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Trump Administration Says, Columbia University Violated Jewish Students' Civil Rights; Suspect Charged With Murder in Shooting of Israeli Embassy Staffers; New Round of U.S.-Iran Nuclear Talks Set to Begin in Rome. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired May 23, 2025 - 07:00   ET

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

[07:00:00]

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking overnight, President Trump ramping up his attacks on the nation's top universities. The administration now accusing Columbia of violating the civil rights of Jewish students, also blocking Harvard from enrolling foreign students.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: The disturbing writings of the suspect, accused of gunning down two Israeli embassy staffers in Washington, and we've got new information this morning about the victim.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: And it is the unofficial start to summer, and it's going to be a busy one for travelers. 1.4 million more people hitting the roads this year than last for the Memorial Day weekend.

I'm Kate Bolduan with Sara Sidner in John Berman. This is CNN News Central.

SIDNER: Breaking overnight, President Trump escalating his battle with the nation's top universities. The administration accusing Columbia University of violating federal civil rights law by failing to protect Jewish students amid campus unrest and protest over the war in Gaza. That is after saying it would cancel $400 million worth of grants and contracts to Columbia.

And it comes as Trump officials are striking a major blow against Harvard for refusing to bow down to the administration's policy demands. The Department of Homeland Security now barring the university from enrolling international students and telling existing foreign students they must transfer or lose their legal status.

The unprecedented move could have a devastating impact on the students, of course, and on Harvard. International students make up more than 27 percent of its enrollment for this academic year alone.

CNN's and Shimon Prokupecz joins us now from the Harvard campus. Where does this fight stand this morning?

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's still very much ongoing and a lot is unknown at this point. How much will Harvard fight? And that's really what foreign students are relying on, whether or not the university chooses to fight, how will they fight?

Certainly, from Harvard's point of view, they view this as a retaliatory action. In a statement from Harvard yesterday, this is what they called it. They said that the government's action is unlawful. They called it retaliatory, a retaliatory action that threatens the university, causes serious harm to Harvard, undermines academic and its research mission.

Now, we've seen the administration go after foreign students in another way, most recently with a similar program, which allows these students to remain in this country. Essentially, what they previously did was that they targeted foreign students who had any kind of criminal conduct, potential criminal conduct, but never were convicted, and they essentially terminated their statuses to remain in this country, to attend a university. And now yet again, many foreign students are in the crosshairs of the administration.

And so now what will Harvard do? One of the options here obviously is to go to court to try and get some kind of temporary restraining order so that these foreign students could, for now as this gets litigated, can remain at the university. But many of them are waking up this morning not sure what they're going to do because, essentially, with this program being terminated from the university, the students could lose their rights to remain in this country, and many of them would have to leave, especially if they don't get to transfer.

It also, Sara, creates problems for incoming freshmen who may not be able to get the visas that they were hoping for so that they could attend Harvard in the fall. And also, look, the bottom line is this may not stop at Harvard. The administration has indicated that they're going to continue this fight, you know, against foreign students. Also, this just takes so much of the money away from the universities because they rely on the foreign students for so much of the money that they spend to attend the schools. Sara?

SIDNER: Yes. I mean, it is interesting for an administration that says they want government to get smaller, for them to be attacking the universities this way. We will see how this fight unfolds and see how Harvard responds.

Shimon Prokupecz, thank you so much, live there from Cambridge for us. John?

BERMAN: All right. New developments this morning surrounding the man now charged with murdering two Israeli embassy staffers outside a Jewish museum in Washington. Authorities are investigating the online history of 31-year-old Elias Rodriguez reportedly focusing their investigation into what they call a manifesto authored by the suspect. He is currently facing federal murder charges with at least one of those charges carrying the potential of the death penalty.

We're also learning more about Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim, the victims here. They've been described as a beautiful couple together just weeks from being engaged. The Israeli ambassador to the U.S. called Yaron a, quote, prince of a human being.

Let's get the latest on the investigation, Brian Todd in Washington this morning. Brian, what are you learning?

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: John, right, we've got new details on how the shooting unfolded from charging documents filed in court yesterday also some new details on the alleged shooter's background. He is identified, as you just mentioned, as Elias Rodriguez, 31 years old from Chicago.

Now, according to a CNN review of interviews and writings linked to him, he has a history of political activism, including denouncing corporate power. Police are investigating now a lengthy letter that was posted on X shortly after the shootings on Wednesday night, a letter that was apparently signed by Rodriguez. It advocates for violent retaliation over the war in Gaza. It expresses fury over, quote, atrocities committed by the Israelis against Palestine, and it references, quote, armed action as a valid form of protest, and one that is, quote, in his words allegedly, the only sane thing to do.

