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Waymo Recalls 3,800 Cars That Could Drive Onto Flooded Roads; Trump in China for Critical Talks With China's Xi Jinping; Wholesale Inflation Surges to Six Percent, Highest in Four Years; Trump Asks Taxpayers to Foot Big Bills for D.C. Renovations; Trump Denies Picking Firm Working on Reflecting Pool Despite Boasting About Hand-Picking Contractor; Controversial Florida Migrant Detention Facility Expected to Close. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired May 13, 2026 - 14:00   ET

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

[14:00:00]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": -- doing what's best for South Carolina.

Other Republican lawmakers expressed concerns the new map could backfire and give Democrats one or two more seats than the one they have now, held by Congressman Jim Clyburn.

And Waymo recalling nearly 4,000 of its self-driving robocars to update their software so they do not drive into flooded roads. Waymo cars were caught on camera last month in places like Austin, Texas, driving into standing water on streets during rainstorms.

In San Antonio, Waymo service was suspended after one of its cars drove onto a flooded road and was swept into a creek. No people were in the cars at the time, but it's prompting a wider review by highway safety officials. The company currently operates in 11 U.S. cities.

A new hour of "CNN News Central" starts right now.

Inflation frustration, prices are rising and so is Americans' anxiety. High gas prices and rising costs for businesses could mean even more pain on the way for consumers.

And rolling out the red carpet, China welcoming President Trump to Beijing, but will the rest of his visit be as friendly with a summit focused on contentious issues like trade, technology, and Taiwan?

And the White House wish list, A ballroom, an arch, a paint job for the reflecting pool. The president's list of projects is long and expensive, so will the cost be more than Congress can stomach?

We're following these major developing stories and many more, all coming in right here to "CNN News Central."

We start this hour with the new signs pointing to prolonged pain. Data out today shows wholesale inflation surged to 6 percent in April compared to last year, driven by rising gas prices. This coming fewer than 24 hours after President Trump dismissed concerns about the economy, specifically in relation to Iran, telling reporters, quote, "I don't think about Americans financial situation" as he pushes forward on negotiations amid a stalled ceasefire.

Right now, AAA says a gallon of regular gas costs an average of $4.51 a gallon. The International Energy Agency is warning that global oil stockpile is rapidly shrinking, too. Let's check in with CNN Senior Reporter, Matt Egan, to break down the numbers. So Matt, how significant is this new inflation report and what should Americans expect in the coming weeks and months?

MATT EGAN, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Well, Boris, we knew that inflation was really starting to bubble up because of the war, but today's report suggests there's even more pricing pressure building in the pipeline than we realized.

And look, we were bracing for a hot inflation report today, but this was just sizzling, right? So producer prices up by 1.4 percent between March and April alone. That's twice as hot as the forecast. In fact, if you go back to when they started tracking this in 2010, this is the second highest monthly reading on record.

Annual inflation was expected to go from four percent in March to five percent in April. That didn't happen. It was way higher at six percent. This is the highest annual rate since late 2022.

When you look at the trend for producer prices, this goes back the last four years or so, you see it was coming down sharply after COVID, had been largely under control. And this green line is the start of this year. And you can see that producer price inflation is going almost straight up.

And we pay close attention to this because there's a really close relationship between producer prices and consumer prices. They tend to go up and down in tandem. This goes back to 2020. And you can see there was this historic rise in the red line, that's producer prices, along with the blue line of consumer prices. It came down, but again, it's going in the wrong direction.

Why did this happen? It was gasoline, it was diesel, vegetables, industrial chemicals. And Boris, one thing to keep an eye on, also consumer electronics. And that may be some early evidence that the A.I. boom is causing a significant increase in electronic prices.

SANCHEZ: I mentioned a moment ago, Matt, that the global oil stockpile is rapidly shrinking, according to the experts. We're also getting some new warnings about the United States emergency oil reserves.

EGAN: Yeah, that's right, Boris. We learned just today that America's emergency oil reserves, they're going down rapidly. So the Strategic Petroleum Reserve last week alone, drained 8.6 million barrels. That is an all-time record going back to the 1980s.

This chart shows you the weekly change in emergency U.S. oil reserves. And you can see that back in 2022, after Russia invaded Ukraine, the Biden administration aggressively drained the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. But right now, it's actually going down even more aggressively under President Trump.

And you'll recall that President Trump, he sharply criticized Biden for draining the oil reserves, accusing him of doing it for political reasons.

