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Iran Missile Launch at Kuwait; Marina Lacerda is Interviewed about Bondi's Testimony; War-Driven Price Shock Sent Inflation Higher in April; Deborah Del Mastro is Interviewed about being Scammed by A.I. Voice Clone; Craig Ferguson is Interviewed about his New CNN Original Series. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired May 28, 2026 - 08:30   ET

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

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[08:30:51]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, breaking news this morning. U.S. Central Command says that Iran has committed an egregious ceasefire violation. They say Iran fired a ballistic missile at Kuwait. They say Kuwaiti forces intercepted that missile. U.S. officials also say the attack came hours after Iran launched attack drones near the Strait of Hormuz. The U.S. says the forces intercepted them.

With us now, CNN political and global affairs commentator Sabrina Singh.

And as we look at the situation in the Strait, we can see here where the U.S. said it carried out a strike. And there were also the ballistic missiles shot at Kuwait. This doesn't sound like a ceasefire. Even CENTCOM now saying Iran committing a ceasefire violation.

What pressure do you think this puts on whatever peace discussions are happening?

SABRINA SINGH, CNN POLITICAL AND GLOBAL AFFAIRS COMMENTATOR: Well, this is now the second time in three days that we're seeing an exchange of kinetic action between the two sides. Of course, you know, when the United States takes actions in their self-defense, it's considered in self-defense. And when Iran does it, it's considered a breach of the ceasefire. I think both sides, you know, continue to message to their particular audiences who is breaking the ceasefire and when.

But no matter how you cut it, this is putting immense pressure on the very fragile deal that is in place. I'm curious to see how this administration responds to Iran's, you know, launch today of this ballistic missile towards Kuwait. But there's no question that the ceasefire is so fragile and that in exchange of kinetic action in days to come could further fracture the ceasefire and potentially break it completely.

BERMAN: And the way that the president is talking about it could also have an impact. Of course, yesterday, while we were on the air, Iranian state media released what they say were, you know, the 14 -- some of the points on the memo being discussed right now. And that said the Strait of Hormuz would be open and under joint control with Iran and Oman, the nation here. Actually, this is part of Oman right there, the tip there, which you can see with Iran there really borders the Strait of Hormuz. The president didn't seem to like the idea that Oman would be involved in any kind of partnership with Iran controlling the Strait.

Listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Nobody's going to control it. We're going to watch over it. We'll watch over it. But nobody's going to control it. That's part of the negotiation that we have. They would like to control it. Nobody's going to control it. It's international waters. And Oman will behave just like everybody else or we'll have to blow them up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Or we'll have to blow them up. Now, that may have just been a joke. It may have just been an aside, Sabrina. But a statement like that, how is that received in the region?

SINGH: I mean, that was a shocking statement. We're certainly used to shocking statements from this president. But to attack one of our, you know, strongest allies in the region, I think we've had an agreement with Oman since 1833. I mean this is one of our longest standing allies that has been critical, not just for our defensive purposes in the region, but also just with diplomatic ties and getting towards this ceasefire. It's countries like Oman, Qatar, UAE, Saudi, that have really urged the United States to take this ceasefire agreement.

So, insulting our allies like that, threatening to blow them up, doesn't help with our diplomatic ties and, frankly, creates a lot of uncertainty in the region because you might see countries like Oman say, OK, the United States is no longer a reliable ally. I'm going to cut a deal with Iran because at the end of the day my economy is being impacted, my military is being impacted. We just cannot sustain this war.

And so, you might see some countries want to cut a deal with Iran to just get the Strait open. Obviously, this is not what the administration wants. I hope that's not what the president intended. And I think what you're seeing from the president saying is it's not acceptable for either Iran or Oman to control that Strait because they want to go back to the status quo before the war, where there was a free flow of commerce through the Strait and freedom of navigation was allowed.

BERMAN: Sabrina Singh, with all the developments, we will wait and see what happens today.

[08:35:03] Thank you so much.

Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: So, after what has been really a month's long push from lawmakers and survivors of Jeffrey Epstein's abuse, the former attorney general, Pam Bondi, will be in the hot seat tomorrow, set to face questions from the House Oversight Committee as part of their ongoing investigation into the Justice Department's handling of the release of the Epstein files. Bondi herself has faced serious criticism from outside and inside the Trump administration for her role overseeing the document release. It's seen as a key reason President Trump pushed her out of the job.

