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Trump Administration Urges Supreme Court To "Dissolve" Pause On Deportation; Pope Francis Gives Easter Blessing After Meeting With VP J.D. Vance; IDF: "Professional Failures" Led To Killing Of 14 Gaza Medics; FSU Waives Mandatory Attendance, Will Allow Remote Studies; Justice Alito Slams Supreme Court Majority For Alien Enemies Act Order; HHS Secretary's Remarks Upset Autism Community; Why Some People On Weight Loss Drugs Hit A "Plateau"; Canadian Comic Hero "Captain Canuck" Returns To Face Trump. Aired 2-3p ET

Aired April 20, 2025 - 14:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:00:30]

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: Hello, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me this Sunday. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. Happy Easter.

And we begin with intensifying legal fight over President's Trump's controversial immigration policies. The administration is now urging the U.S. Supreme Court to allow deportations of a group of Venezuelan migrants detained in Texas under laws other than the Alien Enemies Act.

Just after midnight Saturday morning, the Supreme Court blocked the deportations under that 18th century act, freezing the fast-moving case to allow more time for legal proceedings.

And on another front, there is mounting scrutiny over the case of the Maryland man who was mistakenly deported to El Salvador. The Trump administration insists Kilmar Abrego Garcia is a violent MS-13 gang member and will never be allowed to be returned to the U.S.

But a federal judge said earlier this month that the government has not presented evidence that connects Abrego Garcia to any criminal organization.

Maryland Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen, who met with Abrego Garcia in El Salvador last week, spoke with CNN this morning about why his case is bigger than just one person.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CHRIS VAN HOLLEN (D-MD): He was sad and traumatized that he was being imprisoned because he has committed no crimes. And that goes to the heart of this issue, because he's being denied his due process rights.

And Donald Trump is trying to change the subject. And you know, when people start asking about -- asking that question, in my view, they're falling into the president's trap, because what the president wants to do is talk about that as if we can't all fight gang violence, which I've been doing for much longer than Donald Trump, right.

His argument is you can't fight that and at the same time uphold peoples constitutional rights. That's a very dangerous view. And if we deny the constitutional rights of this one man, it threatens the constitutional rights of everybody in America.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: CNN's Kevin Liptak has more now live from the White House. Happy Easter to you, Kevin.

The Trump administration argues it should be allowed to continue with its deportation policies. What more are officials saying today?

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes, and Happy Easter to you, Fredricka.

On both of these cases, what you hear from the administration is that they believe they are acting within the law.

And just to take them one by one, this case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the man who is now held in El Salvador, the message that you've been hearing from the administration is really essentially flaunting that court order that the administration facilitate his return to the United States.

You've heard officials now say on the record that he will never make it back to the United States. And in this effort, they do have an ally in the president of El Salvador President Bukele, who was in the Oval Office just this past week saying essentially that he had no power to return this man to Maryland.

So despite Senator Van Hollen's efforts here, it doesn't appear as if anyone's minds have been changed in the administration.

Now, on this second case, the case of those migrants in Texas who appeared as if they were about to be deported on Friday using the Alien Enemies Act, what you've heard from the Supreme Court is essentially skepticism that the administration can be trusted to uphold the courts earlier ruling that migrants being deported are notified of this within a reasonable amount of time, and are able to challenge that decision.

What you've heard the lawyers for these migrants say is that they were given a paper, one page order in English that didn't provide them the time to challenge the administration's decision to deport them under the Alien Enemies Act, which is that centuries old law that allows for summary deportations of migrants withholding some of those due process laws that are enshrined in the constitution.

We did hear earlier today from Tom Homan, who is the administration's border czar, trying to explain that position of the president.

Listen to more from Tom Homan. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOM HOMAN, WHITE HOUSE BORDER CZAR: The length of due process is not the same under the Alien Enemies Act. That's why the Alien Enemies Act was created -- alien enemies --

[14:04:47]

HOMAN: President Trump invoked the authority he had of the Alien Enemies Act, an act written and passed by Congress and signed by a president.

We're using the laws on the books, the statutes on the books to secure the border and remove significant public safety threats and national security threats to this country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIPTAK: Now, we've also heard just this morning from the two dissenting justices on the Supreme Court in that overnight ruling earlier this weekend, Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas, who said that that ruling was prematurely granted.

