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Trump Media Raising $2.5 Billion To Buy Bitcoin; Trump Warns Russia's Putin is "Playing with Fire"; Mexico Set to Hold Its First- Ever Judicial Elections: Nigerian Non-Profit Safeguarding Journalistic Heritage; King Charles Addresses Canadian Parliament; Air Canada Pilot Vents About Staffing Shortages. Aired 1-2a ET

Aired May 28, 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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[01:00:29]

JOHN VAUSE, CNN HOST: Breaking point. Has Trump's patience with Putin finally run out? Ahead on CNN Newsroom.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: President Donald Trump once again lashing out at Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying that he was, quote, "playing with fire."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: But will the U.S. president get tougher or simply give up on brokering a cease fire between Russia and Ukraine?

Chaos and desperation at an aid distribution point in Gaza.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): They want order, but there will be no order because these are desperate people who want to eat and drink.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: U.S. Israeli backed private contractors overwhelmed and overrun by thousands of Palestinians in a frenzy for food. And this.

And why fly when you can take Delta. Two would be stowaway pigeons, 119 passengers and other chaos on Flight 2348.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Live from Atlanta, this is CNN NEWSROOM with John Vause.

VAUSE: Donald Trump appears to be growing increasingly impatient and frustrated with Vladimir Putin and his apparent efforts to stall a cease fire agreement with Ukraine. On his social media platform, the U.S. president posted, "What Vladimir Putin doesn't realize is that if it weren't for me, lots of really bad things would have already happened to Russia. And I mean really bad. He's playing with fire." That warning comes after Russia ramped up missile and drone attacks on Ukraine.

At least 14 civilians, including children, were killed by a wave of aerial attacks over the weekend. Sources say President Trump now considering slapping new sanctions on Russia in the coming days. This more than a week after the United States says Putin promised he would send a so called memorandum of peace laying out requirements for a ceasefire with Ukraine. The White House is still waiting. Moscow says it's working on it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARIA ZAKHAROVA, RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESPERSON (through translator): Russia continues to work on a draft memorandum on a future peace treaty defining a number of positions such as principles of settlement, the timing of a possible peace agreement and a potential ceasefire for a certain amount of time if appropriate agreements are reached.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: More details now from CNN's Kristen Holmes reporting in from the White House.

HOLMES: President Donald Trump once again lashing out at Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying that he was, quote, "playing with fire." Now we have learned a little bit of background here as to why exactly the president has shifted his tone with the Russian president. It is in part because of those escalated attacks, particularly that these escalated attacks from Putin on Ukraine happened after the two leaders had the conversation. But there's another reason as well. Sources telling us that in that phone call that Donald Trump held with Vladimir Putin just a week ago that Putin did promise to draft and send what he called a memorandum of peace, which would essentially lay out the Russian requirements for a Ukrainian war cease fire.

He said that he would send it to both the U.S. and Ukraine in coming days. We have learned that even though that call happened over a week ago, that no parties have received this memorandum, which has added to the frustration of the president and of the Trump administration. One other thing we learned about that conversation is that Donald Trump instructed Putin to work directly with Ukraine. He said that Europe and the United States would help, that they might serve as intermediaries, but that the two countries had to have these conversations themselves. He also then reiterated that to Zelenskyy and to the Ukrainians after the conversation with Putin. But, but obviously, as we are seeing here, Donald Trump really escalating when it comes to that rhetoric around the Russian president. As one U.S. official said to me, he's trying to turn up the heat on Vladimir Putin.

Kristen Holmes, CNN, the White House.

VAUSE: Several airports in and around Moscow were forced to close and flights were grounded after Ukraine launched an overnight drone attack. Russia's defense ministry says more than 100 Ukrainian drones were intercepted by air defense systems. Twenty-six of those drones were destroyed on their approach to Moscow, according to the city's mayor. No immediate reports of casualties or serious damage, and emergency services are now clearing debris.

To be blunt, day one for private contractors distributing aid in Gaza was a debacle. Thousands of Palestinians rushed an aid distribution site in the southern city of Rafah. They tore down security fences, climbed over barriers, ignored warning shots from Israeli soldiers and stormed the facility operated by the controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. The group is backed by the United States and Israel has been heavily criticized by the U.N. warning it lacked the experience needed to deliver aid in Gaza and would create security risks and its lack of independence was a gross violation of humanitarian principles.

