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Manhunt Underway for 7 Escaped Inmates; Trump: Russia and Ukraine Will Start Negotiating Ceasefire Immediately; Next Test for Trump's Sweeping Policy Agenda Set for Wednesday; Trump to Sign Take It Down Revenge Porn Bill. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired May 19, 2025 - 13:30   ET

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

[13:30:00]

JESSICA DEAN, CNN HOST: Right now authorities are searching for seven inmates, including suspected murderers who escaped New Orleans jail last Friday. Surveillance video showing the moment when they bolted through a loading dock door. Three of the ten escapees have since been captured after being spotted in various parts of the city.

The Orleans Parish Sheriff's says the escapees got out by yanking a sliding door off its track then squeezing through a small hole behind a toilet. The words, too easy, lol, were written on the wall. Officials are now blasting the jail for not alerting the public sooner.

The DA saying his office prosecuted some of those inmates, prompting some of his staffers to leave the area, fearing for their own safety.

Let's go down to CNN's Rafael Romo, who is following this for us. Rafael, at this point, do they think these inmates are still in the state or do they think they've managed to get out of that state?

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's what they're saying. Louisiana officials say they have received some inmates whereabouts from other states and they have notified those states, but those leads so far haven't panned out. Louisiana State Police Superintendent Robert Hodges said they have what he called actionable intelligence on all seven of those fugitives.

Hodges also says the escapees were constantly changing locations and had help from friends and family. He added they hope that in the coming days, if not the coming hours, law enforcement will be able to apprehend all of them.

But once again, as for the public's help in that respect, the reward money for information leading to the arrest of any of the escaped inmates has increased to $20,000 when you add all the money from the FBI, the ATF, and Crime Stoppers.

Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry said that the massive jailbreak may very well be the largest in the history of the state and something that should have never happened. Landry also said it was possible for 10 inmates to break free from what is supposed to be a secure facility.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. JEFF LANDRY (R-LA): The public deserves to know who, what, and how this happened. The responsibility for answering those questions will fall to the Attorney General. Her office will lead the investigation into this jailbreak.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMO: Jessica, in addition to the investigation by the Attorney General, Landry also said that he has ordered an audit of the Orleans Parish Correctional Facility. He's also ordered the removal of all DOC inmates held at that facility. Landry also said he will be issuing an executive order that instructs the State Inspector General to get an inventory of all pretrial detainees and those awaiting sentences.

According to the governor, nine of the 10 escaped inmates, nine out of 10 had been in pretrial detention for years. People in Louisiana and neighboring states were hoping the rest of the escaped inmates would have been captured by now, Jessica, but Hodges said only three out of the 10 have been captured. So far, something that hasn't changed since Saturday morning -- Jessica.

DEAN: All right, Rafael Romo with the latest.

[13:35:00]

Thanks so much for that -- Boris.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Let's dig deeper on this escape with retired NYPD detective Michael Alcazar. He's now an adjunct professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice. Sir, thanks so much for being with us.

So it took roughly eight hours for officials to realize these inmates were missing. They were able to pull a cell door off its track, and then they allegedly had help from within the jail. What does all of this tell you? What kind of picture does that paint?

MICHAEL ALCAZAR, RETIRED NYPD DETECTIVE: Well, it's like the reporter said, right? The governor is doing an audit of the correctional facility. How is it that these prisoners were unattended, 10 of them unattended, that they can break into this wall and escape?

So I know they're going to interview the people that work, the correctional employees and staff that might have helped facilitate. It's definitely going to be an investigation on how this happened, how this occurred, how safe is this prison, how secure is it? So a lot of questions going on, and hopefully they capture these inmates quickly.

SANCHEZ: Yes, I understand that there were at least three jail facility officials put on leave as this investigation continues. The public also didn't know about this for a while. There was like a 10- hour delay before the public was notified from when they escaped.

What does a delay like that mean for the community and for the manhunt as well?

