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Trump to Visit Capitol Hill as Agenda Faces Key Vote; Study: Death Rate from Nighttime Tornadoes is Increasing. Aired 6-6:30a ET
Aired May 20, 2025 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[06:00:00]
POLO SANDOVAL, CNN ANCHOR/CORRESPONDENT: It was an honor to call these guys colleagues at one point, though. Corporate colleagues.
Also, one of the worst baseball teams in the history enjoying newfound fame, thanks to one very famous fan at the Vatican. The Chicago White Sox unveiling a graphic installation of Pope Leo XIV on Monday. The visual tribute marks the spot where then-Robert Prevost sat during the game -- game one of the 20 -- 2005 World Series, which the White Sox went on to win.
The White Sox are going to need some divine intervention, though, as being the second worst record in baseball.
Thank you so much for joining us. CNN THIS MORNING starts now.
AUDIE CORNISH, CNN ANCHOR: It's Tuesday, May 20. And here's what's happening right now on CNN THIS MORNING.
President Trump about to confront the ugly truth about his big, beautiful bill on Capitol Hill. Hardliners from his own party could hold the whole thing up.
Plus, chilling new testimony from the Sean "Diddy" Combs trial. One witness claims that years ago, Diddy warned her people go missing if they talk.
Then later --
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It sounded like a freight train coming through our House. It seemed like a longer time, but it was probably seconds.
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CORNISH: It's peak tornado season, and things can be even more dangerous after dark. But are we seeing an increase in nighttime twisters?
Also, this. The former president who made fighting cancer his life's work, now facing his own cancer battle, and the lifesaving research he's championed also faces an uncertain future. It's 6 a.m. here on the East Coast. Good morning, New York, and good
morning to you. I'm Audie Cornish. Thank you for waking up with me.
Now, President Donald Trump is going to be waking up, going to Capitol Hill today, hoping to rally House Republicans around that legislation that he wants to get his agenda rolling.
But the road ahead is actually pretty complicated. Basically, his party is locked in this battle between moderates and hardliners, and losing just a handful of votes could sink it.
Late last night, House Speaker Mike Johnson met with a group of moderate Republicans who are lobbying for tax breaks for their voters. So far, House leaders have not given them a firm promise on those cuts.
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REP. MIKE LAWLER (R-NY): The fact is, we wouldn't even be in this position right now if you didn't have members in seats like mine who won. And so, if they think we're going to throw our constituents under the bus to appease them, it's not happening.
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CORNISH: All right. On the other side, you have hardline conservative members of the Freedom Caucus. They say the bill doesn't go far enough to cut spending on programs like Medicaid and other social programs. So, they're holding out for what they want.
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REP. RALPH NORMAN (R-SC): You can't keep spending like this country's spending. We're insolvent as it is. We're not bankrupt yet, but that's where it's headed.
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CORNISH: Caught in the middle, House Speaker Mike Johnson, who's trying to wrangle one of the slimmest House majorities in history to vote on the bill in less than a week.
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REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA): We are -- we are continuing to work on it. It's not a final resolution yet, but I think we're getting very close.
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CORNISH: Joining me now in the group chat, Jerusalem Demsas, contributing writer at "The Atlantic"; Michael Warren, senior editor at "The Dispatch"; and Lulu Garcia-Navarro, CNN contributor and "New York Times" journalist.
Just watching the Capitol Hill reporters take the stairs for an interview is bringing me flashbacks of the dangers of doing something like that.
OK, so this is the day that Trump is back from his international trips. He gets to come back and just lean on these folks. So far, when he goes on Truth Social, he'll say something like, they're grandstanders.
Can you talk about the return of the fiscal hawk? I kind of thought that person went the way of the dodo. That was a bird joke.
MICHAEL WARREN, SENIOR EDITOR, "THE DISPATCH": Yes. No, no, I picked up what you're putting down.
CORNISH: Thank you.
WARREN: Look, they're always around, right? But the question is, how much pressure are they going to be able to withstand?
