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India-Pakistan Conflict Escalates After Kashmir Massacre; Zelenskyy And European Leaders Phone Trump To Discuss Peace Efforts; U.S. And Chinese Officials Start Geneva Talks On Easing Trade War; Excessive Rainfall To Soak Northeast Southeast; Newark Mayor Released After Arrest At ICE Facility. Pope Leo XIV Faces Packed Schedule, Set to Visit Cardinals Today; Air Traffic Controllers Lose Radar and Radio Contact in Newark Again; Sean 'Diddy' Combs' Ex-Girlfriend Cassie Ventura Expected to Testify Monday in Combs' Sex-Trafficking Trial. Aired 6-7a ET

Aired May 10, 2025 - 06:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:00:28]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN Breaking News.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. I'm Victor Blackwell. We're beginning with that breaking news. Overnight, the retaliatory shelling between India and Pakistan continued. Eleven dead, including a child, according to Pakistan. And at least one person is dead, according to Indian officials.

Pakistan's military fired off rocket strikes targeting India and also India administered Kashmir. India said it responded, it effectively countered and responded to Pakistan's attacks. India's claiming Pakistan is targeting places of worship, including a Hindu temple.

New this morning, though, Secretary of State Marco Rubio has offered Washington's help in mediating the rising escalation. Let's get right now to CNN international diplomatic editor Nic Robertson. He joins us now from Islamabad, Pakistan, with the latest.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, that's significant intervention by the secretary of state Marco Rubio calling opposite numbers India and Pakistan today, offering this intervention to help mediate. That's the first time that's happened. The Saudi foreign minister has also called both sides.

It feels as if we're in a window of diplomacy despite the images and the rhetoric, the hugely strong rhetoric at 5:00 a.m. this morning when Pakistan state television announced the launching of these strikes, security officials here in Pakistan say they hit eight military bases inside India and India administered Kashmir.

They say that they hit a sophisticated air defense system, a missile storage system. They say they hit four military bases of the Indian army inside Indian administered Kashmir. So a full, if you will, response from Pakistan.

There have been just prior to that early in the morning, three air bases here in Pakistan hit by the Indian military. One of those air bases just six miles here from the center of Islamabad, the capital. So a very significant uptick in the surge.

But now we're hearing from the foreign minister here saying, you know, if India doesn't upscale the tensions here, we won't either. He says we genuinely want peace. And spokesman for the Indian army essentially says the same thing. We don't want to escalate tensions as long as Pakistan doesn't significantly.

The prime minister has used language that sort of sounds like it might round out this phase of the conflict far from clear yet. But he says we responded resoundingly We've avenged the blood of the innocent.

Of course, in parliament just a few days ago, he called for the avenging of the blood of the innocent from India strikes. So it does feel despite the intensity of the night, there's a pause for diplomacy. But there's a complete lack of trust on both sides here. So it's not clear how long that window will stay open. Marco Rubio clearly trying to open it wide and get some diplomatic momentum.

BLACKWELL: Let's see if they can make some progress there. Nic Robertson for us in Islamabad. Thank you.

Happening this morning, U.K. and E.U. leaders are meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kiev. Now this meeting is happening as a show of European solidarity, also to put pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin. This comes after President Trump pushed Putin to accept a 30-day unconditional cease fire.

And notably, the U.S. is not at this meeting. But President Trump spoke with European leaders on Thursday. CNN senior international correspondent Fred Pleitgen is live in Moscow for us this morning. Russian President Vladimir Putin is holding his own meetings with some world leaders. What's the latest where you are?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Victor. Yes, we're actually inside the Kremlin for one of those meetings. Vladimir Putin just now beginning a meeting with the leader of Vietnam. This of course, part of a flurry of bilateral meetings that the Russian president is holding with international leaders who attended the May 9th Victory Day Parade here in Moscow. That very important for the Russians.

