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San Diego Fire: At Least 2 Dead, 8 Hurt in Private Plane Crash; Trump Admin Bars Harvard from Enrolling International Students; 2 Israeli Embassy Staffers Fatally Shot Outside Jewish Museum in D.C.; Neighbor Describes What He Observed About Shooting Suspect. Aired 3- 3:30p ET

Aired May 22, 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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[15:01:05]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: We are tracking this chaotic scene inside of a neighborhood in San Diego where a small private jet crashed in the middle of the night, sending terrified residents scrambling from their homes. The city's assistant fire chief says at least two people on board that plane were killed and that eight others were injured. Officials say some of the injuries were on the ground - at least some of those injuries were - and at least one home was destroyed. Several others, though, were damaged and multiple cars went up in flames.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The path that it took behind me here, you can see that its trajectory came through this direction, took out the front of that house and it ended up here to the right behind me.

So, challenges on scene like this are just like anything else. They're incredibly dynamic, right? As we're coming in, we have a plane that has crashed into a residential area. So, our goal on this is we treat this a lot like a wildfire. We're going to division it off, we're going to section it off, we're going to send multiple units to different areas. We're actually going to throw the world at this, too.

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BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: The impact apparently flooded the neighborhood with jet fuel. CNN obtained these photos of the Humane Society helping to decontaminate and clean that jet fuel off of some dogs that were rescued from the scene. Let's take you there live with CNN's Stephanie Elam, who's outside the home that authorities say took a direct hit from that plane.

And Stephanie, we understand that there were folks inside the house at the time who were able to escape. Take us through what happened.

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Boris, it's unbelievable when you look at this damage here. This is the house he's talking about - that he was just talking about there, the fire chief. You can see that that house definitely caught on fire. And there's a part here that you can't see - there's so much media out here - where it took out part of the tree, part of the curb, part of the house, car here, hit this house.

And then, down this street behind me here, it - there was jet fuel reportedly - listening to these first responders - that rolled down the street and caught almost all these cars down the street on fire.

So, keep that in mind along with the fact that there was dense fog at the time. It was about 3:45, 3:50 in the morning when this happened. And so, they didn't have a lot of visibility when they got here. Their first move - the first responders - was to get people out of their houses. Amazingly, miraculously, no one on the ground, they believe, has died. They did say that eight people were injured. One person was transported to the hospital, but not from here, but from the evacuation area here.

There are people who got cut by glass trying to get out any way they could. For some of these homes, I'm told that all of these homes are occupied right now. And the other issue why they have it cordoned off the way they do is because of the strong scent of jet fuel. It smells a bit like being in a wildfire when a house burns. It's sort of a metallic scent, but then you get these large wafts of the jet fuel scent as well. So still very present here in the area, and that's why they're keeping people away.

But I can tell you now, Boris and Brianna, that the NTSB is now on site. So, we should be learning more about what was going on with this plane as this investigation continues with them.

SANCHEZ: Stephanie Elam with the latest from the scene there in San Diego. Thank you so much.

Let's discuss this with San Diego Councilmember Raul Campillo, who represents the district where this happened.

Sir, I saw you earlier at the press briefing. There was some confusion about exactly how many folks were killed and injured in this incident. Earlier, I'd heard from the assistant fire chief there that you were working with a number of six casualties. That later changed to two. I just want to be as clear as possible and precise. The numbers right now, as you have them - at least two people killed. Do you have an indication that there may have been more passengers on the plane?

RAUL CAMPILLO, SAN DIEGO COUNCILMEMBER (DISTRICT 7): No, I don't. The only understanding I have is that the plane could have held more. But right now, we are waiting for the NTSB - National Transportation Safety Board - to conduct their research.

[15:05:06]

You know, San Diego fire and police departments this morning responded first to help the military families in the neighborhood and have coordinated off. But the investigation is now in the hands of the federal government to really get in there and understand what the total damage - and if more people's lives were lost. SANCHEZ: Understood. We heard some reference to the military families that were on site. And we saw a video of people scrambling at the scene because it seemed like an entire block of cars were lit on fire. Can you take us through what was going through your mind when you arrived on the scene and some of what you saw?

