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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; Testimony Resumes in Sean Combs Criminal Trial. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired May 19, 2025 - 08:00   ET

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

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JULIA VARGAS JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: But in this chaos, some people have stepped up in extraordinary ways. One of them is Omar Sykes, a Navy veteran who helped evacuate dozens of people from his neighborhood of Fountain Park. He said even after a close brush up with the tornado himself, he was able to evacuate dozens of people, but he did feel frustrated with how long it took first responders to get to him.

Take a listen.

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OMAR SYKES, TORNADO SURVIVOR AND VOLUNTEER: There were elderly that couldn't walk. There were kids, you know, and these people, our home is gone, right? And it's not a charity thing. It is a livelihood, right? And I care, right? And I wanted to make sure that the people that actually cared were taken care of.

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VARGAS JONES: And that emotion, that frustration, we've heard from so many residents here, Kate, but the City saying that first responders have been working around the clock to get through all of those homes. Firefighters said on Saturday, they swept the entire city going home to home to make sure that those structures were safe and structurally sound for people to come back and to start moving that debris out. 23,000 homes are still without power here in the St. Louis area and a curfew will remain in place until further notice.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Julia, thank you very much for that reporting.

There's many more stories to come out of that devastating tornado and more weather on the way. A new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Just moments ago, a message from former President Biden after the revelation that he is battling an aggressive form of prostate cancer that has spread to his bones.

We're standing by for President Trump's phone calls with both Russian President Putin and Ukraine's Zelenskyy as Russia launches its largest drone attack since its initial invasion.

The naval training ship loses power, veers off course, crashes into the Brooklyn Bridge. What we're learning about the deadly incident and how it all unfolded.

I'm John Berman with Kate Bolduan and Sara Sidner. This is CNN New Central.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking this morning, cancer touches us all. That is the message just moments ago from former President Biden addressing his prostate cancer diagnosis for the first time. The 46th president going on to say, like so many of you, all -- Jill and I have learned that we are strongest in the broken places. Thank you for lifting us up with love and support.

That message coming as the former president faces an aggressive form of prostate cancer that has now spread to his bones. His personal office saying in a statement that the diagnosis came after he was evaluated for a small nodule found on his prostate.

CNN's Meg Tirrell is joining us now. What more do we have we learned about the president's diagnosis now?

MEG TIRRELL, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Sara, I mean, prostate cancer is one of the most common cancers for men and it becomes more common as men age. However, we do know that based on what they're -- you know, this is a Gleason score. This is a way of sort of grading prostate cancer and it is a high score.

This is basically describing what the cells look like under a microscope. And you essentially look at it from six to 10. He's got a score of nine.

The lower the score, the more normal the cells look. And so a score of nine means it's a more aggressive form of the cancer, more likely to spread. And of course, the office did say it has already spread to the president's bones.

They also noted that it is sensitive to hormone treatment. And that's something that specialists in this area of cancer treatment say is something you typically see when somebody is first diagnosed with prostate cancer, that blocking the male hormones, typically cancers do respond to that at the beginning. And a key question is going to be, do these drugs, does this approach keep working for the president?

And that will inform future treatment options. And it sounds like that's something they're discussing right now. But other things that this could include could be chemotherapy, radiation.

And they essentially told us that if the president responds well to these therapies, he could live for years and years, even with this aggressive, more aggressive form of cancer -- Sara.

SIDNER: I mean, we all know that prostate cancer is actually highly survivable if caught early. Is it a surprise that this was found after it had already spread to his bones, which makes it much, much harder to treat?

TIRRELL: Yes, there are a lot of questions about that. And some of them are unanswerable with the amount of information we have, like what was the screening that the president was undergoing? And of course, the president is a unique person and may not be getting the same screening, you know, sort of guidelines that everybody else gets.

