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CNN This Morning

Spirit Airlines Canceled All Flights And Is Going Out Of Business; Trump Not Satisfied With Iran's Latest Proposal To End War; Supreme Court Ruling Speeds Up Redistricting Races; Oil Prices Rise Again With Little Sign Of War On Iran Ending. Gas Prices Rise as Iran War-Talks with the U.S. Remain at an Impasse; Pentagon Inks Deals with A.I. Companies Except Anthropic; LIV Golf Loses Saudi Funding. Aired 6-7a ET

Aired May 02, 2026 - 06:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:00:33]

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to CNN This morning. So glad to have you along. Here's what you need to know today. There is a major shakeup in the airline industry. Spirit Airlines is going out of business. Employees are out of jobs and travelers are stranded.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When you're purchasing something cheaper, it comes at a cost. And the cost is, I guess, also that the airline might shut down.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Talk about the impact that this will have on all of us heading into the busy summer travel season.

Plus, President Trump is reacting to Iran's pitch to end the war. He said the latest proposal is not good enough. And last night to a crowd of supporters, he said this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: Frankly, maybe we're better off not making a deal at all. Do you want to know the truth?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Will tell you where negotiations stand this morning. And two more states are now joining the rush to redraw congressional maps after the Supreme Court's ruling on the Voting Rights Act. What this tells us about the effect this will have on upcoming elections and the innovative technology being tested out right now that could help stop a school shooter, how it works, plus how much it'll cost. That's coming up. Saturday, May 2nd. Thank you for joining me. I'm Victor Blackwell. We're starting with that breaking news this morning.

Spirit Airlines is going out of business. Early this morning, the airline said it has begun shutting down operations and has canceled all upcoming flights. This is what customers see when they go to the website. The discount carrier says customer service is no longer available.

It also is advising passengers not to come to the airport and to rebook their travel on a different airline. 17,000 workers, 14,000 of them directly working for Spirit out of a job. Passengers are scrambling to make other travel arrangements. The final Spirit flight touched down at Dallas Fort Worth International just after midnight this morning.

Air traffic controllers and other airline pilots, they were heard wishing the Spirit pilots well as they made their final descent.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, Spirit, from us guys at American, good luck to y'all. Sorry to hear what happened.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is there any other Spirit flights coming in after us?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You might be the last one.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, it was a pleasure working with you guys and I wish you the best.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you very much.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Soaring jet fuel costs, which have nearly doubled since the start of the war with Iran, derailed Spirit's plan to emerge from its second bankruptcy. Spirit and the Trump administration also failed to come to a deal last minute bailout potentially for the airline on Friday. With me now is aviation reporter for The Points Guy, Sean Cudahy. Sean, good morning to you.

First, what happens to those thousands of passengers who are waiting for a flight to get back home?

SEAN CUDAHY, AVIATION REPORTER, THE POINTS GUY: Yes, they're kind of out of luck this morning, unfortunately. Now the good news is that some of the other U.S. airlines have said that they will cap fares in some case doing discounted fares on routes where they go head to head with Spirit or I guess where they did go head to head with Spirit.

So, you know, there's going to be an opportunity to rebook and not pay those exorbitant last minute, you know, ticket prices. But you know, make no mistake, this is not good news across the industry for, for consumers. BLACKWELL: Yes, certainly they won't have to pay those walk-up fares which are probably much higher than anything they would have found online. Or what about the, the flight attendants and the pilots who are not back in their home cities?

CUDAHY: Yes, other airlines -- a number of other airlines have said that they will basically extend the privileges that they give to their employees to kind of move them around the country, around the world. They will extend those to Spirit employees.

So if you've got flight attendants, pilots that are in the wrong city, and certainly there's a lot of them at this hour with the airline kind of abruptly shutting down overnight, they're going to open up seats, jump seats on their planes to try to get them back to the right cities after the shut down just a few hours ago here.

BLACKWELL: Obviously this doesn't come out of nowhere. Right. There was a talk a week ago about a potential bailout. This is the second bankruptcy for Spirit Airlines.

