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Port Slowdown; Trump Defends Backing Off on China Tariffs; Mistrial Motion Denied in Combs Trial. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired May 28, 2025 - 13:00   ET

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


[13:00:00]

DANA BASH, CNN HOST: Really interesting, the people that you talked to.

JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Sure. Thank you.

BASH: Thanks so much for bringing that to us. Appreciate it.

And before we go, we want our INSIDE POLITICS panel to answer some of your big questions. If you want to submit them, just scan the Q.R. code and submit your questions to us. You see it there on the screen. Maybe you will see them answered here on the show very soon. You can also find the link on my social media pages as well.

"CNN NEWS CENTRAL" starts right now.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Breaking news to CNN, just moments ago, President Donald Trump taking questions in the Oval Office.

And we're tracking a number of major headlines, including the president confirming that he spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about not interfering during nuclear talks between the United States and Iran.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: And let's go right now to the White House and CNN's Alayna Treene.

Alayna, what else did the president say?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes, look, well, a lot of this conversation and the back-and-forth in the Oval Office just now, of course, this was for the swearing-in ceremony for Jeanine Pirro, but all -- a lot -- most of these questions, I should say, in the Oval Office were about foreign policy.

And I think the question about his conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu regarding Iran and the potential of Israel thinking that this would be a good opportunity, that Iran is weak right now, to try and strike some of their nuclear facilities is not a good idea. The president specifically said he didn't believe it would be appropriate in a conversation with Netanyahu. Take a listen to how he put it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

QUESTION: Did you...

(CROSSTALK)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I just said, I don't think it's appropriate. We're talking. We're having very good discussions with them.

And I said, I don't think it's appropriate right now, because, if we can settle it with a very strong document, very strong, with inspections, and no trust -- I don't trust anybody. I don't trust anybody, so no trust.

I want it very strong, where we can go in with inspectors. We can take whatever we want. We can blow up whatever we want, but nobody getting killed. We can blow up a lab, but nobody's going to be in the lab, as opposed to everybody being in the lab and blowing it up, right, two ways of doing it.

Yes, I told him this would be inappropriate to do right now, because we're very close to a solution. Now, that could change at any moment.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TREENE: So, a few things to note here, Boris and Brianna.

One, of course, is, these are actually some of the most extensive comments we have heard from the president regarding what a potential deal with Iran about a nuclear program could be. Now, we do have some reporting that, in the coming days, there could be some broad agreement, of course, between the United States and Iran about what this would look like.

The president's envoy Steve Witkoff, his envoy for the Middle East, has been meeting repeatedly now with representatives from Iran to try and work out some sort of agreement to prevent Iran from creating any sort of nuclear weapon, something, of course, the president has said he very much intends to work out an agreement to avoid.

And so here you heard the president talking about inspections and whatnot, but he did confirm again that he did speak via the phone with Benjamin Netanyahu to tell him, now is not the time to try and take the opportunity and strike these facilities. He's been very clear that he wants these negotiations to end in a deal, and essentially said that his conversation with Israel has been, do not get in the way of that.

SANCHEZ: And, Alayna, what did President Trump say about reporting indicating that he's growing frustrated with Vladimir Putin and Russia's war in Ukraine and the lack of progress in peace talks? TREENE: Yes, so one of the reporters in the room asked the president

directly, do you think Vladimir Putin is serious about actually wanting a peace deal? Because it's something now -- this has really been the key question, is whether or not President Donald Trump himself believes that Putin actually wants peace.

And his answer here was different than one that he's given in the past. The president essentially said, we will know in two weeks. Not exactly clear what timeline he was referring to there, but he said, we will know in two weeks if Vladimir Putin is tapping us along. And he said, if it turns out that he is, if he is stringing the United States along in some of these negotiations, then Trump said -- quote -- "We will respond very differently."

And this really has come at a moment when we have seen the president visibly grown far more frustrated and impatient with how Russia has been acting. Of course, we have seen the president now in recent days criticize Vladimir Putin and Russia for some of the attacks, some of the worst attacks really we have seen them launch on Ukraine since the onset of this war, but really the president's rhetoric changing toward Putin as well.

