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The Situation Room
Trump Holds Call With Zelenskyy and European Leaders; Cross- Exam of Cassie Ventura Resumes in Sean Diddy Trial; N.J. Transit Halted After Engineers Go on Strike. Aired 10-10:30a ET
Aired May 16, 2025 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now, quote, we have to meet. That's President Trump's message about Vladimir Putin as he heads home from his Middle East trip. President Trump says he may call the Russian president after Putin decided not to go to Turkey for peace talks with Ukraine.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: And one-on-one with New York City Mayor Eric Adams, as we'll talk about immigration, his decision to ditch the Democratic Party and his new task force to combat anti-Semitism.
Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer with Pamela Brown, and you're in The Situation Room.
But, first, the breaking news, President Trump has just gotten off the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and leaders of France, Germany, the U.K., and Poland. The topic of discussion, the Russia-Ukraine talks that just ended in Turkey and the first signs from the meeting do not necessarily point to any signs of progress being made for a peace deal.
Let's go live to our Senior White House Correspondent Kristen Holmes. She's over at the White House for us. Kristen, what are you hearing about this important phone call?
KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, we're still waiting for a readout from the White House, we got this from the other side that this call had taken place. Just a reminder, Donald Trump is currently in the air on his way back here to Washington after his whirlwind trip to the Middle East. So, we know that even though he has moved forward from this trip, the really big focus is now on these peace talks.
Now, as you noted, there's not a lot of expectation out of this. They don't think there's going to be a lot of movement, but this is the first time the two sides have sat down to have these direct talks in years. And Donald Trump himself had essentially said that he would float the idea of him possibly going to serve as some sort of mediator between Putin and Zelenskyy, that, of course, before Putin decided he was going to reject the offer to show up. Here's what he did say about holding a meet meeting with the Russian president.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REPORTER: Are you planning call Vladimir Putin? How do you think you can get those talks on --
DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: I may. We have to meet. He and I will meet. I think we'll solve it or maybe not, but at least we'll know. And if we don't solve it, it'd be very interesting.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: And he continued to say that he wanted to meet with Putin at a different point during this trip, that he hoped to sit down with him, and that nothing will really get done until these two leaders can talk. And just on another quick foreign policy note, because Donald Trump did mention this when he was talking to reporters, he mentioned Iran seemed to confirm that he had received a nuclear proposal for that deal. He said that Iran had somewhat agreed to the terms of the agreement, but obviously we're still trying to get more details of what exactly this proposal from the U.S. to Iran look like.
BLITZER: All right. Kristen Holmes, thank you very, very much. Pamela?
BROWN: Wolf, happening now, Cassie Ventura is back on the stand this morning for day two of cross-examination by the defense. Now, the ex- girlfriend of Sean Diddy Combs testified about explicit texts between the couple and pushed back on the defense's claim that she proposed having a so-called freak-off back in 2016.
Combs has pleaded not guilty to all charges including sex trafficking. A quick note on CNN's coverage of this trial on the left side of your screen, as you'll see right here, there is information from our reporters right inside that courtroom. It will be updating throughout the show, and that's because there is no video or audio recording allowed in federal court.
So, let's go live now to CNN's Kara Scannell right outside that courthouse in New York. Kara, what do we expect from cross-examination today?
KARA SCANNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Pam, cross-examination of Cassie Ventura has been underway for just about a half an hour, and the defense team has picked up where they left off yesterday. One of the themes that they were underscoring as part of their defense is that -- to the issue of coercion, and that's part of the element of the sex trafficking charge. They have been putting forward evidence, and Ventura has testified that when Combs was drunk or high on drugs, that he often hit her then, and then she said he had no memory of it later.
[10:05:06] That's key because the defense is trying to get across that she was not being coerced by the fear of assault into engaging in sex with prostitutes, that it was -- that she was getting hit by him because of his inebriation and intoxication.
And so they went to that hotel video that we've seen numerous times in the trial where he is caught on tape kicking her and dragging her. And she was asked about a text message that they had received just a few days later from that. She had text him. When you get up f up the way, you always want to show me that you have the power and you knock me around. I'm not a ragdoll. I'm someone's child, so trying to connect the assault to the drunkenness and the drug use and not to coercion.
