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Mexican Navy: 2 Dead, 22 Injured After Its Ship Hit Brooklyn Bridge; Investigators Give Update On Ship That Struck Brooklyn Bridge; NTSB: Working With Mexican Counterparts To Get Full Access To Ship; Trump: Russia & Ukraine Will Start Negotiating Ceasefire "Immediately"; Putin Says "Root Causes" Of Conflict Must Be Addressed. Aired 3-3:30p ET
Aired May 19, 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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JESSICA DEAN, CNN HOST: A push for peace. President Donald Trump says ceasefire talks between Ukraine and Russia can start, quote, "immediately." But will that actually happen? Hear what Trump is saying after his phone calls today with both Presidents Putin and Zelenskyy.
BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Plus, former President Joe Biden diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer. We'll discuss his options for treatment.
And looking for answers, investigators will soon explain what they've learned about that Mexican Navy ship that crashed into the Brooklyn Bridge.
We're following these major development stories and many more all coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.
DEAN: And we begin with breaking news at any moment. Federal investigators are set to hold their first news conference on that Mexican Navy training ship that hit the Brooklyn Bridge over the weekend. The National Transportation Safety Board saying on social media that it launched a go team yesterday to start collecting evidence.
And transportation experts tell CNN the voyage data recorder, basically the ship's black box, will provide crucial information about what exactly went wrong. Video shows that moment of impact. The ship's three masts snapping off one after another as each mast hit the bottom of the bridge. That crash left two crew members dead and injured more than a dozen others.
CNN's Gloria Pazmino is covering for - this for us from New York. And she joins us now with the latest.
Obviously, we're waiting for this update from the NTSB. Gloria, what more are you learning this afternoon? GLORIA PAZMINO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, we are expecting to get an update from officials who actually have been here throughout the day. Jessica, I've been watching as NTSB officials have been in and out of the ship over the past several hours. And I want to show you just a little bit of what's been happening right here.
We are on Pier 36. This is where the Cuauhtemoc was towed to after the accident on Saturday evening. And you can see behind me, there's a little bit of a memorial that's been forming. People have been dropping flowers, lighting candles, people have put up signs.
And beyond is the Cuauhtemoc. And I just want to point your attention towards the very top of that mast, because you can see that it is completely on its side. And you can see a little bit how it's swaying in the wind. It's been a little bit windy today, and you can see just how damaged it is. All the sails have been ripped. There's a lot of mangled metal and wood up there from the damage that this ship sustained after hitting the bottom of the Brooklyn Bridge, as we have seen on all of those videos.
Now, as you said, this happened late on Saturday evening. Tragically, two of the 277 crew that was on board lost their lives. We've also learned in the last few hours that two people remain in area hospitals. They are in stable condition. And the majority of the crew members actually flew back home to Mexico yesterday evening.
Now, there is a group of crew members that are still here on the scene because they have to be on the ship so that this investigation can continue. They are assisting in the investigation.
Now, we also have heard from the ship captain, who reported to officials here in New York City that he experienced a loss of power, believed to have been as a result of mechanical failure. Now, that loss of power to the ship led to a failure of the ship's rudder, making it basically inoperable from the steering perspective.
The captain was not able to steer the ship. And if you watch the video from bystanders and witnesses when this ship crashed onto the bridge, you can see that the ship just simply appears to be heading in the wrong direction.
I'm told by officials here in New York City that the East River's current played a significant role in helping to push the ship in the wrong direction. So, hopefully, we'll get a bit more information about that during the briefing today.
And, Jessica, sadly, we're also learning about the identities of those two young people who lost their lives. Their names were reported by Mexican officials. They are America Yamilet Sanchez and Adal Jair Maldonado, two young members of the Mexican Navy who were on this - on the ship as part of a goodwill mission traveling around the world.
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We've also watched as part of the Mexican community that lives here in New York City has come here to pay their respects. And also, you can see that they're just very moved and saddened by what happened here over the weekend. Jessica.