CAMPILLO: Absolutely. So, when I took a tour this morning, the smell - as you heard - it was absolutely palpable and really saddening. You could see numerous vehicles had been deeply charred - on fire for a while, it looked like. And from what I could tell, I could see the fuselage of the airplane as well. The damage to the houses is hard to see. But from what you can tell, the airplane hit through a wall, several trees, into the one home and then continued further down several homes.

And what I heard from the families at one of the evacuation sites was first how loud it was and then how much fire they were going through. I know you mentioned some of the injuries. My understanding from our fire department is, as people were evacuating and escaping, stepping on jet fuel - that led to some of those fire - those injuries. And on top of that, some respiratory issues as a result of that as well.

Really, the story that I'm seeing from the families at the evacuation site is them rallying together to help people out of their homes - out of windows. Spoke very briefly with the family that lived in the home that was directly hit and how they escaped out the back. But then we had about 160 or so San Diego Fire-Rescue personnel, Fire Department, almost 30 engines show up. This was a five-alarm fire. And then at least 50 police officers were on the scene rapidly.

This is a top-to-bottom federal and local collaboration to save lives. And it looks like nobody who lived in any of the homes or in the neighborhood has lost their life, though there were some injuries. Thank God no deaths on the ground, from my clear understanding from the Fire Department.

SANCHEZ: That is such a relief, especially given the circumstances and how bad this could have been.

Councilmember Raul Campillo, we'll leave the conversation there. Please keep us updated if there's anything else you want us to put out there.

CAMPILLO: Of course. Thanks.

SANCHEZ: Thanks so much.

We do have breaking news now. The Trump administration has just revoked Harvard University's ability to enroll any international students. The existing international students there have to transfer out, and no new ones can be accepted in.

KEILAR: This marks a sharp escalation in the ongoing battle between the White House and the nation's oldest university.

CNN's Jeff Zeleny is at the White House. Jeff, tell us what's happening here.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brianna and Boris, there has been an ongoing fight between the White House and Harvard University over the curriculum, over the federal funding, and now over international students. As you said, this is a dramatic escalation.

We are learning this announcement from the Department of Homeland Security, as Secretary Kristi Noem making the announcement this afternoon, essentially giving a warning to Harvard that they are no longer allowed to admit international students.

So, she writes this in part: "They have lost their Student and Exchange Visitor Program certification as a result of their failure to adhere to the law." She says, "Let this serve as a warning to all universities and academic institutions across the country."

So, let's break that down a touch. She's accusing them - Harvard University - of failing to adhere to the law. Of course, there were some rules essentially that were put out as a - strings, if you will, on federal funding for what type of a curriculum universities could use, what type of DEI programs they couldn't have. Of course, this all stems from protests on college campuses.

Harvard University is pushing back very hard at this. Just a statement coming out just a few moments ago. Harvard is saying that they will challenge this legally as well. And they go on to say this: "The government's action is unlawful," Harvard says. "We are fully committed to maintaining Harvard's ability to host international students and scholars, who hail from more than 140 countries and enrich the university and this nation - immeasurably."

So how many students are we talking about here? Well, in this academic year alone, almost 30 percent of Harvard's student body were made up of international students - some 6,793, according to this year's academic record. So, the government is saying that these students must transfer.

We are told that they are likely to be able to transfer to another U.S. institution, not necessarily return to their home countries.

[15:10:04]

But of course, this will be one of the many actions of this administration that will be challenged legally. But certainly, once again, a dramatic escalation from the U.S. government against Harvard. Boris and Brianna.

KEILAR: Certainly is. Jeff Zeleny, thank you.

And with us now to discuss is Ryan Enos, the professor of government at Harvard University. He's also a member of Harvard's chapter of the American Association of University Professors, which is currently suing the Trump administration.

Professor, thank you for being with us. This decision that Harvard can no longer enroll foreign students and existing foreign students have to transfer or lose their legal status, what's your reaction to this?

