around America 250 this summer, something we know the president has talked a lot about.

Now, the president said initially that this project -- you see it here on the screen -- would initially cost $1.8 million. Well, we learned that the Interior Department last week upped that price tag to now $13.1 million. That is more than seven times the price tag that the president has initially floated for this.

Now, Atlantic Industrial Coatings, that is the Virginia company that has been awarded a no-bid contract, essentially saying they have been the ones that were selected by this administration, by the Interior Department, to do this in a no-bid contract, $13.1 million, again, for this project. We have heard from the Interior Department. They argued that the high cost is due to the quick timeline needed to complete this in order for that celebration for America 250.

All to say this is just the latest project, of course, that the president has really been pushing to put his stamp on a lot of, you know, important and classic historical landmarks in the city of Washington, D.C. -- Sara.

SIDNER: Yes, and it's happening at a time when Americans are struggling economically. Polling not looking good for him this morning, but a lot of talk about this on his social media. Alayna Treene, thank you so much, live there for us from the White House -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: A major brush fire is burning in the Florida Everglades. We have the very latest on the efforts now to contain it.

And the Transportation Secretary facing questions today over a reality show he and his family took part in.

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