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Bloomberg: DOJ Want Identities and Banking Info of Anonymous Social Media Users Criticizing ICE Tactics; Kenyan High Court Suspends Plan for U.S. Ebola Quarantine Facility; Trump and Advisers Meeting to Make Final Determination on Iran Deal; ICE Agent Arrested Over Shooting During Minneapolis ICE Operation. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired May 29, 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]

GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: ... That's some of what's been reported from the inside, but the Department of Homeland Security has denied that there is a hunger strike going on. In fact, we just got a statement from them just a short while ago, which says in part, quote, "Another day, another hoax about ICE detention facilities. Sanctuary politicians are spreading categorically false smears about ICE's Delaney Hall facility in New Jersey." They go on to say, "... No lawbreakers in the history of human civilization have been better treated than illegal aliens."

That of course goes against what we have been hearing here for several weeks now, both from attorneys for those who are inside as well as their family members, including our report yesterday that there was pepper spray deployed inside the facility and extreme use of force against the detainees -- Boris.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Gloria Pazmino, Live Force in New Jersey. Thank you so much -- Brianna.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: A new report from Bloomberg says the Trump administration is now demanding the identities of anonymous social media users who have posted content criticizing the government's deportation efforts. According to Bloomberg, the U.S. Attorney's Office for Washington issued subpoenas to Reddit and X for the names, addresses, and banking information on at least two anonymous accounts that have scolded immigration enforcement tactics. Defense attorneys for the users believe the probe relates to the doxing of a federal officer's location data or other types of perceived threats, though they deny their clients have committed any crimes.

Civil liberties groups are raising alarms about the probe, claiming it's an attempt to hamper free speech and intimidate online critics.

And next, a Kenyan court blocking the Trump administration's plan to have Americans potentially exposed to Ebola quarantine inside Kenya instead of coming back to the U.S. to quarantine. We have the latest right after this.

[08:05:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: U.S. plans to open a quarantine facility in Kenya for Americans potentially exposed to the Ebola virus in Africa are on hold. Kenya's high court temporarily suspended the move after backlash from Kenyan health officials and civil rights groups who fear the Trump administration's proposal could import the deadly disease into their country. Currently, there are no Ebola infections in Kenya.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. DAVJI ATELLAH, SECRETARY GENERAL, KENYA MEDICAL PRACTITIONERS, PHARMACISTS AND DENTISTS UNION: It is important that any arrangement that the government is having with the U.S. government on the issue of containment of the Ebola patient must be discussed transparently because there must be something that is known even to the government that once the disease has come to the country, you cannot limit it. And that's the reason why the government of the U.S. are saying they will ensure that there's not any Ebola patient in their territory. That means they feel like it is too dangerous for Americans, and therefore it must also be too dangerous for Kenyans.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: This quarantine site was supposed to go live today, according to Trump administration officials. CNN previously reported that CDC officials, including the interim director and multiple infectious disease experts, were furious about the plan. I'm joined now by Dr. Celine Gounder, who is an infectious disease specialist and epidemiologist and the editor at large for public health at KFF Health News. Dr. Gounder, thanks for being with us. A Kenyan high court pausing these plans. So what happens next?

DR. CELINE GOUNDER, INFECTIOUS DISEASE SPECIALIST AND EPIDEMIOLOGIST: Well, right now there is no operational plan for what happens if an American has a high risk exposure or is infected with Ebola. So the staff never arrived at the facility in Kenya. There's going to be a court hearing early next week.

And meanwhile, the outbreak is still growing. Uganda just confirmed its eighth case. And so the question Americans working in the region, the question they're asking is really simple.

If I get sick, where do I go? Does my country have my back?

KEILAR: So as I mentioned, these CDC officials, we're aware that they are very upset with this. This is not the way that they think things should go. They think that the best facilities for Americans exposed to Ebola are in America.

Who could override the CDC?

GOUNDER: Well, the president, secretary of HHS Kennedy can override the CDC on this. There are very real concerns with this plan, and there's some constitutional concerns as well as medical concerns. From a medical perspective, we spent billions with a B to build state of the art, truly state of the art facilities to treat and manage and contain patients who have Ebola.

Those are sitting empty right now and could be used to manage Americans who get sick. And they have successfully done so in the past. And then with respect to constitutional concerns, the Fifth Amendment protects your right to come home.

And so while the administration hasn't formally banned American health workers from returning home, if the government controls the only way out, in essence, they are preventing you from returning home. And so there are some constitutional legal concerns, and this may not hold up in court if there are challenges here as well.

