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Powell Warns Economy Could Face More Frequent Supply Shocks; Walmart To Raise Prices Because Of Increased Costs From Trump's Tariffs; Defense Attorney's Grill Diddy's Ex-Girlfriend; Russia And Ukraine To Meet In Istanbul, But Expectations Low; Controversial U.S.- Backed Group Plans To Deliver Aid To Gaza; Interview with Ukrainian Parliament Member Oleksiy Goncharenko; Top Court Considers Challenge to Trump's Birthright Policy; U.S. Attorneys General under Scrutiny; "The Final Reckoning" May Be the Last "Mission Impossible"? Aired 1-2a ET
Aired May 16, 2025 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Bracing for price hikes now just weeks away. Ahead on CNN Newsroom.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Walmart, the biggest retailer in the entire world, says they're going to start raising prices at the end of this month.
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VAUSE: And U.S. consumers will be paying more because of Trump's tariffs, adding to fears of an economic recession this year.
How shifting the goalposts on peace talks could mean Vladimir Putin gets his summit with the U.S. President.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: Nothing's going to happen until Putin and I get together, OK?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: And that comes after Putin ignored demands for an immediate ceasefire and was a no show for talks with the Ukrainian president.
And sexting drug use and jealousy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Some emails also deal directly with these freak offs, which Ventura has testified she felt she had to do because she felt threatened by Combs.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: As defense lawyers for Diddy Combs tries to undermine the credibility of his former girlfriend at his criminal trial in New York.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Live from Atlanta. This is CNN Newsroom with John Vause.
VAUSE: American business leaders are waving red flags for consumers at home and around the world. And despite a market bounce this week after the U.S. and China announced drastic tariff cuts, one expert says a recession remains likely.
The U.S. Federal Reserve chairman says the global economy is facing a difficult challenge ahead. Jerome Powell warning supply shocks could force the central bank to keep rates higher over the long term. He also says that inflation could be more volatile going forward. The world's largest retailer, Walmart, now says it's raising prices because tariffs are too high. Here's what the CEO said on Thursday's earnings call.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
DOUG MCMILLION, WALMART CEO: We will do our best to keep our prices as low as possible. But given the magnitude of the tariffs, even at the reduced levels announced this week, we aren't able to absorb all the pressure given the reality of narrow retail margins.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
VAUSE: More now on the State of the U.S. Economy from CNN's Vanessa Yurkevich.
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VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: When you have someone like Walmart saying that they cannot absorb these prices and these tariffs, that is concerning for smaller businesses and all retailers who will likely also have to raise prices. And they're seeing increases on toys, electronics and food.
I also want to dig into this a little bit into what they're saying about these margins. If you look at producer prices that came in today, they fell by 0.5 percent. That's the steepest drop that we have seen since COVID this is what producers pay and then they ultimately pass those costs down to the consumers.
However, when we dig into PPI these producer prices a little bit more, you can see that it did fall dramatically. But there's something called trade services. And what it revealed in this report is that tariffs are making an impact on businesses.
Essentially, businesses are taking home smaller margins or less revenue because of what they have to charge consumers and what they're paying for these prices. We also got news on retail sales today. We are seeing that consumers are pulling back in spending a little bit.
You can see this dramatic uptick that we saw in March as consumers were trying to frontload on different goods to beat these tariffs that were coming about a 0.1 percent though increase in April. So still spending, but not as much. And you're seeing pullbacks in areas like cars, clothing. These areas that people were spending a ton on and now they're starting to pull back a little bit as these tariffs start to seep into the economy.
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VAUSE: And with us now is CNN's global economic analyst and Associate editor for the Financial Times, Rana Foroohar. It's good to see you.
RANA FOROOHAR, CNN GLOBAL ECONOMIC ANALYST: Great to see you.
VAUSE: OK. Every day it seems the outlook for the U.S. economy sort of bounces from hither to thither. Here's what Thursday had to offer.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEROME POWELL, U.S. FEDERAL RESERVE CHAIR: We may be entering a period of more frequent and potentially more persistent supply shocks, a difficult challenge for the economy.
JAMIE DIMON, JPMORGAN CHASE CEO: If there's a recession, I don't know. How big it will be or how long it will last. I wouldn't take it off the table at this point.
