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Hamas To Release Last Known American Hostage; President Zelenskyy Ready Willing To Meet With President Putin; U.S.-China Trade Deals Constructive In Geneva; President Trump To Travel To The Middle East; Flights Back To Normal After Ground Stops at Newark And Atlanta; New Pope Preaches "Never Again War"; Diddy Jury Will Be Seated And Trial To Start Soon. Aired 5-6p ET

Aired May 11, 2025 - 17:00   ET

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

[17:00:00]

JESSICA DEAN, CNN HOST: You're in the "CNN Newsroom." I'm Jessica Dean in New York, and we do begin this hour with breaking news as Hamas announce the imminent release of Edan Alexander. He's the last known living American hostage being held in Gaza right now. CNN Jerusalem correspondent Jeremy Diamond is standing by. He's joining us now live. Jeremy, tell us how this came together and what more you're learning?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is very significant news, Jessica. Edan Alexander is indeed the last living American held hostage in Gaza by Hamas, and I'm told by a source familiar with the matter that he will be released within the next two days. It's not clear yet whether that will be tomorrow or Tuesday, but that is indeed the plan for him to be released.

Steve Witkoff, President Trump's special envoy for the Middle East, who was instrumental in negotiating this, what is described as a goodwill gesture on Hamas's part to release Edan Alexander. Witkoff will be flying to Tel Aviv tomorrow morning, I'm told and he will be on hand in order to welcome Edan Alexander home and out of Hamas captivity after 19 months. Alexander is an Israeli soldier. He was taken captive by Hamas on October 7th, has been held captive by Hamas since then.

Since then, a little less than a month ago, Hamas had announced that it lost contact with the Hamas militants who were guarding Alexander, raising questions about whether or not he was even alive. But this deal and this announcement by Hamas to release him now confirms that he is indeed alive and he is now expected to be released. Now what will follow here according to the source that I spoke with is immediate negotiations in order to try and secure the release of additional hostages and negotiations that could perhaps even lead ultimately to the end of the war or at least a cease fire in the Gaza Strip.

The Israeli prime minister's office indeed acknowledging that that is what the United States has said, that this move is expected to lead to additional negotiations, but Israel isn't giving up anything, in order to get Alexander out here. No Palestinian prisoners will be released. Again, this is a goodwill gesture on Hamas' part according to a source that I spoke with, one that is intended, to try and jump start future negotiations.

I'm also told that as this is coming days before President Trump arrives in the region, that this agreement for Edan Alexander to be released would not have happened without President Trump according to my source familiar with these negotiations. Jessica?

DEAN: Yeah. Just incredible news. Nineteen months as you note in captivity. Jeremy, I also want to ask you about these comments from Hamas saying that this is part of the steps taken to get humanitarian aid going back into Gaza. Connect those dots for us. What are you learning about that?

DIAMOND: Yeah. Well, it's important to note that we've now reached 10 weeks since Israel has been carrying out this total siege on the Gaza Strip. Ten weeks during which not a single truck of food, of medical supplies, of any kind of humanitarian or commercial goods has made it into the Gaza Strip. And indeed, part of what Hamas is hoping here is that this goodwill gesture of releasing Edan Alexander will ultimately lead to some kind of a deal that would include a ceasefire, that would include the release of Palestinian prisoners, and that crucially for the 2 million plus people who live in Gaza would also lead to the entry of much needed humanitarian aid.

And we know that the conditions in Gaza are rapidly, deteriorating, affecting not only 2 million plus Palestinian civilians living in Gaza, but also, of course, the hostages who remain in the Gaza Strip at least 21 of whom are believed to be alive at this stage. We know that cases of acute malnutrition are rapidly rising in Gaza.

The United States and Israel had been working on a mechanism to get aid into parts of Gaza, but this was a mechanism that's been heavily criticized by the United Nations and other aids groups.

[17:04:59]

But if there is a ceasefire, if there is some kind of a broader deal here, that will open up the floodgates once again for aid to be getting into Gaza. Jessica?

DEAN: Alright. Alright, the breaking news tonight. Jeremy Diamond, thank you so much for that. We really appreciate it.

