Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
Judge Threatens Donald Trump Administration With Contempt Charges; President Donald Trump Touts "Progress" In Japan Trade Talks; U.S. And European Officials To Discuss Ending War In Ukraine; Students and Supporters in Serbia Rally Against Government; U.K. Court Rules Legal Definition of Woman Excludes Trans Women; DOJ Sues Maine Over Trans Athletes in High School Sports. Aired 2-3a ET
Aired April 17, 2025 - 02:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[02:00:29]
KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world, and to everyone streaming us on CNN Max. I'm Kristie Lu Stout in Hong Kong.
And just ahead, an escalating showdown between the White House and the courts with a federal judge now on the cusp of going directly after Trump officials for disobeying his order to turn around deportation planes.
Sounding the alarm, the U.S. Federal Reserve and the World Trade Organization deliver stark warnings about the potential consequences of Trump's tariffs.
And with U.S. Aid to Ukraine expected to dry up soon, all eyes are on Europe to step up support. Are they prepared to go it by themselves?
ANNOUNCER: Live from Hong Kong. This is CNN NEWSROOM with Kristie Lu Stout.
STOUT: The fight between the Trump administration and the judiciary is escalating, with some U.S. officials facing a rare threat of contempt of court charges.
District Judge James Boasberg has ruled the administration violated his order to stop last month's deportation flights of alleged Venezuelan gang members to El Salvador. James Boasberg writes this, "The government's actions on that day demonstrate a willful disregard for its order, sufficient for the court to conclude that probable cause exists to find the government in criminal contempt."
The Trump Justice Department is appealing the ruling. It says the alleged gang members were deported under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, claiming that they were part of an invasion of the U.S. They're now being held at a notorious prison in El Salvador. More now from CNN's Jeff Zeleny at the White House.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: The White House vowing to appeal a decision by a federal judge here in Washington, Judge James Boasberg, he said there is probable cause that exists that the administration could be held in criminal contempt, that is for failing to specifically explain the back and forth over immigration that led to the deportation of migrants.
This dates back to several weeks ago, when Judge Boasberg ordered the government to stop the planes from flying from the U.S. to El Salvador. The administration ignored that request. They did not comply in time that, of course, has led to this ongoing back and forth of the deportation of the Maryland man, Kilmar Abrego Garcia.
But in this case, specifically, Judge Boasberg says that he does believe there is reason to find the administration in criminal contempt, a very serious matter.
Now, the White House says it will appeal the president at least as of Wednesday evening, did not comment on it specifically. That is somewhat surprising, because he has repeatedly called for the impeachment of this federal judge.
Now, Judge Boasberg was appointed to the bench by Republican President George W. Bush, who was elevated later to a higher position by Democratic President Barack Obama. But the White House has had this judge, in its crosshair.
So, this is one piece of these legal morass that is building all over the Trump administration's immigration plan.
Jeff Zeleny, CNN, the White House.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
STOUT: A U.S. senator traveled to El Salvador to visit the Maryland man thought to be wrongly deported, who is now being held in a notorious prison, but says he was not allowed to see him.
Now, Maryland Democrat Chris Van Hollen said he asked the Salvadoran Vice President if he could at least speak over the phone with Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia. But his request was denied, and Hollen is vowing to keep pressing for answers about Abrego Garcia's release, and warned more members of Congress will be coming to El Salvador on his behalf.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. CHRIS VAN HOLLEN (D-MD): I'm asking President Bukele under his authority as president of El Salvador, to do the right thing and allow Mr. Abrego Garcia to walk out of a prison a man who is charged with no crime, convicted of no crime, and who was illegally abducted from the United States. (END VIDEO CLIP)
STOUT: During a visit to the White House earlier this week, the Salvadoran president said he has the power to release Abrego Garcia, but said it would be, "Preposterous to smuggle a terrorist into the U.S."
Abrego Garcia's lawyers say that he has not been charged with any crimes in the U.S., nor is he a gang member. The Trump administration had admitted in court that he was mistakenly deported due to a clerical error, but now deny that, and they allege he's a member of the MS-13 gang.
[02:05:11]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: When Kilmar Abrego Garcia originally arrested, he was wearing a sweatshirt with rolls of money covering the ears, mouth and eyes of presidents on various currency denominations. This is a known MS-13 gang symbol of hear no evil, speak no evil, see no evil.
