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Meeting Notice: Newark Airport "Clearly is Unable to Handle the Current Level of Scheduled Operations"; FAA Meeting for Hours with Airlines About Troubled Newark Airport; Prosecutors Show Jury Still Images of "Freak Offs" in Combs' Trial; Ventura: Combs' Security Team Once Chased After Her, Took Her Back to His House After She Fled Following Fight; America's Ports Soon Could Face a Surge from Stockpiling; Trump in Qatar for Second Stop on Middle East Tour. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired May 14, 2025 - 15:00   ET

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

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[15:01:21]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Cassie Ventura Testifying Again: The ex- girlfriend of Sean "Diddy" Combs telling the court about the first time she says the media mogul got violent with her, as the jury reacts to the sexually explicit images they are now being shown by prosecutors. Still ahead, this defense cross-examination of Ventura.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Plus, Fixing Newark Airport: Federal officials meeting with airline leaders to talk about how to reduce air traffic in Newark. We're going to dig into the changes that may be necessary to make this airport safe.

And President Trump touring parts of the Middle East: A historic meeting that could signal a new start for U.S. relations with Syria.

We're following these major developing stories and many more, all coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

So, the FAA has been meeting for hours with airline leaders on how to reduce traffic at Newark Airport. The gathering - dubbed a "delay reduction meeting" - started at about 9 this morning.

If you haven't heard the news, Newark has been plagued with hours-long flight delays and cancellations because of a severe shortage of air traffic controllers and also outdated equipment.

The FAA plan is to reduce the number of domestic flights in and out of Newark to 56 per hour until mid-June, then go to 68 an hour through the summer.

Newark staff and equipment problems led to a string of scary radio and radar blackouts for controllers. We actually learned earlier today - they were happening as early as last October.

One outage in late April lasted some 90 seconds, prompting some to take trauma leave. An FAA official talked about that during today's Senate hearing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FRANKLIN MCINTOSH, DEPUTY CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER, FAA'S AIR TRAFFIC ORGANIZATION: Ninety seconds is a long time for an air traffic controller. So, although we have contingencies in place, this - that we use to make sure that we keep aircraft safe - it is a long disruption for a radar screen to go blank.

SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX): During those 90 seconds, was there a significantly heightened danger to the flying public?

MCINTOSH: I don't believe there was a heightened significant danger to the flying public. But with that being said, from where I sit, we want to remove all risk to the flying public.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: We're joined now by CNN Transportation Analyst Mary Schiavo. She's a former Inspector General of the Transportation Department.

Mary, great to see you as always.

What are you looking to come out of today's delay reduction meeting after these weeks of delays at Newark?

MARY SCHIAVO, CNN TRANSPORTATION ANALYST: Well, what I would like to see come out of it is some really firm plans and orders out of the United States Federal Aviation Administration, the Department of Transportation. This is snowballing.

I mean, first we heard of one outage. Now we know there was at least three in one week. And now certain air traffic controllers have been reporting in the media that they know of many, many more.

And the delays at the airport aren't getting any better. And so, the FAA and the Department of Transportation literally has to just lay down the law and say, look, you're going to only have 34 flights in and 34 flights out per hour.

And indeed, you cannot say that these outages don't affect safety - of course they do. If it didn't affect safety, why did we have this equipment? Why do we have all these controllers?

And then finally, the reports are coming out that, for example, one shift - in the media - in media reports - controllers said they only had three on duty, and they should have had, you know, over a dozen - something like 17.

So, this is affecting safety.

[15:05:00]

It is affecting the traveling public. Huge, expensive delays. And the only way to do it is just simply get the plan. And I hope that's what they're laying out today with all the airlines. There's just no more time for letting the airlines decide what to do.

SANCHEZ: Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy told reporters Monday that the goal is to have a manageable number of flights landing at Newark. I mean, that inevitably is going to impact travelers. We may wind up seeing flights that had already been booked getting canceled.

SCHIAVO: Absolutely. And that is what's happening. And so, what - being proactive - if the FAA and the DOT can be proactive and say, look, you need to plan that this is the only (INAUDIBLE) this is the number of flights you're going to have'

Now, airlines have been pushing back because some say that if they cut the number of flights, others might fill those slots, because airports are different whether the slots are controlled by the airlines or the airports and if they're protected.