[14:05:00]

But now, U.S. officials are facing an even bigger hole because gasoline prices, diesel prices have skyrocketed because the Strait of Hormuz remains closed. Back to you, Boris.

SANCHEZ: Matt Egan, thank you so much for walking us through those numbers. The war with Iran and the economic pain it has brought will loom over President Trump's next 48 hours in China. Just a short time ago, the president arrived in Beijing to a flag-waving spectacle, hundreds of children hoisting American and Chinese flags. This is ahead of his crucial summit with Xi Jinping, China's leader.

The two global superpowers are set to meet for two days of tense talks that are expected to be dominated by the war with Iran. Let's go live to the White House for some new details on how President Trump is hoping to accomplish a slew of goals. CNN's Alayna Treene joins us now.

Alayna, what are you hearing?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yeah, look, I would argue that this is an entirely different trip, Boris, than what the president and his team here at the White House had initially envisioned when they put this on the books. I'd remind you as well that this is now happening. It was once postponed about six weeks ago, was when this trip was initially supposed to take place, but the president had pressed pause on that because of the ongoing war with Iran, hoping that delaying it by six weeks would see the end of the war and allow them to focus on what they really want this visit to be about, which is different trade proposals as well as different economic goals.

But of course, as you said, the Iran War is definitely overshadowing a lot of what is going to take place over these next two days. Now, I will say when I talked to the president just before he got on Marine One and then sped off to head to China yesterday, I asked him specifically about whether or not he thinks that President Xi Jinping can help with the war with Iran. Of course, we know that China and Iran have a very close relationship.

China is the largest consumer of Iranian oil. And the president said, you know, we are going to have a long talk about it, him and Xi Jinping. But then he added that he doesn't think that he needs to ask directly for his help.

Of course, in the conversations that we are having privately with Trump administration officials, it's very likely that Iran is going to be a big part of what they discuss and also, this idea of whether or not the Chinese can help bring the Iranians back to the negotiating table in a much more substantial way than they have been so far. So that's a big part of this.

But to get into some of the other big things we know that they want to discuss here, I'd remind you that when we saw the president getting off Air Force One yesterday to that big, you know, pomp and pageantry, he was greeted by the vice president of China. He also -- we saw two other people exit the plane. That was Elon Musk, as well as Huang Jensen.

And that is notable, these two tech titans traveling with the president when he touched down. We also know a number of other, around a dozen CEOs of major tech companies also attending. That includes Meta and Boeing, among others.

So we're likely to see some big, you know, economic announcements around this announcement as well. But they have a number of things to go through. Trade really being the one thing the administration wants to get a lot out of.

But Iran, I think, is going to dominate a lot of what we expect them to discuss, Boris.

SANCHEZ: Alayna Treene, live at the White House, where it sounds like they're doing some very loud yard work behind you.

TREENE: Yeah, sorry about that.

SANCHEZ: Alayna, thank you for powering through that.

Still to come, as Americans struggle to pay the bills, the president is pushing for legacy projects like a sky blue reflecting pool, despite rising costs. Plus, she wrote a book about her husband's death and then was convicted of his murder. Today, Kouri Richins receives her sentence on what would have been his 44th birthday.

And CNN learning this controversial migrant detention center in the middle of the Florida Everglades is expected to close. Much more on the future of the so-called Alligator Alcatraz when we come back.

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[14:13:38]

SANCHEZ: Multiple sources tell CNN that House and Senate Republicans are weighing whether they should agree to put any taxpayer money toward President Trump's ballroom, let alone his current $1 billion request.

They're worried that it will not go over well with voters, most of whom, according to new CNN polling, say they can't comfortably afford extras, like a nice dinner out or a vacation. President Trump initially said the ballroom would cost $200 million. It's since doubled to $400 million, with Congress being asked to approve an additional $1 billion that could be used for ballroom-related security. This is just one of many legacy projects the president wants completed. There's also the 250-foot-tall arch he wants to build across from the Lincoln Memorial. That's estimated to cost approximately $100 million, according to Axios.

You also have the near-tear-down renovation of the Kennedy Center, which the president has attempted to rename the Trump-Kennedy Center. A source tells CNN Trump has very specific ideas about what he wants to do to the building, and the price tag is hovering around $257 million.

Then there's the new Air Force One, which will have a Trump-approved color scheme. The jet, remember, was a gift from Qatar. And while some lawmakers have put the price of retrofitting it above $1 billion, of course they would have to essentially take the whole thing apart and put it all back together, the Air Force secretary says it should be under $400 million.

