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Biden Diagnosed with Aggressive Form of Prostate Cancer; Combs' Former Assistant Testifies in Sex Trafficking Trial; Netanyahu Vows to Control the Entire Gaza Strip; Trump Signs Anti-Revenge Porn "Take It Down" Act into Law. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired May 19, 2025 - 15:30   ET

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

[15:30:00]

JESSICA DEAN, CNN HOST: ... their love saying, quote, cancer touches all of us and adding, we are strongest in the broken places. His personal office announced over the weekend he was diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer that they say was found just days ago and that it had spread to his bones. Biden, who's 82, and his family are now said to be reviewing the treatment options.

And here to talk more about all of this is Dr. Tiffany Troso-Sandoval. Doctor, thank you so much for being here with us. As an oncologist, of course, your task is to treat cancer.

I'm curious what you think about this particular cancer diagnosis for the former president.

DR. TIFFANY TROSO-SANDOVAL, ONCOLOGIST: Yes, well, thank you so much for having me here. And I just want to start by telling the president and his family how very sorry I am that they have to go through this, particularly at his age. I know how much chaos and confusion and fear follows a new diagnosis of cancer.

This particular cancer is very aggressive. It's a Gleason score nine, which means that two parts of the cancer are evaluated in terms of how aggressive they appear under the microscope. So the higher the number, the more aggressive that the cancer is.

And this one in particular does appear to be aggressive. But also unfortunate is that it appears that the cancer has spread to the bones. So that makes this metastatic or stage four cancer.

DEAN: And so we know those details as you lay out there. And then we got this other piece of information that this is hormone sensitive cancer. What does that mean?

TROSO-SANDOVAL: Sure. So prostate cancer is very much driven by testosterone. And so a hormone positive prostate cancer is how they normally will start. And therefore treatment is often based on getting rid of those hormones.

So it's called androgen blockade. And so we basically will be at medications that will shut down the production of testosterone as well as block that any other testosterone in the body from getting to the prostate cancer cells. I often liken this somewhat, it's not exactly the same, but to women that have breast cancer that will get perhaps a Lupron injection, for example, to shut down their ovaries and put them in menopause. And then they'll take a drug like Tamoxifen which will block the estrogen receptor from getting any residual estrogen in the body.

DEAN: OK. And listen, I think people do have some questions around, OK, well, how did it, you know, get discovered at such a late stage? Was there screening that could have been done?

But the guidance on screening for prostate cancer in men over 70 is kind of surprising. Walk people through what you're supposed to do and the nuances around that.

TROSO-SANDOVAL: Well, that's a little difficult. It's tricky because there are a lot of nuances to it. And so one body of evidence says that we shouldn't screen after 70. Some say that you screen between 50 and 69 and that all screening should stop at 75.

A lot of what is done in traditional practice is on a case-by-case basis. And so oftentimes patients will be getting PSAs maybe not as regularly as they should because there is no standard recommendation.

But particularly when a patient would present with a symptom such as changes in their urinary frequency or their habits, that would certainly would -- should prompt someone to check a PSA.

DEAN: Yes, all right, is Dr. Tiffany Troso-Sandoval, thank you so much for adding some context around this, we really appreciate it.

TROSO-SANDOVAL: Absolutely, thank you again.

DEAN: Thanks.

And just in, court has ended for the day in the Sean Diddy Combs federal sex trafficking trial. We'll tell you what the jury heard, coming up.

[15:35:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Just minutes ago, the jury in Sean Diddy Combs' sex trafficking trial was dismissed for the day. A former assistant to Combs will return to the witness stand tomorrow, and he described what it was like working for the music mogul, testifying that Combs' security team often told him to stay in his lane, especially if he was asking too many questions.

DEAN: Meantime, we're getting a look at some of the prosecution's evidence, which shows some of the injuries. Combs' ex-girlfriend, Cassie Ventura, says she sustained from his alleged abuse. And we do want to warn you that you might find these images disturbing.

The jury was shown numerous photos like these, which includes images of bruises on Ventura's body, black eyes, a fat lip. You see that gash on her forehead. Criminal defense attorney David Oscar Markus joins us now.

David, thanks so much for being here with us. I am curious, let's just pick up with those photos. You know, that is something that the jury can lay their eyes on and see, and it is quite clear. How powerful is evidence like that?

DAVID OSCAR MARKUS, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: It's really powerful, of course, Jessica. Right under the video, the pictures are crushers for the defense, and that's why you're going to see them try to go back to the text messages, talk about credibility. It's interesting to see how the prosecution's really focused, of course, on the violence and the videos and the pictures.

The defense is focused on, of course, text messages, consent theories, and things like this.

SANCHEZ: And David, talk to us about the insight that this former assistant, David James, can offer the jury, because he can really tie things together for the prosecution, right?

[15:40:00]

MARKUS: Right, Boris. So last week we had Cassie on the stand for four days. It was long, both the direct and cross.

