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Trump Signs Deals While Visiting Saudi Arabia; Trump Announces He Will Lift U.S. Sanctions on Syria; Combs' Ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura Testifies in His Federal Trial; Menendez Brothers' Resentencing Hearing Underway; New Book Details Biden's Health Before 2024 Election. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired May 13, 2025 - 14:00   ET

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

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BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": Sean "Diddy" Combs most prominent accuser taking the stand at his criminal trial with graphic details of the abuse, she says she suffered at his hands. CNN's reporters are inside the courtroom covering the case

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": And sealing the deal, President Trump travels to Saudi Arabia and reaches agreements with his hosts, also announcing a major decision on Syria. And the new revelations from an upcoming book about former President Joe Biden, how aides talked behind the scenes about how he needed a wheelchair if he won re-election or the possibility that he might. We are following these major developing stories and many more, all coming in right here to "CNN News Central."

We begin this hour tracking President Trump in Saudi Arabia where there have been some surprises. The president making major announcements on the first day of his big trip to the Middle East. We're watching live images now of what appears to be President Trump and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman getting inside a go-kart of some kind, getting ready to move somewhere.

They were serving a model of what appeared to be a future project happening somewhere in the desert. The president's top cabinet officials were all in the room, apparently having discussions. Elon Musk was there, as well. The kingdom has, of course, been rolling out the purple carpet so far. Speaking just a short time ago, the president also made news saying that he would lift sanctions on Syria and would greet that country's new president whose rebel group, of course, overthrew the Bashar al-Assad regime back in December. This is according to a White House official who says that informal interaction will take place tomorrow in Saudi Arabia.

The president saying that he's doing this because he was asked by Mohammed bin Salman Trump also extending an olive branch to Iran, telling a crowd there in Riyadh today that he is willing to make a deal with Tehran, though he said that the development of nuclear weapons by the Iranians is simply a non-starter. KEILAR: And on top of all of that, the president and Saudi officials are touting increased cooperation between the two countries. The White House says the Saudis are pledging to invest $600 billion in the U.S. including a new defense partnership. CNN's Jeff Zeleny is live for us from Riyadh. Jeff, what more are you hearing from officials there?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Brianna, from a welcome in the blistering sunshine here in Riyadh to evening activities, as you were watching there, the president is being lavished with praise throughout the day, of course, just as he designed it, just as he liked it. His first foreign trip of a second term in office was meant to lavish praise on him. But along the way, some significant policy developments as well. Most notably, on Syria, as you just mentioned there, a significant change in U.S. foreign policy just about six months or so after the fall of the Bashar al- Assad regime in December.

The president will meet with the country's new president tomorrow morning just briefly, we're told. But also, of course, hanging over this entire visit, this entire region, is the unresolved conflict in Gaza. The President had this to say about his hope and desires for the region.

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DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: My fervent hope, wish, and even my dream that Saudi Arabia, a place I have such respect for, especially over the last fairly short period of time, what you've been able to do, but will soon be joining the Abraham Accords.

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You'll do it in your own time, and that's what I want, and that's what you want, and that's the way it's going to be.

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ZELENY: The Abraham Accords, of course, one of the crown achievements in the president's eyes of his first term in office to normalize relations with Israel. There is a long way to go, however, before Saudi Arabia will get to that point again because of Gaza. More strikes underway there again today, notably the president not going to Israel on this trip as he did eight years ago. That is sending a clear message to Prime Minister Netanyahu as well. So there's no question on this first full day here of the President's visit to Saudi Arabia, quite a bit of action, Boris and Brianna.

KEILAR: All right, Jeff Zeleny, thank you so much for that. Since World War II, every American president has taken his first foreign trip, first major foreign trip to a western ally or partner. Trump has now started both of his terms by traveling to Saudi Arabia. Here is how he described his relationship with the Crown Prince today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TRUMP: I can say partners worldwide, one of our great, great partners, no matter who we look to and we have great partners in the world, but we have none stronger. And now, nobody like the gentleman that's right before me, he's your greatest representative, greatest representative.

