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21-Years-Old Edan Alexander was Kidnapped During the October 7th Attack on Israel; Hamas Hands Israel-American Hostage Edan Alexander to Red Cross; Trump Defends Accepting Super-Luxury Plane from Qatar; Trump Visiting Saudi Arabia, Qatar and UAE this week. Aired 12-12:30p ET

Aired May 12, 2025 - 12:00   ET

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

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MANU RAJU, CNN HOST, INSIDE POLITICS: Welcome "Inside Politics". I'm Manu Raju in today for Dana Bash, we start with breaking news. An American held by Hamas for 584 days, is now on his way to freedom. 21- year-old Edan Alexander was just handed over by Hamas to Red Cross officials in Gaza.

He's now enroute to an Israeli military base where he'll be flown to -- by helicopter to an Israeli hospital where he'll be evaluated by doctors. His mother Yael Alexander arrived in Tel Aviv a few hours ago with President Trump's Hostage Envoy, Adam Boehler. Over the weekend, Hamas officials announced they would release Alexander after negotiations with U.S. officials.

Israeli officials were not involved in the talks. There are currently 58 hostages remaining in Gaza. At least 21 are believed to still be alive. CNN's Jeremy Diamond is live in Tel Aviv in Hostage Square. And Jeremy, tell us what you know so far about Edan Alexander's release.

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, Edan Alexander, the last living American hostage held in Gaza, has now been released. He is in the arms of the red cross on his way to an Israeli military base just outside of the Gaza Strip. All of this happening within the last 20 minutes or so.

And we've watched as the crowds here of Israelis who have gathered to take in this moment together to finally feel a moment of joy after so many weeks during which the situation seemed to get worse and worse, with the Israeli military intensifying the operation in Gaza and a hostage and ceasefire deal seemingly slipping away.

But now, Manu, the momentum is truly shifting, not just because you Edan Alexander, moments from now, will finally get to embrace his mother, Yael, for the first time in more than 19 months, but also because of what it means for the other 58 hostages who are still held in Gaza.

President Trump has made very clear that he views this gesture by Hamas to release Edan Alexander without receiving Palestinian prisoners in exchange, without receiving any aid going into Gaza or a ceasefire. He used this gesture by Hamas as a way to potentially unlock some major progress towards a ceasefire and hostage release deal, and we will see those negotiations now very much picking up steam.

An Israeli delegation now set to travel to Doha, Qatar tomorrow. And the United States making very clear that it is willing to go around the Israeli government if needed in order to make progress on the release of hostages held in Gaza. That's exactly what has happened.

And now we will see if this momentum can truly be converted into real progress on the ground with these negotiations, whether it can be converted into a ceasefire and hostage release deal, and perhaps even, as President Trump has suggested, to an end of the war in Gaza and the release of all 58 hostages held there, that certainly has been the hope of Israelis who have gathered here, who have been chanting, now, now, now, calling for the release of all of the remaining hostages, Manu.

RAJU: Jeremy, to that end, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu just met with Trump's Special Envoy, Steve Witkoff and the U.S. Ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee. What do we know about this state of Trump's relationship with Netanyahu right now?

DIAMOND: Well, I can tell you, having spoken with Israeli officials in recent days, even before this, Edan Alexander news, there has been considerable anxiety among Israeli officials about the ways in which the United States very much seems to be working around Israel at this stage.

Whether you look at that ceasefire agreement with the Houthis that left the Israelis out of it, or you look at this deal to free this Israeli soldier with U.S. citizenship, Edan Alexander, going around the Israeli government, making a deal with Hamas via those Qatari and Egyptian mediators.

There is certainly a sense in Israel now, among officials within Prime Minister Netanyahu's government, that the United States is acting quite differently, that the United States is showing that the train is leaving the station, and Israel has a choice to either get on or to be left behind.

Certainly, for the families of the hostages who remain in Gaza, there is a hope now that the U.S. government is going to be leading the charge to secure the release of their loved ones. That the U.S. government led by President Trump, is going to be willing to bring the pressure, the necessary pressure, to bear on Prime Minister Netanyahu to get to a deal.

And ideally, for many of the families of these hostages, what they want to see is a comprehensive deal. One that ends the war in Gaza and that gets all of the 58 hostages out, not these piecemeal deals that we have been seeing in the past. But of course, we will see that may be the initial route that is taken here again, certainly a sense of momentum, a sense of progress.

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But of course, we will see as these difficult negotiations begin in earnest in the coming days, whether or not a broader deal can truly be achieved, Manu.

RAJU: Yeah, some sense of hope. Jeremy Diamond, live from Tel Aviv. Thank you for that. And I want to bring in CNN's Senior White House Correspondent, Kristen Holmes, and CNN Chief National Security Correspondent Alex Marquardt. But first to you, Kristen, what is President Trump saying about Alexander's release?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, I do want to quickly notice something that Jeremy, was just talking about, in terms of the relationship between Trump and Netanyahu. The timing of this couldn't be more critical in the sense that he has just taken off for this trip to the region where he will not be sitting down or having conversations with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, somebody who was left out of this trip.

