Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Trump to Impose Tariffs Against the European Union and Apple; Three Texas Mosques Vandalized by Masked Man; Second Week in Sean Combs Trial Wraps Up; Verdict Reached in Kim Kardashian 2016 Paris Robbery Trial; Holiday Weekend Travel Numbers Set to Break Records; Number of Flights Cut at Newark Amid Air Traffic Control Outages; Hundreds Freed in Ukraine-Russia Prisoner Exchange; North Korean Leader Furious After Botched Warship Launch. Aired 7-8p ET

Aired May 24, 2025 - 19:00   ET

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

[19:00:39]

OMAR JIMENEZ, C Welcome to CNN NEWSROOM, everyone. I'm Omar Jimenez in New York in for Jessica Dean.

President Donald Trump reigniting a possible trade war. His latest targets are this time the European Union and Apple. The president threatening the E.U. with 50 percent tariffs and telling Apple to start manufacturing iPhones in the United States or face a 25 percent tariff.

Julia Benbrook joins us now.

Julia, what else do we know about these tariff threats?

JULIA BENBROOK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, what we know for sure is that Friday morning, President Donald Trump woke up and tariffs were top of mind. After a relatively quiet, you know, few days on the trade front we got these back-to-back social media posts from the president. And the first one was addressing Apple saying that Apple needs to start making iPhones in the United States.

And he directly called on Tim Cook, saying, I have long ago informed Tim Cook of Apple that I expect their iPhones that will be sold in the United States of America will be manufactured and built in the United States, adding that if he doesn't see that happen, that Apple could face a 25 percent tariff on those goods. And he later added that that would likely apply to other smartphone manufacturers as well.

Then we got another post where he threatened a 50 percent tariff on the European Union to start on June 1st, and he cited a lack of effort on the European Union's part when it comes to the current trade negotiations that they're having. He just said that they really weren't getting anywhere.

And we got a little more context on this later in the day when he spoke from the Oval Office as he was signing executive orders and taking questions from reporters. And a lot of times when he announces these tariffs, it's to really get the ball rolling on negotiations, to up the stakes. But he said there's no deal to be had here, that the deal is they're going to see a 50 percent tariff on those goods coming from the European Union.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's time that we play the game the way I know how to play the game. I'm not looking for a deal. I mean, we've set the deal. It's at 50 percent. But again, there is no tariff if they build their plant here. Now, if somebody comes in and wants to build a plant here, I can talk to them about a little bit of a delay. But, you know, while they're building their plant, which is something I think that would be appropriate, maybe.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BENBROOK: The E.U. trade chief did say in response to the 50 percent tariff, that announcement, that any sort of a trade agreement between the E.U. and the U.S. would have to be done out of mutual respect and not threats -- Omar.

JIMENEZ: Julia Benbrook, really appreciate the reporting. Joining

us now to discuss is CNN senior political analyst and Bloomberg Opinion columnist Ron Brownstein.

Ron, so the president says he's not necessarily looking for a deal with the European Union, that the 50 percent is the deal. What's the end game here?

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes. You know, the end game, Omar, on these tariffs seems to change by the hour. So it's kind of hard to, you know, I don't think anyone has any certainty about what the end game is which is why financial markets have been so unnerved by this whole process.

I think what is really revealing here is the contrast between the way the president talks about the E.U., the nations of Europe, which have been our closest allies since World War II, maybe in some cases since World War I, and the way he has been talking about the business opportunities that he sees in Russia, right? I mean, he has treated the war in Ukraine almost like an inconvenience because it's getting in the way of the closer economic relationship he wants to forge with Russia.

And to me, what I take from all of this is that it's just another confirmation that, you know, Trump, in many ways, seems more aggrieved at our traditional allies and our traditional adversaries. And then in many ways, he doesn't even really divide the world into those categories. Every relationship is transactional. Every, you know, regardless of kind of the historic relationship, regardless of the internal conditions of the country.

Every relationship is about what he can squeeze out of them. And I think that's what you're seeing now as he's pushing the E.U.

