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Interview with Rep. Carlos Gimenez (R-FL): Trump Says Xi Pledged Not to Provide Iran with Military Equipment; Xi: Taiwan Could be a Very Dangerous Situation if Mishandled; Experts Warn be Careful When Seeking AI Money Advice; Tourist Arrested for Hurling Rock at Endangered Monk Seal. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired May 14, 2026 - 15:30   ET

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

[15:30:00]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: During their first round of talks, President Trump says the Chinese President Xi vowed not to provide military equipment to Iran. In an interview with Fox News, President Trump says the Chinese leader also stressed the importance of Beijing's economic ties to Tehran, especially with oil purchases. China buys more Iranian oil than any other country by a wide margin.

On the issue of Taiwan, Secretary of State Marco Rubio told a separate news outlet that U.S. policy on Taiwan is, quote, unchanged. That comes as Chinese state media says President Xi brought up the issue of Taiwan during talks, reportedly telling Trump that if not handled properly, it could lead to conflict and a, quote, very dangerous situation.

Let's discuss with Republican Congressman Carlos Gimenez of Florida. He's a member of the House Select Committee on China. Congressman, thanks so much for sharing part of your afternoon with us. So how do you read that message coming from Xi about Taiwan being mishandled, potentially leading to a very dangerous situation? Is that a threat?

REP. CARLOS GIMENEZ (R-FL), CHINA SELECT COMMITTEE: I'm having difficulty with the audio. The best I can tell about the question is how do I read the situation or the statement made by Xi concerning Taiwan. It was a warning to the United States that they consider Taiwan to be part of China and that it's an internal issue for them and that we should not get involved if, in fact, China wants to take over Taiwan by force, they don't expect us to get involved.

That's how I take it. And, you know, I don't think anybody can take it any other way.

SANCHEZ: Congressman, I just want to make sure you can hear me clearly. Can you?

GIMENEZ: I can hear you now, yes.

SANCHEZ: OK, all right. So in case we need to, we can take a break and reset the audio.

But I want to get your thoughts on Trump not answering questions about Taiwan. The U.S. readout also not mentioning it at all, the readout of their meeting. The Trump administration, as you know, has been sitting on a $14 billion weapons package for Taiwan that got approved by lawmakers since January of 2025.

Doesn't that delay and the lack of mention send a message to Xi that the U.S. position on Taiwan is negotiable?

[15:35:00]

GIMENEZ: Well, I hope it's not negotiable. It has been negotiable for a long time. I would expect the president to carry out what's been approved by Congress and give Taiwan the aid that we have approved. They need it.

And it's also a way to deter China from any action that they may want to take in Taiwan. Remember, we're rapidly approaching 2027, which is the date that our own intelligence or reports are that they want to do something and actually take over Taiwan.

That's the date that Xi has told his army to be ready for something or some kind of action in Taiwan. I think that what we've done in Iran maybe has deterred China a little bit in that there are other cards that we can play. It's not just direct action reacting to any kind of invasion of Taiwan, but also there are some other actions that we can take that can really hurt them.

One, we can block their energy supplies. Two, we know that China is also very food-dependent. They only can grow about 70 percent of what they need to feed their people.

And so China has some weaknesses that we can exploit. I think we've demonstrated that in the last couple of months. And so I think that China and Xi will have second thoughts about doing something in 2027.

SANCHEZ: When you hear Trump say that Xi promised, again, to not send military support to Iran, do you believe the Chinese leader?

GIMENEZ: No. No. I don't believe anything that the Xi or the CCP say.

Never trust what they say. You got to see what they're doing. And so no, somehow, I'm sure that they'll find a way to help their Iranian allies.

Look, Iran is one of their great allies. It's them, Russia, China, and North Korea, this axis that they formed. So I would sincerely doubt that China would stop sending Iran military aid at this point.

And I'm sure that they're still, you know, giving them target information and all that. China is not our friend. We have to go in there with our eyes wide open.

I know the president knows that they're not our friends, but we do have to deal with China. They are the second most powerful nation in the world, the second largest economy. We're somehow interlinked, you know, economically, and so we have to deal with them and make the best of what I think is a bad situation. SANCHEZ: But do you wish that President Trump had publicly held a harder line on Beijing the way that Xi did with Taiwan, explicitly telling China that what it's doing with Tehran is unsustainable and that it should stop? Do you wish that the president had held Xi to task?