Over the weekend, we saw President Donald Trump argue Putin is going crazy. He's also argued that, if he doesn't make some sort of a deal ultimately that the United States could be really bad news, in the president's word, for Moscow. And so it's a very notable moment and potentially a turning point in how we're seeing the United States really treat Russia at this point in time.

[13:05:05]

But, clearly, what the president is saying is that he's still giving Putin some time here to make some sort of progress on a potential cease-fire, all of this coming as well as we know that Trump is now more seriously than ever considering putting sanctions on Russia to really increase the pressure on them to come to the table and ultimately agree to some sort of peace deal -- Boris, Brianna.

SANCHEZ: Yes, It's already been several weeks that we have been waiting to see that communication of peace, that document from the Kremlin, and it has yet to come.

Alayna Treene from the White House, thank you so much.

Joining us now is CNN global affairs analyst Kimberly Dozier.

Kim, it really is stunning that it appears that at this point the U.S. is closer to a deal with Tehran and Iran over a potential nuclear program than it is to Russia and peace in Ukraine.

KIMBERLY DOZIER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Well, let's put it this way. Trump thinks they're closer to a deal with Iran.

But the latest comments from Iran are that there is no deal unless they are allowed to continue uranium enrichment for civilian purposes. And Iran is a signatory to the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, which gives them the right to this kind of uranium manufacture. Therefore, they're at an impasse, because the Trump administration has said no uranium enrichment whatsoever.

Somehow, that never comes out in a White House press conference. It's as, if the atmospherics are good, Trump's happy with it. But the devil really is in the details in these things. And it's not done yet.

KEILAR: When he said, I want it very strong, meaning the deal, where we can go in with inspectors, we can take whatever we want, we can blow up whatever we want, but nobody getting killed -- we can blow up a lab, but nobody's going to be in the lab, as opposed to everybody being in the lab and blowing it up, what did you make of that?

DOZIER: You know, he's talking about an invasive form of international inspections that Iran hasn't allowed before.

Iran has allowed IAEA inspectors in the past to monitor what they're doing. But to blow things up, I can't see Iran signing up for that.

SANCHEZ: And what about his warning to Netanyahu to stay out of it?

DOZIER: Well, Netanyahu is under pressure at home, taking fire from domestic politicians for souring the relationship with the United States on several fronts, and this is one of them.

But, from Netanyahu's point of view, if he wants to stay in power, he needs to keep Iran on the back foot. Now, the response to October 7 attacks has already unseated Assad in Syria and decimated Iran's proxy forces in Lebanon and Syria. So, you can see how he would want to follow up with a strike on Iranian nuclear facilities before Iran has time to reproduce its air defenses, which Israel took out last fall.

They want to be able to have a strike where most of the pilots come home, and the longer they wait, the stronger Iran is in terms of its fortifications. So that's why Israel wants to strike now.

KEILAR: When Trump doesn't want to reveal conversations that he's had with world leaders, he doesn't. We know that. But, here, he is. He really wants to be honest about it. He wants the public to know that he's waving Netanyahu off. What do you make of that?

DOZIER: He's shaming Netanyahu publicly by bringing this out, and that also shows that, to a certain extent, he feels emboldened and he feels that Netanyahu needs to be put in his place and put on notice.

It's also a signal to Iran to say, look, we're holding them back, so you better cooperate with us or we might let them do what they want.

SANCHEZ: A fascinating contrast, especially with Trump's treatment of Vladimir Putin.

I don't know how many times we have talked about Putin needing to see action, instead of just words, to be deterred and to be swayed to negotiating peace.

DOZIER: Yes. SANCHEZ: Is this offering of another few weeks to see what the Kremlin is going to do serious? Is that good policy?

DOZIER: Trump keeps giving Putin more rope. And Ukrainians and Europeans that I speak to -- I just had a trip to Ukraine -- they are wondering why Trump is just as afraid as Biden was of Putin's potential use of nuclear weapons.

