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Trump: Ceasefire With Iran Is "On Life Support"; U.S., Iran Reject Each Other's Latest Proposals To End War; 18 People Being Monitored For Hantavirus In The U.S.; Congress Returns To D.C. With Reshaped Midterm Field Of Play; Trump Orders Postal Service To Police Mail-In Ballot Eligibility. Aired 12-12:30p ET

Aired May 11, 2026 - 12:00   ET

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

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DANA BASH, CNN HOST, INSIDE POLITICS: President Trump just said that the ceasefire with Iran is on life support.

I'm Dana Bash. Let's go behind the headlines at Inside Politics.

Today, the U.S. and Iran have both rejected the latest proposals going back and forth to end the war. Here's what President Trump said that means in his point -- his point of view for the nearly five-week-old ceasefire.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Right now, after reading that piece of garbage, they sent us, I didn't even finish reading it. They said, I'm not going to waste my time reading it. I would say it's one of the weakest right now, it's on life support. They understand these are all medical people. Dr. Oz, life support is not a good thing. Do you agree?

DR. MEHMET OZ, ADMINISTRATOR FOR THE CENTERS FOR MEDICARE & MEDICAID SERVICES: The prognostic.

TRUMP: I would say the ceasefire is on massive life support, where the doctor walks in and says, sir, your loved one has approximately a 1 percent chance of living.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Iran called its counter proposal. Quote, generous and reasonable. Here is what it includes, according to Iranian state media. The U.S. and Israel must end attacks on Iranian ships and release frozen Iranian assets. They must recognize Iranian sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz, and they must compensate Iran for war damages.

I want to bring in my panel. That is all of those demands from Iran is obviously why the president is reacting the way he is, non-starters. SHELBY TALCOTT, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, SEMAFOR: Yeah. A lot of this is a non-starter for the president. But I think the question is, what is President Trump going to do as a result? We have heard him repeatedly, sort of threaten to restart the war, say that they have the option to go back in bigger and harder, and that it would effectively destroy Iran. But we haven't actually seen the president do that and I don't think that he really wants to.

There's not a huge appetite internally for restarting this conflict. Now, with that being said, I'm told that he will restart it if he has to, but I think that there's recognition inside the administration of how the American people are viewing this, and that this is dragging on a lot longer than they originally anticipated it.

BASH: Yeah. And Manu, there is some pressure from the small but influential group of hawks in his party, mostly on Capitol Hill, to push for what they're calling Project Freedom Plus. Let's listen to a little bit more of what the president said. He's continuing to speak in the Oval Office.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Iran told me very strongly, because they intend to give us the nuclear dust, as I call it. It's easier than talking about other terms, because it's a term everyone but the nuclear dust, which is what we had. They told me, number one, you're getting it, but you're going to have to take it out because the site was so obliterated that there's only one or two countries in the world that could get it. It's so deep and got hit so hard that there's no way they have the equipment to move it. You and China are the only two countries in the world that could take it out. So, we talked about it. They said you'll have to take it out because we don't have the capability of doing it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: And before we move on about this, I just want you to listen to what Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said to Major Garrett over at CBS News for 60 Minutes on this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: It's not over, because there's still nuclear material, enriched uranium that has to be taken out of Iran. There is still enrichment sites that have to be dismantled.

MAJOR GARRETT, CBS NEWS, CHIEF WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: How do you envision the highly enriched uranium will be removed from Iran?

NETANYAHU: You go in and you take it out.

GARRETT: With what? Special forces from Israel, special forces the United States?

NETANYAHU: Well, I'm not going to talk about military means, but the president -- what President Trump has said to me. I want to go in there and I think it can be done physically. That's not the problem.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Manu?

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I mean, ground troops is what he's suggesting there, and that would have very little support among the American public. We already seen the American public sour on this campaign. Really wasn't -- public wasn't sold on this campaign to begin with. And as Shelby was saying, they had been promising this being over in two weeks and four weeks, and we keep hearing it's almost over.