JIMENEZ: And even as he's pushing against Apple in this case, like Tim Cook donated to and attended Trump's inauguration, and even still, he's threatening 25 percent tariffs on Apple.

[19:05:04]

Is there a message that all business leaders should take away from, I guess, this posturing?

BROWNSTEIN: They are taking it away already I think and in many ways it's having an effect. I mean, have the thought experiment. Imagine if a Democratic president did this and basically said to a company, unless you do something I am directing you to do, we are going to impose crippling sanctions, in this case tariffs, it could be regulation, on your company. What would we be hearing from the business roundtable, the Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers.

All of the voices of business which have become so powerful in Washington over the last roughly 55 years or so, they would all be outraged, you know, saying this is a violation of free enterprise. It's kind of against the American DNA. But what essentially has happened is that, you know, all of the leading business groups have made the calculation. They're getting a lot of what they do want out of the Trump administration.

They're getting lower taxes on business, lower taxes on them. Personally as highly paid executives, they're getting a kind of a rollback of federal consumer safety regulation, environmental regulation, evisceration. And this is the price they seem to be willing to pay to have Trump, you know, exert a degree of control over their businesses. That would be utterly unacceptable in a Democratic president, not dissimilar from what he did with Walmart the other day, essentially threatening them if they raise prices in response to his tariffs.

So I think this calls out the kind of the, you know, Faustian bargain that business is making here, because they are getting a lot of what they want. They have been willing to tolerate behavior from Trump that as you see, you know, he really can't be placated. I mean, you just kind of kind of can't buy him off. He always comes back and asks for more.

JIMENEZ: Yes. And you know, we saw him on Capitol Hill this week as the House passed a sweeping tax and spending bill that allocates billions of dollars for border security, but also aims to cut nearly $1 trillion in Medicaid and SNAP, for example. Who wins? Who loses with this bill?

BROWNSTEIN: Yes. You know, look, I mean, this is this is really striking because as we've talked about before, you know, when Republicans cut taxes under Bush and Trump the first time, the bills were all sugar, no spinach, it was only tax cuts. They kept the spending cuts far away. This is reverting back to the strategy that Republicans used under Newt Gingrich in 1995, '96 against Bill Clinton, when they coupled the tax cuts and the spending cuts, including in Medicaid, in the same bill.

And ultimately Clinton was able to win that argument. I mean, it revived his presidency by making the case to the public that Republicans were cutting programs at the middle and working class depended on to fund tax cuts for the rich. They are now in a very similar situation. We have detailed analysis from the Penn Wharton budget model that found if you look at the combined effect of the tax cuts and the spending cuts, the bottom 40 percent of households, you know, the bottom two rungs of the income ladder, would come out behind.

People in the middle would be basically awash, would see almost no net gain from this bill, and it would only be people in the top 20 percent, especially the top 10 percent, especially the top 1 percent, who would see big, you know, overall gains when the tax cuts and the spending cuts are added up. So that is a real challenge here for Republicans, a lot more of them than in the past, represent districts with a lot of Medicaid recipients, a lot more of them. A lot of them represent districts that have had big investments under the clean energy incentives that are being repealed to help pay for these tax cuts.

So, yes, tax cuts are often popular, but they are, you know, coupling them with measures that are going to be a lot more difficult to sell to the public. And they really haven't tried to sell in one package for 30 years.

JIMENEZ: And, you know, obviously it's in the Senate's hands or heads to the Senate now. They've got to make their own changes and potentially going back to the House. And President Trump is calling on the Senate to pass this as soon as possible. We've already seen Senate Republicans concerned about those Medicaid cuts in some cases, and others who believe this bill will only add to the deficit.

So can the Senate actually make substantive changes to the bill without angering the president? But also, how do you see these next few days and weeks unfolding?

BROWNSTEIN: In the end I think it's highly, highly likely they will pass the bill. I mean, that's what Republicans do when they have unified control of government. They pass a big tax cut. They did it under Bush twice. They did it under Trump. It is the one piece of legislation that really is a must pass for Republicans.