Of course, Ventura on direct had testified that she was afraid of Combs, was afraid that if she did not do what he wanted by participating in the freak-offs, that he would hit her. So, this part of the defense strategy here, they also signaled that this afternoon they intend to spend, as they put it, a significant amount of time on venturous allegations that Combs raped her at the end of their relationship. So, that is expected this afternoon.
Her testimony is expected to continue through the entire day on Friday. The defense saying that they need that time because she's such an important central witness to this case and prosecution's saying they will take just 30 minutes to redirect her. Pam, Wolf?
BROWN: All right. Kara Scannell, thanks so much. Wolf?
BLITZER: All right, Pamela. Right now, an overnight strike has brought the nation's third largest commuter rail service to a grinding halt. Engineers walked off the job after labor negotiations simply broke down, spelling potential chaos for rail commuters in the region this morning.
Let's go live right now to CNN Business and Politics. Correspondent Vanessa Yurkevich, she's over at New York's Penn Station. Vanessa, commuters from New Jersey coming into Penn Station where you are, there no train service right now, give our viewers a sense of what you're seeing at Penn Station right now.
VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, normally there would be thousands of commuters coming out of Penn Station, taking those New Jersey Transit trains into New York City from New Jersey. But as you said, that strike has absolutely stranded, thousands, 100,000 people rely on this service every single day. The union who represents the engineers who drive the train could not come to an agreement with New Jersey Transit. The key issue, Wolf, pay.
The union says that their engineers make about $10 less than some of their colleagues at other train lines and the New Jersey Transit saying they simply cannot afford to pay these engineers more.
I want to take a walk over here. There's a group of engineers that have been here since early this morning. I want to introduce you to Quincy Dover, an engineer now for three years. Tell me, Quincy, why are you out here this morning?
QUINCY DOVER, LOCOMOTIVE ENGINEER: Basically for parity, you know? We do a very important job. We're essential to N.J. Transit and to the tri-state area. We just want to be paired up with other railroads that make us, you know, decent wage, something that they could actually live on, provide for their families. And we just want to be there. That's all, simply that, you know, paying for other things like, you know, penthouse offices and stuff like that, when it's really important people out here that are doing the work every day, night and day, 24 hours, 7 days a week, who are not being paid, but we're paying for lavish offices. It just doesn't make any sense.
YURKEVICH: And you're referring to the new headquarters that New Jersey Transit has in Newark, when you say that. Tell me about what a locomotive engineer does. Why is it so critical to New Jersey Transit and the safety of commuters?
DOVER: So, any given day, I can sit in a seat, you know, controlling millions of dollars of equipment with a thousand, 1,200-plus people on a train with crews, you know, making sure they're safety. You know, they don't know me, I don't know them, but my job is to make sure that they're safe, they're getting there where they need to go on time, and that I'm making sure everything is taken care of. I'm following all rules, following all the speeds. That took me two years to learn in training. You know, all these things we're doing. It's very important, you know?
So, it's like these people are out here. 350,000 people are not moving today simply because we can't be at work. I think that says enough.
YURKEVICH: Thank you so much, Quincy, great to hear from you.
So, Wolf, ultimately, New Jersey Transit does have contingency plans in place. They are providing additional bus service to try to help commuters get to and from New York City and throughout New Jersey, but that is simply just a small percentage of what these trains normally do and how many people they carry.
Also, there are big, big concerts going on here in the area in Secaucus, about 30 minutes away from here. You have Shakira this weekend. You have Beyonce next weekend. These engineers were going to be driving trains to get people to and from these major concerts. That is no longer happening. So, folks are going to have to figure out another way to get to these key concerts in the next week or so, if this strike drags on, the two sides looking to hopefully get back to the table, Wolf, on Sunday.
BLITZER: Yes. Between all these problems involving the transit strike and what's going on, the disaster over at the Newark Airport, people in New Jersey are having a lot of problems right now.
[10:10:02]
Vanessa Yurkevich over at Penn Station for us in New York, thanks very, very much. Pamela? BROWN: And we also want to note, Wolf, you're going to be interviewing Mayor Adams coming up on the show to talk about that and other issues.
All right, and new this morning, a remarkable accusation from President Trump. He says, former FBI Director James Comey insinuated a threat against him in a social media post that has since been deleted. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is also weighing in, saying Comey now faces federal investigations.
Joining us now as Evan Perez, CNN senior justice correspondent. All right, tell us more about this post, how is Comey responding, well, what's going on here Evan?
EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: What's going on is right. I mean, look, this is a -- we put up the post from Jim Comey. He says he was walking along a beach and he saw shells that were arranged like this 86. 47. Now, 86 or 47 refers to, presumably, he says, it's a political message about President Trump, who's the 47th president of the United States and 86 colloquially could be used to be a term that says remove or get rid of, right?
Now, people on the right, the president supporters have taken this to mean that this was a threat, a direct threat to the president of the United States, an assassination threat. Obviously, the president has had two assassination threats. So, people take these types of things very seriously. Kristi Noem says that it's now under, under investigation. You see other people, including Tommy Tuberville, saying this is a very serious matter.
It is not clear that that this is what really this is, right? Jim Comey did respond to us. We reached out to him and he referred us to a replacement post he put on social media in which he says I didn't realize some folks associate those numbers with violence. It never occurred to me. But I oppose violence of any kind. So, I took the post down.
And so now the question is what does this become? Is this a real investigation? Clearly, he's saying that there was no threat, so that usually is the end of the story. But we don't live in those times right now.
BROWN: We don't. And, I mean, just thinking about the history between James Comey and Donald Trump, right?
PEREZ: Correct.
BROWN: I mean, James Comey investigated him, Donald Trump fired him.
PEREZ: Correct.
BROWN: I'm just curious though, you know, and I know he referred you to the post, but he said he assumed it was a political message.
PEREZ: Yes, he did assume it was a political message. And, look, I mean, just down the street at Union Station, there are people who have signs that say, remove the president of the United States. So, does 86 refer to removal? In which way? I mean, you know, that's the question. And I guess, again, if you're going to try to be a prosecutor to bring a case against Jim Comey for this, it's not clear you're going to go very far.
BROWN: Yes, exactly. All right, Evan Perez, thank you so much. Wolf?
BLITZER: And still ahead fighting anti-Semitism in the nation's largest city. We'll talk to New York City Mayor Eric Adams about a newly formed task force dedicated to doing just that.
BROWN: and then later thousands of victims. The FBI says four people are now charged in an international sextortion scheme. How investigators track them down.
You're in The Situation Room.
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BLITZER: Breaking news, Americans' feelings about the U.S. economy are at a near record low. Consumer sentiment so far in May has fallen 2.7 percent. President Trump's trade war has stoked recession fears across the country. But notably the survey period ended May 13th, just one day after a trade de-escalation between the United States and China, meaning sentiment potentially could improve in later reports.
BROWN: And returning now to New York, Wolf, and the federal sex trafficking trial of Sean Diddy Combs. Right now, the music mogul's longtime former girlfriend is back on the stand for a second day of cross-examination. Cassie Ventura has testified for nearly 15 hours over the past three days. The judge expects her testimony to wrap up this afternoon. Combs has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
So, let's bring in Attorney and Legal Affairs Commentator Areva Martin and Criminal Defense Attorney and former Federal Prosecutor Yodit Tewolde. Thank you both for coming on.
Areva, first to you. What stood out to you from Ventura's first day of cross-examination from the defense?
AREVA MARTIN, CIVIL RIGHTS ATTORNEY: Well, one of the things, Pamela, that the defense wanted to do was to humanize Sean Combs. Because during the first day of testimony on direct examination, we heard testimony of someone that appeared to be a violent monster, I'll use that word. And so the defense went in hard trying to show us that he wrote nice emails, that he was flirtatious, that he was even charming.
A big part of the defense's strategy is to debunk the prosecution's theory that Cassie was forced into commercial sex acts, which is the standards for the sex trafficking charge that's been brought against him. They wanted to show that the violence that Sean Diddy Combs used against Cassidy was not -- against Cassie, I'm sorry, was not a part of an effort to control or to coerce her, but rather was fueled by his drug use and fueled by jealousy that he had when he thought she was involved with other men.
BROWN: All right. Yodit, to bring you into the conversation, Ventura is very pregnant. The prosecution says she could have her baby as early as this weekend. So, the defense has to wrap up cross- examination today. How does having a deadline like that impact the defense's strategy?
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YODIT TEWOLDE, FORMER PROSECUTOR: Oh my God. Well, they thought that they were going to have more time with her. And I believe the defense had made it clear at one point or another during pretrial hearings that they were willing to have this trial after Cassie gave birth in order to, you know, prevent this from happening, this very thing.
