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Hamas Set To Release American Hostage Edan Alexander; U.S. Officials Claim Substantial Progress On China Talks; Interview With Representative Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY); Trump To Receive Gift Of Luxury Jet For Air Force One From Qatar; Dateline Reveals Disturbing Browsing History In Suspect's Phone Data. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired May 11, 2025 - 18:00   ET

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

[18:01:07]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

JESSICA DEAN, CNN ANCHOR: You're in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Jessica Dean in New York. We are following multiple breaking news stories at this hour.

We begin with Hamas announcing it will soon release the last known living American hostage being held in Gaza, Edan Alexander. This as President Trump prepares for his first major overseas trip, he's going to the Middle East, since returning to office.

Also, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy saying he's ready to meet Russia's leader Vladimir Putin this week in what could be their first meeting since Russia invaded Ukraine. Now, this announcement coming after Putin ignored calls for a 30-day ceasefire and instead proposed direct talks with Ukraine in Turkey.

And with the world economy on the line, U.S. officials saying they've reached a deal with China after two days of trade talks in Switzerland. But so far they're not providing details until tomorrow.

We've got a full report on all of this coming up, but let's start in the Middle East. The head of Hamas negotiating team saying they have been in contact with the Trump administration over the past few days, and the talks, quote, "showed high positivity" as they prepare to release American hostage Edan Alexander.

CNN's Jeremy Diamond helped break this story. He has details now from Tel Aviv.

Jeremy, what do you know?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jessica, Hamas is indeed confirming that it will release the last living American it is holding hostage in Gaza, and that is the Israeli soldier Edan Alexander, who was taken captive on October 7th. Alexander will be released in the next two days, I'm told by sources familiar with the matter. And this is being described to me as a goodwill gesture on Hamas's part, one that is intended to try and jumpstart negotiations to end the war in Gaza and secure the release of the remaining 59 hostages being held in the Gaza Strip.

I'm also told that Steve Witkoff, President Trump's special envoy for the Middle East, who has been instrumental in the negotiations that are now leading to Alexander's release. He will be flying to Tel Aviv tomorrow morning and will be on hand to personally welcome Alexander back home as he is released from captivity.

All of this, of course, coming ahead of President Trump's expected visit to the Middle East this week. The president as of now not scheduled to come to Israel, but his trip to the region is definitely one of the pressure points that has led to this agreement to release Edan Alexander and is leading more broadly to momentum to try and push for additional negotiations that could potentially lead to some kind of a ceasefire.

Indeed, this source familiar with the matter who talked to me about these negotiations said that they will go into, quote, "immediate peace deal negotiations" following Alexander's release. That is also something that the Israelis are now acknowledging. The Israeli prime minister's office in a statement noting that this is a deal between Hamas and the United States negotiated by the Qataris and the Egyptians, one that will not result in any compensation or conditions on the Israeli side, which means no release of Palestinian prisoners, for example.

But they do say that the United States has told Israel that this move is, quote, "expected to lead to negotiations" for the release of additional hostages. And so that is really what we are waiting to see. All of this comes, of course, as Israel's total blockade of Gaza is now more than two months in, more than two months without any food getting into the Gaza Strip. And as Israel is threatening to escalate its military campaign in Gaza.

[18:05:01]

All of that, of course, could be averted and alleviated if indeed these negotiations lead to some kind of a broader ceasefire. But for the moment, we expect again that Edan Alexander will be released within the next two days, finally reuniting with his family -- Jessica.

DEAN: All right. Very, very happy news for him and his family.

Jeremy Diamond, thank you so much for that.

Also tonight, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent touting what he calls substantial progress in U.S.-China trade talks after emerging from behind closed doors following two days of high level talks with his Chinese counterparts in Switzerland. With no less than the world economy at stake, the two major superpowers were looking to thaw tensions and negotiate a new trade deal in the middle of a trade war started by President Trump.

Bessent gave no details, but said that more specifics of the talks would be released tomorrow, and the world's markets will be waiting.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

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

JAMISON GREER, U.S. TRADE REPRESENTATIVE: 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: CNN international correspondent Marc Stewart is joining us now from Beijing.

Marc, what are we hearing from the Chinese side, the Chinese delegation on this?

