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Donald Trump and Xi Jinping to Begin Talks Soon; OpenAI CEO Testifies in a Landmark A.I. Trial. Aired 3-3:45a ET

Aired May 13, 2026 - 03:00   ET

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

[03:00:00]

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POLO SANDOVAL, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: Hey everybody, welcome to "CNN Newsroom." I'm Polo Sandoval, live in New York.

It is 3:00 a.m. in Washington, 3:00 p.m. in Beijing, where Donald Trump is scheduled to land in a matter of hours. The President says that he'll be discussing Iran during his summit with China's leader. What he said about getting help from Xi Jinping.

On the price tag for the war with Iran, it is skyrocketing. We have the very latest price tag, plus just how much higher is it likely to go?

And the effort to oust Keir Starmer appears to be losing some steam. We'll tell you who is now rallying behind the embattled British Prime Minister.

UNKNOWN (voice-over): Live from New York, this is "CNN Newsroom" with Polo Sandoval.

SANDOVAL: All right, so let's begin with U.S. President Donald Trump's trip to China. He's leaving behind a souring economy at home and stepping onto the world stage, looking to end the war with Iran.

And the President will be meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Thursday and Friday. And before leaving Washington, President Trump said that he doesn't think about the financial situation of Americans, only that Iran should not get access to a nuclear weapon.

And these comments come as inflation in the U.S. rose to 3.8 percent in April. That's the highest in nearly three years. The President says that he will have a long talk with his Chinese counterpart about the war with Iran, but he also downplayed the need for China's help in ending that conflict.

I want to go live now to China's capital and CNN's Beijing bureau chief, Steven Jiang, with more on what we can expect. Steven, it's great to see you.

The war, certainly Taiwan, all issues that are likely to loom over the summit. I'm curious if you could tell us what are some of the other topics that will be on the agenda as these two leaders meet.

STEVEN JIANG, CNN BEIJING BUREAU CHIEF: Yes, Polo, it's probably cliche by now to say this is a high stakes but low expectations kind of summit. The list of what they want to talk about, or at least touch on, is long and varied.

But the mood here is one of probably the calm before the storm. And already we notice closed public spaces and heightened security in parts of the city where the President is presumably going to stay or visit, including a landmark tourist attraction, the Temple of Heaven, but also a hotel near the U.S. embassy.

Now, this kind of disruption still pales in comparison to the potential disruption to global trade and international order, as you mentioned, if this summit doesn't go well. So one thing that's been giving people pause, of course, is less than 24 hours before the two leaders are supposed to meet. Scott Bessent, the U.S. Treasury Secretary, is staying in South Korea, meeting with his Chinese counterpart, presumably trying to hash out some deliverables very last minute out of this summit.

Now, the other thing, of course, is the competitive nature of this relationship, increasingly so many would say, is unlikely to change because of this meeting. So I don't want to say both sides in a way are trying to buy more time so they could address their own strategic vulnerabilities. For the U.S., of course, that includes supply chain risks, especially on things like rare earths, which are essential for weapons production at a time when the U.S. is fast depleting its munitions because of the war in Iran, and China, of course, dominates global supplies of rare earths.

For Xi Jinping, of course, he's been talking repeatedly about tech self-reliance, basically trying to free China from the U.S. chokehold on key technologies to ensure Chinese national and economic security. So that's why it's not really difficult to see how China may agree to spend billions more to buy American agricultural products and also Boeing jets to give Mr. Trump some deliverables ahead of the U.S. midterm elections.

But when it comes to Iran, which, of course, is looming large over this gathering, this meeting, even though you've heard the President say he doesn't need China's help on this issue, he is all but certain to ask Xi Jinping to do more, given Iran is one of China's closest partners in the Middle East. And Beijing may actually be waiting for this in-person ask before they do more so they could potentially tout any positive result as a deliverable out of the summit as well.