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But the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force does recommend that for men over 70, that they not be routinely recommended to be screened for prostate cancer using PSA testing, that Prostate Specific Antigen testing using a blood tests. For people under the age of 70, it's more of an individual decision that folks can think about with their doctors. So just based on those guidelines, they say it's not necessarily weird, Sara, but of course, he's the president, so he's special.

Back to you.

SIDNER: Yes. All right, Meg Tirrell, thank you so much. I really appreciate your reporting -- John.

BERMAN: All right, this morning, two critical phone calls. President Trump is expected to speak with Russian President Vladimir Putin at 10 a.m. today about ending his country's war on Ukraine. Then the president says he will also speak to the Ukrainian leader, Vladimir Zelenskyy. This is happening after Russia carried out its largest drone attack on Ukraine since the war began. Ukrainian officials say that Moscow's forces launched nearly 400 drones, killing at least three people and injuring more than a dozen others.

Let's get right to seeing as Nick Paton Walsh for the very latest in Kyiv. Good morning, Nick.

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, important to remind everyone about the barrage Ukraine's experienced over this weekend, including an attack on a civilian minibus that killed nine civilians near the Russian border. But that really, I think, is a reminder of how urgently many here want the violence to stop, but in such a way that it is sustainable and not entirely in Moscow's favor.

And so I think President Trump has to some degree put himself into a bit of a corner here with the statement suggesting he'd speak to Vladimir Putin at 10 and then Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and then NATO leaders.

Essentially, he's going to have to emerge from this conversation with some sort of progress or forward momentum, you might indeed argue. But indeed, his envoy, Steve Witkoff, suggesting it's the sheer force of personality of President Trump that might shift this forward, that might break the logjam. The Kremlin dialing down, perhaps, I think, some expectations, talking about how they'll be talking, the two presidents, about the results from the Istanbul talks, the first direct talks between Russia and Ukraine that Russia sent a pretty junior delegation to that agreed on a prisoner swap, but not an awful else much new.

And of course, the Kremlin suggesting some of the topic might be a ceasefire, something Russia has persistently resisted in the unconditional lengthy fashion that the United States first suggested, Europe demanded and Russia brushed aside. But also too the possibility of those two men meeting in person. Remember, President Trump has held that out as ultimately the key thing, which he thinks can bring progress to peace there.

But here's the Secretary of State Marco Rubio on the significance of these talks.

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MARCO RUBIO, SECRETARY OF STATE: Are they 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 conversation between President Trump and Vladimir Putin.

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WALSH: So is that really the big ask that indeed Trump and Putin will have a face-to-face meeting? It's something that Trump's predecessor refused, saying that it would essentially be rewarding Russia for its full-scale, unprovoked invasion of its neighbor.

But ultimately, that may be the thing that provides progress. It may be the least that Trump could potentially come away from this phone call, claiming some sort of success or progress. But the larger question is, what if the Trump administration decides it's not seeing enough progress here? Do they walk away from the whole thing, from Ukraine?

Does that mean something different about military aid and intelligence sharing with Ukraine, upon which Ukraine is utterly dependent?

Key questions. But ultimately, too, I think President Trump will emerge from this phone call with President Putin, having to explain to Ukraine and his key NATO allies what the next steps forward are.

He's tried to grab the schedule back, it seems, with this peace process from the Kremlin. We'll have to see if that actually yields results.

BERMAN: Yes, more will become clear in the next several hours. Nick Paton Walsh in Kyiv. Thank you, Nick -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: Joining us right now to talk about this is CNN global affairs analyst Brett McGurk. He's a former White House coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa. It's good to see you again, Brett.

Last week, you talked to me about how a lot of what has happened around these negotiations so far is having motion with no movement. And I'm curious, going into what seems pretty high stakes today in these phone calls, how would you be prepping Donald Trump to approach this call with Vladimir Putin today?

BRETT MCGURK, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Yes, thanks, Kate. I'll start with a little bit of good news. I mean, the president's coming off a Middle East trip. He's sustained momentum on this file. Rubio is in Turkey with NATO allies, meeting with the Ukrainians. J.D. Vance was in Rome meeting with Zelenskyy, putting out a very positive image of that, kind of correcting from the train wreck of the Oval Office meeting here a couple months ago.