[01:05:23]

A diplomatic official says the chaos Tuesday came as a surprise to no one. After 11 week Israeli blockade of all humanitarian supplies into Gaza, more than 2 million Palestinians are inching closer to famine. A small amount of tightly controlled aid deliveries is now being allowed across the border, including assistance from the GHF.

The U.N. aid chief denounced Israel's restrictions saying quote, "We have the supplies planned will and networks to deliver massive amounts of life saving aid to civilians in Gaza in line with humanitarian principle as the world is demanding. Enough. Let us work. No more time to lose." CNS Jeremy Diamond has more now reporting in from Jerusalem.

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Chaotic scenes at a newly opened aid distribution site in southern Gaza. Thousands of Palestinians desperate for food overrunning this newly opened site, even prompting the withdrawal of the American security contractors who were manning this site. You can see in videos from the scene as crowds of Palestinians go over some of the barriers, break down the fences, all in a bid to grab some of the last remaining food parcels at this newly opened location. This marks the first full day of operations for the controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, which is a U.S. and Israeli approved aid mechanism for getting aid into Gaza in a way that Israeli authorities will accept. Its only existence is because Israeli authorities won't let aid into Gaza via the traditional humanitarian aid channels, accusing Hamas of stealing the aid.

That's an allegation that Hamas denies and also that these humanitarian aid agencies say simply doesn't check out with the reality on the ground. But nonetheless, this Gaza Humanitarian Foundation is beginning to ramp up. In fact, they say that they have control of this site once again and they plan to resume operations at that very same site on Wednesday. But major questions still remain about their ability to actually alleviate what is a clear hunger crisis in the Gaza Strip. In fact, even after one week of Israel allowing limited quantities of aid into Gaza in order to alleviate some of the pressure before this new mechanism gets into place, we are seeing these scenes of chaos at this newly established site that show that hunger still grips so much of Gaza's population. In northern Gaza, the situation is even worse as very few aid trucks have actually been able to make their way to the northern part of the strip. The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation their first four distribution sites will be in southern and in central Gaza. They claim that they will have two more sites in the northern part of the strip within their first month of operations, but that remains to be seen.

Jeremy Diamond, CNN, Jerusalem.

VAUSE: One of the two Israeli embassy workers shot dead last week outside a Jewish museum in Washington has been laid to rest. Funeral service for Sarah Milgrim was held on Tuesday in her home state of Kansas. A speaker there noted that she was meant to be in Israel this week celebrating with the family of the young man she planned to marry, Yaron Lischinsky, who was also killed. The gunman accused of killing them both now faces murder charges. Police say he sheltered free Palestine during his arrest.

Police in Liverpool, England, say the driver in the parade crash, which injured dozens of people, is under arrest on suspicion of attempted murder. Investigators also believe they now know how he got into the closed off street. And CNN's Nic Robertson explains.

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NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: A day later, Liverpool police searching for clues. Forensic teams scouring streets littered from the soccer cup celebrations abruptly ended as a vehicle ploughed into the crowds. The police calling it attempted murder.

KAREN JAUNDRILL, DETECTIVE CHIEF SUPERINTENDENT, MERSEYSIDE POLICE: We have arrested a 53-year-old man from West Derby on suspicion of attempted murder, dangerous driving offences and driving whilst unfit through drugs. He remains in custody where he is being interviewed.

ROBERTSON (voice-over): Hundreds of thousands of fans proudly crowded the streets as their team aboard an open top bus took a 10 mile tour showing off their latest trophy. How the driver got among them answered by the police.

JENNY SIMS, ASSISTANT CHIEF CONSTABLE, MERSEYSIDE POLICE: It is believed the driver of the Ford Galaxy car involved in this incident was able to follow an ambulance onto Water Street after the roadblock was temporarily lifted so that the ambulance crew could attend to a member of the public who was having a suspected heart attack.