[03:04:58]

So I think at this stage, many people agree that both sides are very much incentivized to prolong that trade and tariff truce they first reached last October to extend this rather fragile stability in this relationship at least for now.

SANDOVAL: Yes, I'm glad you mentioned that longstanding partnership between China and Iran. We'll get into that with our expert here in a moment. For now, though, Steven Jiang, thank you so much for that preview, we'll check back with you in the next hour.

And President Trump is criticizing the media for their coverage of the war with Iran. He says that reporting Iran is doing well militarily against the U.S. is, quote, "virtual treason," that's according to his post there.

Meanwhile, a senior Pentagon official says that the war with Iran has already cost U.S. taxpayers $29 billion so far. And that estimate, it's actually higher than the $25 billion figure that the Defense Department provided for Congress just two weeks ago.

Joining me now from Cairo is H.A. Hellyer. He's a senior associate fellow with the Royal United Services Institute for Defense and Security Studies. H.A., it's always great to have you on.

H.A. HELLYER, SR. ASSOCIATE FELLOW, ROYAL UNITED SERVICES INSTITUTE FOR DEFENSE AND SECURITY STUDIES: The pleasure is mine. Thank you so much.

SANDOVAL: A number of officials have already told CNN that President Trump and his team are likely to push the Chinese to urge Iran to make a deal with the U.S., maybe even open the Strait of Hormuz, as you just heard from Steven. Of course, China, a very close diplomatic and economic ally of Iran. If they do that, though, H.A., do you see President Xi Jinping being open to playing a constructive role in ending this?

HELLYER: I mean, you can't really tell with the Chinese, I suppose, in this regard. But I think that it would work tremendously in Beijing's interest to be able to be seen as the mediator that ended the war that so many worldwide wanted to end, and that Donald Trump and his administration were unable to end, right?

I mean, the signaling that we've seen for the last few weeks at least, but arguably much further back than that, is that the United States is stuck, that it wants to see an end to this, it's not interested in prolonging it, but it also refuses to call it quits until it scores some sort of, quote-unquote, "victory" that it can present in front of the American people and, of course, just more widely internationally.

And it has been unable to do that, because it's insisting on movement on the nuclear file ahead of anything to do with the Strait of Hormuz. Of course, the Iranians are talking about it in reverse. So if the Chinese are able to broker a deal or present themselves of having created any sort of pressure that would lead to a deal, then that obviously works to Beijing's interests very much.

SANDOVAL: Let's talk about Iran's current capability to secure the Strait of Hormuz. Iran reportedly restored operational access to nearly all of its missile sites along that crucial waterway, and that's according to some new reporting from the "New York Times."

The "New York Times" citing classified assessments in that reporting. What we read there, it contradicts the very latest claim from President Trump that Iran is defeated militarily. I want you to listen to what the President said, really just the latest in a string of claims that we've heard from the President before he was up for China.

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DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: Well, we're going to see, and we'll be thinking about it on the flight, and we'll be thinking about it for the next little while. But we've beaten their military very soundly. That's over with.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANDOVAL: Well, it may not be over with, according to that reporting. So in your view, just how resilient is Iran's military and its ability to strike any U.S. vessels in the Strait of Hormuz?

HELLYER: So there's a couple of things here.

I think, of course, Donald Trump is overstating it. If he wanted people to think that he completely destroyed the Iranian military, of course he has not done that. But I think that it has been incredibly degraded, so there's no doubt about that.

They're certainly not in the position that they were before this war started. But also, it's not really as relevant as I think people think when it comes to the Strait of Hormuz. The Strait of Hormuz does not require the Iranians to be at the top of their military game in terms of capacity.

Effectively closing the Strait of Hormuz actually requires extremely little from the Iranian state. It doesn't require all of its military capacity at all, all of its missile capacity at all.

It frankly requires just a few naval assets, and that would be it, maybe some drones, because at the end of the day, ships are not going to go into the Strait if they cannot convince their insurers that they'll be safe, and if their insurers don't believe so, then they won't insure them, and they won't be able to go. So it doesn't take that much in that regard.

