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Erin Burnett Outfront
Trump Lashes Out As Inflation Soars And Americans Are Struggling; Doctors Speaks From Biocontainment Unit, Tested Positive For Virus; Mystery Over Sinking Of Russian Ship Likely Carrying Nuclear Reactors. Aired 7-8p ET
Aired May 12, 2026 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[19:00:23]
ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: OUTFRONT next:
The president lashing out when confronted with surging inflation numbers, the war with Iran in large part to blame. Trump saying he does not think about the financial situation of Americans.
Also breaking this hour, the doctor who was on board that cruise with a hantavirus outbreak is our guest tonight. Dr. Stephen Kornfeld, he's been on this show. He jumped into action when people became sick and he helped them.
He is right now the one American passenger who has been isolated in a biocontainment unit after an initial positive test. He breaks his silence tonight right here.
And a CNN investigation, a Russian ship that may have been carrying nuclear reactors, possibly headed for North Korea, sinks in the Mediterranean. Who did it? Why was it there?
Let's go OUTFRONT.
(MUSIC)
BURNETT: And good evening. I'm Erin Burnett.
And OUTFRONT tonight, the breaking news, Trump's stunning slam of Americans.
As we speak, President Trump is in the air. He is flying to Beijing, where he is going to meet in a very high stakes summit with the Chinese President Xi Jinping. But before Trump got in the plane, he was talking to reporter's and he said something that even in the context of never knowing what's going to be said on any given day is shocking.
Here he is responding to questions about inflation numbers, which broke this morning at the highest levels in three years, due in no small part to the surge in energy prices because of the war in Iran.
(INAUDIBLE)
BURNETT: I'm sorry, the sound is not playing. I'm just going to read it to you because it's important to hear it.
So, what happened was -- do we have it now? Okay, let me play. Let me play it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REPORTER: What extent are Americans financial situation motivating you to make a deal?
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Not even a little bit. The only thing that matters when I'm talking about Iran, they can't have a nuclear weapon. I don't think about Americans financial situation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: He really said that.
Now, it is hard to get your head around a president of the United States saying that when he was asked, you know, he said not even a little bit, I don't think about Americans' financial situation, especially on the day when he found out that prices are rising so much that they are more than eating up any wage gains that Americans have.
We're having a little difficulty with the sound. Let me see if I can play this exchange.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REPORTER: You promised to bring inflation down. It's now at its highest level in three years.
Are your policies not working? What's happening?
TRUMP: My policies are working incredibly. If you go back to just before the war for the last three months, inflation was at 1.7 percent. Now we had a choice. Let these lunatics have a nuclear weapon.
If you want to do that, then you're a stupid person and you happen to be. I mean, I know you very well.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: So just some fact checks on this. First, the premise that Americans are suffering inflation because otherwise Iran would get a nuke -- that is false, not just by the assessment of U.S. intelligence, which of course calls that false, but by Trump's own words. He said, quote, "It was a total obliteration" when it came to the U.S. destroying Iran's nuclear program back in July of 2025.
So, to say that inflation numbers right now, that it was either this war or a nuke or inflation, that -- that is false. That's first.
Second, inflation was not 1.7 percent before the war. It was 2.4 percent. And third, inflation is up. And it is not just up to the highest rate
in three years. It is, as I indicated, rising more than wages means that any wage gain you get is eaten up, and then even more by rising prices, which means Americans are poorer.
Paychecks grew 3.6 percent from a year ago. Prices rose 3.8 percent, and a meaningful part of the reason for that is energy prices, which are surging because of the Iraq war. Gas prices are up 65 percent in the past six months.
Now, some of that even predated the war, by the way. That's why that inflation number Trump had put out was false. But people are feeling serious pain now and again. This is what the president said about that pain today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Not even a little bit. The only thing that matters when I'm talking about Iran, they can't have a nuclear weapon. I don't think about Americans' financial situation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: I don't think about Americans' financial situation. Well, that's the president United States.
So, then what is he thinking about? Well, he did answer questions today about the ballroom and the reflecting pool.
[19:05:01]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: You may want to go see the reflecting pool because that's under construction. And for the first time since 1922, it's going to work properly.
We have a ballroom that's under budget. It's going up right here. I've doubled the size of it because we obviously need that. And were right now on budget, under budget and ahead of schedule.
REPORTER: Double --
TRUMP: I doubled the size of it, you dumb person. Double the size.
(CROSSTALK)
TRUMP: You are -- you are not a smart person.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: That's the president of the United States.
And his behavior today came after he spent much of the night seemingly awake. Maybe that's why he's so testy, posting and reposting on social media. In fact, since 10:00 last night, overnight, more than 75 times. Do you know anybody who does that, including posting a picture of $100 bill with his own face on it? He posted that.
He also posted Mount Rushmore with his face being etched into the stone, and then he posted an A.I. generated image of former Presidents Obama and Biden, along with former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, swimming in sewage. So, he posted all of those things in those 70-plus posts.
Kristen Holmes is traveling with the president OUTFRONT, live in Beijing.