What will be the implications for the rest of the industry and the flying public? And are we already seeing any of that?

[06:05:03]

CUDAHY: Yes, I think that the big concern is when it comes to airfare, you know, even if you're someone who, you know, never flew, Spirit never stepped on one of its yellow planes. You know, you benefited from Spirit because these ultra-low cost carriers, they tend to put pressure on the big airlines to keep fares in check.

You know, we still have a couple of low cost airlines, you know, Frontier Airlines kind of most notably. But you know, the industry on, you know, that sector of the industry is definitely smaller and you know, at a time when fuel prices are already putting huge upward pressure on airfare.

You know, we've seen, you know, 15, 20 percent spikes in airfare this summer. I think there's a lot of concern, especially in markets where Spirit had a significant presence, that consumers could be dealing with higher ticket prices, you know, kind of long term.

BLACKWELL: And so for people who were not waiting for a flight, but had a flight booked, do they get their money back?

CUDAHY: Spirit says that they will. So this morning, Spirit has put out a notice on its website and said that it will be automatically processing refunds for canceled flights. Of course, though, you know, it's kind of a dicey situation because you're talking about an airline that, you know, had major cash flow issues, obviously at the heart of what has happened here overnight.

So, you know, if you don't get a refund from Spirit, if you don't have any luck, we are suggesting right now that, you know, if you pay with a credit card, go ahead and request a charge back with that credit card. Basically tell your credit card company that, you know, that you didn't receive the thing that you paid for that thing being a flight. Of course, and you know, there are some federal protections in place to ensure you get that money back from your credit card company.

You know, I think that's sort of the best bet at this point. A lot of travel insurance plans likely not going to cover insolvency cancellations from an airline.

So, you know, there are protections for consumers, but not as many as there normally would be if your flight was canceled because of maintenance or something like that.

BLACKWELL: 14,000 Spirit employees, the rather the rest are contractors of the 17,000. Are the shortages across the industry significant enough where they can absorb some of these flight attendants, some of these pilots, or are these people going to have to look for jobs in other industries?

CUDAHY: Yes, I think that kind of remains to be seen. You know, we have seen a number of airlines slow hiring this year because of, of the sky high jet fuel costs that they're dealing with, you know, kind of depends on what, you know, part of what role we're talking about. You know, certainly there is a major need across the industry for more aircraft mechanics, highly specialized roles. I'm sure that those, you know, there will be opportunities for those workers.

And you know, I think, you know, it's a big industry and I think that, you know, there will be opportunities. We've heard some airlines say that they're going to give kind of preferential, you know, interviews to Spirit camp candidates that were affected by this.

But, you know, I do think that we are dealing with a, unfortunately a very difficult situation for these employees, you know, out of really no fault of their own that they've come into this situation.

BLACKWELL: All right. This is definitely a breaking story. Sean Cudahy, thank you very much. And coming up in the next hour, CNN's Gloria Pazmino, she joins us from LaGuardia Airport where Spirit has a major hub.

Day 63 of the war with Iran. And President Trump says he is not happy with the state of negotiations and not sure a peace agree will ever be reached.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Frankly, maybe we're better off not making a deal at all. Do you want to know the truth? Because we can't let this thing go on.

Iran wants to make a deal because they have no military left essentially, and they want to make a deal. But I'm not satisfied. They've made strides, but I'm not sure if they ever get there.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BLACKWELL: Well, the American people do not approve of this war. Look at this latest ABC News Washington Post poll. 61 percent believe it was a mistake to use military force against Iran. CNN's Leila Gharagozlou is with us now from Abu Dhabi.

What's the latest?

LEILA GHARAGOZLOU, CNN PRODUCER: Yes, so as President Trump said, you know, there's not really a deal going forward, even though there's been a little bit of forward action. But I really think to understand where we're at when it comes to a deal and policy, possible reescalation of this war, we have to look to what the Iranians have been saying and much Abu Al Khamenei, the supreme leader yesterday said that Iran has emerged out of this conflict as a military power.

