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Hackers Breached Tank Readers at Gas Stations; U.S. Official: Cuba Appears Willing to Accept $100 Million in U.S. Aid; CIA Director Meets with Cuban Officials in Havana; Texas Senate Candidate Sparks Debate with Taco Order; Crowded Leaderboard as Round 2 Underway at PGA Championship. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired May 15, 2026 - 14:30   ET

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

[14:30:00]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: We have some breaking news into CNN, sources telling us that hackers have breached critical systems that monitor fuel storage tanks at gas stations in multiple states, and officials believe Iran is behind these cyber attacks. CNN's Sean Lyngaas is following the story here. Sean, what do you know about this?

SEAN LYNGAAS, CNN CYBERSECURITY REPORTER: Yes, this is just coming out, Brianna. Iran has long had a history of probing these systems that sit online that monitor tank levels. Also, they've hacked before water systems that are also online.

So they take this low-hanging fruit, and they go for it. And in this case, sources are telling me that in multiple states, the hackers have been able to manipulate the readings on the storage tank. So basically, you might think that the tank is fuller than it is or not.

They haven't actually been able to affect the fuel in there or cause any safety or damage, but it is a concern for safety for anyone, for people to operate in the gas stations, but also for U.S. officials investigating them. Now, they aren't sure it's Iran, according to my reporting. Iran is a leading suspect based on their history and based on the situation they're in right now in the war.

And they don't have enough information right now to definitively blame Iran. However, it does fit in with Iran's history of doing this sort of thing. And it's sort of that asymmetric ability that Iran has.

They can't hit the U.S. homeland with missiles or drones, but they have hackers who are still alive despite all the bombing in Iran who are able to break into these systems. And it's partly a psychological effect, but also a potential safety concern, Brianna.

KEILAR: And what is the safety concern? Why would they do this other than to kind of fool gas station owners into thinking, oh, I don't need that much more gas?

LYNGAAS: I don't want to give them ideas, but it could escalate if they had some outside help. Maybe someone on the ground near the gas station to help with the attack to make it more targeted. Right now, it's basically scanning the Internet and saying, oh, there's something online that should not be online.

It doesn't have a password on it. Let's break into it. And so it's really a longstanding problem with some U.S. critical infrastructure where those without the resources are not really securing their systems. And the Iranians really know how to exploit that, Brianna.

KEILAR: Really important reporting. Sean, thank you so much -- Boris.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Breaking news to CNN. The U.S. State Department says the ceasefire in Lebanon has been extended for 45 days. It was due to expire on Sunday, and this, of course, follows the latest round of talks between Israel and Lebanon, as we've seen scores of strikes exchange between Israel and Hezbollah.

Under the terms of the ceasefire, Israel is allowed to conduct defensive operations, though. We'll stay on top of this story and bring you the latest as we get it.

[14:35:00]

Meantime, as the humanitarian crisis in Cuba worsens, a U.S. State Department official tells CNN that Cuba's government is considering accepting $100 million in U.S. aid. The island is dealing with a deepening energy and economic crisis recently made worse by a U.S. blockade on oil shipments. One Cuban woman described the dire situation to CNN.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translated text): The children don't have food to eat, they can't go to school, we are desperate. The women have lost 20 pounds, we're anxious. We don't have a way to support our kids.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: On Thursday, CIA Director John Ratcliffe met with Cuban government officials in Havana. This comes just days after President Trump claimed that Cuba was a, quote, failed country asking for help.

We're joined now by former CIA case officer Kevin Carroll. Kevin, thanks so much for being with us. The CIA and Cuba have an unpleasant history, to say the least. What do you make of this visit from Ratcliffe?

KEVIN CARROLL, FORMER CIA CASE OFFICER: So I'm sort of surprised that they sent the CIA director down. Sometimes agency directors do undertake diplomatic tasks, but really, they've got an agency to run, you know, with other missions. Apparently, the asks that Director Ratcliffe went down there with are there's a Chinese and a Russian signals intelligence collection stations to them, and he wants those shut down.

I'm sort of surprised that's the ask. I would be more curious about what's behind the anomalous health incidents with CIA officers that started in Havana. It's called Havana syndrome for a reason. I think, you know, signals intelligence collection is a fact of life, but the brain injuries that are being given to agency personnel are really a more urgent issue.

SANCHEZ: Much of that remains a mystery, as you well know. I also think it's notable that the CIA director and the CIA generally was so public because it's one thing to go down and have a meeting behind closed doors. They're publishing photographs of this meeting with people's faces blurred out, albeit, but it's still notable that this is being broadcast.