And one of the things that the Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said earlier today in reaction to those European leaders going to Kyiv and holding those talks there is he said he believes that the Europeans, as he put it, are nervous about May 9th.

And the reason why he said that is because so many international leaders came here yesterday for the Victory Day parade, of course, commemorating 80 years since the defeat of Nazi Germany, but also holding those bilateral talks with the Russian president as well. And of course, the most important of those was Xi Jinping of China,

who was sat next to Vladimir Putin as that Victory Day parade was going on.

[06:05:02]

Of course, right now we have this situation where on the one hand you have that diplomatic activity that the Trump administration has been trying out with the Russians to get to some sort of agreement about Ukraine. But also, of course, today, talks going on between the Chinese and the U.S. to try and get out of that trade standoff that's been going on, potentially those massive tariffs that are already in place.

So those two leaders showing that nothing would come in between them, saying that the relations between China and Russia are at levels that they haven't ever been before.

But in total, the Russians trying to project that there are many countries and the leaders of many countries who are willing to come here, who are willing to come to Vladimir Putin, that the Russians are in a much stronger position than potentially the Europeans and the U.S. might think.

Now, essentially the Russians about these possible peace talks of Ukraine, they are saying that they also want a ceasefire. But as they put it, there are nuances that need to be worked out. Of course, the Europeans and the Ukrainians are accusing the Russians in this issue of dragging their feet and thus prolonging the fighting that's going on the ground inside Ukraine. Victor.

BLACKWELL: Fred Pleitgen in Moscow, inside the Kremlin reporting. Thank you very much.

Happening now, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Trade Representative Jamieson Greer there in Switzerland. They're holding those crucial trade negotiations with China. Chinese state media says the talk started just a short time ago.

Now, this is the highest level of trade talks between the two countries since President Trump announced the 145 percent tariffs on Chinese imports. Bessent says the talks this weekend are unlikely to result in a trade deal.

The tariffs have reached such a high level that trade between the two countries has dropped off dramatically in the last month. Now, after the negotiations were announced, Trump seemed to soften his stance on tariffs for China. He said in a Truth Social post on Friday that China must import U.S. goods.

And he also suggested that he'd be okay with 80 percent tariffs on China, but would be up to the treasury secretary.

We're covering all the angles for you on this. CNN's Camila DeChalus is in D.C. CNN's Marc Stewart is in Beijing. Camila, I'm starting with you. Good to see you after a bit of a break. What does the White House plan on getting out of these talks today?

CAMILA DECHALUS, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, Victor, stakes are very high for the US. U.S. officials tell us that the main goal for them coming to the table with Chinese officials is to really deescalate the tensions between both countries. We've seen in the past recent weeks, both countries really exchanging that they are willing to go toe to try to higher and alleviate the tariffs placed on both countries. But U.S. officials really say that these meetings are really to deescalate the tensions.

Now we're also seeing a willingness on President Trump's end to actually pull back on these tariffs. And that's really surprising just given how a week ago he signaled that he wasn't willing to kind of pull back, and now he's saying he's open to lowering the tariffs. And you also have this say about the Chinese president. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: We lost $1 trillion last year with China, 1 trillion. So if you're not going to do business with them, you're not going to lose $1 trillion. But we lost. I just want -- I want China to do great. You know, I'm very friendly with President Xi. I have great respect for him and for China. But we can't continue to allow them to do what they did.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DECHALUS: Now, Victor, like I mentioned, this is a drastic lowering of tariffs. Now that he posted on Truth Social that he's willing to go to 80 percent, but that is coming from 145 percent that he originally proposed as a tariff. And even though that is a lowering, that's still pretty significant. And a lot of economists are worried that's going to significantly impact if that tariff does go into place, that will impact U.S. businesses and consumers.

Now, it's also really important to note, Victor, that this meeting with U.S. officials and Chinese officials is coming right after President Trump announced that they struck a trade agreement with the United Kingdom. Now, this is what we are told is really a framework and they really haven't finalized the details. But we're told that this will really impact cars and steel, and we're told that they will finalize the details in the upcoming weeks.