He said it was hastily made. And he goes on to say this, this is Samuel Alito who is writing, "Literally in the middle of the night. The court issued unprecedented and legally questionable relief without giving the lower courts a chance to rule without hearing from the opposing party within eight hours of receiving the application, with dubious factual support for its order and without providing any explanation for its order."

So you hear Alito and Clarence Thomas, both conservative justices, dissenting from that majority opinion. Now, taken altogether, I think it's clear that while the administration and President Trump feel like they're on solid legal grounds here, many in the federal court system have differing views, and this will all be tied up with judges and with courts, at least for the foreseeable future, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right. Kevin Liptak at the White House. Thanks so much.

All right. Joining me right now to talk more about these developments and more is Tia Mitchell. She is the Washington bureau chief for "The Atlanta Journal Constitution". Tia, Happy Easter to you.

TIA MITCHELL, WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF, "THE ATLANTA JOURNAL CONSTITUTION": Happy Easter.

WHITFIELD: All right. So when Judge Boasberg ordered the administration last month not to deport migrants to El Salvador, the Trump administration attacked the judge's decision.

Now, the Supreme Court has temporarily blocked the administration from deporting a group of migrants in Texas, and government officials are now urging the justices reverse that order and apply another law.

So is this a prelude perhaps to the Trump administration defying court orders and trying to continue on with deporting migrants without due process?

MITCHELL: You know, it's hard to tell. I think the Supreme Court made it clear in this ruling that did come quickly. It came, you know, over the weekend outside of business hours, so to speak, that they are concerned that without specific directives from the Supreme Court, that the Trump administration would continue these deportation flights that many courts have deemed problematic.

And so I think now the question is, what will the Trump administration do next. If there is just one more flight, I think we're in an unprecedented situation, but there haven't been any flights yet. Again, we're just going to be coming out of the weekend. We'll see.

The Trump administration has said a lot of different things to justify its actions, but I think now we're at a position where the directive from the Supreme Court is so clear that if there is a flight there will be a lot of concerns in potentially that, you know, constitutional crisis that a lot of people have said they are worried could be upon us.

WHITFIELD: And in fact, we're using some of that language being used now, "constitutional crisis" or potentially.

Democratic Senator, Amy Klobuchar was on CNN's "STATE OF THE UNION" this morning where she called on the courts to hold the administration in contempt. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. AMY KLOBUCHAR (D-MN): If the administration won't do it themselves, a court does have the power to refer it to the Justice Department mentioned by Judge Boasberg here.

But also, if the Justice Department won't do anything, a court can actually appoint a prosecutor on their own, An outside prosecutor. because they have the power to hold people in contempt.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: So is that the feeling that the administration is willing to risk defying federal courts and the Supreme Court, potentially risk a possible constitutional crisis moment?

MITCHELL: Yes, I mean, here's what I've seen thus far from the Trump administration. So far, they've been willing to risk defying court orders when they feel they have justification, or a way to describe what they've done as legal.

For example, saying, hey, we couldn't turn around a flight. It was already in motion. We can't bring back a Salvadoran citizen because he's now in the custody of the country of El Salvador.

These are examples where the Trump administration, yes, people are very concerned, but what the Trump administration is saying is we are not disregarding the court order. It's just here's our justification, here's why we can't do what people want us to do. [14:09:46]

MITCHELL: The question is, will there become a time where the Trump administration says the courts have said we should do this, and we're just not going to do it? That has not -- it's come close, but it has not just directly said we are defying this order.

That is the concern. That's the question is would that happen? Will that happen after what the Supreme Court has directed the administration to do most recently?

WHITFIELD: All right. Senator Klobuchar, also accusing the administration of selectively following the law to keep Abrego Garcia's case in the news up front.

You know, the president has taken quite a few hits on the economy with his trade war. Do you think the Trump administration sees this as advantageous to have these kinds of immigration battles taking place to distract from the economic troubles that are growing in this country?

MITCHELL: I do. I think that the Trump administration believes that that part of their mandate, which they believe is a mandate, but what voters told them after Trump was elected president again, is that voters agree with them on the issue of immigration.

But here's what I think is the risk. Trump, as he was running on an immigration platform, still folded into his economic message. So it wasn't just we need a crackdown on illegal immigration for the sake of it.