So, Kristen, right, with all of this that I just laid out, you are actually in China for one of the most incredibly high stakes moments of this presidency. What more are you learning about how frustrated Trump is with the war, with the bad economic numbers that sparked him to tell the American people that he does not think about their financial situation, not even a little bit before he got on the plane?
KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, I mean, that was wild, Erin. And I do want to be very clear, there are so many White House officials who have been telling him day in and day out that inflation is a problem for him, that higher gas numbers are a problem for him, that this war in Iran is a problem for him because it is causing problems within the economy, which they believe that Americans care the most about.
Just a reminder, part of the reason that President Trump was successful in 2024 is because his team and he were tapping into what Americans cared about in terms of the economy in a way that others just weren't. Now you see President Trump distancing himself from this.
Now, President Trump grows increasingly frustrated when he feels like the messaging isn't on his side, when he feels like he doesn't have anything to rely on to talk about the positives, he is one who likes to spin any situation and its becoming much, much, much and much harder to actually spin what's happening with the war in Iran and what's happening currently with the economy.
President Trump there lashing out at reporters. This is what he does when he can't spin the narrative in the way that he wants to spin it. And I will tell you, going into this, as you said, consequential summit with President Xi, this is happening at a time where now the Iran war is looming over this.
President Trump thought it was going to be over by now. That's why he delayed this six weeks. He thought this wouldn't be something that was going to cause any kind of overshadowing of this summit. But yet here we are again.
And you heard him in this back and forth with reporters at one point saying he didn't really need the help of President Xi. Well, we have talked to a number of U.S. officials who say that is part of the plan to push President Xi to push their counterparts in Iran, to open up the strait of Hormuz, to come to a deal that is going to be part of this long conversation. But I will tell you, when I am talking to these U.S. officials, when
I'm talking to White House officials, they know how serious the problem the economy is right now, particularly as we head into those midterms.
BURNETT: All right. Kristen, thank you very much, at 7:00 the -- tomorrow morning. Tomorrow morning in Beijing.
All right. Now, Sean Patrick Maloney, he is the former Democratic congressman and ambassador under Biden. S.E. Cupp, Republican strategist and of course, regular here. And Adam Kobeissi, financial analyst and founder of "The Kobeissi Letter".
Adam, can I just start with you? Because we were starting with some of the basic facts here and Trump's stunning statement. It will be an unforgettable one. When he said, I don't think about Americans financial situation. Inflation has not been this high in three years. Those are the numbers we got out today, Adam, and you have drilled down on just what that means.
ADAM KOBEISSI, FOUNDER AND EDITOR-IN-CHIEF OF THE KOBEISSI LETTER: Yeah. So, you know, our thesis for the last 12-plus months has basically been own assets or be left behind. You know, it's been pretty widely stated now and that has that has really been the situation. It continues to be the case because of the fact that inflation, not only did it not fall to the Fed's 2 percent target, but now it's back up to 3.8 percent, and we're dealing with effectively what I like to call compounding inflation.
So, what does that mean? You had years of inflation that are now having inflation on top of that inflation. And since 2020, really since the pandemic, the U.S. dollar has lost around 30 percent of its purchasing power, which is, I mean --
BURNETT: Incredible.
KOBEISSI: We saw that last in the '80s. That's pretty much unprecedented. And as a result, you're now seeing this, what I like to call a bifurcated K-shaped economy, where those who own assets and those who own stocks and real estate and these various things that are protecting against inflation are seeing the best economy of their life. But everybody else is seeing a terrible economy where actually consumer sentiment just hit the lowest level on record, dating all the way back to the 1900s last month.
[19:10:03]
So, I think this K-shaped economy will continue to widen. And inflation really is the fuel behind that that fire.
BURNETT: I mean, it is incredible. S.E. and you can see it in if you look at consumer sentiment numbers, how people feel, okay, the lowest since early 1900s. You just heard what Adam said. And yet the president, when asked about this today, and maybe this is in part because he was up all night posting and he's tired. I mean, you know, he's a human being. He says, I don't think about
Americans' financial situation. I don't think that any political consultant could have come up with a statement that toxic.
S.E. CUPP, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: In an election year. We have to keep reminding because he seems to have forgotten it is an election year. Listen, another president could easily make this point, could say, listen, the threat of Iran is so existential, were all going to have to bear some economic pain.
But Trump's got two problems with this. He has not sold this war to the American people. And so the American people don't want to be in this war. Whatever reasons he's been giving, we are not buying and were not were not into it.
The other thing is this comes at a time when he has also been saying stupid things like affordability is a hoax. The ballroom, the reflecting pool, the money. I mean, he seems incredibly distracted and oblivious to the pain that Americans are feeling.
He's literally going out and saying, that's a hoax. You are fine. This is the mistake that Joe Biden made in 2024 and Kamala Harris made in 2024. They look people in the eye and said, the economy is great. What are you complaining about?
They didn't listen. His own voters now are telling him the economy is hurting me. Your tariffs and your war are hurting me. Do something about it. And he's saying, I don't think about you at all. It's a bad idea.
BURNETT: It's literally what he said, ambassador. And you know, when Trump said, you know, and regular Americans are upset, we see that in the consumer sentiment numbers, right? We see that in the pain. You see that in the wages, right? This is what people are living. And yet, you know, here we are.