Now this really shows you where the Iranians heads are at. They view this -- they view these negotiations as them coming in with a upper hand in a really strong position and very unlikely to capitulate, which means that we are heading towards some form of escalation if a deal is off the table.

Now, obviously the Iranians have moved a little bit on some of the key issues. But given that the U.S. has not accepted that, and President Trump is saying they're weighing their options, it does look like we're headed towards something like a reescalation or some kinetic action.

[06:10:05]

Now there has been that economic blockade, the blockade on the ports to help put pressure on Iran. That's also not going as the U.S. thought it would. The Iranians still standing strong. They still have quite a lot of leeway before that really, really hits their economy.

So at this point, it's looking much more likely that we're going to see some renewal of conflict or tension then we are going to see a deal. Now that could change in the next couple of days. But the Iranians are coming in very strong.

They do think that they have the upper hand. And as we see, President Trump is also not looking to back down on this.

Now, when it comes to the American public and how they're feeling, President Trump also had a message for detractors. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We get the radical left to say we're not winning, we're not winning. They don't have any military left. It's unbelievable. It's actually -- it's actually -- I believe it's treasonous. OK, you want to know that it's treasonous.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GHARAGOZLOU: Now, obviously we don't, I don't know if this is actually treason, but the American people are definitely not for this war. We're going to have to see how this plays out and if we can wrap up this conflict.

BLACKWELL: Yes, it definitely is not treason to speak one's opinion about a war. Leila Gharagozlou, thanks so much.

GHARAGOZLOU: Yes.

BLACKWELL: Here's what else we're watching this morning. The U.S. is withdrawing about 5,000 of more than 30,000 troops in Germany over the next year. It's after criticism from Berlin about the war with Iran. This week, the German chancellor accused the U.S. officials of entering a war without a clear strategy and also saying the whole affair is ill considered, to say the least.

In a statement to CNN, Germany's defense minister said the drawdown was expected. But he also said Europe must take greater responsibility for its own security.

May Day brought massive rallies around the world as workers demonstrated from France to South Korea, Turkey, the Philippines. Across the U.S. demonstrations stretched from coast to coast. In downtown Los Angeles, thousands of people protested against immigration raids and called for higher wages. Organizers in Minneapolis rallied against ICE and for better pay and benefits.

Let me take you to New York. Hundreds of people rallied in support of unions and against corporate power.

The remains found near a bridge in Pinellas County, Florida, have been identified as the second missing USF student. She disappeared last month along with fellow student Zamil Limon.

The 27-year-old student from Bangladesh was last seen together in April 16th in Tampa. Limon was found dead April 24th. Nahida Bristy's body was discovered on Sunday. Investigators say both were stabbed multiple times in a case the sheriff calls gruesome and pure evil. Friends and professors gathered on the USF campus yesterday to honor their lives at a vigil.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARK RAINS, USF, PROFESSOR: But if I had to describe Jamil with one word, it would be kindness. He was just really, really kind. We'll miss you, Jamil. Midday, Bundu. Goodbye, friend.

VINAY GUPTA, USF, PROFESSOR: When I met her after she arrived, I saw a student with a quiet smile, a soft spoken demeanor and enthusiasm to begin her coursework. By every account from her friends, these qualities never left her.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Limon's roommate faces several charges, including two counts of first degree premeditated murder. Detectives are still working to determine a motive.

Next on CNN This Morning, two Republican governors are calling for special sessions to consider new congressional maps. We'll dig into the redistricting debate and its impact on this year's midterms.

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[06:18:34]

BLACKWELL: Lawmakers across several states are now racing to redistrict after the Supreme Court gave it the green light. The governors of Alabama and Tennessee announced special legislative sessions next week to draw new maps.

The Supreme Court struck down a majority black congressional district in Louisiana. That decision will now limit the use of race when drawing up voting districts.

