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Trump Speaks with Foreign Leaders amid Tariff Turmoil; China Retaliates with Reciprocal Tariff on All U.S. Goods; Obama Publicly Rebukes Trump; Dow Plunges 2,200 Points as Tariff Tumult Rocks Markets; Trump Delays TikTok Ban after Tariffs Kill Possible Deal; Aggressive Immigration Push Stokes Fear; Analyst Believes Tariffs will Divide Vietnamese and Americans; Tariffs on Coffee Increases Already High Costs; Russian Strike on Zelenskyy's Home Town Kills 16; Russell Brand Charged with Rape; Sports Highlights. Aired 5-6a ET
Aired April 05, 2025 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Welcome to all of you watching us here in the United States, Canada and around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber. This is CNN NEWSROOM.
Stocks plunge as president Trump's tariffs rewrite the global trading rules. We're live in Rome and Beijing to see how other countries are responding.
A Maryland man taken to El Salvador's infamous immigrant detention facility. What a judge is ordering the Trump administration to do about his case.
And deadly storms wreaking havoc through the Midwest. We'll take a look at the damage on the ground.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Live from Atlanta, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Kim Brunhuber.
BRUNHUBER: It's just past 5 am on the U.S. East Coast and it's now costing more for Americans to import their foreign goods. President Donald Trump's new tariffs went into effect at midnight just a few hours ago.
There's now a 10 percent tax on all goods imported into the United States, set to be followed next week by even higher taxes on dozens of other countries. But already, Trump's decision is upending nearly a century of U.S. trade policy, sending the global economy into turmoil amid the uncertainty.
The president spent Friday at his golf club in Florida, where the White House says he was taking calls from foreign leaders.
The three major U.S. averages were battered by a steep selloff on Friday. The S&P 500 lost more than $5 trillion in market value over the past two days and the Nasdaq closed in a bear market.
Global stock markets dropped sharply again as investors digested president Trump's new tariffs and the knockon effects. You can see it all there, all in the red. The U.S. Treasury Secretary is downplaying the markets' reaction to the sweeping new tariffs.
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SCOTT BESSENT, U.S. TREASURY SECRETARY: For everyone who thinks that this -- these market declines are all based on the president's economic policies, I can tell you that this market decline started with the Chinese AI announcement of DeepSeek.
If I were to analyze in my old hat -- and this is the only time I'm going to talk about it, my old hat -- what's happening with the market?
I'd say it's more a Mag 7 problem and not a MAGA problem.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: President Trump on Friday also took the unusual step of trying to pressure the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates. The Fed's chairman warned that inflation is likely to increase. Here he is.
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JEROME POWELL, FEDERAL RESERVE CHAIRMAN: While uncertainty remains elevated. It is now becoming clear that tariff increases will be significantly larger than expected and the same is likely to be true of the economic effects, which will include higher inflation and slower growth. The size and duration of these effects remains uncertain.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: Meanwhile, China's foreign ministry says, quote, "The market has spoken."
The ministry's spokesman issued a statement on Saturday with an image of all three major U.S. indices down more than 5 percent. China announced on Friday that it was imposing 34 percent reciprocal tariffs on all imports from the U.S.
And a top European Union official says he had a frank two-hour discussion about U.S. tariffs with the U.S. Commerce Secretary. He says he was clear that the tariffs are damaging and unjustified.
All right. For more on the international reaction, we have CNN's Barbie Latza Nadeau in Rome and our Marc Stewart joins us from Beijing.
I'll start with you, Marc. So just walk us through Beijing's response to all this. MARC STEWART, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Kim, as we are seeing,
this trade war isn't just about money. It's also about messaging. And as we see China fight back even further, as you mentioned, it's taking to social media to make its point.
Let me show you a Facebook post that was recently released from a spokesperson from the Chinese foreign ministry. As you mentioned, he made the statement, "The market has spoken," showing a graphic of the declines of the three major U.S. stock indices, all in the red at the close on Friday.
And he went on to call the action by the United States both unprovoked and unjustified and urged the United States to reverse course and resolve differences.
What's notable here is that this is on Facebook. Facebook is banned in China. It's not available to everyday Chinese citizens and it's in English. So clearly this is an effort to make an appeal to the West, to make an appeal to American citizens, who may see this on their feeds.
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This is all coming at a time when yet even more tariffs are likely to be released or go into play next week. And it's a real test for both Beijing and Washington. Take a listen to the thoughts of one economist.