[01:10:11]

ROBERTSON (voice-over): The city still in shock.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it was a terrible thing. What happened yesterday shouldn't happen anywhere on any event or celebrations. And I was just getting text messages from people back home to see if it was safe. Felt disgusted after it when I heard because he didn't know there was remnant kids and if anybody was dead. ROBERTSON (voice-over): Firefighters pulled four victims, including a child from under a vehicle. Sixty-five people injured, police say 50 of them taken to hospital. Eleven of them remain there, they say, for treatment. They describe their condition as recovering. The British prime minister among many to pay their tribute to the victims.

KEIR STARMER, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: My thoughts and the thoughts of the whole country are with all of those that are affected. Liverpool stands together and the whole country stands with Liverpool.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERTSON (on camera): The police now do seem to have a good sense of how this happened and who was responsible, less so why. But what is clear, it's going to be long after this police tape comes down, the crime scene is cleared, the street is open before the people of Liverpool can really come to terms with the terrible tragedy that unfolded here.

Nic Robinson, CNN, Liverpool.

VAUSE: Still ahead, tariffs increased, tariffs delayed. How financial markets are responding to Donald Trump's latest unexpected tariff reversal. Also, a Trump owned Media Company making a massive bid to buy Bitcoin. All of it. And with it, renewed criticism over potential conflicts of interest.

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[01:16:13]

VAUSE: The U.S. State Department has ordered a pause in issuing new student visas, according to a diplomatic cable seen by CNN. The reason for the hold is to establish new guidelines for screening social media postings of all applicants. The Trump administration has already revoked scores of student visas. The diplomatic cable says appointments that were already scheduled can still take place.

Wall Street was sent soaring Tuesday after the U.S. president announced a delay in new 50 percent tariffs on imports from the E.U. The Dow gained 740 points. The S&P and the NASDAQ both finished more than 2 percent higher. Trump says the E.U. has called to quickly set up trade negotiations. Americans, though, remain skeptical of the president's economic policies. CNN's Harry Enten reports.

HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: When it comes to President Trump and his tariff wars, the American people are asking what the heck is going on out there. Indeed. Let's take a look. Recent CBS News/YouGov poll does Donald Trump have a clear plan for tariffs and trade? Guess what? The majority of Americans say no, he does not, 55 percent compared to just 45 percent who say yes. Of course, in the American public, the independent vote is so important, 64 percent of independents say that Donald Trump does not have a clear plan when it comes to tariffs and trade.

And there's a good reason why the American People are confused. We can see this in this metric, that is the Trade Policy Uncertainty Index. Get this, at this point, compared to a year ago, the uncertainty index up 846 percent through the roof. My goodness gracious. In fact, the Trade Policy Uncertainty Index is higher now than in any month prior to 2025.

And this index goes all the way back since 1960. It just seems like every single month this index is showing a new record high because of Donald Trump's policies.

Now, of course, we're thinking about the European Union, right? Will there or will there not be a 50 percent additional tariff on the European Union? And why is that so important in America? Well, I want you to take a look here. What is number one in America?

Who is the number one trade partner with the United States? Well, when you put the European Union together, they are number one. We're talking 4.9 percent of U.S. GDP in 2024. My goodness gracious, a very large part of the economy.

You'll also notice over here. What else is number one? Well, what's the number one smartphone? It's the iPhone in America. Why is that so important?

Because Donald Trump, of course, is threatening additional tariffs on Apple for their iPhone. And that is the number one smartphone with 155 million active units. My goodness gracious. So if Donald Trump decides to put in these additional tariffs on either Apple for their iPhone or in the European Union as a trading partner, that could have a massive impact, not just on the economy abroad, but on the United States as well. Of course, at this particular point, who the heck knows what Donald Trump is going to do?

And that is why the American people believe he has no clear plan when it comes to trade policy and tariffs. Back to you.

VAUSE: The Trump Media and Technology Group has announced plans to raise two and a half billion dollars to buy bitcoin. The company, which also owns Truth Social, says it plans to create one of the largest bitcoin treasury deals of any public company.

The president's cryptocurrency deals, though, are adding to concerns of conflict of interest already swirling around his administration. Trump Media shares fell 10 percent on news of the bitcoin deal, which is expected to close later this week.