But look, end of the day, it's about outcomes. President Trump has said we need a ceasefire. Ukraine has signed on to a 30-day ceasefire all the way back in March.

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That's a consistent position.

The Russians have continued to deflect. Not only deflect, they've continued to escalate the war, such as the massive attack using Iranian drones that we saw in the last 24 hours.

This is a classic Russian tactic. They use diplomacy and also showing that they have the initiative on the battlefield. That's what they're doing.

And there's a saying in diplomacy that diplomacy without leverage is like music without instruments. And I remain concerned here that the United States and the president in particular is not kind of approaching this with the type of leverage you need to deliver the outcome. And the outcome, as he said last night, President Trump did, is stopping the war.

So we're looking today, a very pivotal day, of what comes from these calls. And if the outcome is not a path to a ceasefire, then I think the diplomacy is failing. It is a lot of motion without forward movement.

So that really is the test today. It's a pivotal day.

BOLDUAN: He also talked about, when you talk about leverage, he has talked about sanctions or however he describes sanctions. What could or would sanctions look like if this fails, if they do find and realize they need more leverage here?

MCGURK: Yes, Kate, the president has two options. He has said he would consider secondary sanctions on the purchasers of Russian oil and gas. Russia's economy is entirely dependent on its oil and gas trade.

That would mean imposing sanctions on India, which is a close U.S. partner, and also China, which is difficult. You have to think about the global economy here as well. But that would bite.

And Trump has put it on the table. It might get to the point where you have to do that. The Europeans are unanimous that it's now kind of might be time to do that.

The second is military aid to Ukraine. You know, the president has basically said that that will not continue. And the aid that was put into place under the Biden administration starts to expire.

These are just basically ammunition shells, ammunition to basically defend Ukraine against the Russian assault. And over the course of this summer, that begins to expire. That is a very serious situation.

I think Putin knows this. That's why he's trying to extend this process without really talking about a ceasefire. But look, Russia's under pressure, too. They have suffered by some accounts almost 700,000 casualties, maybe 250,000 Russian soldiers have been killed in this war. They are suffering, too.

We have leverage. It might be time to apply a little more. But, again, the outcome here is important. It's a pivotal day.

I think what comes out of these calls, is there a path to a ceasefire, or is Putin continuing to play rope-a-dope here because he thinks time is on his side?

BOLDUAN: Which category does this land in? Because you and I talked as they were about to be heading into the low-level talks in Turkey. And one of the reasons that we have learned that the talks in Turkey did not go far at all is, in part, that Russia demanded that Ukraine cede land that is still under Kyiv's control.

MCGURK: You know, Russia's making maximalist demands because, again, it believes that time is on its side and that it can basically outweigh this process. And I'm a little concerned. You know, Rubio's statement said it might be time that if this isn't working, maybe we just don't spend time on it. That suggests the U.S. might just back off entirely, and that would really cede the field even more so to the Russians.

So, again, if I was briefing President Trump, this is a critical call. You only get to play this card, head of state calls, rarely. We're using the card. We have to have an outcome out of this call. And the outcome has to be the 30-day ceasefire that, again, Ukraine has signed on to all the way back in March. Absent that, this is movement and no motion and no movement forward.

BOLDUAN: Yes, Brett, it's great to see you. Thank you so much -- Sara.

SIDNER: All right, ahead. Every New Yorker is asking, what the hell happened and why? The NTSB is now on the scene trying to answer that question after a Mexican Navy ship crashed into the Brooklyn Bridge, killing two people.

And this morning, the sex trafficking trial against Sean Diddy Combs resuming with a former Danity Kane member back on the stand. The stunning testimony continues. We're live outside the courthouse.

Also, we're learning more about the man police say detonated a car bomb near a Southern California fertility clinic, the writings he left behind, and what they tell us about his possible motives.

