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Biden Diagnosed With Prostate Cancer That Has Spread to His Bones; Trump Expected to Speak With Putin and Zelenskyy on Ending War; NTSB Investigating Deadly Ship Crash into Brooklyn Bridge. Aired 7- 7:30a ET
Aired May 19, 2025 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Former President Joe Biden, revealing he has an aggressive form of prostate cancer, that has also spread to his bones. The new battle that he now faces.
SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Two critical phone calls. President Trump says he will speak today with both Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskyy about ending Russia's war in Ukraine, but it comes as Russia launches its biggest drone attack since the war began more than three years ago.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: The stunning video of a training ship slamming into the Brooklyn Bridge. Two dead, more than a dozen injured. The new details about the victims and what went wrong.
I'm John Berman with Kate Bolduan and Sarah Sidner. This is CNN News Central.
BOLDUAN: This morning, former President Joe Biden is considering his treatment options after revealing that he's been diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer, a cancer that has spread to his bones. According to his statement from the former president's personal office, the diagnosis came after he was being evaluated for a small nodule that was found on his prostate. His personal office, putting out a statement, and in part saying this in the statement, while this represents a more aggressive form of the disease, the cancer appears to be hormone sensitive, which allows for effective management. The president and his family are reviewing treatment options now with his physicians.
Biden is 82 years old and has faced mounting questions about his health really throughout his presidential term, especially during the campaign trail, on the campaign trail last year before he dropped out of the race.
CNN's Arlette Saenz is joining us right now with a look at what this means and what this could mean going ahead. Arlette, what are you learning this morning?
ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kate. President Joe Biden is at his home in Wilmington, Delaware, with his family as they are reviewing the next steps of what treatment will look like after he was diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer that has spread to his bones.
Now, to provide a bit of a timeline here, last Monday, we learned that Biden recently was evaluated after a small nodule was found on his prostate. The statement that was released yesterday by his personal office, they said that he had ex been experiencing increasing urinary symptoms. Then this last Friday, he, in fact, received that prostate cancer diagnosis that has metastasized to his bones.
Now, Biden and his family and a team of doctors will now be working to determine what that treatment will look like. But, certainly, this is a moment that is quite challenging and devastating for the president's family, as well as many political allies. There has been an outpouring of support from both sides of the aisle since this diagnosis was announced yesterday. President Donald Trump, who Biden had faced off against in 2020 and 2024, posted on social media with lending his support, saying Melania and I are saddened to hear about Joe Biden's recent medical diagnosis. We extend our warmest and best wishes to Jill and the family, and we wish Joe a fast and successful recovery.
Biden's former vice president, Vice President Kamala Harris, also posting on social media, Joe is a fighter and I know he will face this challenge with the same strength and resilience and optimism that have always defined his life and leadership. And he also got some well wishes from former president Barack Obama, who had noted that nobody has done more to find breakthrough treatments for cancer in all its forms than Joe.
And that's an important, point because Biden and his family have had a long connection to cancer and loss as well. Of course, his son, Beau Biden, had passed away from brain cancer in 2015. And in the years that followed, Biden really worked hard to change champion what he called this cancer moon shot initiative to try to end cancer research. Now -- or to fund cancer research.
Now, this all comes as Biden's legacy has been challenged in recent weeks, as our colleague, Jake Tapper, has a new book coming out detailing some signs of mental and health decline in Biden while he was in office.
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So, there has been some added scrutiny. But, certainly, this is a challenging time for the Bidens. I'll also note May is always a difficult period as the passing of Beau Biden is on May 30th. Biden's cancer diagnosis came two weeks before the ten-year anniversary of his son's passing.
BOLDUAN: Arlette, thank you so much for the update. I really appreciate it. Sara?
SIDNER: All right. Happening today, President Trump set to hold two critical calls aimed at bringing peace after Russia's more than three- year war on Ukraine. At 10:00 A.M., Trump says he'll speak with Russian president Vladimir Putin and push him to end what he's calling a bloodbath. Then he's expected to speak separately with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. But these calls will happen after Russia carried out its largest drone attack since the war began. Ukrainian officials say Moscow's forces launched hundreds of drones, mostly targeting the capital, Kyiv, killing at least three people and injuring more than a dozen others.
CNN's Alayna Treene joining us now from the White House. What actually can we expect from these calls? There are two separate calls. It's not like both of them have come together. What are you expecting to hear from President Trump, which with the caveat that he used the word bloodbath? So, it's probably the worst description he's ever given of the war so far.
ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: That's right, Sara. And, look, there's no question that Trump administration officials and even the president himself have been growing increasingly frustrated with how Russian President Vladimir Putin has really, you know, been approaching this and how he has been reacting to this. And this call is really being viewed and characterized internally by people here at the White House as a moment to learn whether or not peace is actually viable and whether this is something Putin actually wants.
Now, the call does come after the president expressed optimism this weekend that he believed, you know, speaking directly with Putin could yield some real results. But as you mentioned, it also comes on the heels of Russia launching its worst drone attack since the war began. We also know Putin did not show up last week in Turkey to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, despite, I should note, Putin setting up that meeting and proposing that meeting himself.
And then, of course, also yesterday we did see Vice President J.D. Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio sit down with Zelenskyy in Rome on the sidelines of them go to the Vatican to see the pope's first mass, all to say, there have been a few very big significant moments and twists and turns in all of this. And there's no question that the pressure to find a deal and find one in the very near future is on right now.
And we kind of heard Secretary of State Marco Rubio say this yesterday on the Sunday show. He framed this call today as an opportunity to learn whether or not Putin is actually serious about this. Listen to what he said.
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MARCO RUBIO, SECRETARY OF STATE: So, they're tapping us along. Well, that's what we're trying to find out. We'll find out pretty soon.
On the other hand, we don't have time to waste, so we don't want to be involved in this process of just endless talks. There has to be some progress, some movement forward. Ultimately, one of the things that could help break this logjam, perhaps the only thing that can is a direct conference direct conversation between President Trump and Vladimir Putin.
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TREENE: So, as you heard him say there, that a direct conversation between Trump and Putin is really what they need at this moment.
Now, Rubio also during his kind of tour on the Sunday shows did not say whether or not that there would be an in-person meeting, as the president has been hinting at that he believes is necessary with Putin in the future, but left it on the table. All to say, a key question, of course, is how the president is going to react after these calls, specifically that first call with the Russian president.
And another thing to keep in mind as well is that Senator Lindsey Graham, a key Trump ally, has teed up a package of sanctions to put on Russia that Congress is likely to consider soon. You can imagine that if today's call does not go well, there'll be a lot more pressure to put sanctions on Russia and Putin specifically. Sara?
SIDNER: But to be clear, sanctions have been on the regime for a long time, he continues this war. Alayna Treene, thank you so much. We're looking forward to seeing what happens with those calls today. John?
BERMAN: All right. Breaking overnight, President Trump's sweeping legislative agenda squeaked past its latest congressional hurdle. The House Budget Committee approved the bill barely by a vote of 17 to 16. Four Republicans changed their no vote and voted present to allow for the bill's advancement. Texas Congressman Chip Roy was one of those hardliners to make the switch, but wants even more cuts to health and environmental spending.
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REP. CHIP ROY (R-TX): I'm not going to, I'm not going to talk about that stuff publicly. That's for the speaker to sort out. We made progress this weekend, but as you'll see in my statement, we didn't get near nearly far enough.
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BERMAN: All right. Speaker Johnson says, discussions within the caucus will continue over the next few days with a plan to advance to the House Rules Committee, actually, 1:00 A.M. Wednesday morning, bringing the bill to the full floor on Thursday.
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Sara?
SIDNER: All right. Thank you, John.
New details this morning about what exactly went wrong with the Mexican navy ship crashing into the Brooklyn Bridge, two people being killed. Today, an NTSB team is on the ground investigating.
And new CNN reporting this morning, President Trump wants a Golden Dome missile shield to protect America from long range strikes. But how much would something like that actually cost?
And the latest on the search for the seven inmates who are still on the run after escaping from a Louisiana jail and leaving a little note for the sheriff's deputies to read.
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BERMAN: All right. Happening now, investigators are searching for the voyage data recorder, basically, a ship's black box, after a Mexican naval training ship lost power and crashed into the Brooklyn Bridge. Two people are dead, more than a dozen injured. Officials say there was a mechanical issue and the captain lost steering of the vessel. We are expecting a news conference from the NTSB today.
Let's get right to CNN's Gloria Pazmino near the bridge this morning. Gloria, what's the very latest?
GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, we're standing here at Pier 35 where the Cuauhtemoc was a towed to on Saturday evening after that crash. Now, NTSB officials started arriving here yesterday afternoon, and we are expecting a briefing from them later today.