Meantime, it is just past midnight in Ukraine, and we are minutes into what Europe and Ukraine said should be the start of a 30-day ceasefire, one that Russia appears to be ignoring. President Vladimir Putin has not even acknowledged the ceasefire demand, which had been backed by the U.S. Instead, Russia's leader is proposing direct talks with Ukraine later this week.

President Donald Trump pushed hard for Ukraine to accept Putin's offer, saying Putin wants to negotiate a, quote, "possible end to the bloodbath." And this evening, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in an apparent attempt to regain the initiative, has said he's ready for what would be his first meeting with Putin since the start of this war. CNN's chief international security correspondent, Nick Payton Walsh, is live in Kyiv tonight with more on this rapidly developing situation. Nick, what do you know?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. Certainly, it's been an extraordinary 36 hours in the diplomatic progress of this war, and the war in general frankly with Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy clearly trying to take the initiative by saying that he will go on Thursday to Istanbul to meet with President Vladimir Putin if indeed the Kremlin head turns up there.

That is after the Kremlin suggested that meeting in a long press conference early this morning, Vladimir Putin not really directly addressing the European and Ukrainian demand for a ceasefire, but instead saying that potentially that could be the first direct Russian-Ukrainian talks in this war. That came after an extraordinary moment here in Kyiv on Saturday where the four largest Ukrainian -- sorry, European militaries, U.K., France, Poland. and Germany stood together and with Ukraine demanded an unconditional 30-day ceasefire, originally an American-Ukrainian proposal.

They said they had U.S. support for that and indeed they said they had U.S. support for the idea of sanctions if Russia did indeed ignore that ceasefire. Well, it's in its first minutes now. Russia has not publicly said it accepted it. Zelenskyy said he expects it to start and I think many Ukrainians not really expecting much change in the violence they've been experiencing over the past months and years.

DEAN: And, Nick, where does this leave President Trump and the administration, the White House in all of this?

WALSH: Yeah. I mean, so much of this European and Ukrainian proposal had seemed to depend upon Trump's backing. Indeed, the European leaders posted pictures of themselves huddled around the telephone talking to Trump after their initial meeting, essentially briefing him and emerging, saying he supported their initiative. He did seem positive about continuing to work on Ukraine-Russia peace even after Putin spoke early this morning and didn't really reference the ceasefire at all.

Instead, today, his latest Truth Social post does seem to talk more about the Russian narrative saying our president Russian -- Russian President Vladimir Putin doesn't want a ceasefire but does want a meeting in Istanbul. He urged Volodymyr Zelenskyy to accept that meeting. He said that the war needs to end now. He told Zelenskyy to take that meeting now, and seems to put pressure again on Ukraine.

He oddly suggested that Putin was spending too much time celebrating the victory in World War II that couldn't have happened without U.S. support, a sort of interesting slalom that particular posting between bits of geopolitics and history. Ultimately though, the Europeans were very dependent upon U.S. support to make this proposal in the first place and that appears to have ebbed it seems as this ceasefire deadline nears.

We haven't heard Trump publicly demand Russia adhere to it. Perhaps Moscow was seized upon that in their desire to ignore it. It doesn't look like it's going to happen. And I think that's taken some of the wind out of the sales of that extraordinary moment of European- Ukrainian unity on Saturday. And I think many now will be wondering quite exactly where Donald Trump's mindset is in this.

Is he willing to let Putin set the narrative, call for this meeting on Thursday to demand Zelenskyy turns up there, Zelenskyy himself offering to meet in person, not something Putin suggested? So, it's a breakneck moment here, but be in no doubt that offer on Saturday of a ceasefire, that demand for it was a key moment in this war and it doesn't appear that Russia is simply going to shun it and instead impose a narrative and a timetable for diplomacy that this point, the White House seems to be going along with.

DEAN: Alright. More to come on this. Nick Payton Walsh with the latest, live from Kyiv tonight. Thank you so much for that reporting.

U.S. Officials emerging from behind closed doors in Switzerland to declare what they called substantial progress in the two days of the high level trade talks between the U.S. and China, the world's top economic superpowers.

[17:09:57]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SCOTT BESSENT, TREASURY SECRETARY: I'm happy to report that we've made substantial progress between the United States and China in the very important trade talks.