[03:10:02]

So I would caution about relying on these sorts of statements from the White House. I think we've seen reason to be skeptical of that multiple times, not just during this war, but over the past year and a half. But it doesn't mean that this really has the impact that people think it does on the Strait.

SANDOVAL: Yes, no, it's a really important point. We've heard from other experts such as yourself that even a small vessel with personnel armed with shoulder-fired weapons on that waterway would be enough to deter some of these shipping companies from proceeding. I have a few seconds with you, one more minute with you.

Finally, let's just turn to Iran. What sense are you getting about where its regime is at the moment in terms of negotiations? We know it's already warned the U.S. about restarting its military operations. So do you think that they're anxious to make a deal now at this point? HELLYER: I think the regime wants a deal, but only wants a deal that

it can show in front of its own base within the regime itself that it did not capitulate. And right now the messaging that I think is going out throughout Iran is that the deals that the United States have been offering are basically surrender and capitulation.

And the Iranians are in no mood to accept something like that. I think the regime sees itself actually as having emerged successful. I think this is folly, by the way, because I think that they've been really hit very hard.

But they see survival, just survival on its own, as a pretty low bar, to be successful. Because at the end of the day, the Trump administration said that they were going to have regime change. They did not have regime change.

So the Iranian regime is looking for a deal that reflects that sort of power balance, where they feel that they actually came out on top. Friendly. That's the way it is.

SANDOVAL: Exactly. H.A. Hellyer, as always, grateful for your perspective. Great having you on with us.

HELLYER: My pleasure. Thank you so much.

SANDOVAL: Some of the way refusing to resign, Britain's Prime Minister is apparently avoiding some of those calls to step aside. But does he have enough support from within his own party to survive? We'll talk about that.

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SANDOVAL: An update now to the number of Hantavirus cases linked to a cruise ship, that number now up to 11. The World Health Organization says that all of those cases are among passengers or crew, and they include three deaths reported early in the outbreak. All passengers are now off the ship, including more than a dozen Americans that are now being monitored here in the United States.

CNN's Jacqueline Howard has our update from Atlanta.

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JACQUELINE HOWARD, CNN HEALTH REPORTER: Here at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, this is where two passengers are currently being monitored.

And one passenger who did have symptoms, the Department of Health and Human Services now says that passenger has tested negative for the Andes variant of Hantavirus. Now, the other passenger who's being monitored here, they're the close contact of that first passenger. This second passenger has not shown symptoms, but of course, they're still being monitored and evaluated.

And then there are 16 other passengers here in the United States who are being monitored in Nebraska. In that post on X, the Department of Health and Human Services says all 16 Americans who arrived in Nebraska currently remain asymptomatic, so they're not showing symptoms. But of course, they're still going to be monitored for about 42 days to see if symptoms develop, because this virus, it has a long incubation period.

The World Health Organization still says, though, the risk to the general public remains low at this time. Here's the organization's Director General, Dr. Tedros. Have a listen.

DR. TEDROS ADHANOM GHEBREYESUS, DIRECTOR-GENERAL, WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION: At the moment, there is no sign that we are seeing the start of a larger outbreak. But of course, the situation could change. And given the long incubation period of the virus, it's possible we might see more cases in the coming weeks.

HOWARD: And again, because the virus has that long incubation period, health officials say we may still see more cases emerge in the days to come. Back to you.

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SANDOVAL: Inside the U.K.'s ruling Labor Party, there's been something of a coup to oust the Prime Minister, but it seems that that effort may be losing its steam. You see, dozens of Labor members of Parliament, they've publicly called for Keir Starmer to resign. It's all over the newspapers there.

And several junior ministers, they quit, his government saying that they have no faith in his leadership. But on Tuesday, even more party members released a statement saying, no, they'd rather he stay put. And they warned against the leadership challenge.

CNN's Isa Soares breaks down the numbers and also explains why forcing out this Prime Minister is no easy feat.