William Quigley is a technology focused venture capitalist as well as cofounder of Tether, a stablecoin cryptocurrency. Thank you for being with us.

WILLIAM QUIGLEY, CO-FOUNDER, TETHER & WAX: Thank you.

VAUSE: OK, so let's start with the big picture here because, you know, cryptocurrency remains kind of cryptic, I guess, for a lot of people. So what is Trump Media actually planning on buying with that $2.5 billion and what will it do with it once it has it? QUIGLEY: Right. So he is or the Trump Media is intending to issue, I think it's U.S. $1.5 billion worth of stock and a billion dollars' worth of debt. It may change slightly when it actually happens. And that will be used principally to buy Bitcoin.

[01:20:14]

I think the wording of their announcement left open the possibility of buying something more than just Bitcoin, but we should assume it's mostly going to be Bitcoin. Very similar to the MicroStrategy business, which has been doing that quite successfully for now, five years.

VAUSE: Well, we know that both Donald Trump and Melania have their own meme coin. And back in April, when President Trump announced a White House dinner for the 20 biggest investors in his meme coin, that's sort of a trading frenzy. With Wired reporting, "Two subsidiaries of the Trump Organization, a conglomerate owned by the president, control 80 percent of the total supply of the coin, which shot up in price by almost 60 percent after the announcement." Which is why Senator Elizabeth Warren described the dinner like this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN (D-MA): Donald Trump's dinner is a -- is a -- an orgy of corruption. Donald Trump is using the presidency of the United States to make himself richer through crypto.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Yes, this is just one example of what the President has been doing since coming to office when it comes to, you know, crypto currencies. And just to this one point here, is Elizabeth Warren wrong?

QUIGLEY: I don't really have much to say about what his involvement is with the meme coin that the Trump Organization distributed. You know, there are literally tens of millions of meme coins. Lots of people promote them. I think it's politics whether it's appropriate for him being in the White House to have any sort of statements about the meme coin. But since I'm not a politician, I'm going to let, you know, politicians deal with whether or not that should be done and how appropriate it is.

VAUSE: Well, you are involved in the crypto industry. You co-founder of Tether. So this expert does apply to you, I guess in some ways. Since coming to office, the Trump administration has rolled back regulations on cryptocurrency. A crypto crime task force at the Securities and Exchange Commission has been dismantled.

A number of regulatory investigations of cryptocurrencies have been dropped by the SEC as well. And then you can add into the mix an executive order from February 10 which suspended enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. And that's the one which prohibits foreign officials from bribing or trying to bribe U.S. lawmakers as well as others. So when you put it all together, doesn't this seem to open up an avenue here for cryptocurrency corruption? Doesn't pave the way for that to happen?

QUIGLEY: Well, you're probably asking the wrong guy about that, because crypto business operators, people like me, who have been in the technology world for many, many years, a long time before bitcoin was invented, when we saw the advantages of what you could do with blockchain technology and started wanting to build in the United States for that, we were subjected to what I would call abuse. A lot of federal agencies who didn't necessarily have any congressional mandate for whether or not they had jurisdiction over the crypto industry came down with us many times, generally with aggressive actions about what we were doing, but very rarely citing any existing law. So from my perspective, I've welcomed President Trump coming into the federal government and telling the different federal agencies, you have to come up with a specific set of policies around it. We now have Congress doing the same thing with the GENIUS Act, finally putting some rules around stablecoins and their issuance. So for me, having dealt with so much uncertainty over the years, I am very happy with what he's done on the crypto landscape.

VAUSE: Well, as part of President Trump's goal to make the U.S. a crypto capital of the world, the White House is building a bitcoin strategic reserve. I understand why the U.S. has a strategic petroleum reserve. I understand why China has a strategic reserve of pork. I understand why Canada has a national butter reserve. Actually, I don't understand that one.

But these are real world commodities which can become in short supply. But bitcoin isn't anything real, is it? It's number on a computer screen. So how do you have a strategic reserve of that?

QUIGLEY: How much this bitcoin reserve is going to amount to? You know, those details haven't been said, but I think if countries are willing to keep any kind of commodity in reserve, we have a strategic petroleum reserve.