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WILLIAM LEE, CHIEF ECONOMIST, MILKEN INSTITUTE: I think the response from China, the raising the tariffs, is more like using a rifle rather than a cannon in response to president Trump.
And like every other political leader, president Xi has to demonstrate very quickly he's not going to get pushed around by an American president. He has to appeal to the domestic audience to show that he wants to maintain China's sovereignty and he will not allow Americans to push him around.
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STEWART: All right. So that raises the question, who is going to pick up the phone first?
Because we've heard of this long anticipated phone call between president Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping. Kim, it's very clear that both China and the United States does not want to appear weak. So whoever perhaps plays into these, the phone call first will certainly make some kind of statement.
BRUNHUBER: As you say, more than -- about more than money. I want to go now to Barbie Latza Nadeau for a mixed reaction there in Europe.
Take us through the response. BARBIE LATZA NADEAU, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. You know, European
leadership certainly says that there will be retaliation and it will be very direct and it will be very forceful. But you hear different responses from different countries.
In France, the tariffs were met. They were called brutal and unfounded.
And, you know, here in Italy, Giorgia Meloni, who has a warm relationship with president Trump, had, you know, entirely different approach to it. She was, you know, warning against any kind of panic. Let's listen to what she had to say.
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GIORGIA MELONI, ITALIAN PRIME MINISTER (through translator): It is a problem that must be solved. But it's not a catastrophe, as I am hearing these days, which paradoxically worries me more than the fact itself.
Because we must remember that we are talking about an important market, the U.S. market, which is worth about 10 percent of our total exports. We will not stop exporting to the United States. So it is a problem we must solve. But beware of the alarmism I am seeing in ours.
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NADEAU: And you know that alarmism, of course, is felt differently in different countries. So often we think of European goods as luxury food and fashion in these luxury goods and cars.
But there's a huge pharmaceutical business of exportation here across Europe, especially here in Italy. And you've got, you know, cars, auto, automotive but also machinery and pieces of machinery and all those sorts of things that people are very concerned about.
You know, so much of the luxury goods sector, especially when it comes to food like Prosecco and champagne, these are sort of smaller producers. So they're not going to be affected perhaps as much as some of these larger factories that may be forced to have layoffs and close down and things like that.
There's very much a lot of negotiation going on among the European leaders before they determine how they're going to respond, because they are a single market. And so the response can't be individual. It will have to come from the bloc entirely, Kim.
BRUNHUBER: Yes, that's right. So far, reaching all these effects here, as we see talking to both of you, Barbie Latza Nadeau in Rome and Marc Stewart in Beijing. Appreciate it, both of you.
Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer is slamming president Trump's new tariff policies and he emphasized that Democrats are united in combating them. Here he is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY), MAJORITY LEADER: I'm introducing in the Senate amendment to the Senate budget resolution, Senator Klobuchar, and many other Dems (ph) that says that we will be amending both the A.
We'll make sure that any tariff put in place after January 2025 will be rescinded if they increase the cost of groceries, medicines or other secondary goods. We leave in place the tariffs only on China, Russia, Iran and North Korea.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: Republican congressman Don Bacon says he plans to introduce a bill in the House Monday that will aim to reassert Congress' power over tariffs. It will be a companion measure to bipartisan legislation introduced in the Senate this week that would require presidents to justify new tariffs to Congress for approval.
Republican senator Ted Cruz is also speaking out about the tariffs. Here he is.
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SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX): And it's terrible for America. It will hurt jobs and hurt America. And there is a very real risk of that if we go into a recession.
Particularly a bad recession. 2026, in all likelihood politically would be a bloodbath. You would face a Democrat House and you might even face a Democrat Senate.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: Former U.S. president Barack Obama criticized the Trump administration in his first public comments in a while. And he mentioned the economic turbulence in the wake of this week's tariff announcement. But he maintained that he was more concerned with principles he said had been eroded.
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BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think people tend to think, eh, democracy, rule of law, independent judiciary, freedom of the press, that's all abstract stuff, because it's not affecting the price of eggs.
Well, you know what?
It's about to affect the price of eggs.
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BRUNHUBER: For more on this, I want to bring in Stephen Schifferes, who's a professor and research fellow at City St George's City Political Economy Research Centre. He joins us now from New York.
Thank you so much for being here with us. So, you know, for decades, Donald Trump has been saying the world has been ripping off the U.S. He's hoping to take the U.S. back to a world in which American workers made American products that they sell to American customers.