MARC STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Indeed, Jessica. It's just after 6:00 in the morning here in Beijing. And based off the messaging that we have been hearing overnight from Chinese officials. this next step is being seen as a strong starting point. And it's actually all very stunning because entering these talks, China was very skeptical, at times portraying the United States as an economic bully.

And now here we are, 48 hours later, and a pathway has been created for future negotiation. And among those leading the discussions from the Chinese side of things is China's Vice Premier He Lifeng. I want to share with you a statement he released just a few hours ago. And as you will hear, he's very much a diplomat.

Among his remarks following the conclusion of these talks, he said, "Under the current circumstances, this meeting has caught high attention from the international community and thanks to the concerted efforts from both sides, the meeting has been productive and has been an important first step taken by the two sides to properly resolve their differences through equal footed dialogue."

Before he made that statement, though, he also made it clear that the United States needs to act in good faith and that China would not be afraid to fight if it is put into the situation again of a trade war. Now, as far as the specifics, as far as the details, what this is all going to look like, that at this moment remains vague. We are told that a joint statement will be released sometime on Monday, likely from Geneva.

In addition, at 3:00 in the afternoon local time here in China, that's 3:00 a.m. where you are in New York, Jessica, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs will hold its daily press briefing. Perhaps we get some more specifics then. But the big takeaway for the moment is that these channels have been established. There is a mechanism in place for the world's largest and second largest economies to have a discussion, perhaps create a bigger trade deal for the future.

And as you have mentioned, it's very needed right now because when we see these two economies fighting back and forth, it creates a lot of unease all over the world, particularly for small businesses as well as large businesses alike.

DEAN: Certainly. And so far, what's been the market reaction, Marc?

STEWART: Well, markets will open here in Asia in just about two hours. And I think it goes without saying, when there's good news, we'll likely see a boost. When there's skepticism, when there's bad news, things decline. Whenever there has been trade related news, it seems here in Asia, the markets react right away. So we'll be looking for potential gains, not only with the indexes here in China and Hong Kong, but also in South Korea and Japan, which are big trading partners of the United States.

I was just reading an investor note from Dan Ives from WedBush Securities, who's a frequent guest on CNN. He is saying that in many ways this defied expectations. This is a best case scenario, this path for the future. That's what the markets wanted to see, some kind of indication that things were moving in a positive direction -- Jessica.

Democrat All right. Yes. Dan is a great friend of the show, as are you, Marc. Thank you so much. And just as we look to the U.S. futures here, back here in New York, up across the board, about 1 percent. So we'll keep an eye on all of this. But, Marc, thanks for getting up early for us. We really appreciate it.

And joining us now to talk more about these ongoing trade negotiations is "Financial Times" columnist Gillian Tett.

[18:10:01]

Gillian, thank you. Always great to have you on and get kind of your analysis around what we're seeing unfold. As we heard from Bessent and the White House, there's not a lot of details yet. They've just said there's substantial progress in their talks with China.

What do you think would be considered a good deal here, or is it any deal, frankly, that just unfreezes shipping from China and gets things going again?

GILLIAN TETT, COLUMNIST, FINANCIAL TIMES: Well, we have a very peculiar situation right now. I mean, if this was a Hollywood movie this would be the cliffhanger moment with multiple episodes. And the reality is we don't know what they're going to announce. So right now, good news will simply be getting a joint announcement of any sort with a little bit of concrete detail.

What people will be looking for in particular is some sign that the tariffs are going to be lowered at least on the non-strategic goods. It's very clear that there are a lot of small businesses in America that are really starting to shriek and howl because trade has essentially frozen up between the two. And at the same time, the Chinese are seeing a lot of their companies really starting to suffer as well.

So something about cutting the tariffs for the American side, the rare earth mineral question is absolutely critical. Something around, you know, indicating the Chinese are not going to start playing games with treasury holdings. So those are some of the things that people are going to be looking for at the moment.

DEAN: And I also want to listen to what the Commerce secretary said earlier. We can listen to this clip.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DANA BASH, CNN ANCHOR: Is the 10 percent tariff that we're seeing in the framework for the U.K. going to be in place for the foreseeable future?

HOWARD LUTNICK, COMMERCE SECRETARY: So we do expect a 10 percent baseline tariff to be in place for the foreseeable future. But don't buy the silly arguments that the U.S. consumer pays.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: So, Gillian, that's obviously talking about this deal with the U.K. and he says, don't buy the silly argument that the consumers pay, but is that right?

