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Trump Pitches His Sweeping Policy Agenda to House GOP Holdouts; First Self-Deportation Flight from U.S. Lands in Honduras; Multistate Manhunt Intensifies for Six Escaped Inmates. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired May 20, 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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[10:00:00]

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now, breaking news, presidential pitch. Right now, President Trump is on Capitol Hill selling his sweeping tax and spending bill to holdout. But GOP hardliners are digging in.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Finding a plane. New CNN reporting is revealing the Trump administration initiated asking Qatar for a plane to use as Air Force 1, and that's contrary to the president's own narrative.

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.

And we begin with breaking news. Right now, President Trump is up on Capitol Hill, rallying House Republicans to back his so-called big, beautiful bill. Just last hour, the president was touting Republicans as a, quote, tremendously unified party, but that certainly doesn't appear to be the case right now. Several GOP hardliners are demanding more time to make changes to his sweeping legislative agenda. There are still holdouts over Medicaid spending cuts and state and local taxes. The president insisting that, quote, there would be no cuts to anything meaningful. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: We're not doing any cutting of anything meaningful. The only thing we're cutting is waste, fraud, and abuse with Medicaid, waste, fraud and abuse. We're cutting three things, waste, fraud, and abuse. We're not changing Medicaid and we're not changing Medicare and we're not changing Social Security.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: All right. Let's go live right now up to Capitol Hill. CNN's Chief Congressional Correspondent Manu Raju is watching all of this unfold. Manu, how is President Trump trying to sway those GOP holdouts?

MANU RAJU, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: He is trying to urge these members to essentially get behind this bill despite the significant amount of differences over some of the key sticking points. And one of the things he's telling these members inside this room, according to our sources, to not touch Medicaid and said, don't only focus on, quote, waste, fraud, and abuse. Of course that is waste fraud, and the abuse is in the eye of beholder in this House GOP.

There is a debate over how far to go on the issue of Medicaid. There's a push by some of those hardliners to try to make the work requirements, first time work requirements that will be implemented under this proposal in 2029, increase the timeframe for that. There's also another push by some of these hardliners to limit the amount of federal dollars that will go to state-run Medicaid programs.

That's cost them significant pushback among some of those more moderate members. Those say moderate members are trying to protect how green energy tax credits are dealt with in this bill. Some of those hard lender want those completely phased out.

And a push by New York Republicans to increase the state and local tax deductions that taxpayers can seek. That pushes running into a buzz saw of opposition from those same conservatives who are worried about the price tag.

And the price tag is another prevailing concern among a lot of these Republicans who are worried about the deficit, impact on the deficit. And that is something that Donald Trump is trying to push back on. He claims, and the White House does, that this would not have a detrimental impact on the deficit. In fact, the White House said yesterday that it would not raise the deficit at all despite some outside projections, that it could add trillions and more to the debt and deficit over the next several years here.

And one thing that came is, as Donald Trump was walking in, he took aim at one Republican who has been very critical about the concerns over the deficit, Congressman Thomas Massie.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I don't think Thomas Massie understands government. I think he's a grandstander, frankly. He'll probably, but we don't even talk to him much. I think he should be voted out of office. And I just don't think he understands government. If you ask him a couple of questions, he never gives you an answer. He just says, I'm a no. He thinks he's going to get publicity. And you have that. You have that. They've got some too.

RAJU: Are you worried about the blowback from Trump allies, the MAGA base for voting no?

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REP. THOMAS MASSIE (R-KY): No. Actually, I've got a lot of people in the MAGA base who realize that we could have done this differently. We could extend the tax cuts and paid for them, but instead, we're not.

I mean, over here, the people in favor this bill say that under the policies of this bill, we're going to add $20 trillion of debt over the next ten years, which is $3.5 to $5 trillion more than would've been added deficit.

RAJU: But (INAUDIBLE) deficit with Trump.