What's the reasoning behind that?

CARROLL: Yes, it's strange. You know, there have been times in the past where the U.S. government has needed to reach out to countries with whom we lack diplomatic relations, and sometimes CIA can be the right way to do that. But, you know, I'm not sure why they're making it just so public.

And again, I think it really undermines the Department of State. You've got Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner conducting the negotiations with Iran and with Russia. Now you've got the CIA director conducting negotiations with the Cubans.

I mean, should they shut down Foggy Bottom?

SANCHEZ: Yes, that's notable. In the meeting, Cuban officials claim the regime does not constitute a threat to the national security of the U.S. and does not harbor or fund terrorists. They're sort of arguing against the designation of Cuba as a state sponsor of terror. I wonder what your assessment is.

CARROLL: Sure. I mean, the Cubans are a threat in as much as they have a very aggressive foreign intelligence service, the DGI, that's had a lot of success against the United States. I mean, they've penetrated the Pentagon, the State Department, the FBI, and they've given a lot of false information through double agents to CIA. You know, they sometimes host Russian forces there, but I wouldn't say that they're really a threat to the national security of the United States in the same way that they were obviously in the 60s with the Cuban Missile Crisis and even through the 80s when they were supporting the Sandinistas in Nicaragua and so forth.

I think the Cubans are sort of consumed by their own problems now more than looking to, you know, undermine us.

SANCHEZ: Sure. So what do you make of China's footprint in Cuba? Because you mentioned those military installations, spying facilities, and as of CNN's reporting of a few years ago, there were plans to expand that.

CARROLL: China is getting extremely active in the Western Hemisphere and in Africa as well. It's a real worry and probably should have been one of the subjects of discussion in the summit in Beijing, but at least according to reporting, it didn't come up. It looks like a bunch of real opportunities were missed in Beijing and America got a bad result there.

SANCHEZ: Just to hit on what we started with, that $100 million offer in aid, we heard Secretary Rubio tell NBC News that there are no strings attached but that he doesn't want to see any of that money go to the government in Cuba. Of course, it's a centrally planned economy. So at some point, I imagine that those dollars, those goods will pass through some government hands, won't they?

CARROLL: Of course. And, you know, there was all sorts of justified criticism of the Obama administration for giving a lot of money to Iran as part of the Iran nuclear deal because it was inevitably going to go to their coups force and so on and so forth.

Yes, of course. I mean, if we're going to give $100 million to a communist command economy, part of it's going to go to their security services.

SANCHEZ: Fascinating. Kevin Carroll, thanks so much for walking us through that. Appreciate it.

CARROLL: Thank you.

SANCHEZ: Of course.

Still to come, the odd story of a Texas Senate candidate being forced to fight accusations of veganism. We'll discuss in just moments.

[14:40:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: We have a very urgent and serious political story to bring you now.

KEILAR: Serious indeed, Boris. Democratic U.S. Senate candidate -- I couldn't even keep it together -- James Tallarico, is facing accusations of veganism after a stop at a taco shop in Austin, Texas.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think I know your order.

JAMES TALARICO, DEMOCRATIC U.S. SENATE CANDIDATE: Yes, breakfast tacos.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Potato egg and cheese.

TALARICO: That's right. I come here a lot, so she knows.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: While what you see there may appear normal, a politician just swinging by his favorite taco shop, a spot he goes to so often they know his order. SANCHEZ: Critics say that it's anything but. They want to know, where's the meat? Here's how the New York Times put it. "Talarico's taco order turns into a Texas-sized debate."

Of course, we have to bring in CNN's Tom Foreman. Tom Talarico, far from the first politician involved in a food fight.

[14:45:00]

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, far from it. First of all, his order was tacos of eggs and potatoes and cheese with no meat. That is the issue in Texas.

A lot of ranchers, a lot of barbecue. They got very upset about this. The Talarico -- and they started saying, as they have said before, oh, he's a vegan. They say he's a vegan, which is, as you would suggest, some sort of an attack in Texas, not necessarily everywhere. Nonetheless, the Talarico campaign responded with a photograph of him chowing down on a turkey leg as the answer to the accusation that he would be a vegan out there.

Yes, he said people should probably eat less meat and once said his campaign was buying from a vegan dealer, but he's not a vegan. That simply is not true. But you mentioned other candidates.