JAMIESON GREER, U.S. TRADE RESPRESENTATIVE: The president declared a national emergency and imposed tariffs, and we're confident that the deal we struck with our Chinese partners will help us to resolve -- work toward resolving that national emergency.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent giving few details on the negotiation, but there is growing pressure on the White House for a deal with cargo shipments from China grinding to a halt amid President Trump's trade war. CNN senior White House reporter Betsy Klein is joining us now from the White House. Betsy, what more are you learning about how these initial talks went?

BETSY KLEIN, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, as you just mentioned, it's very short on specifics, but the White House is calling this a deal, and it could have massive implications for the global economy and markets. Now all of this comes after President Trump imposed the sweeping 145 percent tariffs on China earlier last month, of course, roiling markets. And subsequently, the president announced what was essentially an agreement in principle with the United Kingdom on trade.

His economic adviser, Kevin Hassett, says that there are about 24 deals in the works with other countries, but a deal with China had proven elusive. Its talks were really at a relative stalemate until this weekend. And those U.S. Officials emerging saying that substantial progress had been made.

President Trump on Saturday characterized this weekend discussion as a reset in the relationship between the U.S. and China. And I just want to underscore something that the U.S. Trade Rep, Jamieson Greer said as he addressed reporters shortly after these talks concluded in Switzerland. He said, quote, "perhaps the differences were not so large as maybe thought."

Now China's Vice Premier, according to state media, says that they have agreed to establish a trade consultation mechanism and that there would be further consultations going forward. What we still don't know, Jessica, is what rate of tariff both sides agreed to, how this will be implemented, what the plan is for future talks. But the president is heading on that international trip this week and clearly eager to tout a big economic win, Jessica.

DEAN: Yeah. And I do want to ask you about something else, Betsy. President Trump is preparing, as you mentioned, for his first major overseas trip in his second term. He's going to Middle East. Two sources are telling CNN the Trump administration is planning to accept a luxury plane from the Qatar royal family to use as Air Force One. What more have you learned about that?

KLEIN: Yeah. This is according to two people familiar with the agreement who tell our colleague, Kaitlan Collins, that the U.S. has reached an agreement with the Qatari Royal Family to essentially retrofit a 747-8 Boeing plane and use it as Air Force One during the president's second term.

President Trump actually toured a plane similar to this in Palm Beach back in February, and the White House at the time took the opportunity to really take aim at Boeing for delays in getting the new Air Force One ready. Of course, Boeing has cited supply chain issues as well as COVID-19 era staffing shortages as reason for those delays. But a new Boeing 747-8 typically costs around $400 million. So this is really unprecedented. It raises substantial ethics and legal questions.

A Qatari official is telling us that the plane is being gifted by the Qatari Ministry of Defense to the Pentagon, describing it as more of a government to government transaction than a personal gift, Jessica. But, again, all of this comes as the president is set to embark on that trip to Qatar. We'll be watching it very closely.

DEAN: Indeed we will. Betsy Klein at the White House. Thank you so much for that. Up next, we're going to have more on our breaking news out of Israel and Ukraine. We're going to speak with the man who negotiated the first Gaza ceasefire agreement.

Plus, Pope Leo calls for peace during his first Sunday address at the Vatican. What he's saying about peace in Ukraine and Gaza.

And dozens more flights canceled at Newark Airport this morning after yet another equipment outage brought more chaos. You're in the "CNN Newsroom."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:15:00] DEAN: President Trump is getting ready for his first big foreign trip of his second term. He's going to head to the Middle East tomorrow night amidst a flurry of diplomacy on multiple fronts. Just a very short time ago, Hamas announced it will imminently release Edan Alexander, the last known living American being held hostage in Gaza. I want to bring in CNN Global Affairs analyst Brett McGurk, who served as White House coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa under President Biden.

And, Brett, I know you negotiated the first Gaza ceasefire agreement that wrapped up in January. So you have a lot of practice, and you have been through and set in on these meetings, been in these rooms. I just initially want to get your reaction to this news that Edan Alexander is imminently going to be released and what you think could come next?

BRETT MCGURK, FORMER MIDDLE EAST & NORTH AFRICA COORDINATOR, NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL: Well, Jessica, thanks. I've -- it's rare that I'm on your program talking about international affairs and have some really just good news. I mean, this is just terrific, terrific news.

DEAN: I know.

MCGURK: I know the family. I spoke with Adi Alexander, Edan's father here about an hour and a half ago. I give Steve Witkoff incredible credit for continuing to pursue this. The guy never gives up.