[01:25:07]

I don't think in the 21st century it's outrageous to say, hey, let's set aside some small quantity of the national treasury for digital assets which are going to continue to be very important in global commerce, particularly cross border trading.

VAUSE: I'm so stuck in the 20th century. William Quickly, thank you for being with us. Appreciate your insights and your answers are great. Thank you.

QUIGLEY: Thank you.

VAUSE: The U.S. president has given full pardons to a reality T.V. show couple facing long prison sentences. Todd and Julie Chrisley of the T.V. show "Chrisley Knows Best" were convicted of a conspiracy to defraud banks out of more than $30 million. They're also found guilty of trying to defraud the Internal Revenue Service. The couple's daughter, Savannah Chrisley, campaigned for Donald Trump and spoke at the last Republican National Convention. Todd and Julie Chrisley have maintained their innocence and were appealing their convictions.

So will Donald Trump's frustration over Vladimir Putin and his ramped up missile strikes on Ukraine see new sanctions on Moscow? More on that after the break.

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[01:31:27]

VAUSE: Welcome back, everyone. I'm John Vause. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM.

More now on our top story this hour.

With sources telling CNN, U.S. President Donald Trump considering new sanctions on Russia in the coming days as he grows more frustrated with Vladimir Putin amid escalating attacks on Ukraine.

On his social media platform, Trump posted "What Vladimir Putin doesn't realize is that if it weren't for me, lots of really bad things would have already happened to Russia. And I mean really bad. He's playing with fire."

This comes more than a week after the U.S. says Putin promised he would send over a so-called memorandum of peace, laying out requirements for a ceasefire with Ukraine. The White House is still waiting.

Russia's foreign minister, though, is giving little attention it seems, to Donald Trump's remarks.

SERGEY LAVROV, RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER (through translator): President Trump is a person who wants a result. Of course he, as a person does not like obstacles on his way to achieve the noble goals.

He develops certain assessments and certain rhetoric. The main point here is not to concentrate upon his rhetoric, but to achieve that Europe stopped to sabotage the movement towards peace.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Stephanie Baker is a senior writer with Bloomberg News, as well as the author of "Punishing Putin: Inside the Global Economic War to Bring Down Russia".

She joins us live this hour from London. Thank you for getting up early.

STEPHANIE BAKER, SENIOR WRITER, BLOOMBERG NEWS: Thank you for having me.

VAUSE: So here's what Russia's former president, who's now the deputy chairman of the National Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev, posted on X Tuesday. "Regarding Trump's words about Putin playing with fire and really bad things happening to Russia, I only know of one really bad thing, World War III. I hope Trump understands this."

VAUSE: To be fair, Medvedev doesn't speak for Putin, but he is an ally and he does have a habit of threatening Armageddon. But given all of that, what does this remark actually say about how the Kremlin views Donald Trump right now and how Putin sees Trump?

BAKER: Well, they are signaling that any tougher stance would be met with a likewise tougher response and is kind of a threat to the Trump administration not to push too hard on this peace deal.

I don't really take Medvedev's comments seriously. He has always played this role as the sort of the extreme version of the pro-war camp within Russia. And it does not necessarily reflect what's happening inside Putin's mind, so to speak.

But it overshadows this whole response as, you know, the Biden administration, as well as the Trump administration, has been very worried about poking the bear and, and, and trying to -- worried about the consequences of being too tough on Russia, which I think is a mistake.

VAUSE: Why a mistake?

BAKER: Well, I think Putin only understands raw power. And you've seen this from the recent stalemate in the peace negotiations.

Putin's intransigence shows that playing nice with him doesn't work. He only understands raw power and the U.S. has not, for instance, used the full force of its economic power to degrade and undermine Putin's ability to finance this war.

You know, Trump has been tiptoeing around Putin for months. Putin has refused to sign up to this unconditional ceasefire that Zelenskyy has agreed to. And its sending the message that Putin can do basically what he wants without any consequences.

[01:34:53]

BAKER: Trump offered him an overly generous deal, to put it mildly, which includes essentially freezing the war along the current front line and U.S. recognition of Crimea, no NATO membership for Ukraine.