[08:10:00]

KEILAR: So explain the process. If someone is exposed in Africa and a lot of times, like you said, we're talking about health workers and normally they would be brought back to the U.S. Explain what that process looks like and why it is seen by health officials as secure. What do they go through to make sure that it's secure?

GOUNDER: Well, they use special planes that have biocontainment capacities. You also have medical equipment so care can begin in flight. It doesn't wait until the person returns home.

And the care that you would be getting at this Kenyan facility, if and when it opens, is equivalent to what you can get on the plane. So on the plane, you can be get you can be getting antibody drugs, antivirals, oxygen, other IV medications. The things that you cannot do on the plane or at this Kenyan facility would be things like dialysis, mechanical ventilation, so to keep you breathing if you can't breathe yourself, heart lung bypass machines.

Those kinds of things are more readily available here in the United States than they are in Kenya. And so you would be condemning these Americans to lower level care by keeping them there. And the way the course of Ebola goes, you detect the infection earlier in the course of the disease before somebody gets extremely ill.

And then by the time they get extremely ill, it's too late to medevac them out. So you really want to be getting them out early after a diagnosis, not waiting to see what's going to happen.

KEILAR: Yes, you need to be ahead of the curve here. Dr. Celine Gounder, thank you so much for being with us.

Will the president sign off on a 60 day peace deal with Iran that would reopen the Strait of Hormuz? We're waiting for a statement from the president after he meets with advisers in the Situation Room.

[08:15:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: We're back now with our breaking news on a possible peace deal with Iran. President Trump announcing in a social media post earlier today that he is meeting with advisers at the White House to make a final determination, as he calls it, on this new proposal.

SANCHEZ: The president says the deal would reopen the Strait of Hormuz and allow the U.S. to obtain and destroy Iran's highly enriched uranium. He also notably said that no money would be exchanged.

Let's discuss with Javid Ali. He's the former senior director for counterterrorism on the National Security Council, also an associate professor of practice at the University of Michigan. Javid, thanks so much for being with us.

So President Trump, according to officials, will not sign off on this deal unless he's learned that the new Ayatollah has given it his approval. From our understanding of this deal, is this something that Mojtaba Khamenei would sign off on?

JAVID ALI, FORMER SENIOR DIRECTOR FOR COUNTERTERRORISM, NSC UNDER TRUMP: So Boris and Brianna, nice to be with you. And yes, absolutely. For any deal with the United States to go into effect, whether it's a ceasefire under an MOU or something else, Mojtaba Khamenei, as the new Supreme Leader, has to approve it. Has he been involved in all the details of it?

We don't know the answer to that. But as a Supreme Leader, much like his father, every major national security decision in Iran had to go through the Supreme Leader's office or desk. So I have to believe the same structure is still in place now.

KEILAR: He emphasized yesterday national unity, which is really interesting. Or is it interesting? Can you read something into that, considering the timing of trying to maybe build some consensus?

ALI: National unity on the Iranian side?

KEILAR: Yes, just this idea.

ALI: Right. So the fact this war has gone on for three months in Iran. We don't know sort of gauging public sentiment there is very difficult.

But as the war has continued, one would think the Iranian people may have sort of rallied under the flag to a degree because they're facing this external threat from the United States and Israel. And they have been attacked for three months now, not in the past several weeks. But this is what happens in these wars, that sometimes it brings a country together in the face of an external adversary, even if previous to that conflict there were more sort of fractures or fissures, as clearly was the case in January and February.

SANCHEZ: President Trump has been consistent in recent days and in his most recent post that any traffic through the Strait of Hormuz must be unobstructed by Iran, that it should be free-flowing. He described it as international waters, essentially as it was before the war. Tehran has given no indication that they're going to give up on this idea of a Persian Gulf Strait authority, that they're going to be charging these environmental fees for passage through.

Do you think they've reneged on that position?

ALI: Well, this is another one of the key issues. What can the Iranians live with in order to get out of the position they're in now? Will they agree to these kind of terms where they will not be able to threaten shipping in the Gulf or hold commerce hostage?

Will the operational capabilities they've used, drones, small speedboats, mines, will they somehow be relegated or destroyed? But that's the thing that has allowed Iran to put this kind of pressure on the Strait. So this is another one of these decisions Mojtaba Khamenei and the senior guys in the IRGC are going to have to make.

Are we willing to live without that in order to get a better deal?

KEILAR: So much is in flux here, right? Iran has always operated as if it needs a nuke in order to be secure. And right now we're seeing it can close the Strait very cheaply.

And in a way that gives it security. And then you also have new people in charge. That's in flux.