There's a huge partisan divide when it comes to the question of whether tariffs will actually accomplish that. But it does seem to reflect this sort of shrinking support here in the U.S. for global trade.
I remember there was a recent poll that found some 60 percent of Americans say that, when it comes to trade with other countries, the United States has lost more than it's gained.
STEPHEN SCHIFFERES, PROFESSOR AND RESEARCH FELLOW, CITY POLITICAL ECONOMY RESEARCH CENTRE, CITY ST GEORGE'S: Yes. I mean, I think there is that perception and there's no doubt that globalization has damaged the livelihoods of a number of Americans, particularly in manufacturing.
But I think we have to look at the bigger picture. America's manufacturing decline is not because of tariffs. It's because other countries in the world are better at making the goods that Americans want better and cheaper than American manufacturers.
We're not going to just change that by having tariff barriers. What we're going to do is increase the prices of goods for Americans. And I mean, I think, you know, it's easy to condemn globalization and it's had its problems.
But if you just then say we'll just completely abolish and reverse it, there are very far-reaching negative consequences that I don't think people yet understand.
I think the whole policy is really economically illiterate because it's confusing tariffs with trade imbalances. Trade imbalances are not just about tariffs. They're about the fact that people want Chinese cars, European pharmaceuticals, German cars. And that won't be changed by tariffs necessarily. What it will change is the price.
BRUNHUBER: Right. But you know, some countries, in response to these Trump tariffs -- like Cambodia for instance -- have dropped their tariffs on U.S. products. And other countries are now, you know, picking up the phone, trying to negotiate. So Republicans would say, see, it's working.
SCHIFFERES: Well, there are only two key countries in this whole thing that are the scale of the U.S.-China and the European Union. Together, these three countries make up 75 percent of the world economy.
And it's quite clear, in my view, that China and I think Europe will introduce retaliatory tariffs, as Trump would call it, blocking U.S. access to their markets. And these are two of the most important markets for U.S. goods. It's not going to make much difference if we can send more to
Cambodia, because very few people in Cambodia could afford anything we make. It's going to make a big difference if China and Europe start closing their markets to us.
The original aim of U.S. policy was always to open markets so we could sell more abroad. Trump doesn't seem to realize that is part of the policy he needs to introduce.
BRUNHUBER: Yes, certainly. When we look at the effects of all of this, we noted that JPMorgan now has upped the risk of a global recession this year to 60 percent.
But is the U.S. economy actually more insulated if there is to be a long trade war?
Is that what president Trump is counting on here?
SCHIFFERES: Well, it's true that America trades about 20 percent of its GDP. Other countries, for example Britain or China, trade 40 percent to 50 percent. So in one sense they're more effective.
But on the other hand, the reverberations for this, the way that it's disrupting supply chains, threatening American industry, is going to have a huge effect on confidence in the U.S., both among consumers and businesses, who probably will hesitate to make any investments.
And, of course, the stock market; many more Americans hold stocks than in other countries, so they're going to be pretty nervous when their stocks that are their pensions are going down by 10 percent or 20 percent.
So I think it's going to have pretty serious economic repercussions for the U.S. economy as well and put the Fed in a big dilemma, because we may well have both inflation and a recession.
BRUNHUBER: Yes. OK. Well, you mentioned the stocks. So I want to ask you directly about that and sort of tease the difference between the stock prices and the economy.
So when Donald Trump took office, the stock markets were at record highs. And then you look at the carnage in the U.S. markets now. So we're hearing two very different interpretations of what's going on.
On one hand, as we heard, China targeted by Trump's tariffs as saying, you know, the markets have spoken. The Trump administration's point of view has been that the markets aren't the real indicators of the economy.
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So which side do you come down on here?
How do we read what's happening in the markets right now?
SCHIFFERES: I mean, you know, there is a difference between the markets and the economy. President Trump used to, when the economy was bad, say it's great because the markets are up.
But the fact is that a sharp fall in markets affects the economy. It affects people's confidence. It affects the ability of companies to acquire, invest. And it's a sort of -- it's a symbolic way of showing that there are serious problems.
There's no doubt that there is a judgment in the markets among businesses that these are going to be bad news for the American economy. And the market reaction is kind of demonstrating that it's not in itself causing it. But it's making it obvious to a lot more people how serious a problem this is going to be.
BRUNHUBER: Yes, I guess so. We'll see in the weeks and months to come how exactly how serious this is. Listen, we really appreciate getting all your insights on this. Thank you so much.
SCHIFFERES: You're welcome.