GIMENEZ: Well, I think there's one thing what you say in public, and then there's something what you say behind closed doors. And so there are things happening behind closed doors that we're not privy to, conversations that are happening behind closed doors that we're not privy to. And then, you know, when you come out of these meetings where maybe you've had very tense discussions because you don't want to show that to the rest of the world, you come out and say, well, either don't say anything or, hey, you know, we're working towards solutions, that kind of language.

And so I don't take much about these public declarations. It's really what's happening behind closed doors, which is more important, and I don't think we're going to find that out through any public declarations once this trip is over.

SANCHEZ: Congressman, before we go, I have to ask you about Cuba. The island's energy minister says the energy crisis will soon worsen as that recently donated shipment of Russian oil runs out. Blackouts, we understand, are now lasting upwards of 22 hours in Havana.

We've also seen social media posts showing, purporting to show that demonstrators are again hitting the streets in San Miguel del Padron. Do you think President Trump should allow another shipment of oil as a humanitarian gesture, the way that he described the most recent one in March from Russia, to help the Cuban people? What is your message to the president?

GIMENEZ: The president, look, I don't think that we've stopped the shipments of oil. I know there may be an embargo. We really didn't stop it.

We offered $100 million in aid to Cuba, humanitarian aid to Cuba. They have denied it. I think the way to end the suffering of the Cuban people is for this regime to go.

They're the ones that have caused the suffering.

(CROSSTALK)

SANCHEZ: Sorry, Congressman, are you saying that we haven't stopped energy shipments?

GIMENEZ: We haven't had elections in over 65 years. They've got political prisoners. Hey, it's time for you to go. And once that happens, then Cuba, the Cuban people, can live in freedom and actually not suffer the way they're suffering under this incompetent communist regime.

SANCHEZ: I just wanted to clarify the point. You're saying that the U.S. has not prevented energy shipments to Cuba? GIMENEZ: Well, I think that the last oil shipment that went from Russia, they weren't prevented. Nobody stopped them from going in. I don't think we would stop them.

The problem that Cuba has is they can't pay for it. They don't have the money to pay for the oil. And nobody's willing to give them the credit.

[15:40:00]

They used to get free oil from Venezuela. Maybe they're going to get more free oil from Russia, but I don't think that's going to happen. The problem with Cuba is their own incompetency and the fact that any income that comes to Cuba, the regime steals it. It's not for the benefit of the people.

And so that's why oil really isn't flowing to Cuba. I don't think we have to issue any kind of embargo. They can't pay for any of it.

SANCHEZ: What do you think the president meant in his post the other day when he said that no Republican has ever spoken to me about Cuba? I know that you have multiple times. What is he talking about?

GIMENEZ: I think what he was talking about, there was some kind of a post. There were some Republican senators that have said that they don't want any kind of military action in Cuba. He was reacting to that.

I think there were two or three Republican senators. He was probably saying that those particular Republicans had never spoken to him about Cuba. Obviously, Marco Rubio is a Republican.

I'm a Republican. Mario Diaz-Balart, Maria Elvira Salazar. We're all Republicans. And we've been talking to the president about Cuba all the time. He has numerous friends in Palm Beach that are Cuban- American Republicans that are talking to him about Cuba all the time. Actually, I am sure that he was referring to those Republican senators that don't want to see any military action in Cuba.

SANCHEZ: Congressman Carlos Gimenez, we have to leave the conversation there. Appreciate you sharing your time and perspective.

GIMENEZ: Thank you.

SANCHEZ: So more people are using AI to manage their personal finances, but is it safe? What you need to know to protect yourself ahead. You're watching CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Be warned if you're looking for money advice from AI experts. Experts say artificial intelligence is not quite ready for prime time when it comes to managing your personal finances.

SANCHEZ: Yes, you need to know how to protect yourself. So for that, let's bring in CNN tech reporter Clare Duffy to help us out. Clare, what do we need to know before we just ask AI what to do with our money?

CLARE DUFFY, CNN TECH REPORTER: Well, it makes sense why people are turning to AI for information about their retirement planning or how to get out of debt, how to invest. But it is very important that you do this in the right way. Of course, not everybody can afford a financial planner.

Maybe AI is an easier way to get access to this information, but there are big risks here. And so this is what experts say are the best practices. The first and most important is that you do not share personal information with AI chatbots.