Now, tomorrow's meeting is a culmination of a huge effort by Congress to get her there. She was initially subpoenaed, you'll remember, to appear in April. Then DOJ argued she no longer needed to appear after she was ousted from the A.G. job. Tomorrow's deposition, it will be transcribed. She will not, though, be under oath.

Joining us right now is Marina Lacerda. She is an Epstein survivor who says she was just 14 years old when she met him. She was identified as minor victim one in the 2019 federal indictment against Epstein.

Thank you so much for being here.

Kind of wondering just how you're feeling after -- I mean a whole lot of lead up and effort and fits and starts to get Bondi to, you know, sit before this committee in a -- in a real way and face this deposition. Kind of, how are you feeling about this?

MARINA LACERDA, EPSTEIN SURVIVOR: I mean -- good morning, first of all, and thank you for having me.

I think it's been such a long road at this point. And were truly frustrated. And we are thankful that she is coming in. But we would like for her to come in under oath and testify. That would be, you know, ideal here. So, it's some -- you know, it weighs out. We are frustrated. But, yes, we feel like, you know, we are taking a step forward to maybe accountability here.

BOLDUAN: Yes, I mean, she -- it -- she will not be under oath. It is still a crime to lie to Congress. So, there is that, of course, right? But what would you hope to hear from her, especially after you said, after it has been such a long road, after the documents have still not all been released and kind of the mess that we have seen of people -- of victims identified and high-profile names being redacted that many see -- many viewed as not needing to be redacted now.

LACERDA: Yes. And we understand it is a crime to lie, but we can see that people are committing crimes and no one is, you know, being held accountable for it. So, it's kind of -- we are -- we're very confused here, right?

But, you know, tomorrow we want to understand what happened inside the DOJ with the redactions, why names and photos, information of victims revealed while names of those who were exploited are redacted. It is -- it is very confusing for us. This is not a hard job. Why are there numerous investigations, leads not being investigated? We have so many names. I mean, people have been asking for names, names, names, names. We have all these names in the files. Why aren't we taking a step forward? We need to, you know, take a step forward into accountability and justice here. And I think that it's very important, not only for the survivors, but for the American people.

BOLDUAN: Yes. A real concrete step forward. I think you guys have been asking for that for quite some time.

I was thinking back to when Bondi testified publicly back in February. There was this moment when Congresswoman Jayapal had asked survivors in the audience to stand and raise a hand if they had been -- not been able to meet with the Trump administration, and asked if Bondi would apologize. You were among them. And afterward you had said that Bondi dehumanized you and other survivors. And I was thinking, she was attorney general then. She's no longer in that role. Do you think that could perhaps get something different from her this time around?

LACERDA: You know, to be honest with you, I don't think things will be honest. I think she is very much protecting somebody. And that is the next question that we also have. Who is she protecting? She is no longer, you know, in the position that she was in. But we do feel that she will continue to protect whoever she's protecting, which we may know who it is.

But I don't think things will be different. I think it -- I think tomorrow might be even something very quick. I think she may not even sit through the whole thing. You know, through the whole hearing. We are just really, really hoping that she will come on tomorrow and be, you know, as honest and, you know, as possible. Everyone has been waiting. And the lashing out that she did the last time will not work this time.

[08:40:04]

Everyone was in the room shocked about how she was acting.

So, we need to understand here that the lashing out that she did the last time was completely, you know, out of this world. We have to understand here that it is time for her to bring the truth to all the survivors and the American people.

BOLDUAN: Really quick. You guys have -- you and other survivors had put out a statement this month to the acting attorney general asking to -- asking to meet. And I'm wondering if you've gotten any response to that or if there's been any progress on this front.

LACERDA: You know, it's funny you say that because we had everyone from the DOJ to Pam Bondi to Todd Blanche, right, on his hearing saying, if victims or survivors need to come forward, they just need to go to the FBI or they need to come to us. It's really crazy. We've been trying to talk to them. We've -- we are tired of asking to speak to them. And we find it at this point that it is truly sad that they have not tried to contact us or even tried to set up something with us.

So, the answer is, no, they have not tried. It is easy to sit, you know, somewhere and say anywhere, you know, on TV and say, we would love to hear from them. If anyone has committed a crime, we are going after them. They have not done that. And it does not look like they will do that.

So, we have high hopes that this hearing tomorrow will really, really bring, you know, some closure and some sort of step towards accountability at this point.

BOLDUAN: Yes. Marina, thank you very much for coming on this morning. I really appreciate it.

John.