I think the Senate may massage it somewhat, but only to a point. I mean, what did we see in the House? We saw all of these red lines drawn by Republicans in more competitive districts. Republicans who are considered more ideologically moderate, who said they didn't want to cut as deep in Medicaid, they didn't want to go as fast in phasing out the clean energy incentives because it was creating jobs and bringing billions of dollars in investment into their own districts.

[19:10:03]

And in the end, they all folded. I mean, they all accepted even deeper cuts on both fronts than came out of the committees. So I would suspect that in the end that the Republicans who are making noise will get some concessions. But they are, you know, on track to pass a very big tax cut that will have very big cuts in Medicaid and that will, you know, will ultimately lead. The CBO says to 15 million people losing health care.

I think they are kind of locked into that bet that they can sell the public on tax cuts, even when coupled with big reductions in programs. You mentioned SNAP, student loans, Medicaid that are quite popular, and that the public in the past has shown a lot of resistance to cutting.

JIMENEZ: We will see how it shakes out again in the senate's hands. And then who knows what will happen from there.

Ron Brownstein, really appreciate the time and perspective.

BROWNSTEIN: Omar, thanks for having me.

JIMENEZ: Of course.

Meanwhile, Austin Police are investigating after three mosques were vandalized. Security cameras outside one of them actually captured the moment. You can see here a masked man spray painted symbols on Thursday night and police say they are now patrolling all mosques in the city and urging people to report any suspicious activity.

CNN correspondent Julia Vargas Jones joins us live.

So, Julia, what was this person spray painting and what more do we know about this investigation?

JULIA VARGAS JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we can see from that video and some of the close up video that we got from Nueces Mosque around 11:30 p.m. on Thursday night, he was spray painting different symbols, but one of them repeatedly was the Star of David. The Austin Police said that they are actively investigating this and monitoring all these other locations. But they also said in a statement that they are committed to fostering a secure, inclusive community where hatred is not tolerated.

Now, one member of that Muslim community of Austin spoke to one of CNN's affiliate there, and they said that the Star of David, as a symbol by itself is something they respect, but that using it to deface a place of worship is vandalism, Omar. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHAIMAA ZAYAN, CAIR OPERATIONS MANAGER: I've seen an increase in Islamophobia, anti-Arab, and anti-Palestinian sentiment since October 2023. It's a shame. It's a shame to target worship places.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JONES: And the Council on American Islamic Relations issued a statement on Friday saying that, quote, "These are the latest in a disturbing pattern of hate motivated incidents targeting Austin mosques in recent months." And they added that that same mosque, Nueces Mosque, had reported four different incidents since last year, last October in 2024. The council also said that they received record numbers of complaints of Islamophobia nationwide, not just in Texas, and that points to a new and concerning trend that they say has less to do with religion and religious intolerance, and more with political viewpoints in particularly about the war in Gaza.

JIMENEZ: Julia Vargas Jones, really appreciate the reporting.

All right. Coming up, prosecutors in the Sean Combs trial wrap up the second week laying out their case. We're going to tell you what you missed if you weren't paying attention every detail when we come back.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:17:59]

JIMENEZ: The Sean "Diddy" Combs sex trafficking trial is now adjourned until Tuesday after a week of really shocking at times testimony and photo evidence from the prosecution against Combs, including accusations of arson by rapper Kid Cudi.

CNN entertainment correspondent Elizabeth Wagmeister has the latest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELIZABETH WAGMEISTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: As the jury enjoys a long holiday weekend, they have a lot of testimony to mull over before court is back in session on Tuesday. The jury has heard from a number of witnesses this week, many of whom corroborated pieces of Cassie Ventura's account. The jury heard from everyone from her mother to former employees of Sean Combs.

In fact, we heard from two former assistants of Sean Combs. One of them took the stand on Thursday and Friday and told the jury that he had to leave Combs Enterprises because he had witnessed violence from Sean Combs against Cassie Ventura and another girlfriend. He actually said that on one instance, he witnessed Sean Combs violently assaulting Cassie Ventura on his private plane. Another time with another girlfriend named Gina. He said that he witnessed Sean Combs throwing apples at her and throwing them very hard.