Ruth Greenwood is with me now. She's the director of the Election Law Clinic at Harvard. Ruth, good to have you.

RUTH GREENWOOD, DIRECTOR, ELECTION LAW CLINIC, HARVARD UNIVERSITY: Thank you for having me.

BLACKWELL: The speed with people are in these states now rushing to redraw. In Louisiana, there have been early votes already cast in their primaries for the midterm. And they say that those will be nullified. They're going to push it back. Talk to us about the precedent here and the legality around some of these, these plans.

GREENWOOD: Yes, I mean, the usual procedure is that once you actually start casting votes, as they have in Louisiana, that you can't stop an election in the middle. I think it's about 4,000 votes that have already been cast. And today, Saturday is the beginning of early was the beginning of early voting for all the races except according to the state, state the congressional district.

The precedent is that this is kind of a nightmare for election officials. Right. Like they are trying to explain to people whether people are voting in certain races or not in other races.

[06:20:05]

It's terrible for the voters because they vote now and then they vote again in July. So as a matter of administration, it's a real disaster. But sort of more importantly, as a matter of history and of civil rights, the decision this week absolutely guts the federal Voting Rights Act, one of the most powerful tools to protect against racial discrimination in voting in this country.

And those effects, of course, are happening now, but they will be like, we will continue to feel those effects for decades.

BLACKWELL: OK, so what do you say to Alabama? Alabama is one of those states is rushing to redraw before the primary. The attorney general for the state was on with my colleague Jake Tapper yesterday and said, Alabama 2026 is not the Alabama of the early 60s. This is a new time and a different era. What do you say to that?

GREENWOOD: Sure. OK, so they're not hitting people with, you know, like sticks on the Evan Pettus Bridge, but that doesn't mean that there still isn't a cleavage by race in this country. Right. We know in Alabama that white and black voters prefer different candidates for office. And if you allow this redistricting, white voters will consistently get their candidates elected and black voters will not get their candidates elected.

You know, we're supposed to be in a democracy. A Democracy is not 51 percent get whatever they want all of the time. Right. It is about trying to enfranchise everybody in our community and systematically leaving out a huge portion of the state is not OK.

BLACKWELL: Yes. What does this mean for the nonpartisan elections as well? We're going to see it in Mississippi with some as judicial elections.

GREENWOOD: yes. So it is -- the ruling is so broad, like the Calais ruling under the Voting Rights Act is so broad that in the future it will be possible for states to claim almost anything as their legitimate partisan purposes. So, of course, you know, in Florida, they say we want to draw partisan gerrymander.

But even in the nonpartisan races, they can make up pretextual reasons why they want to redraw districts that will disenfranchise black voters. So unfortunately, nowhere is free from the effects of this ruling.

BLACKWELL: And you know, you talked about -- let's talk about intent because one of the elements of the ruling is no longer can -- is the impact enough one has to prove the intent was racial discrimination. That seems like a mighty high bar to reach. Not just that what you did now is discriminatory, but that you intended for it to be.

GREENWOOD: Right. Exactly. And this is exactly what happened. Back in 1980, a case out of Alabama, Mobile, Bill Bolden went up to the United States Supreme Court and they said you need to show intentional discrimination.

And in response, Congress recognized that people are not stupid. They're not going to say, you know, I'm doing this for intentionally racist reasons. They're going to find some other pretext. And so in 1982, Congress amended the Voting Rights Act of 1965 to make it very clear that it was a results test. Right.

It matters if the impact is discriminatory on people of color. And from 1982 until, I guess a few days ago, we had this effects test where we could look at disparate impact. Now the court has essentially nullified Congress's explicit purpose and said that actually when you prove a Section 2 claim, you do need to show either actual or a strong inference of intentional discrimination.

BLACKWELL: There's a lot of rushing right now to try to get new maps in front of voters ahead of the midterms. We'll see if that happens. Ruth Greenwood, thank you so much for being with me.

