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Police Say, Liverpool Car Ramming an Isolated Incident, Not Terrorism; Soon, Hearing After Judge Blocks Trump Ban on Harvard International Students; Three More Escaped New Orleans Inmates Recaptured, Two Still At Large. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired May 27, 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: This morning, new details on that terrifying moment a car slammed into a crowd of celebrating soccer fans in Liverpool, England. Witnesses rushed to pull people trapped under the vehicle, dozens injured, including children. What we're learning about the suspect and why police are ruling out terrorism.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: A sharp new response this morning from the president of Harvard as President Trump issues a new $3 billion threat against the university.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Captured overnight, three inmates who busted out of a Louisiana jail. New details just in on how they were caught, and the search for two escapees still on the loose.

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

SIDNER: Turned into chaos and horror in England. Now, police are searching to find out why a driver plowed into that crowd of fans leaving dozens of people injured. It happened as a parade celebrating Liverpool football club's. Latest Premier League title was winding down a parade that had hundreds of thousands of soccer fans lining the streets.

Nearly 50 people were hurt and at least four children. Among the injured, the suspected driver was arrested at the scene. Police not revealing yet what led to this horrifying crash, but they are saying they do not believe that this is terrorism.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JENNY SIMS, ASSISTANT CHIEF CONSTABLE, MERSEYSIDE POLICE: What I can tell you is that we believe this to be an isolated incident and we are not currently looking for anyone else in relation to it.

The incident is not being treated as terrorism.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: All right. One witness says he could hear the bumps as the car drove over people and called it horrendous. Video on social media shows the crowd surrounding the car, hitting it and looking for the driver.

CNN's Nic Robertson is in Liverpool. Nic, police were quick to come out and partially identify the suspect. What are you learning about the suspect in this case right now?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, a 53-year- old white British male from the Liverpool area, that's what the police say. They were quick because less than a year ago, not far from here, there was a stabbing incident where three young girls were killed at a dance class. Social media particularly right wing group, circulated the notion that there was some kind of racist motivation behind it. And I think the police very quick here to put everyone's mind at rest, not terrorism. It's not clear what it is.

I'll just step out of the way here. Louis can sort of zoom in and look at that big police truck immediately behind the police truck is an inflatable tent. Inside that tent is the people carry a vehicle that that British male driver was driving as he slammed into the crowd, swerving out of the crowd back into the crowd again.

As you say, four of the injured are children. Two people seriously injured in hospital. One of them -- one of those seriously injured a child. 27 people total taken to hospital for treatment. 20 treated at the roadside, so a massive, almost 50 casualties here.

And firefighters, when they arrived, said that the first thing they did was to have to lift a vehicle up and pull four people out from underneath that vehicle. One of those was a child. So, it was horrific scenes.

But imagine just minutes prior, these streets here thronged hundreds of thousands of people out celebrating this soccer mad city of Liverpool, this great team that's fabled not just in the U.K. but throughout Europe for its prowess. Everyone was out celebrating the Premier League win. And it did. It just turned in that moment.

But the word was sort of slow to spread. People couldn't communicate on their mobile phones. There were so many people here that phone signals weren't working. But the police very quick, as you say, to provide what information they could to set people's mind at rest and not looking for someone else, not believing it's terrorism.

[07:05:07]

But we've yet to get an update from the police today. And their forensic teams are still working on the site up there behind me as to what they believe led this 53-year-old male to drive his car repeatedly into so many people when it was quite apparent what was happening. This city is still coming to terms with that awful shock.

SIDNER: Yes. I mean, it is actually unbelievable that no one was killed in this considering what happened that there were people that they had to be pulled out from underneath of that vehicle. I know that you will be learning much more on this and on the suspect, and perhaps we will find at some point out why the suspect did this.

But for now, Nic Robertson, thank you so much for your reporting there in Liverpool. Thank you to you and Luis for standing in all that British rain, as we're used to saying. Thank you. I appreciate it. Kate?

BOLDUAN: Also happening this morning, the legal battle between President Trump and Harvard is going to court. A federal judge set to hear from both sides for the first time since blocking the Trump administration's move, cutting off Harvard's ability to enroll international students. But that is also not stopping the president from leveling a new threat now, saying that he's now considering pulling $3 billion in federal grants from Harvard and redirecting that money to trade schools

CNN's Katelyn Polantz tracking this one for us. Katelyn, let's talk about the hearing that will be taking place today. What could happen?

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kate, this is going to be a status conference. So, it's the first time that Harvard's lawyers and the Trump administration are going before this judge, Judge Allison Burroughs, about the ability of Harvard to have international students on their campus. The judge has already temporarily stopped the administration from pulling that program from Harvard, and there is going to be an even bigger meteor hearing later on Thursday.