So that was just one of the people that the jury heard from. We also heard from a hotel worker who was the manager of a luxury hotel, the L'Ermitage in Beverly Hills, which was a hotel that Sean Combs would frequent over the years. The hotel manager was shown a series of hotel logs that had notes from when Sean Combs would stay there, and I want to read a few of them to you. One of them said, please monitor outside his room down the hall to spray air freshener.

Another one said, always spills candle wax on everything and uses excessive amounts of oil. Place the room out of order upon departure for deep cleaning. Another note said to authorize an extra $1,000 every time the guest stays because they have to cover room damages.

[19:20:05]

Now, why is this important? Well, because the prosecution has alleged that these so-called freak offs, these drug fueled sex parties where Sean Combs would allegedly coerce women like Cassie Ventura into having sex with male escorts, the prosecution alleges that these freak offs are at the center of this criminal case, and they have gone into great detail since the trial began about some of these freak offs supplies, which would include candle wax and baby oil. So they're trying to set a scene here to show the jury that these freak offs were happening in many locations over the years.

Now, one last witness that I want to tell you about, the jury also heard from rapper and actor Kid Cudi, who is an ex of Cassie. They dated briefly, and he says that when Sean Combs found out that they were dating, that he was so jealous that he blew up his car and broke into his home. Now the jury was actually shown photos of his car. It had a gaping hole on the top and had a ton of smoke damage to the point where Kid Cudi testified the car could not be repaired.

He alleged that a Molotov cocktail was thrown into that car. He says he believes it was Sean Combs' doing, and he believes it was intentional.

Back to you.

JIMENEZ: Elizabeth Wagmeister, appreciate the reporting.

A verdict is also finally reached in the Kim Kardashian jewelry heist trial. Ten people were charged and accused of tying her up and robbing her at gunpoint in her Paris hotel room back in 2016.

CNN's senior international correspondent Melissa Bell has the details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MELISSA BELL, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Eight of the 10 people who are accused of being involved in the robbery of Kim Kardashian here in Paris in 2016 have been found guilty, with several of them seeing prison sentences handed down, although none of them will face any more time in jail either because of time served or because some of those sentences were partly suspended sentences.

Still, Kim Kardashian herself has responded to the verdict, thanking the French authorities for the way this trial was conducted and for bringing justice in this case. She spoke again in her reaction, as she did at the courtroom behind me last week of the trauma that this had inflicted on her, how this had been the most terrifying experience of her life. And even as he summed up, the presiding judge told the accused that their sentences had been relatively light given the real pain and fear that she had gone through.

Kim Kardashian back in 2016, you'll remember that it was $10 million worth of her jewelry that had been stolen at the time. It took some time for her to speak publicly about what she'd been through, but when she did, you really felt the emotion and the fear of what she must have lived. She's spoken, of course, of the fact that she feared being raped. She feared being killed. And again in front of this court spoke of those fears being very real and continuing to haunt her today.

JIMENEZ: Melissa Bell, thank you so much.

Now, if you're lucky, summer vacation this year might involve an airplane, but air travel has been a bumpy ride in 2025 if you haven't heard. What should we expect over the next few months? We'll break it down next right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:27:45]

JIMENEZ: The holiday weekend is set to be one for the record books. AAA says more people will be traveling over Memorial Day than ever before. We're talking more than 45 million Americans venturing more than 50 miles from home, mostly by car. But many are expected to fly. TSA expects to screen around 18 million travelers between now and next week.

Now, it may be too late for you to book a trip this weekend, as I say to myself, but this is just the beginning of the summer travel season.

Joining us now is Clint Henderson, managing editor at the Points Guy.

All right. You say it's not too late to book a trip for the summer. And there are deals out there. What are some of your key tips to finding a good deal this summer?

CLINT HENDERSON, MANAGING EDITOR, THE POINTS GUY: OK, so I'm going to give you a tip. It's going to blow your mind.