SEAN PATRICK MALONEY (D), FORMER U.S. REPRESENTATIVE: Yeah. Look, its gas, groceries, housing, health care. That's where middle class families live and die. And they see what's happening to them.
Look, if there's two adversaries in the world, you want to have your A-game on when you walk into the room with its the Iranians and the Chinese, and the president is up all night mismanaging the war he launched precipitously in Iran, and now he's off to a summit, which is incredibly important to our country's future, to our economy, to our national security. And he's -- and he's exhausted from tweeting all night. And as S.E. points out, he's incredibly distracted.
And the problem with the problem with the statement is not just the gotcha political misstatement of I don't care about, I don't focus on Americans concerns.
BURNETT: Right.
MALONEY: It's that he hasn't done anything about the nuclear threat from Iran. If anything, it's worse. And so, the problem is you're not asking people to suffer for a laudable goal. You're telling them they're suffering and you're not achieving the goal. And in some ways, you're making the threat worse. And that, to me, is the worst of all worlds.
BURNETT: There's all that, of course, which is the reality. Theres also the fact that he told everybody that he took care of that problem a while ago, and now he's saying, well, you know, when I mocked you and said you were fake news for saying, I didn't obliterate it. Okay. Right.
So, so, we all know that. S.E., I am the post that he -- he -- I mean, 75 posts overnight.
CUPP: Yeah.
BURNETT: Look, that's disturbing. Yes. Okay. I find that disturbing. Any American should find that disturbing, right? That means you're not sleeping. It means you're not in a good place. Yes. And these include Mount Rushmore with his face, $100 bill with his face. It's not as if he's not posting deep policy thoughts.
CUPP: No. If our child or our parent were doing this, we'd be very worried about them. But this is a pattern of Trump's. You can always tell when his back is against the wall. He goes on these late night binges to flood the zone.
Go back to all the late-night binges. He was really up against it, either in polling or in terms of messaging, selling something that he couldn't sell, having to answer questions he didn't want to answer, whether it was Epstein or the war or tariffs. I mean, he's done this before and he really is losing a lot of the support he could once count on, both from his own voters on the war, but also you know, influencers and Fox News.
You know, he's railing against fox news constantly because they are not helping him sell this war or this economy. And he's up against it. This is what he does.
BURNETT: You know, Adam, I'm also curious because Trump continues to make one prediction, which economists do not agree with, but he is making it consistently to Americans and specifically to his base. And this is what it is. Let me play it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: As soon as this war is over, which will not be long, you're going to see oil prices drop and you're going to see a stock market which is already at the highest point in history, go through the roof. You're going to see the golden age of America, frankly, and you're seeing it now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Adam, there's a lot there. But could I just start with the very basic thing here, oil prices that he says are essentially just going to snap -- snap back and be lower than they were before. [19:15:10]
This is the argument he keeps making.
KOBEISSI: Yeah. So, I mean, look, if the if the war were to end today and the Strait of Hormuz was reopened today, we'd probably see oil prices fall, you know, 20 to 30 percent. But to get back to where we were before the war, which was around $55 per barrel or around a 50 percent drop, it's going to take a long time because when rigs shut their production, as we've seen in the gulf countries and we've seen throughout the Middle East turning back that oil production on doesn't just happen overnight. It's not just flipping a switch. Sometimes it takes months, even longer now, because some of these rigs have actually been destroyed.
So, we probably won't see full production, which is around 10 to 20 million barrels of oil per day that currently are offline through the Strait of Hormuz. We won't see that come back probably until the end of this year at best. But, you know, I want to go to the other side of the point where the stock market keeps hitting record highs. And I think the biggest mistake right now is people who are conflating the economy with the stock market.
As I said, I do think the stock market will continue to hit record highs, but that's not necessarily because the economy is strong. Actually, it's the opposite, right? We're in a situation where inflation is high. It's driving people into assets. And then it's also kind of forcing the Fed in this weird situation where they're trying to help the consumer, but they can't. And then these large A.I. companies are just getting even bigger.
So, we can easily see this bifurcated economy continue to widen with stocks hitting continued record highs. But that doesn't necessarily mean consumer sentiment is strong. In fact, it's not. It's at record lows. And that doesn't mean that consumers in America are better off on average.
BURNETT: And that's a crucial point. And by the way, looking at the market and those specific A.I. stocks that have driven it is a huge thing.
Ambassador Maloney, S.E. mentioned Fox News, right? And we know that that there's been skepticism among some prominent people there about the war. There's also been, you know, Trump has lost very powerful people who were instrumental in his election. Megyn Kelly, Tucker Carlson. He's got a lot of criticism from Joe Rogan. Immigration, the war, Epstein, you name it.
But now on the economy, Laura Ingraham who is -- who is on at this time? She's a fellow 7:00 hour. She warned Trump early this morning about making deals with China. Didn't like it, saying this is not what -- went on and posted on that, right?
So, now, even criticism, this is why you should not throw the CCP, Chinese Communist Party a lifeline by giving them these deals. A direct criticism from a very important Fox News host on the economy and China ambassador.