But right now, we're looking at sort of the big picture. That's what we're expected to be here discussed in court. Right now, so far this morning, this battle is much bigger than just Harvard. Donald Trump is out there posting on truth social. He is accusing Harvard of not providing enough information as the Department of Homeland Security keeps asking for it. He wrote yesterday, we are still waiting for the foreign student list from Harvard so that we can determine how many radicalized lunatics, troublemakers should not be let back into our country. Harvard is very slow in the presentation of these documents.

He also then attacks the judge. In this case, it's Judge Allison Burroughs, an Obama appointee. The best thing Harvard has going for it is that they have shopped around and found the absolute best judge for them. But, Kate, this is a case Harvard is in Massachusetts, the cases in the federal court in Boston, this judge is looking at a couple different lawsuits and they are about the bigger picture. It's not just about students from international -- from other countries coming to Harvard. There are also cases she's looking at about grant funding and retaliation from the Trump administration, the ability of the administration to come to Harvard and say, we disagree with the viewpoints you are allowing on campus.

Harvard's view, Harvard President Alan Garber was speaking to NPR this morning in a new interview, and he says these accusations from Trump that they're not providing the information that the administration wants about foreign students, to the best of my knowledge, they are not true. That's what the Harvard president says. We have endeavored to comply fully in line with the law. He also says in that interview that this is not just about Harvard, that the administration hurting Harvard, it hurts scientific research in this country. It hurts American culture and, of course, it hurts free speech.

Kate, will see exactly how much the judge wants to do today if there's discussions of planning or other things as they head into this big hearing on Thursday. But this is the first time in court we're going to be listening closely.

BOLDUAN: Absolutely. And while judge shopping is a bi bipartisan problem, as you know and have covered, this is not that because the president is who brought this fight to Harvard, not the other way around is how this began.

It's good to see, Katelyn. Thank you so much. Let's see what happens today. John?

BERMAN: All right. Breaking overnight, three inmates captured after a dramatic high speed chase, two still on the loose. We're just learning that hair clippers played a role in the original escape.

And a live look at the markets futures pointing higher this morning after President Trump threatened big tariffs only to back off once again.

And a dangerous moment, the roof caves in on a burning building just as fire crews or fighting the flames.

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[07:10:00]

BERMAN: All right. Breaking overnight, law enforcement captured three inmates who escaped from a New Orleans jail. Two of them were captured in Texas after a high speed chase. Now, just two of the original ten escapees were remain at large after ten days on the run.

Let's get the very latest from Ryan Young. Ryan, again, this high- speed chase was in Texas, which is the first time we know of that any of these inmates got out of Louisiana.

RYAN YOUNG, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. You think about this one, John, the last three that were captured were outside of New Orleans, you had that first man captured 80 miles from New Orleans in Baton Rouge, and that was Linton VanBuren. He was caught around 6:00. He was sitting on a bench. It almost sounds like he turned himself in, but someone called a tip in, said he was there.

But you talk about that high-speed chase, that was in Texas. And, of course, that was almost about 70 miles away from Houston. There, you had Leo Tate and Jermaine Donald who were on the run. And it was a high-speed chase that focused on both of them once they got them to the side of the road.

Now, there's just two left. It had almost been a week since anyone had been captured. We know authorities had been working with that $20,000 bounty on each person's head. Those calls have been coming into crime stoppers fast and furious, but at some point things started to slow down.

[07:15:04]

But you're starting to see the footprint of these suspects sort of getting bigger in terms of getting away from New Orleans.

Now, there are two still on the run. We have -- Massey's on the run, and we also have one other suspect who are still trying to get away.

Now, they believe the two that are still out there, John, are the ones who sort of orchestrated this whole thing. And we've talked about certain pieces of this. There might have been some clippers involved, hair clippers that they used to get through some of the walls. There was a pipe chase that had a security line to it. That somehow got disabled. And you have to think about the person who was inside the jail who walked away from those video cameras at some point, allowing the men to get through the wall, then into an area where they went through another door before going out the back door of the jail and running over the fence line before crossing the highway.

All this turned into a historic jail escape. There's so much focus now on trying to find Groves and Massey, the last two men who were still on the run. But this is going to lead to a lot of questions. This facility that was built was back in 2015. It was supposed to have state of the art equipment inside that jail. How were they able to defeat this? Did it come from an inside job where people were helping the inmates as they went along? What did they figure out? And let's not forget, Massey is someone who's escaped from other jail facilities before. So, they've been going through call logs that these inmates had been involved in for the last month during this investigation to try to figure out exactly what they knew about this and how long they may have been planning it.

You also have a sheriff now where there's a lot of questions in terms of why that initial look at all the inmates who were there, why did it take so long to tell the public.