JIMENEZ: Let's do it.

HENDERSON: It's called Google Flights Explore. You put in your home airport, say Atlanta, and it gives you an interactive map. And it shows you all the places you can go around the world or even in your own backyard. It'll show you the cheapest destinations in the Caribbean or in Florida, or in Australia. It's a great tool that I use a lot of times when I don't know where I want to go, I just want to go somewhere cheap, and you can change the dates in there, too. So one of my favorite tools.

Another hack is airline vacation packages. So you book the flights, the hotels, car rental, even activities all in one. Save up to 40 percent off when you bundle. So those are two of my favorite hacks right now.

JIMENEZ: I was just saying I pulled it up while you were talking. This just changed the game for me. Google Flights Explore. Just trying to figure out where I'm going to go. All right. Tip number one is great.

HENDERSON: Yes, you can book a last-minute vacation. You know what I mean? Like, even this weekend.

JIMENEZ: Yes. All right, let's do it. Love it. All right. But also, what are some destinations around the around the country, let's just start there, that are essentially on sale this summer compared to where prices have been? HENDERSON: Yes. So it's good news across the board. We just did a

really cool collaboration with a Web site called Points Path. They scrape data from Google Flights and they show that domestic prices are down substantially like 10 percent year-over-year. International down about 6 percent year-over-year. But places are on sale that haven't been on sale for really since we came out of the pandemic. That includes Las Vegas, Miami, Chicago, New York City, lots of deals out there, especially for domestic itineraries.

[19:32:24]

You know, you can go from the East Coast to Miami under $200. We just haven't seen those kind of prices in a long time and hotel prices are even coming down a little bit.

So, good news across the board. Europe is on sale under $500.00 round trip is routine now for summer travel, which is just unheard of on the major carriers. Delta, American, United. We've seen under 500 but usually discount carriers. So this is really unusual.

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN HOST: Yes, I actually do have to book a flight to Chicago for July, so maybe I should do that right when we finish up. You do point to some data that shows travel prices are falling, especially when it comes to domestic travel as you were talking about down about 13 percent and also sounds like on the international front as well. But on the domestic front, I mean, what is driving these price drops?

HENDERSON: So, remember that the airlines are finally back to pre- pandemic sort of capacity. So, they've got all the flights operating they want to fly. And what's happened is there's been a slight downtick in demand, probably due to economic headwinds. You saw the airlines warn that, you know, they just weren't selling as many seats, especially in the U.S., as they had hoped. And so, they lower their forecast.

Well, that means those seats are now on sale because the airlines still want to fill those planes. The other great thing about it is airlines are making award redemptions available that they haven't been lately because they want to fill those planes. So even last minute, you can sometimes book using your miles or points and we just haven't seen a lot of that in the past five years.

JIMENEZ: Yes, you know, some of the concerns people might have as, as they go to book flights is are the headlines we've seen about air traffic control shortages, especially out of places like Newark International Airport in New Jersey. Are you seeing any evidence that travelers are actively avoiding that airport or, or maybe saying staying back because they're fearful of flying?

HENDERSON: Yes, so we did surveys with the Harris poll earlier this year on fear of flying, and it was on people's minds, but they weren't changing their behavior based on it. I will say they have cut the number of flights that are available in and out of Newark. I still haven't seen a lot of softening in demand, excuse me, so, that's really good. But I think the air traffic control shortage is the big story of the summer.

I'm worried it's going to spread across the country from Newark, so that's the one I'm really keeping my eye on. And we are advising people to avoid Newark, not necessarily for safety reasons, but just because there's so many delays and cancellations out of that airport. Still to this day, it's been going on for months and there's no easy solutions in sight.

JIMENEZ: Yes, Clint Henderson, always appreciate you coming on and make me optimistic for the summer travel season. Thanks for being here.

HENDERSON: See you later.

JIMENEZ: Of course.