So that, again, shows you a little bit of how the White House is currently operating. Now, Donald Trump, unsurprisingly, has been praising this, saying that this was a good faith gesture from Hamas, and this is what he said when asked about it in the Oval Office just moments ago.

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DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: And again, they thought he was dead just a short while ago. His parents are so happy. They're so happy. So, it's, as you know, Edan's the only American citizen captured and held hostage by Hamas since October 7th, 2023 and he's coming home to his parents, which is really great news. I mean, to me, it's big news. They thought he was dead. So that's it.

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HOLMES: And again, of course, the hope among White House administration officials is that this leads to more negotiations and the release of more hostages and Manu, just really quickly, I said Oval Office, that was actually in the Roosevelt Room. I'm still learning my way around this White House.

RAJU: No, you're not. Kristen Holmes, thank you -- latest from Donald Trump. And Alex over to you. President Trump's Hostage Envoy was on the flight to Tel Aviv with Alexander's mother. He announced Alexander's release to the entire plane, and that promised to bring home all the hostage listen to this.

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ADAM BOEHLER, PRESIDENT TRUMP'S HOSTAGE ENVOY: President Trump, what he told me, to go get back every hostage, every Israeli.

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RAJU: So, Alex, does Alexander's release put renewed pressure on Netanyahu here?

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Enormous, Manu. There are 58 families today wondering why Prime Minister Netanyahu cannot bring home their loved ones, those who are deceased, those who are still alive, if deals are able to be struck with Hamas. Now, as Jeremy noted, this was essentially a side deal that the U.S. struck with Hamas.

The U.S. has been trying to move the ceasefire negotiations forward. They collapsed back in February, Israel has not shown an inclination to reach the second phase of the deal, which would mean, according to this blueprint that has been clearly laid out, an end to the war and a withdrawal from Gaza by the IDF.

So, what Steve Witkoff and Adam Boehler the president's top envoys have been trying to do is essentially strike these bridging proposals to try to extend the ceasefire, to try to get more hostages out. There has been reluctance from both Hamas and from Israel, but the hostage families, and I was speaking with someone earlier today who works closely with them are hoping that this release of Alexander today will open the door to enormous amounts of pressure on Netanyahu.

The Hamas and Israeli positions are still very far apart. Hamas is saying they are willing to end this war and release all of the hostages if Israel agrees to end the war. So far, Prime Minister Netanyahu has not agreed to end the war. He says that there needs to be more decimation of Hamas, more military pressure on Hamas in order to get those hostages out.

So, we understand Jeremy Diamond and I have been told by sources that President Trump has invited the families of these hostages to Doha. It would be a moment not just to thank President Trump for his efforts, but also to put that pressure on Netanyahu, which we know he's succumbing to, in some respects, by sending this negotiating team to Doha in the coming days, Manu.

RAJU: All right, Alex Marquardt and Kristen Holmes and the fallout from Washington. Thank you so much for that. And now to Edan Alexander's hometown in Tenafly, New Jersey, where his community is gathering to wait for the official word of his freedom. That's where fine Democratic Congressman Josh Gottheimer, who's there with his constituents and joins me live now.

Mr. Gottheimer, thank you for joining me on this very newsy morning. You've been a leading voice in pushing for Edan Alexander's release. So, tell me what this moment is like for you and your community, and how surprised are you that this actually happened?

REP. JOSH GOTTHEIMER (D-NJ): I mean, it's just overwhelming. It's incredibly emotional. Here you can see, Manu, 1000 people have been gathered here since we're here at 5 o'clock in the morning, and people are just overwhelmed by the idea that finally, after 584 days of fighting to bring him home, that he's coming home.

[12:10:00] And we're so close here, and his parents, you know, have never given

up hope for one minute, right? And they've led this community each step of the way their face, their determination to bring their son home, a 21-year-old kid who's from Tenafly, New Jersey here, went to Tenafly High School, was on the swim team, just an all-American kid.

And finally, after being in the hands of a lot of terrorists for all these months, looks like he's finally coming home.

RAJU: How much credit, do you think the Trump Administration deserves here for securing, Edan's freedom?

GOTTHEIMER: Are there a lot of people have been involved in this, and I want to give credit to anybody who's helping bring them home. You know, there are many people in last administration, this administration, but really, I give the most credit to his parents, who never stopped fighting for one minute, or ever lost faith.

I thought them yesterday, and, you know, and even as we were cautiously optimistic, we could feel always the hope coming through that they knew we'd come home, and they never gave up. And that's kind of the message here. If we never leave an American behind, we fight to bring them home.