BACKWELL: Negotiating with oneself before going into these talks. Camila DeChalus, thanks so much.

Let's go now to Marc Stewart in Beijing. Marc, it was a surprise when that sentence came out on Truth Social that 80 percent would be fine. And the White House said it's just a number the president threw out there. I wonder what Beijing's perspective is as they go into these talks now.

MARC STEWART, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Victor, this is a debate that's going to involve economics, but also a lot of ego. Let's talk about the ego first, because some people may argue it's far greater than the fine print of all of this. China wants the U.S. to show respect and it's going out of its way to

make clear that these talks that the Chinese premier is having with the treasury secretary are only because of continued messaging.

[06:10:10]

Continued invites, continued overtures by the U.S. side toward China. So, China is going to make that very clear in the hours ahead. Now, with that results in for the long term, again, as we have said, expectations are low.

I want to show you though a cartoon that was just published or I should say posted to Chinese social media within the last hour or so on the social media account of Chinese state broadcaster CCTV. In that cartoon you see a caricature of what appears to be U.S. Secretary of Treasury Scott Bessent and he is pushing a grocery cart, it looks like in a Walmart store. And there is wording at the top in Mandarin. There you see it.

The phrase in Mandarin says the stress of the United States, stress of the United States, stress of the U.S. and then there's a caption under it suggesting that the United States needs to reflect on how it deals with China given the high prices that Americans are facing, consumers are facing, stress they are facing because of these tariffs on these Chinese imports.

So that is kind of setting the tone. As we say, Chinese state media is the messaging service for the government. As far as though what China wants next, beyond the ego aspect, we are talking about these tariffs possibly being reduced from 145 percent to 80 percent. I'm not sure if that's something China would go for. It's made a number of statements saying it wants the tariffs dropped altogether.

And to be honest with you, if it's dropped to 80 percent, not sure it would even make that much of a difference. Economists have said it's around the 50 percent range that commerce can start to happen again with some regularity and with not as much economic disruption.

Beyond all of, this eventually will likely result in some kind of conversation of substance. Maybe not over the next 72 hours, but maybe in the weeks ahead because as the American economy is suffering, China's economy is suffering as well. We just saw some new data which shows exports items shipped abroad, including to the United States, they fell. China's dealing with an economy that's very fragile right now. There's been a real estate crisis. Prices have dropped. People don't want to spend money. So China needs to keep that into consideration. But Victor, China's also playing the long game.

It's been very strong. We see a lot of messaging on social media talking about the need to perhaps suffer. There was a video that was released on social media by the Chinese government that said China would not kneel to the United States.

It's also making a big appeal to nations around the world, saying let's act in solidarity against the United States as it bullies our individual economies. So China's in a tough position. But Victor, for now, China is flexing its muscle. It's going to try to remain strong.

BLACKWELL: All right. This meeting has been characterized by the U.S. administration as an icebreaker. Let's see if they get to indeed do that. Marc Stewart for us in Beijing, thanks so much.

Let's talk weather now. There's a lot of rain in a short amount of time is going to soak millions of people in the Northeast and the Southeast this weekend. Right now, more than 30 million people are under threat of flooding in the eastern half of the country. And the south is bracing for flood threats that could last for days. CNN's Allison Chinchar is with me now. How much rain are we talking?

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Several inches here. Yes, yes. And not on the weekend. Nobody ever wants this on a weekend.

BLACKWELL: Never.

CHINCHAR: And it's Mother's Day weekend, too. Maybe some moms wanted to spend some time outside like myself. Just saying.

BLACKWELL: Not this weekend.

CHINCHAR: Not this weekend. Now, my dreams of going to the pool are probably not going to happen. So let's take a look at the forecast. You've got two split areas here. We're talking about the portion of the Northeast now that's most likely going to wrap up by the end of the day today. Maybe a few isolated spots in northern Maine that linger into tomorrow. But it's the south.