All right. The top prize at the Cannes Film Festival gets handed out, but not before a major power outage hits the city. We'll explain, coming up. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:37:40]

JIMENEZ: Just in, all six victims in the San Diego plane crash have been identified. We now know 24-year-old Kendall Fortner and San Diego resident Dominic Damian were on board. Emma Huke, Celina Kenyon, Daniel Williams and David Shapiro have been identified had been identified earlier.

Now, Huke worked at Sound Talent Group, according to her Instagram page. Kenyon is being remembered as an amazing mother and professional photographer, and the metal band "The Devil Wears Prada" says Williams was their drummer and they, "owe him everything."

Shapiro is a well-known music booking agent and owner of the aircraft. The plane went down early Thursday morning near the Montgomery-Gibbs Executive Airport, and officials say it was extremely foggy and that runway lights were not working as the pilot tried to land, making it even harder for the pilot to find the runway in the dark, poor weather.

The NTSB is still investigating. We're also following news out of Russia and Ukraine. Russia overnight launching a major attack on Kyiv, firing 14 ballistic missiles and 250 attack drones at Ukraine, according to the country's air force. At least 13 people were killed in the strikes, and the nighttime attack came as Russia And Ukraine freed hundreds of servicemen in a prisoner exchange. CNN's Paula Hancocks has more on this.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): We've been seeing some very emotional scenes from some former Ukrainian prisoners who have been released this Saturday. The second day in what is expected to be a three-day phase, it's expected to be the largest prisoner exchange between Russia and Ukraine since the war began back in February 2022.

Now, we have seen some of these former prisoners draped and wrapped in Ukrainian flags, being reunited with their loved ones. We've heard from the Ukrainian leader, President Zelenskyy, saying he thanks everyone involved and that all of the prisoners will be released. Let's hear what he said after day one of this exchange.

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE (through translator): The main thing of today is that the exchange took place. This is the first stage of the largest exchange that was agreed upon in Turkey. It was the only significant result of the meeting in Turkey and the Russians are blocking everything else. They are blocking it for now.

But the return of our people is exactly what we always working for. We will definitely return everyone, every one of our citizens, every Ukrainian military and civilian, all Ukrainian hostages held in Russia, we must free them all.

[19:40:15]

HANCOCKS: Now, this was really the one tangible success that could be taken from the meeting last week in Istanbul, where Russian and Ukrainian officials met for the first time since shortly after the war broke out. We have heard from the U.S. President Donald Trump, posting on social media, saying this could lead to something big, followed by question marks.

But what we have been hearing from officials on the ground is that is a very positive development. The exchange itself, it's not expected at this point, though, to develop into anything beyond this. This is the fifth exchange that we've seen this year and the 64th that we have seen since the war started.

In fact, we have been seeing some renewed drone and missile attacks from Russia into Ukraine overnight Friday into Saturday. We saw, according to officials, some 250 strike drones and 14 ballistic missiles. Now, many of them were intercepted, but those that were not were deadly. Over a 24-hour period, there were some 13 killed and more than 50 injured.

And this was across the whole of Ukraine. There were more than half a dozen districts and regions that were affected. We heard from Zelenskyy saying it was a difficult night for all of Ukraine.

Paula Hancocks, CNN, Abu Dhabi.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JIMENEZ: Thank you, Paula. Now, more desperately needed aid is entering Gaza today. But that aid was looted. Videos geolocated by CNN show crowds rushing toward one of the trucks and people carrying off sacks of flour.

Now, the United Arab Emirates aid campaign is blaming the Israeli military for insisting that delivery trucks use what it says are unsafe routes. A limited amount of aid started arriving in Gaza after a months' long blockade by Israel, but senior United Nations officials are warning the supply is nowhere near enough.

Meanwhile, French officials are suggesting a major power outage in Cannes on the final day of the film festival. And they're suggesting that it was caused deliberately more than 160,000 homes and many businesses had no power for approximately 12 hours today. And authorities suspect arson and a fire at a nearby electrical substation.