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KEILAR: And with us now is former State Department Spokesman under President Biden, Ned Price. Ned, I wonder how you're seeing this moment. This is, again, a visit to countries that are not democracies, but at the same time, are very important to the interests of the United States. Do you think this could further the Abraham Accords, normalizing relations with Israel, something, an objective that Biden supported?

NED PRICE, FORMER BIDEN STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESMAN: Well, Brianna, you're right, they're not democracies, but they are tremendously wealthy. And I think that is why President Trump is there, above all else. Even he and his senior-most White House officials have admitted this trip is less about geopolitics, less about diplomacy, and more about business. And I certainly don't begrudge an American president traveling overseas in an effort to bring back to the United States, additional investment from our partners around the world.

In fact, other presidents, probably should have done more of that to show the benefits to the American people of our relations around the world, the wealth and prosperity for the American people that can come with it. But with all of this, Brianna, I think we have to ask ourselves, as President Trump meets with Mohammed bin Salman and meets with Qataris and meets with the Emiratis, as he says this is about business and about the bottom line, we have to ask ourselves, whose business and whose bottom line.

And I think the concern in all of this is that Trump is -- President Trump is conflating his own personal interests with the national interests, and there's no doubt that he's going to come back with billions of dollars worth of deals. But there's also no doubt, it's very clear that the Trump Organization, in recent weeks, has signed billions of dollars worth of deals with the Qataris, with the Emiratis, with the Saudis.

And I think if you want to see an Exhibit A, perhaps what we might say is the first deliverable of this trip, you need look no further than the Qatari "gift" of a $400 million Boeing jet that they hope President Trump will use as Air Force One. And President Trump seems too inclined to use as Air Force One. So, all of this raises profound questions about whose interest President Trump is trying to advance as he meets with these officials on the ground.

KEILAR: An airplane he, well, according to the White House, is planning to use through his term, but that will eventually go to the Trump Presidential Library, which is raising a lot of ethics red flags. As you mentioned, Trump's next stop, he's going to Doha, Qatar, who gifted him that plane. But we know that hostage families are going there in the hopes of meeting with Trump.

The Trump administration just struck this deal with Hamas without Israel in the picture. Is this something that the Biden administration should have more actively pursued?

PRICE: Well, it is really extraordinary that President Trump seems to have done an in-run around Prime Minister Netanyahu to free the last living American hostage. And we should all be grateful that Edan Alexander is now free, at home, with his family. I think, the Trump administration's decision to do so really illustrates, I think, what has become clear and clear in recent weeks and certainly recent days, that Prime Minister Netanyahu may not be working for the national interest of his country, Israel, by doing all he can to seeing these hostages released.

Prime Minister Netanyahu, as it has become clear and clearer to me in recent weeks, he is best served politically by being a wartime premier, by remaining in office by, in many ways, maintaining this war.

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He has been presented with a number of opportunities to see the release of the hostages, to bring this war to a close. He has rebuffed many of those. And yes, it's complex, it's complicated. Hamas has not done itself or certainly -- most certainly the people of Gaza, the civilian population of Gaza any favors. But, I think as one assesses the decisions that Prime Minister Netanyahu has made, it is undeniable that he is working for his own political interest. And so, in that sense, it's not surprising that the Trump administration had to go around him.

KEILAR: Was that seen as something that was not possible during the Biden administration? Can you explain that to us?

PRICE: Well, look, the Biden administration saw it for months and months, to do a couple different things. One is to make sure that Israel had what it needed to defend itself. Of course, this was the worst attack on the Jewish people since the Holocaust, something that I think is too frequently lost. But it's also too frequently lost that the Biden administration did more than any country, any entity around the world to break through log jams. Yes, including some log jams that the Israeli government itself imposed to get humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian people, by dent of effort of President Biden, Secretary Blinken, Jake Sullivan, and others. we were able to, in some ways, literally force open these border crossings, to see to it that humanitarian assistance could flow.

