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Judge: Trump Administration Unquestionably Violated Court Order with Possible Deportation Flight to South Sudan; DOJ Halts Investigations into Several Major Police Departments; Answering Your Questions About Prostate Health. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired May 21, 2025 - 14:30   ET

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

[14:30:00]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: This afternoon, a federal judge calling out the Trump administration for its questionable deportation policies. This time in Massachusetts, where Judge Brian Murphy just ruled the Department of Homeland Security unquestionably violated a court order when it allegedly tried to transfer detainees to South Sudan without a chance for them to contest their removal. Attorneys accused the administration of sending Burmese and Vietnamese migrants to the war- torn African nation, despite a previous court order that restricted deportations to other countries.

CNN crime and justice correspondent Katelyn Polantz is here with more on this. Tell us the latest.

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Brianna, this hearing is still ongoing, but the judge is not happy with the Trump administration, and it is all about what was taking place just in the last two days this week. So this is a judge that previously told the administration, if you're going to try and send people to another country that's not the U.S. and they're in immigration detention, and that country isn't their own country, you need to give them some sort of meaningful opportunity to try and protest being sent to somewhere like Libya or Saudi Arabia.

[14:35:00]

But in this situation, on Monday, there was a small group of people that were put on a plane essentially overnight and told in English, not their native languages, that they were going to be sent to South Sudan, a very new country essentially in the midst of a civil war.

So the judge, looking at this situation, came into a hearing today in federal court in Massachusetts saying this was plainly and in deniably insufficient in giving these people the opportunity to They couldn't call their lawyers overnight. They couldn't even reach family members. Some of them had never heard of South Sudan. And unquestionably, the judge said this was in violation of his previous court order. So now the judge is continuing to look at the situation.

There's a possibility of criminal contempt here. There's accusations of perjury by the administration that is being discussed in court now. It is a very serious situation for the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Justice, in yet another one of these immigration cases where the Trump administration is moving extremely fast with a hardline, aggressive approach to take migrants and ship them on planes out of the U.S. with very little lead time.

KEILAR: Yes, pretty stunning. Katelyn, thank you so much for that -- Boris.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Now, to some of the other headlines we're watching, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem ordering cuts in senior leadership at the Coast Guard. The plan would cut about 25 percent of its flag officers, eliminating about a dozen positions. Flag officers rank as rear admirals or higher and command large units or lead in strategic roles. The Coast Guard's acting commander says the move will eliminate redundancies.

And some trouble for Target. The store is warning Wall Street that its future results are going to disappoint its investors with President Trump's tariffs driving up its cost of doing business.

The chain, based in Minneapolis, says it expects sales to fall in the low single digits this year. Sales already fell 3.8 percent in the last three months. Target blamed several problems, including nervous consumers and a boycott by certain customers that disagreed with its choice to end some diversity programs.

And finally, singer Chris Brown granted bail by a London court. He's being charged with assaulting a music producer with a tequila bottle at a nightclub two years ago. The ruling clears the way for the 36 year old R&B star to begin his world tour next month in Amsterdam.

Brown was arrested at a hotel in Manchester, England, last week after returning to Britain for the first time since that incident took place back in 2023.

Up next, the Trump administration is moving to drop investigations into several major U.S. police departments. We have much more after a quick break.

[14:40:00]

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SANCHEZ: They were some of the highest profile police involved killings in the nation in recent years, the deaths of George Floyd in Minneapolis and Breonna Taylor in Louisville sparked months of protests and calls for change. Now, the Justice Department is ending Biden era agreements that aimed to reform policing in those two cities. CNN Chief Legal Affairs Correspondent Paula Reid is here with the details.

So Paula, why is this happening?

PAULA REID, CNN CHIEF LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Boris, this is very much expected, as the Trump administration has made it clear that it opposes this kind of police reform. Now, the previous administration, in the wake of those high profile deaths that you just mentioned, opened investigations and found a pattern of misconduct in these departments. Now, these kind of agreements to resolve this alleged misconduct, these are called consent decrees.

They require approval from a judge. And then usually you have a monitor. And that's someone, usually a law firm, that keeps track of whether the department is complying with the agreement.

Now, the Trump Justice Department believes this kind of reform is anti-police. They also really are focused on these monitors and the costs incurred by these communities to pay these law firms, in some cases, millions of dollars.

Now, in the first Trump administration, the Justice Department, under Jeff Sessions, also tried to walk back this kind of reform that had been implemented in the Obama administration. Specifically, they tried to upend a consent decree in Baltimore and really just backed off of a lot of this kind of reforming of police departments.

Now, today, the head of the Civil Rights Division, Harmeet Dhillon, said, quote, these overbroad police consent decrees divest local control of policing from communities where it belongs, turning that power over to unelected and unaccountable bureaucrats, often with anti-police agendas.

She said that they were reviewing all of the open consent decrees. She said there may be some instances where these are appropriate but believes the ones we're talking about right now in Louisville and Minneapolis do not meet their standard.

Now, the professional policing community has always had a mixed reaction to consent decrees, generally concluding that they are not the most useful tool for achieving reform. But I will note that officials in both of these cities have said that they are committed to reforming their departments.

And those who are in favor of this kind of reform argue that this is really the only way that you turn around a department that has a pattern of unconstitutional policing.