TETT: Well, the Federal Reserve itself came out on Friday with a seemingly quite dry economics paper, which essentially says that we're already seeing, we being the Fed, already seeing signs that tariffs are starting to feed through to consumer prices. So the reality is that, no, a 10 percent tariff doesn't necessarily mean an automatic 10 percent price increase, but it's going to be very hard to convince the markets or frankly many consumers that there won't be any impact at all from the tariffs.

And one thing that's become pretty clear around the deal that the U.S. struck with the U.K. last week is that that 10 percent is now being presented as a baseline minimum for pretty much everyone. So, yes, there may be exemptions. And given this kind of dramatic cliffhanger approach to half announcing deals and then not having deals, we don't really know what those are going to end up with in the end.

But if there is a 10 percent baseline now that --

DEAN: Yes. And you know, when we talked about this, when these tariffs first started going into place a couple of months ago, you were really the first person that I -- you really got through to me and it really stuck with me, when you were talking about how the Trump administration really wants to wholescale reshape and realign the global economy and America's place in it, that that's what they had set out to do, and that's what we are going to see.

And it remains to be seen how effective that could be. So I'm curious, as we're now a few months into this, what do you think?

TETT: I think it's very important to try and separate out in your mind goal, strategy and tactics. Now, I'm not pretending for a millisecond that President Trump has a clear cut goal or even a clear cut strategy like some kind of McKinsey PowerPoint chart. I'm not trying to stain wash him. That's a new buzzword. But there are people around him who do have a broader vision of how they want to realign the wider trading system and the financial system, let me stress.

And so what we're seeing with these tariffs and these tariffs negotiations are tactics. They're not the strategy in itself. It's a tactics to get somewhere. So it's important to separate that out because at the end of the day there is a really strong desire around the White House to rebalance global trade and finance. Now one of the really interesting questions is how far they are or are not going to push it when it comes to issues like what they're going to do with the dollar, because of course the downside of all this drama, all this on again, off again sort of cliff hanger approach to negotiations, is that the uncertainty is making many investors around the world really scared about where U.S. policy is going and whether they can trust it's safe to hold U.S. assets.

I mean, "The Financial Times" had an interview with the head of the CBO, the Congressional Budget Office, where he was basically saying that actually the impact of all of these dramas is that global investors are getting more nervous about American assets.

[18:15:00]

And for him to say that is a pretty frank admission of what we're hearing in the markets right now. So even if we suddenly get a miraculous deal tomorrow, Monday, that essentially ends the trade war, gets trade flowing again, that lingering fear is going to be with us for a long time.

DEAN: Yes, that issue of trust.

Gillian Tett, thank you so much. Always good to see you. We really appreciate your time.

TETT: Thank you.

DEAN: Still ahead, Republicans bracing for another big battle on Capitol Hill. The funding fight that threatens to derail President Trump's agenda. We're going to have Republican Congresswoman Nicole Malliotakis join us to talk about where things stand. Plus, replacing Air Force One with a luxury plane, the ethical and legal questions surrounding a gift from the Qatari royal family to President Trump.

And chilling new details surrounding the killings of four university of Idaho students. The disturbing Google searches allegedly found on the suspect's browsing history.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:20:37]

DEAN: We enter a crucial week for President Trump's proposed budget on Capitol Hill as members of the House GOP wrestle with how to make $1.5 trillion in spending cuts. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ANDREW GARBARINO (R-NY): I don't want to be mean. And I think anytime it looks like we're actually hurting people, that's going to piss off the American population and if you piss them off, they're probably not going to vote for you.

REP. CHIP ROY (R-TX): My colleagues who do not want to address that are burying their head in the sand and already trying to worry about elections next year, when the best way to win elections is to actually deliver. We have to address Medicaid. My colleagues who are saying that they won't touch it are the same colleagues, by the way, who want their SALT caps increased.

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: What do you say to Chip Roy?

REP. NICK LALOTA (R-TX): Boo-hoo on that.

REP. RALPH NORMAN (R-SC): We're not going to fold. We're not going to fold.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: Joining us now, Congresswoman Nicole Malliotakis, a Republican congresswoman from the state of New York. She also is on the House Ways and Means Committee and assistant whip for the GOP conference.