ALCAZAR: Well, we rely, absolutely, because right now we're relying heavily on Crimestoppers tips, right? So that delay is detrimental to the capture of these escaped prisoners. I don't know if they were covering up their tracks, the corrections facility, or if they were trying to make the manhunt themselves with the help of state and local police.

But eight hours is unacceptable. That should have been released to the public immediately just for safety's sake, right? And right now there's a $20,000 Crimestoppers reward.

I'm sure they're getting overwhelmed with tips, and hopefully many of them are good tips that can lead to the arrest. So, yes, them waiting eight hours was a failure in my opinion.

SANCHEZ: With seven of them still missing, walk us through what law enforcement is doing right now beyond, as you described it, you know, filtering through all of the tips that they are likely getting.

ALCAZAR: Yes, so they have state, local, and the FBI involved. They're canvassing for any surveillance video. We saw that two of the inmates were caught on video.

You know, they escaped in prisoner guard, so they're probably looking for clothes or have gotten clothes from maybe a store. So they're going to investigate any kind of like break-ins, burglaries, and department stores. We're going to canvass for video surveillance.

We suspect that they might have gotten help from friends and family, so I'm sure they're surveilling the homes of these prisoners, their friends and family, any kind of contact that they may have that might help facilitate their escape. So a lot of surveillance. They might even wiretap phone calls.

They might even get like court orders to listen in on phone calls of any kind of family members that these inmates might be calling. So it's a lot of moving parts.

SANCHEZ: Former NYPD Detective Michael Alcazar, appreciate your expertise. Thanks for joining us.

ALCAZAR: You're welcome.

SANCHEZ: So can House Republicans pass President Trump's so-called big, beautiful bill by the end of the week? What we know about the sweeping budget and tax reform bill and the key sticking points, too.

[13:40:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: We have breaking news into CNN. President Donald Trump posting a Truth Social moments ago after his call with Russian leader Vladimir Putin. In the post saying that Russia and Ukraine will immediately start negotiations toward a ceasefire. And more importantly, an end to the war.

Let's go now to the White House with CNN's Jeff Zeleny. Jeff, also in the statement, the president saying that the conditions for that end to the war will be negotiated between the two parties. As it can only be because they know the details of a negotiation that nobody else would be aware of. I wonder what you're making of this statement.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Boris, if this sounds familiar, and we've been here before, we effectively have. So talking about a ceasefire, yes, obviously that is a step in the right direction. But there was not a call for an immediate 30-day ceasefire as some had hoped.

So they were talking about negotiations toward a ceasefire. So that once again is a slow rolling this, if you will, a bit in the eyes of Moscow. That certainly is the criticism from Ukrainians and much of the European leaders as well.

But when we read a little bit deeper into this as well, it says Russia and Ukraine will immediately start negotiations toward a ceasefire. But it says the conditions will be negotiated, as you said, between the two parties as it can only be because they know the details.

This is interesting, Boris. The tone and spirit of the conversation was excellent. If it wasn't, I would say so now rather than later.

So clearly the U.S. president is indicating that Vladimir Putin is willing to come to the negotiating table, willing to come to the ceasefire table. Well, that was scheduled to happen last week in Turkey when it was Vladimir Putin himself who suggested a conversation with Ukraine. That, of course, did not happen at a high level.

But the U.S. president also goes on to say here that Russia wants to have economic opportunities open with the U.S. That would mean dropping sanctions as well.

[13:45:00]

We do know after this phone call, which lasted for two hours or so, the U.S. president essentially debriefed many European leaders on this. And the president ending his statement here, Boris, with a very interesting thought.

He said the Vatican, as represented by the new Pope, has stated it would be very interested in hosting negotiations. Let the process begin.

So we shall see if that ever comes to pass in the Vatican. But certainly interesting that President Trump mentioned that explicitly -- Boris.

SANCHEZ: Yes, we'll see what the readouts are like. And not only with the Kremlin side of things, but also European leaders, including Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Jeff Zeleny at the White House. Thanks so much for the latest -- Jessica. DEAN: President Trump's so-called Big, Beautiful Bill facing major unresolved sticking points as it now heads for another key vote before the House Rules Committee on Wednesday. Late last night, the House Budget Committee narrowly approved the tax and spending cuts package by a vote of 17 to 16, with four Republicans changing their no vote to present to allow for that bill to advance. House Speaker Johnson is targeting a vote on the House floor by Thursday as he scrambles to win over hardliners in his party and keep them all aligned.