[17:20:04]

And, frankly, I give the administration credit for clearly leveraging President Trump's visit on Wednesday to Qatar, to Doha, the first president ever visiting Qatar, to clearly encourage the Qataris to do all they possibly can to get Edan out of Gaza. And, you know, Hamas is under a tremendous, tremendous pressure, unprecedented pressure, military pressure. The aid situation is a disaster as was just reported earlier, and there is a broader deal on the table.

I think now we have to really focus on using this moment to try to get to that broader deal, bring the rest of the hostages home, and come to an arrangement whereby Hamas relinquishes its military security control of Gaza. Because without that, there's no hope here. There's no hope for Gazans, no hope for Palestinians.

And in the deal, we negotiated in the Biden administration, which we concluded in January, and, again, myself and Steve Witkoff worked very closely on that in those final weeks, phase two of the deal, which are the rest of the hostages, the deal says conditions have to be set for that, and that means Hamas ultimately, has to relinquish its control of Gaza. But, look, this is a great, great step. I really am hopeful.

We will see Edan free, probably with President Trump at some point during this trip. That'll be, just extraordinary, but it can't stop here. You got to keep pushing.

DEAN: And so to that end, let's zoom out a little bit with President Trump's trip to the Middle East and just the region writ large. You put all of these pieces together, and there is just -- there's a lot of dynamics at play here both with what's happening in Gaza, but also with the Saudis potentially normalizing relationship -- normalizing the relationships. You've obviously got the Trump administration talking indirectly with Iran.

There's just a lot of dynamics at play in that region. What are you expecting to come out of this trip? What do you think they're thinking about as they go into this?

MCGURK: Well, Jessica, you said flurry of diplomacy, and that's right. Look, this is a much different Middle East now from when President Trump was there in 2017 in the first year of his administration. At that time, there was a red hot war going on against ISIS. I was the ISIS envoy at that time. The region, the Gulf, the countries he'll be in, we're really encouraging him to get out of the Iran nuclear deal. There's a just a lot of tension within the Gulf.

We later saw a boycott of Qatar from UAE and Saudi Arabia, two countries that President Trump will visit. It's completely different now. It's completely different. These countries are now looking for stability, for economic growth, for massive investments in AI and data centers. They want to be with us, within our technology ecosystem. I think that'll be a big theme of the trip.

And, frankly, they are supporting the administration's diplomacy with Iran, which is completely different than the last time President Trump was there. So I think he'll hear a lot of that. The theme here, in this part of the world, which he will hear in the Gulf, is we need stability, we want growth, we're investing our own people, and you have the backdrop of the Iran negotiations that also took place in Oman this weekend. And the Iranian foreign minister, very interestingly, was in Qatar and Saudi Arabia before meeting with Steve Witkoff in Oman.

Again, that would have been unthinkable, back in 2017, the last time President Trump was there. I think there's tremendous opportunity here. I think the trip will be a success. But, again, I just emphasize what I started with. It is follow-up, continuing to push on the Gaza ceasefire, pushing on both the Israeli side and the Hamas side, to try to get the rest of the hostages out and ultimately ending this crisis.

DEAN: Yeah. I do want to get your thoughts on what we're seeing come out of Ukraine and Russia. Volodymyr Zelenskyy now saying he's ready to sit down with Vladimir Putin despite Russia seeming to ignore this 30-day ceasefire that should have started at the top of this hour. Ukraine's -- European allies, President Trump's own Ukraine envoy, all saying that the ceasefire needs to come before the talks. What do you think we're going to see coming in the next few days? This is evolving pretty quickly. And how effective do you think that these negotiations could potentially be later this week?

MCGURK: Now, Jessica, this feels a little bit like Groundhog Day. I mean, back on March 5th, there was a meeting with U.S. diplomats and Ukraine and an announcement that said Zelensky agreed to a 30-day cease fire. And the U.S. statement at the time said Russian reciprocity is now the key to peace. Since then, two months later, Russia has just escalated the war.

We now have a new demand for a 30-day cease fire that was brokered with a visit by European leaders to Kyiv yesterday, and they called in to President Trump a new demand, 30-day ceasefire, or else there will be new sanctions on Russia. And what does Putin do? He says, well, okay. He doesn't mention the ceasefire, but said let's actually meet and talk. Look, I think it's good Zelenskyy is calling his bluff and saying, fine. Let's meet for direct talks. Let's do it this week. That would be the first direct talks, since the war began.