After the break, we'll get back to this morning's breaking news. Spirit Airlines cancels all flights and is going out of business. Thousands of flyers are stranded. Workers are out of a job. What ticket holders need to know, next.

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[06:28:39]

BLACKWELL: More of the breaking news we're following. This morning, Spirit Airlines announced it is shutting down its operations and it's canceling all upcoming flights. The decision will put 17,000 people out of work immediately and leave thousands of customers scrambling to rebook some flights. Airlines like United, Allegiant, Frontier, they've said that they will help passengers and workers who have been left stranded.

This is the first significant U.S. airline to hold operations in nearly 25 years. The budget airline has been struggling since the pandemic. Rise in jet fuel prices because of the war in Iran has strained Spirit's operations even further. And this announcement also comes after the failure of a last minute bailout deal from the Trump administration.

Gas prices surging again as the Iran war talks are on hold. According to AAA, the national average this morning, $4.43 a gallon for regular and prices are now at their highest level since July 2022. Experts say those prices will likely remain above pre Iran war levels for weeks, if not months. CNN's Gloria Pazmino takes a look at how people are coping with the hikes, the higher prices.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Victor. I would say what most of these drivers have in common, what they have told us throughout the day, is that they feel like they don't have a choice. Gas prices are rising rapidly, but for many of them, it's not a question of whether or not they can afford to pay for the gas.

[06:30:06]

They simply have no option. Many of them told me that they have to fill up their gas to get to work, to get home to commute.

Many of them, in fact, make a living by being behind the wheel, making deliveries, working in their vehicles, driving a cab. Many cab drivers here in New York City told me that passengers are opting to not take a taxi cabs, preferring to take public transportation because they are trying to save some money.

So, certainly, a lot of frustration from drivers here who are seeing no relief any time soon. The prices are continuing to increase and people are starting to wonder if they're going to have to make some cuts in their budget.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think we're getting -- we're taking the brunt of this war. We're feeling it. And United States, I don't see what they're getting out of this, but I know it's hurting our pockets. It's hard to travel now. I still got to get around.

So, this is going to be a lot. Tired of folks -- when you compare things to what you were --

PAZMINO: Right --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's almost double.

PAZMINO: Have you felt that increase, rapid increase?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, absolutely --

PAZMINO: Yes --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And it's not just the gas, it's everything. I'm going to return the car. I have a subscription and I'm not going to drive for another month. You know, we normally be traveling a lot during this Summer.

PAZMINO: Yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PAZMINO: Now, Victor, let's talk about the numbers because we saw a significant jump in prices just in the past few days. Now, we're seeing a national average that's hovering right around $4.39. That is 39 cents more expensive than just nine days ago.

And we have seen a 47 percent increase since the conflict in the Middle East started back in February. Here in New York, one of the most expensive states to buy gasoline, we're seeing $4.69 for the regular gallon, $6.30 if you get the premium option.

So, significantly more expensive, a little bit more expensive than the national average. California, of course, they are seeing some of the highest numbers. And as I said, Victor, no indication that prices are going to ease up any time soon as the conflict in the Middle East continues to drag on.

And even if it does end soon, experts agree that it will likely take months, if not longer, for prices to come down and for the cost to stabilize again. Victor?

VICTOR BLACKWELL, ANCHOR, CNN THIS MORNING WEEKEND: Expensive period. Gloria Pazmino, thanks so much. The Pentagon has announced an agreement with seven major technology companies to use their A.I. tools in its classified networks, but Anthropic is not one of them.

The Trump administration has blacklisted the company after a dispute over safety restrictions on military use. CNN's Hadas Gold has details for us. Hadas.

HADAS GOLD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Victor, until recently, Anthropic's Claude model was essentially one of the only A.I. models that the Pentagon could use on its classified system. They could use others for their unclassified systems. But then they wanted to change some of the terms of the agreement with

Anthropic. And Anthropic resisted because they wanted to have specific guardrails over A.I.'s use in autonomous weapons, and A.I.'s use of over mass surveillance of American citizens.