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And but what Netanyahu is suggesting there is a much more largescale invasion that could take -- could bring the United States into a (inaudible) in the Middle East and what most Americans don't want, what a lot of Republicans don't want. There are those hawks in the Republican Party right now, saying we need to renew this bombing campaign. But if he does that, they'll be incredibly divisive within his own party, because a lot of those members say, if we do escalate, that's when it's time for Congress to step in, check the president's powers. And that's one of the reasons that has to be one of the calculations for the president right now as he decides his next option.

BASH: Stephen?

STEPHEN COLLINSON, CNN SENIOR POLITICS REPORTER: Yeah. I think, you know, a bombing campaign for weeks, a relentless U.S. and Israeli bombing campaign didn't change the calculus of the Iranian hardliners. It killed the supreme leader. It caused massive damage, but they are dug in. I think the president is in a box, geopolitically and politically. An escalation would be very costly, potentially in terms of American lives, but also economically globally, that could be very painful.

Holding out for the blockade to work that could take weeks or months. The costs are rising every day. The Strait of Hormuz is closed again at the start of another week. Immediate action is off the table because he's going to China this week, one of the set piece moments of his second term. He doesn't want anything. That trip was already postponed once because of the war, which was supposed to be over by now. So, he's in a very difficult political and geopolitical position, and it's not clear how he gets out of it.

BASH: Or is it? I mean, people would expect that the president would not want to resume military action because he's going to China, which maybe that would be a reason to resume military action, even though he's going to China to surprise them. You mentioned the geopolitical and domestic political challenges, both of you did that he is having right now.

Nancy Cordes, our friend at CBS News got the president on the phone this morning. And the president told her that he wants to pause the 18-cent federal gas tax for a period of time. He said, yeah, I think it's a great idea. We're going to take off the gas tax for a period of time, and when gas goes down, we'll let it phase back in.

Now, that is something that Congress needs to do. He can't do that with executive -- an executive order, but there is some bipartisan support for that. Josh Hawley, Republican senator from Missouri, responded on Twitter, yeah, I'm for that.

TALCOTT: Yeah. To me this comment just sort of really drives home the point that we've all been making over the past few weeks, which is that regardless of what you hear the Trump administration or the president himself, or Republicans saying publicly, they're still very aware of the pitfalls heading into these midterms, which is the economy, it is rising gas prices, it is all of the kitchen table issues. That is the reason that the president won the election to begin with.

And so, when I talk to administration officials, they're consistently saying privately that they're aware that this is sort of a very tenuous situation for Republicans. And you're seeing with the president's announcement there that, that they're really trying to make changes ahead of the midterms. And to me, that signals that, you know, they know that they have some work to do despite, you know, maybe a good past few weeks.

RAJU: And you tend to hear this from time to time, whenever gas prices increase, calls to suspend the gas tax. It's a lot easier said than done. It funds highway projects. It could lose a lot of revenue for the federal government, which is why even Republicans, the ones who want to cut taxes, a lot of them, are very wary about going down this route, so we'll see if he's successful there.

BASH: All right, stand by, because we talked a little bit here about what's going to happen with the midterms. We're going to talk about that later in the show, specifically how the vibe has changed here in Washington now that Congress is back. But coming up an update on the hantavirus and the Americans who just arrived in the United States after leaving the cruise ship. Later, will Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez run for president in 2028. A lot of progressive Democrats spent the weekend sharing this answer to that question.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ (D-NY): My ambition is way bigger than that. My ambition is to change this country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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BASH: Now to breaking news on the hantavirus. 18 passengers from the cruise ship are now being monitored in medical facilities in Nebraska and Georgia. CNN's Dianne Gallagher, is live in Omaha, where the University of Nebraska just gave an update. Dianne, what did you hear from these officials?

DIANNE GALLAGHER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: So, I want to talk about what's here in Nebraska to begin with. But we have 16 total passengers who are here in Omaha. 15 of those passengers are in the national quarantine unit, which is actually in this building behind me. Those are, effectively, we're told by medical staff, really nice hotel rooms that have negative pressure and an elite ventilation system with access to an incredible medical staff that is going to be coming in and doing monitoring of them, doing assessments throughout the day.

