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U.S. Peace Talks Continue with Iran; Rubio in India; New York City Shipyard Explosions; China Mine Explosion, 90 Dead; WHO Revises Risks of Ebola to "Very High" in DRC; Kevin Warsh Sworn in as Fed Chair; How to AI-Proof Your Job; Donald Trump Jr. Weds Again, President Not Attending. Aired 5-6a ET

Aired May 23, 2026 - 05:00   ET

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

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IVAN WATSON, CNN ANCHOR AND SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us in the United States and all around the world. I'm Ivan Watson in Hong Kong. And here's what's ahead.

Donald Trump is weighing his options for how to handle the war with Iran.

What's on the table after a high level meeting with top advisers?

More flights from an Ebola-stricken region of Africa are now being cleared to land at U.S. airports. The new destinations are now receiving those passengers.

Plus sorting travel costs aren't keeping people home on this Memorial Day. What to expect on one of the busiest travel weekends of the year.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Live from Hong Kong, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Ivan Watson.

WATSON: All right. President Trump is at the White House this holiday weekend, weighing his options on the war with Iran. He met with top national security officials Friday to discuss possible next steps, which could include restarting military action.

A source says the meeting ended without a decision but Trump is still confident the war will end soon.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: They're not going to ever have a nuclear weapon. They're never going to have a nuclear weapon. And we'll have that over with soon. It'll be over with soon.

(END VIDEO CLIP) WATSON: Delegations from Pakistan and Qatar are now in Tehran in

hopes of ending the conflict. CNN's Kevin Liptak has more on where things stand.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: President Trump convened his national security team again on Friday to discuss a path forward in Iran as he appears to be nearing a decision about whether to restart strikes in that country or to allow more time for diplomacy to proceed.

And we are now in the timeline that the president himself set earlier this week to try and come up with a deal that he can agree to with Iran. He said that the strikes would begin by early next week, unless Iran submitted a proposal that he could sign off on.

Now it doesn't appear as if the president has made a decision quite yet. The diplomacy does seem to be proceeding apace. There was a Qatari delegation in Tehran on Friday continuing these discussions.

You also have the Pakistani mediators continuing to trade back and forth proposals between the United States and Iran.

What Marco Rubio, the secretary of state, said on Friday, was that there was progress being made but that, quote, "we're not there yet."

We heard a slightly more pessimistic tone from the Iranian foreign ministry saying that a deal was, quote, "not close" and that there were, quote, "very deep differences remaining between these two sides."

At least from the White House's perspective, they say that they have not changed their red lines on this conflict, saying that any agreement must include the provision that Iran turned over its stockpile of highly enriched uranium. So a lot of issues that still need to be worked out before the two sides can reach a deal.

The question now is whether the president will allow time for those issues to be worked out or whether he will begin the strikes anew.

We know that Pentagon has prepared options for him and they stand that they're ready to do that. They're simply waiting for his order.

As the president said on Friday, "Iran is dying to make a deal and we'll see what happens" -- Kevin Liptak, CNN, the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WATSON: All right. CNN producer Sebastian Shukla joins me now live from Berlin.

Good to see you, Sebastian.

So look, where do we stand right now? This kind of limbo, this extended ceasefire that involves blockades of Iranian ports, the Strait of Hormuz effectively being shut, periodic Iranian strikes on Gulf kingdoms, what's been going on in the last couple of days on that front?

SEBASTIAN SHUKLA, CNN PRODUCER: So what we're seeing, Ivan -- and good morning -- is the arrival of Pakistani Qatari mediators in Iran and meeting with Iranian officials, Abbas Araghchi, the Iranian foreign minister in particular, where they're hoping to be able to discuss and take forward a proposal from Washington to the Iranians.

[05:05:00]

And start to be able to form the foundation of what could be the next stage of really bringing this war to an end.

But as Kevin was just alluding to, from the American side, there are still so many red lines that the Iranians are just not prepared to accept.

One of them is handing over those stockpiles of enriched uranium to the U.S. The Iranians maintain that they are allowed to have enriched uranium, which they would use only for civilian usage. The Americans are just saying that's just not going to fly.