That letter was posted on X at about 10:00 P.M. Eastern Time on Wednesday night. That was about an hour or so after the shootings. It's not clear who posted that letter or if it was pre-scheduled and set before the incident.

Now, we have other information from the charging documents, some pretty disturbing detail on how the shooting unfolded. It describes how surveillance footage shows Rodriguez allegedly walking across the street toward the victims as they were preparing to leave that event at the Capitol Jewish Museum.

According to the documents, Rodriguez allegedly walked past the victims, then turned and faced their backs, fired several times. And then after they fell to the ground, according to these documents, he leaned over them with his arm extended and fired several more times. The documents say that as the woman, Sarah Milgrim, tried to crawl away, Rodriguez allegedly, quote, followed behind her and fired again. That's according to the court documents. He has entered no plea in this case.

We also have new information from a neighbor of his in the Albany Park area of Chicago. This is 71-year-old John Fry who says that Rodriguez lived next door to him in an apartment building that Rodriguez lived with a woman. He did not know the woman's name or what the relationship was. Here is more of what John Fry said about the couple who lived next door.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN FRY, NEIGHBOR OF SHOOTING SUSPECT: He was my next door neighbor. They were very quiet. They were very friendly. And you would never expect something like this. I mean, my goodness, they had a Hello Kitty on their front door.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TODD: Now, at least one of the charges that Elias Rodriguez is facing does carry the death penalty as a possible punishment. That charge is using a firearm to commit murder. Officials have said it's too early to determine whether they will seek the death penalty, and, again, he has he has entered no plea in the case thus far. John?

BERMAN: Thus far. I imagine we'll get more details even today. Brian Todd, thank you for your reporting. Kate?

BOLDUAN: Still ahead for us, the U.S. and Iran about to sit down for talks this morning in Rome. Iran expected to deliver strong objections to U.S. policy as diplomats about to sit down together.

And we are live in San Diego, where a big investigation is now underway after a private jet crashed into about 15 homes in one neighborhood, leaving a quarter mile path of destruction and debris, and at least two people dead.

And a penny for your thoughts, no more. The Treasury Department officially phasing out production of the 1 cent piece.

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[07:10:00]

BOLDUAN: Any moment now, the U.S. and Iran are going to begin a new round of high stakes nuclear talks in Rome. And Iran's foreign minister just said that he plans to, quote, convey, quote, strong objections and criticism of the United States' position.

A key sticking point in the negotiations is what it has been all along, which is uranium enrichment and more.

CNN's Frederik Pleitgen is in Iran ahead of these talks. And, Fred, President Trump, folks will remember, said last week when he was traveling in the Middle East that he thought they were very close to maybe reaching an agreement. You have new reporting around all of this.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, you're absolutely right, Kate. The Iranians are actually quite skeptical that any agreement can be reached. There were two sources here in Iran who told us that right now the Iranians are actually not looking to make fast progress, but actually much more we're looking to see whether or not they say the U.S. is serious about these negotiations in the first place.

And one of the reasons for that is because they feel that there's been some mixed messaging coming from the Trump administration, whereas you mentioned, President Trump in the past was saying he believed that a deal was either close or almost already reached, but then you had his negotiator, Steve Witkoff coming out and saying that the Iranians were not even allowed to enrich 1 percent uranium.

[07:15:07]

That, of course, set off the Iranians who say enrichment is their right.

And as the foreign minister of Iran, Abbas Araghchi, made his way this warning to Rome for those negotiations, he put out a tweet seeming to try and explain every this very simply to the Trump administration, where he said, reaching a deal is not rocket science. Zero nuclear weapons, we have a deal. Zero enrichment, we don't have a deal. So, the Iranians are clearly saying that enrichment is a red line for them.

One of the things that the foreign minister also said is that while that is Iran's position, that they are ready for enhanced verification measures, as they put it, obviously saying that they're willing to be more transparent, about their nuclear program. Obviously, the Iranians in the past have said and continue to say that their nuclear program is solely for peaceful purposes, that they do not seek a nuclear weapon. And right now, they say that they're going to these talks to see whether or not they can map out a way forward with the Trump administration, where they feel that the Trump administration is serious. Obviously, the Trump administration itself has also said that they have issues that they want to bring across.

So, clearly, these talks today extremely important on whether or not the talks continue and whether or not they could come to a successful conclusion. Kate?