[14:15:00]

And then on to the makeover of the Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool. According to The New York Times, that price tag has grown from the $1.8 million the president first advertised to more than $13 million. According to the Times, there are also serious issues with the project.

The newspaper says Interior Department staffers are raising concerns about the quality and speed of the work, which the president once completed in time for the country's 250th birthday celebration in July. The American flag blue paint is said to be mottled and uneven and bubbles are appearing in a waterproofing layer. A no-bid contract was approved for the work.

And just last week, President Trump boasted about handpicking the firm.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I have some very good contractors, some good one or two in particular. And I sent the two, actually the three best. I said, do me a favor, fellows. And one of them who came back was really, I would say the best, but they're all good. He came back, he said, what an exciting job, sir.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Following the New York Times reporting, the President wrote on Truth Social, quote, "I didn't give out the contract, Interior did, to a contractor I did not know and I've never used before."

Joining us now, one of the New York Times journalists behind this new reporting, David Fahrenthold. David, thanks so much for joining us, as always. Tell us more about the concerns that you've dug up in these documents from staff at the Department of Interior.

DAVID FAHRENTHOLD, INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER, THE NEW YORK TIMES: Well, their concern is that this method that's being used to seal the bottom of the reflecting pools and then seal the joints between its concrete slabs so they don't leak, it's an untested method. It's something that's never really been done at this pool or anything in this scale before. And they're worried that it's not going well.

It's not going as well as Trump thought. As you mentioned, there's concerns about uneven colors in the paint, which is a cosmetic thing. It might make the pool look uneven.

But more concerning are these bubbles and holes in the waterproofing layers. And so that if those persist, it could sort of defeat the purpose of fixing the pool in the first place, which is to stop it from leaking.

SANCHEZ: Is that your understanding of why costs have increased so much?

FAHRENTHOLD: Well, what's interesting here is originally, as you said, President Trump said this job would cost $1.8 million. Originally -- first of all, that was never true. From day one, this contract cost $7 million. It's since risen to more than $13 million.

And from what I've been able to tell, that was the bid originally. They always knew it was going to cost about this much. That includes 20 percent overhead and 20 percent profit for the contractor. That was just the bid from the beginning. So I don't think there's anything unexpected about this that raised the price. I think it was always going to be that high.

SANCHEZ: I also wonder what you make of Trump initially saying that he recommended this contractor because they had done some work on his pools. And then we saw the total about face in the president's statement saying that he -- actually he'd never heard of them. What do you think that's about?

FAHRENTHOLD: This is really puzzling. So president -- this wasn't an offhand comment that President Trump said that he knew this contractor, he'd chosen himself. He said it again and again and again. He made a YouTube video about it to show the American people that he had used this connection from business, his business know how to cut through red tape and get this job done quickly and cheaper.

So the whole point of that story was that he knew the contractor from swimming pools at his golf clubs and he knew he could trust them. So the odd thing is, the contractor they chose, I can't find any connection between that contractor and Trump's swimming pool. So I'm not sure they ever actually did work for Trump.

And now, Trump is saying effectively the same thing. They never worked for me. I don't know these people.

The question is, A, how did he find them? How did they get chosen for this no-bid contract? And B, why did he go around saying that he had chosen them personally and knew them personally if there actually was no connection? SANCHEZ: There's also the fact that the pool has been plagued with persistent problems going back more than a decade, right? The Obama administration spent some $35 million over several years unsuccessfully trying to fix them. How is that different from what Trump is doing now?

FAHRENTHOLD: Well, you're right. The pool has a lot of problems with leaks. And it has a bigger problem with algae. Algae blooms because it's very shallow and hot in the summer. And so, it doesn't matter what the bottom of the pool looks like. It's going to be -- the pool itself is going to look green because of all the algae.

And so, the first Trump administration decided, OK, there's three things we need to do to fix this. Plug the leaks, replace the pipes that take the water in to be filtered, and then add a new filter.

Basically, the Trump administration now is doing two of those things, plugging the leaks, adding a new filter. But they're not doing the hard part. The hard part is replacing the pipes that make the water go through the filter.

And from talking to experts, we've heard that if you don't do that, and they say they might do it in the fall, but if you don't do it at all, the algae will come back and all this paint job will sort of be for naught because people won't be able to see it.

SANCHEZ: So that's part of the issue at the crux of this, right? President Trump wants this done for the 250th anniversary of the country's founding, the country's birthday. But it seems like they might have to go back and redo some of this work.