We got to bring the other Americans before when we believe are no longer alive. We got to get them home and the other hostages. But you see the community here rally behind and they and I was just talking to some of his friends from -- others in the community, who played on teams with them growing up. And just, you can't imagine the emotion here today, Manu. It's amazing.

RAJU: Yeah, certainly -- you can certainly see it through the television set that motion. I do want to ask you, though about the fact that the Israeli government was not involved in these negotiations, Congressmen. There are still 58 hostages in Hamas captivity. 21 are believed to be alive. I wonder if you think that Prime Minister Netanyahu should be more receptive to cutting a peace deal.

GOTTHEIMER: Well, I think we've had all along. We've got to get the hostage home, all of them, quite I mean, obviously, Edan, anyone signed here. But there's a lot of hostages who are brothers and sisters and moms and dads. We've got to get all of them home. I think this will, of course, increase the pressure on finding, of course, a way forward here that includes making sure that we only crush the terrorists, but get humanitarian aid into the region, as we get all the hostages' home, right?

We have many goals we've got to get done. Today marks great progress, but the trend and only increasing the pressure. But we can't stop fighting as we haven't since October the seventh, right -- 584 days, you got to keep fighting until they all come home, and that's where my focus will continue to be, to get all those Americans home.

RAJU: All right. Congressman Josh Gottheimer thank you so much from Tenafly, New Jersey, the hometown of Edan Alexander. We appreciate giving, bring us your perspective on this very newsy morning. And coming up, we're waiting for the Israeli-American hostage to be handed over to the Israeli military, where we'll see his mother for the first time in over a year.

We'll bring that to you live. Plus, the $400 million gift that President Trump says he'd be stupid to turn down.

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TRUMP: I could be a stupid person to say, oh no, we don't want a free plane. We give free things out. We'll take one too.

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RAJU: Just moments ago, President Trump boarded Air Force One for his first major international trip with stops playing in Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar. While he's there, he may be thanking the Qatari Emir for one of the biggest gifts ever given to an American President, a presidential plane.

Now, President Trump says he'll accept a super luxury Boeing 747 jet as a gift. He'll be retrofitted to serve as Air Force One and then donated to his presidential library when he leaves office, which means he could keep using it when he's out of office. So, is that ethical, or is it even legal? The president, though, says it's just good business sense.

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TRUMP: They're giving us a free jet. I could say, no, no, no, don't give us. I want to pay you a billion or 400 million, or whatever it is. Or I could say, thank you very much. You know, there was an old golfer named Sam Snead, did you ever hear who won 82 tournaments? He was a great golfer, and he had a motto, when they give you a putt, you say, thank you very much. You pick up your ball and you walk to the next hole.

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RAJU: All right, I'm joined by a terrific group of reporters. CNN's David Chalian, Tia Mitchell, the Atlanta Journal Constitution. CNN's Stephen Collinson and Seung Min Kim of the Associated Press. Nice to see you all. So, is this like a gimme pot in golf, where it's four feet away saying, all right, it's, I'm not going to make you put it in or is there anything really free in this transaction?

SEUNG MIN KIM, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: I need, if that golf club were worth hundreds of millions of dollars for --

RAJU: They want something in exchange --

KIM: They want something in exchange, exactly. It is a stunning offer that, you know, the White House says they're still working through the legalities of this. They say this is a legal and proper transaction. There are a lot of experts who would disagree. Otherwise, I was really struck by this because it reminded me when I -- when we saw the news over the weekend about back in his first term, how the president wanted to use his personal club in Doral, Florida to host the Group of Seven Summit.

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And that was so unseemly for Republicans on Capitol Hill and elsewhere, that with that pressure, he actually backed off hosting at one of his resorts. But right now, even though you are hearing a growing drumbeat from his own allies about this transaction, also raising the security concerns that might be involved, he is certainly not backing down from potentially accepting this gift, as you saw in that clip, right there.

RAJU: Yeah, no question about it. In the Democrats are jumping all over this, Chuck Schumer said it's not just bribery. Is premium foreign influence with extra leg room. And then the Attorney General, Pam Bondi, said that it is OK, because it's not a bribe. It's not being gifted to Trump himself.

It's going to be U.S. It's going to be Air Force One, and then it's going to the prompt presidential library not to Trump himself.

STEPHEN COLLINSON, CNN POLITICS SENIOR REPORTER: I mean, I think that shows the advantage of recreating the Justice Department in President Trump's image, because it's hard to think that they would get a similar judgment out of justice under another administration.

But this clearly does infringe the emoluments cause of the Constitution, and the reason you have that is because when a president gets a gift and then subsequent events happen, you need to know that the president is acting in U.S. interests, not the interests of the party that offer the gift, even if it's all above board, the suspicion isn't good for good governments.