MCMILLION: We're positioned to manage the cost pressure from tariffs as well or better than anyone. But even at the reduced levels, the higher tariffs will result in higher prices.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: And all of this is being driven not just by tariffs but also by the chaotic on again, off again way they've been implemented. Case in point, this 90-day pause in the trade war with China. Once that pause is over, at a minimum, do we know at this point that there will be at least a 10 percent levy on all imports into the United States. And if that is the no one knowing here, what impact will that have on the U.S. economy?
FOROOHAR: Well, I'm glad you brought that up because, you know, best case scenario at this point seems to be 10 is the new normal, 10 percent across the board.
[01:05:05]
That's a big deal. It's a really big deal. I mean, you know, you're already beginning to see companies like Walmart saying we're going to have to raise prices on electronics, on toys. They say more price hikes are coming down the pike. This is best case scenario. It's very possible in 90 days that you could see more trade war. You could see retaliation by China. We just don't know. And that sense of not knowing has its own effect in the business
cycle. It makes consumers who were probably already going to be pulling back a bit in the cycle, it makes them more wary. It makes business investment dry up. It's, it's a chicken and egg cycle. And I think what we're going to see is not just a supply shock, but ultimately a demand shock.
VAUSE: And the latest numbers on the economy show that the consumer spending may not be as resilient as it's been in recent years. New York Times reporting that spending is now consistently increasing faster than income, once adjusted for inflation. This imbalance can last said Neil Dutta, head of economic research at Renaissance Macro, either incomes he says will need to accelerate or consumption must slow over time.
And we also have the situation now that the savings that many Americans built up over the pandemic is gone. So with the decision to increase prices with tariffs at this point in the economic cycle, would it be justified if there was a big long term payoff to come? And is that what we're looking at here? We just don't know.
FOROOHAR: Well, you know, just going back to the original reason were, we didn't have tariffs and Trump won. There was a decision to try and push back against Chinese mercantilist practices in very strategic areas. OK, fine, great. Biden then broadened the frame and said we need to make certain strategic things at home again. Fine, I think that's a good idea.
But universal Trump two tariffs on everybody, adversaries, allies, for reasons we don't know, why we haven't been told. Yes, it's about chips, ships, pharmaceuticals. I mean, we hear certain things from Scott Bessent. We hear other things from Navarro. We hear third things from the President. And there doesn't seem to be a connective tissue to what's going on. The market doesn't love that.
And it's not going to create more resilience, which is the whole point of bringing back a certain amount of manufacturing anyway.
VAUSE: Yes. And the blow to some of the most valuable U.S. companies on Donald Trump's watch has been staggering. Apple hit a record high valuation in December last year of $3.9 trillion, but that's seen a record devaluation of $1.3 trillion. We're looking at Alphabet, which is the parent company of Google, Amazon, Meta and Tesla have lost a combined value of $2.2 trillion.
And keep in mind this comes on the heels of an economy described by the economists in October last year as the envy of the world. The Wall Street Journal also the same words, the envy of the world with expectations that we continue to power higher. And the point here is that the current data in the forecast we're looking at are bad in and of themselves.
They seem to be a tragedy raptured a fast when compared to where the economy was at the end of last year. And that part of the equation seems to be lost in all of this. FOROOHAR: You know, it's a great way to lay it out, John. It pains me.
It pains me we did not have to be here. You know, recessions are normal and natural. We are probably due for a slowdown of some kind in the next few years. But the kind of own goal that we've seen in what this president has done is unconscionable.
VAUSE: Yes. Rana, thank you for being with us. Your insights as always, very valuable, very much appreciate it.
FOROOHAR: Thank you.
VAUSE: Thank you. Mid to low level Russian government officials will meet later Friday in Istanbul with the Ukrainian delegation led by the Defense Minister for the first direct peace talks in more than three years. But not long after the Kremlin confirmed President Vladimir Putin was not part of the Russian delegation, the U.S. President confirmed he would be a no show. And then came word Ukraine's president was pulling out after initially saying he would be there, which means any hope for a breakthrough or meaningful progress has been dashed.
Ukrainian President Zelenskyy met with the Turkish president Thursday and for days has been pushing Vladimir Putin to show up in Istanbul and take part in the talks which Putin himself suggested over the last -- over last weekend.
The U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio will be there as an observer and says any breakthrough now will only come during a one on one meeting between the U.S. and Russian presidents. Donald Trump offered no details on when or where that will happen.