Yes, they can get some pressure from, you know, their moderate colleagues, from the speaker. But when the president comes in and sort of weighs down, you know, whether it's a Truth Social post or I think actually going to Capitol Hill is going to do a lot to put a lot of pressure on them.
They want to be a part of a team. They also are afraid of Donald Trump's political power within primaries.
I think there's one more group here that we should consider more important, maybe in the Senate than in the House in getting this through. And those are the sort of populist Republicans, people like Josh Hawley from Missouri, who are actually sort of taking the side of the more moderates and saying, are these cuts to -- to Medicaid really what -- what we want to do as a party? We're the -- supposed to be the party of the working class now. I think --
CORNISH: So, you're seeing moderates. I think they're just in purple states.
WARREN: Yes.
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CORNISH: Like, Josh Hawley is not.
WARREN: No, exactly. That's what I'm saying. Josh Hawley is not a moderate at all. But yet -- but yet, he is aligned with, you know, the party's moderates in these blue and purple districts, no question.
CORNISH: The Medicaid cuts are a major sticking point. Let me just play this one clip of tape from Don Bacon -- he's a congressman, actually -- talking about why this is an issue.
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REP. DON BACON (R-NE): When we work hard to get an agreement, and the committees pass stuff out; and then the people come in and want to undo them, it makes us mad. So yes, there's -- you've got an angry group of folks out there.
They're going to be very vigilant on what these changes are. And like I said, we're not going to dismiss them out of hand. We should have an open mind to look at them. But we worked hard to protect the most immediate Medicaid, and we're going to make sure we do.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: Lulu.
LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Yes, I mean, you know, Medicaid is popular among people who need it. Cutting SNAP, which is food assistance for families that require it because, you know, there actually -- there are work requirements for SNAP, but they just can't make ends meet. That, also hugely popular; helping the most needy in society.
So, when you look at it, of course, what Democrats argue is that this is all about tax cuts. The reason they're having trouble with the math is because they're trying to extend these tax cuts for people, and that they're going to benefit the wealthiest in society.
Now, you can parse that out. You can argue it. But at the end of the day, this is the real problem that the GOP faces, which is they're trying to say, we're going to cut these programs. Spending is out of control.
And yet, what they're actually trying to do is extend tax cuts for people who may not actually need it.
JERUSALEM DEMSAS, CONTRIBUTING WRITER, "THE ATLANTIC": And the big problem is that for every person that wants you to make it easier for people in blue -- We just heard from Mike Lawler from New York.
In New York and California, you have these Republicans who have just won and helped get this very slim majority for Republicans in the House. And while those folks are asking you to make it easier for -- for their constituents to deduct taxes on their bill, the SALT caucus there, you have the other side, the deficit hawks, who are saying, actually, no. We need to be raising taxes, or at least not extending more taxes, or reducing spending in order to make the math work out.
And then the Medicaid is, like, another area where, I mean, the goal ostensibly is to lower the -- the shockingly high debt burden that this bill is coming in at, but at the same time, doing so is not actually getting these exact Republicans who just won in these -- in these -- in these really marginal districts, better politically in the future.
And so, right now, it's hard to see how the math is going to work out. Usually --
CORNISH: The math is not working out, OK?
DEMSAS: The math is not working out. CORNISH: That's why they're fighting. Is it weird? Is it just my, like, ex-congressional reporter conspiracy hat that these bills are like, let's discuss it on Sunday. Let's discuss it Wednesday at 1 in the morning. Like, these conversations are happening where we can't see them, the public.
And I just used to remember lawmakers always complaining about things being passed in the middle of the night and that being nefarious.
WARREN: I'm oddly sort of OK with things being passed in the -- in the middle of the night in these conversations.
CORNISH: You're asleep. You're not on beat.
WARREN: Exactly. I don't have to have to pay attention to it.
But actually, that's probably where these things actually need to get worked out. When it happens in front of the cameras, yes, there's transparency, but there's also a lot of grandstanding.
I do think the fiscal hawks in this situation -- maybe I'll be proven wrong.
CORNISH: Yes.