So, still a lot of questions in this, John, but, again, two still on the run is something that we'll pay a lot of attention to and try to figure out how close authorities are getting. John?

BERMAN: Yes. New questions even as we have new major developments.

Ryan Young, thank you for your reporting here. Sara?

SIDNER: All right. New this morning, a manhunt underway across Arkansas for a convicted killer and rapist who was also a small town police chief. 56-year-old Grant Hardin is on the run after escaping from a prison in Calico Rock on Sunday.

Investigators say he apparently dressed like a law enforcement officer to get past security and surveillance images are showing him, you see him there, he's got on black clothes and possibly a bulletproof vest pushing a cart.

Harden, who's been in prison since 2017, was serving a 30-year sentence for rape and murder. Authorities are urging anyone who sees him to call 911.

All right, after a dramatic start to the season, why WNBA phenom Caitlin Clark is off the court and when she could return to play with the Indiana Fever.

Also, very soon, the federal sex trafficking trial of Sean Diddy Combs resumes after a long weekend. What jurors can expect today, who will be testifying after last week's shocking testimony.

Those stories and more ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:20:00]

SIDNER: The Oklahoma City Thunder holding off the Minnesota Timberwolves in a thrilling close game four last night. They are just one win away from securing a spot in the NBA Finals.

CNN's Andy Scholes has the highlights for us. These games have been really exciting, I must say.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Well, especially in the Eastern Conference finals, Sarah, but this was the first one in the Western Conference finals that we actually got a close game. And the difference in this one really came down to the superstars. MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams, they combined for 74 points for the Thunder, Anthony Edwards and Julius Randall, meanwhile, just 21 for the Timberwolves in game four.

Minnesota, they're down five with under 30 seconds to go. Jaden McDaniels hits his three in the corner to make it a two-point game. Then it was a free throw battle down the stretch. And Ant, he was trying to miss this one and get the ball back. But SGA flies and gets rebound. He tries to throw it up the court to let the time run out. A fan court side though grabs it. Now, that fan was standing out of bound, so Minnesota gets it back, but only 0.3 on the clock at that point. Don't even get a good shot off, Thunder win 128-126, take commanding 3-1 lead in the series.

Meanwhile, Stanley Cup playoffs, Carolina's long dreaded streak is finally over. They had lost 15 straight Eastern Conference finals games going into last night, but they avoid being swept for the fourth straight time in the Eastern Conference finals. They beat the Panthers 3-0 in game four.

Now, no one has ever come back from down to 0-3 in the Eastern Conference finals. Game five of that series going to be tomorrow night on TNT.

The Indiana Fever meanwhile announcing that Caitlin Clark is going to be out at least two weeks with a left quad strain. She suffered the injury during the loss of Liberty over the weekend. Clark's going to miss at least four games. They're going to be the first regular season games that she has missed in her young career.

All right, finally, American Taylor Fritz not making it out of the first round at the French Open. Fritz was a four seed but lost to unseeded German Daniel Altmaier in four sets. The loss of Fritz's earliest exit French Open since 2018 and is earliest at any Grand Slam since the 2022 U.S. Open.

Coco Gauff, meanwhile, about to take the court for her first round matching. Sara, you could, of course, watch all the French Open coverage on our sister station TNT or stream it on MAX.

SIDNER: Andy Scholes, it is always a pleasure to see you. Thank you so much. I appreciate it. Kate?

BOLDUAN: Absolutely, tootly (ph). Coming up for us, we have new details coming in this morning after --

SIDNER: Who are you?

BOLDUAN: -- that car plowed into a crowd of hundreds of people who are out celebrating at a parade in Liverpool, England. What we are learning, what more we are learning about the driver.

And also ahead for us, the president of Harvard is speaking out this morning after President Trump escalates his threat to target the university even further. The school and the administration are in court this morning. What's expected.

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[07:25:00]

BERMAN: All right. This morning, major questions following 50 people being injured in Liverpool after a crowd drove into a parade there. Moments after the incident, this angry crowd surrounded the vehicle and appeared to try to pull the driver out, that driver, a 53-year-old British man who has been arrested. At this point, police say this is an isolated incident, and they say also it is not terrorism.

With us now is CNN Senior National Security Analyst Juliette Kayyem. So, the fact that they say they are treating this not as terrorism, what does it tell you about where they are in this investigation?

JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, it was a very quick assessment almost immediately afterwards. And they also mentioned several times that he was white. I think what they were trying to do is get it out of a theory that this was some sort of Islamic-motivated attack. And the reason for that is, of course, Britain and much of Europe has suffered due to vehicular attacks on crowds.

What we don't know is could they make that assessment because they knew who it was and knew that he had previous criminal records unrelated to hate or terrorism, or did they see something?