That led to the recent disagreement with the Pentagon, and then the Pentagon labeled them a supply chain risk. It's essentially a military blacklist. They are fighting that out in court. So, in the meantime, the Pentagon needed to find a replacement for A.I. models in their classified system.

They had already signed a deal with OpenAI to use theirs, and now they're announcing several other companies that will be working with them on their classified systems. These include SpaceX, which is Elon Musk's company.

They have XAI, which has the Grok Chatbot, Google, Nvidia, Microsoft, Amazon, and a small startup called Reflection, in addition to OpenAI, which had already signed that deal. But I want to point out that there's a little bit of a cognitive dissidence going on right now with Anthropic.

Obviously, Anthropic is not on this list. They are part of that blacklist. They are still a supply chain risk designation according to the Pentagon. So, you have that coming from the Pentagon who is saying that they are a risky company to work with.

But then on the other side, you have the White House is meeting with Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei recently, calling that meeting productive. They were just at the White House this week. According to my sources, to have a meeting with the National Cyber Security director.

And "Axios" is even reporting that the White House is trying to draft guidelines and ways that would let agencies still work with Anthropic's models and get around the supply chain risk designation. So, what is it? Is this company so dangerous to national security that, you know, the military should work with them?

In fact, Pete Hegseth's initial proclamation on this talked about how they were such a risk. And, you know, anybody who works with the military can't work with anything having to do with Anthropic's models.

[06:35:00]

And President Trump said that the whole federal government had to stop working with Anthropic products within the next six months. Or was this potentially just all about politics and a disagreement with another company?

You know, the issue here for the Pentagon, for the government is that Anthropic just makes some of the most advanced models out there. They're not necessarily the best out there. They're in very close competition with Google and OpenAI and the others, but they do make some of the best models out there. And so, obviously, you're going to have people in the government who

need to work with the best tools available to them. Now, as for the companies and their specific contracts with the Pentagon, we don't know exactly what they say.

We do know the Pentagon has said that all of them have agreed for their A.I. models to be used for all lawful purposes. Some of these companies have insisted that their agreements include commitments, that their tools won't be used for, you know, mass surveillance or for autonomous weapons.

There are some legal disagreements over how, you know, strong those commitments are. But in some cases, for example, in Google's cases, some of their own employees were actually pushing back against these agreements.

There was an open letter from Google employees asking their executives not to sign on to this deal, but ultimately Google did, and they said that they are proud to do so. Victor?

BLACKWELL: Hadas Gold, thank you for the reporting. More than 10 million people are at risk this morning for severe storms moving through the southeast, but you'll remember, millions more have faced droughts and fire risks from the lack of rain for weeks.

For more on the severe threat, and if this rain will actually help relieve those dry conditions, let's go to CNN meteorologist Allison Chinchar. Allison, what do you see?

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, that's good morning, Victor. Yes, I think even with the risk of severe storms, I think more people are probably excited about this rather than upset because they need that rain desperately across areas of the southeast.

Now, all the focus is really on this cold front. Behind it, you've got those much cooler temperatures feeling much more like late Winter or early Spring, rather than very close to Summer. It's the severe thunderstorms that are out ahead of that front.

It's really going to be the big concern for today. You're talking Panama City, Tallahassee, down through Orlando and Tampa. The main concern here is really going to be those damaging straight line winds. But we could also see some hail kind of mixed in with some of these storms.

Here's a look at the current radar. Again, you can see most of the real strong thunderstorms are down right there along the Gulf Coast. But you do still have some rain moving through the Carolinas, areas of southern Alabama as well as Georgia.

Here's that closer look. Again, you can see some of the stronger ones coming in towards Pensacola, Panama City now starting to make their way over towards Tallahassee. And they'll continue to slide off to the east as we go through the rest of the day. So, you'll see by about lunch time today. Now you're starting to see them up and down the east coast, Charleston

down through Hilton Head, Savannah. And then the main focus really becomes Florida through the evening hours and then even into tomorrow.