Now, power was restored hours before the film festivals closing ceremony, but the investigation into that continues. Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi, excuse me, was tonight awarded the Palme D'or for his revenge thriller, "It Was Just An Accident." The dissident director has endured multiple run ins with the Iranian government, including imprisonment, most recently from 2022 to 2023.

A YouTube star facing criticism and bullying for her support of children suffering through the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. We're going to hear from Miss Rachel, next. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:48:01]

JIMENEZ: Adding to his calls for a ceasefire in Gaza, Pope Leo XIV is also calling on Israel to let humanitarian aid into Gaza. This week, the pope used his first ever general audience in Saint Peter's to call on Israel to act.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

POPE LEO XIV, BISHOP OF ROME, HEAD OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH AND SOVEREIGN OF THE VATICAN CITY STATE: (through translator): The situation in the Gaza Strip is increasingly worrying and painful. I renew my heartfelt appeal to allow the entry of humanitarian help, and to bring an end to the hostilities. The high price of which is being paid for by children, the elderly and the sick.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JIMENEZ: And the video you're seeing now underscores the dire situation the Pope described. Dozens of young Palestinians in Gaza city scrambling to grab pots of boiling hot food.

And here in the United States, popular YouTube star and children's educator Miss Rachel is bringing awareness to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. Here's CNN's Meena Duerson.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RACHEL ACCURSO, "MS. RACHEL", AMERICAN YOUTUBER, SOCIAL MEDIA PERSONALITY, SINGER, SONGWRITER, AND EDUCATOR: Let's go back to sleep, Rahaf, we're so tired.

MEENA DUERSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): This is Ms. Rachel hanging out with her new friend Rahaf. Miss Rachel is like YouTube's Mr. Rogers, with millions of subscribers and billions of views -- MS. RACHEL: Can you nod yes?

DUERSON (voice over): --and Rahaf is a three-year-old double amputee from Gaza. She lost her legs when her home was bombed and months later was medically evacuated to the U.S.

(ISRAA SAED, RAHA'S MOTHER speaking in foreign language.)

TRANSLATION: We are heading to the U.S.

DUERSON (voice over): Miss Rachel saw a video of the little girl now living with her mom in a host family in Missouri watching her show.

MS. RACHEL: She's just so precious. Hopping like a bunny and you know, she was kind of hopping on the couch.

DUERSON (voice over): -- and arranged to have Rahaf come visit her in New York. Rahaf is part of a new group of fans Miss Rachel discovered last year, refugees of the war in Gaza.

MS. RACHEL: I was tagged in a video of a toddler and a brother and a sister watching in a tent, and I saw the toddler swaying and the little girl smile, and I was just so touched that I could bring a little bit of joy to them during unimaginable circumstances.

DUERSON (on camera): Did you know that you had this audience?

[19:50:15]

MS. RACHEL: No, I was completely surprised someone wrote, this made me realize that these kids are like mine and like ours. And I know so many parents that enjoy our show feel the same way. They say, as a mom, I just think about I see my babies.

All children are worthy.

DUERSON (voice over): She's posted more and more about Gaza as the war has gone on, highlighting the humanitarian crisis and launching a fundraiser for kids. She's gotten supportive comments, but there also been backlash.

MS. RACHEL: The bullying is so bad. It's so bad. But I can handle this.

DUERSON (on camera): You seemed very emotional about the bullying that you said you've gotten for speaking out.

MS. RACHEL: The idea that caring for one group of children means that you don't care for another group of children as false, and it's so hurtful because I care so deeply for all kids.

DUERSON (voice over): In April, an advocacy group called Stop Antisemitism called her a mouthpiece for Hamas.

DUERSON (on camera): A group accused you of essentially acting as a foreign agent and asked for the attorney general to investigate you for spreading propaganda.

MS. RACHEL: Obviously, that's not true. I care deeply about all children -- Israeli, Palestinian, Jewish, Muslim, Christian. I wouldn't be Miss Rachel if I didn't speak up for them and speak up for all of them.

(SONG OF MS. RACHEL: THIS IS A PRAYER FOR ALL THE CHILDREN. PLEASE STOP HURTING THEM.)