[17:24:57]

But ultimately, we have to get to a ceasefire. That is the goal. And to get to a ceasefire, you're going to have to put, some serious pressure on Russia. President Trump has talked over the course of last month about new banking sanctions, about new oil sanctions, secondary sanctions for anyone who purchases Russian oil. Those ultimately might be the tools of leverage they have to use to try to get the ceasefire in place.

But look, sometimes in diplomacy, you know, there's a lot of motion and you never know if you're making forward movement. We're hopeful this week there will be some forward movement. But ultimately, the test is in a ceasefire. And so far, we don't seem to have that.

DEAN: Right. And you mentioned the sanctions. I'm curious if you think that the sanctions that were threatened yesterday, if that is enough of a pressure point to get Putin to take this seriously.

MCGURK: Well, it's just look, Russia's totally dependent primarily on its hydrocarbon oil and gas trade. And, the price of oil has fallen quite dramatically because of the global economic crisis for one reason. We just put pressure on them. But, yeah, certainly, if you go after the purchasers of Russian oil, that will bite. I can't say that'll ultimately lead to a ceasefire, but you have to put some pressure on Putin here to really come to the table in a way that he's ready, at least, to pause the fighting, to allow diplomacy to proceed.

He has tried to play rope a dope here for the last two months, I think, with some success. But, again, I want to give the administration credit for pushing this, constantly pushing it. Because sometimes in diplomacy, you just have to keep at it. And I think the pressure is building. The fact that the Europeans were in Kyiv this weekend seemed to be aligned with President Trump at least for part of the weekend. We have to see how this plays out. That's very important. So we'll see.

I suspect Putin will not come to Turkey for this meeting. I doubt that'll happen. I think it's good Zelenskyy called his bluff. But ultimately, there's got to be some pressure put on Putin here. Otherwise, you're just going to keep having this play out, and it'll look like Groundhog Day, unfortunately.

DEAN: That keeps going, right. Alright. Brett McGurk, great to have you, especially today with so much going on. We really appreciate it.

MCGURK: Jessica, thank you.

DEAN: Still ahead, another outage for the air traffic controllers in Newark turning into more delays and cancellations. We're going to talk to an expert about why this keeps happening and when it could possibly be fixed, here in the "CNN Newsroom."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:29:59]

JESSICA DEAN, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: More problems for our nation's air traffic control system this morning at airports in both Newark and Atlanta. Flights are now back to normal at both airports, but there was yet another ground stop in Newark after another problem with the air traffic controller equipment. U.S. Officials insist that it is safe to fly out of the New Jersey hub.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KRISTEN WELKER, NBC NEWS WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Big picture, Mr. Secretary. Is it safe to fly in and out of Newark Airport right now?

SEAN DUFFY, U.S. TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY: It is. So that's I fly out of Newark all the time. My family flies out of Newark. We have to fix it, though.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: CNN safety analyst and former FAA safety inspector David Soucie joins us now. David, thanks so much for being here with us. I want to ask you that same question. Do you think it's safe to fly in and out of Newark right now?

DAVID SOUCIE, CNN SAFETY ANALYST, FORMER FAA SAFETY INSPECTOR: Yeah, I think it's safe to fly in and out of Newark. I -- what I don't think is safe is to plan anything as far as timing goes, whether you're going to be there for one hour or five hours. That's the big question, really.

DEAN: Hmm.

SOUCIE: But as far as safety goes, I don't think anything is causing safety issues at the moment. There are backups, alternate airports. There are secondary plans for all of these.

DEAN: And so, what would you say needs to happen now?

SOUCIE: Well, at this point, what they're doing is the right thing, which is to slow down traffic. They're cutting a lot of flights. What -- but that has to start with the FAA. We can't rely on the air carriers to say, here's how much we think you can handle. That's the FAA's job to say, here's our capacity, and then they have to throttle that capacity back to something that's manageable. So, I think that's what has to be done.

Are they still overestimating what they can do? I think that's still a possibility because we're still seeing delays. So, I think they need to even throttle it back further to say this is a real picture of what we can handle and what we can't handle.