Congresswoman, great to have you on as we enter this important week. And I know you're probably right in the middle of it. Late Friday, we got a look at the initial very bare bones version of what this House tax bill could look like.

I'm curious, as the last couple of days have played out over the weekend, have you been talking with your colleagues? What's going on and where do you see things standing right now? Have any progress been made over the weekend?

REP. NICOLE MALLIOTAKIS (R-NY): Well, on the tax piece, we've made significant progress and we're going to deliver a bill this week and pass it out of the House Ways and Means Committee that does increase the standard deduction, the child tax credit for American families. We're going to deliver on the promise to reduce taxes for tipped workers, for senior citizens and for working families.

And I think the American people will be happy, particularly those who are in the middle class, who are, you know, have been struggling. But this will allow them to keep more money in their pocket and on the state and local tax deduction, which is incredibly important for people I represent in Staten Island and Brooklyn, the people who live in New York, high tax states, states where we're being hammered by our mayor and governor.

We're going to deliver relief. And I believe that we're going to get, at minimum, we're going to triple the SALT deduction, which will be thousands of dollars in savings for your average family, like the ones that I represent in my district.

DEAN: And so I do want to ask you about that. Not to get too in the weeds, but I think you just laid it out for everyone there. These are state and local taxes that previous to the 2017 bill, you could write off going up to whatever number you paid. That then set it at $10,000. There was a cap. You I believe have proposed $30,000, which as you mentioned would be tripling what it currently is.

Other colleagues of yours who are from the state of New York, though, want to return it back to what it previously was. And they've been very clear that they don't want to support anything less than that. How do you see that playing out? And do you think that you guys can get there on some sort of compromise?

MALLIOTAKIS: Well, look, I think everyone has to go in this fighting for their constituents. And in my case, $30,000 would cover 98 percent of the families that I represent. And I've always been focused on delivering for the middle class. I've never been in this to, you know, try to lower taxes or give a break to the millionaires and billionaires. And so we can cover everyone earning roughly less than $400,000 if we do the 30 percent -- $30,000 cap.

What I would say is obviously, if we can get a little more to cover more of these districts, that would be great. But we have to balance. Everything has a counter balance, right? And so we're going to go in here, focus on the middle class. And I think this coupled by the way with, for example, my legislation that would provide an additional $4,000 deduction for senior citizens, $8,000 if they are married.

That is that is huge. And that is going to really reduce the tax burden that they have. And when we have seniors who are paying taxes on their Social Security, if they have a combined income of over $25,000 or $32,000 if they're married, that's a significant savings for them. And so we're doing what we can to try to get more -- allow these individuals to keep more money in their pockets. And that should be -- that's always been the Republican principle, right, to allow people to keep their hard earned money.

DEAN: And so when you do send this out of committee, will it be at $30,000? The cap?

MALLIOTAKIS: Well, we have to see. Tomorrow actually that language will come out.

[18:25:02]

We do have a call tomorrow morning with these other members who represent state and local tax states, meaning, you know, blue states where we have a high tax burden. And we'll see. But as of right now, the proposal has been a $30,000 deduction. And that will be, again, limited based on income. And so we're focused on the middle class but we'll see what happens in tomorrow's call.

DEAN: And then there's also the question of, we heard from your other, another one of your colleagues, Chip Roy, and he I think represents a kind of another group of House Republicans who are very focused on making sure that there are enough cuts to offset any, you know, the deficit that will grow by extending these tax cuts.

Where do you come down on that? Where do you -- I know you've come on plenty of times and been very descriptive about cutting out waste, fraud and abuse. But where do you think practically those cuts can come from that will make the Chip Roys of the world happy and also allow you all to extend these tax cuts?

MALLIOTAKIS: Yes. And that's why I say this process is one where we need to have balance, right? We're not going to get everything we want with regards to tax cuts. And it's because they do need to be offset. And now with the savings we're looking at, yes, waste, fraud, abuse, unnecessary overhead. We're looking at some of the abuses that the states use to try to get more federal funds and matching.