BERMAN: All right, we do have breaking news just out a few seconds ago. A new economic report. The Federal Reserve's preferred gauge of inflation.

Let's get right to CNN's Matt Egan for what it says.

So?

MATT EGAN, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Well, John, look, inflation, biggest frustration for Americans right now. And unfortunately, it is getting worse. So, this is PCE and this is the Fed's go-to inflation gauge.

It shows that prices were up by 0.4 percent between March and April. That is a little bit less than expected, which is encouraging. However, it was still enough to push up the annual inflation rate to 3.8 percent. Again, slightly better than expected. But this is still the highest annual inflation rate in almost three years.

And when we look at the trend, you can see that there's been some progress that has been undone. Let's go back to when President Trump took office back in early last year, 2.6 percent was the inflation rate. It actually got to as low as 2.3 percent a year ago. But now it is almost four percent. Keep in mind, John, the Fed's target here is two percent. So, we're almost twice as high as what is considered healthy here.

Obviously, the war is a big part of this. That has caused gasoline prices to go up and inflation to go in the wrong direction.

Now, we also just got new numbers on spending. And it showed that Americans did pull back in spending -- on spending as expected in April. So, March was a really strong number. It was actually just revised higher to one percent. It has been now cut in half to just half a percentage point. So, a significant slowdown. And that's a big deal because consumer spending is the biggest driver of this economy.

And in fact, if you adjust for inflation here, given how much prices were up, real spending, inflation adjusted spending, was only slightly positive. And the biggest driver of the increase in spending, no surprise, was gasoline. So, that's something we have to keep an eye on.

Now we also just got new numbers on GDP. This is the revision of first quarter GDP. And it was revised downward. So, previously it was reported at two (ph) percent annual -- annualized rate of growth in the U.S. economy. It has been revised down to 1.6 percent. You can see on this chart, this is an improvement from the end of last year, but not exactly blockbuster GDP growth. And the reason why it was revised down was because consumer spending and business spending were both revised down, right? So, still positive, but not as positive as they were.

So, look, you put it all together and I think this just shows the really difficult situation that the new Fed chair, Kevin Warsh, is inheriting, right? I mean he was nominated by the president. Warsh has sounded open to cutting interest rates, but that's going to be hard to do when you have inflation going in the wrong direction.

BERMAN: Almost twice the preferred gauge at 3.8 percent.

EGAN: Yes.

BERMAN: And when you have consumers seeming to back off a little bit on spending right now.

EGAN: A little bit. Yes.

BERMAN: So, we'll see what happens.

Matt Egan, thank you very much for all that.

EGAN: Thank you, John.

BERMAN: All right, a desperate mother scammed out of thousands after crooks used artificial intelligence to mimic her daughter's voice in a fake kidnaping.

[08:45:02]

And the urgent efforts to rescue a dog trapped under his family's deck.

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BOLDUAN: New details on a chilling story that we brought you yesterday. An absolute nightmare scenario. A mother in California answers a phone call from a number that she does not know. On the line, a man's voice claiming that her 37-year-old daughter had been kidnaped by a Mexican cartel. The man then demanding $20,000 in ransom. And then put on the line she thought she heard the voice of what sounded like her own daughter, pleading for help. Deborah Delmastro is that mother. She says that her daughter sounded like she was having a panic attack, saying, I love you, mom. I'm so sorry. I'm so scared. The man on the line threatened to kill her daughter and her family if she did not pay the ransom immediately. And so Deborah did, frantically wiring thousands of dollars to Mexico. But in the end, that was not her daughter on the line. Her daughter was fine. It was actually a very elaborate and convincing scam. An A.I.-generated voice clone pleading for help. And it's also a terrifying scam that is becoming more and more of a threat to all of us as A.I. technology advances.

[08:50:08]

Deborah Del Mastro joins us right now.

Thank you so much for being here, Deborah.

I have to tell you, when we -- our colleague Clare Duffy brought your story to us yesterday, and as she was talking about what you've gone through, I -- it was -- it was -- as a mother, as a, you know, as a human, you can imagine the fear that you were going through. As a mother, I was -- started feeling sick to my stomach.

DEBORAH DEL MASTRO, A.I. VOICE CLONE EXTORTION VICTIM: Yes.

BOLDUAN: And now just facing the reality of just that, it was a horrible, terrifying, just evil scam all along. I mean, can you start with telling me, I guess, first, what were -- what did you hear -- not necessarily the words, but what did it sound like on the other end of the phone? How realistic that voice was to your daughter's voice.