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TRUMP: Nothing's going to happen until Putin and I get together. OK. And obviously he wasn't going to go. He was going to go, but he thought I was going to go. He wasn't going if I wasn't there. And I don't believe anything's going to happen, whether you like it or not, until he and I get together.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: According to Secretary Rubio, once President Trump returns from the Middle East, work will begin on that meeting with Vladimir Putin. CNN's Nick Paton Walsh has the latest. Now reporting in from Kyiv.
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NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: An extraordinary turn of events. And I think it is the comments of U.S. President Donald Trump saying that nothing's going to happen until he meets Putin when it comes to finding peace here in Ukraine.
[01:10:04]
That really set the tone for the weeks ahead. In that statement alone, and echoed indeed by his Secretary of State, Marco Rubio hours later, Trump is essentially saying that the efforts now underway in Istanbul, the pressure put upon Russia by the Europeans, well, no one should expect progress from that until a bilateral meeting between the heads of the Kremlin and the White House occurs. That is a remarkable move from a U.S. President who was pictured on the phone to four of his key European allies, France, United Kingdom, Germany and Poland.
And they emerged from that phone call just as recently as Saturday saying they were convinced they had the support of Donald Trump, not only for a demand for a ceasefire on Monday that was unconditional, lasted 30 days, but indeed the sanctions that would follow if Russia didn't adhere to that.
Instead, we have now had this remarkable dictation of events, the scheduling done really by Moscow entirely. They are suggested on Sunday, this Istanbul meeting, the first direct talk since the early days of the war. Then Zelenskyy said, let it be me and Putin. Trump entertained that idea, tried to cajole Putin into attending, said he'd be there himself, that Putin would like him to be there. And then it all fell apart, essentially sending a message very clearly.
The Kremlin was unafraid of sanctions, potentially for spurning that peace initiative, and possibly too, that Putin had successfully incorrectly gambled that Trump would not be that angry if indeed some kind of meeting continued in Istanbul. But he didn't accept anything like a ceasefire or indeed to attend personally.
And so we're into a very complex moment for this peace process, because Ukraine essentially is in a very bad spot where they have to continue to go along to do everything they can to make it seem like the opportunity avenue for peace, to not incur the anger of Donald Trump.
But the one person who doesn't seem to be able to get Donald Trump angry right now is Vladimir Putin. He is simply rejecting the ceasefire that was originally an American proposal and also two initiatives for a personal meeting.
There may be a bilateral between Trump and Putin soon, of course, but the stage is now set for talks about talks. This is the second or third iteration of this peace process. And I think many in the Kremlin will be delighted at how they're getting to be the schedule in chief of this process and buying an awful lot of time. But many Ukrainians are concerned is simply about making sure they have the window they need for advances on the front line. Russian forces amassing in the East.
An extraordinary week and one that I think has ultimately exposed that Putin isn't interested in a swift settlement here. He simply wants a lengthy process and indeed, that Trump is reluctant, if not frankly reticent, to punish Russia for not going on with the peace initiative he originally began.
Extraordinary moments here in diplomacy, but no comfort at all for ordinary Ukrainians under nightly barrage here. Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, Kyiv, Ukraine.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: A disturbing scene in Barcelona where 13 people suffered minor to light injuries and what Catalan police are calling an accidental collision and a warning the next images you're about to see may be disturbing for some viewers.
The video shows the chaos after a white car plowed into a crowd happened just outside the championship match between La Liga rivals FC Barcelona and Espanyol. Authorities later posted on social media there was no risk to the fans inside the sport facility. Barcelona won the championship match to nil.
Donald Trump will soon end his first international tour of his second term. Up next, what he has to show for that visit to the Middle East and what he has yet to accomplish.
Also, a new foundation could soon start a deliveries into Gaza. A private group, but their plan faces strong backlash from the United Nations. We'll tell you why.
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VAUSE: Donald Trump will soon be heading back to Washington after his four day tour of the Middle East. And he'll be leaving with billions of dollars investment deals and potentially reshaping US Foreign policy. The last of three stops was Abu Dhabi. The president receiving yet another warm welcome with much fanfare.