Now, did enough get through? Did enough food, water, medicine get through? I think the answer is unequivocally no. But, we were working that whole time for what we were ultimately able to achieve in the final days of the administration. And that was this ceasefire agreement that in addition to bringing the conflict, at least temporarily to a close, allowed 500 trucks per day to cross in, to feed tremendously needy, hungry, thirsty, and sick Palestinian civilians. That would not have gotten done without a principled, concerted, consistent American leadership.

And you don't have to take my word for that. We've seen a tragic real life experiment under this administration that has not pushed, that has not prodded, that has essentially given the Netanyahu administration a green light to do as it sees fit to the civilian population of Gaza as they go after Hamas. And for more than two months, these border crossings have been closed, not an ounce of food, of water, of medicine. I am confident in saying that would not have happened under the Biden administration.

I'm also confident in saying that, just about no American president would be willing to countenance (ph) that. Unfortunately, we've seen -- we've heard very little from this administration to do anything to try to reverse that.

KEILAR: Ned, it is great to have you. Thank you so much. Obviously, the crisis does continue. The release of this hostage heralded, of course, but obviously many more still in Gaza. Ned Price, thank you so much. And happening now, the prosecution star witness testifying in Sean "Diddy" Combs federal sex trafficking trial, Cassie Ventura, Combs ex-girlfriend, describing today the power and the control, she says, he held over her life during their relationship.

Now, to catch you up, earlier Ventura testified that if Combs disapproved of her, he would punish her by taking away her belongings. She said, "I would get my card taken away. I got kicked out of my house, my apartment. I had jewelry taken away. It was very random, depending how he felt." Let's get some insight from CNN Legal Analyst and Criminal Defense Attorney, Joey Jackson, who joins us now live.

Joey, just as we're speaking, we're getting updates from inside the courtroom. And right now, prosecutors are asking Cassie Ventura to detail the freak -offs, these moments that Combs had her perform sex acts with other men in front of him. And she talks about, specifically during these events, having to stay awake for days at a time, she says, against her will. When she was asked how she was able to stay awake for several days, she said the drugs honestly helped. She testified that she would take cocaine and ecstasy that Combs would give her. Walk us through how this fits into the broader picture that the prosecution is trying to paint here.

JOEY JACKSON, CNN LEGAL ANALYST AND CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Yeah, Boris, it depends of course who you ask. And if you ask the prosecutors, they will say that he was a controlling individual. That she was representative of the nature of what he would do, engaging in criminality, engaging in sex trafficking, engaging in prostitution, and engaging in this criminal empire. And so, by eliciting this testimony with respect to his control, control over her career, control over her finances, control over what she did, who she did it with, calling her incessantly, et cetera, they prosecutors want to establish that this is who he was, Sean "Diddy" Combs. This is who he is and this is why he's guilty.

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Alternatively, Boris and Brianna, from the defense perspective, what the defense will say is we're learning about someone who certainly, you know, seemingly was a pretty bad guy, pretty bad person. Although I would say that Cassie somewhat humanized him by saying he was fun, he was engaging, he was charming. Defense will certainly seize on that. But the ultimate issue for the defense will be that this was a very complicated relationship. It was predicated upon domestic violence.

It was a relationship of a -- longstanding of over 10 years. And these freak-offs started according to Cassie after year one. In addition, the defense will note that she, although Sean Combs initially really set the groundwork for them, that she took over and she started doing them. The defense will also note that while she said, Hey, he had control and he was over me, and I was concerned that there was no real pushback as it relates to, Hey, I'm not doing this. I'm leaving. I'm leaving you. I want no parts of this.

And so, while this may all be very entertaining, if you're not Sean Combs or his family, the issue really is, does it make him a sex trafficker? Does it make him a person engaging in prostitution? Does it make him a person who's running a criminal enterprise? And so again, we're hearing a lot about domestic violence, a lot about a really complicated relationship of a person who is overbearing and engaged in really abhorrent behavior.

The issue for me and the meat and potatoes for me is where is the evidence as it relates to drug trafficking, prostitution, and racketeering. That needs to be elicited. And perhaps with the other witnesses, they will connect those dots.