This is where we're going to see the rain today and tomorrow and the next few days. But here's a look at the rain up to the north. Most of this now is just nuisance rain. We don't really have any strong or severe thunderstorms associated with it, just some rain. And like I said, it should wrap up later on today.

Down to the south, we've got a lot of thunderstorms. Some of them have been strong at times, especially that line that's sliding into portions of Florida as we go through the rest of the day.

Now, one thing to note again, here's a look at the rest of the day and then we head into Sunday and notice it really just kind of just spins in the same spot, bringing rain to all of the same spots. And that's why you have the concern for the flooding, because a lot of these areas are just going to continuously get rain, some spots for three to five days.

And so it's not just a flood threat for today, but notice it sticks around for Sunday and Monday and even starts to expand in some of these areas because we start to see more of those bands reach a few more places than they're expected today. So it's going to be more of a long term concern for some of these spots.

[06:15:03]

Now to the northeast again, it's quite a different story here. We talked about how most of this finally exits the area by the time we get tonight, with the exception of those areas in Maine. But down south, we're looking at possibly 3 to 5 inches of rain.

BLACKWELL: That's more than annoyance. It can be dangerous in some places. All right, Allison, thank you.

Newark's mayor, did you see this? Arrested while protesting at a migrant detention center. Coming up, what he said about that incident after his release.

Plus, CNN spoke with Pope Leo's brother. We'll have his reaction on finding out the historic news.

And Newark Airport experienced another communications outage. This was on Friday. We'll talk to an expert on the growing concerns about that issue.

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[06:20:29]

BLACKWELL: Newark Mayor Ras Baraka is back home this morning after being arrested at a new immigration detention center in his city on Friday. He was there protesting against the opening of the center the Trump administration is using to hold migrants before deportation. Baraka says that it should not have opened because of permit issues. After being released, Baraka said that he did not break any laws.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR RAS BARAKA (D) NEWARK: We didn't do anything wrong. And, you know, this should not have happened today, but it did. And it's just an example of, you know, the work that we have to do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: I'll be speaking with Mayor Baraka later this morning on first of all, that is at 8:00 a.m. Eastern. So join us for that conversation.

With me now, though, to discuss political anchor for Spectrum News and host of the Big Deal with Errol Louis. Errol Louis, good morning to you.

ERROL LOUIS, POLITICAL ANCHOR, SPECTRUM NEWS: Good morning.

BLACKWLEL: So let's -- let me read just a bit from the statement released by DHS that a group of protesters, including two members of the U.S. House of Representatives, stormed the gate and broke into the detention facility. However, it appears that only the mayor of Newark was taken into custody and on public property is when they took him into custody. Was that the point, Errol, the spectacle of having the mayor of this sanctuary city in federal custody?

LOUIS: Sure. The spectacle was the whole point. And frankly, the spectacle, it kind of works both ways, Victor. If you think about it, the point of a protest is to draw attention to what is a perceived injustice, and they certainly managed to do that. We should also keep in mind that Ras Baraka is running for governor of

New Jersey. There's a primary coming up in a few weeks, so it kind of works for his benefit as well. It could be one of these cases where everybody got a little bit of what they want, but in between, there was a lot of confusion.

BLACKWELL: Yes. Let's talk about these talks that are happening in Switzerland between Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and his Chinese counterparts. The President adding the 80 percent is fine with me. Variable. And the White House says it's just a number. He threw out, you know, we'll see what happens there.

How does that change this conversation? And what are the realistic expectations of what's going to come out of this? The White House tries to keep them low.

LOUIS: Well, look, it tells you exactly what happened. I mean, you know, somebody blinked and that somebody is the President of the United States. You compare this to when you're, you know, haggling over the price of a car down at the car lot, you know, the first person who lowers their price, you kind of get a sense of where things are going.