[14:20:00]

So in a sense, is this ambition to get it done for the cosmetics, getting in the way of the actual function of the pool, which we should acknowledge, it's an enormous pool. It's going to be plagued with problems as any pool is, right?

FAHRENTHOLD: Right, so the thing here is there is a bidding process, it's required by the law. Government agencies, when they want to find somebody to do a job, they're generally required by law to ask a bunch of vendors and say, hey, how would you do this, how much would it cost? And President Trump's gone around that, they say they don't have time to do that in this case.

But look, that's capitalism, it's the beauty of capitalism, right? If you're going to let a bunch of people tell you how they would do the job, you might find somebody who could do the job better. And so the downside of rushing this and giving this to somebody that Trump says he knows, who's never held a government contract before, the downside of that is that you haven't actually found the best solution.

You found the solution the president knows, but you found something that's not going to really work the way you want or result in kind of an embarrassing situation. So in this case, maybe a little more competition might have served them better and found them, you know, put them in a more confident spot.

SANCHEZ: Important point that you raised there, the fact that this contractor had never held a contract like this before, really fascinating reporting. David Farenthold, thanks so much for bringing it to us.

FAHRENTHOLD: Thank you.

SANCHEZ: Still plenty more news to come this afternoon. A controversial migrant detention center in Florida could soon be closing its doors. Ahead, what Governor Ron DeSantis is saying about the future of what they've called Alligator Alcatraz.

Plus, a condition impacting millions of women worldwide will now go by a new name in hopes of improving awareness and treatment. You're watching "CNN News Central." Don't go anywhere. We'll be right back.

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[14:26:18]

SANCHEZ: The controversial migrant detention facility at the center of the Trump administration's immigration crackdown is on the verge of shutting down. The facility dubbed 'Alligator Alcatraz' by Republicans is located deep in the Florida Everglades and it has faced backlash from the start -- legal challenges, soaring operational costs and allegations of inhumane conditions. CNN's Isabel Rosales is following this story for us, so walk us through why it's being shut down, Isabel.

ISABEL ROSALES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Boris, we're working to answer the why. What was the tipping point right now for this closure? Here's what I can report for you, what I can tell you. The controversial migrant detention facility just 50 miles west of Trump's Miami Beach resort has been running for almost a year and in that time, it's been embroiled in all sorts of legal fights. Legal fights over the potential environmental costs, the actual monetary costs and the alleged poor conditions that migrants are facing.

Now a source familiar with planning told my colleague, Priscilla Alvarez, that the so-called Alligator Alcatraz is expected to be empty by sometime this summer. Meanwhile the New York Times has been reporting that vendors at this facility were just told yesterday that detainees would be removed from the facility by the start of June and that the center would start to be dismantled here in the following weeks.

Our affiliate, WFOR, is reporting similar details. Now, Alligator Alcatraz is estimated to cost originally $450 million to run annually and it's also been the focus of major backlash by human rights groups and you'll remember Democratic lawmakers who visited the site just last summer, that they described hundreds of migrants confined in cages, subjected to sweltering heat, bug infestations and meager meals.

Today, Governor Ron DeSantis at a press conference was asked about the so-called Alligator Alcatraz and he did acknowledge the talks with the federal government, but said that this facility was always intended to be temporary. Listen to what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. RON DESANTIS, (R) FLORIDA: Now, I have not gotten any official word that they're going to not be sending illegal aliens there. Now when we opened it in the summer of 2025, it was always intended to be temporary because we were only doing it because the federal government didn't have the resources to hold these people themselves.

Well now, they've gotten a lot of money over the last nine months, they've been able to work and adjust their operations accordingly. And ideally, I wouldn't want to be involved in this business at all. I mean, if the federal government -- if they control the border and the people here illegally they handle, if they could do that with no state support, all the better.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROSALES: And this question of reimbursement, these millions of dollars that it took to set up the facility and to keep it running, has been a major question and major focal point of backlash. DeSantis also spoke about that. He said that the costs of the detention facility, the federal reimbursement was approved, but insisted that it's going to take time for the state of Florida to see those federal money, that funding come in. And he -- it's also not immediately clear, by the way, where these detainees will be taken to once this is shuttered down.

We do know from ICE data that Alligator Alcatraz had nearly 1,400 people in that facility as of early April. So this will not be a quick process we can assume. Boris?

SANCHEZ: Yeah. Isabel Rosales, thank you so much for the latest there.

So another U.S. state is now monitoring for Hantavirus, but health officials say the risk to the general public remains low. After the break, an infectious disease doctor is going to join us to discuss what you need to know.

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