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ISA SOARES, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: What we are seeing is that that coup that we saw is starting to fizz out, as we have been reporting. We've had more than 100 statements of support backing Prime Minister Starmer. That's on one side.

On the other, we have had 80-plus M.P.s calling on Prime Minister Starmer to either step aside or lay out a timeline for his departure.

What we are hearing, what we are seeing is that the Prime Minister is sticking by, staying here, staying at Downing Street, fighting to live on another day.

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And that coup, from those calling for him to step aside, has fizzled. It's fizzled for one particular reason, because no contender has come through, has thrown down the gauntlet to say, I am going to challenge you. Under Labor rules, what is clear is that you need to have, one contender needs to have 81 members of Parliament backing you.

So far, neither West Streeting, nor Angela Rayner, nor even Andy Burnham, who is not an M.P., but it could be down the road, none of them have come out and said, I'm putting my hand up, I'm facing you off, I'm facing off against you.

So that's what we're seeing now, is that fizzing out of those who were against the Prime Minister, who want us in and out of the job. And the Prime Minister, tomorrow, we must continue on with the job at hand, given, of course, the crises that we are following, that we are seeing in the Strait of Hormuz and in Ukraine. And the concerns that this has, this instability, will have, of course, on guilts across the country.

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SANDOVAL: Isa Soares, thank you for that.

And in the coming hours, Catherine, Princess of Wales, will be heading out for her first official overseas trip since her cancer diagnosis. The British royal is traveling to the historic town of Reggio Emilia in northern Italy.

Kensington Palace says that the two-day solo visit will focus on early childhood development, and they're describing the trip as an important step in the princess's recovery journey. Her cancer has been in remission since last year.

Ahead of Donald Trump's visit to China, we take a look at the network of Chinese refineries allegedly processing all that Iranian oil. Don't go anywhere.

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SANDOVAL: Welcome back. I'm Polo Sandoval in New York, and these are today's top stories.

Just a few hours from now, Britain's King Charles is scheduled to speak during the state opening of Parliament. It's a longstanding tradition that lays out the government's legislative plans for the year ahead. The upcoming ceremony will be attracting extra attention due to the recent political turmoil, Prime Minister Keir Starmer is beating back calls for his resignation.

President Trump is on his way to Beijing for two days of talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. The war with Iran is expected to dominate their discussions. Before leaving, the President brushed aside concerns about the U.S. economy, saying that he doesn't think about America's financial situation when negotiating with Iran. A senior Pentagon official says that the war has cost the U.S. $29

billion so far, and that estimate is $4 billion more than the figure the Defense Department provided to Congress just two weeks ago. According to one public policy expert, the conflict will ultimately cost U.S. taxpayers at least a trillion dollars.

In just a few hours' drive from where Chinese leader Xi Jinping will welcome U.S. President Donald Trump this week sits a refinery, one that's allegedly part of a network that's helping fuel Iran's economy by importing their oil. CNN's Simone McCarthy with more.

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SIMONE MCCARTHY, CNN SR. CHINA REPORTER (voice-over): As we drove to this oil facility three hours south of Beijing, it was soon clear we weren't welcome.

UNKNOWN: These guys are just trying to block the camera basically.

MCCARTHY (voice-over): A black van pulled up, blocking our view of one of the many refineries dotting China's coast.

MCCARTHY: Security here is really tight. This is a facility which is sanctioned by the U.S. government for allegedly importing Iranian oil.

MCCARTHY (voice-over): Iran sends most of its oil to China. That trade is in the spotlight ahead of President Trump's arrival in Beijing this week, with the U.S.-Iran ceasefire under strain.

The day before Trump departed for China, Washington blacklisted a dozen people and entities it says are linked to the trade of oil from Iran to China.

Five Chinese oil refineries and multiple port terminals have been sanctioned by the U.S. since last year for allegedly importing Iranian oil. The company we visited, Hebei Xinhai, was sanctioned last May.