In this case, Trump put 145 percent tariff in place and now he's saying, well, you know, maybe I'll come down to 80. Well, you know, when you start bargaining against yourself, I think we can see who has the stronger hand.

BLACKWELL: And even in the bigger question here, if the point of these tariffs of Liberation Day, as the President branded it, was to urge companies to bring manufacturing into the U.S., that you won't have to pay that tariff if you bring everything here.

If on a whim, one random Friday morning, the President says, I'm going to change it up, the 9 and 10 figure investment into bringing manufacturing seems less certain.

LOUIS: Sure. Look, nobody was going to, I mean, realistically, and I believe there were some corporate leaders who explained this to the President in person. They're not going to make multibillion dollar investments in creating entirely new supply chains and start building factories which could take two years. If the President is going to start exempting certain industries the way he did with certain tech companies, and then start changing the numbers around and then putting on a pause and then taking off the pause. Those are -- that's not an environment in which people can make the kinds of investment decisions that the White House says it wants to see.

So, you know, this was a very shaky strategy all the way along. We were told that there would be 90 deals in 90 days. I think we're at day 40. And there's one kind of half deal with the United Kingdom which had a trade surplus and not a trade deficit in the first place. So, you know, it's going to be a very tough negotiation. Mr. Bessaet, I think, has his work cut out for him.

BLACKWELL: And the White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller says that the administration is in talks about considering suspending habeas corpus.

[06:25:05]

That is the constitutional right for a person in this country to challenge in court their detention. Our sources say that the president itself himself is part of those conversations. Can you just set the context of the gravity of the potential suspension of habeas corpus and what sounds at this point like the attempt to do it without Congress?

LOUIS: Yes. Look, Victor, habeas corpus is older than the United States. It goes all the way back to the Magna Carta. It goes all the way back to 1215, the Habeas Corpus Act of 1679, which itself is a century older than the United States. You cannot seize people and give them no chance to contest their detention. That is just fundamentally. I mean, again, it predates the Constitution itself.

But the Constitution specifies that, yes, you have to give people a chance to say, hey, you have the wrong person. And the reality is it hasn't been used since there was, you know, Pearl Harbor, 1941, when it was clear that there was an invasion. Nothing resembling that is what is going on with the migrant situation. And to the extent that they don't have the basis for it, I don't think they're going to try and get away with it.

BLACKWELL: And even then, the administration went to Congress for authorization and several times before then when it was invoked or suspended. Errol Louis, good to have you. Thank you.

All right, so it's one thing to have a famous sibling, but what if your brother is the Pope? We'll have reaction from the new pontiff's brother on finding out that news.

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BLACKWELL: The newly-elected Pope Leo XIV, he's got a packed schedule over the next few days and weeks. Today, he's expected to pay a visit to the cardinals who elected him. Tomorrow, he'll lead his first Sunday mass as pontiff. And despite his new title to the world, there are still two people who know him as their brother before he became father and then his holiness.

Our CNN's Kaitlan Collins got a chance to speak to one of them last night. Here's part of what he had to say about his brother's new role.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR & CORRESPONDENT: How do you congratulate a sibling who just became the pope?

LOUIS PREVOST, BROTHER OF POPE LEO XIV: I'm probably going to say -- I'll have to keep it clean here --

(LAUGHTER)

PREVOST: Something like, what have you done? You've ruined my life. I'm -- God --

(LAUGHTER)

PREVOST: It's -- we told you this would happen. Why did you -- why did you do this? Now, I'll give him -- I'll give him grief a little bit, but I'll -- obviously, wish him all the best, and congratulations. If I'm not there at the moment doing that, you know, reach out and hug him, push him around a little bit like the little brother, you know, get away from me. But no, it's an honor to even be thought of as it's the pope's brother. I am the pope's brother.