Now, one passenger is in a biocontainment unit, and that is a bit more of a specialized room. It is in a separate part of the hospital. And that person is continuing with a more intense monitoring with medical staff, and that's because that person tested positive. Now they are asymptomatic, and medical officials here and with the federal government have said the belief is that the hantavirus is spread through symptomatic individuals. So, it is not spread asymptomatically to their knowledge.

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Now, you mentioned two people are in Atlanta, at Emory, in the biocontamination unit there. Part of the reason why they're not here in Nebraska is because one of those passengers began developing symptoms a short time ago. And we're told by medical facility officials here in Nebraska that they had a contingency plan that was effectively divide and conquer.

There are only so many biocontainment units here, and they determined, because that person, it's a couple, so those two people would go to a different location just in case other people here began developing symptoms. They have a finite number of these specialized biocontamination rooms, and therefore they needed to make sure the space was here because we are dealing with people who were on a cruise ship.

Now, they have stressed repeatedly that this is not COVID 19. A lot of people watching this play out are having flashbacks to 2020. We're talking about a cruise ship here, but they say that transmission is low, the risk for that and that they are doing everything they can to try and make sure that this stays contained. There's a 42-day period of monitoring, and they're going to continue monitoring those people and assess if they can, if they're not symptomatic, be escorted to their homes where they will continue daily monitoring or choose to stay here until that's over, Dana.

BASH: Dianne, thank you so much for putting it all in perspective and getting us updated as these individuals do come off the ship. Appreciate it. Meanwhile, back here in Washington, lawmakers are returning after a week-long break. Democrats are coming back with some more somber feelings, while Republicans suddenly see some hope, some that they might be able to keep their house majority.

So, the question is, what has changed? Well, the answer is, the maps. Democrats thought they had retaliated in the redistricting wars to the point of a virtual draw, until the Virginia Supreme Court struck down the voter approved democratic gerrymander there. And the U.S. Supreme Court cleared the way for Republicans to redraw maps in the south to eliminate majority minority districts.

So, who controls the House? It will be decided on an incredibly narrow battlefield. The Cook Political Report now has just 18 seats on its tossup list. Whomever wins the majority of those seats will control the House of Representatives.

And my panel is back now on this. Manu, as we were coming on the air, the House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, who is very much hoping that next year he will be speaker. Hakeem Jeffries, if they take back the House, put a dear colleague letter out who said -- and it said the following. Our effort to forcefully push back against the Republican redistricting scheme will not slow down. We're just getting started. Democrats will take control of the House of Representatives in November.

RAJU: I mean, look, the question for the Democrats and their hope is that the environmental factors, the mood of the country, the backlash over Trump's agenda and the handling of the Iran war, all of which will overcome what is appearing to be a real structural disadvantage that they have heading into the midterm. Because of all this gerrymandering that's taking place, because of these major setbacks in the courts, they could be seeing a loss of up to eight seats, potentially maybe more, maybe a few less, depending how things turn out because of gerrymandering itself.

So, will that be enough Republicans redo the maps in Texas, for instance, to try to pick up five seats there. But perhaps the environmental factors and some of the strength of their candidates could prevent Republicans from only picking up two or three seats, and they have to hope that that happens in state after state.

And even though Virginia didn't go the way that they wanted, that perhaps a few of those members who they tried to push out through these redrawn maps, they could defeat, like Jen Kiggans in Virginia, a Republican there who's in a battleground district, that's the hope for Democrats. But you're right, this is such a narrow battlefield that it could go either which way, and Republicans are a lot more hopeful today than they were two weeks ago.

BASH: Let's give another example of a state where the Democrats are predicting hope/predicting that the changes that they're making to the maps won't actually work. Here's what James Clyburn, of course, the veteran Democratic lawmaker who is running for reelection in South Carolina told Jake yesterday.

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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JIM CLYBURN (D-SC): Be very careful what you pray for, because what I do believe is that when they finish with the redistricting, there will be the possibilities of at least three Democrats getting elected here in South Carolina to the United States Congress.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: And Stephen Collinson, the top Trump political advisor, James Blair, retweeted the comments that you just saw and heard from James Clyburn saying, if they believe that they would be whipping Democratic legislators to support it.