So, the airlines will be hammering that out with the FAA too. But the only way to manage this in the short-term - and remember, there's construction at the airport too, which is part of the reason for the reduction in flights. That will clear up in mid-June - allegedly and hopefully.

And in the meantime, the cutting of the flights will make it easier in the long run because you won't get dumped, stranded, you know, bumped at Newark.

SANCHEZ: I also wanted to ask you, Mary, about the FAA today during that Senate hearing, revealing the air traffic control hotline that connects Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and the Pentagon hasn't been functional since March 2022. The FAA wasn't aware of this until an incident earlier this month.

Obviously, this follows that tragedy - the American Airlines flight that was hit by a helicopter - a military helicopter landing at DCA. What does that hotline being down tell you - and the fact that we didn't know about it for years?

SCHIAVO: Well, that says that the maintenance and the oversight and the upkeep of the equipment is, you know, it's just rampant. It's nationwide.

And again, some of this is because the equipment is very, very old. I was at the DOT when they installed some of these control stations and I've been out of there for a couple decades at least. And for them not to know that it wasn't functional means that they are doing the maintenance, and most likely its contractors doing the maintenance - because a lot of the maintenance on these facilities is not done by FAA employees, but by contractors.

And so, they have to be on top of the contracts and manage these contracts and make sure everything's getting done, not only because safety is at risk, but because we're paying for them as taxpayers.

So, contract management - especially going forward in this multi, multi-billion-dollar project of replacing this system - if the FAA doesn't manage the contracts, we won't have a successful system replacement.

SANCHEZ: Mary Schiavo, always great to get your perspective. Thanks.

SCHIAVO: Thank you.

KEILAR: And we are following breaking new details in the sex trafficking trial of Sean "Diddy" Combs. His ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura has been testifying as jurors, for the first time in this case, are seeing explicit images of the sexual encounters they have been hearing about in court for days now.

SANCHEZ: In the last few minutes, Ventura has told jurors that some of Combs' employees quit after, she says, they saw him allegedly abusing her. She also testified that there were times when she actually started some of these physical fights with Combs. Though, she says that she never saw any injuries on him.

Ventura then described some of her own injuries after one incident where Combs allegedly stomped on her face, saying, quote, "Just knots and bleeding, swollen, everything. I looked horrible."

Joining us now is Richard Gabriel. He's a veteran trial consultant and president of Decision Analysis. He's also the author of "Acquittal," which highlights his work on several high-profile cases.

Richard, great to have you.

What reaction do you have to what we've seen today - and specifically some of what we've gotten in detail from our reporters in the courtroom about how jurors have reacted to some of the evidence, some of these sexually explicit images that have been presented?

RICHARD GABRIEL, PRESIDENT, DECISION ANALYSIS: Well, this is where it becomes really important, number one, for jury selection. Because I think the tolerance of how jurors think about sex - and how - whether they're very progressive and sort of liberal-minded in terms of how they think of sex - is going to factor into how they receive this evidence.

That being said, that coupled with the abuse obviously is quite disturbing for a lot of jurors. I think what the prosecution is doing right now is they're establishing a personal connection. Not only do they have images - which sometimes they don't have in court, where they have videos - they have pictures of all of this explicit thing. They're laying out to get try - to try and get from jurors a fairly visceral response to personalize Cassie Ventura.

And then later on, they'll obviously be looking to set up the RICO actions, which is how the - Mr. Combs systematically put together this enterprise, essentially.

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KEILAR: Richard, why does it matter that the prosecution is bringing out these details - that she was facing threats of violence, threats of public humiliation? She's saying he threatened to release the videos at many times. The fact that he held her career in his hands, and that she felt financially beholden to him - why do those things matter?

GABRIEL: Well, the prosecution is obviously trying to set up this coercive environment where literally he has this power over her. They know very clearly the defense is going to be coming in and saying, she could have left at any time.

In fact, because some of these employees left - that could be a double-edged sword. Even though they were disturbed by the behavior, they could say, hey, employees left. Cassie Ventura could have left as well.

They are anticipating that, so they want to set up how much of a hold Mr. Combs had over her career and try to create this environment. Obviously, they're going to be having an expert come in later to talk about abusive relationships and how people feel like they can't leave and that - to try to cement this down. But that's, I think, why they're bringing all of this in.