That's the only thing that they can come up with that Trump keeps delaying taking any sort of actual action to hurt the Putin administration, like the sanctions that are waiting in the wings being discussed on Capitol Hill.

KEILAR: Then why threaten them over and over? It's sort of like saying, I have a line and then never enforcing a line.

DOZIER: Yes. And I have heard from European officials that, according to their intelligence, advisers around Putin have derided Donald Trump, called him all talk and no action, and advised Putin that he can just keep playing this out.

[13:10:06]

Meanwhile, Russian forces are building up on the ground right near a Ukrainian area called Sumy. Looks like they're preparing for a summer offensive to try to keep taking more territory while this talking goes on.

KEILAR: Big drone offensive by Ukraine overnight.

(CROSSTALK)

KEILAR: So we're seeing a lot of this escalating.

Kim, thank you so much. Really appreciate it.

And happening now: high drama in the Sean "Diddy" Combs racketeering and sex trafficking trial. Just a short time ago, his defense demanded a mistrial after an arson investigator testified that a police officer, in an unusual move, had destroyed fingerprint evidence in the arson case involving Kid Cudi's Porsche.

Combs' lawyers accused prosecutors of asking questions that they felt played into -- quote -- "conspiracy theories" about Combs. And that's when they asked for that mistrial. The judge struck that motion down, but did tell jurors to disregard the testimony.

SANCHEZ: This hour, we're now standing by for Combs' former stylist to retake the stand. Moments ago, he was describing threats that he says he heard Combs make to Combs' ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura.

Let's get some perspective from defense attorney Misty Marris.

Misty, great to see you, as always, live outside the courthouse.

I wonder what you make of this attempt by the defense to declare a mistrial. Obviously, it got dismissed, but what does it tell you about how they see this progressing?

MISTY MARRIS, DEFENSE AND TRIAL ATTORNEY: I wasn't surprised to see the defense ask for the mistrial, because, remember, a defense attorney plays a dual role.

On one hand, they're, of course, trying to raise reasonable doubt in front of the jury, but, on the other hand, they're preserving any and all appellate issues. So, here, the defense went so far as to accuse prosecutors of misconduct, saying that their line of questioning was looking to have the jury make an inference that was prejudicial to Combs, namely that evidence was destroyed by the LAPD because Combs is a very powerful person.

Remember, this is a theme that we heard not just throughout the course of the trial from individuals that have already testified, but we also heard that as a line of questioning and information during jury selection. So his defense is being, of course, overly cautious to make sure that objections are raised appropriately. And asking for a mistrial is a part of that.

However, I wasn't surprised to see that the request was denied. Prosecutors said, well, it's the defense who's cross-examining these witnesses about the investigation and the failures of the investigation and the thoroughness of the investigation. So, the way it shook out, I wasn't surprised to see that, but the record, the defense wants to make sure that they keep that clean.

KEILAR: What does a juror walk away from, Misty, when they're listening to an arson investigator, the lead investigator in this incident involving Kid Cudi's Porsche, and they hear the lead investigator say, yes, actually, an officer several months after this fingerprint evidence was obtained destroyed it, and, normally, that wouldn't happen without my approval as the lead investigator?

I know the judge is telling them, disregard that, but they have heard it. What would the inference be there?

MARRIS: Once the bell has rung, you can't unhear it.

And that's why, when the defense and the prosecution were arguing about what curative instruction, meaning, what is the judge going to say to the jury regarding these questions, regarding the objections, what is the result going to be, the defense said, well, don't say anything that would draw more attention to this issue than already is happening because of the objections that have been raised.

So, to your point, there's going to be a question mark about the investigation in total, not just the fact that these fingerprints were no longer there, but also other aspects of the investigation and what wasn't done was raised by the defense.

And, remember, this is part of the defense strategy to undercut that link between the incident with Kid Cudi, both the break-in and the arson, which prosecutors say is the racketeering activity, the crimes that are being committed by Combs and his co-conspirators. So all of that is going to be part of what the defense is trying to

raise. But, to your point, would the jury have actually drawn the conclusion that Combs was involved in destroying that evidence? I don't think it necessarily got that far. I do think the defense is doing a good job at putting a question mark in the jury's head about how tight that link is between all of this conduct and the prosecutor's case on RICO.