And Putin is still playing for more. I think he's essentially stringing Trump along, hoping that he can weaken Ukraine militarily, knowing full well that getting another military aid package through the Congress is going to be incredibly difficult. And he will essentially achieve demilitarizing Ukraine by just playing for time.

VAUSE: Well, for months, Donald Trump has made empty threats about punishing Putin. He's backed down pretty much every time. But a bill right now before the U.S. Congress would give Trump the authority to slap tough secondary sanctions by imposing a 500 percent tariff on imported goods from countries which buy Russian oil, gas, uranium and other products.

That would be devastating for China in particular. But would anything short of that have any real impact on Putin? When you talk about getting tough, is that the sort of level of toughness that Trump needs to go to?

BAKER: Well, there's a lot more that Trump can do on the economic front. And in a way, he has more leeway to do that than Biden had, because the global price of oil has come down as a result of Trump's trade war.

If he goes ahead with this Senate proposal it could have huge global economic consequences, 500 percent tariffs on countries that buy Russian oil means essentially an embargo on China and India. And that would -- that would have a huge market fallout.

I mean, the proposal doesn't seem to have support in the House. So it could end up with a showdown between Trump and the Senate.

But there's other things that they could do short of that including putting full blocking sanctions on two major state-owned energy companies, Rosneft and Gazprom. They could expand the list of sanctioned tankers that Russia uses as part of its so-called shadow fleet. And really try to enforce that proposal -- those sanctions and impose secondary sanctions on oil terminals, refineries, banks that facilitate that trade. And that could drive down Russia's profits from oil that could really harm Putin's ability to keep this war going. Maybe not immediately, but it would have an impact.

Russia is dipping into its rainy-day fund to plug its budget deficit. That fund is dwindling. So if it can drive down Russia's oil revenues, that could put additional pressure on Putin.

VAUSE: And one thing which apparently has really annoyed President Trump is that Putin hasn't followed through on this so-called memorandum of peace, which outlines Moscow's demand for a ceasefire.

If you listen to the spokesperson from the Russian ministry, it isn't going to arrive anytime soon.

So with that in mind, what are the options here for Donald Trump? Because there is some talk, or some speculation that, you know, maybe he's realizing now that he's being played by Putin. He wouldn't be the first president for that to happen to.

But he could walk away as the broker of ceasefire talks, or he may get tougher. What's your expectation?

BAKER: Yes, it really depends on how far he walks. If he decides to walk away. It doesn't sound like that is an option given the pressure coming from the Senate, including Republicans in the Senate, like Lindsey Graham.

I think he could put additional sanctions on Russia, including expanding sanctions on the Russian banking sector, which is already heavily sanctioned.

And by really stepping up the restrictions on Russian oil, he could demand that either Putin comes to the table, agrees to the offer that Trump put on the table a few weeks ago, or he will greenlight additional military aid for Ukraine.

And I think that those two twin things, both the economic pressure and additional military aid could change the conversation because the current strategy is not working.

Putin, is you know, he's acting with impunity, targeting civilians far from the front line with, over the weekend, the worst aerial attack since the war began, which is really an embarrassment for Trump and his promise to end the war in 24 hours.

[01:39:45]

VAUSE: Stephanie, a good point to end on. Thank you so much for being with us and really appreciate your analysis there. It's great to have you. Thank you.

BAKER: Thank you.

VAUSE: Well, a Nigerian nonprofit is working to digitize history -- all of it. What's behind their mission to preserve old newspapers and magazines for future generations?

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[01:44:43]

VAUSE: Mexico, just days away from holding its first judicial elections. The sweeping overhaul of the country's justice system will see nearly 900 federal judges chosen by voters. Another 800 will be elected in two years.

But the speed and scope of these reforms have raised concerns about the qualifications of candidates and potential for outside influence.

CNN's Valeria Leon reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VALERIA LEON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's a first for Mexico and for the world.

Voters will make history Sunday by directly electing judges, magistrates, even Supreme Court justices in an unprecedented vote to reshape the country's judiciary.

More than 3,000 candidates are vying for 881 positions, all without party backing or campaign funding.