And then obviously for the for the entire world, Ivan, the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, which has been kind of codified and solidified now by the Iranian regime as they are the dominating force in that area, they're saying that we now have total domination. We must decide.

We, Iran, Tehran has to decide what who goes in and who goes out. They even have set up an authority which is known as the Persian Gulf state authority, which essentially has a detailed a map, saying that they own all of this water, which is also in control of waters that are owned by their Gulf neighbors, too.

And so it's creating all sorts of uncertainty and difficulty in the negotiations. You can see just how complicated it is.

And then from the Gulf allies more generally, they are very concerned about restarting of these military strikes because of what happened when this began some two months ago now, where they saw that the Iranian regime retaliated directly with force against its neighbors.

Taking offline major oil supplies, hitting oil and gas infrastructure that's ultimately fed into this world economy. So there is all sorts of uncertainty at the moment, Ivan, and that is all now underpinned by the slightly unclear nature about what exactly is happening in Washington this week and this weekend.

Whether the president is now not going to his son's wedding, has held that meeting in the White House with vice president Vance, secretary Hegseth and Dan Caine.

And the messaging that he keeps putting out there, which is that he's staying in Washington this weekend because of issues to do with Iran and his love of the United States of America, we will wait to see today what the outcome of this meeting is between the Pakistanis, Qataris and Iranians.

But we're still not really any closer, I don't think, Ivan, to having clarity either way, military or diplomacy.

WATSON: You're right. Sebastian Shukla live in Berlin -- and you're right, because the messaging out of the Trump administration since the start of this war has been so contradictory and difficult to follow from one day to the next. Thank you very much for that update.

As president Trump grapples with the Iran war, another one of his cabinet members has announced her departure. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard says she's resigning at the end of June. In a letter to the president, Gabbard says she needs to be by her husband's side after he was diagnosed with a rare form of bone cancer.

President Trump says Gabbard's deputy Aaron Lukas will step in as acting intelligence chief.

He also praised Gabbard on social media, writing, quote, "Tulsi has done an incredible job and we will miss her."

The comments come despite Gabbard's often contradictory messaging while in office. Her remarks on Venezuela and Iran sometimes put her at odds with the White House.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Tulsi Gabbard testified in March that the intelligence community said Iran wasn't building a nuclear weapon?

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I don't care what she said. I think they were very close to having one.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATSON: OK. U.S. secretary of state Marco Rubio has arrived in New Delhi as part of his trip to India and he's there for a mix of political and cultural events. Rubio is expected to give a speech today at a dedication ceremony -- rather, for a U.S. embassy support annex building. He was in Kolkata earlier to visit a children's home.

The trip to India follows Rubio's Sweden visit, where he met with NATO foreign ministers. He tried to clear up confusion over the mixed signals about U.S. military deployments to Europe.

He said the changes to the structure of forces deployed there are part of an ongoing process rather than a direct response to the Trump administrations frustrations with NATO. While in Sweden, Rubio also gave an update on the peace talks with Iran.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARCO RUBIO (R-FL), U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: We await word on those conversations that are ongoing. There's been some slight progress. I don't want to exaggerate it but there's been a little bit of movement and that's good.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WATSON: OK. Dr. Chietigj Bajpaee is senior research fellow for South Asia with the Asia-Pacific Programme at Chatham House. And he's joining me now from Delhi.

Thank you very much.

[05:10:00]

I'd like to ask, you know, the relations between president Trump in his second term and the Indian government are just so dramatically different from his first term.

What are you anticipating to come out of the American secretary of state's visit to Delhi this week?

DR. CHIETIGJ BAJPAEE, SENIOR RESEARCH FELLOW FOR SOUTH ASIA, ASIA- PACIFIC PROGRAMME, CHATHAM HOUSE: Well, it's clearly a significant visit.

I think it's an effort to bring the India-U.S. relationship back on track after it's been somewhat derailed by developments over the last year.

First with New Delhi and Washington disagreeing over the role that the U.S. played in bringing an end to this brief four-day conflict between India and Pakistan last May, a subsequent deepening of U.S.-Pakistan relations, India being slapped with the highest tariff levels as part of the Trump administrations so-called reciprocal tariff policies.