He said we need a crackdown on illegal immigration because these undocumented immigrants are taking away resources. They are taxing our cities and state budgets, and they're taking away your jobs. They're making things ultimately more costly for you or keeping you from things that the government should be spending its money on otherwise.

So I think the risk is, if people begin to perceive this as just a crackdown on immigration that a, is now taking resources away because you're spending more money on immigration, but also that you're violating potential human rights, and as a -- and also as all this is going on, prices of goods aren't coming down. Jobs aren't getting easier to come by or helping us keep more money in our pocket.

If that economic message doesn't improve, even as they see more resources and more attention on illegal immigration, it kind of cannibalizes everything that President Trump sold to voters last year. And I think that's the risk that they could overplay their hand on immigration.

WHITFIELD: All right. Fascinating. Tia Mitchell, thank you so much.

MITCHELL: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right. Now to the Vatican, where Pope Francis celebrated Easter Sunday, delivering the traditional Easter blessing to the delight of crowds packed into Saint Peter's Square.

His highly anticipated appearance followed a private meeting with Vice President J.D. Vance.

CNN's Christopher Lamb has more from Rome.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRISTOPHER LAMB, CNN VATICAN CORRESPONDENT: Well, this was Pope Francis' most high-profile appearance since leaving the hospital. Francis appeared on the balcony at Saint Peter's behind me, after he had met with Vice President J.D. Vance. They had a brief meeting in the Pope's residence, the Santa Marta.

Of course, Vice President Vance is a Catholic. He was received into the Catholic Church in 2019, but he has not been on the same page as Pope Francis when it comes to questions such as migration.

The Pope, before his hospitalization, released a stinging rebuke to the Trump administration for their immigration policy.

However, the Pope, taking the time to meet with Vice President Vance before coming out to Saint Peters, he offered the Easter Sunday blessing, the traditional Urbi et Orbi blessing, which only the Pope can give.

He did not read, though his Easter Sunday address. The Pope, since recovering from double pneumonia, really finds it very difficult to speak for long periods of time, but he was able to wish people in the Square a Happy Easter.

And after his appearance from the balcony, the Pope got on to the Popemobile and greeted people in the square, delighting the crowd that had gathered.

It's the first time the Pope has been in the Popemobile meeting people since his hospitalization. And he circled the Square and children were brought up to him, and he seemed to be in good spirits.

Of course, this is a pope who really enjoys being amongst people. However, of course, Francis is still recovering from that double pneumonia that almost took his life on two occasions.

He is clearly still having to recover from that. He's finding it difficult, as I said, to speak for long periods. But today was the most high-profile appearance from the Pope since that hospitalization, and clearly did really delight the people who had gathered in Saint Peter's on Easter Sunday to see him.

Christopher Lamb, CNN -- Rome.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[14:14:50]

WHITFIELD: All right. Coming up, Justice Samuel Alito slams the U.S. Supreme Court majority for halting President Trump's deportation of Venezuelans under the Alien Enemies Act.

The Israeli military updates their investigation of what led to the deaths of first responders in Gaza. We're live from Tel Aviv.

And the company behind two popular drugs for diabetes and weight loss offers a new experimental pill version, also effective for shedding pounds.

[14:15:19]

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WHITFIELD: New today, Israel's military says, quote-unquote, "professional failures" led to the killing of 15 Palestinian medics last month in Gaza. That's according to an Israeli investigation released today.

The group was driving in ambulances and civil defense vehicles when the IDF pulled them over and then opened fire. The bodies were then burned in a mass grave. News of the incident sparked condemnation around the world.

CNN Jerusalem correspondent Jeremy Diamond is now with us.

Jeremy, this admission by Israel is an about-face from their initial account of what happened. But "professional failures" -- what does that mean?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Well, we certainly are a long ways away from the Israeli military's initial claims about this incident. You'll remember that when this incident happened in late March, they initially claimed that these ambulances were driving suspiciously, that they didn't even have headlights or emergency signals on.

And then, of course, that video emerged of these vehicles very clearly marked as ambulances and a fire truck with emergency flashing lights on. And then things started to change in terms of the IDF's narrative.

And we are now at the point where the Israeli military is indeed acknowledging, quote, "professional failures" and a quote, "operational misunderstanding" that they say led to this incident in which Israeli troops opened fire on this convoy of ambulances and ultimately killed 15 emergency responders, and including as well as one U.N. official as well.