The U.S. and the Emirati government signed a deal to build a massive data center complex in Abu Dhabi to advance AI capabilities. Notably, the president, which blew up the Iran nuclear deal in his first term, now believes a nuclear deal with Iran could be imminent.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: It's very simple. It's not like I have to give you 30 pages worth of details. There's only one sentence. They can't have a nuclear weapon. And I think we're getting close to maybe doing a deal.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: The White House says the president made a host of deals which they say were transformative with Saudi Arabia and Qatar. And the president again talked about the prospect of the U.S. taking over Gaza once the war is done.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: You know, I have concepts for Gaza that I think are very good. Make it a freedom zone. Let the United States get involved and make it just a freedom zone. Have a real freedom zone.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: CNN's Jeff Zeleny has all the details reporting in from Abu Dhabi.
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JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF U.S. NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: U.S. President Donald Trump has one more series of meetings on Friday morning before heading back to Washington after a whirlwind week in the Middle East. He will be meeting again at the presidential palace here in Abu Dhabi with business leaders, a constant theme of his trip as he's traveled from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia to Doha onto Abu Dhabi.
The president clearly has been flanked by business leaders as he's been announcing deal after dealing with. But also along the way, the president has been making a bit of diplomatic efforts. Of course, that meeting with the Syrian president, he's been talking endlessly about Iran.
[01:20:07]
But on Thursday, he did something he has never done, and that is visiting a mosque here in Abu Dhabi.
TRUMP: Is this beautiful? It is so beautiful. Very proud of my friends. This is an incredible culture that I can say. This is the first time they've closed the mosque for the day. Is that true? First time they've closed it. That's in honor of the United States, I think.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Absolutely.
TRUMP: So better than in honor of me. Let's give it to the country. But it's -- that's a great tribute. Thank you.
ZELENY: The images are extraordinary from an American president who infamously, back in 2017, his first term in office, signed a Muslim travel ban as one of his first official acts. He also at one point says, I think Islam hates us. So certainly this is one example of a bit of a shift, not necessarily in thinking or policy of the U.S. President, but perhaps in transaction. He has come to the Middle East to make business deals, there's no doubt about that, and to strengthen relationships.
But the end of the day here, all of the deals that the president was hoping would add up to the trillions of dollars, we'll have to carefully check those. Many of them have already been announced. Some of them are pledges of things to come.
But there is no question this, the first overseas trip of the second term of the Trump administration has actually gone fairly smoothly as far as these things go. But at the end of the day, as he flies back to Washington with these new relations, all the geopolitical challenges that face the U.S. and the world going into this trip are still right there waiting for President Trump. Jeff Zeleny, CNN, Abu Dhabi.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Private contractors could be delivering aid to parts of Gaza within two weeks, even though the territory is now on the verge of famine. The plan has come under fire mostly from the UN, which says the operation will be limited in scope and essentially controlled by the Israeli military. But beyond that, they say it sets a dangerous precedent for aid distribution globally. CNN's Jeremy Diamond has our report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Amid the crush of bodies clamoring for food, children are being put to an unthinkable who will manage to fill their family pot and who will have to wait another day to eat.
This is how Gaza's children are being forced to live as Israel continues to block the entry of food. A total siege that is now in its 11th week.
A boy burnt by the small prize of lentil soup he has managed to win. Girl scooping what remains with her bare hands. But before it all, a search for food for them and their families with no guarantee of success.
I wake up every day, then we go find a kitchen. If we don't find food, then we go to another kitchen and another kitchen, Mohammed explains. If we don't find anything, we go all day without food.
Nearly all of Gaza's population now experiencing crisis levels of food insecurity or worse, with 56 percent at the emergency or catastrophic level, meaning very high rates of acute malnutrition and large gaps in food consumption. Unless aid gets in, more than three quarters of the population are projected to fall to those emergency levels.
TOM FLETCHER, U.N. UNDER-SECRETARY GENERAL FOR HUMANITARIAN AFFAIRS: Every single one of the 2.1 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip face the risk of famine. One in five face starvation.
DIAMOND (voice-over): As this man made crisis worsens, Israel and the United States approving a tightly controlled mechanism to get aid into some parts of Gaza. The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation says it plans to launch its operations within two weeks. Until then, it called on Israel to allow aid in through existing mechanisms. Israel has yet to publicly agree.
A person involved in the planning said Israel has agreed to allow some aid into Gaza in the coming days, but Israel has yet to say so publicly. The U.N. says it won't participate, saying the new plan will make things worse, facilitating forced displacement and putting civilians at risk.
In Gaza, people are running out of time as charity kitchens like this one run out of food.