Those stories and more ahead.

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SIDNER: And what has been an explosive start in the trial of Sean Combs today. A former member of the musical group Danity Kane is set to return to the stand to testify in the case against him. Dawn Richard testified Friday that she saw Combs attack his former girlfriend Cassie Ventura in 2009.

CNN's Kara Scannell is outside the court with more details. What all can we expect to hear from her today as she takes the stand and later this week as well?

KARA SCANNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Sara. So, Dawn Richard will be back on the witness stand this morning. Friday, her testimony, she said she witnessed Combs come downstairs into the kitchen, take a skillet with eggs in it and attempt to hit Cassie Ventura, his then girlfriend, over the head.

She also testified that Combs dragged Ventura up to the bedroom and she could hear glass breaking and yelling.

The next day, Richard said Combs asked her to come back to his home into the recording studio. She said he locked the door and then told her where he comes from. People who speak sometimes go missing. She said that she took that as a threat. So, she will be back on the witness stand this morning. Her testimony is supposed to wrap up pretty quickly.

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And then the prosecution is going to call Ventura's former best friend. We heard a lot about her last week. Her name is Keri Morgan. She's expected to testify.

And Ventura testified she was friends with Morgan before she met Combs and was friends with her throughout the relationship until Ventura said Combs hit Morgan and that ended their friendship.

So, Morgan expected to be a prosecution witness who will corroborate some of what Ventura has said. After that, they're going to call a couple of people who worked for Combs, including a former personal assistant, a former chef.

The prosecution said they also expect to call an escort this week, as well as Ventura's mother. Ventura has testified that she told her mother about some of the physical abuse at the hands of Combs at one point in their relationship. So, she will be another witness that the prosecution is calling this week.

And, of course, this is just week two of what the prosecution says will be six weeks of their presenting their case to the jury -- Sara. SIDNER: And the picture they are painting is one of a man with a lot of power and a man with what appears to be, in their evidence, you know, a scary guy that was threatening to a lot of people. We'll see how the defense deals with that. Kara Scannell, great reporting from the court, as usual, appreciate it -- John.

BERMAN: All right, with us now, former Manhattan prosecutor Jeremy Saland, also former federal prosecutor Alyse Adamson.

And, Jeremy, let me just start with you, because I'm curious, after the testimony of Cassie Ventura, which, in a way, is the bulk of the prosecution case, what left do they have to do? What are they now trying to do with these witnesses in order to prove the sex trafficking and racketeering charges?

JEREMY SALAND, FORMER MANHATTAN PROSECUTOR: Force, fraud, coercion. Not just a bad, bad, ugly guy doing terrible, horrible things. Not a sex abuse case, not a domestic assault case, but that there was this conspiracy to have this criminal enterprise that all this different foundation of this force, fraud, and these actions on his part and these different players building it up to traffic women and men, evidently, too, because you have these male prostitutes across state lines to engage in these commercial sex acts.

So it's not just that he beat her, it's not just that he hit her with a skillet, it's not just that he maybe not forced her to take drugs, and she maybe did engage on her own in these freak-offs, but it's building that criminal enterprise conspiracy. Much more difficult on its face.

BERMAN: Yes, and we'll get to the defense, what the defense will be in a second, but, Alyse, first, continuing on the prosecution and what they're trying to do in order to prove force, fraud, and coercion. What exactly do they need to elicit from these witnesses? Dawn Richard testified on Friday that she did see an example of abuse.

Diddy, she testify, how Sean Combs beat Cassie Ventura or he saw her with a skillet or whatnot? But what more besides that?

ALYSE ADAMSON, FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: Yes, John, you're absolutely right. That is exactly what the prosecution needs to show, that it was more than a consensual relationship as the defense tried very hard to paint during Cassie's cross-examination. They need to elicit from Dawn Richard more details about this abuse of conduct because, recall, on cross, the defense kind of left the impression with the jury that maybe Sean Combs only became violent when he was coming down off of drugs. Maybe he was bipolar.