They tax local medical facilities just to get that matching 50 percent. We're looking to see if we should increase how much skin states have in the game. For example, in the expansion, the federal government is picking up 90 percent of that share on all other traditional Medicare. The federal government is picking 50 percent of that share. We've said we don't want to lower that 50 percent match on the traditional that supports our seniors and individuals with disabilities and our children with developmental disabilities.

But maybe on the expansion, maybe the state should be kicking in a little more than 10 percent, and that would give them incentive to ensure that people who are legally eligible for the program are the ones who are actually using it. I mean, obviously, there's no incentive for the states to crack down on fraud and waste if they're getting 90 percent of the share picked up by the federal government.

So we're looking at those different options. My goal has always been to protect our seniors, our disabled, the vulnerable citizens who have relied on the Medicaid program. That's where our focus needs to be. We're not going to cut benefits for those individuals. The president has said it. The speaker has said it. The chairman of the committee has said it. And certainly multiple members like myself had have said it.

So we are in disagreement with some of our colleagues on the Republican side. But there's a balance to be struck here. And I think we're going to get there and we'll have a very good piece of legislation that will save money, but will deliver the programs that are necessary in an efficient way. And what savings we have, we will pass on to our middle class and working class, who work very hard and deserve to keep more of their hard earned tax dollars.

DEAN: Yes. All right. Well, you've got a big week. And like you said, lots of work ahead to find whatever that consensus will be.

Congresswoman, thank you very much for your time. We really appreciate it.

MALLIOTAKIS: Thank you.

DEAN: Ethics experts sounding the alarm as President Trump prepares to accept a so-called "Palace in the Sky" gift from Qatar. What we're learning about the luxury plane offered from the Qatari royal family.

Stay with us. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:32:47]

DEAN: Donald Trump is set to accept a very pricey gift from the royal family of Qatar, taking delivery of a Boeing 747 that will be used as Air Force One during his second term. The very lavish gift is raising substantial ethical and legal questions, and we want to talk about it now with Richard Painter, former White House ethics lawyer under George W. Bush and professor of law at the University of Minnesota.

Richard, thank you very much for being here with us and kind of walking us through some questions around all of this. This is said to be the most expensive gift ever bestowed on a U.S. leader. It has a value of more than $400 million. The attorney general and White House Counsel's Office have said they believe it's OK legally.

Where do you come down on this? How would you assess this?

RICHARD PAINTER, FORMER WHITE HOUSE ETHICS LAWYER UNDER GEORGE W. BUSH: This is legal in my view only with consent of Congress. That's what the Emoluments Clause of the United States Constitution says, that a person holding a position of trust with the United States government cannot accept a gift from a foreign government without the consent of Congress.

Benjamin Franklin, when he was ambassador to France, had to go to Congress to get consent to accept a snuff box that had diamonds on it from the government of France. That's what the Emoluments Clause says. And this airplane can only be accepted by President Trump if Congress consents, and to say, well, it's given to his presidential library rather than to him, that doesn't make any sense.

He's going to be using this plane for the next four years, and he then if he says it goes to his presidential library, that is a gift that requires the consent of Congress under the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution. That's very, very clear. We can't have our president or anyone else being influenced by foreign government gifts. And that's why Congress needs to have control over that. And that's why the Constitution requires that they do.

And Qatar, I got to say, is a very wealthy country. I understand that they also have been spending over $1 billion supporting Hamas over the years. It's somewhat ironic that the United States to be accepting a gift from Qatar. This is money that really should be used rebuilding Gaza and getting Hamas a heck out of there.

[18:35:02]

Qatar, why is the United States of America accepting a gift of this magnitude from a foreign government that supported terrorist organizations?

DEAN: It is a worthy question. And can you find a good answer to that question you just posed?

PAINTER: I can't find a good answer at all unless this airplane is part of some big deal. the art of the deal, where Donald Trump is going to magically bring peace to the Middle East. But the last time around, the Abraham Accords, the Trump administration was not able to establish a lasting peace. And once again, Qatar has, along with Iran and some other countries, supported organizations that destabilize the Middle East.

We need money to be spent on humanitarian causes, trying to rebuild after the destruction of the war in Gaza.

DEAN: So let's unpack a little bit of what you were saying there. You're saying that it must be approved by Congress. That is, at this moment in time, seems unlikely for that to happen. If that does not happen, what does that mean?