DEAN: Certainly. All right. Gloria Pazmino there in New York for us. Thank you so much for that.
And let's bring in now Mary Schiavo, CNN Transportation Analyst and former Inspector General for the Department of Transportation.
Mary, thanks so much for being here with us.
As the NTSB digs into what exactly happened here, I actually interviewed former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio yesterday. And he was saying that this could ultimately end up with, like, they need essentially new rules of the waterway there, that this shouldn't have - he was concerned that the ships, you know, that there need to be more rules. Do you think that that is something we could see come out of what is this tragedy that left two people dead?
MARY SCHIAVO, CNN TRANSPORTATION ANALYST: We probably will see some more rules. But, you know, this ship had Mother Nature working against it, too - the tides and the currents. For example, low tide - it happened not quite an hour and a half before and the toughest --
SANCHEZ: Sorry to interrupt, we actually want to go and listen to officials as they deliver news about this crash live at a press conference. Let's listen to the NTSB.
MICHAEL GRAHAM, NTSB: There were 277 personnel on board. Unfortunately, we lost - we had two fatalities during the bridge strike. And before I go any further, on behalf of the NTSB, I wish to express my most sincere condolences to the families and loved ones of those who lost their lives in this terrible tragedy.
The NTSB arrived on scene late yesterday afternoon and throughout the evening, and our first day on scene was this morning, starting today. We are here to gather perishable evidence, and that's what we will be doing the whole time we will be on scene. And that'll take as many days as it needs to be.
This is the start of a long process. We will not be drawing any conclusions. We will not speculate. We will also not be determining the probable cause while we're on scene. The information that I provide today is preliminary and is subject to change throughout the course of the investigation.
What you can expect from us is within 30 days, we will have a preliminary report. A normal, full investigation, which this is for an accident, our investigations take normally between 12 months to 24 months, with one stipulation. If we see some significant safety issue during the investigative process, we could put out an urgent safety recommendation for that issue.
We will be looking into three main areas while we're on scene, first being the crew and the operation of the crew, the vessel and the condition of the vessel, and finally the environment, and that includes the weather, the wind, the current, the tide, and the operating environment of that. This morning, we had an organizational meeting, and we set up various teams split up into different teams, and they are currently nautical operations, marine engineering, bridge engineering, survival factors, and recorders.
We are currently working with our counterparts with the Mexican government to gain access to the ship. We are optimistic that we will have that access very soon.
In the meantime, we are working to set up parties to the investigation. The U.S. Coast Guard is always a party to marine investigation.
They're automatically a party, and we thank them for getting on scene very quickly, and we do appreciate all their support so far in supporting our lead in this investigation.
The bridge team from our Office of Highway Safety has been working today with the New York City Department of Transportation, and they were doing a survey with the department there, and they have affirmed at this point that there is no significant structural damage to the load-bearing elements of the bridge.
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There is some damage on one of the travelers, which they use to access and survey the bridge at this point, but nothing structural from the bridge is an issue at this point. I will point out that the NTSB has long had an interest in bridge safety, including bridge strikes. Just two months ago, we released an interim investigative report about the collapse of the Key Bridge in Baltimore after it was struck by the Dali, in which we made urgent safety recommendations to numerous bridge owners. These included recommendations to calculate the risk of bridge collapse after being struck by a ship and if that --
SANCHEZ: So, we've been listening to Michael Graham of the NTSB. He has just highlighted that, as of this moment, they do not believe there are any structural issues with the Brooklyn Bridge after being struck by this Mexican Navy training vessel after it apparently lost power on Saturday and crashed into the bridge in the evening.
Graham started out by talking about the two people who were killed during this incident. Apparently, there are 277 total on board. We do expect a preliminary report to come in 30 days. He did say that they are still working with the Mexican government to gain access to the ship to really dig in to what exactly triggered this incident.
DEAN: Yes. This is going to be a long process. These NTSB investigations often are 12 to 24 months for the final report. As he said, and I think this is important, and we can, I think, go back to Mary on this as well, which is - he said that if they encounter anything in their preliminary investigation that is a flashing light of a security problem or something that could be dangerous, that they'll, of course, let anyone know.