RYAN ENOS, PROFESSOR OF GOVERNMENT, HARVARD UNIVERSITY: I think it's awful, and it's outrageous. It's another pattern of the Trump administration taking authoritarian actions. In the United States, the President does not have the power to punish people - target people for punishment because he doesn't like their politics. And he's targeting Harvard because he thinks he politically disagrees with them.

It's a political vendetta, and he's doing this on the back of students who were admitted to Harvard from around the world for their merit, for things that they accomplished in life. And now he's trying to punish them, to hold them hostage essentially to try to win what he considers to be this political fight with Harvard. That's what authoritarians do. It's not done by the rule of law.

KEILAR: Secretary Noem says the administration is holding Harvard accountable for fostering violence, anti-Semitism and coordinating with the Chinese Communist Party on its campus. What do you say to that? I see you shaking your head.

ENOS: Yes, I mean, I could shake my head all day against those things. I would ask them what violence they're pointing to, what anti-Semitism they're pointing to, what coordination with the Chinese Communist Party they're pointing to. These are outrageous statements. And I think it's become increasingly clear that the public doesn't believe this - the American public doesn't believe this.

And they are leveling these outrageous claims to try to win this political battle. And the - in a certain respect, I think we see this pattern with them. It doesn't matter whether these accusations they are making are true. They're all a pretext of - a pretext for this - trying to punish Harvard and punish other universities as a way to bring them under their control.

And as I said earlier, that is what authoritarians do. It is not the way things should be done in the United States.

KEILAR: Some of this may come down to what particular free speech may be allowed. But the Secretary is also citing Harvard's own report. Harvard released two reports last month on anti-Israel bias, and there was another one on anti-Muslim, anti-Arab and anti-Palestinian bias - finding in part that Jewish students had faced bias, suspicion, intimidation, alienation, shunning, contempt and sometimes effective exclusion from various curricular and co-curricular parts of the university and its community. It also found that Arab, Muslim and Palestinian students and faculty who voiced concern over rising death tolls in Gaza and the unfolding humanitarian crisis there overwhelmingly felt abandoned, and some believed they were actively silenced by Harvard administrators.

What work do you think Harvard has to do on these issues? You know, Harvard is a big, diverse place bringing people together from across the world and from different communities across the United States and putting them in a place where they live together and they study together and they work together.

And then when things happen in the world, like happening in Gaza and happening in Israel, are going to touch our community. And of course, people are just going to disagree, and sometimes it's going to lead to things that shouldn't happen - like shunning and like, you know, people yelling at each other, whatever type of things we want to cite in those reports.

And those are things we need to sort out, and we need to make happen less because we're an academic community. And ultimately, we should be trying to construct - find constructive ways to bridge our disagreements.

They are not the type of things that would lead to some kind of extreme response, like banning international students, which I should mention would include Israeli students from coming to Harvard. That doesn't make people agree. It doesn't make these issues of disagreement that happen in a diverse community go away.

And so, we'll keep working on those things at Harvard. That's part of what makes Harvard a great institution, is we find ways to constructively deal with our differences - which we do have. But it's not the type of thing that will be solved by authoritarian attacks on our international students.

KEILAR: The administration is making it clear here that part of a, you know, this punishment is about a financial effect on Harvard, that foreign students pay higher tuition payments, it says, help pad multi- billion-dollar endowments.

[15:15:07]

What do you think that the administration is trying to do here financially to Harvard?

ENOS: They're looking for another way to punish Harvard. You know, foreign students, they don't just contribute to Harvard because of the money they bring in through tuition and that - we should be very clear about. They contribute to Harvard because these are the best students in the world that are coming to the United States and bringing their talents in a way that benefits not just Harvard, but the American people. And they make our community richer - many of them through their intellectual contributions. Many of them stay in the United States and help our economy and help our communities.

And what the Trump administration is ultimately trying to do is take that away - not just from Harvard, but from the American people that these foreign students benefit. This is one of the great things about the United States, is that people come from all over the world to study here. It's an incredible blessing. It's something that no other country has, where the smartest people in the world come to our institutions to study.