PAINTER: I don't think Donald Trump can accept it. It's unconstitutional. Now, of course, the Emoluments Clause of the Constitution does not have a specific penalty attached. But the House of Representatives can impeach a government official for accepting unconstitutional emoluments from foreign governments. During Donald Trump's first term, this was limited to hotel rooms and patronizing his golf courses and all the shenanigans going on with foreign governments that led to investigations by the House of Representatives and also to some litigation against Donald Trump.

That issue was never resolved. But now we have emoluments on a much grander scale, foreign emoluments. Not only this airplane from Qatar, but we also have the Trump family is in cryptocurrency, and we have no idea who's investing in these various cryptocurrency ventures. And some of that may be foreign government money, and that would be unconstitutional under the Emoluments Clause.

But yes, we are left with that question of who is going to enforce it. If Congress doesn't want to consent to this plane, what are they going to do, just sit there and do nothing and say, well, we're also not going to enforce the United States Constitution? If that's the case, then maybe we have to vote them out.

DEAN: All right. So, so much more to come on this. But thank you very much for kind of fleshing that out and giving us some context.

Richard Painter, we really appreciate your time.

PAINTER: Thank you for having me on the show.

DEAN: Yes. Coming up, disturbing new evidence in the gruesome murders of four University of Idaho students. What a new "Dateline" report reveals about the suspect.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:42:22]

DEAN: New details coming out in the case against Bryan Kohberger, the man accused of killing four University of Idaho students back in 2022. Cell phone data obtained by "Dateline" allegedly shows internet searches related to serial killer Ted Bundy and dozens of photos of friends of the three women who died. The show also discovered he watched YouTube videos about the murders he's accused of.

CNN correspondent Julia Vargas Jones is joining us now.

Julia, what else is this cell phone data revealing?

JULIA VARGAS JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, aside from those dozens of photos of the victims, the daily number that the "Dateline" report says is about 60 times is how many times he viewed or saved materials about the murders that he's accused in, Jessica. There are also these records of a search for a paper written by one of Kohberger's professors. He was a graduate student of criminology at Washington State University, and that paper was also about serial killer Ted Bundy.

The reporting says that there was also a documentary on Bundy that was watched after the murders happened. So I spoke to one of the attorneys who defended Ted Bundy back in the day about this. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JONES: The new information about his -- about Kohberger's search history that includes Ted Bundy and --

JOHN HENRY BROWNE, DEFENSE ATTORNEY FOR SERIAL KILLER TED BUNDY: None of it helps Mr. Kohberger. First we have the knife sheath, then we have the DNA. Then we have the car driving around. Then we have telephone pings. Now we have computer searches of Ted. We have computer searches of sociopaths. You know, that's all circumstantial evidence that's building.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JONES: And "Dateline" also reported that the obtained cell phone tower data, Jessica, showing that Kohberger had been within 100 meters of the Idaho house where the killings happened at least 23 times in the weeks that preceded the murders. And it's interesting to note that in order to do that, he would have had to drive at least eight miles and cross state lines out of Washington state into Idaho. And he's going from a state that does not have the death penalty into one that does. So I asked John Henry Browne about that also.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JONES: Doesn't this kind of paint a picture of someone who's trying to be caught?

BROWNE: Well, there's certainly that question. You don't need to go to Moscow. And if you stay in Washington and do something wrong and you're a criminal justice major, you know, there's an insanity defense and, you know, there's no death penalty. So, yes, it is very odd to me. I think that's really odd.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[18:45:00]

DEAN: That's really interesting stuff, Julia. We're also hearing some of his browsing history might shed light on who Kohberger was actually targeting first?

JONES: Well, yes. So there is a whole timeline of Instagram posts that happened ahead of the killings, Jessica. But "Dateline" is reporting that sources close to that investigation told them that Madison Mogen may have been the killer's intended target since he would have allegedly gone up directly upstairs to her bedroom, where she and one of the other roommates were with her.

According to our reporting, CNN, the knife sheath that contained the DNA that matches Kohberger's was found on a bed next to Madison's body at the crime scene. So whether or not he is considering a plea deal at this point, we don't know. Not guilty pleas have been entered on his behalf as of now, but we are expecting another pretrial hearing this Thursday ahead of the trial in August -- Jessica.