The Israeli military has dismissed the deputy commander of the Golani Reconnaissance Battalion that carried out this attack. He was in fact the field commander who gave the order here.

They also issued a letter of reprimand to the commanding officer of the 14th brigade, and they said they regret any harm that was caused to uninvolved civilians.

But it is important to note that the military stopped short of criticizing the decision-making of the soldiers on the ground who opened fire. They said that they opened fire because they felt a, quote, "immediate and tangible threat".

In fact, in its statement, about this investigation and the dismissal of that deputy battalion commander, they also praised that commander as a, quote, "highly-respected officer".

I just got out of a briefing, actually, with Major General Yoav Hareven (ph), who oversaw this investigation, and he even told me that he believes the commander who ordered those troops to open fire, quote, "acted reasonably".

And he told me that he believes there's quote, "no evidence of any unethical or immoral conduct by the forces", repeatedly calling what transpired here a mistake that was based on a series of false impressions of what was happening on the ground by these forces, certainly giving a lot of benefit of the doubt to the soldiers who were involved in this very, very deadly attack.

Now, the findings of that internal IDF investigation have now indeed been forwarded to the military's advocate general, who will then be able to make a decision on whether or not to file any charges. That decision will be in the hands of that advocate general.

But certainly for now, we do have an acknowledgment by the IDF of mistakes of operational misunderstanding in this incident. But again, no real acknowledgment of any kind of actual wrongdoing from a legal or moral perspective here from the Israeli military, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. Jeremy Diamond, thank you.

And those medics were not burned, but buried.

Thank you so much from Jerusalem.

All right, coming up, Florida State University plans to resume classes tomorrow for the first time since last week's deadly mass shooting. What the school president is telling students who might be too shaken up to go back to school.

[14:24:03]

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WHITFIELD: Welcome back.

Classes at Florida State University are set to resume tomorrow for the first time since last week's deadly mass shooting. But the school's president is waiving the mandatory attendance policy after some students said they were concerned about returning to campus. They will also be allowed to study remotely.

CNN's Rafael Romo is joining me with more on this. What are you learning?

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's very difficult there because normally be celebrating Easter, getting ready for finals, getting ready for graduation some of them. Instead they're in mourning. That's the very difficult part of this.

And Fred, this week is the last one before finals. And FSU president Richard McCullough says he knows it will certainly not feel like a typical week. Some students return to campus for the first time this weekend since Thursday, when a 20-year-old FSU student allegedly opened fire near the University Student Union, killing two men and leaving several others injured.

People formed prayer circles near the largest memorial on campus, located on the FSU pathway called Legacy Walk, near the student union.

A CNN team counted about half a dozen memorials around campus on Saturday, mostly in the same area near the student union.

Given the circumstances Fred, some students, faculty and staff wondered if campus would reopen this week. In a video message published on Saturday, FSU president McCullough said that while classes will resume Monday, the university will provide students and instructors with new options.

[14:29:52]

ROMO: This is part of his message.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICHARD MCCULLOUGH, PRESIDENT, FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY: And we understand that some of you may not be able to return on Monday. It's ok. It's ok. We will be flexible and find a way to accommodate you. I promise.

Please take care of yourself if you need time or support, reach out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMO: And according to McCullough, Fred, that flexibility is aimed at making sure everyone who needs support get the help they need during this difficult time. An FSU student shared with CNN, the struggle he feels about going back to campus after the shooting.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REID SEYBOLD, STUDENT, FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY: I don't feel safe right now being on campus. I don't know where -- how we're going to do it, but, you know, there's a reason that Florida state is unconquered. We're stronger together. We will always move forward, whatever that looks like.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMO: According to authorities, the suspect in the shooting, identified as 20-year-old Phoenix Ikner, is the son of a Leon County sheriff's deputy and an FSU student. Tallahassee police chief, Lawrence Revell, said Thursday. There do not appear to be any connections between Ikner and any of the victims. But again, as you can imagine, very difficult time, and FSU is offering a number of resources for students to take care of -- take care of themselves.

WHITFIELD: Well, that's going to help indeed, a lot of students.

All right. Rafael Romo, thank you so much.

All right. Coming up, why Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito is attacking his colleagues over President Trump's deportation efforts.

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[14:35:53]

WHITFIELD: Conservative Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito is slamming the Supreme Court majority for its Alien Enemies Act order this weekend. Alito was joined in the dissent by fellow conservative Justice Clarence Thomas.