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BRUNHUBER: The U.S. economy saw one bright spot with the release of a new jobs report on Friday; 228,000 jobs were added in March, which was far higher than expected. That's according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The unemployment rate did go up slightly from 4.1 to 4.2 percent. Now this data doesn't reflect the aftermath of president Trump's tariffs. One top economist told CNN it's the calm before the potential tariff related storm.
About 4 million people are under flood, flash flood warnings from Texas to Kentucky. More severe thunderstorms and heavy rain could trigger once-in-a-generation flooding into the weekend.
Storms have already killed at least eight people across Tennessee, Missouri, Indiana and Kentucky. The victims include a 9-year-old boy who was swept away by flood waters while he was walking to a school bus on Friday.
Now drone video shows buildings, cars and roads partially submerged by floodwaters after rain pounded one town in Kentucky. And it prompted president Trump to approve an emergency declaration for the state.
Now communities are also grappling with widespread devastation in the central U.S. after the severe storms spawned dozens of tornadoes.
Millions of American TikTok users can rest easy for now. The ban has been delayed. So ahead, we'll tell you for how much more time is on the clock for TikTok.
Plus, the budget fight in Congress clears one hurdle in the Senate but another one looms in the House. We'll have details just ahead.
And the Trump administration's deportation agenda is causing fear, uncertainty and legal wrangling. We'll have those stories and more coming up after the break. Stay with us. (MUSIC PLAYING)
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BRUNHUBER: TikTok is getting more time. President Trump is pushing back Saturday's deadline for TikTok to find a new owner. Now this comes after Trump's tariffs on China killed a potential deal to sell the app to American investors. CNN's Clare Duffy explains what might be next for TikTok.
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CLARE DUFFY, CNN BUSINESS WRITER: Yes, this will at least be good news for TikTok's 170 million American users. They will be glad to hear that Trump has granted another 75-day extension in the enforcement of this ban because, he says, more time is needed to make a deal to sell TikTok off from its China-based parent company.
But that's interesting, right?
Because both president Trump and vice president Vance had said in the leadup to the Saturday deadline that they did expect there would be a deal before the deadline. Trump now saying that more time is needed to make a deal.
And what CNN is hearing from a source familiar with the deal is that there was actually a deal in place this week.
That U.S. investors, ByteDance, and Trump administration staff had all agreed on this deal that would have handed off majority control of TikTok's U.S. assets to American ownership, leaving ByteDance with just a 20 percent stake in the company.
But that deal went off the rails when Trump announced his 34 percent tariff on China this week. And ByteDance representatives came to the White House and said China is not going to approve of this deal while these tariffs are in place.
Now what's interesting is that ByteDance is publicly acknowledging that it is engaged with the White House in these talks. A spokesperson saying that an agreement has not been executed because there are still key matters to resolve. So I think that is the big question now, is can Trump get this deal back on track?
Can he convince China to agree to a sale of TikTok?
While this trade war is escalating?
My other big question is when we might start hearing from the folks in Congress who passed this law on a bipartisan basis on national security concerns. Those national security concerns were upheld by the Supreme Court unanimously earlier this year. What did they think about the fact that this ban is now being delayed
a second time?
I think those are the big questions about TikTok's future. But for now, good news for American TikTok users -- Clare Duffy, CNN, New York.
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BRUNHUBER: U.S. Senate Republicans have taken a step toward advancing president Trump's multitrillion dollar agenda after an overnight so- called Vote-a-rama. They adopted a new budget blueprint.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The concurrent resolution, as amended, is adopted.
SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY), MAJORITY LEADER: Donald Trump has betrayed the American people. Tonight, Senate Republicans joined him in that betrayal.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer focused on the growing anxiety over Trump's sweeping tariffs but his amendment to the budget measure failed to receive enough support for adoption.
So it's not clear if the budget blueprint will survive hardline conservatives in the House. Meanwhile, the week-long feud is still ongoing between House Speaker Mike Johnson and congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna over her push to allow members to vote remotely if they have newborns at home.
On Friday, after speaking with the president, Johnson thanked him on social media for his support. But just a day earlier, Trump said he supported the congresswoman's position.
Fear and uncertainty have spread in immigrant communities throughout the U.S., even among those legally present in the country. Now this comes as the Trump administration aggressively pursues its agenda of detentions and deportations.
Legal wrangling over policies and practices continues. U.S. attorney general Pam Bondi has defended the administration's handling of flights.
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While federal Judge James Boasberg considers whether to hold Trump officials in contempt for allowing flights he ordered stopped.