"I'm funding everything with my salary. That alone is complicated, because from the same salary, I have to pay for my everyday costs, my rent, my living expenses, and I help support my mother, who's a widow."

Adding pressure, strict rules from Mexico's electoral authority, the INE, no radio or TV ads, no painted murals, and even family members can't hand out fliers. For first time candidate Arcelia Santillan, it's been a crash course in campaigning.

"It's really about learning from political campaigns, how to talk to people, how to approach them, how to explain what it is that I do.

But the new plan is also drawing criticism. Legal experts and human rights groups warn that putting judges on the campaign trail could politicize the bench, favoring name recognition over experience and opening the door to populism, influence or pressure from interest groups.

"I'm satisfied with what I've done. And so I'll find out after the vote whether I managed to reach all the people I hoped to."

Low budget, high stakes and a bold experiment in democracy.

Valeria Leon, CNN -- Mexico City.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: A Nigerian nonprofit is on a mission to safeguard the country's journalistic heritage. Archiving aims to digitize and preserve decades of newspapers and magazines, turning fragile print into an enduring legacy. Painstakingly scanning page after page, the Lagos-based team is building a bridge between Nigeria's past and its future.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FU'AD LAWAL, FOUNDER ARCHIVI.NG: We're collecting stories about people who experienced life in Nigeria, their own lived experience. And as I started to ask, what would it take for us to have our own archives?

There's a massive history vacuum. And we're basically trying to fill that vacuum for everybody.

Our first step to filling that vacuum is digitization. The second step is what are all the interesting ways we can make it accessible to people. And of course, the third level that is super important to us is how can we help people make sense of the things in the archives.

KEHINDE, ONI-AJAYI, OPERATIONS ASSOCIATE, ARCHIVI.NG: The first thing we do is to take inventory. And taking inventory involves checking for the title, the information about the publishers, the dates, this is March 30th. Then the year, 1987. And then the issue, because we have different issues that come up same day.

We put all this information in our database. And then we move on to scan.

LAWAL: I think we underestimate what it takes to get anything done. Every time you see a newspaper on Archivi.ng, a human being somewhere had to place it, put the lid on top of it, scan, raise it and flip it and do it again and again and again.

The single biggest challenge we've had is access. It continues to be difficult to find old newspapers. But the reverse to our access problem is that we have random people from everywhere. Someone says, oh, my grandfather died. I just had access to his library. Do you guys want to come and pack all the magazines? Of course, yes.

SAMSON TOROMADE, STORYTELLING AND COMMUNITY LEAD, ARCHIVI.NG: A lot of our work is about context. We want people to understand, like Nigerian history.

So instead of having to do the research yourself page by page, A.I. can crawl through like archives and put together like a really good package of story for you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I feel like Nigerians had to learn that people never really change.

LAWAL: Knowing the questions that have been asked and answered in the past demands that we ask even better questions. A lot of the things that we tend to even repeat accidentally happens all over the world exactly because our very nature as human beings is to forget.

And we just need more effective tools and instruments to remember.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Still ahead on CNN -- strength, freedom and self-determination, King Charles III makes an historic and symbolic address to Canada's parliament.

[01:49:44]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VAUSE: Context matters, which is why an address to Canada's parliament by Britain's King Charles was both an historic moment -- he is, after all, Canada's head of state, and a significant one as well.

Amid ongoing threats of annexation from their neighbor to the south, Charles emphasized Canada's self-determination and sovereignty.

More now from CNN's Paula Newton.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAULA NEWTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This was a bold invitation on the part of Canada and Prime Minister Mark Carney. And this was, in fact, a bold speech, very audacious in terms of its ambition for Canada and King Charles, the king of Canada definitely delivered on the royal ceremony.

He and Queen Camilla arrived on an absolutely spectacular day in the horse drawn carriage accompanied by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

It was extraordinary and preceded, the speech was, by a 21-gun salute. After that he got down to the substance and a reminder here that it is the Canadian government, Mark Carney's government, that actually writes the speech and Charles delivers it. Now, in the beginning, he did have some personal words saying that

every time he comes to Canada he feels more certainly of Canada going into his bloodstream and right to his heart.