Today we had three fast witnesses. David James, of course, Kerry Morgan, Dawn Richard, all sort of in the Cassie orbit, and they're trying to, the prosecution, corroborate, of course, what Cassie has to say by using these other witnesses.

And so that's the goal of the prosecution. The defense, of course, is trying to undercut Cassie's testimony through the cross of these witnesses, attacking both their credibility and Cassie's credibility. I'm surprised a little -- used more of Cassie's text messages that are in evidence with these witnesses to try to impeach her.

They can put them back on the screen for the jury. They haven't done that. So I think we'll see a little bit more of that coming up.

DEAN: And James testified that Combs told a business associate that Ventura was, quote, moldable. He said, I got her right where I want her. She's young.

What are they trying to get across to the jury by talking about these sorts of phrases?

MARKUS: Right, I mean, control is one of the big themes the government has here. How did he try to control Cassie and others? And so they're going to hit that theme, control, over and over and over again. And so they use words like moldable and so on.

Of course, on the other side of control is consent. And so that's what the defense is going to try to say, moldable maybe, but there's a lot of consent here. Cassie brought the drugs and so on. So you'll see both sides of that coin being argued. SANCHEZ: The defense is obviously trying to cast this not only as something that was consensual, but also just a bad relationship, a toxic relationship altogether. They want to paint this as not amounting to racketeering and sex trafficking, right? So how do they go about that with these kinds of witnesses?

MARKUS: Right, so again, you know, the defense in their opening owned that this was domestic violence, said it right from the start. They said, we're not going to fight that there's a lot of domestic violence here and so on, but it doesn't rise to the level of RICO, to racketeering. And that's the prosecution's challenge because the evidence has been really bad for the defense if this was a domestic violence case.

The question is, does it rise to the level of RICO, racketeering? And the defense has a lot of good arguments here. Despite our sort of visceral reaction to the videos, to the pictures, the question is, does that rise to a federal racketeering case?

And the prosecution has a very long way to go. A lot of folks have said it's overcharged. It's too early to judge, of course. We've only seen a week of the six or eight weeks of trial that are going to be. So we have to wait to see, but that's a big challenge.

It's very difficult to prove racketeering and pictures and video aren't going to be enough to do it. There's going to have to be more for the prosecution.

DEAN: All right, more to come. David Oscar Markus, thanks so much. We appreciate it.

MARKUS: Thank you all.

DEAN: And still ahead, Israel is launching an extensive ground operation inside Gaza. As Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says, Israel will take control of the entire territory. We've got the latest from that region.

Stay with CNN's NEWS CENTRAL.

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DEAN: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel plans to take control of all of Gaza. His declaration coming less than 24 hours after the Israeli military launched a devastating new ground offensive in the territory. The operation, dubbed Gideon's Chariot, follows days of Israeli strikes that have killed hundreds of people over the past few days. That's according to Palestinian health authorities.

CNN's Jeremy Diamond is in Tel Aviv with more on all of this and the current state there. Jeremy, what more can you tell us?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jessica, the Israeli military now says that its major new offensive in Gaza, Operation Gideon's Chariot, is indeed underway. For weeks now, the Israeli military has talked about this offensive and now it says that it has five divisions mobilized inside the Gaza Strip, making the opening maneuvers of this offensive. That means tens of thousands of Israeli troops.

And before the movement of those troops, what we have seen have been a series of escalating and very intense airstrikes and artillery strikes in the Gaza Strip over the last several days. In fact, just since Thursday, more than 400 Palestinians have been killed, according to Palestinian health officials. Those numbers don't distinguish between civilians and combatants, but it is very clear in strike after strike, as we see a number of women and children among the dead, that civilians do make up a large share of those deaths.

Now, the Israeli prime minister is saying that the mission for these troops is different from the mission that these troops have had in the past. He is now talking about conquering all of Gaza and perhaps occupying it for the foreseeable future. We are obviously not there yet, but that is the stated goal from the Israeli prime minister.

All of this, of course, as negotiators in Doha, Qatar continue to try and push for a ceasefire agreement that seems out of reach for the moment.

DEAN: And, Jeremy, also worth noting that today Israel is finally allowing some aid trucks into Gaza. What can you tell us about that?

DIAMOND: Yes, it's been more than 11 weeks now since Israel has allowed any food, any medical supplies into the Gaza Strip.

[15:50:00]

Today, though, under unrelenting international pressure, including from this new humanitarian aid organization that's going to run a new Israeli approved mechanism for aid deliveries to Gaza, the Israeli prime minister agreeing to let some aid into the Gaza Strip. Five trucks of aid were allowed into Gaza, according to Israeli authorities. There were another four trucks that were supposed to go in today, but for some reason they did not.

But either way, five trucks, nine trucks is still a drop in the water when you confront the enormous humanitarian crisis that is now brewing inside of Gaza. And so the question for the coming days will be how many more trucks of aid will Israel allow in? Today, the Israeli foreign ministry talked about dozens of trucks this week, but humanitarian aid officials say the numbers really should be in the hundreds just because of how dire the hunger crisis in Gaza has now gotten.