For more on this rare rebuke, let's bring in CNN's Marshall Cohen.

Marshall, bring us up to speed here.

MARSHALL COHEN, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Hey, Fred, this is a complicated situation. We're going to go step by step.

So, remember, the Supreme Court actually has already weighed in on this controversial maneuver by the Trump administration to use this law that was signed in 1798. The Alien Enemies Act to deport Venezuelan migrants that the Trump administration argues are suspected gang members.

When the Supreme Court spoke a few weeks ago, they said, you can use this law, but you need to give fair notice to any migrants that you are trying to deport them with this authority, and they need a chance to challenge that in court. That's what triggered the current crisis, because on Friday, lawyers from the ACLU representing some of these migrants went to court several courts across the country saying that their clients were being loaded onto busses, likely heading to a tarmac to be deported and flown to a notorious prison in El Salvador without due process, in their view.

That was Friday night, and by 1:00 a.m. on Saturday morning, yesterday morning, the Supreme Court released a unsigned one paragraph order directing the government to pause any pending deportations for this group of people. It appears -- this was a 7 to 2 decision, we don't know, 100 percent for sure, but based off of the publicly noted dissents from those two justices, it appears that some of the conservatives teamed up with the liberals to issue this pause.

Now, they did not explain their rationale, but the dissenters did speak out. As you mentioned, Fred, Sam Alito, one of the most conservative justices on the Supreme Court, had a scathing rebuke. And let me read a little bit of that for you.

Justice Alito said, quote, literally in the middle of the night, the court issued unprecedented and legally questionable relief without giving the lower courts a chance to rule without hearing from the opposing party. Within eight hours of receiving that application, with dubious factual support for its order, and without providing any explanation.

To take the legalese out of it, Fred. He thought this was absolutely atrocious, but he was in the minority. He was outvoted for the time being, and these deportations are on pause. But there is still a lot that the Supreme Court needs to clear up, and we expect that they will likely speak again in the coming days after this easter holiday weekend.

WHITFIELD: Yeah. And additionally, what's unusual about this kind of dissent is usually a courts dissent will be spelling out a legal argument as to why it -- it feels the way it does on a certain case. In this case, Alito took the opportunity to use this dissent to criticize his colleagues. So that, too, is very unusual.

Marshall Cohen, thank you so much.

All right. Coming up, RFK Jr. says autism is an epidemic that destroys families. Why some are taking issue with those comments.

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[14:43:50]

WHITFIELD: Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is facing criticism for claiming that autism is preventable and part of a chronic disease epidemic that destroys children and families. He made those remarks at his first news conference as the head of the department. Advocates and researchers say his rhetoric is harmful for Americans living with autism.

CNN's Julia Vargas Jones is joining me right now.

Julia, how are families and members of the autism community reacting to this?

JULIA VARGAS JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, they're saying that the comments were demeaning, degrading, insulting and frankly, just inaccurate. You know, we caught up with one of these people, an autism advocate, who went from being nonverbal and dropping out of the fifth grade because he couldn't go to school to now teaching a class at UCLA.

Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR., HHS SECRETARY: Canard.

JONES (voice-over): A series of controversial statements about autism by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., sparking anger last week in the autism community.

KENNEDY: This is coming from an environmental toxin. And these are kids who will never pay taxes. They'll never write a poem. They'll never go out on a date. Many of them will never use a toilet unassisted.

[14:45:01]

JONES: He later clarified he meant among the most severe cases.

The CDC says about a quarter of eight-year-olds with autism are considered to have profound autism.

For Russell Lehmann, who was diagnosed with autism at age 12, the words stung.

RUSSELL LEHMANN, DIAGNOSED WITH AUTISM: It's degrading. There are some individuals out there who have very high support needs. To talk about them as if they are not able to contribute anything to this world does a disservice to them.

I was that little boy who would cry and shut down and break down the minute I wasn't by my mom's side due to severe anxiety.

JONES: Lehmann is a public speaker raising awareness about autism and a lecturer at UCLA.

R. LEHMANN: I want people to know the real, raw, transparent look into my world.

JONES: Kennedy's remarks followed a CDC report showing a rise in autism diagnosis rates among U.S. children. In 2022, about one in every 31 children was diagnosed by age eight, up from 1 in 36 in 2020, and 1 in 150 children in 2000, according to CDC data.