And ultimately, that punishment isn't just going to Harvard - it's going to the United States. It has taken away a great resource that has built up through these universities like Harvard. KEILAR: Professor Ryan Enos, thank you so much for being with us on this breaking news that the Trump administration is now stopping Harvard from enrolling international students and saying that existing foreign students must transfer or lose their legal status. We appreciate your time.

ENOS: Thank you.

KEILAR: Still to come, back-to-back witnesses today, including rapper Kid Cudi, in the sex trafficking trial of Sean "Diddy" Combs. The key takeaways from their testimony, next.

Plus, detained Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil getting to hold his newborn son for the first time, as a judge is weighing a request to stop his deportation.

And then later, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is expecting an above-average hurricane season this year. But with President Trump's budget cuts and staff reductions, are emergency agencies prepared?

Well, that and much more coming up on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

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[15:21:36]

KEILAR: Soon the suspect in the fatal shooting of two staff members from the Israeli embassy in Washington is expected to make his first court appearance. People briefed on the investigation tell CNN the 31- year-old suspect from Chicago is expected to face hate crime and other federal charges. These two staff members were gunned down last night outside of the Capital Jewish Museum at an event that we were told was about multi-faith solutions to getting aid to war-torn areas, including Gaza.

These two have been identified as Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim. Israel's ambassador to the U.S. says these two were about to be engaged and that Yaron had just purchased a ring and was planning to propose to Sarah next week in Jerusalem.

CNN just spoke with a man in Chicago who says he's next-door neighbors with the suspect. Here's what he had to say:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN FRY, SUSPECT'S NEXT-DOOR NEIGHBOR: He seemed like a normal, friendly guy. There's a picture in his window - have you seen it?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's hard to tell what it is, yes.

FRY: Yes. It's a picture of the Palestinian child who was stabbed to death. And that gave me the impression that they were very, very sensitive to people, especially about the issue of Palestine.

(END VIDEO CLIP) KEILAR: CNN Senior Law Enforcement Analyst, Chief Charles Ramsey, is joining us now. He served as Chief of the Metropolitan P.D. here in Washington.

Chief, what are you watching for in court this afternoon as we see this first appearance?

CHIEF CHARLES RAMSEY, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, the charges that will be filed. We'll find out soon exactly what those charges will be, but they're going to be very serious - hate crime, terrorism, gun charges. He faces the possibility of the death sentence, should he be convicted in federal court, depending on the charges that they place against him.

KEILAR: And we should note, as we heard from that neighbor who was talking about a picture in the suspect's window, the Illinois man who was - there was an Illinois man who was actually convicted for that hate crime murder of a Palestinian boy there in the Chicago area, in Illinois there. This suspect, I wonder how that might inform investigators and why that is pertinent for intent.

RAMSEY: Well, the investigator is going to look at everything. I was listening to John Miller earlier today, and he said there's a manifesto that was signed by this individual, or at least someone of the same name, and kind of laid out his grievances toward Israel based on what's going on in Gaza or on the Gaza Strip. So, they're doing everything they can to try to come up with a motive and really build a case at the same time to be sure that they can get a conviction in court.

So, a lot of search warrants were executed, certainly social media footprint being closely examined. You know, it's all hands-on deck in a case like this. I'm sure they've got the FBI, ATF, the local police - everyone involved in this.

[15:25:02]

KEILAR: And the NYPD has a threat assessment that was out just before Passover in April, and it warned, in part, Jewish people and institutions continue to be the target of violent attacks, harassment, hate crimes and threats. How should law enforcement be looking at this right now, considering that and considering what happened in Washington last night?

RAMSEY: Well, departments around the country will be paying special attention to synagogues, to institutions like the museum - whether it's the Holocaust Museum or the Jewish Museum where this incident took place - anything, anywhere in the country, police will be paying closer attention. And at the same time, probably be paying the same kind of attention in mosques to make sure there's no retaliation that takes place. So, you have to do both in order to keep everyone safe.

KEILAR: Yes, that's a good point.

Chief Ramsey, thank you so much. We really appreciate it - joining us to talk about this very sad news. RAMSEY: Thank you.

KEILAR: Still to come, what rapper Kid Cudi said on the witness stand in the sex trafficking trial of Sean "Diddy" Combs. We have a live report next.