Outside the U.S., civil rights organizations in El Salvador are appealing for the release of Venezuelans imprisoned in their country. They're asking courts to cancel the deportation agreement made with the Trump administration. A federal judge on Friday ruled that the U.S. must bring back a man
mistakenly deported to El Salvador by the end of the day Monday. The Trump administration has admitted for the first time it made a deportation mistake with the father of three. And it says it can't do anything about it. CNN's Priscilla Alvarez has more.
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PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: A week that began with the Trump administration saying they had mistakenly deported a Maryland man to El Salvador ended with a federal judge in Maryland directing the federal government to return Kilmar Abrego Garcia by 11:59 pm on April 7th.
Now this is the case of a Salvadoran national who was a resident of Maryland, who, in 2019, was granted by an immigration judge what is known as withholding of removal. That is to say that, while he could be removed from the United States, he could not be sent back to El Salvador over fear of persecution.
But that is what happened after Abrego Garcia was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement last month and then removed to El Salvador along with other migrants and is now being held at the notorious mega prison in that country.
Now the federal judge on Friday asking many questions about this particular instance, the fact that he was granted a protected status but was removed anyway. Now the federal judge had asked for evidence both on this but also about his alleged ties to MS-13, as the Trump administration has said he has.
The Justice Department attorney saying during the hearing, quote, "The government made a choice here to produce no evidence."
Now the family was relieved by the ruling that he be returned to the United States but maintained that they, too, are going to keep up the fight. His wife saying earlier in the day Friday that this has had a tremendous impact on their family and her three children.
Now the Trump administration has appealed the case, so these legal proceedings will be ongoing and we'll see what happens there. But certainly a remarkable end after a week where the Trump administration had admitted to an error and then been directed to return one of those migrants, who they say is in Salvadoran custody -- back to you.
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BRUNHUBER: A U.S. federal judge has denied the government's jurisdictional claim in the case of a detained Tufts University PhD student. Rumeysa Ozturk, a doctoral student from Turkiye, was taken by masked ICE agents and kept overnight in Vermont before being transferred to Louisiana.
In a loss for the Trump Department of Justice, the judge denied the government's motion to transfer the case to the southern state and ruled that the order to stop her deportation stands. A similar jurisdictional fight has been taking place over Columbia
University student Mahmoud Khalil. Both were legally in the U.S. when they were arrested.
And more international students at American universities have had their visas canceled or their legal status terminated. A spokesperson at the University of Cincinnati said students had their F-1 visas revoked. F-1s allow international students to pursue full time studies here in the U.S.
The school's president called it deeply alarming. He says no specific reasons were given for the actions.
At the University of Texas at Austin, staffers found out about legal status determinations through a federal database. At least 40 international students and faculty members in the U.S. have been detained by federal agents or had visas revoked. Some experts fear it's part of a crackdown on dissent.
All right. Still to come, U.S. tariffs target the world's largest coffee suppliers, which are already dealing with near-record prices.
And the Pentagon watchdog is taking on the Secretary of Defense. Just ahead, we'll have the latest on Pete Hegseth and the scandal known as Signalgate. Stay with us.
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BRUNHUBER (voice-over): Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Kim Brunhuber in Atlanta. Let's check on some of today's top stories.
The U.S. economy added 228,000 jobs in March, far higher than expected. That's according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The unemployment rate did go up slightly from 4.1 to 4.2 percent.
Now this data doesn't reflect the aftermath of president Trump's new tariffs. Donald Trump's baseline 10 percent tariffs are in effect on all goods imported into the U.S. Far higher tariffs are set to begin next week on dozens of countries, including key U.S. trading partners.
The markets plunged again on Friday, with the Dow and S&P 500 now in a correction and the Nasdaq closed in a bear market. Investors are worried that the tariffs will lead to global recession.
Meanwhile, China's foreign ministry says, quote, "The market has spoken."
The ministry's spokesman issued a statement on Saturday with an image of all three major U.S. indices down more than 5 percent. China announced on Friday that it was imposing 34 percent reciprocal tariffs on all imports from the U.S.
As the Trump administration prepares to slap a 46 percent tariff on Vietnam, the country may be extending an olive branch that he is willing to consider. On Friday, the president said he had a productive call with the general secretary of Vietnam's Communist Party, who he says expressed willingness to cut their tariffs down to zero.
Trump shared on Truth Social that he looks forward to meeting soon. One expert says Trump's tariffs are putting at risk decades of goodwill that has developed between Vietnam and the United States.