I mean, you have somebody who is now looking at life in prison. This can't be sped up, especially when you're talking about Cassie Ventura being the prosecution's star witness. She's the linchpin for the prosecution's case, so they need more time. But they also need to get to the point.
I felt like the line of questioning yesterday from the defense to Cassie didn't necessarily flow well. So, they really need to get to the point, really wrap it up and really start laying those seeds of doubt in at least one juror's mind.
BROWN: And she has already testified for nearly 15 hours now, Areva. Do you think we're seeing her become more comfortable on the stand?
MARTIN: I think she handled herself exceptionally well during the first day of cross-examination. There were periods where the defense attorney was even laughing with her. Obviously, the defense attorney understood her assignment and understood that she could not bully, she could not intimidate, and she could not come off too aggressive with this eight-month pregnant woman who, by all accounts, is a victim.
Whether you believe that Sean Combs committed the crimes that he's been charged for, we know that she suffered extreme violence, that she was a part of a very toxic and a very violent relationship. We saw the videotape. The jurors have been shown the videotapes, they've been shown the photographs. They know that despite what the ultimate outcome of this case is, this is a woman that has endured a great deal of trauma. So, it was very important that the defense walked a very tight line in terms of the questioning, and Cassie, I think, has done a phenomenal job of withstanding a grueling cross-examination.
BROWN: Yes. There were a couple times where she really went back and said, no, that was wrong, or, no, that's not what I meant. I mean, the defense really focused on these texts between Ventura and Combs, where they claim Ventura indicated she was on board with the freak-offs at certain points. She claims that's not true. It was just she understood how Combs would text with her and what he meant.
How effective is that in persuading this jury that it was consensual, as the defense is trying to portray here? Areva, sorry. MARTIN: Oh, I'm sorry. That is -- as you said, Pamela, that's the linchpin of the defense's case, that these text messages where Cassie made statements about the freak-offs. But we have to recognize that consent is not a lifetime contract. So, even if she did consent, even if she expressed enthusiasm at one point in time in terms of these freak-offs, it doesn't mean that that was the -- her consent was given for the lifetime of this relationship.
It is very clear that at some point she was not comfortable, that she was not willingly participating in these freak-offs, that she tried to make that known to Sean Combs. But he threatened her with blackmail. He threatened her with violence. He removed things from her, such as her passport, such as her cell phone, and that she was coerced, as this statute says, creates this liability, creates the possibility of a conviction for Sean Combs.
BROWN: Right. Those are all allegations we want to point out, and that's what Ventura has said. Of course, the prosecution -- I'm sorry, the defense has claimed that, you know, there was domestic violence, but there was not sex trafficking, there was not racketeering. He did not engage in the behavior from these serious charges.
Yodit, if Combs is your client, would you want him to take the stand?
TEWOLDE: Absolutely not. You don't take this -- I would rarely ever suggest to a client to take the stand, not because I feel that they're guilty. They may very well be, but it's the way that they may present themselves to a jury.
There's too many bad facts here against Diddy for him to take the stand. He may -- I feel like maybe Diddy would believe he could do some good on the stand. I wouldn't suggest it at all, especially when you have the credibility that Cassie has shown, and it's very hard to actually judge the credibility without cameras in the courtroom. But from the reporting that's coming out of the courtroom, she's answering these questions. She's getting to the point of them. She's not over explaining. She's conceding to bad facts that might undermine her testimony from direct examination. So, she's a strong witness for the prosecution.
Yes. Sean Combs shouldn't take the stand. And that actually signals to a jury when defense attorneys don't put their client up on the on the stand or even put up a shred of evidence, it's because they believe the prosecution didn't meet their burden. So, no, I would not recommend Sean Diddy taking the stand.
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BROWN: All right. Areva, Yodit, thank you both.
BLITZER: And coming up for the first time, Russian and Ukrainian delegations meet face-to-face to talk peace between their two countries. We're live in Kyiv with a reaction. That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BROWN: Well, new this morning. Ukraine and Russia hold their first direct negotiation since the early stages of the war more than three years ago. But the talks held this morning in Turkey involved lower level delegations with neither President Zelenskyy nor President Putin, nor President Trump, for that matter, attending.
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And a short time ago, we learned that President Trump held a phone call with Zelenskyy and European.