MALONEY: Right. Well, I always watch CNN at 7:00, but --
BURNETT: Who would even know?
MALONEY: Thanks for filling me in.
But the fact is, is that sure, look, it feels S.E.'s point. It feels like the walls are closing in on the president. And you're seeing all of these things as a result. The problem is we're all in the room with them.
The problem is you can't root for the president to fail. And so the Democrats job in this difficult time is not just to content ourselves that the Democrat, the president is failing. It's to -- it's to -- it's to provide a vision for how we can work our way out of these problems, how we can rebuild our economy the right way, how we can restore some sense of security in the Middle East without engaging in another 10-year, forever war.
And if he's losing his own base, it's because that was the core promise he made that he wouldn't stumble us into another forever war in the Middle East. And here we are.
BURNETT: All right. Thanks all very much.
And as you said, you know, we want success here. We want success with this summit. And that's why someone posting 75 times overnight, including a lot of those posts, is something that is disturbing for, for anyone.
All right. Thank you all three very much.
And next, an OUTFRONT exclusive. Dr. Stephen Kornfeld, who was on board the cruise ship at the center of the hantavirus outbreak, breaking his silence tonight. We had talked to him a few days ago. He joins us now live.
He is in the biocontainment unit after an initial mild positive test. He's going to explain exactly what all of this means.
Plus, for the first time, we're hearing from a new Epstein survivor. She's calling out the DOJ's handling of the files. And you'll hear her tonight in her own words.
And also this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: This really is the craziest of stories about a Russian shadow fleet ship that sank off the coast here in the strangest of circumstances.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: The strangest of circumstances, as Nick said, that ship may have been carrying nuclear reactors to North Korea. So why did it sink in the Mediterranean? And who did it?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:23:42]
BURNETT: Breaking news on the hantavirus outbreak. We are about to speak to Dr. Stephen Kornfeld, and we'll show you him right there live. You may recognize his face. He's been on this show before because he joined us from the cruise ship last week before it docked.
He was the doctor who sprang into action after passengers became sick. He helped the doctor on board, who ended up being evacuated off the ship. He was taking care of people. A hero for many.
And tonight, he is telling us that he is the American passenger who had tested positive and is now the only person isolated in the biocontainment unit at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, and he's breaking his silence here exclusively OUTFRONT.
Dr. Stephen Kornfeld is OUTFRONT with me now.
So, Doctor, a lot to ask you about here with so many questions. But I guess let's just start with this -- I know that right now you're awaiting results from a test, that you had taken another test.
So, let's just start with you look good. How are you feeling at this moment?
DR. STEPHEN KORNFELD, AMERICAN HANTAVIRUS PATIENT IN ISOLATION IN NEBRASKA: I feel great. I feel wonderful 100 percent.
BURNETT: All right. So do you know when you expect to get the test results? I think it's interesting that obviously, there's a -- it's not as if like a COVID test where you get an immediate result here with this sort of test.
KORNFELD: Yeah, there's a number of test results, both PCR and serology.
[19:25:02]
Some of them were sent to the CDC. So everything takes a little time. I think I'll have some of the tests tomorrow and maybe the rest on Friday.
BURNETT: All right. So now let's just understand the situation here. Anyone who has been watching this show knows who you are. But just to remind people, you were on board the ship, you're an oncologist, but you were just there as a civilian, right? You were there.
And when someone became sick, you offered the doctor on board your assistance. You helped. When he became sick, you helped with his care and others.
So you helped a lot of people. But obviously that means perhaps you were around the virus. So I remember you told everyone on the show, you said, "Look, if theyre going to have extra scrutiny on me, I understand that." Okay?
So can you walk me through when you were tested initially and what these test results were? Because this is -- if anyone is following this, you're the one who got the, quote/unquote, "mild positive".
KORNFELD: So a lot happened very quickly on the boat, but it was decided that a number of staff members and myself would get nasal swabs done and put away in the freezer. And that's what happened on the 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th of May. When the two gentlemen got evacuated back to the Netherlands, at least the samples from the third went with them, and those were tested in the Netherlands for hantavirus.
They did it in two different labs. One lab was negative and one lab was faintly positive. So I was told the test was intermediate. But I think since it wasn't a negative, it sort of being looked at as a potential positive.
And the Dutch authority communicated these results to the CDC. And here I am.
BURNETT: And -- well, I think it's important you just explain that, because I know there was a lot of speculation when people heard about this mild positive where people were saying, well, you can't just -- you know, it's like a pregnancy test. What's a mild positive?
And I guess, you know, putting that skepticism aside, Doctor, there is something to be said for this that you had one negative and one, quote/unquote, "mild positive". That could have either meant, I suppose, that you were about to get sick. But here you are 10 days later, talking to me asymptomatically. Or you had already been sick and were getting better right?
KORNFELD: Both are possible. I like the latter because that would certainly be good news for myself. But it's still possible that that test represents evolving disease, and I will get symptoms down the road. This is why I'm in the biocontainment unit.
I'm not ill, but the term I hear a lot is abundance of caution. I'm here to be monitored closely. And this is a very secure facility.