BLACKWELL: All right, Allison, thank you. Next, states are now considering drone technology to help stop school shootings. We'll show you how it works. And if you're heading out, remember, you can stream our show from anywhere in the U.S. right from the CNN app. You can also go to cnn.com/watch.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:40:00]

BLACKWELL: It appears U.S. negotiations with Iran are at a standstill again. But President Trump said Friday that maybe the U.S. is better off if there is no deal. President told CNN that he's not satisfied with Iran's latest offer to end the war.

He also said it's been going on too long already. Now, the war still driving up gas prices across the country $4.43 a gallon on average. Gas prices are now at the highest level since July 2022. Today's price is up 34 cents from just a week ago.

And the Pentagon says the U.S. will withdraw about 5,000 troops from Germany over the next year. This comes after the German Chancellor said that the U.S. was being humiliated by Iran, and President Trump foreshadowed the cuts shortly after that, about 30,000 U.S. troops will still be in the country.

So, often, the tragedy caused by a school shooter happened so quickly that it's over before officers can even respond. Well, a startup out of Texas is trying to change that, and they're leaning on drone technology. CNN's Pete Muntean has a closer look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right, pilots, good to go.

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Here in this Austin, Texas middle school, we're seeing how to stop a school shooter with a swarm of tiny drones. It's a new idea ripped from the world of indoor drone racing, placing a nest of drones inside hallways.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So --

MUNTEAN (on camera): So, what do you guys call this?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We've just been calling it the box.

MUNTEAN (voice-over): And launching them remotely, the moment a lockdown begins.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So, in a school shooting, most of the death happens in the first two minutes. And it's really hard to get an effective response there in that first two minutes. MUNTEAN: Justin Marston is the founder of Campus Guardian Angel, the

Texas startup that envisions drones mounted on the wall of every school nationwide waiting for an emergency.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For now --

MUNTEAN: The system is still in trials here in Texas, with a pilot program launching in Florida, and lawmakers in Georgia considering it next.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As soon as people see it, it becomes really obvious and compelling.

MUNTEAN: To prove it, I got to watch a test live.

(On camera): Bye --

(Voice-over): For this demonstration, the drone operators are right at our side. Instead of in a control room where they navigate using a 3D scan of the school's interior. Part one speed.

[06:45:00]

The drones rip through halls, scanning for a threat and feeding point of view video back in real time.

BILL KING, FORMER NAVY SEAL: As soon as I can find him, five seconds later, I can be flying.

MUNTEAN: Bill King is a former Navy SEAL and Co-founder of Campus Guardian Angel. Live drone video can be relayed to police, giving them a clearer picture before they move in.

(On camera): So, we moved on to a different part of the demo now that apparently requires safety glasses.

(Voice-over): The team here has now pulled out a stand-in shooter. His name?

(On camera): Silent Bob.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Silent Bob?

MUNTEAN: Yes, because he never complains.

(Voice-over): Even as he is pelted with pepper spray balls enough to stop a real shooter, even an unarmed drone can still pack a punch and can subdue a shooter by ramming into them.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nice --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Anything that causes that distraction, anything that takes their attention away from potential victims is a win.

MUNTEAN: Rick Goodrich(ph) is the Chief of Safety and Security for a school district near San Antonio. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When a drone enters the room, it's the only thing

you're thinking about.

MUNTEAN: Campus Guardian Angel admits this system will not be cheap, costing schools about as much as a school police officer's salary and benefits. This technology is still in its early phases, and has never been used in an actual school shooting. But the hope is, this can be an emerging tool in a fight with no easy answers.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If we see somebody murdering children, we want to stop them murdering children.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: Fascinating. Pete Muntean, thank you for that report. LIV Golf is now looking for a plan B after losing funding after this season. The league is looking for new investors. We'll discuss the league's future next.

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[06:50:00]

BLACKWELL: After losing its primary funding this week, LIV Golf is moving on. The Saudi backers are pulling funding at the end of the season, and LIV already announced a new board and a search for new investors.