And then additional tariffs and sanctions. As for its purchase of Russian crude, we've seen some signs of de-escalation in recent months, with the U.S. lowering tariffs, conciliatory statements by both leaders.

I think even the Iran war offers some room for alignment. India has turned to the U.S. to meet its energy needs. Washington has also granted New Delhi a temporary waiver, a sanctions waiver for its purchase of Russian crude as India's access to oil transiting the Strait of Hormuz has been disrupted.

But clearly, I think the relationship has been soured by this year of frictions. So secretary Rubio's trip is a degree of, I would say, damage control and an attempt to reaffirm the bilateral relationship.

And we can see this with his statements that he made just before his visit, referring to India as a great ally and a great partner, although, of course, officially it isn't a -- an alliance partner of the United States.

WATSON: Can I ask about the Quad, you know, this grouping with the U.S., India, Australia and Japan, which in the past has involved heads of state?

And I understand it's been downgraded.

Can you explain a little bit about that?

BAJPAEE: Yes. So I think the meeting of the foreign ministers of the Quad -- the Quad, of course, being Asia's four major maritime democracies, Australia, India, Japan and the United States.

I mean, it's interesting to note that one of secretary Rubio's first official engagements upon becoming secretary of state last year was meeting his Quad counterparts. A leader-level summit was supposed to take place in New Delhi last year but that didn't happen amid the downturn in India-U.S. relations.

So I think his participation in the Quad meeting is an attempt to reaffirm the U.S. commitment to the initiative, to the Quad initiative, which, ironically was first revived under the Trump administration when the first leader-level summit took place.

So I think that these four countries are likely to discuss several issues related to maritime security, the Iran conflict, broader developments in the Indo-Pacific.

WATSON: We've been hearing president Trump himself lavishing praise on the top military officer in Pakistan and on the government there for a number of different reasons, involving -- including the mediation role that Pakistan has played with communicating with Iran.

How has that been received in Delhi watching this kind of embrace coming from Washington for Islamabad, India's chief rival?

BAJPAEE: Well, I think in the aftermath of the conflict that I mentioned that took place between India and Pakistan last year, this warming of relations between Islamabad and Washington, president Trump famously referred to Pakistan's army chief as his favorite field marshal.

So I think that has been somewhat alarming to India, although officially it has tried to push to try and dehyphenate relations between India and Pakistan by third countries. But I think all of this speaks to a larger point that the India-U.S. relationship has lost some of its shine.

There has been a strong bipartisan consensus in Washington over the last three decades on deepening the India-U.S. relationship. And this, I think, on -- contributed perhaps to a degree of irrational exuberance on India's part about the bilateral relationship.

It led this to India being perhaps the most optimistic country about a second Trump term.

There was a belief that both countries shared similar world views that India could perhaps weather the storm of the Trump administrations -- Trump administration's transactional and sometimes unpredictable foreign policy and perhaps even benefit from it. But I think that irrational exuberance has faded in New Delhi. And I

think it's -- it is essentially doubling down on this commitment to strategic autonomy or strategic hedging, which essentially means not putting all its eggs in one basket and not being beholden to the whims of any one country; in this case, the United States.

And, of course, maintaining a much more cautious approach in its relationship with Washington.

WATSON: In short, does do you think that prime minister Modi feels he got burned by Trump?

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BAJPAEE: I think, yes, I wouldn't perhaps put it that way. But I think, to some degree, I would say so. And that also explains the actions that we've seen by the Indian government over the last year, since we've seen this downturn in the India-U.S. relationship.

We've just seen over the last month prime minister Modi visiting several European countries, the -- India has concluded a string of free trade agreements, including with the European Union. New Delhi hosted the BRICS foreign ministers meeting earlier this month.

There's been an ongoing reset in relations with China, reaffirming relations with Russia. And all of this, as I said, is a doubling down or reaffirming this commitment to strategic autonomy and strategic hedging by India.

Not putting all of its eggs in one basket, not being beholden to the whims of the Trump administration's unpredictable or erratic foreign policy.

WATSON: All right. Chietigj Bajpaee, thank you so much for providing your insight from the Indian capital. Thank you.

BAJPAEE: Thank you for having me.