KEILAR: Yeah, we will have to see. Joey Jackson, thank you so much for that analysis. We do appreciate it.

SANCHEZ: Still ahead, we have much more on the trial of Sean "Diddy" Combs, multiple reporters for us inside the courtroom, sending out updates in real -time, including just moments ago, Cassie Ventura apparently breaking down into tears as the prosecution asked her whether there was anything that she enjoyed about these freak-offs. We'll keep you updated there. Plus, new reporting about former President Biden's health and discussions among his aides about the need for a wheelchair if he were to win a second term.

KEILAR: And after months of twists and turns, the Menendez Brothers one step closer to freedom. These important stories and more, all coming up this hour on "CNN News Central."

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SANCHEZ: We're learning some new behind-the-scenes details today about how President Biden's closest allies privately discussed whether he may need a wheelchair to perform his duties if he was re-elected, but they did not want to potentially have him use one until after he won re-election. All of this is detailed in a new book by CNN's Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson of Axios. KEILAR: Thompson spoke to CNN earlier today about just how concerned aides were.

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ALEX THOMPSON, NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT, AXIOS: They basically were terrified that Biden was going to have to be in a wheelchair before the election. And that's why you saw, especially after he had that bad stumble in the summer of 2023, why you saw them take a lot of steps to make sure that he did not fall again. This was something they were incredibly concerned about, and they also determined that he may need -- even need a wheelchair anyway, even if he didn't have a bad fall, and that -- but they were determined to make sure that it would only happen in the second term.

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KEILAR: In response to the reporting in this book, a Biden spokesperson said in a statement to Axios, the Biden's "medical exam" made clear that he had a stiffened gait caused in part by wear and tear to his spine. But that no special treatment was necessary and that it had not worsened. Adding that, yes, there were physical changes as he got older, but evidence of aging is not evidence of mental incapacity.

We're joined now by CNN Chief Media Analyst, Brian Stelter, and CNN Political Commentator Jamal Simmons. Jamal is also a Former Deputy Assistant to President Biden. He served as Communications Director for Vice President Harris. Jamal, how are you reacting to these revelations that we're learning about in this book, specifically this wheelchair, I guess, speculation that he might need one? And what did you hear while you were there?

JAMAL SIMMONS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I got to tell you, it's extraordinarily surprising that they would be that concerned. You know, I was there until the end of 2022. I think I left January of 2023. So, a lot of the reporting picks up after that point that there were some real concerns after 2023. The president that I saw when I was there was someone who was absolutely slower. He was absolutely somebody who, you know, walked with kind of that stiffened gait, I think is the word they used. But he seemed to be pretty on top of it mentally.

He was able to engage. He told jokes. He was, you know, he was answering questions from constituents. He was making, you know, really light of a lot of situations and seemed like he was pretty engaged. So, what I would say is that, I understand why in the winter of 2022, the president and his aides thought that he could be president of the United States again. The question becomes what happened in the winter of 2023 and going into '24 that they really saw these concerns with the president and they still decided to stick with the plan.

I think that's the place where Biden aides, who were still in the White House probably have to, you know, answer those questions about they made that choice. But every decision is made about what you think is best for the country, but sometimes what's best for the country may not be best for your boss.

SANCHEZ: Brian, the Bidens and some of their surrogates have come out to refute the reporting, not just in this Tapper-Thompson book, but in others that are coming out. They obviously knew that this was coming. They've sort of developed a media strategy around it.

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The former president was on The View last week. Some of his answers didn't lend credence to the idea that his mental acuity was what it once was. And you had Dr. Jill Biden, the former First Lady, seeming to intervene on his behalf in points during the conversation.

BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA ANALYST: Right.

SANCHEZ: What do you make of the media strategy and how it's gone so far?

STELTER: Biden being back on the public stage reminds people of what went wrong, and it doesn't negate what is in this explosive book. When you launch a book the way Tapper and Thompson are doing next week, you come out with a first excerpt. So that first excerpt up on The New Yorker website right now, also available on cnn.com, it is very damning about what went wrong in 2023 and 2024.