WARREN: I think there's a lot of grandstanding, a lot of slamming the table and saying, We're not going to allow all this spending.
Donald Trump comes in the room, I think you're going to see enough of them --
CORNISH: Tide shift.
WARREN: Exactly.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: Donald Trump is like a wild spender.
WARREN: Yes, exactly.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: I mean, this is -- the fact of the matter is, is that he has never been a fiscal --
CORNISH: Yes. They've been fighting about that for a long time.
So, I think the question was -- was there going to be an actual stand this time around?
WARREN: I doubt it.
CORNISH: And it seems like it's a little bit for show.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: I agree.
CORNISH: OK. Group chat, stay with us. We've got a lot to talk about today. In fact, coming up on CNN THIS MORNING, another immigration win for the Trump administration, leaving potentially hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans caught in the middle.
Plus, there's an urgent manhunt still underway for six escaped inmates in New Orleans. Staff members from the D.A.'s office are fleeing the city.
And is President Trump ready to step away from Russia-Ukraine talks. How far we've come from this campaign promise.
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DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: That is a war that's dying to be settled. I will get it settled before I even become president.
I will have that war settled in one day, 24 hours.
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CORNISH: Hey, if you're getting ready, it's about 15 minutes past the hour. And here's your morning roundup.
The Supreme Court cleared the way for the Trump administration to end temporary deportation protections for potentially thousands of Venezuelan migrants. Those protections had been renewed for Venezuelans under the Biden administration.
A key issue was whether Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem could get rid of those before they were scheduled to expire.
And the FAA is investigating a close call from earlier this month at New York's LaGuardia Airport. On May 6th, an air traffic controller canceled the takeoff clearance for an American Airlines flight because a United flight was on the same runway.
The FAA is also looking into another radio outage involving air traffic control for Newark's airport.
Remember 23andMe? It will be sold to a pharmaceutical company, which says it will comply with the genetic -- genetic testing firm's privacy policies. The price tag: $256 million.
23andMe filed for bankruptcy in March, which raised concerns that customers' genetic data could be sold.
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COOKIE MONSTER, PUPPET: Num, num, num, nummy num-num. Num.
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CORNISH: It will be Netflix telling you how to get to "Sesame Street." The show will be on that streaming service later this year with a new season. Past episodes with all your friends, Big Bird and Elmo. Warner Brothers Discovery, CNN's parent company, chose not to renew
that contract to stream the series on HBO MAX.
Still ahead on CNN THIS MORNING, Sean "Diddy" Combs's former assistant back on the stand. What he told the jury about the relationship between his old boss and Cassie Ventura.
Plus, how much more dangerous and deadly are the tornadoes that strike in the middle of the night?
And we're taking you now to Nashville, one of the cities in the path of severe weather today.
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CORNISH: Now, some of the areas hit by deadly storms just a few days ago are once again at risk today as the threat continues for Kentucky, Missouri and further South.
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(FALLING RAIN)
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CORNISH: All right. That was the moment lightning struck a police car in Oklahoma on Monday.
Now, we have seen ferocious storms leading to massive damage across multiple states. New video out of Kentucky shows the moment one family had to take cover.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Get in here. Zoe. Zoe. Zoe!
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CORNISH: The family is OK. Their home is gone.
Tornadoes in Kentucky ended up killing at least 19 people over the weekend, some hit in the middle of the night.
And if it feels like you are hearing a lot more about deadly storms striking after dark, that's because you are. A recent study found that the death rate from nocturnal tornadoes is going up. They are nearly twice as likely to be deadly when compared to those that hit during the day.
And since the start of Trump's second term, the National Weather Service workforce has seen major cuts. At least eight forecast offices needing to reduce overnight shifts. Stephen Strader from Villanova University has actually studied the
effects of overnight storms. He joins us now. Welcome to CNN THIS MORNING, Stephen.
STEPHEN STRADER, VILLANOVA UNIVERSITY: Hi. Thank you for having me.
CORNISH: One of the reasons why I wanted to talk about this is because there were something like 54 tornado-related deaths last year, and here we are. We're barely in May, and we have far surpassed that number. What do you think is making storms more deadly this year?