WATSON: All right. Moving to the Caribbean now, the streets around the U.S. embassy in Havana were packed on Friday.

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WATSON (voice-over): Thousands gathered there to protest the decision this week to indict Cuba's former president, Raul Castro, in connection with the downing of two civilian planes three decades ago.

The early morning protest came amid an ongoing oil embargo and months of escalating tension with the U.S. Castro's daughter was at the demonstration and she told Cuban government TV that her father remained unfazed.

MARIELA CASTRO, RAUL CASTRO'S DAUGHTER (through translator): He's doing very well. Very calm, like an old guerrilla fighter, he watches and smiles. He also knows what he has to do. Besides, he always said, no one takes me alive. They'll find me fighting. (END VIDEO CLIP)

WATSON: A fire and two explosions in a New York City shipyard leaves dozens of people hurt. How rescuers at the scene became victims of the same danger faced by those they were trying to save. More still ahead.

Plus, find out which U.S. airports are being added to the list of entry points that can screen passengers traveling from Africa's Ebola outbreak. Stay with CNN.

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WATSON: Welcome back to the program. I'm Ivan Watson in Hong Kong.

Now 36 people have been injured in a deadly fire and two explosions at a New York City shipyard. Many of them are firefighters and other first responders. Emergency crews received reports of two workers trapped in a basement at the back of the shipyard on Staten Island.

An explosion happened shortly after crews arrived. One civilian was killed. Five firefighters and paramedics were looking for the trapped workers when a second blast happened. More people were hurt, including a fire marshal and a firefighter.

The threat of a toxic explosion at an aerospace facility in Garden Grove, California, has forced tens of thousands of people from their homes. Some 40,000 residents within a nine-square-mile area around a facility in Orange County are now under evacuation orders.

Authorities say a tank filled with a highly toxic and flammable chemical used in plastics manufacturing is overheating. Officials warn the tank could either leak or explode. Exposure to the chemical can cause serious breathing problems.

And now to a developing story from northern China, where authorities are dealing with the country's deadliest mining disaster in more than a decade. To get more on this our Mike Valerio joins us live from Beijing.

Mike, it is just disturbing to hear the sheer number of casualties as a result of this mining disaster.

Can you bring us up to date?

MIKE VALERIO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: So 90 people are confirmed dead at this hour. The death toll has continued to rise. When we woke up just after sunrise, Ivan, it was at three. Then by lunchtime, 50, 82 and now 90.

This is serious enough for Chinese leader Xi Jinping to issue a statement, incredibly notable, with him quoted by Xinhua news, saying pretty much the effect that they need to have an all-out rescue in Shanxi province, where this happened, about a seven-hour drive south of where we are in Beijing right now, and urged a thorough investigation.

Xi Jinping was still talking about here into this explosion's cause with accountability pursued in accordance with the law. So the latest that we're able to update you to that end, Ivan, it seems as though the person in charge of this mine has been detained or at least contacted by law enforcement. That's the latest reporting that we have.

And also we're getting a better idea of perhaps how this happened with reporting from Xinhua, the state media outlet. CCTV conveying to us that there seem to be elevated levels of carbon monoxide in this mine at some point in the evening.

And then this explosion happened around 7:30 pm local time when the blast happened. Ivan, there were about 250 -- 247, to be exact -- people who were working underground.

A monumental rescue effort then unfolded with about 200 people evacuated before the sun came up early in the early morning hours of today. So we're trying to determine how many people are unaccounted for at this hour.

And it seems as though that number is pretty low. So many people are in the hospital. About 30 people have been sent home. So just doing the rough math, it seems as though the number of unaccounted for should be very low.

But we're not going to put a specific number on it because of the dynamic nature of this story unfolding. So, of course, the big question is how exactly this happened.

And in the larger context of Shanxi province, this is where about a quarter of China's coal comes from. China, of course, running so much of its energy portfolio, more than half of its energy coming from coal.

[05:25:03]

And we started, you know, 25-26 years ago in the early 2000s, with so many safety violations and accidents somewhat similar to this, with more pressure from the central government here in Beijing for these mines to get their act together and for more safety precautions to be put in place.

So this certainly a step backwards and one of the reasons for Xi Jinping releasing this statement, getting involved here, Ivan.