BOLDUAN: Yes. If they're on any trajectory towards success, this is a key day in trying to figure that out.

It's great to see, Fred. Fred Pleitgen, in Tehran for us, we're going to get back to, Fred, shortly. Sara?

SIDNER: All right ahead. A crucial test for Newark Airport that has seen several air traffic control failures. We're at the airport live as a record breaking 45.1 million Americans are set to travel this Memorial Day weekend.

Plus, insane testimony in the Sean Combs sex trafficking trial. Rapper Kid Cudi claiming Sean Combs broke into his house, unwrapped his family's Christmas presents, and treated his dog like a hostage. More on the explosive day of testimony ahead.

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[07:20:00]

SIDNER: Get ready to be in traffic and long lines and expected record-breaking Memorial Day travel weekend is underway with AAA predicting more than 45 million Americans are expected to fly or drive this weekend. The TSA says it's preparing to screen about 18 million travelers between now and next week.

That kind of volume putting ne Newark Liberty International Airport in the spotlight once again, after all of those staffing issues and system outages. The FAA has already cut back on flights to help prevent delays there. But will that be enough with all these people traveling?

CNN's Brynn Gingras is live at Newark Airport. Things look pretty calm right now, but we're not quite there yet. We're not at the moment when people start going, getting out of town. What are you seeing so far this morning?

BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Sara. You know what? I was talking to some passengers, and that was their sort of thinking was take the early flight and hopefully avoid some of these delays, certainly knocking on wood when it comes to Newark Airport. As we know, there has been so many issues here at the airport, but like you said, we're not seeing it quite yet.

I do want to show you what's behind, or you can probably see me what's behind me. The line's not too bad, at least in this terminal. And if we walk all the way over here to the board to look at the departures, which everybody sort of comes in and takes a peek at here at Newark Airport, you can see not bad at all, no delays, no departures, at least for these airlines that we're talking about. And as I look just across, there's actually really no security lines behind me too, no long lines there.

So, this is all good news for Newark Airport, especially since we know it's been dealing with technical glitches, shortages, and air traffic control with the fact that that runway is shut down and not going to be done with construction until the mid-June next month hopefully for the start of the summer season.

But you talked about those 45 million people expected to travel over this long holiday weekend, more than 3.5 million people are going to be taking to the skies. And certainly people are doing things when it comes to Newark Airport to avoid this airport. I got to tell you in my own experience, I have several friends and family members who, in the last couple of weeks, have decided to cancel their flights out of Newark Airport and head to a different airport. So, that might help also contribute to the fact we're not seeing those long lines just yet here.

We also know, of course, that the airlines got together with the FAA and essentially canceled flights ahead of this busy weekend and the last couple of weeks to just bring down all of the traffic coming in and out of Newark Airport.

So, I talked to a few travelers. Basically, one woman, she put it perfectly. She said, you know what, I'm just going to be kind. I'm going to have patience and I'm going to make it through. And I think whether you're taking to the skies or you're driving, it's probably a good, you know, mantra to have as you head into this busy holiday weekend.

SIDNER: Being kind and patient, a lesson we can all learn, right, John?

BERMAN: I feel like Brynn Gingras is single-handedly keeping things running smoothly at Newark Airport this morning. The only time it's been smooth there is when she's there.

GINGRAS: Yes.

SIDNER: It is actually true. But guess what? I've noticed that at the other airport, JFK and LaGuardia, hellscape. Sorry, I'm saying it, everyone's going over there because they're not going there. It's because of Brynn.

BERMAN: Chaos follows you.

All right, six people fear dead after a private plane crashed into a residential neighborhood. This happened right during our show yesterday. And this morning, we're getting new details about who was on board and the possible cause.

We're standing by to learn the fate of the man accused of robbing Kim Kardashian at gunpoint. The verdict there set to be delivered any minute.

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[07:25:00]

BERMAN: So, it was the hottest ticket in town and all you had to do to get an invite was spend millions on President Trump's personal cryptocurrency. The president's motorcade drove past protesters on his way to host a private gala for the top investors in his meme coin. And if you act now, his crypto website said the top 25 buyers will get a private White House tour, though it later dropped the White House from that description to offer a more vague special VIP tour.

Democrats called it, quote, an orgy of corruption with mystery guests buying access to the Oval Office, but the White House says, nothing to see here.

[07:30:02]

Trump was doing it in his own personal time.

With us now is Alyssa Farah Griffin, CNN political commentator, former Trump White House.