The prime minister said that he agreed to do this despite criticism from his own right wing of the Israeli government because of pressure, including from the United States, and also because he said that without letting that aid in, support, weapons support for Israel could dry up and that could endanger Israel's war effort in Gaza as well -- Jessica.

DEAN: We'll see how much more can get in. Jeremy Diamond, thank you so much for that reporting -- Boris.

SANCHEZ: So moments ago, President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania were in the Rose Garden celebrating a new law that aims to protect victims of revenge porn. The Take It Down Act makes it illegal to share nonconsensual explicit content online, whether those images are real or deep fakes made with AI. This is one of the first laws that also addresses the potential harms of artificial intelligence. And Melania said so this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

As first lady, Might Be Best initiative is focused on improving Children's well being, encouraging kindness and creating a safer online environment for our youth. Today, I'm proud to say that the values of be best would be reflected in the law of the land.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: CNN senior White House correspondent Kristen Holmes joins us now. She was there at the Rose Garden events. Kristen, walk us through what this new legislation does.

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Boris, I mean, it's really interesting, fascinating because of what you just said, which is there isn't a lot of legislation that directly takes on AI. So what this would do is would ban the nonconsensual online posting of these sexually explicit images, whether they are authentic images or whether or not they're computer generated like AI.

Some of the details here mean it was championed by the first lady, as you said. It means criminalizing, sharing explicit nonconsensual images by criminalizing. Means criminal penalties like prison, a fine or both of them. The platforms must remove the content within 48 hours. And as you said, it is the first law addressing AI harm.

Victims advocates say that this is a very big deal and moving in the right direction. Obviously, something that Melania Trump talked about in terms of her initiative Be Best, which which directly involves online bullying.

I do quickly want to make one other mention of something that Donald Trump talked about just now when he was in the Rose Garden because he did address his call with Vladimir Putin, saying it lasted roughly 2.5 hours that it was a shame that all this had happened in the first place. But he did believe they were making progress. And in fact, the pool was able to get a couple questions in as he was entering back into the Oval Office.

They asked him if they think that -- if he thinks Putin wants peace, he said I do. He was asked if he trusts Putin. And Trump also said I do.

Obviously, there are still a lot of questions as to what exactly happened on that phone call. What the tenor was. We're still looking to get those kind of details from the administration.

SANCHEZ: Kristen Holmes, thank you so much for giving us that perspective from the White House.

Coming up how a Texas couple with a unique last name got to celebrate a unique wedding. We'll explain in just moments.

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DEAN: Right now, a multi-state manhunt is underway for seven escaped inmates, described as violent criminals by Louisiana State Police. More than 200 members of law enforcement are now searching for the men who broke out of the New Orleans jail Friday. Police in Texas, Arkansas, Georgia, and other southeastern states are now on alert.

SANCHEZ: Yes, the local sheriff said the escapees forced open a cell door. You see one of them yanking at a door there, sneaking into another cell, where they moved through a hole made behind a toilet. You could read a message they left behind above the opening, quote, too easy, LOL.

The inmates then ran free through a loading door. Earlier this afternoon, the district attorney talked about his staff and concerns for their own safety.

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JASON WILLIAMS, ORLEANS PARISH DISTRICT ATTORNEY: I am personally afraid, not just for myself, but for my lawyers who tried the case against the individual twice. We were asking for a life sentence of this man, and he is now at large.

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SANCHEZ: Three of them have been captured. We should note seven remain on the run. We'll, of course, keep a close eye on this story and bring you updates as we get them.

Pivoting to a really fun looking wedding reception that just took place in Texas, made even cooler by a very unique last name. Meet Mr. and Mrs. Blizzard. And yes, those are Dairy Queen Blizzards they're holding.

DEAN: Signature upside down, too.

SANCHEZ: Indeed, furnished for the party, free of charge by Dairy Queen. Right now, after their engagement, the then bride-to-be turned to TikTok to ask the company if it wanted to be a part of the couple's special day. And, well, you see.

DEAN: You see they did. Dairy Queen went all out, treating them to an engagement photo shoot and custom merch for their bachelor and bachelorette parties, including a one-of-a-kind Mrs. Blizzard jacket.

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So, look, that's a very unique way to start a, start a -- look at that, Mrs. Blizzard -- start a marriage.

SANCHEZ: Very nice. Yes, yes. You got to find a corporate sponsorship if you're going to get married. They're getting very expensive nowadays.

DEAN: It's very expensive, OK?

SANCHEZ: Yes.

DEAN: You know.

SANCHEZ: Maybe McDonald's, Taco Bell, I don't know. I got to find, I got to find a fast food outlet. Jessica, great to be with you today.

DEAN: Thanks for having me.

SANCHEZ: Yes, come back anytime.

"THE ARENA" with Kasie Hunt starts in just a few seconds. Thanks for joining us today.

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