WATSON: You know, coal mining, I've covered other deadly disasters. When things go wrong in these coal mines, they can go terribly, terribly wrong. So please, Mike, keep us up to date as you learn more about the aftermath of this deadly disaster.

Mike Valerio in Beijing, thank you very much.

Now to a very different subject. The CDC says a U.S. public health law, Title 42, has been extended to prevent lawful U.S. residents or green card holders from entering the country if they've been in the three African nations battling the Ebola outbreak in the last 21 days.

The U.S. has also cleared international airports in Atlanta and Houston, as well as Dulles Airport outside Washington, to receive passengers who've been in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda or South Sudan in the past three weeks.

Meantime, the World Health Organization has revised the risk level of the Ebola outbreak to very high in the Democratic Republic of Congo while the global risk, it says, remains low.

The WHO says at least 177 deaths are thought to be linked to the Ebola outbreak in the DRC, with nearly 750 suspected cases. CNN's Larry Madowo has more on the fire at an Ebola treatment center that was started by relatives of an Ebola victim.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LARRY MADOWO, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Tensions ran high at this hospital treating Ebola patients in the Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. This local politician was on the scene.

LUC MALEMBE, VICE PRESIDENT OF POLITICAL PARTY A2RC (translated): I'm at Rwampara Hospital. We're locked down here. Look at the protesters. They're angry. They're setting fire to the tents of Ebola patients because they want to forcibly retrieve the bodies.

MADOWO: Residents grew angry after health authorities refused to hand over the body of a young man who died from Ebola, this father says.

LEOPOLD KATABUKA, WAMPARA RESIDENT (translated): We came to bury my son and then we saw these people coming in numbers asking for the body of someone called Eli. They started throwing stones and set fire to the tents and my son's body was left burned there. I don't know what to do.

MADOWO: Police were quickly called in to control the scene after protesters set fire to tents where patients suspected to have Ebola were being isolated according to eyewitness accounts. And while health workers have been working hard to fight off the virus, a second battle has also been underway, the fight against disinformation.

MALEMBE: This lack of communication, this absence of communication from the health authorities in the province is what allowed rumors to take over and it is what continues to this day.

MADOWO: The key tension seeming to lie between the sanitary protocols put in place by authorities and the wishes of the local community to uphold traditional burial rights. The community wants to bury the dead with dignity but Ebola often spreads at funerals.

It's still under investigation but even this current outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo is believed to stem from a super spreader event, a funeral on May 5th. That's because some people touch the corpse of the dead as a final farewell.

The fluids from the body of Ebola patients are still infectious. And that's why authorities in Ituri, the epicenter of this outbreak, have now said all funerals have to be carried out with strict protocols and they banned all wakes.

In the region's capital, residents have been calling on their neighbors to take the virus more seriously.

ELIE LLUNGA, BUNIA RESIDENT (translated): Yes. The message I would like to convey now to those listening to me right now. We are in the town of Bunya and this affects us too. We feel it.

So what I tell people wherever they are is to know that they have to protect their families, to protect those close to them. Because if I become infected, that means my family is infected too.

MADOWO: The World Health Organization also raised the alarm once again on Friday.

DR. TEDROS ADHANOM GHEBREYESUS, DIRECTOR-GENERAL, WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION: We're now revising our risk assessment to very high at the national level, high at the regional level and low at global level.

MADOWO: The WHO warning that a potential vaccine may still be as far as nine months away. News that is sure to deal another blow to communities struggling to come to terms with so much loss already.

[05:30:00]

Larry Madowo, CNN.

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WATSON: OK, coming up, new details from the closed door testimony of Jeffrey Epstein's longtime assistant. What she told U.S. lawmakers and how it's impacting the investigation into the late convicted sex offender and his associates. We'll have that update after this break.

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WATSON (voice-over): Welcome back to our viewers in the United States and Canada. I'm Ivan Watson, broadcasting to you from Hong Kong. Now let's check some of today's top stories.

President Trump met with national security officials Friday to discuss a path forward on the war with Iran. Trump routinely holds these sessions but this one comes as he weighs whether to let diplomacy efforts continue. Trump has been frustrated with the pace of talks and has been presented with options for restarting military action.