Abrego Garcia was also arrested with two other well-known members of the vicious MS-13 gang.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STOUT: CNN has gone through the documents that the administration released to support those claims, and our Chief Legal Correspondent Paula Reid says they don't definitively prove that he's a member of MS-13.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PAULA REID, CNN CHIEF LEGAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: It makes reference to the fact that a police informant said Abrego Garcia was part of MS- 13, but then he was denied bond, citing this accusation, they appealed.
But in an immigration bond hearing, the detainee has the burden of proof to show that they are not a flight risk nor danger to the community, and he failed to meet that burden. But that is not a conclusive finding that he was a member of MS-13.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STOUT: Paula Reid there. Now, the Trump administration is demanding Harvard University turn over disciplinary records of international students, or it will strip the University of its ability to enroll foreign students. The Homeland Security Secretary wrote a scathing letter demanding detailed records on the, "Illegal and violent activities of foreign student visa holders."
Harvard reiterated that it will, "Not surrender its independence or relinquish its constitutional rights." The threat is the latest effort by the White House to impose new policies on the oldest university in the U.S. The Trump administration has frozen more than $2 billion in funding, and the Internal Revenue Service is working to rescind Harvard's tax exempt status.
The White House claims the proposed policy changes are meant to combat anti-Semitism on campus after last year's contentious student protest over the war in Gaza.
U.S. stocks fell on Wednesday after a stark warning from the Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell about the potential impacts of President Trump's tariffs.
Investors have been wrestling with the unpredictability of the trade war for weeks now, and Powell said higher inflation and slower economic growth are likely to occur given the unprecedented nature of the tariffs.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEROME POWELL, CHAIRMAN, FEDERAL RESERVE: The level of tariff increases announced so far is significantly larger than anticipated, and the same is likely to be true of the economic effects, which will include higher inflation and slower growth.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STOUT: The markets reflected Powell's concerns about the economy, the Dow tumbled 700 points, while the S&P 500 fell more than two percent and the NASDAQ, it fell more than three percent.
Now, the World Trade Organization is issuing a similar warning, but on a global scale, a new report says trading prospects have "Deteriorated sharply since the announcement of President Trump's reciprocal tariffs."
The group expects global trade to shrink by 0.2 percent compared to a 2.7 percent growth forecast before the trade war. The WTO predicts that North America will be hit the hardest and see a greater economic slowdown and shrinking economies would have a widespread impact.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NGOZI OKONJO-IWEALA, DIRECTOR-GENERAL, WORLD TRADE ORGANISATION: A decoupling between the two major economies could have far reaching consequences if it were to contribute to a broader fragmentation of the global economy along geopolitical lines, into two isolated blocks. Our estimates suggest that Global Road GDP would be lowered by nearly seven percent in the long term. This is quite significant and substantial.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STOUT: The effects will be far reaching. Now, CNN's Mike Valerio has more on the trade war from Seoul. He joins us now. Mike, good to see you. A lot to get to, we got Donald Trump now jumping into tariff talks with Japan while China is still standing firm. What's the latest?
MIKE VALERIO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kristie, you know, we seem to have these acute concerns, which you led up to in the intro of the segment, that the alarm bells are ringing. But there seem to be positive sentiments here in South Korea and also in Japan that deals can get done.
So, we're going to head to pictures from the White House, specifically control room. Let's see if we can put up that one picture that was posted by President Trump of himself and Ryosei Akazawa. He is the trade minister who represents Japan's Ministry of Economic Revival. There they are, right behind the resolute desk.
And why we're showing you that is because there seems to be sentiment that a deal can be done with Japan. Akazawa saying, in part to foreign reporters. "We are very grateful that President Trump met with us. The president never strongly stated, 'this is what we're going to do,' but rather said Japan is the top priority in the talks."
[02:10:13]
So, it seems as though be it Japan or South Korea, the White House is trying to show, Kristie, that if you get to the table first, or one of the first nations to get to the table, you're going to get a deal and a deal that has, you know, relatively speaking, favorable terms.
So, we have that positivity. And I stress in this moment, because a post on Truth, a news conference, can change everything.
And then we have China, where it seems to be that there is no movement in terms of any kind of talks, any sort of progress in getting Xi Jinping to talk to President Trump.