COLLINS: It sounds like it's still sinking in for you --

PREVOST: My mind -- my mind is still blown. Yes, it's going to take a while. The shock, the initial shock hasn't worn off. I don't know that it ever will, because this is going to go on, I assume for the rest of his life. He's going to probably be the pope --

COLLINS: But you know, what I love is that --

PREVOST: Barring any weird things, but --

COLLINS: Siblings --

PREVOST: Yes, go ahead --

COLLINS: Always tease each other growing up, you used to tease him, actually, about being -- going on to potentially even be in this position.

PREVOST: Yes, of course, because you probably heard on somewhere one of these interviews or read it when we were growing up, when I would play with them and we'd be outside playing, we used to play like boys and play boys games, whether it was sports or cops and robbers, cowboys and Indians, whatever it might be, Rob liked to play priest and what are you doing?

Why are you doing this? We want to go shoot people, you know, like, get the -- get the Indian kids and -- no, I have to say mass first. And, you know, we'd go down in the basement, he'd say he'd do his -- pretend saying mass, pass out holy communion with the Necco Wafers, if you know what those are, I don't know if you're old enough to remember those.

But it was -- it was his thing. He was -- he's always been -- had that calling since he was probably 6 or 7 years old. We kind of knew from the start --

COLLINS: Yes --

PREVOST: He's going to go into the priesthood. He's going to become a priest. I wouldn't have guessed back then that even though some people said that guy is going to be a pope one day, and I got -- where do you get that from? I don't know, but multiple people have said it.

COLLINS: Yes -- PREVOST: Neighbors, a couple of -- couple of nuns at school -- Robert

is going to go places in the church.

[06:35:00]

He could be pope. And we all laughed and made fun of him at that point. But --

COLLINS: They were right --

PREVOST: Here we are --

COLLINS: Here, look, people are so --

PREVOST: He's the pope --

COLLINS: Fascinated when there's a new pope. Yesterday, everyone was wanting to know what team he cheered for. What is your brother like? What does he -- what does he like? Does he like certain kind of music, movies? I mean, how would you -- what would you describe -- how would you introduce him to people?

PREVOST: He's my brother. He's my stupid little brother.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: OK, now let's talk about these moments at Newark Airport. Air traffic controllers lost contact with planes again on Friday. Coming up, we'll discuss the growing concerns over that issue.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:40:00]

BLACKWELL: Delays and cancellations at Newark Liberty Airport have already started this morning. So far, more than 20 flights have been delayed, 74 have been canceled. Just Friday, air traffic controllers lost their radar and radio contact with planes for about 90 seconds again. That's the second time that's happened in less than two weeks.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: FedEx 1989, I'm going to hand you off here. Our scopes just went black again. If you care about this, contact your airline and try to get some pressure for them to fix this stuff. New York departure now 120.8.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Department of Transportation recently announced plans to build a new air traffic control system by 2028. Joining us now, CNN safety analyst and former FAA Safety Inspector David Soucie. David, good to see you. A second 92nd blackout. Now, the first time it happened in the middle of the afternoon, that was April 28th.

Lower traffic when this happened. But the significance of it happening so soon again for this extended period. I don't think David can hear me. David, can you hear me? Nope, all right, so, we'll try to fix that audio issue. We'll take a quick break, we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:45:00]

BLACKWELL: Now, we checked during the break, and I think David Soucie can hear me now. He's CNN safety analyst and former FAA Safety Inspector. David, the question I came to you with before the break is that, this has now happened twice in as many weeks, and the significance of it happening so soon after that April 28th outage.

DAVID SOUCIE, CNN SAFETY ANALYST: Yes, that's incredibly significant. This equipment is something that we've had problems with for years. When I was with the FAA back, even in 2000, we started working on this. I went to Japan, looked at new equipment, that equipment is going to take a long time to put in, which it did, and it's still spending money on it.