So if I am to get sick and spill virus, there's no way that virus is getting out of -- out of this building.
BURNETT: Right, if you have it.
So, a few things here. I want to talk to you about the building and the facility because that's really important. But first, when you were on board the ship and you were caring for sick passengers who it turned out were very ill with hantavirus, one of whom was, was evacuated. And of course, the original gentleman and then his wife ended up dying.
You did have symptoms, right? From what you've described to me, that that at the time, maybe you thought were could have been a lot of things, but they included chills and what else? I mean, what kind of sickness did you have? KORNFELD: Well, early in April, maybe the 10th or so, a number of us on board came down with felt like a flu-like illness or the ship's flu. I had three days of night sweats, a lot of chills, some mild respiratory and a lot of fatigue.
And while the night sweats and the respiratory stuff cleared up pretty quickly, the fatigue lingered for two and a half weeks, I was still able to do all the ship activities, and eventually I became completely asymptomatic.
At the time, it was felt like this was just some virus. And now, in retrospect, there is a question, could it have been hantavirus? But it's just speculation. There's no way to really know.
And while people talk about all these different serology lab tests, that should be capable of answering that, what I hear from the experts who I'm seeing daily is that the lab tests may not be that straightforward to interpret. So it may never be known if that illness, which others also had, was hantavirus or the typical virus that circulates through a cruise boat.
BURNETT: Right. And obviously important you don't know. I will -- I will emphasize again though, Doctor, of course you were taking care of people who subsequently were known to have hantavirus.
[19:30:05]
So even though -- and I know you've talked about all the precautions you were taking -- you would have been present with people who were very ill in a way that perhaps others on the ship that you're also saying, had the -- what appeared to be a similar sickness as yourself around that time may not have been. You know, that your contact would have been more direct and prolonged than theirs would have been?
KORNFELD: Absolutely. I had two contacts. I had the contact that everybody else on the boat had early in April, when the gentleman who was sick was around us and socializing with us. And then I had the contact in early May with the sick people.
Now, maybe I had already had the disease, or maybe I hadn't. And it -- there's a lot of speculation, but I had two different contacts, which certainly puts me at higher risk.
BURNETT: Okay. But to be clear, what you're saying is when you were taking care of sick people was after you yourself had had this virus, which came after you had had more social contact with the man who ended up being very ill.
So I guess, as you look at this as a doctor, and I know you're not a virologist and immunologist, I understand that, but does this open your mind to more casual contact or airborne transmission being possible?
KORNFELD: Well, that gets to be very speculative. And a shipboard situation, especially a small boat, while I didn't have direct, intimate contact with the original patient, a lot of us had frequent mild contact with each other.
BURNETT: Yeah.
KORNFELD: And I think there's going to be a lot of attention spent on what kind of contact does it take? I don't have the sense that suddenly this virus is more communicable than people realize. I don't know. It just may be that our contact, while not intense at any one time, was repetitive enough that that allowed transmission.
BURNETT: Which does raise questions, right? Because that would be repetitive, but over many different separated points of time as opposed to one long, prolonged contact.
So I know that you're hoping to get results back from the next round of tests that if theyre negative, you could be allowed to return to where the rest of the Americans are there at the Nebraska unit in quarantine, as opposed to being essentially in solitary confinement, as in a biocontainment unit. When -- I'm just looking behind you here in the -- in the picture, I see sort of a white board, Doctor. And I guess it looks a little bit like a hotel room.
Can you tell us about what that room is like where you are, and what it's like to be in there alone?
KORNFELD: Well, the room is a hospital room. It looks just like any other hospital room anywhere in the country. It's got the usual equipment and a very comfortable hospital bed.
I think all of the biocontainment is the multiple layers outside of this room, the many doors and the clean room, and the places where people dispose of things. So the biocontainment is really outside the room. Plus, it's a negative pressure room.
Yeah, it's a little weird being in here by myself. But the nurses come in, the doctors come in. I'm on WhatsApp all the time. It's really amazing how quickly time flies.
Many weeks of this? Well, we'll see how that goes.
BURNETT: Right. Okay. When you talk about that room, the negative pressure room, but can I just ask you one final thing. So when they come in -- I mean, I guess it must feel a little odd to you. Are they basically in suits?
KORNFELD: They're in full hazmat gear --
BURNETT: Yeah.
KORNFELD: -- or proper protective gear. And I just see a pair of eyes. And then later on, when I see their face on the screen, because we do a lot of it through tele, I don't even recognize them until they start talking.
BURNETT: Wow.
All right. Well, Dr. Kornfeld, I appreciate your time and taking the time to walk through all of this. And obviously, I know everyone is glad to see the incredible precautions being taken. Very glad that you have no symptoms. And we'll see if you do get that formal negative here in these next hours overnight.
Thank you so much, Dr. Kornfeld.
KORNFELD: Thank you.
BURNETT: And Joseph Allen is back with me now, professor at Harvard School of Public Health.
So, Dr. Kornfeld is the American in the biocontainment unit. There is only one. It is him. And you just heard him lay all that out.
What do you hear when he talks about his test results and his interactions with the virus?