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EDDIE THAI, CO-FOUNDER, ASCEND VIETNAM VENTURE: Relationships can erode and break over time. The tariff hike right now largely understood to be damaging among government officials, among business people.
The broader public has not felt the impact yet. But if they start to feel it and it is deep enough and long enough, then that relationship will sour.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: Americans may soon be paying even more for a cup of coffee. The tariffs are hitting the world's largest coffee producers and that includes Colombia, which shipped at least $1.4 billion worth of coffee to the U.S. last year, according to the Census Bureau. CNN's Stefano Pozzebon reports from Bogota.
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STEFANO POZZEBON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Colombian coffee farmers are concerned after the White House imposed a 10 percent tariff on Colombian imports.
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Most of that include coffee.
Now here I am at the warehouse where the Colombian Coffee Federation stores its beans before they are ready to be exported to the United States. About 40 percent of these sacks that are just behind my back are destined for the United States.
And, of course, an import tariff of 10 percent can create havoc for the many people that depend on coffee here in Colombia. There are about 500,000 small coffee farmers that are part of the Colombian Coffee Federation. About 3 million people depend on coffee.
So an increase of prices because of these tariffs could spell really bad for their bottom line. And that's why many here in Colombia are sharing these concerns.
Now one thing to notice is that the United States cannot just replace imports of coffee. It's not like America can start growing coffee in Arizona or California.
They will still have to purchase coffee from the traditional exporting countries, such as Colombia, which got a 10 percent tariff; such as Brazil, which got a 10 percent tariff; or Vietnam, who got a 46 percent tariff.
Who will pay that extra bill, however, remains to be seen. And that's why there is so much concern here in the global south that those tariffs might impact the bottom line -- just down here for CNN, this is Stefano Pozzebon, Bogota.
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BRUNHUBER: Elon Musk's so-called Department of Government Efficiency continues its efforts to slash the federal workforce, despite occasional setbacks in the courts.
A federal judge reinstated the head of the Inter-American Foundation. Sarah Avila's dismissal earlier this year was ruled unlawful. The agency was created in 1969 to support economic development in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Also, the Trump administration is closing the Internal Revenue Services' civil rights office. DOGE spearheaded the effort as part of its drive to cut thousands of IRS jobs.
And the Department of Veteran Affairs will give employees the option of resigning ahead of massive layoffs. VA secretary Doug Collins says some 80,000 workers there will be laid off.
The Pentagon's acting inspector general will launch an investigation into Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth for discussing a U.S. military operation in Yemen on a chat app. CNN national security correspondent Natasha Bertrand has details.
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NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: The acting inspector general at the Pentagon, he has launched a review of the use of Signal by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth to discuss an impending military operation against the Houthis.
And in a letter to the Secretary of Defense issued this week, the acting inspector general said that he is going to be looking at whether any rules governing classification or records retention laws were violated.
Because, of course, Secretary of Defense Hegseth, according to these texts that were published by "The Atlantic" last week, he did disclose very sensitive information related to the exact timing of these military strikes against the Houthis as well as the kinds of aircraft that would be used in these attacks and other weapons systems.
Now while Secretary of Defense Hegseth has said previously that that information was not classified, CNN has been told by multiple sources that it was and that disclosing it prior to the operation actually taking place, Hegseth could have put service members who were conducting that operation at risk.
And so while this inspector general review is not any kind of legal review, it is going to provide some measure of transparency, once it is over, about what exactly transpired here, because it is the first independent review we have seen of this entire Signalgate, as it's come to be known, fiasco.
Of course, we know the National Security Council had said previously that they were going to review this. But the White House said later that they consider the case to be closed.
So this inspector general review is going to be carried out here at the Pentagon. They are going to be conducting interviews and requesting materials from the Secretary of Defense and his aides.
It's also going to be carried out at U.S. Central Command headquarters in Tampa, because this was a Central Command operation against the Houthis in Yemen. And so it may take some time for us to get any kind of answers or any kind of disclosures about what this review produces.
But it is a step toward getting some information about why Signal was used, how widespread the use of Signal is across the Department of Defense and whether any information was improperly handled or disclosed here.
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BRUNHUBER: All right. Just ahead, there's concern Vladimir Putin is stalling on Ukraine war peace talks. And Washington may be losing patience. We'll have the latest next.
Plus, comedian and actor Russell Brand faces multiple sexual assault charges, including rape. Those stories and more when we come back.