Autism diagnosis rates are also higher among boys than girls, and an Asian Pacific Islander, Black and Hispanic children.

Experts have largely attributed this rise to the better understanding and screening for the condition.

But Kennedy argues that this lets industries that make or use products he believe may be linked to autism off the hook.

KENNEDY: And its to their benefit to say all that to normalize it.

JONES: Kennedy says HHS has launched research to identify a cause for autism by September.

R. LEHMANN: For him to cut funding to where we are conducting that research and those studies, and then to start his own task force led by people who are anti-vaxxers, does nothing. If we got accommodations, we would thrive. All of us would pay taxes. All of us would be able to write a poem. All of us would be able to have a relationship.

JONES: Awareness is the first step for that, he says. In the mid- 1990s, when Lehmann was being diagnosed, autism was hardly part of the conversation.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How many different doctors did you go to? GRETCHEN LEHMANN, RUSSELL'S MOTHER: I would say 10 easily.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And what do they tell you?

G. LEHMANN: Usually an incorrect diagnosis.

JONES: As school became unbearable, Russell dropped out in the fifth grade.

R. LEHMANN: You know, I never had the opportunity to go to college or anything like that. I was very lost, had no friends.

JONES: It was poetry that inspired him to make something out of his suffering.

R. LEHMANN: I always feel like. I'm just one random act away.

JONES: The raw, unfiltered videos he posts online have gained him thousands of followers, many of whom say he makes them feel seen.

R. LEHMANN: I want to keep it authentic. I don't want to say autism is a superpower. If it's my superpower, it's my kryptonite. If it's my best friend, it's my worst enemy, you know? So, autism is neither good or bad. It's both.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JONES (on camera): And the silver lining here, Fred, is that there's attention being brought to autism. He says, Lehmann, that the difference is that it should be directed towards bringing more support and dignity to the lives of people living with autism, instead of being focused on finding a cause.

WHITFIELD: Wow. Such an important point of view and what courage that he displayed to share and help educate so many.

All right, Julia Vargas Jones, thank you so much.

All right. The company behind two popular drugs for diabetes and weight loss says that its experimental pill version is also effective for shedding pounds. Eli Lilly's announcement comes as some people who use the injectable drugs say they've hit a plateau and can't lose any more weight.

CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta takes a look at why.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: What was the highest weight you ever had?

KOSTA LIGRIS, WEIGHT LOSS DRUG PATIENT: The highest weight I ever had was over -- just slightly over 400 pounds. You have this sort of reckoning like, OK, I'm going to die.

GUPTA (voice-over): So Kosta Ligris started taking a weight loss drug three years ago. How much weight did you lose?

LIGRIS: I've lost probably over 130 pounds.

GUPTA: Wow. Do you want to lose more weight?

LIGRIS: I do.

GUPTA: But losing more weight has become increasingly difficult.

And, of course, the Zepbound.

LIGRIS: And the Zepbound.

GUPTA: Even on what is now the highest dose of his GLP-1 drugs.

LIGRIS: This is the equivalent of 15 milligrams of Mounjaro. I'm not losing seven or eight pounds a month anymore.

GUPTA: People are using this word "plateau" when it comes to these medications. What does that term mean to you?

LIGRIS: Plateau basically means you're continuing to use the medication at the dosage that you've been using it, but the weight loss has stopped, like you have reached sort of a ceiling or a cap.

DR. ANGELA FITCH, CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER, KNOWNWELL: All right, you know the drill.

GUPTA: Dr. Angela Fitch prescribes Kosta's medications.

FITCH: We don't have something that gives you greater than a 20 to 30 percent weight loss today on average. That 20 percent weight loss is a real plateau barrier that we have trouble kind of breaking through without more intensive intervention like surgery. As you lose weight, your body makes biochemicals that try to force your weight to go back up.

[14:50:04]

LIGRIS: But as you'll see, it's -- it's a heavy protein diet.

GUPTA: If Kosta wants to lose more weight at this point, that's going to have to mostly come from good nutrition and lifestyle changes.

LIGRIS: I've moved away from just doing a lot of cardio to moving to strength training and it's completely changed my life.

GUPTA: If you're doing everything right though, getting plenty of sleep, eating right like Kosta's doing, working out, you may still plateau on these medications.