So whether that means redacting your bank statements or other documents before you upload them to ask for advice or even better, just taking out the relevant information minus your personal details and adding those to an AI prompt to ask about them, that is very important for two reasons. One is that, you know, that information could end up in a breach or accessed by hackers. The other is that it could end up being used for that AI chatbot's training data.

And hackers can use targeted prompts in order to get access to AI chatbot's training data. So you don't want your personal details in there. The other important piece is to remember to check the data and retention, data retention policies, the privacy policy for whatever AI chatbot you're using.

Those things can change periodically so it's good to check that regularly. And then if you are going to be asking AI for financial advice, you can actually prompt it to give you privacy reminders that you don't get caught up in the conversation and forget about that very important privacy piece.

Our colleague Jeanne Sahadi spoke with Rachel Tobac, she's the CEO of Social Proof Security.

She put it this way, she said, "People are trusting AI tools like they're a trusted fiduciary. Your trusted fiduciary is required to work in your best financial interest whereas a large cloud-based AI service provider is often creating their policies based on their own best interest and not yours."

And Boris, Brianna, the other really important thing to remember here is to make sure that AI is not your single source of truth. AI chatbots can still make mistakes. Their answers vary depending on who is asking.

So we could ask the same question about how to invest $1,000 it might give Boris really great advice it might give me really bad advice. So make sure that you're also consulting with trusted sources whether that is online or a human professional to get financial advice.

SANCHEZ: AI seems pretty solid to me, especially when it tells me I'm cool. I love that. Clare Duffy, thank you so much.

For more than a decade Stephen Colbert has sat at the center of late night where comedy, politics and culture collide. KEILAR: And as he prepares to take the desk for the final time a new CNN flash doc, "THE LAST LAUGH," examines his legacy in the history of American satire which has played a pivotal role in this country since its founding.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SOPHIA MCLENNEN, AUTHOR, COBERT'S AMERICA, SATIRE AND DEMOCRACY: Early satire was often cartoons they're what are today's memes. We have examples of the join or die cartoon. Ben Franklin tried to make it very clear what would be the point of fighting for independence. Then we have great examples from New York.

JORDAN CARLOS, COMEDIAN AND WRITER: William Tweed basically ran New York City, Tammany Hall and so what Thomas Nast did was he made a series of cartoons. One image of Tweed is just like his head is a sack of money and he's showing the blow of gluttony and corruption.

MCLENNEN: The Nast cartoons managed to communicate to the public information about Boss Tweed in ways that literal serious journalism can't.

KEILAR: The CNN flash doc, "THE LAST LAUGH, STEPHEN COLBERT," airs Sunday at 8pm Eastern on CNN or you can watch on the CNN app.

KEILAR: He hurled a rock at an endangered monk seal's head while on vacation in Hawaii. Now he's in jail. The push to do more to protect endangered wildlife after the break.

[15:50:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: Now to an update on a video that shocked Hawaiians and animal lovers worldwide

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What are you doing? Why would you throw a rock at him?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Yes, great question. Federal agents say the man seen there hurling a large rock at the head of an endangered monk seal has been arrested. They've identified him as a 38-year-old tourist from Washington state.

SANCHEZ: He's charged with harassing and attempting to harass a protected animal and faces up to a year in prison and $70,000 in fines. According to the complaint, witnesses say that when they confronted him after the incident, he told them quote, he did not care and was rich enough to pay any fines.

We're joined now by Ron McGill. He's the conservation liaison at the Zoo Miami Foundation. [15:55:00]

Ron, what was your reaction when you saw this video and the announcement of these charges?

RON MAGILL, CONSERVATION LIAISON, ZOO MIAMI FOUNDATION: Quite frankly, I was disgusted by it. You know, the fact is that he threw this rock and people making a big thing because it's an endangered Hawaiian monk seal.

They should be making a big thing if it was a rat. You don't throw rocks at animals. The whole behavior in and of itself is horrific.

I'm glad that it happened to be an endangered animal because the fines are going to be bigger. Hopefully the penalty is going to be bigger, but it's a disgusting behavior and I just can't believe I was watching it.

KEILAR: Yep, and I think that is so true the idea that someone would try to hurt an animal period. But talk to us a little bit about the monk seal because I remember once walking on a beach in Hawaii where there was one that was lounging around and it had actually been roped off so you could get nowhere near it. It was very clear like this guy's rusting leave him alone. They're very protected.