SANCHEZ: Richard, Cassie Ventura just brought up another alleged fight that apparently happened after Combs saw her at a party at Prince's house. She also notably had brought up that Combs had allegedly threatened to hurt someone that she was dating at the time - this artist known as Kid Cudi - as part of an effort to pressure her and to pressure him.

I wonder, when jurors hear these celebrity names - and the famousness, if you will, of the people involved in some of this testimony - what kind of impact does that have on them?

GABRIEL: Well, I mean, obviously they're familiar with this. But I think they're focusing on the behavior. How those celebrities sort of play into this, I think, is going to be an interesting dynamic for the jurors - because they'll be looking at, well, how aware are these other celebrities or these other people around her about Sean Combs? And could they have stepped in at any point?

Obviously, nobody did step in at some point, which obviously they can attribute to the power of Mr. Combs over sort of his whole entourage and a lot of the people that go around with him.

But I think obviously people are familiar with them. But I think it goes to really what was the behavior that they observed between Combs and Cassie Ventura and how - what did they do about it, if they knew anything about it.

KEILAR: Richard Gabriel, great to get your insights. Thank you so much for being with us.

GABRIEL: Thank you.

KEILAR: Still to come, the whiplash over tariffs is about to ripple through American ports. Why the big slowdown they've seen could become a big surge in shipments. SANCHEZ: Plus, stop number two for President Trump in the Middle East. Details on the commercial and defense agreements that he just signed with Qatar.

And later, NFL teams hoping to go viral on schedule release day. How their social media teams prepare for a big reveal of their own. We'll discuss next on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

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KEILAR: U.S. ports are bracing for a surge in cargo now that those shipments leaving from China and heading to the U.S. carry a 30 percent tariff instead of the 145 percent levies that have been in place for the last six weeks.

Starting today, the temporary lower tariffs are in effect for 90 days as the U.S. and China try to negotiate a new trade deal.

These high rates that have been crippling - devastated America's ports, which saw a dramatic slowdown in cargo. They're now preparing for the opposite - a major upswing - as businesses and consumers stockpile Chinese goods.

Joe Moglia is with us now. He's the former CEO and chairman of TD Ameritrade. He's currently the Executive Advisor to the president of Coastal Carolina University.

All right. Joe, what do you think is going to happen here? Do you think businesses will stock up? And what is that going to mean for us, because tariffs are still 30 percent?

JOE MOGLIA, FORMER CEO/CHAIRMAN, TD AMERITRADE: Well, I think, Brianna, first of all, I think for small businesses and large ones alike, I think it's a sigh of relief. And the tension, I think, that's existed over the span of the last few weeks - really pretty much hasn't gone away totally - but certainly improved with regard to what's going on over the weekend.

I think when you look forward, I think there's a lot of really good things that's going on with regard to the economy. I think with regard to the markets, I think we can't underestimate the impact that A.I. is going to have.

With the President and the Cabinet - they are pro-business. We're going to have deregulation. We're going to have lower taxes - they're working on that now. We've got an accommodative Fed. And, again, with the concerns (INAUDIBLE) ...

KEILAR: But I want to - are businesses going to stock up?

MOGLIA: ... with tariffs behind us.

I think businesses will start to stock up, but they're not going to go crazy. You can't go from one extreme to the other without knowing what's going on. And we still don't know exactly what's going on. They can't overdo this.

But I think they definitely take a step in the right direction. They start stocking - as opposed to stock up.

KEILAR: Okay. So, 30 percent tariff still in effect on what they're stocking up on. Who pays for that? Are we going to see higher costs?

MOGLIA: Yes. Yes, we're going to pay for that. But the importers pay for that, so no matter what that is - that's going to - that's ultimately - that's going to be higher cost for the individuals. We're going to be paying more with that.

[15:20:05]

There's a threat of inflation. And again, the threat of tariffs staying really high for a longer period of time - that's where the threat of recession comes in.

So, this is moving in the right direction. Keep in mind that the 30 percent - 20 percent of that is fentanyl. So, if things improve with regard to fentanyl crossing the borders, the 30 percent - at least that 20 percent of the 30 percent - starts to come down.