Now, we are just a few days away from the anniversary of the death of Mr. Floyd. But today, Harmeet Dhillon said that this announcement is being made up against court deadlines, which is true. So she denied any suggestion that this is being done at the same time that this anniversary is being marked.

[14:45:00]

She also said that they are closing investigations into other cities, including Phoenix, Trenton, Memphis, Mount Vernon, Oklahoma City, and an investigation into the Louisiana State Department -- Boris.

SANCHEZ: Paula Reid, thank you so much for that reporting -- Brianna.

KEILAR: We do have some sad news to report. Democratic Congressman Jerry Connolly of Virginia has died. This was announced -- it was announced late last year that he was battling esophageal cancer and that he would not run for reelection because the cancer had then returned. Connolly was the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee. He'd served in the House since 2009 and his family issued this statement.

They said, It is with immense sadness that we share that our devoted and loving father, husband, brother, friend and public servant, Congressman Gerald E. Connolly, passed away peacefully at his home this morning, surrounded by family. He was 75 years old.

We'll be right back.

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KEILAR: Some new details about former President Joe Biden's cancer diagnosis that might help explain how it went undetected long enough to spread to his bones. A spokesperson now telling CNN that Biden's last known PSA test was more than 10 years ago, back when he was vice president.

It's a simple blood test. It checks for a protein that could indicate prostate cancer, but it's no longer recommended after the age of 70, and Biden is 82.

SANCHEZ: We're joined now by Dr. Sanjay Gupta, who's here to answer some of your questions about prostate cancer. Many folks, Sanjay, like Sherry in New York, wanted to know why it is that the PSA test isn't recommended for men over 70?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, so first of all, this is not universally agreed upon. Different medical organizations have different recommendations, but the Preventative Task Force is the organization that says not recommending PSA tests over the age of 70. A couple of main reasons why.

First of all, you know, for most people, prostate cancers are going to be slow-growing. So once you get to a certain age, the sort of decision tree is, will this be a problem during the remainder of my life? And, you know, that's something that they sort of take into consideration. If you're over the age of 70, they say, for many people, this will never be a problem in the remaining life.

Second of all, and I think this is important, the PSA is by no means a perfect screening test. So only about 25 percent of people who have an abnormally elevated PSA and get a biopsy and the procedure, only 25 percent will actually find out they have cancer, which means for 75 percent of people, they will have gone through these procedures and the anxiety associated with that, and they don't actually have cancer.

KEILAR: Noel wrote in and asked, or said, my father had prostate cancer, and Noel wants to know if that increases his risk of getting the disease.

GUPTA: Yes, the short answer is yes. There is a genetic component to this disease. That's not true of all cancers. For example, there are certain brain cancers that have no genetic component, but this one does, and basically you double your risk if your father or your brother has had it. When we look at the data, we find that having a brother who has prostate cancer is even slightly higher risk than if your father has it. So that is important for people to know.

There are certain risk factors like the genetics here. Also, Black Americans, for example, have a higher risk as well. So screening sometimes changes in terms of the recommendations based on your risk factors.

SANCHEZ: Robert in Seattle wants to know who should screen for prostate cancer and when?

GUPTA: Yes, I mean, so this is the question, right? And again, I'll preface by saying there's not a widespread agreement on this. In general, though, I think the way to think about it when we put all the various recommendations together is that for most people, screening should start at age 50 and should continue up until the point where you have 10 years of life expectancy.

Obviously, that's difficult to know, and that's why you want to talk about this with your doctor. But if you're generally pretty healthy still in your mid-70s, no heart disease, dementia, things like that, continuing your screenings may make sense. Going back to the previous question, you may start screenings earlier if you do have some of the risk factors we talked about.

KEILAR: And then Jeff from Niceville, Florida, which I love the name of that, Niceville, he sent this question. Are there any dietary foods that can help reduce the risk of prostate cancer? What kind of dietary changes might you make?

GUPTA: Yes, well, one thing to keep in mind is, you know, linking food to either creating cancers or sort of decreasing the risk of cancers is hard to do. Food is one of those things that's hard to know exactly what part of the diet may have led to those benefits or those risks. But in general, what they find is that folate tends to be something that can decrease your risk of prostate cancer.

Those are some of the examples on the screen there, spinach, black- eyed peas, broccoli. One thing that I think is important when it comes to supplements, a lot of people will say, well, I'm not getting enough folate, so I'm taking folic acid. In this case, folic acid is not a good substitute in terms of decreasing your risk of prostate cancer.

Some studies have shown that it can actually increase your risk of prostate cancer. That might be because you're not eating folate and you're thinking you can just supplement completely with folic acid. But nevertheless, in terms of foods, folate, and it's best to get it from real food as opposed to supplements.

KEILAR: Sounds like you can make a lovely soup with some black-eyed peas and some spinach. I'll post a recipe. I have some ideas.

[14:55:00]

Sanjay, thank you so, so much. Really appreciate it.

GUPTA: You got it.

KEILAR: And still ahead, the fate of President Trump's sprawling agenda bill is still very much up in the air. Soon, House Speaker Mike Johnson and some key Republican holdouts head to the White House to meet with the president. But can he win over those hardliners?

Stay with CNN.

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SANCHEZ: President Donald Trump pushing unsubstantiated claims of white genocide during a tense Oval Office meeting ...

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