It declined CNN's request to be interviewed. It was hard to tell what kind of oil the plant was processing, but sanctions clearly hadn't shut it down. The U.S. has been increasingly imposing sanctions on Chinese entities it believes are involved in the trade of oil from Iran.

SCOTT BESSENT, U.S. TREASURY SECRETARY: They are the largest state sponsor of terrorism, and China has been financing them with their energy purchases.

MCCARTHY (voice-over): For its part, China doesn't acknowledge importing Iranian oil. It also rejects U.S. sanctions and has been pushing back. Earlier this month, Beijing ordered companies not to comply with sanctions on refineries.

MCCARTHY: Multiple ports south of me here, as well as across the ocean in this direction, are believed to have continued to import Iranian oil throughout the course of the war. MCCARTHY (voice-over): This oil is carried by a network of vessels,

including those known as the Shadow Fleet. The oil is loaded in Iran and shipped out, often to a floating gas station off the coast of Malaysia. Dozens of boats loiter with their tracking devices turned off, trading sanctioned oil and ferrying it to buyers, like those in China.

[03:30:03]

CNN pinpointed one such transfer, where the Iranian-flagged vessel Herbie transferred oil to a China-bound tanker just last month. Weeks later, the Herbie was intercepted by the U.S. Navy on its way back to Iran.

Once those ship-to-ship transfers are complete, ships heading for China blend in with thousands of other vessels, regularly transiting through these waters.

For the U.S., that's a major problem. But for China, this oil flow is powering its economy and keeping a close partner afloat.

Simone McCarthy, CNN, Hebei Province, China.

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SANDOVAL: And now to a CNN exclusive report.

The CIA escalating a secret war on drug cartels with deadly operations inside of Mexico. One such operation happened in broad daylight on one of Mexico's busiest highways just outside of the capital this past March. Now a warning, the video that we're about to show you is graphic.

Now the state of Mexico's attorney general says that this explosive device was hidden inside the vehicle of an alleged mid-level member of the Sinaloa cartel, as you see there, it went off, killing him instantly, along with his driver. The cartel, based in Sinaloa, is one of Mexico's most notorious drug trafficking syndicates. Multiple sources are telling CNN that the operation was part of an expanded CIA campaign happening inside Mexico.

The level of CIA involvement with operations targeting cartels has varied in the past, from intelligence sharing to direct participation in assassination operations, very similar to that latest op. And after this story was published, the CIA said that the reporting is, quote, "false and salacious," but it did not specify what aspect of the reporting is false.

And still to come here on "CNN Newsroom," the CEO of OpenAI taking the stand in the legal battle with Elon Musk, why the case is so important to Sam Altman's future with the company.

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[03:35:00]

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SANDOVAL: Hey, welcome back. Let's get straight to your business headlines now.

The U.S. Energy Department's raising their forecast for gas prices. It's now warning that oil futures will likely stay above $100 a barrel in the coming weeks. Officials are now expecting that Brent crude oil, which is the world benchmark, will remain near $106 a barrel in May and June.

Calbee, one of Japan's largest snack makers, says that it will temporarily change its signature colorful packaging to grayscale due to supply shortages because of the war with Iran. It didn't specify which materials are running low, but some printing inks do require petroleum products. Calbee says that this will apply to 14 of their products, including its popular seaweed potato chips.

A legislation that would protect children online is gaining momentum in the U.S. Senate. The Kids Online Safety Act would require social media companies to implement tools and safeguards for users under the age of 17. U.S. Senate Commerce Chairman Ted Cruz says that his committee is planning to advance the bill.

And the trial of Elon Musk versus OpenAI is about to wrap up. CEO Sam Altman took to the witness stand on Tuesday fielding questions about his business practices and trustworthiness from some of Musk's attorneys. CNN's Hadass Gold is more on what he revealed while on that witness stand.