14 pots were not enough, the manager of this kitchen says. Those who didn't get food will not eat anything today and will come back tomorrow and might not get anything again. Cases of acute malnutrition are spiking and people are being pushed to the brink, like Raida Ahmed, who fainted yesterday from a lack of food. [01:25:00]
I swear I can't walk anymore. There is nothing to eat, she says.
As for the children who stand waiting for a chance to be fed, too many are now learning what it means to go hungry. Jeremy Diamond, CNN, Jerusalem.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: We'll head back down to Ukraine. One of our lead stories there about these peace talks between the Ukrainians and of the Russians. And joining us now is Oleksiy Goncharenko, an elected member of the Ukrainian parliament. Thank you for being with us.
OLEKSIY GONCHARENKO, UKRAINIAN PARLIAMENT MEMBER: Hello.
VAUSE: So when the Russian president first put forward these direct talks to be held in Istanbul, he put this forward on the weekend. There was some anticipation here that maybe there could be real progress towards a ceasefire. But then came word that he wouldn't show up to the talks. The U.S. President said he wouldn't be there either. Then the Ukrainian president announces he won't be there, even though he initially said he would.
So any expectations of any kind of breakthrough seem to come crashing down. And one thing comes very clear out of all of this. It seems that the person who is in charge, the one who's calling the shots here is the Russian president. Is that how it looks to Ukraine from your point of view?
GONCHARENKO: No. Unfortunately, yes. That's how it looks like. And from the very beginning, it was clear that the only obstacle to peace is Vladimir Putin and Russia. And he just plays the games to win the time. He tries to fit something to President Trump to show some goodwill, but no goodwill, really he has.
And I think now it's clear to everybody, and I think now it's clear to President Trump, too. So it's the time to put pressure on Putin because Putin is just humiliating all his partners, including Americans, including President Trump, because President Trump said at the campaign, I will end this war in 24 hours. I understand it was probably rhetoric, but now it's more than 100 days.
He said that I will propose peace to both sides. If Ukraine will not agree, I will stop giving them anything. And Ukraine agreed completely with everything. Then he said, if Russia will not accept it, I will give to Ukraine everything and I will put pressure on Russia. That's the time to do this.
VAUSE: We have the U.S. Secretary of State, though, who is in Istanbul. He'll be at the talks. That is, if they take place. There's still some doubt whether or not they will and at what level and will be done and what we achieved. But I want you to listen to Marco Rubio on how any possible breakthrough could actually occur now moving forward. Here he is. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARCO RUBIO, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: The president is impatient to end this war. There's too much destruction. And I think he's ready to have that engagement and determine once and for all if there's a path forward and what that path is. And it's my assessment that I don't think we're going to have a breakthrough here until the President and President Putin interact directly on this topic.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: So if we just go back over recent history. The Russian president outright refuses to agree to a 30-day ceasefire, then he won't even adhere to a limited ceasefire, which he apparently agreed to show up for talks in Istanbul with the Ukrainian president, despite the U.S. President asking him to be there. And then it now appears he gets this one on one summit with Donald Trump.
It seems the more the Russian President refuses to do, the more he gets from the United States, which is the complete opposite of what you were just saying before, that there needs to be pressure applied to Putin. So until he gets this pressure and what could that pressure actually look like, there's no way of reining in Vladimir Putin.
GONCHARENKO: Absolutely. Until he will be seriously pressed, Putin will not go to negotiation table. He will not, I mean, real negotiation table. My prognosis today will happen nothing, because he sent just a sham delegation there who cannot decide anything. Very low level people. And even for Secretary Rubio to meet with them, I think it's too much because these are really nobody, just some assistant of Putin on culture. Just imagine this.
So Putin is just -- he is just laughing at partners and counterparts, including Americans. And I think it's something which should be changed. You asked what pressure should be put on. It's very easy. Secondary sanctions against countries which buy Russian oil, sanctions against Russian shadow fleet which transport Russian oil, seizing of Russian frozen assets and more weapons to Ukraine. That will be more than enough to make Putin to realize that the west and the United States are serious.
[01:30:04]
VAUSE: At one point. I think earlier this week, the Europeans were very close to announcing another raft of sanctions, which actually were quite beefed up and did -- have mentioned those secondary sanctions as well.