But at this point, they're talking about overhauling the entire system, which is a huge undertaking, and I'm not sure Sean Duffy understands exactly how big this undertaking is going to be, and what's going to be required.

BLACKWELL: Yes, they say 3 to 4 years. What is your experience, say the realistic time frame is?

SOUCIE: Well, it takes 3 or 4 years just to get a presidential line item in place with the budget. So, to say 3 or 4 years, maybe that's how long it would take once everything is approved, the money is in place, the equipment has been decided on and then implemented. But even implementation can take many more years than that, because you have to have duplicate systems, you have to have redundancy in place so these things don't happen, especially when you're talking about putting a new system in place that has never been tested before.

They're talking about a complete overhaul. So, it's going to take at least, that many years just to get the budget approved for it. We could be looking at 8 to 10 more years from this point forward.

BLACKWELL: Well, let's say just blue sky, right? Perfect scenario. They get it done, 3 to 4 years. There have been two 92nd outages in two weeks. So, what is the near-term fix?

SOUCIE: The most effective way to make sure that this continues to make sure that there aren't any scheduled changes and there's no safety issues, is to reduce the number of flights. That's going to be -- that's going to be the bottom line. They're going to have to start being realistic about how many flights can fly in-and-out of any airport at any given time, and not put it on the back of the air traffic controllers.

Right now, they're already working ten-hour days, six days a week, and have been for years. So, you have to understand that even the 2,000 new air traffic controllers that they're talking about hiring, is not going to be enough when you're talking about now adding a new system, you have to have that redundancy.

You have to -- I'm -- I would expect that at least 4,000 controllers would be needed at this point, 2,000 just gets them up to par, and the other 2,000 is going to be needed to do this transition while others are in training. The overlap, all of that's going to be considered, and it's going to be, as I said before, a huge undertaking.

BLACKWELL: Yes, so, this is a system-wide fix that they're going for, the Department of Transportation. But on this specific airport, Newark Liberty International, happening twice here. Would you feel safe flying into that airport? Should people feel safe flying in-and-out of there?

SOUCIE: Well, it depends on what they're doing. Right now, it appears to be they're doing the right thing. But what concerns me is that, yes, I would feel safe going into the airport, let me put it that way.

BLACKWELL: OK --

SOUCIE: There are redundant systems. There's ways to make sure that it's safe. And even if they can't land at that airport, they have alternate airports they can go to. So, yes, I would feel safe flying in there. The issue is going to be, do the air carriers -- and this has never really happened before, where the air carriers have to make their own -- their own restrictions on how many flights they fly into a particular --

BLACKWELL: Yes --

SOUCIE: Airport.

BLACKWELL: David Soucie, glad we fixed that audio issue. Thanks so much. Sean Combs' ex-girlfriend, Cassie Ventura is expected to take the stand Monday in New York as the first major witness in this federal sex trafficking trial.

[06:50:00]

Prosecutors say a testimony will take up most of the week. Now, while the federal criminal case is playing out, the civil sexual assault cases against Combs are building. CNN exclusive now, Elizabeth Wagmeister spoke to one attorney who says he's now reviewing more than 400 new potential civil cases.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELIZABETH WAGMEISTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Sean 'Diddy' Combs on trial for his freedom. But his legal trouble won't end regardless of the verdict in his criminal case.

ANDREW VAN ARSDALE, ATTORNEY FOR COMBS ACCUSERS: My clients will be ecstatic if and when he's convicted guilty and behind bars. But the next step in their healing process is to get accountability for what happened to them.

WAGMEISTER: Attorney Andrew Van Arsdale represents dozens of Combs' accusers who've already sued the embattled music mogul. He tells CNN exclusively, he believes he has more than 400 potential claims, some alleging sexual assault. That would be a stunning addition to the more than 60 cases Combs already faces. He denies all wrongdoing in those cases, and has pleaded not guilty to the criminal charges.

ARSDALE: Where we can file, when we can put forward an actionable claim within statute of limitations, we are going to be doing that.