Thousands gathered around the U.S. embassy in Havana Friday to protest the indictment of Cuba's former president in connection with the downing of two civilian planes three decades ago. The early morning demonstration came amid an ongoing oil embargo and months of escalating tension with the U.S.

The U.S. Director of National Intelligence is resigning. Tulsi Gabbard made the announcement Friday, saying she will step away from the role at the end of June. Gabbard told president Trump in a letter that her husband was diagnosed with cancer.

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She says she wants to, quote, fully support him through this battle.

WATSON: The Trump administration is now facing a second lawsuit to block its anti-weaponization fund. Critics call it a slush fund, which even the administration admits could give money to violent January 6th offenders. But president Trump is describing it as an act of service. Here's how he's defending it in a post.

Quote, "I gave up a lot of money in allowing the just announced Anti- Weaponization Fund to go forward. I could have settled my case, including the illegal release of my Tax Returns and the equally illegal BREAK IN of Mar-a-Lago, for an absolute fortune. Instead, I am helping others," end quote.

But just a few days ago he said he knew very little about this fund.

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TRUMP: It's been very well received. I have to tell you, I know very little about it. I wasn't involved in the whole creation of it and the negotiation.

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WATSON: Since then, the backlash has been growing by the day and now the president is facing a revolt by members of his own party. Some are taking issue with the fact that the nearly 1,600 people charged with crimes relating to January 6th could be eligible for a slice of the $1.8 billion.

OK, U.S. lawmakers investigating the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein are turning their attention to three new alleged abusers in closed door testimony with the House Oversight Committee this week. Epstein's longtime assistant, Sarah Kellen, handed over the names. CNN's Annie Grayer has more on who these three men are.

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ANNIE GRAYER, CNN CAPITOL HILL CORRESPONDENT: Jeffrey Epstein's longtime assistant testified behind closed doors about the names of three men that she said the Oversight Committee should look into for alleged abuses. But we didn't know their names until now. And I'm told from sources that the names of the three men that Sarah

Kellen discussed are Frederic Fekkai, who's a French celebrity hairstylist; Philip Levine, the former mayor of Miami Beach and cruise industry entrepreneur; and Patrick Demarchelier, a French fashion photographer.

Now I'm told in her closed door voluntary interview that Kellen accused Fekkai and Levine of sexually assaulting her and testified that Demarchelier exposed himself to her, according to sources in the room.

Now I've reached out to representatives for all of these men asking for comment. And a representative for Fekkai got back to me and said, quote, "Mr. Fekkai was astonished to read of Ms. Kellen's testimony.

"Mr. Fekkai never abused anyone. He never participated in any illegal behavior. He knew nothing about Epstein's repugnant depravity or trafficking. He did nothing wrong."

That's what the representative said in a statement. But Kellen's testimony gives the House Oversight Committee a lot of new leads to pursue.

In fact, House Oversight chair James Comer told me that this may have been the most substantive interview that the committee has had to date because of the names that Kellen was able to share, in the new leads that she was able to potentially provide.

Now there are some mentions of Fekkai and Levine in the Epstein files released by the Justice Department. But there's a lot more to dig into here.

So the committee has their work cut out for them, especially as they prepare for their next big interview, which is happening in a matter of days with the former attorney general, Pam Bondi, about her role in overseeing the release of the Epstein files -- Annie Grayer, reporting from Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WATSON: Immigrants inside the U.S. who want an American green card will now have to leave the United States to apply for one. The Trump administration now requires people seeking the residency visas to return to their home countries to apply.

And that could affect hundreds of thousands of people who would have to leave jobs, families and communities for months while their case is processed. The cards give holders the right to live and work in the U.S. with a path to citizenship.

A federal judge has dismissed criminal charges against Kilmar Abrego Garcia, citing a tainted investigation. Abrego Garcia was deported to El Salvador last year despite a judge's order banning his removal to the country.

When he was eventually returned to the U.S., he was charged with transporting undocumented migrants. A judge in Tennessee tossed the case, saying then deputy attorney general Todd Blanche abused his prosecuting power and only brought the indictment because of the administration's mishap.

The Department of Justice says it will attempt to repeal the dismissal.