STRADER: You know, tornadoes are a rare phenomena. They -- they can occur just about any time of the year. But this is the time of the year, in the spring and specifically May, where the number of tornadoes tends to rise because of the atmospheric conditions.
And unfortunately, when we have these larger outbreaks that take place in the evening and then move into the overnight is where we sort of set the stage for these high-fatality disasters and unfortunate impacts on -- on many of the people in Kentucky and others.
CORNISH: It seems wild to think about, given that there's, you know, weather radios, cell phones. We have so much more technology. What is it about those overnight tornadoes where we have actually been seeing an increase in fatalities?
STRADER: Yes, it's really simple, that most of us are asleep in these overnight hours and we're caught off-guard.
And one of the things that we do when we get a tornado warning is we seek secondary confirmation. Essentially, we look for clues that tell us there is -- this is real, this is happening.
And -- and unfortunately, in the overnight hours when you're asleep, you don't have that time to react and get to your shelter or get to a location where you can be safer.
And when you have violent tornadoes and significant tornadoes that are occurring, the odds of survival is lower when you don't have a chance to take shelter.
So yes, we're catching people off-guard. Even though there's tools like NOAA weather radios that help people wake up when there's a warning, it's still on hit or miss if the radio is not working or turned on. Or maybe you just don't have one. And unfortunately, we see people being killed because of that very thing.
CORNISH: You know, I want to point out something you just said about secondary confirmation. Right? We might wake up and say, oh, how can I figure out if this is real or not?
And at the same time, you have, like a state like Kentucky. National Weather Service offices are so short-staffed that they no longer run a 24-seven operation. I know that, thanks to the DOGE cuts, there have been a few hundred people let go from the National Weather Service.
How does that make a difference in the forecasting and warning systems?
STRADER: Yes. We look at a National Weather Forecast office, like like the Jackson, Kentucky office that -- that was the one that was issuing the warnings for the deadly tornadoes in Kentucky.
And they had to call people in to make sure that their staff was full and that they could manage what we call the warning desk.
And -- and it's a chaotic scene that goes on in these high-impact events where there's multiple storms that have to be watched constantly to make sure and understand how they evolve, and to get the warnings out in a timely manner. And they did a really, really fantastic job with that.
The issue is, is what does the future hold? And that takes a lot of people to take phone calls from the public and reports on the forecasting side. It takes a team. And when you remove people from that team, you're putting unfortunate citizens at risk. And people that are -- are in the path of these storms.
So, it's dire that they have full staff, so they can do their job correctly and -- and serve the public as -- as all of them are, as servants of trying to protect lives and property.
CORNISH: I should mention that the National Weather Service, there was some former leaders who wrote an open letter to the government, saying that our worst nightmare is that weather forecast offices will be so understaffed that there will be needless loss of life. Are we already seeing that?
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STRADER: I don't think we're seeing that yet, but we're starting to see the effects of fewer balloon launches that feed into our weather models that help us predict these events. And we've seen some impacts about events that we just don't have a good handle on, as we would have if we would have launched the balloons proper.
And then as the weather forecast office starts cutting forecasters, I think we're going to start seeing the impacts of less accurate forecasts, less timely, and then ultimately trickle down into greater impact.
So, it's really hard to see how a singular event is -- is affected by these cuts. But it's going to be the whole season. And then, as we move out of severe weather season and into hurricane season, it gets even more testing with -- with a lot of our Gulf Coast and Atlantic Coast offices.
So, it's a challenge. And remember that $4 of your tax, federal tax dollars, go to the National Weather Service every year. And that's a really good return on investment, if you ask me.
CORNISH: That's Stephen Strader, assistant professor with the Department of Geography and the Environment. That's at Villanova University. Thank you. STRADER: Thanks for having me.
CORNISH: Still ahead on CNN THIS MORNING, a closer look at the health research programs facing cuts from DOGE. What it could mean for the fight against cancer.
Plus, inmates break out of jail. And now members of the D.A.'s staff are skipping town, too.
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