DUERSON (voice over): Miss Rachel has also used her platform to express grief over the deaths of Israeli children, and said she's met with the family of hostages still in captivity.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She's keeping the walker with her.

DUERSON (voice over): Here in the U.S., Rahaf was fit for prosthetics and has learned how to walk again. A group called Palestine Children's Relief Fund helped her and her mom get out, but her dad and two brothers are still in Gaza.

(ISRAA SAED speaking in foreign language.)

TRANSLATION: Rahaf is very luck of course because Rahaf was able to leave but there are other children still in Gaza. I wish those kids could get out and get treatment like Rahaf. And many children are still under the rubble. I see how it affects my children. How they just talk to Rahaf and they see her holding bread and eating. They ask about it, of course this hurts me so much.

MS. RACHEL: Anything is possible for Rahaf and she has healthy food and she has clean water, and she has wonderful medical care. This girl is thriving. We have to do this for all kids because they all deserve that.

DUERSON (voice over): Meena Duerson, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JIMENEZ: All right, everyone, we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:57:26]

JIMENEZ: Under the watchful eye of North Korea's leader, a brand new warship is unveiled. And in a catastrophic accident, ends up on its side. Kim Jong-un is furious. CNN senior international correspondent Will Ripley has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WILL RIPLEY, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): They were supposed to be. North Korea's double threat -- a pair of brand new 5,000 ton Destroyers, heavily armed. A massive upgrade from their aging Soviet era fleet, modern warships designed to strike fear and project power far beyond North Korean shores., but only one made it off the dock.

New satellite images reveal the aftermath of a catastrophic launch failure. The second Destroyer lies partially capsized in the water. One side submerged sections of the hull draped in blue tarps. This was that ship just days earlier before the botched launch left it on its side, half sunk dead in the water. Worse still, Marshal Kim Jong-un was watching from shore. North Korean state media quoting Kim calling the warship launch a criminal act that brought shame to the nation. Kim blaming absolute carelessness and irresponsibility of shipbuilders, scientists and military leaders.

RIPLEY (on camera): What's going to happen to these people that were that were directly involved with this?

MAJ. GEN. JAMES "SPIDER" MARKS (RET), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: There's no doubt he will hold everyone responsible for this. And anybody who is tangentially responsible for this, he will hold them accountable and without being graphic, he'll put a bullet in everybody's head if he has not already.

RIPLEY (voice over): Retired General James "Spider" Marks served on the Korean peninsula. He believes Kim will punish what he sees as a national betrayal. Swiftly and brutally. Over more than a decade in power, Kim has built a reputation for exactly that, ordering the trial and execution of his own uncle. North Korea denies Kim also ordered the assassination of his half-brother.

Top ranking officials accused of failure have vanished. South Korean intelligence believes some were executed, others sent to forced labor camps for reeducation.

MARKS: This is going to be incredibly painful.

RIPLEY (voice over): General Marks says the warship disaster also exposes deeper problems inside the North Korean military, well beyond the Navy.

MARKS: What is the state of those nukes? How are they maintained? What is the inventory look like? Is this the possibility for a mistake?

RIPLEY (voice over): The South Korean and U.S. Military say Kim's crown jewel lies crippled, possibly damaged beyond repair, just weeks ahead of a major political summit in North Korea's capital, Pyongyang, where observers say the reckoning will come.

RIPLEY (on camera): We're also learning North Koreas new Destroyer, the one that did make it into the water, may lack a functional engine. Satellite imagery suggests the ship has never actually been sailing independently. Experts believe it may be relying on tugboats for movement, raising some serious doubts about the ship's real operational capability and undermining North Korea's claim as if this accident didn't already do that of advanced naval modernization.

Will Ripley, CNN, Taipei.

(END VIDEOTAPE) JIMENEZ: All right and thank you all for joining me this evening. I'm Omar Jimenez, I'll see you again tomorrow night starting at 5:00 Eastern, "Kobe: The Making of a Legend" up next.

[20:00:47]