SANCHEZ: And, Misty, what about testimony from Deonte Nash, this celebrity stylist who said that he didn't want to be there, that he's testifying because of a subpoena?

I wonder how his testimony that he heard repeated threats about Cassie Ventura builds on the prosecution's efforts to make this a RICO case. A lot of it overlaps with what we have heard before.

[13:15:09]

MARRIS: Yes. And it was very good testimony for the prosecution thus far.

Meanwhile, we're only on direct. We haven't heard the cross yet. But Deonte Nash is testifying about these elements of control. He testified that Cassie's entire persona, her wardrobe, her hair, that was all controlled by Combs, but more so that he had actually heard Combs say, "I'm going to beat you," that he had heard Combs say, "I'm not going to release your music," that he had heard Combs say that he was actually going to get her parents fired.

So all of these things are threats that speak not only to the underlying RICO charge, which, by the way, looking back to the indictment, part of the prosecution's narrative is that he coerces women into romantic relationships under the guise of dating, but it's really for the purposes of engaging in sex trafficking.

But it speaks to both things. It also speaks to that aspect of force, fraud or coercion that prosecutors need to establish for sex trafficking. So, the idea that there were always threats looming over her from witnesses who, to your point, Boris -- he's -- he's there via subpoena. He doesn't seem to have any reason to lie, at least (AUDIO GAP) prosecutors to make their case.

SANCHEZ: Misty Marris, live for us outside the courthouse in New York, thank you so much.

Still to come this hour: America's ports are feeling the pressure of President Trump's global trade war. We will tell you how soon that could trickle down to you.

KEILAR: And then later: Officials say new leads are coming in, as this manhunt intensifies for the two remaining inmates who escaped from a jail in New Orleans.

You're watching CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [13:21:13]

SANCHEZ: Just moments ago, President Donald Trump defended his decision to drop tariffs on China. The two countries have been locked in this escalating trade war, with the U.S. imposing 145 percent tariff, only to cut it down to 30 percent.

CNN's Vanessa Yurkevich joins us now.

And, Vanessa, the president seemed to take exception to a reporter citing critics who said that he had chickened out on these tariffs.

VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, the president was asked in the Oval Office about TACO, not the kind you eat, but this is a phrase and acronym that's swirling around Wall Street right now. This was coined by a "Financial Times" analyst.

And it's sort of taken off (AUDIO GAP) it's alluding to is that the president has set really high tariffs, only to bring (AUDIO GAP) European Union, but then essentially called them off. And that has infused a little bit of confidence into Wall Street, basically investors saying, what he says he's going to do never actually -- what he's going to do and that not actually plays out. Excuse me.

And so we heard from the president about this specific question in the Oval Office. Here's what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: A 145 percent tariff, even I said, man, that really got up. You know how it got? Because of fentanyl and many other things. And you added it up, I said, where are we now? We're at 145 percent. I said, whoa, that's high. That's high.

They were doing no business whatsoever. And they were having a lot of problems. We were very nice to China. I don't know if they're going to be nice to us, but we were very nice to China. And, in many ways, I think we really helped China tremendously, because you know they were having great difficulty, because we were basically going cold turkey with China.

We were doing no business because of the tariff, because it was so high.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

YURKEVICH: So, you hear the president there defending his move to reduce the tariffs after several weeks.

But even though Wall Street may be celebrating TACO, there are many people on Main Street, retailers and consumers, who are still worried about tariffs, even that 30 percent tariff, Boris, that that level was dropped to on China.

Also just worth noting, on the ports, I did a quick check there. Container ships, we have been tracking this, there hasn't been much movement since he announced that he was going to drop that tariff on China. So, retailers may be still feeling the burn from those high tariffs, even though Wall Street is celebrating TACO.

SANCHEZ: Vanessa Yurkevich, thanks so much for the update there -- Brianna.