DEL MASTRO: Oh, it sounded just like my daughter's voice. Actually, I got to hear her twice. In the beginning it was the panic attack. And, you know, yes, that -- it sounded just like her. Later on -- this lasted for five and a half hours. So, after that, you know, it got to be about maybe three and a half, four hours, and they were going to allow me to talk to my daughter again. And they told me exactly what to say, which was, this nightmare's almost over. We're going to come get you as soon as possible.

So, they put her on and I said exactly that. And my daughter's voice said back to me, I'm so sorry, mom. I love you. I mean, it was my daughter's voice. It was my daughter's voice. It's just -- it was terrifying the entire time. Absolutely terrifying. Yes.

BOLDUAN: And they're keeping you on the phone, Deborah. That's -- they keep you --

DEL MASTRO: As a mother --

BOLDUAN: And they're keeping you on the phone trying to --

DEL MASTRO: Yes.

BOLDUAN: Forcing you to do this in order to -- and that -- this whole -- I mean an hour's long nightmare scenario. I truly -- I just can't imagine. And was there ever a moment, and I cannot say I would have this thought if my daughter was on the other line begging me for help, was there ever a moment where you thought, like this -- something seems off here. That this could be -- this could be a fake. Was there ever a moment? DEL MASTRO: No. Unfortunately, no. Like I say, we were absolutely

terrified. The things that this criminal was saying to me. And he even put on his boss, you know, sort of like later on, almost to the end of it, who was demanding more and more money even after we sent them all of our -- all of our liquid savings that we could get to. You know it wasn't -- it wasn't $20,000. It wasn't $10,000. But that's only because we didn't have it, you know. As a parent, when you truly believe that your child, adult child, you know, is in distress and terror, distress like that, you'll do anything. You'll do anything. So, we did. I was totally taken by it.

BOLDUAN: Yes.

DEL MASTRO: Yes.

BOLDUAN: I get it.

Now, thank God, your daughter is OK and everything --

DEL MASTRO: Yes.

BOLDUAN: But you are now out thousands -- you have lost thousands of dollars.

DEL MASTRO: Yes. Right.

BOLDUAN: And is there any chance of getting it back or finding these people?

DEL MASTRO: No, I don't think -- well, there's certainly no chance of getting it back from the wire transfers that we did. Dear friends of ours, you know, encouraged me to do a GoFundMe. So, we have actually gotten the money back, which is wonderful.

But as far as finding the criminals who did this, actually, I spoke with the officer, the police officer here who's handling our investigation, and he says that there's warrants out to try and get more information, and they're doing all they can to find these people because it was a local number. It was a local number. That's why I answered it, you know? So, yes, who knows if we're going to find them or not. I hope that they do.

BOLDUAN: We hope they do as well. And it is -- and we're -- at the end of the day, I'm so sorry what you went through and what your daughter, you know, I can only imagine what you sounded like on the phone when you actually spoke with her eventually. Dear Lord.

DEL MASTRO: Oh, yes.

BOLDUAN: But thank God everyone -- you are physically OK. You are all together. But I'm so sorry what you went through and it is such a cautionary tale to all of us as we enter this age, an age of A.I.

DEL MASTRO: Yes.

BOLDUAN: Deborah, thank you very, very much. I really appreciate it. John.

BERMAN: All right, the city of Roseville, California, released new video of a fire sparked by a lithium battery that was thrown in the trash.

[08:55:10]

Yikes. Officials say this is the fourth time this has happened since the beginning of the year. They put out the video as a warning, don't toss your lithium batteries in the trash.

The attorneys general for New York and New Jersey are investigating FIFA ticket sales for the World Cup. They ordered FIFA to produce documents about pricing practices for matches at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey. Some ticket resale prices have soared more than ten times over, and both states are looking into whether public statements from FIFA might have contributed to this. Fans are also complaining they were misled about the locations of seats they bought. So, it's going great.

A Yorkshire terrier named Tank is back with his owners. Rescue firefighters in Colorado say they got a call that he was trapped under a deck.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, buddy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, bud.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hey.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, there he is.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, my God. Oh, my God, thank you so much.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: All right, so this wasn't easy. The operation included sawing, shoveling, digging, and a remote camera. Officials say it took a full technical rescue team as well as animal control. Tank was said to be shaken, but otherwise OK.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: We're giving you a first look at an all-new CNN Original Series, "Craig Ferguson: American On Purpose." It follows comedian Craig Ferguson, because his name is in the title, ladies and gentlemen, as he travels across America and explores its cultural identity, capitalism, individualism, freedom of speech, immigration. Ferguson explores all of it as he learns how America has changed since its founding 250 years ago this summer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) CRAIG FERGUSON, HOST, "AMERICAN ON PURPOSE": When I came to America, I was young and full of passion. I love this place. I want to show you why I became American on purpose.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Remember, put your seatbelt on.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No seatbelt in this.