But no, already, Dawn Richard has kind of dispelled that by saying he got mad about not answering fast enough and then beat her with a skillet and dragged her upstairs by her hair and then threatened them both. And that is key because, you know, agreeing to do something consensually is one thing, but Dawn Richard basically said she was afraid she was going to die if she did not do what Combs said.

So all of that is very corroborative of Ventura's account. And it also goes to Combs' intent, which is key for the trafficking charge.

BERMAN: How will the defense, Alyse -- we'll keep going with you on this -- what will the defense do to counter these witnesses after they come?

ADAMSON: Yes, the defense is going to have to employ the classic playbook, which is to discredit and impeach this witness. So Dawn Richard had a longstanding relationship with Diddy, a professional relationship spanned over a decade. So expect them to ask questions about having seen this abuse of conduct and being afraid that she's going to be killed but continuing to work with him.

Asking the motivations. She has her own lawsuit, which she filed against Diddy in September, where she alleges some of this same conduct. But expect the defense to paint that as a money grab, because that would be the motivation for her to provide this testimony if it's not true.

BERMAN: Jeremy, how successful has the defense been so far during its cross of Cassie Ventura in planting some of the seeds that they will need going forward?

SALAND: They planted some, but nothing exceptional. So if you're going to argue, for example, the timing of a particular rape and whether or not that's accurate, you know, that's a difficult lift to do, because I think they're still established that it was against her will. Do you believe that maybe if she's off by a certain period of time that that rape didn't happen?

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You know, you came back and you returned to him. Was there love? You could love someone at time one and still not consent at time two. You could consent again at time three and not consent at time four. So it's a very difficult thing to do and poke the holes at her.

Is it about money? Well, no, I didn't cancel my tour because of the money. You know, I canceled my tour separately.

So it's difficult. I don't know if they've done the job they needed to do with her, but I think that goes to the point there's still a lot more to come. You're going to have text messages. You're going to have the transactional records. You're going to have other witnesses who are going to testify and bolster up Cassie Ventura. It's not just going to rise and fall solely on her shoulders.

BERMAN: You did express some curiosity that Cassie Ventura's mother is on this witness list.

SALAND: Yes, you know, a lot of what she's going to likely say would be hearsay. There is an allegation that I came across involving something about the reaching out to the father by Diddy about I'm her father now or I'm her dad now and she's my daughter. Basically, family set aside.

I don't know whether or not the mother was privy to that call, but there's going to be a lot of hearsay in that, so I'm not sure. I don't think there's allegations that she saw the injuries as alleged, but we'll find out. But she's not really a critical witness. I think some of the other players are much more important.

BERMAN: And Alyse, just finally, do you think six weeks, the prosecution really needs six full weeks to lay out its case given where it is right now?

ADAMSON: That's a good question and I remember thinking after this first week, wow, that's a long time. Ventura testified very early because she's eight and a half months pregnant. They had to get her on the stand.

Remember, this is a RICO case, so it's not just about the sex trafficking. Prosecutors have to show that Combs was running his businesses as corrupt enterprises, which means they were organizations that were committing crimes. So I would bet that the balance of this trial is going to be corroborative of Ventura's story.

They also have to bring in the other victims, the unnamed victims, but they're also going to have to lay the foundation for this RICO charge and explain how he conspired with more than one person and how he was running Bad Boy Records as a corrupt organization, so they might need that time.

BERMAN: Data and records, often part of RICO cases. We'll see if this becomes a data-heavy case. Jeremy Saland, Alyse Adamson, thanks so much for being with us. I do appreciate it -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: Ahead for us, an investigation is now underway into that terrifying collision when a Mexican naval ship crashed into the Brooklyn Bridge. Two crew members on board were killed. We've got more details coming in on that.

And Pope Leo is calling for unity during his inaugural mass in St. Peter's Square. What he said in front of tens of thousands of people, including world leaders and royalty.

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