The primary questions here, obviously what happened, was it a power failure that led to this collision between the ship and hitting that side of the underside of the bridge on Saturday evening? Another key question here is whether or not there was any role that the tugboat that was pulling the ship played during that trajectory as the ship was making its way out of the New York Harbor.
The Cuauhtemoc was on a worldwide goodwill mission, bringing Mexican naval culture around the world. It had been here in New York City docked for the past few days. And it has been really difficult for the Mexican community here in New York City, which has come out. They were here yesterday all day long. Some of them have been dropping off flowers in memory of those two people whose lives were sadly lost.
We've actually learned their identities overnight. Mexican government officials have identified them as America Yamilet Sanchez, as well as Adal Jair Maldonado Marcos. We've also heard from America's family in Mexico. They are wondering what happened here and how soon they're going to get some answers.
I want you to take a listen to the commissioner of the Emergency Management Office here in New York City talking about the early stages of the investigation. Take a listen.
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ZACH ISCOL, NEW YORK CITY EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT COMMISSIONER: Something happened during that period of time where the ship reportedly lost power, possibly lost steerage, and that's when it ended up going in the wrong direction towards the bridge. But that's very preliminary at this point, and there still needs to be an investigation that will take place.
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PAZMINO: Part of what investigators want to do as well, John, is make sure that this ship can be brought to dry dock so it can be repaired and sent on its way.
Also late last night, the remainder of the crew, a little over 200 people were actually bused from here to John F. Kennedy Airport. They were able to get on a flight back to Mexico last night, I'm sure a relief for many of them. Some of them remained here on board expecting that investigation to continue in the next several days. John?
BERMAN: Yes. So many questions, that video just horrible. Gloria Pazmino at Pier 17, thank you very much for that. Kate?
BOLDUAN: Well, President Trump is pushing ahead with his hopes of building a Golden Dome missile defense shield over the United States. Today, a first look at how much a viable Golden Dome would cost and how long it would take to build.
Also, we are learning this morning more about the suspect the police say was responsible for a targeted explosion outside of a Palm Springs fertility clinic.
We'll be right back.
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BOLDUAN: We have new CNN reporting this morning about the president's push for a Golden Dome. Sources tell CNN the Pentagon has now submitted to the White House three options for developing a long range missile defense shield over the entire United States. One major takeaway, this will be expensive and take a long time to make a reality, likely hundreds of billions of dollars we're talking.
CNN's Zachary Cohen has this new reporting. He's joining us now. Zach, tell us more about what you're picking up about this.
ZACHARY COHEN, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: Yes, Kate. The Pentagon is expected to announce the path forward. As far as how it plans to turn Donald Trump's vision for a Golden Dome to protect the United States from long range missile strikes into a reality, that announcement could come in the next few days.
Look, Donald Trump has signed off, from our source's understanding, signed off on this path forward, and Congress also appears ready to make a down payment of sorts on this next generation missile defense shield, one that the Congressional Budget Office estimates could cost hundreds of billions of dollars. Now, this initial down payment looks like it's going to be about $25 billion in next year's budget. Sources to say though this could take up to 20 years and $500 billion to ultimately put this system in place.
And, look, this is one of Donald Trump's most ambitious and top priorities in his agenda. He has made clear to Congress and the Pentagon that he wants money for the Golden Dome to be not only reflected in this year's budget, but also for the next several years. They're facing a shot clock, really, to show that this proof of concept really can work. There's going to be a combination of different systems, existing missile defense systems, as well as some next generation technology that they're going to have to research and develop over the next several years.
And that's where the defense contractors and the private companies that are working on Golden Dome have been lobbying for a piece of this funding for the last several months come in. And among them is SpaceX, which, of course, is owned by tech billionaire Elon Musk. We're told Elon Musk and SpaceX have been briefing Trump administration officials over the last several months about their plans for a role in the Golden Dome development process.
Ultimately, we'll have to wait and see, but that $500 billion figure is maybe even low. Space Force officials said just last week that they've been in this business for 34 years and, quote, I've never seen an early estimate that was too high.
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It's the nature of the business.
So, of course, this comes as Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress are actually trying to cut elements of the budget, but obviously billions of dollars being committed to Golden Dome as of now.
BOLDUAN: Wow. Zach, great reporting, thank you so much. Sara?
SIDNER: All right. Just ahead, the latest on the President Biden's cancer diagnosis, the possible treatment plans for this aggressive form of prostate cancer.
And at least 25 people are dead after a violent storm ripped across several states. We are live on location this morning with the look at some of the really bad damage.
Those stories and more ahead.
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