But, again, also good to know, reinforcing what we have heard before with that. The Brooklyn Bridge is structurally sound. They had opened that back up pretty quickly, honestly, after the crash there. People were driving back over it again.
So, I think - Mary, are you still with us?
SCHIAVO: I am, sure.
DEAN: Oh, thank you. Thank you for staying with us.
So, let's go back to the conversation we were having. We got that initial information that it does sound like they're very much in the preliminary stages of their investigation.
SCHIAVO: It does, but they gave us some really important clues. They're going to be looking at the crew and who was actually piloting. Was there someone from the tug company on board? And who was at the controls? And how were - what was the coordination with the tug?
They were giving directional coordination. They weren't tethered to the barque, as - which is what the tall ship is called and what were they doing? And then, the other thing that they mentioned, the condition of the vessel, what failed, what was the mechanical problem.
But the third thing, and he gave a lot of detail on this, so I think they're probably really looking at it, is the environment. What were the tides? What were the currents? What were the winds? And the - you know, and - this ship was especially susceptible to tides, currents, winds, et cetera, because it's a very big ship with a really small propeller.
Because as a sailing ship, this is the Coast Guard barque, similar but much older than the Mexican ship. If you lose directional control, even though the sails were furled, meaning, you know, rolled up, collapsed, you still have this huge vessel that the wind and the currents can move. And we - it was just past low tide, so the tide was rushing back in. And that's when the current's the strongest, about 4.6 miles an hour in the East River.
The NTSB is already looking at Mother Nature, who wasn't helping this crew much, when it lost power - at least lost steering control. It looks like the rudder or it looks like the propeller was still turning, but it was backing, just like you back your car, and it looks like they didn't have directional control with the rudder, you know, the small part on the back, or they could not get it from reverse to forward.
So, we learned a lot of clues in that very short press conference, and it looks like they're on top of it and probably will have some answers pretty soon.
DEAN: Yes.
SANCHEZ: Yes, we look forward to that preliminary report coming in the next month.
Mary Schiavo, always great to have your expertise on. Thanks for joining us.
SCHIAVO: Thank you.
SANCHEZ: We have plenty to discuss this afternoon. We're going to take a quick break, and we'll be right back. Don't go anywhere.
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SANCHEZ: Breaking news to CNN. President Donald Trump now says that peace talks between Russia and Ukraine will begin immediately. The President spoke with Russia's Vladimir Putin and Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskyy earlier today.
Trump says the tone and spirit of his conversation with Putin was excellent. On his social media, Trump said this on ending the war, quote, "The conditions for that will be negotiated between the two parties, as it can only be, because they know details of a negotiation nobody else would be aware of."
Trump also relayed the central role that the Vatican could play, stating that Pope Leo XIV is, quote, very interested in hosting the negotiations.
For more, let's turn to former Deputy Director of National Intelligence and CNN National Security Analyst, Beth Sanner.
Beth, thanks so much for sharing part of your afternoon with us. I mean, on this statement and specifically the portion in which Trump says that only Ukraine and Russia can negotiate a ceasefire and an end to this war, it gives the indication that the U.S. is not going to be a big part of brokering this peace, right?
BETH SANNER, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Yes, that is not a great signal. But also, I mean, I guess we should be a little honest here. The United States wasn't actually mediating between the two countries. Not really. We were talking to Ukrainians, then we were talking to the Russians, and we weren't really, you know, doing this kind of mediation. But it does sound - because President Trump is kind of, you know, a little over to you guys, and wouldn't it be great if the Pope just did this instead.
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SANCHEZ: It was interesting to me that before the call, Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff, who's now had several visits to Russia and Ukraine, he said that Trump would sway Putin with the force of his personality. I wonder, given the Kremlin's statement, does that give you more confidence that after the call, Putin is now more willing to negotiate, more interested in peace as an outcome?