CNN's Lauren Fox is joining us now. Lauren, look, he has a big job ahead of him to get to that vote on Thursday. Walk us through the state of play today.

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Jessica. I mean, there's big uncertainty right now in the House Republican conference over whether or not this bill is going to be able to be passed on the House floor by that very ambitious Thursday deadline.

Right now, what leadership is telling members is they have a series of discussions still ahead. They still need to make key decisions on what has been the biggest sticking points for not just days or weeks, but really months at this point. That is because you have a number of hardliners who are trying to push to speed up work requirements. We expect that that can happen, but how quickly they can move, that is another question entirely.

There's also another question about whether or not they may try to change the formula for how much money the federal government gives to states for Medicaid expansion programs across the country. And then there's a bigger question about how they are going to deal with a group of New York Republicans who have dug in, saying that they want to increase the state and local deduction for taxpayers from what it is now, $10,000, and they want to get it beyond what's been offered to them, $30,000. That is still a huge sticking point.

So you have conservatives who are not there yet on this bill. You have some swing district Republicans who are not there yet. Meanwhile, the House speaker is trying to get this all wrapped up by 1 a.m. That's when they're going to hold a crucial rules committee hearing on Wednesday morning. After that, it's all eyes on whether or not the speaker can muscle this to the floor and get the votes -- Jessica.

DEAN: Oh, man. We'll be watching. Lauren Fox with the very latest from Capitol Hill. Thank you so much for that.

Still to come, victims of explicit deep fakes will soon be able to take legal action against people who create them. What we know about the bill President Trump is expected to sign this afternoon.

[13:50:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: This afternoon, President Trump will sign the Take It Down Act at the White House. The bill makes it illegal to share online, nonconsensual, explicit, deepfake images, real or computer generated. It also requires platforms to remove them within 48 hours of being notified.

The bill has the full backing of First Lady Melania Trump. She is expected to attend today's ceremony in the Rose Garden.

CNN's Clare Duffy joins us now live. So, Clare, this is obviously a problem that's impacted a lot of people. A lot of high profile people like Taylor Swift and Congresswoman Alejandra Ocasio-Cortez, right?

CLARE DUFFY, CNN BUSINESS WRITER: That's right, Boris. You know, revenge porn has existed for a long time. But as AI technology has gotten better, we've seen this growing form of harassment where people will take a real photo of someone's face and superimpose that onto a nude body using artificial intelligence.

And we have seen prominent people be targets of this. Taylor Swift, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, but also high school girls across the country. This is really significant.

So this law, the Take It Down Act, will do two important things. It will make it a crime to share these images, real or AI generated, so that victims of this could actually go after the people who are sharing these images. And it will also require that tech platforms remove these images within 48 hours of being notified of them.

Again, so that victims can ensure that these photos don't continue to circulate on the Internet. This is also notable, too, because it's really one of the first laws that we've seen that is regulating how people can use AI.

SANCHEZ: Yes, that's a good point. And Clare, when does the law actually go into effect?

DUFFY: So the portion of the law that makes it a crime to share these images, that will go into effect immediately. The other portion of this law that is related to the tech platforms, the tech platforms are going to have a year to figure out how to implement a system whereby victims can notify them that these photos exist and then remove them within 48 hours. So the platforms will have a year to sort of figure this out before enforcement by the FTC begins.

SANCHEZ: Clare Duffy, thanks so much for the reporting. We will, of course, be watching that ceremony as it happens.

Next, former President Joe Biden for the first time addressing his cancer diagnosis. Details after a quick break. Don't go anywhere.

[13:55:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: An immediate start for negotiations toward a ceasefire. President Trump saying that Russia and Ukraine will begin negotiations right away after talks with leaders of both countries. But the devil, as always, is in the details.