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BRUNHUBER: In Ukraine, at least 19 people have been killed and nine of them children in one of the deadliest attacks this year. Russian missile strikes have pummeled the Ukrainian president's hometown.
Among the 61 injured was a baby as young as 3 months old. Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelenskyy has offered his condolences and is now calling for more pressure on Russia. Here he is.
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VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): All Russian promises end with missiles, drones, bombs or artillery. Diplomacy is a hollow word for them. That's why pressure is needed, a sufficient pressure on Russia so they
feel the consequences of every lie, every strike. Every day they take human lives and prolong the war.
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BRUNHUBER: Washington is now warning Moscow that time is running out over Ukraine peace talks. At a NATO gathering on Friday, the U.S. secretary of state admitted the need for a breakthrough and that, within weeks, the U.S. wants to see concrete steps taken.
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MARCO RUBIO, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: The Russians know our position in terms of wanting to end the war and we will know from their answers very soon whether they are serious about proceeding with real peace or whether this is a delay tactic.
It's a delay tactic. The president is not interested in that. If this is dragging things out, Donald, president Trump is not going to fall into the trap of endless negotiations about negotiations.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: Actor and comedian Russell Brand has been charged with rape and sexual assault. CNN's Julia Vargas Jones has the details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JULIA VARGAS JONES, CNN PRODUCER: The Met Police is saying charges against Russell Brand come after a careful review of evidence. It is alleged that one woman was raped in 1999, in Bournemouth, southern England.
One woman indecently assaulted in London's Westminster area in 2001. A third woman orally raped and sexually assaulted in 2004, also in the Westminster area of London, and a fourth woman sexually assaulted between 2004 and 2005, in London's Westminster area.
The Met Police also said that the investigation started after a joint investigation, led by three British media outlets -- the "Sunday Times," "The Times" and Channel Four's dispatches.
[05:45:00]
Brand is being charged with offenses including rape, sexual assault and indecent assault. Now Brand has denied these allegations since they surfaced in 2023 and he doubled down on that denial, posting a video statement on X. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RUSSELL BRAND, ACTOR AND COMEDIAN: When I was young and single, before I had my wife and family, we were just out of shot over there, my beautiful children, I was a fool, man. I was a fool before I lived in the light of the Lord. I was a drug addict, a sex addict and an imbecile. But what I never
was a rapist. I've never engaged in non-consensual activity. I pray that you can see that by looking in my eyes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JONES: Brand has also thanked the messages of support he says he's received from his followers. His battles with drug and alcohol have been part of a bigger discourse on wellness over the past few years.
He did gain a large following online, discussing it, as well as several conspiracy theories, particularly on his YouTube channel, where he has over 6 million subscribers -- Julia Vargas Jones, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: Sean "Diddy" Combs is facing two new charges just a month before the music mogul is set to stand trial in New York. Federal prosecutors have added one more count of sex trafficking and one more count of transportation to engage in prostitution.
That means he's now facing five federal charges. Prosecutors allege that Combs and those around him used his fame and power to coerce women into sex acts, often under the pretense of a romantic relationship. Combs has pleaded not guilty.
An American tourist has been arrested after allegedly attempting to make contact with one of the world's most isolated tribes.
The 24-year old, Mykhailo Viktorovych Polyakov, made the illegal journey to North Sentinel Island. It's around 750 miles off the coast of India. He did so at the end of March.
The island is home to the Sentinelese tribe and visiting the island is illegal under Indian law in order to maintain the tribe's way of life and protect them from modern illnesses. Although Polyakov managed to reach the island, it is not believed he made contact with the Sentinelese tribe.
Well, it's April but March Madness is in full swing this weekend. The Final Four teams in men's college basketball will be down to two by the end of the day. We'll look at how their coaches are getting them ready, coming up here on CNN NEWSROOM.
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BRUNHUBER: A fencing competition in the U.S. has become the latest location for a debate over transgender athletes. A female fencer was disqualified for refusing to compete against an opponent. Brynn Gingras explains why.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Fencer Stephanie Turner was disqualified from a tournament after refusing to compete against her opponent, who she says is transgender.
The official actually issuing her a black card, which means she couldn't compete for the rest of the USA Fencing-sanctioned tournament at the University of Maryland. Turner went on to FOX News to explain her actions.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEPHANIE TURNER, USA FENCER: I was refusing to fence because this person is a man and I am a woman. And this is a woman's tournament and I refuse to fence on principle.