FERGUSON: Express your patriotism with adrenaline.

Oh, my.

Yes, there's rules, but there's kind of no rules.

If I go in, just leave me.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It makes a pretty good picture if you go in with it.

FERGUSON: What is capitalism?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's truly just dog eat dog and the best is going to survive.

FERGUSON: We're going to take our penny, each go in our separate directions, see how much we can grow this.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One cent?

FERGUSON: Haggis tacos. Get your Haggis tacos.

What is the point of being rich if you have to drink that every day?

Things might get a little freaky.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Straighten the knees up.

FERGUSON: I can't straighten my knees, my coccyx doesn't swivel.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: That is exactly how I walk in heels, by the way, Craig, just so -- you're doing pretty well.

FERGUSON: You know, but I kind of like -- I kind of liked it. I got to be honest with you.

SIDNER: Really?

FERGUSON: Yes.

SIDNER: You moved to this country. You became a citizen. Do you still believe in the American dream? Do you believe in it?

FERGUSON: Oh, sure. Yes, yes, yes.

SIDNER: You lived it.

FERGUSON: I'm all about America. Yes, yes, yes, I'm very happy to be here.

I became an American in 2008, and I moved -- I moved here in -- I started working on "The Drew Carey Show" in 1995. That's when I moved here. Do you remember "The Drew Carey Show"?

SIDNER: I do.

FERGUSON: I played the English boss. This is -- let me tell you something. That was the first time I met a show business journalist. Right.

SIDNER: And?

FERGUSON: And I remember the show business journalist saying to me, so you play the English boss on "The Drew Carey Show"? And I said, yes. And he said, but you're not English. And I went, I'm also not his boss. It's pretend. You understand it's pretend.

SIDNER: It's called acting.

FERGUSON: It's pretending. It's pretending to be a thing that you're not.

SIDNER: It happens.

FERGUSON: Like, you know, Sir Anthony Hopkins, who plays Hannibal the Cannibal.

SIDNER: It turns out he's not.

FERGUSON: Not a cannibal. No. No.

SIDNER: Although --

FERGUSON: He will go (ph) Welsh. Yes, yes, yes.

SIDNER: I'm -- yes. And you know what they say about the Welsh. They're wonderful.

FERGUSON: They don't eat people. They do not eat people anymore.

SIDNER: They do not. Absolutely not.

Speaking of eating, you have this episode where you're sort of looking at capitalism in all its different forms, and you tested out a business idea.

FERGUSON: Yes.

SIDNER: What was that?

FERGUSON: Haggis tacos. So, if you take the deliciousness of Haggis, the sheep -- the --

SIDNER: Innards.

FERGUSON: The innards of a sheep. They're the lungs, the other bits and pieces of a sheep. I don't know. It's hat and coat. And you put it all inside its stomach lining. You boil it. And then you put it in a taco. I understand it's not for everybody, but it's, you know, if you like it, you like it.

SIDNER: It is true. And maybe Haggis tacos, with enough hot sauce, with salsa, I could -- I could do that, I think, perhaps.

FERGUSON: Well, you could do -- you could do anything with enough hot sauce and salsa. You could -- you could eat this table with hot sauce and salsa.

SIDNER: It is true.

FERGUSON: I mean that's the -- that's the whole thing about hot sauce and salsa, you cover up the taste of the Haggis.

SIDNER: Everything else. I think it's good.

FERGUSON: That's right.

SIDNER: What experience did you enjoy? Because I noticed you talked to a lot of different -- the Wall Street girlie. You talked to comedians. You talked to --

FERGUSON: I think Vivian Two (ph) is a little more than the Wall Street girlie.

SIDNER: She called herself the Wall Street girlie. I love it.

[09:00:00]

FERGUSON: Yes, no, she's great.

I talked -- yes, I talked to him. I'll talk to anybody. I'm kind of promiscuous in that regard. I will -- yes, don't do that.

SIDNER: I'm just -- really.

FERGUSON: No, you