But after that, there were several comments about Canada's independence and its sovereignty.

Listen.

KING CHARLES III, GREAT BRITAIN: Some reminds us the true north is indeed strong and free.

NEWTON: You know, when the King and the Queen were out and about, is was less than a 24-hour visit you could see him even speaking to people the gratitude, there were spontaneous cheers, spontaneous singing of "O Canada" and "God Save the King".

And after Charles' speech, Mark Carney sat down with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, and in that interview he underscored the kind of message he wanted King Charles to send to Canadians. Listen.

MARK CARNEY, CANADIAN PRIME MINISTER: We are seeing the danger of overreliance on the United States. We will cooperate where necessary when it's in both of our interests very clearly, but we won't necessarily cooperate.

NEWTON: In that last little bit from him, you will hear about the substance of what Canada expects from the United States and its allies going forward.

Again, as I say, this was a bold move on the on the part of Mark Carney but in policy terms, both at home and abroad, he must now live up to those expectations.

Paula Newton, CNN -- Ottawa.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: An Air Canada pilot was not holding back on how he feels about the current shortage of air traffic controllers. Caught on camera venting his frustrations to passengers on one of his flights.

Jon Hernandez of CBC filed this report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's cost the company a lot of money. It costs business people a lot of money.

JON HERNANDEZ, CBC JOURNALIST: Delayed and disillusioned, an Air Canada pilot vents to passengers stuck on the tarmac at Vancouver International Airport.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Since we got the time, if you want to write a letter to your MP and tell them what's going on, maybe they could address this problem. HENRANDEZ: The problem, a shortage of air traffic control workers.

Delays and cancellations at YVR have been mounting for weeks, leading to this rant captured by a CBC reporter.

[01:54:42]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We believe that there is a lot of evidence that the people in charge of air traffic control in Nav Canada are keeping, like the air traffic controllers, are keeping the numbers low to keep the overtime up.

HERNANDEZ: A charge denied by Nav Canada, the private nonprofit that operates air navigation across the country. It is in the midst of a major recruitment blitz to ease its labor crunch.

In a statement, it said, "We leave no stone unturned in supporting a candidate's success. As a result, we refute any suggestion that controller trainees are disqualified from training in order to protect overtime. The pilots union says the shortage is causing problems from coast to coast.

TIM PERRY, PRESIDENT, CANADA AIR LINES PILOTS ASSOCIATION: You know, most people that have traveled, I'll say, have noticed a delay or of some sort somewhere across the system, whether it's in YVR or elsewhere.

HERNANDEZ: Smaller airlines find themselves particularly vulnerable.

TEARA FRASER, FOUND, ISKWEW AIR: Nobody likes getting delayed, and it is often the air operator that is blamed for the delay.

HERNANDEZ: This indigenous-led airline flies from YVR to Vancouver Island and reports delays nearly every day.

FRASER: So we're getting delays anywhere. Between 20 minutes and two hours. And when you are operating a 20 -- 25-minute flight, that's significant.

HERNANDEZ: There are about 2,000 air traffic controllers in Canada. Their union says hundreds more are needed to clear these planes for takeoff.

Jon Hernandez, CBC News -- Vancouver.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VAUSE: Officially, it was a wildlife situation on board Delta flight 2348 -- two stowaways with feathers.

Passengers were just a little surprised as two wild pigeons tried to catch a ride on the flight from Minneapolis to Madison, Wisconsin on Saturday. One pigeon was removed by a baggage handler, leaving his co- stowaway to strut down the aisle, initially avoiding capture by one passenger. Was eventually though caught and removed safely. Air traffic controllers were left in disbelief.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- be of any assistance -- we want to get -- there's a pigeon on the airplane and it won't go away. That's a first for me.

Well, where is it on the airplane that it won't move? Is it inside the plane? Oh my goodness, that's insane.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VAUSE: Delta appreciates the actions of staff and passengers and is apologizing for the departure delay.

Thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM. I'm John Vause.

Please stay with us. CNN NEWSROOM continues with our friend and colleague Rosemary Church after a short break.

See you back here tomorrow.

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