President Trump's pick to lead the Federal Reserve has been sworn in. Kevin Warsh will hold his first Fed meeting as chairman next month.

[05:40:00]

The 56-year old is taking on one of the world's most powerful economic positions during a time of geopolitical conflict and volatile financial markets. Warsh discussed his vision for the country.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEVIN WARSH, CHAIRMAN, FEDERAL RESERVE: Inflation can be lower, growth stronger, real take-home pay higher. And America can be more prosperous. And no less important, America's place in the world more secure.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

Warsh is widely seen as aligned with Mr. Trump.

The president said Friday that he wants Warsh to be, quote, "totally independent."

This Memorial Day weekend is a big travel holiday in the U.S. But it's going to cost people a lot more this year and delays are likely due to some severe weather in the forecast. CNN's senior U.S. national correspondent Ryan Young talked to travelers at Atlanta's airport, the busiest in the U.S.

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RYAN YOUNG, CNN SENIOR U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, we've been walking through the airport this afternoon, talking to people who are excited about the summer getting started.

If you look behind me, there are lines here at the airport; nothing like they were before during the government shutdown. If you look behind me, you can see the wait times. You have 10, three and 11 minutes.

That is not bad at all considering how many people are expected to travel over the next 24 hours or so; 39.1 million people are expected to travel on the roadways.

So when you add all that together, 2 million people are expected to come through this airport alone. Today the busiest day, with over 350,000 people expected to come through the doors here.

Chicago also has big numbers headed this way. So you understand there's a pent-up urge when it comes to getting out on the road. Take a listen to some of the folks we talked to.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Honestly, we booked a couple months in advance. It really was not that bad, compared to what you -- compared to what you think it would be.

YOUNG: OK, so you weren't afraid of hotel prices? You weren't worried about the --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We work hard. Like we're going to go celebrate.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, actually, we're always concerned about that. But it's my niece's graduation, so we had to make it happen. So we're excited about it.

But it doesn't seem as busy right now. So my girlfriend and I tried to get here early, try to beat the traffic and let's go.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

YOUNG: Well, have to see if the weather from this weekend impacts travel on the roadways but this is the first time since 2022 gas prices are above $4 for all 50 states. So that will have an impact in people's pockets. But once again, people that we talked to say they are ready to get out and start this summer -- Ryan Young, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WATSON: All right.

As AI continues to reshape the global economy, more companies are cutting human jobs.

But is there a way to prevent your position from being next on the chopping block?

Coming up, we're going to offer some advice on how to AI-proof your job. That will be after the break.

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WATSON: All right. As AI continues to transform many areas of the global economy, more and more companies are beginning to lay off human workers. From Meta to UPS to Goldman Sachs, artificial intelligence is rapidly reshaping the workforce.

And now employees are learning how to AI-proof their current jobs. CNN's AI correspondent Hadas Gold explains.

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HADAS GOLD, CNN AI CORRESPONDENT: More and more companies have been laying off employees and citing AI as one of the reasons behind those layoffs. So we wanted to talk to experts and hear their take on what people can do to, as much as possible, protect their jobs.

Because whether you like it or not, AI is coming to the workplace.

And so what are the best ways that you can prepare yourself and your job for this coming tech revolution?

One of the first things that these experts told me is to look at your job and audit your role and break down your job into a series of tasks and think about which of those tasks are done at a computer and are repeatable and predictable and deal with things like taking raw data and turning it into something else.

Those types of tasks are the ones that are most vulnerable to artificial intelligence. And then next, invest in those intangible skills that an AI can just not do. So think of those tasks that you mapped out for your job and what those tasks involved, more things like emotional and social awareness.

So for example, if you're in sales, involving, you know, finding new leads and calling people up on the phone and having meetings and talking to people and convincing them to buy something or sign a contract, it is those skills that are very hard right now for an AI to replicate.

Obviously, if you're in a field like hospitality or skilled trade or health care, there are some just hands-on things that even the best robots cannot do and will not likely be able to do for several more years.

And then finally, the experts advise everybody to embrace AI. Again, whether you like it or not, this technology is coming. Get to know artificial intelligence, how it works.