But again - a big step in the right direction. Not there yet, but a big step in the right direction.

KEILAR: So, JPMorgan's recession odds - as you mentioned recession - dropped below 50 percent on the heels of this breakthrough with China. Notable because last month, it was 60 at one point. The risk still elevated, though. How are you looking at that?

MOGLIA: I would look at it similarly. First, I think I've been bullish all along. And I think part of the reason why I've been bullish - now near-term scared, but long-term bullish - is because frankly, our president, I think he's doing a good job. But he's also a narcissist.

So, there's no way that a person that has that mentality is going to wind up looking bad. So, he makes a big deal about - he being a deal guy - he certainly talks about his success relative to the performance of the stock market.

So, if we go too far in the wrong direction - which we started going a little while ago with regard to what was going on - and he came in and made these things - the market started to take off with that.

He's not going to let us get into trouble. At least - I truly believe that.

And I was surprised that there was as much of a turnaround as there was over the span of the weekend. But the turnaround was significant enough for everybody to go - calm down a little bit. So, I feel pretty good about that.

If the tariffs continued where they were - which was kind of crazy - a hundred percent we're going to have a recession. If tariffs continue the way they are now too long, and we don't get clarity about these the next 90 days, then JPMorgan and all those brokerage firms are going to increase the concern about recession. But right now, it looks like at least we're heading in the right direction for the time being.

KEILAR: Yes. And in April, the president was saying the country will be making a fortune. As you game this out - best case scenario, short- term, long-term - how do you see it? And will we be making a fortune?

MOGLIA: No. I think the reason why he's saying that - he's saying because of the tariffs. He said, ultimately, we will be in such great shape as a country. We will be able to have a deficit being controlled. Our debts here - our debts going to be better. All these are going to be better. And we're going to have much more business than we've ever had. And we're going to get incredible incremental revenue with regards to income and with regard to taxes.

That can't happen now. Now, if everything that he's trying to do now turns out to be really, really strong, and we have a greater impact down the road, then we'll move in that direction. But that's not happening now.

Right now, our costs are going up. The threat of inflation is still there. And unless we have clarity with regards to the tariffs, the reality is we don't know. But I think his plan is to move in the right direction. But that's not going to create crazy income and crazy revenue at all in the near term.

KEILAR: Yes, we'll see what his promises are here this month certainly.

Joe Moglia, thank you so much.

MOGLIA: Thanks, Brianna.

KEILAR: Great to have you.

And coming up, President Trump sitting down with the former jihadist who is now the president of Syria, and Trump is signaling better days are ahead for U.S. relations with Damascus. The latest on his visit to the Middle East, next.

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SANCHEZ: Right now, President Donald Trump is in Qatar, the second of three scheduled stops on his Middle East tour.

Just hours after arriving, he announced a new deal - signing a $200 billion agreement that includes the purchase of 160 Boeing jets for Qatar Airways.

KEILAR: CNN's Jeff Zeleny is live now from Doha for us.

Jeff, the President arrived to quite the fanfare. They knew how to roll that out for him in Saudi Arabia, and now Qatar. How significant is this stop and the agreements that were signed today? JEFF ZELENY: Pretty significant, Brianna. Of course, the whole point - or one of the largest points of this trip, at least from the concern of the White House - is announcing deals. Announcing economic deals to bring investment into the United States.

The bottom line on all of this will take some time to figure out. The President often throws out lofty numbers like a trillion dollars of investment - it is very, very unlikely to reach that. But this Boeing deal that was announced - and the Boeing CEO was on hand for it - 160 Boeing planes, $200 billion deal, it's significant of course.

But the broader context here is - this is a deal-making trip. It's a deal-making president. That is one of the central ethoses he has. But he's doing a bit of diplomacy along the way. He's at a state dinner right now - we spoke just a short time ago.

But again, business leaders and others are at this dinner as well. We saw an image of Elon Musk greeting the President. So really, some of the same faces also who were at a Saudi investment forum yesterday.

So, you almost have a feeling of the American president is traveling with a fairly large entourage of some of the world's biggest business leaders as well. He wants to make deals - to be a part of them.

And they're also - of course we can't ignore the fact this is happening against the backdrop of a region of the world where the Trump Organization, the Trump family, is also seeking to make major inroads - major investments.

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