DEAN: All right. Julia Vargas Jones, with the latest. Thank you so much for that.

And still to come, the first American Pope giving his first Sunday prayer, including a special message for Mother's Day. We have a report from the Vatican straight ahead.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:50:45]

DEAN: This week, Eva Longoria takes you into the heart of Spain to a place I actually know pretty well. The city of Madrid. I studied abroad there. Was a few years ago, though. I sat down with Eva to discuss the creative culinary scene in the city. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DEAN: OK, so we go to one of Spain's largest, one of the best known cities, Madrid.

EVA LONGORIA, ACTRESS, DIRECTOR, HOST, "EVA LONGORIA, SEARCHING FOR SPAIN": Yes. Madrid. Madrid.

DEAN: It is cosmopolitan there. And really, this mixture of Spanish culture but in in very much a city.

LONGORIA: Madrid is a magical, magical place. It really is the heartbeat of Spain. It's so cosmopolitan. It's very welcoming of immigrants. So you have all of these pockets and communities within Madrid that you can get amazing food, whether it's food from Africa or you have food from Asia, or you have a pocket where you can get great Indian food, like people really bring their cultures with them. It's a big melting pot, and at the same time its super Spanish, like

it's very -- to be a Madrileno is a thing, to be from Madrid is a very specific identity.

DEAN: I know you also went to the restaurant owned by a Michelin Starred chef, Javi Estevez, and he -- is it offal? It's the --

LONGORIA: Offal, I know.

DEAN: Is that how you say it? Yes.

LONGORIA: Offal, word for internal organs.

DEAN: Right. But this is --

LONGORIA: Yes, liver, intestine.

DEAN: Something that is very well, like, people pay a lot of money.

LONGORIA: Yes.

DEAN: To eat these things.

LONGORIA: Yes. There's a waiting list for his restaurant.

DEAN: Yes.

LONGORIA: It's called offal, where it's a restaurant that only serves internal organs. And it's so good.

DEAN: Really?

LONGORIA: But I grew up eating liver. I love liver and onions.

DEAN: OK. OK. Yes.

LONGORIA: I love tripas. In Mexico, we call it tripas, which is the intestines. But he's done it in a very elevated, sophisticated way.

DEAN: Michelin Starred way.

LONGORIA: Michelin Starred way.

DEAN: Yes.

LONGORIA: It was an art to be able to cook the internal organs. And so it's a very special delicacy. It's like a very specialized talent. And he really has put it on another level. You know, Madrid has been voted one of the best cities gastronomically to visit today and to see the rise of Spain in general, you know, climb to the top of the gastronomy charts in such a short amount of time. It's an ode, I think, to a lot of the work that people in Madrid did.

That's what I love about "SEARCHING FOR SPAIN" and what we do in our research is, you know, you're going to see some amazing Michelin Star restaurants that are doing amazing things, and you're also going to see these local mom and pop places that only locals would know about. And so being able to use this platform to shine a light on these people doing amazing food is a gift.

DEAN: And really sharing their story through that food. That's what I'm so struck by with all of these different episodes, is just the stories behind the food. It's really, really fun.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DEAN: It was so great to talk to her. One thing I loved about Eva was she said she tried to really like minimize the amount of -- that she would know before she went into something, so she could really have real reactions and really learn about it in real time, which was so fun. And it's a great show. It is very escapist and it's a fun trip to Spain.

A new episode of "EVA LONGORIA, SEARCHING FOR SPAIN" premieres tonight at 9:00 Eastern and Pacific. You can watch it right here on CNN.

And we have a very busy hour ahead, including breaking news out of the trade talks with China, as U.S. officials are touting a trade deal. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent expected to deliver more details overnight before the U.S. markets open. We're going to have team coverage from Beijing all the way to the White House.

We also have a major development tonight out of the Middle East, involving what's believed to be the last known living American hostage being held in Gaza. This is unfolding just before President Trump departs on his first major international trip to the region.

It's a very busy Sunday night. We are back with all of it in just a moment.

[18:59:24]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

DEAN: You are in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Jessica Dean in New York.

Breaking tonight, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says the world can expect to hear more details tomorrow from the key U.S. China trade talks that just wrapped up in Switzerland. Bessent said earlier China and the U.S. made what he called substantial progress during the two days of talks.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

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

GREER: 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)