But that now has all been put on hold. And yet again, it seems Putin gets away with it as he plays this sort of chicken and egg game. If he shows up, if Trump shows up at these talks. But if Putin refuses, then Trump refuses to be there as well.
And all of this is happening as Ukrainians continue to be killed and wounded by Russian strikes. So there's two prongs here. There's the diplomacy here, which doesn't seem to be a serious notion by the Russian president. But what is serious is the ongoing strikes on civilians and civilian infrastructure.
So there is a real price to this as Putin delays, right?
GONCHARENKO: Absolutely. But there is one more price which you shouldn't forget. It's not just Ukraine and Russia who is watching. The whole world is watching. And the whole world now makes decisions. Oh, these guys in the west, they are weak.
That's something which Putin tries to show to the whole world. Don't be afraid of them. They're weak. Do whatever you want. Aggressors, dictators throughout the planet -- do whatever you want because they just speak, but they don't do nothing.
I think this is a very bad signal. And that signal should be changed as soon as possible.
VAUSE: The Ukrainian president is still hoping for some kind of progress out of these negotiations. Here's Mr. Zelenskyy. Here he is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Number one point on the agenda is a ceasefire and I still believe Russia is not being serious about these meetings. It does not want to end the war. But we hope they demonstrate something during the meeting.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: You said just a few moments ago that you expect nothing from these talks, but if there was even the smallest sign of some kind of progress, what would that be?
GONCHARENKO: Maybe -- oh, I hope it would be progress. But I don't believe in this. The possible -- the best possible scenario, I think, can be a decision about exchange of prisoners of war, because the level of delegation which Russia sent does not allow to have any other progress.
And the main thing that Putin does not want peace -- that's it. And he is ready to play some games, but he's not ready to make decisions. He doesn't want to stop and he will not stop himself. He only can be stopped.
VAUSE: Yes. And all the time, the drones and the missile strikes and everything else continues across Ukraine.
Oleksiy, thanks so much for being with us. We really appreciate your time. I know it's early there in Kyiv. Thank you.
GONCHARENKO: Thank you.
VAUSE: Well, the fate of Donald Trump's controversial citizenship policy is now with the Supreme Court. In a moment, the court is locked in deliberations over whether the process of enforcing the policy actually violates the Constitution. We'll tell you what the policy actually is, in a moment. [01:32:50]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUSE: Welcome back everyone.
I'm John Vause. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM.
An attempt by the Trump White House to overturn birthright citizenship is now with the Supreme Court. Under the U.S. Constitution, anyone born in the United States is automatically a citizen, regardless of their parents' immigration status.
A series of courts have blocked attempts by the administration to overturn that law with regard to children born to parents who are in the country illegally or on a temporary basis.
On Thursday, the Supreme Court justices suggested those courts may have overstepped their authority and is now considering the practical implications of allowing the Trump policy to move forward, even though it appears to conflict with the 14th Amendment, which states that all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside.
The case, however, did not deal directly with the 14th Amendment itself, but the process to enforce it. It maybe next month before a ruling is made.
Defense attorneys for Sean "Diddy" Combs will continue their cross- examination of his former girlfriend, trying to prove she was a willing participant in his now infamous sex parties. Cassie Ventura faced a tough interrogation on Thursday.
CNN's Elizabeth Wagmeister has details on day four of Diddy's racketeering and sex trafficking trial in New York.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CASSIE VENTURA, SINGER AND ACTRESS: Each character and each actor that came into the project brought their own thing to the table.
ELIZABETH WAGMEISTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: A 21-year-old Cassie Ventura in 2008 promoting the film "Step Up 2".
VENTURA; Oh my gosh, it's an overwhelming experience, but exciting all at the same time.
WAGMEISTER: During day one of cross-examination, she was asked about her budding relationship and emails with Sean Combs from that same year.
[01:39:44]
WAGMEISTER: When Combs said, "I love you, I miss you. Can't wait to hold you." Ventura responded, I'm a very lucky woman. I miss you so much. I'd fly wherever you needed me."
The defense is building its case that Ventura was a willing participant and enjoyed the so-called freak offs, or long drug-fueled sex sessions involving male escorts, she says, were orchestrated by Combs.
In 2009, when Combs message asking if she wanted to freak off, Ventura replied, "I'm always ready to freak off. lol. I just want it to be uncontrollable," Ventura said, referring to sex with the escort. "I can't wait, that's why I want to see," Combs responded.