We're unfamiliar with them. There's so many of them. You might think it is the same regime, but Trump keeps saying it's not. And it's unclear if he's right.

[08:20:00]

So much is in flux here about their calculations as they've gone through this war and the personalities. How are you seeing that?

ALI: Yes, this is another fascinating aspect of where things are now with Mojtaba Khamenei as a Supreme Leader, even though we haven't seen him, but he is still ostensibly the Supreme Leader and a whole new echelon of senior officials in the IRGC, because that first echelon were killed in the first several weeks of the war. There's a new sort of power dynamic going on inside Iran. So as these negotiations unfold, how are the decisions being made in these different structures in Iran?

And who has the most authority before something gets to Mojtaba Khamenei's desk or his signature?

SANCHEZ: Javed Ali, thanks so much for joining us.

ALI: Absolutely. Appreciate it.

SANCHEZ: Next, after three weeks in quarantine, more than a dozen Americans exposed to the Hantavirus on a cruise ship could soon be allowed to go home as long as their states agree to one condition. Tell you what it is after a quick break.

[08:25:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: An ICE agent has been arrested in Texas in connection to the shooting of a Venezuelan man during the immigration crackdown in Minneapolis earlier this year. Federal officials initially said that the officer shot the man in self-defense after being attacked with a shovel. But the Justice Department dropped charges against the man in February and said two of its agents made false statements about the incident.

CNN's Whitney Wild is with us now on this story. Whitney, these are state charges. Not federal charges.

WHITNEY WILD, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT: Right, and it's an important distinction, Brianna, because as we reported throughout the many iterations of the ICE actions in Minnesota, the question for a lot of people who are living there and really across the country was if the state officials see things that they think are illegal, what is their recourse? And now you have an answer. Hennepin County attorneys had filed charges against an ICE agent named Christian Castro as the result of an incident that happened January 14th when, as you point out -- and I can kind of walk you through what happened here.

These ICE agents were chasing one man. It was basically a case of mistaken identity. They contacted one man.

He ran toward a house where another man named Julio Sosa Solis was standing outside. Both men ran inside as the ICE agent chased after them. And as the two men got inside, that's when, according to the Hennepin County attorney, the ICE agent opened fire through a closed door, through a home, into a home where there were children inside, and then the bullet eventually lodging into the wall of a child's bedroom.

And this incident erupted protests. We were there. They became quite volatile as protesters went up against ICE agents.

And so in the aftermath of that, there were a lot of questions about what state officials could do. They filed charges this month. There are four charges for second degree assault and one count for making a false report of a crime.

At the time, it was not clear how they were going to bring Christian Castro into custody. We now know Brianna, he was arrested in Texas. It is not clear when he's coming to Minnesota, if he is already there.

It is also not clear if he has an attorney. We've reached out to the Department of Homeland Security. There was also a DHS OIG investigation in this case. We've reached out to them as well.

And just to go back to what you were saying at the beginning about the DHS response in the immediate aftermath, they issued this very full throated defense of the agent's actions here, saying he was beaten, that he was fully acting in self-defense. Later, DHS distanced themselves from the agent, saying that after they reviewed the video, they believed that the way that that was reported was not truthful and that that agent was placed on administrative leave.

So we'll see how that admin leave and potential federal repercussions play out over the next couple of weeks here. But in the short term, he has been arrested. And so the Hennepin County attorney, you know, after saying that they were going to arrest -- they are going to investigate incidents that were brought to their attention by the public now making an arrest, Brianna.

And it's really an extraordinary moment because it is very rare to see a federal agent arrested for something that happened in the course of that agent's duties. And again, as people question the state power versus the federal power, this is a data point here where you can say, well, in some cases, the state does feel like they have recourse here.

KEILAR: All right, Whitney Wild, thank you so much -- Boris.

SANCHEZ: Now, to some of the other headlines we're watching this hour. Romania is expelling its Russian consul after an explosive laden drone meant for Ukraine apparently slammed into a Romanian apartment building. The alleged accident happened near the Ukrainian border and injured two people. Romania, of course, is a member of NATO and the European Union. The alliances have both condemned Russia's actions and said that Moscow has again crossed a line.

Also, for the second day in a row, gas prices fell at the fastest rate in nearly two decades, the national average dropping by three and a half cents overnight, down a four thirty nine a gallon. The decline reflects the drop in oil and gasoline futures as traders bet on the U.S. and Iran reaching a deal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Despite the decline, gas is still up a dollar forty one since the start of the war with Iran. And 18 cruise passengers who were exposed to Hantavirus tell CNN that they will be allowed a return to their homes on Monday, though there is one condition. They said ...

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