But I think what we've seen is the president, as you say, over his two terms, has brazen his way through all ethics questions, and is at the point now he can come and talk about Sam Snead and everyone laughs and so what.

RAJU: But we've heard a lot about the emoluments cause back in the first Trump term. But just to remind viewers about what that is, it's Constitution, Article I, Section 9, Clause 8 to the Constitution of your reading at home, it says, no person holding any office of profit or trust under them, shall, without the consent of the Congress, except of except of any present, emolument, office, or title, of any kind whatever, from any king, prince or foreign state. And of course, this is a gift from the head of state.

TIA MITCHELL, WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF FOR THE ATLANTA JOURNAL- CONSTITUTION: Yeah, it you know, that's the Constitution there. That's what a lot of Republicans say they want to stick strictly too. And it seems to say right there, and quite frankly, black and white, that this gift is not legal.

I think also we need to note again, transferring it to the presidential library is in theory, to allow President Trump to continue using what is supposed to be a gift to the U.S. government after he is no longer president. Most presidential libraries take the gifts, but either put them on display, put them in archives for research and things like that. Most ex-presidents don't keep gifts for their personal use post presidency.

DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: I mean, I think the lawsuits related to this potential deal, which doesn't really exist yet. Or you mentioned the retrofitting. It's not like a minor retrofitting that has to happen, right? I mean, this plane would have to be like stripped to its studs, basically, and rebuilt to be able to travel the President of the United States and all the security professionals -- with that.

RAJU: -- because he wanted this quicker than --

CHALIAN: Exactly. So, I don't know which of those things is going to take longer the lawsuits or the retrofitting of the plane, but I'm not sure either is going to emerge with Donald Trump as president actually flying on this plane.

RAJU: Yeah, we'll see what happens. And this all comes, of course, as Trump is now on his way to the Middle East, he chose to make this his first big international trip to meeting, going to Saudi Arabia, going to UAE, going to Qatar as well. There's also some question about his objective on this trip.

There have been a number of questions about Trump his business interests, whether there's any -- what the line is between some of the official action and some of the business interests as well. Just in the last few weeks, really, there's been announcements by Trump's sons about some deals that are going there, happening in the exact places Trump is visiting.

Trump Tower, Dubai. Eric Trump was touting that just on April 30th, this was that last week we can have. And then Eric Trump also back in late December, talking about Trump Tower coming up in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. And then just in May 1st, the Qatari golf deal. Eric Trump, there's a photo there about event for a golf course in Qatar.

Now they say this is about investment back home. This is all about Trump trying to re-energize the American economy -- Is there a line between the official side and the business side of the Trump empire?

KIM: Well, it's really that initial emphasis of this trip by the White House is even interesting on its own. You would think that a travel, you would think that a presidential visit to that region will focus a lot on security issues, clearly, but the White House says that is not the focus of this. This trip is about business.

It is about the economy. So of course, it is hard to see that not blurring with his own business interests. Obviously, you saw Eric Trump from the Trump Organization. Go to the region just not long ago, a few weeks ago, and it while they say it is two different matters, it's just by naturally seeing Trump there, seeing all the pageantry that the country's welcome.

You know President Donald Trump with it's really hard to not see, though, that line blurring there.

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RAJU: What do you think Trump has made that his first choice --

CHALIAN: First of all, there's some tradition to it, right, from the first term and his first foreign trip. He loves tradition in that way. But second of all, I think you just, I mean, forget -- I think Donald Trump sees the office of the presidency as a deal making office for the United States.

And where better to go and try and make deals, then with some of the richest leaders in the world and on the world stage who can engage in that kind of negotiation. And so, I think he sees this very much in line with how he views the presidency.

RAJU: Yeah, I mean, that's -- there's not much talk about a peace deal, really is part of this. They're not going to Israel, which has caused some concerns as well back in Israel.

COLLINSON: That's true, although if you look at the backdrop of what the president is doing right now, there are multiple diplomatic talks going on with Iran, with Russia and Ukraine. So, although the White House is saying this is just about business, it wouldn't surprise me at all if the president sees an opportunity, he's going to go for it.

For example, he's even raised the possibility they might fly to Turkey if Vladimir Putin shows up to those proposed talks with Zelenskyy this week. But I think to your point is a very good one is, these shows us how the world has changed, because the power in the world is shifting to the Gulf.

Those are the countries that are rising, and an American President is not going to Canada or Europe for his first trip of his second term. He's heading to the Gulf.

RAJU: Yeah.

COLLINSON: That tells us a lot.

RAJU: Yeah, it certainly does. If he goes to Turkey, that will be quite as seen. All right, still ahead, a live look outside the military base in Israel, where Israeli American hostage, Edan Alexander, is about to be freed after Hamas handed him over to Red Cross officials. More on his release next.

And a U.S. trade deal, did Trump just score a victory or just temporarily solve a problem that he created.

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