WAGMEISTER (on camera): Four hundred cases, I believe you filed dozens, but nowhere near 400, not even anywhere near 100. Does this mean that you plan to file 400 individual claims against Sean Combs?

ARSDALE: Yes, we do.

WAGMEISTER (voice-over): He says some of his civil clients have cooperated with federal authorities in the criminal case and could testify in Combs' trial.

ARSDALE: This is an opportunity they maybe thought they never had in the fact that they see the system working.

WAGMEISTER: Van Arsdale's firm operates a call center out of Montana that takes in and vets potential accusers. He says the center received over 15,000 calls, claiming varying degrees of mistreatment by Combs. Those were filtered down to what Van Arsdale believes are 400 potential cases. He filed his previous suits with co-counsel Tony Buzbee, who has been a target of Combs' defense.

(on camera): Now, 'Diddy's' defense has called you and attorneys representing other several accusers an ambulance chaser. They say, why do you have a call center? Why are you putting a 1-800 number behind your face at a press conference? What do you say to that?

ARSDALE: I appreciate what you're trying to do to defend your client. But at the end of the day, if your client did these things, if your client sexually assaulted people against their will, he's liable under the law.

WAGMEISTER (voice-over): But Combs' team has seized on inconsistencies in at least two of the civil cases.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was screaming, I was telling him to stop.

WAGMEISTER: One, based on an interview that a male client of Van Arsdale did with CNN, who gave details that didn't match his lawsuit, including the year he alleges he was drugged and sexually assaulted by Combs at one of his so-called white parties.

ARSDALE: The filing error that was corrected right away.

WAGMEISTER: Van Arsdale says this clerical mistake was corrected and re-filed. Combs' attorneys pushed back, calling it a bogus case. Another claim against Combs and Jay-z was withdrawn by the accuser after Jay-z fiercely denied her claims. Van Arsdale said the Jane Doe(ph) was not prepared for the intense public scrutiny she faced.

Jay-z countered with a defamation suit against Jane Doe(ph) and her primary attorney, Buzbee.

(on camera): You and your co-counsel, Tony Buzbee, despite these inconsistencies, you do believe your clients, and you believe their core allegations.

ARSDALE: We believe our clients. We believe our core allegations.

WAGMEISTER (voice-over): Van Arsdale says he knows not all cases he says he's working on will see the inside of a courtroom, but he's confident Combs' criminal case won't be the last time he'll be facing accusers in court.

ARSDALE: And these brave men and women that have come forward are allowing that message to be sent. It 100 percent should have a chilling effect. People are operating this way. Those days are done.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLACKWELL: Elizabeth Wagmeister reporting for us there. Thank you, and we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:55:00]

BLACKWELL: So, what do you get when a fisherman and dry-wall contractor sit around talking about what their Oregon town is missing? You get that dream workshop -- now, it wasn't funny, but stick with me. This is today's "START SMALL, THINK BIG".

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AARON LEIS, CO-FOUNDER, DIY CAVE: My partner Tim is a commercial fisherman in Alaska, and we decided that we wanted to do something different. So, we thought, what does Ben(ph) not have? And Ben(ph) has a little of everything, but it didn't have a maker space. A lot of our equipment is something you already know how to use, but there's some stuff that you need to have a little guidance on, such as table saws, things that can really hurt you.

There's no project too large or too small. We've had people in here working on school buses and people here repairing their eyeglasses. So, we have staff who will show you how to use things safely. We offer a range of classes, things like 3D printing and laser cutting, welding, woodworking skills that range from the basics all the way up to very advanced woodworking techniques.

We have blacksmithing, jewelry making, stained glass. We've got commercial sewing machines, leatherworking. DIY currently has over 400 active members, but that's not counting people who take classes, which is also many hundreds per year. The demographics are kind of shocking. They range from what you would expect, like the grizzle-haired old workmen all the way down to children --