So, President Xi, right now, is wrapping up a trip to Cambodia. He was in Malaysia and Vietnam earlier in the week. So, he's trying to rally more nations in the region to his cause and become better friends with China to get on their side of the equation, as there are, you know, tariffs and a tariff picture that is still highly uncertain from the United States.
You know, Vietnam, Cambodia and Malaysia, all being hit with very high tariffs on April 2nd before they were put on pause.
So, we have new reporting from our team in the region that is conveying that China really wants an attitude change from the United States before talks get underway, and they said that they're not ruling out, according to one source who's familiar with the government sinking in Beijing, they're not ruling out the possibility of some -- of the summit, but sincerity, consistency and reciprocity need to be the hymnal from which Beijing begins to sing.
So, checking in the markets, there seems to be, again, positive outlook here in Seoul and in Tokyo, both indices that ruled the day here in Seoul, the Nikkei in Tokyo up around one percent. Let's see the Shanghai index is a little bit in positive territory, 1.3 percent movement in Hong Kong. So again, the storyline that we're following encouraging signs, which
are reflected in the markets here in Tokyo and Seoul, but major uncertainty still rules the day when it comes to what is going to happen with China, what is the next move between Beijing and Washington, D.C., Kristie.
STOUT: Yes, positive market movement in East Asia, but still a lot of uncertainty out there.
Mike Valerio joining us live from Seoul, thank you.
You're watching CNN NEWSROOM. Still ahead, it is lights out in Puerto Rico.
And when we come back, the power outage that has hit the largely Catholic U.S. territory just days before Easter weekend.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[02:17:20]
STOUT: Welcome back. Now, a widespread power blackout plunged Puerto Rico into darkness on Wednesday, just as the largely Catholic Island was about to celebrate the Easter weekend, officials say all 1.4 million homes and businesses on the grid are without electricity, and many people have no running water.
It is not immediately clear what caused the shutdown, and officials say that the lights may not be back on for another few days. This is the latest in a string of major blackouts on the island in recent years.
Israel says it has turned about 30 percent of Gaza into what it calls a, "Security perimeter buffer zone." CNN has reported earlier that the buffer zone is about one kilometer wide, and it is off limits to Palestinians. Many homes and buildings have been systematically razed to the ground in those areas, and many Palestinians who tried to go there have been shot at or killed.
The United Nations says Israel has ordered some 400,000 Palestinians to evacuate since a fragile cease fire ended last month, and according to the U.N., more than two-thirds of Gaza is now either under active displacement orders or designated as no go areas by Israel.
Defense Minister Israel Katz says the IDF will remain in security zones in any temporary or permanent situation in Gaza.
Now, a lifesaving shipment of wheat is en route from the U.S. to Yemen, but when it arrives there, will one who author -- is there anyone authorized to receive it and to ensure that it gets to the people of southern Yemen who desperately need it. Our sources say this is the result of the Trump administration's gutting U.S. aid, which helps with foreign aid.
The agency had to cancel humanitarian aid contracts with the World Food Programme, including those for Yemen. The WFP estimates that around half of Yemen's population are food insecure, devastated by a year's long civil war.
Now, future U.S. military aid to Ukraine is in limbo now that the Trump administration is in charge in Washington.
And still ahead, we'll talk to an expert about what Europeans could do to fill the gap.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[02:24:21]
STOUT: Welcome back. Now, two senior U.S. national security aides will meet with European officials in the coming hours to discuss how to end the war in Ukraine. The visit to Paris by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Special Envoy Steve Witkoff comes after Russia put a long list of conditions on U.S. proposals for a cease fire.
Meanwhile, Russia's strikes on Ukraine have not led up with at least 35 people killed in a missile attack in Sumy on Sunday, the deadliest so far this year.
David Shimer is a senior research scholar at the Columbia Institute of Global Politics, former director for Eastern Europe and Ukraine at the White House National Security Council, and Author Of Rigged America: Russia and 100 Years of Covert Electoral Interference. And he joins me now from New York. Thank you so much, sir for joining us.
[02:25:13]
DAVID SHIMER, SENIOR RESEARCH SCHOLAR, COLUMBIA INSTITUTE OF GLOBAL POLITICS: Really glad to be here. Thank you for having me.