JOSEPH ALLEN, PROFESSOR, HARVARD UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH: Yeah. Well, first, thanks for having me back on.
I hear two things. I think he's modeling good behavior in multiple ways. First, he was the Good Samaritan doctor on board the ship who stepped in when the ships doctor became ill. And he helped treat these people.
Second, he's modeling great behavior on how you quarantine effectively. You don't hear him trying to get home or out in the public. We're at a point of this outbreak where we have a chance to control this. We don't have ongoing transmission.
[19:35:01]
So, I think what he's doing and what they're doing there is correct. All the passengers to me are high risk. We don't want ongoing transmission. So, I think he's modeling this correctly.
BURNETT: What do you take away from the fact -- two crucial things. One, that he said that was the very old passenger. That he was with that guy socially before he was ill. Then Dr. Kornfeld felt was ill for a couple of weeks and he sounds pretty ill. Chills, night sweats, fatigue that lasted for weeks.
He said others on the ship were as well, but that was before he cared for the people who were incredibly ill when he stepped in and cared for the doctor. Right. So it was before that prolonged medical contact that he was very sick.
We don't know if that was the hantavirus. It may well have been, but what does that timeline say? And then a mild positive?
ALLEN: So, I think it says a couple of things. One is it's really uncertain what happened on the ship. We're still trying to figure out this puzzle, which gets back to what you and I have been talking about for a week now, is that we should be cautious here about how this is spread.
You hear the prolonged close contact. There are some different stories here. We're not quite sure the timeline.
BURNETT: He's saying he didn't have that.
ALLEN: That's right.
BURNETT: It was -- it was mild but repetitive contact.
ALLEN: Right, and we don't know if it was long duration, short duration. But we can go back to the on-land outbreak in Argentina in that we talked about the birthday party spread. Well, there was a guy at that birthday party who got sick. He eventually died, but not before he transmitted to his wife.
She then transmitted to 10 other people at his wake. So, she went to his funeral, the wake, and transmitted to ten other people. Short duration, exposure. I think we're trying to figure this puzzle out, which means we should be a bit cautious about overinterpreting or being making declarative, definitive statements about what's happening.
BURNETT: Yeah. No, absolutely. But also, as Dr. Kornfeld said, his situation, right. The abundance of caution and the layers and the negative pressure room and all of that full hazmat suits, every precaution being taken.
Professor, thank you very much.
And next, polls are about to close in -- it's fair to say is one of the craziest races in the country right now. Democrats say the man running in their primary is a Republican plant. The candidate denies it. But what if he wins?
Plus, an Epstein survivor breaking her silence, calling out the DOJ for revealing her identity after she had successfully kept it a secret for years? Democratic Congressman James Walkinshaw heard her story firsthand. He's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:41:25]
BURNETT: Breaking news, an Epstein survivor speaking out for the first time. Roza sharing her story in an emotional hearing in Palm Beach today. She was one of five victims appearing before Democrats on the House Oversight Committee.
Roza says she was 18 years old when she was recruited by one of Epstein's associates. She said Jean-Luc Brunel, who died in a Paris prison cell in 2022. Roza said she met Brunel in her home country of Uzbekistan. She was an aspiring model. He owned a famous modeling agency, so he helped her obtain a visa to relocate to the United States and then introduced her to Jeffrey Epstein.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROZA, EPSTEIN SURVIVOR: For the following three years, I was subject to ongoing rape. Jeffrey Epstein was under house arrest for the molestation of underage girls, at the exact time I was -- he was abusing me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Horrific. After years of abuse, Roza says she eventually reached out for help. She came forward anonymously as a Jane Doe, but then her real name appeared throughout the supposedly redacted to protect victims, Epstein files.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROZA: I woke up one day with my name mentioned over 500 times while the rich and powerful remain protected by redaction, my name was exposed to the world. Now, reporters from across the globe contacted me. I cannot live without looking over my shoulder.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Democratic Congressman James Walkinshaw is OUTFRONT now. He sits on the House Oversight Committee, so he attended today's hearing.
And, Congressman, I appreciate your time.
It's hard to hear her talk there that she said she woke up and her name was mentioned over 500 times, 500 times. After years of being a Jane Doe, after being anonymous, when we heard Todd Blanche say, we will do everything, we will protect every victims name. This is about the victims and her name appeared in there 500 times.
What -- what did -- what was it like to sit there and hear her tell her story today?
REP. JAMES WALKINSHAW (D-VA): It was very hard to hear Roza's story today, but also inspiring to see her courage in sharing it. Her story brings together all of the terrible elements of the Epstein saga.
She's recruited by Jean-Luc Brunel from Uzbekistan, where she lived in poverty, as she described it, came to the United States with probably a fraudulent visa that Epstein, Brunel and Maxwell procured for her. They used that visa to control her. Epstein raped her repeatedly while he was serving his sentence from the sweetheart deal that Alex Acosta gave to him.
That is what is so outraging about this. He should have been behind bars where he couldn't harm another child. Instead, he was raping Roza and others.
BURNETT: I think it's so crucial you say that, right, that she said this all happened while he was serving that, you know, being able to spend the days where he wished.