Try out the different systems and understand them and go beyond the chatbot and start tinkering with vibe coding, where you can make your own app or website without knowing how to code.

And learn about AI agents. AI agents are AI systems that run autonomously, can complete multiple tasks and make decisions on your behalf without every five seconds having input from you.

You can actually build your own AI agent. You can go to any chatbot and type in, you know, walk me through step by step how to build an agent to do X, Y, Z tasks, whether that's monitor gas prices or keep an eye on the weather.

You can play around with that because these experts said it is the people who utilize and harness AI in their jobs today are going to be the ones that are more likely to succeed in this artificial intelligence revolution.

But they did add, there will still be humans involved, because even in tasks like software development and coding that today are done very much a majority of the time by AI systems, there still needs to be a person involved who manages the project, who also edits what the AI does.

As AI systems can still tend to hallucinate and make mistakes, so there will always be a human involved. So try to make yourself as available as possible to be the one that is managing multiple AI systems in the future -- Hadas Gold, CNN, New York.

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WATSON: There is still more to come on CNN, including details on Donald Trump Jr.'s wedding and the celebration that he's holding in the Bahamas this weekend. Stay with us to learn more about it

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WATSON: Donald Trump Jr. married Palm Beach socialite Bettina Anderson on Thursday. The couple are set to hold a wedding celebration on a small island in the Bahamas this weekend.

But Don Jr.'s dad, Donald Trump Sr., says he won't be there, citing geopolitical conflicts keeping him in Washington, D.C. CNN's Randi Kaye has more on the nuptials of the president's eldest son.

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RANDI KAYE, CNN U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Donald Trump Jr. will be celebrating his wedding this weekend in the Bahamas with his new bride, Bettina Anderson.

Now this was always going to be a small, intimate gathering with just close friends and immediate family members, according to people familiar with the plan. But now we know president Donald Trump does not plan to attend this wedding celebration.

He wrote on Truth Social that he very much wanted to be with his son and the newest member of the Trump family but that circumstances pertaining to government and his love for the United States of America did not allow him to do so.

He also added that he felt it was important for him to remain in Washington, D.C., and at the White House during this very important time. And, of course, he wished the happy couple congratulations.

Now we know, in the Oval Office just a day earlier, he was asked about his plan, whether or not he would attend this wedding celebration. He was pretty vague about it. But now we know.

We also know that Donald Trump Jr.'s siblings do plan to attend this celebration. And one source told CNN that 0it was long expected that president Trump would not be attending this wedding celebration because the couple wanted it to be a private ceremony.

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Now here's a little bit more that we know about Bettina Anderson, his new bride. She's considered a socialite and a model here in Palm Beach circles.

On Instagram, she describes herself as your typical stay-at-home mom. Only I don't do household chores or have a husband or kids.

Well, now she does have a husband. And on her LinkedIn she says that she's the executive director of a conservation group. She also lists herself as a board member for a group that produces movies about conservation efforts and efforts to save the environment.

Now just a little bit of history here. This is Donald Trump Jr.'s second marriage. He was married to Vanessa Trump for 12 years. They divorced in 2018. And then he started dating Kimberly Guilfoyle, who is now the U.S. ambassador to Greece.

She was given that job by the Trump administration around the time that her relationship with Donald Trump Jr. was crumbling and around the time he was seen holding hands with Bettina Anderson.

So we don't know whether or not they ever knew each other. We know they were in the same VIP box at the Republican National Convention in 2024. But we do know that Donald Trump Jr. did end up marrying one of them, Bettina Anderson -- Randi Kaye CNN, Palm Beach County, Florida.

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WATSON: Get ready because the Pentagon has released a second batch of declassified documents related to UFOs or, as the government calls them, unidentified aerial phenomena or UAPs. I prefer UFOs.

But the documents include lists of alleged sightings as well as military reports. This latest batch of documents also features video material requested by members of Congress. The U.S. military says one of the videos was likely captured by an infrared sensor.

The video appears to show several unidentified objects moving across the field of view before another object moves in rapidly from the left. The release of the documents is part of a broader initiative that president Trump ordered earlier this year.

And with that, thank you for joining us for this hour of CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Ivan Watson. "CNN THIS MORNING" is coming up next.