Later that year, when Combs emailed, "I want to be nasty for you," Ventura replied, "In order for me to be more open with the things we do in bed, I need to feel safe, like home. This is my husband, and this is the only man that will ever have this aggressive sexual side of me."
When asked by the defense if this showed open communication between the two, Ventura said, "I would say."
But the prosecution says this video from 2016 showing Combs assaulting Ventura as she says she tried to flee a freak offs, proves the relationship devolved into abuse and control.
Still, a year after that assault, the defense noted Ventura sent this to Combs in 2017. "I love our freak offs when we both want it."
Ventura saying on the stand that the text was just words at that point, echoing her previous testimony of feeling trapped and afraid of Combs rages.
The defense also argued that jealousy played a role in the volatile relationship with Ventura writing, "I'm nervous that I'm just becoming the girlfriend that you get your fantasies off of, and that's it."
SEAN "DIDDY" COMBS, MUSIC MOGUL: I just miss Kim, you all, you know what I'm saying?
WAGMEISTER: Combs time with the late Kim Porter, the mother of four of his children and other women also came up.
Ventura testifying, she has some jealousy of Miss Porter because Combs would spend holidays with her even though they had split up.
"Their fights over infidelity were a little scary," she said. In 2011, she dated rapper Kid Cudi while on a break from Combs. "I thought it would be way too dangerous to tell him about that," she said. But Combs lunged at her, she says, after finding Kid Cudi's name in her phone during a freak offs, which still went on during breaks in their relationship because it was a job, Ventura said.
Now there was actually a heated moment in court when the judge reprimanded the defense essentially for taking too long with their cross-examination.
The judge said that there was a pre-arrangement of sorts, that Cassie Ventura would be done with her testimony by the end of this week.
The reason? Well, she's pregnant and she's very pregnant. Cassie Ventura can literally go into labor any day now. So the judge said that by end of day Friday, cross-examination and redirect from the prosecution has to be wrapped up.
Now, Combs' defense said she is the most critical witness, and this is a very important case. Their client, of course, is facing life in prison if convicted.
Back to you.
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VAUSE: American rapper Chris Brown has been charged in the U.K. over an alleged attack back in February of 2023. Brown is accused of beating a music producer in a London nightclub.
The 36-year-old is in police custody right now, facing one count of causing grievous bodily harm. He is set to appear in a magistrate's court in Manchester later Friday.
Well, they oversee some of the biggest criminal investigations in the United States and some of the benefits that attorneys general enjoy, like luxury overseas trips, have landed them in the hot seat. Details in a moment.
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VAUSE: State attorneys general in the U.S. are usually the ones asking tough questions. But some of these high-ranking officials are now being asked for more details about their luxury trips, including business class airfares and five-star hotels in tourist destinations like Rome, which are funded in part by the huge corporations which they're meant to regulate.
CNN's Kyung Lah has our investigation.
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KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: Among the thousands of international tourists flocking to Rome, Italy CNN spotted American politicians.
This looks like a vacation, but this is a snapshot of how lobbyists and lawyers pay for access to your top state leaders.
Stepping off the tour bus, Attorney General Liz Murrill. She's from Louisiana.
Next, Treg Taylor the attorney general from Alaska, and a few people behind them, the attorney general from Idaho Raul Labrador, taking in the sights of the Vatican with representatives from some of the very corporations their states regulate. Some of those companies are currently being sued by state AGs.
It's no coincidence that this group of state AGs and competing corporate interests ended up together, standing in line for the Vatican.
This is an exclusive Italian getaway, a week-long conference arranged by a group called the Attorney General Alliance or AGA.
[01:49:48]
LAH: The group picked up the tab for the AGs to travel, business class to the luxurious five-star Waldorf Astoria Hotel in Rome.
Documents show corporations and lobbyists donate large amounts of money to the AGA, paying to get special access to state attorneys general at foreign trips like this.
"Join us for an unforgettable experience" wrote the AGA in an email invite.
While the weeklong itinerary shows some law enforcement meetings in the morning and discussions with Vatican officials, CNN saw guests chauffeured to excursions and captured Maryland's Attorney General Anthony Brown, resting near the pool at the Waldorf. Brown's office tells CNN that he is honored to participate in the bipartisan delegation to address pressing global issues.
Records show the AGA paid more than $14,000 for Brown and his wife's business class tickets to Italy. Along with Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill, the AGA also flew her husband to Rome.