Congressman, not a single Republican attended today's hearing. And I say that in the context of, obviously, some Republicans who have stood up tirelessly for the release of the full files, including Thomas Massie and Nancy Mace, at the time, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Boebert, others.
But why? Did any anybody talk to you on your committee as to why they did not come at all to this?
[19:45:06]
WALKINSHAW: I know that Chairman Comer was aware of the hearing today. They certainly would have been welcome to attend. And you're right. As you point out, we have a handful of Republicans on the committee who have courageously been willing to take on even the Trump administration here. But most Republicans in congress have not been willing to stand up for these survivors.
And I hope that will change at some point. But I know that Democrats on the oversight committee and in Congress are going to continue to push until we get the transparency and accountability that Roza and the other survivors deserve.
BURNETT: So, the former Attorney General, Pam Bondi, finally agreed to testify under oath, and she's scheduled to appear before your committee. I understand, later this month, May 29th, I believe.
Jena-Lisa Jones is another Epstein survivor. She talked today and she talked about questions that she wants Bondi specifically to answer. Here is what she said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JENA-LISA JONES, EPSTEIN SURVIVOR: Who are we covering for? Like you were willing to lose your job to cover up for these people. What do they have on you? Because I'd like to know you're a woman. You're a mother. And you look at us and couldn't even look at the survivors. So, what's your part in this?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Do you think that these answers -- that Bondi will provide these answers, do you trust her to answer truthfully and will Republicans be a part of that hearing?
WALKINSHAW: Republicans will be part of it. It will be a transcribed interview. Unfortunately, not a deposition. So, while she won't be under oath, it still will be a crime for her to lie to Congress. One of the things that we as Democrats are pushing for is for this interview with Pam Bondi, to be on video.
We feel very strongly that the American people, especially the survivors, like one we just heard from, deserve to see Pam Bondi's responses, at least on video. It should be public, open for the world to see, but at least there should be a video after the fact.
So, the country can judge for itself whether they think she's been truthful or fulsome in the responses that she gives to our questions. And I promise you, we will ask the questions that the survivors today asked us to ask. BURNETT: Congresswoman Walkinshaw, I appreciate your time, and thank you very much tonight, as we have some more breaking news right now. Polls are about to close and they are about to close in what may be the most bizarre race in the United States this primary season.
This is the Nebraska senate race, and it could determine which party controls the Senate. So, it's absolutely crucial, no matter how you look at it. But then there's the crazy. So, stick with me.
All right. Let me show you a picture here of a man named Williams Forbes. He's 79 years old. He's a pastor. He is running in the Democratic primary in Nebraska.
Democrats, though, say he is not a Democrat. He's a Republican plant. They are pointing to things he has said like this, which was revealed by our KFILE.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WILLIAM FORBES (D), U.S. SENATE CANDIDATE FROM NEBRASKA: Dementia Joe, right., Dementia Joe, our president. You get it. What lawlessness he created in two years.
AUDIENCE MEMBER: Right.
FORBES: Isn't that the truth?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: So, he calls Joe Biden "Dementia Joe". He talks about the lawlessness. And then he told KFILE that he had voted for Donald Trump in multiple elections. So, you get the strangeness here.
When CNN asked Forbes about being a Republican plant, though, he denied it, saying he filed simply because no other Democrat was on the ballot. But that is because Democrats in Nebraska have gotten behind an independent in the race named Dan Osborn, hoping that because he's an independent, he will be able to unseat Republican incumbent Pete Ricketts. In fact, the woman running against Forbes in the Democratic primary, Cindy Burback, has already pledged to immediately drop out and back Osborn in the general election.
All right? So that's part of the -- she went on there to check the box. There's a Democrat, but all the support was going to go to that independent.
So I'm here with Harry Enten here to tell us something else we don't know.
Okay. This is a really crazy story --
HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: Yeah.
BURNETT: -- and it'd be crazy no matter what. And but this race is so crucial for control of the Senate, Harry. So, you know, the Democrats are behind an independent because this is a state that Trump had dominated overall.
ENTEN: Yeah. Who's on first, Erin Burnett?
BURNETT: Yeah.
ENTEN: Look, the bottom line is this -- you go back to 2020 for Osborn. The independent ran back in 2024. He only lost by seven points. Kamala Harris lost by 20 points. Osborn vastly outperformed Kamala Harris's baseline in that state, right?
And then you jump ahead to 2026, which is a far more, let's say, bad year for Republicans. The idea that you could get a Republican defeat and, let's say, get an independent, that is not something that is up there in the sky. That's a realistic possibility if Osborn gets that one on one.
BURNETT: And that -- and also because you're saying as an independent, right? That's why that whole thing is so important.
[19:50:00]
Okay. So, when it comes down to the Senate and who wins, and obviously this race that we're going to see what happens tonight, this primary could be crucial, do Democrats win the Senate or not as you see it now?
ENTEN: Yeah. This is why one of the big reasons why this race is so important, right? It's a race to 51 seats. If you're the Democrats 50 seats. If the Republican with Vance breaking the tie. According to the cashier prediction market, what are the two most likely sort of seat outcomes for Democrats after the midterm elections?