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GINGRAS: USA Fencing told CNN it enacted its transgender and nonbinary policy in 2023 to expand access to the sport of fencing and create inclusive, safe spaces and that the disqualification followed International Federation rules because Turner, quote, "declined to fence an eligible opponent."
CNN is not naming Turner's opponent, who has not responded to CNN's request for a comment and who has not publicly commented or disclosed their gender identity.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: He is still the great one but now he has company. Washington Capitals' star forward Alex Ovechkin now shares Wayne Gretzky's all-time hockey goals record. The Washington captain scored twice last night to equal Gretzky's NHL record of 894 goals, as the Capitals defeated the Chicago Black Hawks, 5-3.
Gretzky's mark was once considered unreachable and play in the game came to a halt as the overjoyed home crowd soaked up that moment and also applauding. You see him there, Gretzky himself. He was in the arena to see Ovechkin tie his record.
Ovechkin said that made it a special moment for him, along with the new memories for his own family.
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ALEX OVECHKIN, WASHINGTON CAPITALS STAR FORWARD: My wife here, my mom, my father in law, kids.
And you know, for the future, my kids are going to remember this for -- and it's going to be on TV. You know, it's not going nowhere.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WAYNE GRETZKY, HOCKEY HALL OF FAMER: Alex has been so. Great for. City of Washington. He's been so great for the national hockey. League. And he's encouraged so many kids in his home country of Russia to play the sport of hockey.
He's been nothing but a champion. And I'm so proud that we're tied. I can live with that for 24 more hours. I can still say I'm tied for the most.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRUNHUBER: Well, Ov's next chance to break the great one's record is on Sunday, when the Capitals take on the New York Islanders. This is the biggest weekend in college basketball. The women's championship is on Sunday and the men's Final Four play today. CNN's Coy Wire is in San Antonio, Texas, for today's games.
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COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Hi, yes. Only one other time in the history of March Madness have all four teams in the Final Four been number one season, 2008, it was on the exact same dates, April 5th and 7th and it was in the exact same place, right here in San Antonio.
I caught up with the final four coaches just a bit ago who led their teams on this whirlwind of a season and asked them, what's one key to being a great leader?
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BRUCE PEARL, HEAD COACH, AUBURN: Trust in your players, trust in your staff. Everybody making sacrifices, you know, for the greater good. Understand that when we, as a team are successful, you as an individual will benefit far more than if you as an individual successful, the team fails. All these kids cared about all year long, is winning.
TODD GOLDEN, HEAD COACH, FLORIDA: I try to lead, you know, from kind of the players' perspective. And even though obviously I'm the head coach, I want them to feel like I'm in it with them.
And so, whether it's practice, you know or some of our workouts and when we're watching film.
[05:55:00]
We always want our staff and team to feel connected. And you know, one of our kind of traditions is shooting half court shots the day before the game and that was an example of that today.
KELVIN SAMPSON, HEAD COACH, HOUSTON: Respect the people you're leading and make sure they understand that we're doing this together. And somewhere along the way, I've learned the importance of being a servant leader and not a boss.
I like working with people and helping them become better at whatever they are doing and I think that should always be a joint effort.
JON SCHEYER, HEAD COACH, DUKE: I've learned that in order to ask anybody to do anything, you better be willing to do it yourself. And that's something I've always tried to take brighten.
You know, I've tried to use the fact that I'm younger to get out there with our guys when possible but end of the day, I don't think you can ask them to do anything you're not willing to do yourself.
WIRE: You are not out there dunking on them, are you?
SCHEYER: No, I'm not. I'm not. I can - I can shoot on him but not dunk on them. I'm not sure about defense either but I'll give it -- I'll give the effort.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WIRE: It's about to be on Saturday night. We have Auburn and Florida tipping things off. Then, we have Duke and Houston duking it out for a chance at the national championship game. For all the live updates and analysis, you can check out our March Madness live story at cnn.com.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BRUNHUBER: And the matchup is set for the women's title game on Sunday. South Carolina will face UConn. Now the Gamecocks are looking to repeat as national champions after they defeated Texas 74-57 in Friday's Final Four.
The Huskies returned to the Final Four after they dominated number one ranked UCLA 85-51. Now this match will give the college games' most high profile player, UConn senior Paige Bueckers, one last shot at the championship before she's expected to move on to the WNBA.
All right, that wraps this hour of CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Kim Brunhuber. For viewers in North America, "CNN THIS MORNING" is next. For the rest of the world, it's "AFRICAN VOICES: CHANGEMAKERS."