Yes, go ahead.

SANCHEZ: Well, I was going to say eggs and cheese.

FOREMAN: Yes.

(CROSSTALK)

SANCHEZ: I don't know anything about -- I'll be honest. I know nothing about veganism.

FOREMAN: Vegetarian, yes.

KEILAR: He once made a meat salad.

SANCHEZ: I did.

KEILAR: We still tease him about it. He made a meat salad.

SANCHEZ: A bunch of meat was going to expire in my fridge. I put it all together, chopped it up.

KEILAR: He called it a salad.

FOREMAN: OK, enough of old history. When you talk about politicians, speaking of old history, Gerald Ford got in trouble 50 years ago because he ate a tamale and he didn't take off the corn husk on the outside and people ridiculed him.

SANCHEZ: I would have liked to see that. FOREMAN: John Kerry went to Philadelphia and he had cheesesteak there and he asked for Swiss cheese. They nearly threw him into the harbor. Bill de Blasio had pizza and he ate it with a fork. The whole of Staten Island was quaking.

John Kasich had pizza one time. He ate with a fork also. He said, well, it was really hot. That's why I did it. I wouldn't normally do that.

Barack Obama visited a Chipotle here in D.C. and look, he's reaching over the guard. He's reaching over and pointing at the food, which is just, you know, the horrors. That was a big deal.

But, but, but Donald Trump, who also ate pizza with a fork one time, look, there he is eating KFC with a fork and knife. He's eating fried chicken with a fork and knife. So a lot of people run afoul of these things in the political world.

I'm a New Orleans person. I don't care how you eat food. I just care if it's good. So if you offer me a taco with meat, a taco without meat, I'm going to say, por que lo nos dos? Why can't I have both?

SANCHEZ: There you go. There you go. Class personified. Tom Foreman, thank you so much. So as we discuss this story this morning, we wondered what must the Talarico campaign be thinking?

Are they actually worried? And if so, maybe how much?

KEILAR: So we asked ourselves who better to chat about this than someone who has been in Talarico's shoes. Someone that Tom just mentioned here. Joining us now, pizza enthusiast and committed fork user, former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio.

All right, Mayor, there's a lot to consider in this one. I guess this is his regular order. They went in the afternoon, though.

He must be a breakfast regular. And while the potato breakfast taco may be vegetarian, it's also affordable, delicious and a, quote, totally legit order, according to the Tacos of Texas podcast. Nonetheless, should his advance staff -- just to make sure that he got some darn meat in his taco or maybe gone for some brisket?

BILL DE BLASIO, (D) FORMER NEW YORK MAYOR: I think Talarico was within his rights here. But here's my advice to him. You've got to have fun with this.

He needs to go to Franklin Barbecue in Austin and just like eat every kind of brisket and sausage and everything in front of the cameras and just challenge people to keep up with them. Just have fun with it, because these food things, I'm telling you, they linger in people's mind. People still come up to me and talk about the fork and knife for the pizza, like ten years later.

So Talarico should own it, have fun with it and get him some brisket.

SANCHEZ: Yes, just get brisket all over him, just barbecue all over the place. I wonder --

DE BLASIO: Exactly.

SANCHEZ: You're saying people still come up to you after all these years. Can you take us back and walk through what you experienced? I can't imagine that as you were sitting down for a delectable meal, you were imagining somehow this would wind up being a thing that I would be approached by people about years later.

DE BLASIO: It's unbelievable. You know, in Italy, it's very common. My family's from Italy.

It's very common to eat pizza with a knife and fork. It was the Italian style, like super thin crust pizza. But I'm like doing it.

I remember it -- I remember that moment like it was yesterday because it turned into such a big scandal. I just was -- I wasn't even thinking I was talking to someone.

The pizza was there. It was hot. It was thin. I'd take out my knife and fork. I did not know it would haunt me for the rest of my life.

KEILAR: It is true. It does stick in your mind. And I will tell you that whenever I order for my kids like ham and pineapple pizza, I think of you explaining rank choice voting and saying it doesn't belong on pizza.

DE BLASIO: Yes.

KEILAR: I tell them I'm like de Blasio says it doesn't belong on pizza. They don't care, Mayor. They'll eat it anyways.

SANCHEZ: A topping is a topping.

KEILAR: A topping is.

DE BLASIO: I have such respect for you.

KEILAR: Allowing it?

DE BLASIO: Such respect for you as a journalist. I'm deeply troubled by your pineapple choice.