DEAN: Hmm. And for people who -- obviously, there are people who are traveling right now, but they're looking ahead potentially to summer, summer vacations maybe. Should they be worried about booking a flight through Newark? Would you say maybe avoid that airport or no?

SOUCIE: Well, I would, yes. I would try to go in any other alternative airport that I can just simply because the -- the chances of having a delay there are higher than other places right now. So, until they get those under, until we see a reliable, repetitive nature of the flights and without delays at that airport, I would avoid it if I can.

DEAN: And then when it comes to these air traffic controllers, we know that there is a shortage, that they are -- they are overworked and -- and working quite hard to make sure that everyone stays safe. Do you think that -- that raising the retirement age would help? What do you think could help with that particular piece of the puzzle?

SOUCIE: Well, one of the things that they're doing right now that I think is a big help is they're paying them a bonus. If they're eligible to retire but they don't and they stay on the job longer, they're getting a bonus for doing that. So, I think that's a good step in the right direction.

However, there's a lot of people that have retired in the last three to four years that they could easily bring back if they -- if they gave them some motivation to do so. They've already been through the training. They're experienced. I think both -- that's the best resource they have right now.

But asking for just 2,000 air traffic controllers isn't going to be enough if they're going to put in a new system because then they have to have enough people to cover the shifts while they're right -- operating and training for the new system. So, I think they should be looking for about 4,000 new air traffic controllers, not just two.

DEAN: Just really surge -- to surge that number while they get ready for that new system. Very interesting. David -- David, thank you so much. Good to see you.

SOUCIE: Of course. You as well.

DEAN: Up next, the special guest Pope Leo had visit him today at Vatican and his important message during his first Sunday address in Saint Peter's Square.

[17:35:04]

You're in the "CNN Newsroom."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

DEAN: Pope Leo XIV singing the "Queen of Heaven" prayer this morning to a jubilant crowd in Saint Peter's Square. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(SINGING)

[17:40:00]

DEAN: Later, he called for peace around the world, setting the tone for his new papacy. And you hear the applause of the more than 150,000 people who came to hear his first Sunday blessing as pope. Pope Leo calling for peace in Ukraine as well as a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of the hostages. He also called for humanitarian aid to be provided to the people of Gaza.

At the Vatican today also, the pope getting a special visit from his brother, John, who traveled in from Chicago to be at his little brother's first Sunday mass as the head of the Catholic Church.

And joining us now is Mark Shriver. He's the president of Don Bosco Cristo Rey High School in Maryland. He's also the nephew of President John F. Kennedy. And Mark is also the author of "Pilgrimage: My Search for the Real Pope Francis."

Mark, it's so great to have you on. Thanks so much for being here.

MARK SHRIVER, PRESIDENT OF DON BOSCO CRISTO REY HIGH SCHOOL, NEPHEW OF PRESIDENT JOHN F. KENNEDY, AUTHOR: Thank you very much for having me, Jessica.

DEAN: Pope Leo used his first Sunday address to call for peace and really invoked his predecessor, Pope Francis. I want to listen to a quick clip of what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

POPE LEO XIV, HEAD OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH, BISHOP OF ROME, SOVEREIGN OF THE VATICAN CITY STATE (through translator): In today's dramatic scenario of a third world war being fought piecemeal, as Pope Francis said, I too turn to the world's leaders with an ever timely appeal: Never again war.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: Mark, there he is saying never again war, calling for peace. What was going through your mind? What stuck out to you as we heard from Pope Leo on this -- this first Sunday?

SHRIVER: Well, I think not only today, but when he first was introduced to the world, his first comments were peace be with you, and then he talked about God loving everyone unconditionally and that goodness will prevail.

So those -- those words, peace be with you and God's unconditional love, are a challenge to all of us and obviously going to be a hallmark of his papacy. And it's super consistent with what Pope Francis talked about, the reference to the third World War. Pope Francis talked about that as well. So, I think what we're seeing is continuation of what the Pope Francis talked about and the closeness between these two men as they go forward. Clearly, it's not Pope Francis II. This man is his own man. He's Pope Leo XIV and building on the legacy of Pope Leo XIII who was, if you will, the first pope to talk about Catholic social teaching about the importance of good jobs and pay for working people as we entered the industrial revolution.