STOUT: Now, as you've written in an op-ed out recently, U.S. military for Ukraine is expected to end soon. Putin showing no appetite for a cease fire. So, all eyes are on Europe right now. So, what does Europe need to do to help save Ukraine?
SHIMER: So, I think as a baseline, we need to accept the realities before us, the first of which, as you said, is that the military aid packages that were authorized during the prior U.S. administration, the Biden administration, will soon run out. Those deliveries will not last in perpetuity, and so they will cease at a -- at a not too distant future, and the new administration, the Trump Administration, has not authorized any additional security assistance for Ukraine. So that's point one.
Point two is that President Putin has shown no intent to end this war, to accept calls for a cease fire. Rather, he appears determined to continue his invasion against Ukraine, to try to press the line forward and gain more territory.
As a consequence of that, it is incumbent upon the Europeans, who have already stepped up in recent months in the absence of U.S. leadership, to further intensify their support for Ukraine, and there are concrete ways for them to do that. The first is to dig deeper into their own military stockpiles, accept
more risk, give more to Ukraine in the short term, while investing more in their own defense industries, to replenish their stockpiles over the longer term.
The second is to provide support financially to Ukraine's really innovative, effective domestic defense industry, which is producing cutting edge equipment and which the Europeans can support through direct financing.
The third is to try to see whether it's possible for a coalition of European countries, like the U.K., like the French, to go to the Trump administration and try to actually purchase critical material, such as air defense for Ukraine.
And then fourth, and finally, and critically, there is the question of how to pay for all of this, and in my view, the way to do that is for the Europeans to proceed with the seizure of the approximately $300 billion of Russian sovereign assets that are currently immobilized in their jurisdictions, and which would enable them to be able to support Ukraine for the long term.
STOUT: Got it. So, you've laid out very clearly what Europe needs to do next, how Europe can pay for this. But I want to ask you, how is Putin viewing this critical moment?
You know, the world just witnessed that horrifying missile strike in Sumy that killed dozens of Ukrainian civilians. Does Putin see an opening here and a moment of extreme vulnerability for Ukraine to buckle and fold unless Europe moves in?
SHIMER: So, I think that President Putin is biding his time. He is stalling calls for a cease fire. He's waiting to see whether, in the absence of U.S. aid, Ukrainian forces will buckle and he will be able to achieve more of his objectives than he has been to this point.
Because remember, Russia has suffered extraordinarily in this war, Ukraine has performed effectively on the battlefield. Russia has suffered many hundreds of thousands of casualties. The Russian economy has been struggling as well. Falling oil prices will further that strain.
And so, there may be a window from his perspective to actually try to shift conditions more in his favor.
However, I think there is also a window for the Europeans to take decisive action to demonstrate to him that that is not the case. And the way to do that, as I mentioned, most fundamentally, is that if there were movement to seize the $300 billion in Russian assets, and so supporting Ukraine now with European dollars, but with Russian dollars, effectively, in order to provide that, sustain support for President Zelenskyy and for Ukraine through the utilization of those assets.
That would fundamentally shift Russia's calculus, because it would demonstrate that the Europeans have the resources to provide support, not only for months, but for years. It would strengthen President Zelenskyy's position at the negotiating table, and it would reduce Ukraine's reliance on the United States, which, regrettably, as we talked about, has been reducing its support for Ukraine.
And so, I think that kind of a strategic move on the part of the Europeans right now could actually play a big role in shifting Putin's mindset.
STOUT: A lot is going to be moving in the next few weeks and months, as U.S. military aid for Ukraine ends, as the Europeans consider what to do next, directing more money towards defense, more money towards Ukrainians' defense. How do you think China is viewing this moment, and viewing in particular, its support for Russia?
SHIMER: So, I think it's worth recalling that Russia has its own backers. It's both China, but it's also Iran, North Korea, that have been providing a mix of support to Russia. The Chinese have primarily been supporting Russia's defense industrial base. North Korea and Iran have been flowing arms to Russia, and then North Korea has actually deployed soldiers into this war.
[02:30:00]
And so in the coming months, all three countries will likely continue and could decide to increase their support for Russia in the context of the U.S. withdrawing and reducing its military aid support for Ukraine.
And so, I think in that broader international geopolitical context, again, to go back to our core point here, there are decisive steps that the Europeans, that the French, that the Germans, that the Brits, that the Belgians, that others can take here to try to make sure that Ukraine has what it needs to defend itself, to survive, and ultimately, to push Putin to engage in meaningful negotiations, which should be our objective.