The man chatting them up is Paul Connell. He works at a law firm which represents Blackrock, a company AG Murrill is suing. But the law firm is also representing Murrill's Department of Justice in another matter, and it told CNN that conversations with clients are privileged.
CNN also spotted in Rome multiple other representatives from corporations and law firms, including Kia Floyd from General Motors. GM was slapped with a lawsuit from two different states. The company did not reply to requests for comment.
Besides Italy, the AGA has also flown state AGs and their plus ones to Spain, France, and South Africa.
We tried to talk to state AGs earlier this year about why they joined other foreign trips with the AGA.
Attorney General Torres, excuse me, sir. Hi. Can I just grab you for one second?
New Mexico's Attorney General Raul Torres.
RAUL TORRES, NEW MEXICO'S ATTORNEY GENERAL: Wee got to run.
LAH: Minnesota AG Keith Ellison said international partnerships are important to his state.
KEITH ELLISON, MINNESOTA ATTORNEY GENERAL: I understand how this game is played. I mean, as reporters and politicians always, oh, you went on a trip and try to embarrass the politician.
LAH: The concern from --
ELLISON: I get it.
LAH: Ethics.
ELLISON: I know where you're coming from, and I'm just telling you that we have substantive programs, our constituents that are disadvantaged if we are not having meaningful conversations with international partners.
I'd like to end the conversation right there. Thank you. Yes, whatever.
LAH: I appreciate it. Thank you.
The AGA tells CNN that they held accredited legal educational sessions, that no litigation was discussed and just because an attorney general decides to go on a trip like this, it quote, "does not in itself constitute impropriety".
Now records show that Torres did accept the invitation to go to Rome. Ellison did not attend the trip.
And we reached out to an ethics professor that says, all of this is very challenging to defend, because if this was really about gathering in one place at the same time, why not select Chicago in January?
Kyung Lah, CNN -- Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Well, another "Mission Impossible" movie is coming to theaters, but could it be the last mission for Agent Ethan Hunt of the Impossible Mission Force? Find out what Tom Cruise says about the character and the franchise in just a moment.
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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everything you are, everything you've done has come to this.
[01:54:50]
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You gave him an aircraft carrier?
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VAUSE: Oh yes, he's back. Tom Cruise in the eighth "Mission Impossible" film. It's called "The Final Reckoning". But will this be the final installment of the blockbuster franchise?
In the premiere in London on Thursday, Cruise posed on top of a biplane. In the film, Cruise's character Ethan Hunt is up against a rogue artificial intelligence which has taken control of nuclear arsenals across the world.
As for the future of the franchise, Cruise had this teaser.
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TOM CRUISE, ACTOR: I love playing him. It's been a lot of fun, you know, it is a culmination when you're looking at all 30 years of the story.
And you see what Christopher McQuarrie did where, you know, there's going to be a sense of real closure. And the audience is just going to have to see what it is.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Never say never.
The Magna Carta is one of the most important documents in history regarded as the earliest declaration of human rights dating back to the 1300's. And that's why a recent discovery made by a British historian has been such a surprise.
King's College professor David Carpenter was searching for a copy of the document in the archives of Harvard University's Law School. That's when he realized he stumbled upon one of seven known originals under King Edward I.
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DAVID CARPENTER, KING'S COLLEGE PROFESSOR: I worked through the Harvard text word for word, back-breaking, eye-breaking work, comparing it to the authorized version. Jolly nerve racking, actually, because I kept thinking, oh God, it's going to fail.
But actually, no, it didn't. It -- flying colors and its text is virtually identical to that found in the six other originals. And that persuaded me more than anything else, that this was absolutely genuine and authentic.
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VAUSE: The great charter enshrined the principle the king was not above the law, along with other principles. Harvard bought the document for just $27 80 years ago.
Well, beachgoers in Florida have been hoping for pristine sand and clear blue waters, but this is what they're discovering along the state's East Coast -- 31 million tons of smelly seaweed creeping towards beaches around the Caribbean and also Florida.
The brown algae has spread into the state's waterways, coating marinas and beaches. Its 40 percent bigger than it was in 2022. That was breaking its own world record. That's the size of the spread -- a word I didn't know.
Thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm John Vause.
Please stay with us. Kim Brunhuber picks up after a short break. I'm going to go home and learn how to talk.
See you next week.
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