As Pope Leo XIV has talked about, we're entering a new stage, not only World War III, but the revolution that is AI as well. So, it's very interesting times for all Catholics.

DEAN: Yes, yes. And today is also Good Shepherd Sunday. What is the significance of this?

SHRIVER: It is.

DEAN: Yeah.

SHRIVER: I -- I -- I love the fact that his first Sunday is the fourth Sunday of Easter and it is Good Shepherd Sunday. Pope Francis talks so often about being -- the shepherds -- the priests ought to be shepherds who smell like their sheep, who ought to be out in the field, who are pastors, who get their shoes muddy. I mean, literally, that was the quote.

And he picked a guy to pick all the bishops and cardinals around the world, Pope Leo XIV, who spent 20 years in Peru, who by all accounts was with his sheep, who was out in the areas of the poor, of those on the margins that Pope Francis cared so deeply about.

So, this man is obviously an American. He's a White Sox fan. He's clearly from America. Also, perhaps our first international pope. I mean, he's a guy who has spent 20 years in Argentina and many years in Rome studying. But he's a pastor first and foremost. I mean, he smells like a sheep just as Pope Francis asked all priests to do.

DEAN: I think it's so interesting that you note, of course, he is American, and there are so many Americans who celebrated that. His hometown of Chicago has been so exuberant over this. But, as you note, he lived in Peru for many years. He spent decades abroad. So, what do you think all of the -- those experiences together? What does he now bring to the papacy as being kind of this global citizen?

SHRIVER: I think what he brings is exactly what Pope Francis talked about for 10 years. I mean, he brings that point of view of being listening to the people in his parish, listening to the people in his diocese. He has talked quite a bit about the skill of listening and how important it is to listen. And I think that's something that Pope Francis learned as a Jesuit, was to listen and to be out in the field and to be on the margins.

So, I think Pope Francis very occasionally nominated so many of the cardinals who ended up voting for this man. The fact that they only took two days meant that there was a lot of unity with the cardinals, that they wanted another man who was a pastor first and foremost, who wasn't a theologian, who had spent all his time in Rome or in academia.

[17:45:02]

They wanted a man who was going to lead as a pastor, who would listen to his sheep, who would smell like a sheep, to use Pope Francis analogy. So, I think Pope Francis's legacy will live on through this man. It'll be different. There's no question about it. He's Pope Leo XIV, not Pope Francis II. But he talks about unity, he talks about building bridges, he talks about peace, and he talks about God's unconditional love.

And what a challenge that is to all of us. I mean, here in America, Jessica, we try to put, I think, popes into a box, whether they're Republicans or Democrats, whether they're progressive --

DEAN: Judicial, progressive. Right.

SHRIVER: -- these guys.

DEAN: Yeah.

SHRIVER: Exactly. These guys are talking about Jesus's unconditional love and effect that you have to love your enemies. And that is a pretty radical idea. And that's what I think this man is going to continue to push, that idea of love and peace, and to challenge the leaders, whether they're Republicans and Democrats, whether they're Americans or from some other place around the world. That's what he's going to do, and that's, I think, really exciting for all of us.

DEAN: All right --

SHRIVER: And challenging, but a joyful challenge.

DEAN: Yeah. Mark, thank you for being here. We really appreciate it.

SHRIVER: Thanks so much for having me.

DEAN: Yeah. Still ahead, Sean Combs's former girlfriend and accuser, Cassie Ventura, may testify against him tomorrow. What we are learning as a jury selection is set to be finalized and opening statements are expected. You're in the -- you're in the "CNN Newsroom."

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DEAN: Sean "Diddy" Combs's ex-girlfriend could be one of the first witnesses to take the stand when testimony begins in his sex trafficking trial tomorrow. Cassie Ventura is known as victim one in court documents, and her lawsuit against him sparked a flood of allegations from dozens of other accusers.

CNN legal analyst Joey Jackson is joining us now. And Joey, with her testimony expected to last much of the first week, what are you going to be listening for? What are you going to be looking for?

JOEY JACKSON, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Yeah, Jessica, it'll be big. Good to be with you. I think three things. Right? Sex, drugs, and rock and roll. You can boil it down to that. Remember, this is the longtime girlfriend of Mr. Combs. And as a result of that, she has significant knowledge with regard to what he does, who he's doing it with, and what the relationship was like.