So, to Jamal's point, I think there's an emerging conventional wisdom, an emerging narrative that the President Biden at the midterms in 2022 was a different person than the Biden in the summer and fall of 2024, that his decline had escalated, that it become worse in that period of time. And there's a great example in this excerpt from George Clooney who says he saw President Biden in December of 2022, but then when he saw him again in June of 2024, he barely recognized the man. It was like seeing a different person.

"The president appeared severely diminished as if he'd aged a decade in that year and a half." According to the book, Biden didn't recognize Clooney at that fundraiser Clooney was holding. So, that is the kind of detail that we're only getting now because of, as Tapper and Thompson write, there was a cover-up, you know, there was an attempt to keep this out of the public domain. And now, you know, now that the time has passed, some of these details can now emerge.

KEILAR: And it's interesting, Brian, we saw President Biden and the First Lady on The View last week. It does appear the Bidens have tried to get ahead of these series of books on this issue. What do we know about his strategy?

STELTER: But, you know, they're going to do that. And then, you saw a Politico story saying, "Please, President Biden, former President Biden, get off the stage. You're reminding Democrats of the problem." So there will be a counter reaction to Biden trying to push back. You know, look at this new quote from the excerpt that came out today from David Plouffe. This is formerly a top Harris advisor, who tried to get Harris across the finish line.

David Plouffe on the record in this book saying, we got so screwed by Biden as a party. "He totally effed us by deciding to run for re- election and then pulling out with only a hundred plus days left for Harris to try to win." You know, that's the kind of stuff that's going to come out now and Biden can't refute the basic facts of what happened.

I think it is really interesting how Tapper and Thompson are also giving an answer to all the liberals, all the Trump opponents who are saying, why are you focusing on Biden? Why are you reporting out what went wrong with Biden? Why are you looking back in time when Trump is doing so much in the present day to remake America? Well, the answer is right here in these first excerpts that are coming out. The authors say that "Democrats deceived the country about Biden's abilities." And in the words of George Clooney, that's how Trump won.

You know, ultimately, all this conversation about Biden and what happened, goes to what is happening today with Trump. And I don't think Biden has an answer to that fundamental issue, no matter what kind of press story he tries to launch.

SANCHEZ: Jamal, I wonder how you respond to the claim from Democratic operatives and even certain lawmakers that have been out there lamenting the fact that Biden was sort of taken care of and secluded by his staff. And even when Robert Hur's report came out making claims that Biden had been diminished somewhat during their conversations, during his questioning, as part of that special counsel investigation, you had Democrats coming out and refuting all of this.

And now, there's this sort of lament that they weren't more straightforward with the American people and that caused the party harm. I wonder how you -- how you respond to that. How do Democrats move forward now?

SIMMONS: Yeah, the people around President Biden are going to have to answer that question for themselves, and that's a -- that's going to be one of the big questions. I know what happens though, when you're thinking about running this race. I remember at the end of 2022, after the midterms, as Brian was just talking about, and thinking, look, Joe Biden has gotten monumental pieces of legislation passed. They just had a better midterms than ever before, than anybody expected before.

He beat Donald Trump before; he was feeling pretty good. So, why not run for president again? So, but then the question, as you get through the 2023 and get into '24, maybe you start to see some things that you don't like. Now, the Democrats have another question at that moment. Do you open the process up and let everybody come in and have at it?

And then, you know, at that point, remember Vice President Harris is a very capable politician, but some people didn't -- were worried about it. They didn't necessarily know how she was going to perform in that primary. Let's say perhaps Vice President Harris didn't win that primary and somebody else did, how would African-American voters react when the first African-American woman who was vice president of the United States would be the first vice president of the United States in the Democratic Party who didn't win the nomination?

I think there are a lot of real questions you have to ask yourself when you're sitting in that chair, and they made a call. They are going to be judged by history about the call they made and we don't know what would have happened if they had made another call, but that's what they did and that's the judgment they are going to have to face.