Well, now its golfers, many of whom ditched the PGA for LIV more lucrative prizes, they're questioning the future. Managing Editor for "Golfweek", Timothy Schmitt is with me now. Timothy, good morning to you.

I remember back when I think it was the Phil Mickelson deal, $200 million reportedly, it seemed like the Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund and LIV had endless money. The PGA was done. What happened?

TIMOTHY SCHMITT, MANAGING EDITOR, GOLFWEEK: Well, it's interesting you say that, $5 billion is the number that they throw around when they talk about how much LIV Golf has burned through since this experiment started.

Now, think about any other business that loses $5 billion, it doesn't continue, right? And it was just a matter of time that unless this thing gained traction, unless LIV Golf became a staple in American culture, a staple in worldwide culture, that it was going to have to be defunded at some point.

It was going to have to stand on its own. And four years in, we're almost on the fourth birthday of LIV Golf. It is nowhere near standing on its own. I will say this, there still is the rest of this season since they're fully funded, there are options.

But again, I don't know about you. I don't want to throw money into something that's lost $5 billion over the course of four years. BLACKWELL: Well, here are the numbers from LIV. They say that they're

doing well. Revenue tracking, 100 million ahead of this time last year. It says sponsorships, merchandise revenue are both up year-over- year. Ticket sales up 129 percent year-over-year. Is anyone sniffing around?

SCHMITT: You know, there are some feelers being put out, if that were the case. I mean, it would be really interesting to see what a 2027 LIV Golf league would look like. It would be very different.

Right now, the teams all have kind of kitschy names and they have, you know, one player who is supposed to be the captain and actually owns or has a piece of the ownership of that franchise.

Moving forward. It would be a very different LIV Golf. It would be something that had branded names with corporations, and it would have to sell out a lot more than it has in the first few years of this. But there are some people sniffing around.

You know, the really interesting thing about LIV Golf for me personally is golf has tracked since the -- since the COVID, you know, the whole -- everything happened with COVID in 2021 and before. Things have really worked out well for golf.

It's been a very positive time in golf's history. And there is a niche with younger folks who are looking to get into the game. The PGA tour skews a little bit older. The failing for me in LIV Golf is the fact that after all this time, young folks still don't find this attractive.

BLACKWELL: Yes --

SCHMITT: And that's where it's really difficult. Look, I -- my daughter turns 26-year-old today -- 26 years old today. I don't turn to her and say, hey, Molly(ph), what's good modern -- or no, what do you think I should be listening to?

Excuse me, I do say that, I don't ever say, hey, listen, here's the music you should listen to. Here's the young movies you should be watching. She tells me, right?

BLACKWELL: Yes --

SCHMITT: She's 26. She knows what she's talking about. It feels like LIV Golf was a bunch of 50-year-old suits like me in a room trying to tell 25-year-olds what was cool, and it just never resonated.

BLACKWELL: Yes, that dog won't hunt. And happy birthday, Molly(ph), got a little shout-out --

SCHMITT: Yes --

BLACKWELL: On the birthday. Hey, Timothy Schmidt of "Golfweek", thank you so much for being with me. And we'll see what happens if they find some other investors. Hey, tomorrow, we take a look at the career of one of the most powerful people in fashion. [06:55:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She has an incredibly iconic and recognizable uniform.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There's something powerful about that, Bob. It's authoritative. It's sexy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What we're seeing is high glamor and efficiency. That pair allows her to wake up at the crack of dawn and work and then go to some dinner.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Her dark sunglasses, a lot of people see them as a method of intimidation. The reason she wears such dark glasses is medical.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Some people say it allows her to see, but not be seen. We see her.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: "BEHIND THE BOB: VOGUE'S ANNA WINTOUR" airs Sunday at 8:00 on CNN, or you can watch on the CNN app. Ahead of the next hour, Spirit Airlines shuts down overnight and cancels all of its flights. We're live at LaGuardia with reaction, next.

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