And so, let's talk about the sex part. Right? There'll be issues as it relates to the dynamic of their relationship. And not only that, who, if anyone else, was involved and participated with them? How were these people, if there were, gotten to participate with them, what they bought, what they paid for, who specifically were they, right? To the drugs. Right? What kind of drug use, if any, played involved or a role in this? Were there guns involved as the indictment talks about? What was the dynamic of that?

Because the essence of this, remember, Jessica, it's the distinction between consent on the one hand, what the defense will argue, and on the other hand, coercion. Right? We know that's his ex-girlfriend. We know she could cooperate a number of the relationships, so let's get to the rock and roll. What did you know about his enterprise? What did you know about who he was dealing with? What did you know about the people who work for him and what they were doing to help enable or facilitate him?

And so, I think that's what she will lay out during her testimony. It'll then be up to the defense to otherwise discredit or to say if those things could not really be corroborated, what impact will the cross examination have in terms of giving the defense concessions that this was about consent and had nothing to do with force or coercion.

DEAN: And -- and speaking of the defense and what they might do, we know the defense team wants to argue Ventura was also violent toward Combs, that there was, in their words, hitting on both sides. What might a cross examination for her look like, and what might they be trying to do there?

JACKSON: Yeah, I think they're going to have to go after her. Right? I mean, everyone has seen, and it'll play big, the tape that we saw with regard to what he did to her. He came out, that is Mr. Combs, and apologized for that.

The defense will make the argument that that does not make him a racketeer. It doesn't make him a conspirator in a criminal enterprise. It doesn't make him a sex trafficker. It does not make him engaging in the issue of prostitution.

They will go after her with respect to what she did to him. So, you were violent with him as well. Correct? It was not only limited to what he did to you. Right? This was a consensual relationship. You were with him for a significant period of time. There may have been other people involved in your relationship. He didn't force you to do that. You did that on your own volition. So, in some respects, Jessica, they will have to go after her a little bit. Of course, there'll be a lot of sensitivities here. Right? Because you don't want to run too hard and run the risk of turning people off, but she's going to have some significant explaining to do with respect to the power dynamic of the relationship, whether it was consensual, whether she knew, whether there were other people involved, whether he was forcing her to do that, or whether or not she was a willing and active participant.

So, they will explore that in addition to the nature of her physicality against him and how it did not only go one way as the prosecution will have the jury believe as it relates to him potentially just being abusive to her.

DEAN: All right, a big a big week in this case, in this trial. Joey Jackson, thanks so much for setting it up for us. We appreciate it.

JACKSON: Absolutely.

DEAN: Your favorite stars take you to their favorite places in the new CNN Original Series "My Happy Place. And tonight, you can join Questlove on a music and food tour of Austin, Texas.

[17:55:01]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

QUESTLOVE, DRUMMER, RECORD PRODUCER: I love Austin more than any city in the world because music is still alive here.

UNKNOWN: Yeah.

QUESTLOVE: What is it about the blues and what about the city of Austin that calls you?

UNKNOWN: Well, because they needed somebody to teach them the real blues. That's what they needed.

QUESTLOVE: What is the real blues?

UNKNOWN: The blues is my dream. I didn't grow up as a musician. I wasn't taught to play music. Probably it's one of these things that got me to pick up a harmonica knowing I couldn't play it, it, but knowing that I could if I stuck with it. Without the harmonica, I'd probably be just another junkie. Now, I'm one of the best.

QUESTLOVE: So how did you earn the name Birtley?

UNKNOWN: One day, I'm taking a shower, and I'm singing to myself. So, I'm -- I'm singing and I hear a knock on my door. Well, I threw the towel, and then I come to the door. And this lady named Susie Griggs (ph) was really funny. And first thing Susie (ph) said, oh, Jesus, look at the middle bird names.

(LAUGHTER)

(END VIDEO CLIP) DEAN: A new episode of "My Happy Place" tonight at 10:00, Eastern and Pacific, only here on CNN.

Still ahead tonight, breaking news into CNN as Hamas says it will soon release the last known living American hostage. We are in Tel Aviv with more on what happens next. Plus, more breaking news as top U.S. officials emerge from high stakes trade talks with China. Are they on the verge of a deal? And how will the markets react to this news? More when we come back.

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