STOUT: So, a lot right now rests on Europe and what Europe will do next to help save Ukraine. Does Europe have what it takes? Does it have the political will to support Ukraine meaningfully?
SHIMER: I hope so. I believe very deeply in this effort. I spent, as you noted, years working on this from the White House. I think that supporting Ukraine's self-defense, its territorial integrity, its sovereignty is absolutely vital to international peace and security. I think it's especially vital to European security. And I think that after the U.S. spent basically three years under President Biden putting more than $60 billion in military aid toward Ukraine, in addition to other forms of assistance, the context has shifted. The circumstances have changed.
And we now need to accept those new realities. And I hope that the Europeans with this lead time, seeing these realities in front of them, will increase support for Ukraine's defense industrial base, donate more equipment, see if it's possible to procure weapons from the United States and elsewhere in support of Ukraine. And then as we talked about, make that strategically pivotal move to utilize the approximately $300 billion in Russian assets in support of Ukraine, which would be a game changer in this, in the broader environment and analysis of this war.
STOUT: Absolutely. This is a critical moment that will rewrite the European security order. David Shimer, we thank you for your insight and analysis.
SHIMER: Thank you.
STOUT: Student led protests against the government are taking place daily in cities across Serbia. On Wednesday, demonstrators held lit cell phones for a moment of silence before playing music, banging on drums, and lighting flares. The country has had demonstrations since a roof collapsed at a train station in November, killing 16 people, and it prompted accusations of widespread corruption and negligence.
These students at Wednesday's protests are demanding those responsible for the disaster be brought to justice.
You are watching "CNN Newsroom" and still to come, some groups in the U.K. are celebrating a landmark Supreme Court ruling that says trans women should not be legally defined as women. A report from London after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[02:37:15]
STOUT: Now, a landmark ruling from the U.K. Supreme Court says the legal definition of women excludes transgender women. Now, Wednesday's decision will likely have sweeping consequences for the application of equality laws. Salma Abdelaziz reports from London.
SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: How do you define a woman by law, the United Kingdom's highest court just ruled that the legal definition of a woman excludes trans women. The British Supreme Court's unanimous decision also says, "That the concept of sex is binary. A person is either a woman or a man." This is as it pertains to the application of the country's equality laws. Transgender people will still have legal protection, the court says.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PATRICK HODGE, DEPUTY PRESIDENT, SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED KINGDOM: The unanimous decision of this court is that the terms woman and sex in the Equality Act 2010 refer to a biological woman and biological sex. But we counsel against reading this judgment as a triumph of one or more groups in our society at the expense of another.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(CROWD CHEERING)
ABDELAZIZ: Outside the courtroom, it was "For Women Scotland" that was celebrating, the campaign group that brought the case which challenges guidance from the Scottish government that a trans woman with a gender recognition certificate is legally a woman and therefore entitled to sex-based protections. The group argued those protections only apply to people that they say are born female.
J.K. Rowling, a supporter of the group, has donated to them according to U.K. media outlets, The Scottish Green, the political party, said the ruling was a huge blow to some of the most marginalized people in our society and concerning for human rights. While the ruling stems from a debate in Scotland, it is a decision that will have sweeping consequences for how equality laws are applied across all of the U.K. and its impact will be closely watched by transgender activists around the world.
Salma Abdelaziz, CNN, London.
STOUT: The public feud between President Donald Trump and the Democratic governor of Maine over transgender athletes escalated on Wednesday. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced that Justice Department is suing Maine over its refusal to comply with the president's ban on trans athletes competing in high school sports.
Mr. Trump signed the executive order back in February and he threatened to cut federal funding to Maine if the state did not comply with his directive. The attorney general says Maine violated the federal law that prohibits sex-based discrimination at schools that receive federal aid. But Maine's governor is not backing down. Janet Mills says the lawsuit is not just about who can compete on the athletic field, but whether the president can force states to bend to his will regardless of the rule of law.
[02:40:00]
Thank you for joining us. I'm Kristi Lu Stout. "World Sport" is up next. And I'll be back in about 15 minutes with more "CNN Newsroom."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[02:45:00]
(WORLD SPORT)
[03:00:00]