FITCH: You will plateau. It is inevitable, yes.

GUPTA: You will plateau. So is a plateau an end goal to achieve or an obstacle to overcome? FITCH: That is an excellent question and I think, you know, for now it is somewhat of both. We have to be happy with it being an end goal to achieve because that's the limit of our treatment today. But I think as an individual person, we still continue to make changes.

You've lost 2.7 pounds of fat since last time.

Even Kosta is still losing fat around his midsection, which is better for his health. The hope is the future is different, that we have other treatments we can offer that could potentially break through those plateaus.

GUPTA: But until then, Kosta will be in uncharted territory.

LIGRIS: I think that sometimes when we think about weight loss, a plateau sounds like a bad thing. Like you get to that number and you're stuck there. By the way, let's be clear. If I stay at this weight and I can never lose another pound, I'm probably, you know, 100 times healthier than I was when I was 130 pounds heavier and probably have added years to my life.

GUPTA: Everything you measure says you're healthy. Why do you want to lose more weight?

LIGRIS: I think that as I get older, it might be a challenge to continue to lose weight. You know, just looking historically at the data, the lower percentage body fat, the better. I certainly don't think I could lose 130 pounds, another 130 pounds.

GUPTA: Can't wither away to nothing.

LIGRIS: Can't wither away to nothing.

GUPTA: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, Boston.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks so much, Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

All right, coming up, Pope Francis wishes happy easter to delighted crowds at the Vatican, including right there in a one-on-one meeting, the U.S. vice president.

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[14:56:51]

WHITFIELD: On this Easter Sunday, members of the British royal family attended a traditional service in Windsor, England. It was held in a 15th century chapel. King Charles and Queen Camilla were there, along with most of the royal family. The prince and princess of Wales and their children spending the holiday weekend at their country estate.

President Trump makes an appearance in a Canadian comic book, but he's not the hero. CNN's Paula Newton explains how Trump has inspired a new mission for

Captain Canuck.

BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CAPTAIN CANUCK: Happy Canada Day, folks!

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Okay, Canuck. Get moving. There's a holiday crowd out there and we have less than three minutes.

PAULA NEWTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Canada's comic book superhero, Captain Canuck, is back, and this time, he's taking on U.S. President Donald Trump.

In this 50th anniversary issue, Captain Canuck fights to protect Canada's independence from the U.S. Canuck's co-creator Richard Comely says he wanted to bring the maple leaf covered hero back after Trump said he wanted Canada to become the 51st U.S. state and started his trade war with allied countries.

RICHARD COMELY, CO-CREATOR, CAPTAIN CANUCK: All of a sudden, Trump gets into office and he starts talking about annexation and tariffs. And yes, all of a sudden, Canadians are looking to Captain Canuck as a symbol. And it's basically, to them, Captain Canuck symbolizes independence.

We -- no, thank you. We have our own independent -- we have our own symbols.

NEWTON: Since 1975, Captain Canuck has been a symbol of Canadian strength, with story lines about fighting off foreign powers and groups who tried to take over Canada.

COMELY: Never, never in any of those stories was it America that was going to be taking over Canada?

NEWTON: Captain Canuck has been popular in Canada for years, with a countless number of comic books, spin-offs, and even a web series. Comely says he has received lots of new interest in the character since political tensions began to rise between the U.S. and Canada.

COMELY: So, in a sense, we have Mr. Trump to thank for a bit of resurgence.

NEWTON: Paula Newton, CNN, Ottawa.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right. Eva Longoria is back with an all new food adventure. She explores the vibrant and daring cuisine of Spain, one bite at a time. Eva Longoria "SEARCHING FOR SPAIN" premieres a week from today at 9:00 p.m. right here on CNN.

Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What do you think? Is that chicharron?

EVA LONGORIA, CNN HOST: Shiitake mushroom.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a duck tongue.

LONGORIA: Duck tongue? I didn't even know ducks had tongues.

Hello?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Eva Longoria.

LONGORIA: Mucho gusto.

Hola!

(voice-over): Eleven generations ago, one of my ancestors left Spain for the new world and a new life. Four hundred years later, I'm back.

I'm so excited.

To see how the land and its people have created one of the world's most exciting cuisines.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I have an important question.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you hungry?

LONGORIA: I'm hungry.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Perfect.

LONGORIA: Wow.

You can taste the land, the grass, what they eat.