[14:50:00]

KEILAR: It's not mine. Hey, it's the kids choice.

But let me ask you this. Talarico, I mean, he's trying to flip a Texas Senate seat blue. Right. And even President Trump is taking aim at him.

He claimed that Talarico is a secret vegan or vagan, as he actually pronounced it, which just makes this whole thing even more funny. He said that on Air Force One this morning. I mean, doesn't that just kind of show you, I mean, the president's taking aim.

What are the stakes in this race that this has been elevated that much?

DE BLASIO: Talarico is an extraordinary political talent. This is not about partisanship. He's just, we've never seen anything quite like it.

This is a guy who talks about his Christian faith very openly, very fluently, but also talks about, you know, taking on the wealthy and the billionaires in America. It's a powerful combination. And I think the Republicans are kind of freaked out that they could actually lose Texas.

And the Republicans have a primary. They're at each other's throats in the meantime for that seat. So this is now really something that could change the entire trajectory of American politics. And even a taco order becomes important.

But what I love is Talarico doesn't seem to take bate in general. They constantly come at him. He takes and he goes to, I think, honestly, he goes to a higher place. That doesn't mean don't fight back. But he stays on message no matter what.

But with this one, he should have as much fun as possible. Just like I said, I don't care if the brisket's dripping down his face. Show he's a true Texan. Have fun with it.

SANCHEZ: That higher place he's going, of course, Franklin's Barbecue in Austin, Texas, to devour some of that fine brisket.

DE BLASIO: Which is the best. The best in the country. Absolutely.

SANCHEZ: Thank you so much for joining us. Have a good weekend.

DE BLASIO: Thank you.

SANCHEZ: Still to come, the future is now. And it is doing donuts in an Atlanta cul-de-sac. How one neighborhood had a front row seat to some wayward Waymo's.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think yesterday morning we had 50 cars that came through between six and seven.

[14:55:00]

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: The golf world is now zeroed in on suburban Philadelphia, where the second major of the season is underway after round one of the PGA Championship. The top of the leaderboard was more crowded than any major since 1969. Seven players tied for the lead.

CNN sports anchor Patrick Snell is there and joins us now. Patrick, world number one Scottie Scheffler was part of that log jam at the top. So what is happening today? PATRICK SNELL, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Boris. Yes, log jam is exactly the right word. Absolute chaotic scene to top the leaderboard on day two of this year's PGA Championship. The 108th in the competition's storied history.

And of course, so many thousands of people out on the course behind me here with their eyes firmly trained earlier on this day, the world number one player from the United States, Scottie Scheffler, who did have a three under par 67 on Thursday. And a career first for him, as you say, the first time he'd ever had the lead or a share of the lead through the first round of a major, which is quite incredible when you consider his storied career.

But as of today, a bit of a rude awake for him -- awakening for him earlier on in the day, two bogeys, Boris, inside the first three holes. Not a good start by his own immaculately high standards. He would go on to steady the ship.

And through the first two rounds of this year's tournament, he is at two under par and in really good shape and a good omen for him. He's now one of three players to have the lead or a share of the lead in the first round of a title defense of this competition. He's in storied company.

Tiger Woods in 2000, which went on to win that year. And Brooks Koepka in 2019. He also went on to win that year. So a really good omen there for Scotty Sheffler.

Meantime, contrasting fortunes for Northern Ireland's Rory McIlroy. He made history recently when he won back to back Masters titles at Augusta National.

He had a first round to forget on Thursday four over par 74. His round concluding with four consecutive bogeys. That's the worst finish he's ever had to any round at a major.

Afterwards, he gave some very chastening and blunt assessment on his first round. Take a listen to what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Rory, how would you describe your opening round?

RORY MCILROY, 6-TIME MAJOR WINNER: (BLEEP) I'm just not driving the ball well enough. I mean, it's been a problem all year for the most part. That's pretty frustrating, especially when, you know, I pride myself on driving the ball well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SNELL: He has got much work to do. But right now, everyone is playing catch up with a 21 year old from South Africa, Aldrich Potgieter, who leads the way here at the PGA Championship this year so far. And what a story it would be if, and it's still a big if, the 21 year old can go on to make history here.

But McIlroy certainly, Boris, with a lot to do.

SANCHEZ: Patrick Snell, thanks so much for the update from Pennsylvania -- Brianna.

KEILAR: A future filled with self-driving cars may be a little delayed. Droves of empty Waymos, those are those self-driving cars ...

END