MAGILL: Absolutely. This is one of the most endangered seals in the world. There's only estimated to be 1,600 of them left in the world.

That's a horrifically low number for any species and to think this man is throwing a rock at this animal, you know, every single life counts when you've got a species like that. But listen, every single life counts anyway. Again, the fact that this is endangered is going to make the penalties tougher for this gentleman.

But for me, it should be penalties tough across the board. Whenever you do something like that in an animal. He not only broke the nature Species Act, the Marine Mammal Protection Act Cruelty to Animals Act. There's several state laws that he broke that guy should have the whole book thrown at him.

SANCHEZ: Wow, Ron, there's a lot of animal news that we want to get through. We hope you don't mind that we do some rapid fire animal questions. There's a drunk deer that people have been talking about.

KEILAR: Don't point at me. You pointed at me as you said that.

SANCHEZ: No, I maybe it's projecting. I don't know. Authorities in eastern France are warning drivers to stay vigilant in wooded areas because look at this. Wild animals may have eaten some fermented fruit.

We love fermented fruit here on NEWS CENTRAL. How common is this?

MAGILL: You know, I'm not going to say it's terribly common. You know, one of the famous ones that you hear about are the elephants that eat the marula fruit that ferments in Africa and you'll see these massive, you know, six, seven ton animals just swaying back around and falling down. I'm not sure that that is an animal being drunk from fermented fruit.

That could be something else. It could be an internal parasite. It could be a brain parasite. It could be something a lot more serious.

Having said that, animals do get themselves a little bit inebriated eating fermented fruit. A lot of the primates, baboons will be seen doing that, eating fermented fruit.

So it is possible, but I would be very careful to immediately label that as an animal suffering from fermented fruit, because to me, it looks like it might be something a little bit more neurological, a little bit more serious.

KEILAR: Oh, I mean, I hope...

SANCHEZ: Maybe he's sort of dancing.

KEILAR: I hope it's the fruit, but I hear you on that, Ron. OK, so next we have a horde of nearly 150 amorous peacocks who are ruffling feathers in an Italian coastal town.

They're showing actually aggressive behavior towards humans, cars, urban gardens, and they also are doing these loud early morning mating calls. That's the males, of course. OK, there you go.

Can humans and peacocks live in harmony?

MAGILL: You know, I'll tell you what, we're suffering through that problem right here in South Florida, because we have a huge population of peacocks, and at first people were saying, oh, they're so beautiful, they're so, I want to see them, until four o'clock in the morning, you're aha, aha, aha. And now during the breeding season, the males will see the reflection in your car. If you have one of those nice shiny dark blue or black cars and they see the reflection, they think it's another peacock, and they take their spurs, and they do thousands of dollars worth of damage by attacking the reflection in your car.

Not only that, they'll also perch on top of your roof or on top of your car and produce so much fecal material that it burns through the paint of your car. So all of a sudden, these beautiful tropical peacocks are a pain in the butt, and it's a real big problem.

SANCHEZ: Hey, Ron, before we go -- that was a lot. Before we go, barbecues this summer are a big deal. This is from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in Alberta. The Mounties, they received an urgent call about stolen barbecue supplies. They were searching for a suspect described as having red hair, short in stature, wearing a thick coat. They found this glizzy gobbler trying to conceal some evidence.

How should we think about preparing and containing our barbecue supplies with thieves like that out there, Ron?

MAGILL: Well, listen, this is going to be any animal that's, you know, adapting to that type of environment. You have that problem with foxes, with bears. They're opportunistic feeders.

They're going to do whatever's easy for them. If you've got a smorgasbord laid out for them, they're going to take it. So you just need to be aware of that.

You know, when you're living in countries or in areas where these animals exist, you need to lock your food up. You need to keep your barbecue covered. Otherwise, you're going to draw these animals in.

Remember, they can smell this stuff sometimes from over a mile away, and they're very savvy. You know, you've heard the term sly as a fox. They're going to make the best out of a situation.

That guy certainly did.

KEILAR: He did. I'll tell you, I've seen that look before in my children when they're wondering, they go, where is my ketchup? That's what they're asking. That's what they want to know.

[16:00:00]

Ron, it is so awesome to have you. This is so much fun. Thanks for being with us.

SANCHEZ: Thanks, Ron.

MAGILL: Always a pleasure.

SANCHEZ: With that, "THE ARENA" with Kasie Hunt starts right now. Thanks for joining us.

END