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HADASS GOLD, CNN A.I. CORRESPONDENT: OpenAI CEO Sam Altman spent hours on the stand on Tuesday testifying that it was Elon Musk who gained control of OpenAI at one point, even trying to get OpenAI to fold into being part of Tesla, even offering Sam Altman a seat on Tesla's board. And then when he failed to do so, he stopped donating to OpenAI and then eventually left and then ended up forming his own A.I. company, X A.I.

Sam Altman testifying that it was Elon Musk, in fact, who was pushing at various points for OpenAI to have a for-profit venture, saying it was one of the only ways that they could raise enough capital to buy these massive computers they needed to develop A.I. to compete against the likes of Google.

Elon Musk is now alleging that OpenAI and its leaders deceived him when they transitioned OpenAI from being a pure non-profit to its current for-profit structure overseen by a non-profit foundation. At one point, Sam Altman made the very interesting testimony that Elon Musk was asked, what would happen if you gain control of OpenAI and then you were to die?

Sam Altman said that Elon Musk said that his control would then pass on to his children. Sam Altman said that was a hair-raising moment and that he was not comfortable with that. When Musk's attorney got their chance to question Sam Altman, they focused almost solely on Sam Altman's character. Their first question out of the gate to Sam Altman was, are you completely trustworthy?

They went through a laundry list of allegations from several former OpenAI board members and executives who are all at various points have accused Sam Altman of either lying to them or deceiving them, especially around his brief ouster as OpenAI CEO in 2023.

Sam Altman, in response, he said that he believes that he is an honest business person and he chalked up a lot of those moments with those former OpenAI board members and executives as misunderstandings.

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MARC TOBEROFF, ATTORNEY FOR ELON MUSK: In fact, today, Mr. Altman's testimony confirmed that there can be no doubt that he repeatedly lied, including about essential A.I. safety members.

WILLIA, SAVITT, ATTORNEY FOR OPENAI: And what happened today in court was interesting. It's what happens when one side has no evidence for the proposition they're seeing. It resorts to character assassination, lies and accusations from the mouth of a lawyer.

And what you didn't see at all today was actual evidence of anything relevant to Mr. Musk's claims.

GOLD: But the question for the jury is even if they believe that Sam Altman may have deceived people in the past, does that translate over to what Elon Musk is alleging when it comes to the nonprofit?

OpenAI has said that Musk always wanted a for-profit structure and that he's only bringing this lawsuit now because OpenAI is successful, that Elon Musk was not able to gain control of OpenAI and that now he has a competitor in X A.I., which recently merged with SpaceX.

Sam Altman's testimony is done for now. Closing arguments are expected on Thursday before the jury will then go off to deliberate. Their verdict, though, will just be advisory.

It will ultimately be up to the judge to decide whether Elon Musk is correct and whether he will get what he wants, which includes completely reverting OpenAI back to a nonprofit.

If he is successful in getting everything that he wants and all the remedies that he wants, that could completely scramble the A.I. landscape and shake up OpenAI's potential future, especially as they seek an IPO later this year.

Hadass Gold, CNN, Oakland, California.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SANDOVAL: The U.S. Postal Service is announcing that it will be commemorating the nation's 250th anniversary with a new collection of stamps curated by designer Ralph Lauren. The collection of 13 stamps titled "American Icons," it features photographs and designs selected from the designer's archive, also from some of the visuals that have inspired him. The designs include the American flag, of course, a baseball glove, a pickup truck, the Empire State Building, and other images that reflect the unique fabric of the United States.

Conan O'Brien will be returning for a third straight year to host the Academy Awards show come 2027. The former late-night T.V. host drew some positive reviews and helped to increase some of the viewership of the Oscars from the lows of the pandemic era. ABC announced O'Brien's return on Tuesday, Disney owns ABC and Hulu, which will be streaming the next Oscars ceremony come March.

Thanks so much for joining me, I'm Polo Sandoval. We leave you with "World Sport," then I'll be back again at the top of the next hour with more of your headlines here on "CNN Newsroom."

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