KEILAR: There are also big questions about how Trump's trade war could affect your everyday shopping here in the coming weeks and months.

The Port of Los Angeles, which is the busiest in the U.S., has seen significantly less cargo and containers this month after the president dropped his tariffs on products from China. It's a major reversal in fortunes for the port and its workers. For the 10 months leading up to the trade fight, the port had seen consistent growth.

With us now is the executive director for the Port of Los Angeles, Gene Seroka.

And, Gene, it's great to have you back. We have been checking in with you regularly to see how things have been going. Three weeks ago, traffic was down by about a third. How's it going right now?

GENE SEROKA, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, PORT OF LOS ANGELES: Good afternoon, Brianna.

And May overall has been a pretty light month, bookended by very low first week in volume, down more than 30 percent, as you mentioned. And here we are in the last week of the month also down about 30 percent compared to the same time last year, some 17 vessel arrivals out of 80 or more that were scheduled this month canceled outright.

For the month of June, we see 10 additional cancellations, although half of those are in the first week.

KEILAR: So why -- we see this reprieve, right, in tariffs on China, 145 percent down to 30 percent, temporarily.

[13:25:08]

Why is that not mirrored in what you're seeing in the port? Or do you expect that it will not be exactly mirrored?

SEROKA: Two reasons, Brianna.

Number one, 30 percent added on to the cost of goods is still a very high number. And, second, that 30 percent is just an average of averages. A customer near the port here told me that they import auto parts for the Big Three manufacturers in Michigan, the average tariff on those parts, about 57.5 percent.

Baby shoes in the 90s, other products well above that 30 percent mark have been the point of conversations of importers and me over the past several weeks. So here's what we're seeing. One, goods that were manufactured and on factory floors in containers are being scooped up by American importers to honor those agreements. Second, if a purchase order was already in motion to manufacture

goods, likely, those will be honored as well and brought in. But with this 90-day reprieve, as you and I have discussed, it's not a long runway in our business. Not many new orders have gone in since those talks in Geneva concluded.

KEILAR: Yes, they're not ordering the new stuff, right? They're afraid they're not going to beat the buzzer here.

And, to be clear, your port, which is why we -- we like you a lot, Gene, but we also really like to talk to you being from the Port of Los Angeles, because your port and the neighboring Port of Long Beach, both there and San Pedro Bay, are bellwethers for the U.S. economy.

So, Americans, looking at your port, how should they be seeing what is happening there as they consider their own bottom line?

SEROKA: Right. Brianna, that's a great point.

And while we are an economic engine feeding cargo to every congressional district in the nation, we're also a leading economic indicator. We can see three and four months ahead of time how many orders actually go into factories in Asia, what's produced, how much is coming across the ocean here. And I see it still very light.

Parts suppliers to American factories are telling me that they will keep a very low, but steady stream of parts to avoid plant shutdowns. An automotive plant line shuts down, that's four million bucks at the top line in lost money to that factory.

And, on the retail side, if the goods aren't moving fast off the shelves, they're not going to be replenished, so lower inventory, higher carrying costs for American companies, fewer selections, and likely higher prices leading into the summertime.

KEILAR: You also have your port workers, warehouse workers, truck drivers. There's the local restaurants, local businesses that are all connected to the economy there in the port. They're really feeling it.

What does it mean for the local economy and how quickly can that rebound if things do actually normalize when it comes to port traffic?

SEROKA: In the second largest city in our nation, Brianna, one in 15 working Angelenos has a job related to this port.

Job postings for dockworkers on occasional shifts have been down as much as 40 percent. Less cargo means fewer jobs, truckers hauling fewer containers across the Southern California Gateway. And, realistically, that's going to hit home. If you're getting less hours on the job and you go to the market and the prices are higher, you get hit twice.

KEILAR: Gene Seroka, thank you so much being our barometer every few weeks as we talk to you. We really appreciate it.

And when we come back: Secretary of State Marco Rubio announces new visa restrictions that he says are aimed at protecting free speech. We will talk about that just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)