The most likely is 51. The second most likely is 50. So, you're right there on the edge. One senate seat can make all the difference in the world, and that's why Democrats want Osborn, the independent, to be alone and not have a Democrat perhaps cipher votes from him.
BURNETT: So tell me something else I don't know, Harry.
ENTEN: I'll tell you something else that you don't know, Erin Burnett. And that is that's not the only race we're watching in Nebraska. Look at Nebraska's second congressional district, right? You have Bacon, the representative of the Republican. He is going out. If you look at "The Cook Political Report" at this particular point, that race is lean Democrats. That little light blue shade right there around Omaha.
Of course, that district was won by Kamala Harris back in 2024. Democrats are hoping it becomes a blue shade again come this November. And that, of course, gets them much closer to that 218.
And I will note, unlike the seats, let's say in California, this is not redistricting. This is just a seat. Democrats think they can really pick up.
BURNETT: All right. Harry, thank you very much.
ENTEN: Thank you.
BURENTT: We'll see when those polls close tonight.
And next, Russia claims that terrorists sank its ship that may have been carrying nuclear reactors for North Korea in the mediterranean. Does that story add up at all?
Well, guess what? Nick Paton Walsh is there on the shore at a special CNN investigation into the mystery.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:55:46]
BURNETT: New tonight, a Russian cargo ship potentially carrying nuclear reactors to North Korea sunk off the coast of Spain. Unclear exactly what damaged the ship, though, and who damaged the ship.
So, Nick Paton Walsh is there OUTFRONT with this investigation.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): A mystery in the Mediterranean; the possible torpedoing of a Russian ship to stop the Kremlin handing submarine nuclear reactors to North Korea begins in a quiet Spanish port.
WALSH: This really is the craziest of stories about a Russian shadow fleet ship that sank off the coast here in the strangest of circumstances, whose Russian captain confessed to investigators here that it was carrying two nuclear reactors, possibly for a submarine.
WALSH (voice-over): The Ursa Major ship loaded up near St. Petersburg in early December 2024; on paper, bound for Vladivostok with a cargo of two huge cranes and over 100 empty containers. It made another stop, loading two large manhole covers. It set sail.
A shadow fleet ship used by Russia in Syria, the Portuguese navy followed it from above. You can see the blue covers here until just before it ran into trouble in Spanish waters.
Around noon the next day, it made a sharp deviation and issued an urgent call for help. The boat was listing, this video shows, filmed from a nearby tanker but probably not going to sink too fast.
The captain of the ship would later tell investigators he'd seen a 20- by-20 inch hole in the hull, the damaged metal facing inwards. He said it had been followed by three explosions on the starboard side of the boat, killing two of his crew.
WALSH: So the Russian military arrive in force and they tell everyone to stay two nautical miles away from their ship, the Ursa Major.
But the Spanish know they need to conduct rescue operations, so they send this ship to pick up 14 Russian survivors who were brought back here. And that includes the Russian captain, who, it seems, starts to help investigators piece together some of what's happened.
But it's hours later that day that the mood changes over the Ursa Major ship. And the Russian military fire flares over it. And then a series of explosions follow, which Spanish seismic sensors picked up. And they send the ship to the seabed floor.
WALSH (voice-over): Moscow demanded their crew back but the Russian captain told Spanish investigators something remarkable, that the ship was carrying components for two nuclear reactors, likely for a submarine, he said, adding he could not be sure if the reactors had fuel in them. There's no evidence of contamination.
He also told investigators he thought he would be diverted not to Vladivostok but to North Korea's port of Rason.
Russia was in North Korea's debt at that time after they sent 10,000 troops to help fight Ukraine two months earlier.
And in December 2025, North Korea would claim to have built this, their first nuclear-powered submarine.
WALSH: Everything may have been on the bottom of the sea but the Russians weren't done yet. And according to a source familiar with the investigation, about a week after the incident, a Russian research vessel called the Yantar, linked in the past to all sorts of allegations against Moscow, sat over the wreckage for about five days. And four more explosions followed, possibly the Russians destroying what was left of the wreckage.
WALSH (voice-over): In the months after, the U.S. may have shown interest in the site, twice sending a rare WC-135R Constant Phoenix, usually secretly sniffing out traces of nuclear activity in Russia's Arctic or over Iran over the path of the Ursa Major, weaving low at 5,000 feet.
One had flown a similar route 13 months earlier, perhaps suggesting it's routine. The aircraft's U.S. base declined to provide any details.
So why did the ship sink?
The Spanish investigation said the first impact was likely from a projectile called a supercavitating torpedo that fires air in front of itself to reach very high speed. Others suggested something simpler.
MIKE PLUNKETT, SENIOR NAVAL PLATFORMS ANALYST, JANES: Sounds like a limpet mine. It sounds like a shaped charge explosive that was placed against the hull by somebody or something.
WALSH (voice-over): The Russian owners immediately called the sinking "a targeted terrorist attack." But the secret of how this happened remains on the sea floor.
Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, Cartagena, Spain.
(END VIDEOTAPE) BURNETT: An incredible mystery.
And thanks so much for joining us.
"AC360" starts now.