COLLINSON: Yeah. I think the implicit point that James Clyburn is making is that Democrats need to start to appeal to a wider spectrum of voters to try and put some of these more moderate Republican seats actually in play. If you think about it, the reason we have a Republican or a conservative dominated Supreme Court. The reason this is all going on is because they didn't expand their coalition in the elections of 2016 and 2024.

That's not going to help them now, but I -- you know, I do think this is a really interesting test of what Democrats will do to get power. And when they have power, will they adopt the techniques that Trump has used? Will they become more like Trump after arguing for years, you know, that all these norms are being shattered. In Virginia, Abigail Spanberger was elected governor because she was a more pragmatic Democrat.

The first thing that's happened under her watch is this redistricting push, and now they're talking about getting rid of the Virginia Supreme Court entirely, in terms of retiring judges early and creating a new one. So, this is the way it's going, and that's the impact Trump has had in our politics. He creates these reactions, and that's going to linger a long time after he's left the stage.

TALCOTT: Yeah. And I also think to that point, that's been an argument that some of the more sort of nervous Republicans have made, whether it be related to the midterms or really anything that the president is doing, whether it's the Supreme Court, some of these lawsuits that he's pushed is that, hold on a second. We might not be in power forever, right?

And when Democrats get to power, aren't they just going to use all of these mechanisms that you've now opened up. But at the end of the day, when I talk to Trump administration officials about the midterm specifically, I would describe it very similarly as how I would have described the end of the campaign, which is cautious optimism. They truly believe, as they did during the campaign, that they have some inroads, but there's acknowledgement that there is a lot against them.

And to that point, I always go back to what the president himself has said repeatedly, which is essentially that, you know, the party in power oftentimes does very poorly in the midterms. And to me, that signals that there is a part of him that believes that, you know, this is kind of a lost cause almost.

RAJU: And getting back to that Jeffries point that he said, sending out this letter today, they say they're going to fight back. They're really going to have to fight back in the next election, in 2028, which means that in this election, they're going to have to deal with the hand that they're dealt, which is a significant disadvantage on gerrymandering.

And then in the next election 2028, they're going to change all these state laws and democratic states that have made it harder to gerrymander, and will they be successful. That's a big question. Republicans have a huge advantage because of the Supreme Court to redraw all these lines across the South in future elections.

BASH: All right. We're going to take a break, but we're going to continue a version of this conversation about what the president is willing to do and is already doing ahead of the midterms. New CNN reporting on how the president is dragging the U.S. Postal Service into his fight to end mail-in voting.

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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: You will never have an honest election if you have mail in it. And it's time that the Republicans get tough and stop it, because the Democrats want it. Corrupt mail-in ballots were the only country of the world that does it that way, corrupt as hell. You know, it brought to my attention today that we're the only country that does it -- does mail-in voting. Mail-in voting means mail-in cheating. I call it mail- in cheating, and we got to do something about it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: That was President Trump railing against mail-in voting, not entirely accurate in terms of other countries doing it or not. But the point that we want to talk about here is brand new reporting from Gabe Cohen and Jeremy Herb about what the president wants to do with the Postal Service.

And that is not just deliver mail ballots but ask these postal workers to decide who should actually get a ballot. USPS has until the end of this month to figure out how to carry out the president's executive order that mandates this. And there is a growing chorus within the Postal Service that is dubious about it. To say the least, a former USPS board of governors' official told CNN quote, if the Postal Service decides to do this, it will be a disaster. They don't have the resources.

And Gabe Cohen is here now. So, what broadly are the official objections by the postal workers to this?

GABE COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Dana, first, let me just say what this executive order is directing the Postal Service to do is essentially start policing absentee ballots that come into their system, to make sure they do not deliver them. Even if they have the correct postage, don't send them to or from anyone whose name is not on these approved mail-in voter lists that states would be expected to send along to the Postal Service before the midterms. The White House says, it's to make sure that only eligible voters are getting these absentee ballots. But it's already sparked these lawsuits, several of them from

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