SANNER: Sadly, I do not think that's the case. But it also looks to me, I mean, it feels to me that the President really didn't maybe try to pressure Putin at all. You know, it's good that they had a two-hour conversation. But coming out of that, you know, what do we have in our hands here?
We have Putin continuing very maximalist demands, you know, root causes, an agreement to talk about a framework for talking about a future peace deal, and then possibly a ceasefire that would come after agreements for many things. So, you know, what do we really get here? We got a lot of praise, excellent conversation.
But this is a call that - I mean, I think it's really hard to say - see this in any other way than, you know, Putin seemed to get exactly what he wanted.
SANCHEZ: Well, there's a lot ...
SANNER: (INAUDIBLE) down the road.
SANCHEZ: Well, there's a lot there, and specifically your mentioning of root causes. If you could just explain that to those that are not quite as familiar, because that seems as a clear indication that the Kremlin is not moving off of its position, to your point about a maximalist position on attaining more and more territory in Ukraine.
SANNER: Right. Thanks for pointing that out, Boris. Because, you know, what Putin has wanted all along is to make sure that Ukraine can never be anchored or part of the Western community of nations, and that it would be a supplicant, you know, subjugated under Russia's control.
And, you know, the plan was, as they were going to fly into Kyiv, and they got there, right, and they then were pushed out, but they were going to either capture or kill Zelenskyy and take over the government. And, you know, so now, you know, I don't think that those goals have changed at all. And their demands are such that there really is no common ground between Ukraine and Russia, with which to have a conversation.
In Istanbul, on Friday, the Russian demand was, well, you know, we're not just going to keep the part that we've captured, but we want you to move out of even more territory, because we've annexed it, we've put that in our constitution that we actually own a huge part of Russia, and we want you to abandon, you know, a million of people or whatever in these large cities, huge swaths of land. You know, it's not - it's nothing new.
SANCHEZ: So, Beth, I understand that President Trump just mentioned his view of this call from the Rose Garden moments ago. He's there for a ceremony signing a bill that would criminalize deepfake AI revenge porn alongside the First Lady, Melania Trump. Let's listen to what the President said.
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DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Two and a half hours talking to Vladimir Putin, and I think some progress has been made. It's a terrible situation going on over there. Five thousand young people every single week are being killed. So, hopefully we'll do something. We also spoke to the heads of most of the European nations, and we're trying to get that whole thing wrapped up. What a shame that it ever started in the first place, so - but I want to thank Melania and - for your leadership in this very important issue.
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SANCHEZ: And that was about it, Beth. I wonder what you make of the President really relying on the carrot of increased trade with Russia versus the stick that Europe is using of more sanctions against Putin.
SANNER: Right. I mean, where did we start here? We started with Trump demanding an immediate ceasefire to end what he just talked about, this carnage. We all agree. Horrible, right? And Zelenskyy agreed to that. And then Putin said, no, I don't want to talk about that ceasefire. And then the President said, if you don't agree to a ceasefire, we're going to sanction you.
Okay, we have no ceasefire - no ceasefire in sight and no pressure or sanctions on Russia. And instead, we have the promise of future beautiful trade relationship. So, this is on Putin's timeline, not on the timeline that the President just articulated there. And I think that that to me, you know, shows that he probably tried during those two hours to get Putin to agree to a ceasefire. But Putin wasn't, you know, picking up what he was putting down. Right. He doesn't want that. He wants to continue this war.
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SANCHEZ: Beth Sanner, appreciate the analysis. Thanks for joining us as always.
SANNER: Thanks, Boris.
SANCHEZ: Still to come, former President Biden is publicly addressing for the first time his diagnosis of an aggressive form of prostate cancer that has spread to his bones. That and much more coming up.
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DEAN: For the first time since his cancer diagnosis, we're now hearing from former President Joe Biden. In a post alongside his wife and their cat, the 46th President this morning thanked his supporters for their love saying, quote, "Cancer touches all of us," and adding, "We are strongest in the broken places."