MASSIE: Now, that's a (INAUDIBLE).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: And Trump was pretty blunt inside the room when it came to the issue of Medicaid, Wolf. In fact, we are told from multiple sources, two sources inside the room that Trump said, quote, don't F around with Medicaid, and he used the curse word not F around, but that was the message to his colleagues. The question is going to be whether those Republicans will ultimately fall in line because we know that Mike Johnson can only afford to lose three Republican votes on a straight party line vote. He's trying to get this out of the House by Thursday.

But there is so much opposition concern within the ranks. Can he get those members to fall in line? That's going to be a big question. As members walk out of this room, in a matter of moments, we'll ask them if Trump changed any of their minds. Wolf?

BLITZER: We will soon find out. Manu Raju, thank you very, very much. Pamela?

BROWN: All right, Wolf. Happening now, Secretary of State Marco Rubio is on the other side of the Capitol. He's about to testify in front of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Of course, this is a pivotal time just after President Trump spoke to President Putin as well as President Zelenskyy of Ukraine just yesterday.

Let's go live now to CNN National Security Correspondent Kylie Atwood at the State Department. Kylie, what are we learning about his opening statement?

KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, we know that the Secretary of State, Marco Rubio is going to defend his planned overall of the State Department here, saying that it would include $20 billion in rescissions that he said, according to these prepared opening remarks, would be for duplicative, wasteful and ideologically driven programs.

But as you said, Pam, this comes on the heels of that phone call between President Trump and President Putin yesterday. There will be questions for the secretary of state about the role the United States is going to play going forward. Of course, President Trump cast that call positively, saying that it would lead to immediate negotiations for a ceasefire, but, of course, questions about how committed to that President Putin actually is and the role that the United States would play going forward in those conversations.

Also the ongoing talks to strike an Iran nuclear deal, there have been four rounds of talks between the United States and Iran facilitated by the Omanis. And there are concerns on Capitol Hill that the Trump administration might strike a deal that isn't robust enough. So, we'll watch and see what he says on that.

And then, of course, just in recent weeks, the admittance of white South Africans to the United States as refugees, the secretary is likely to face questions about that, the overhaul of USA that happened during the early months of the administration.

But this is the first time that Rubio is facing questions from Congress since he was sitting before them during his confirmation hearing. So, there are many issues that these members are likely to dig into.

BROWN: And I know you will be watching all of it closely. Kylie Atwood, thank you so much. Wolf?

BLITZER: Pamela, new this morning, the European Union and the United Kingdom are both slapping a new round of sanctions on Russia. It's part of the international effort to pressure Russia to accept at least a 30-day ceasefire in Ukraine.

This morning's action follows a two-hour phone call between President Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin. There was no breakthrough in that much hyped call and President Trump is now suggesting he's prepared to back away, his words, back away if peace talks between Russia and Ukraine stall.

Also new this morning, Ukraine and Russia are accusing each other of new drone attacks just hours after that. Trump-Putin phone call.

CNN's Chief International Security Correspondent Nick Paton Walsh is in Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, for us. Nick, Ukraine's president says Russia is stalling to continue its war. If true, could the two-hour phone call with no apparent breakthrough be scored as a win for Putin?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Look, I mean, I think, Vladimir Putin is seeing the peace process here play out with the speed, the severity, and the seriousness that he wants. He's been calling the shots now, the meetings, the responses, even the outcome of this phone call with President Trump for well over two weeks.

And I think we are seeing the sanctions today from the European Union, a bit more of the same that we've seen before, targeting Russia's shadow fleet that it uses to move oil around the world and sell predominantly to China and India, but also too an expectation from Ukraine that there could be an 18th package of sanctions that would target Russia's banking infrastructure, its interactions with the global economy.

But these sanctions toothless, really, without the United States signing on, and President Trump has also been clear that he doesn't want to be part of that.

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He might interrupt a deal he thinks. But at the same time, the White House head also saying maybe it's time to back away, maybe there isn't deal to be done here, even suggesting that perhaps the Vatican's the best venue and that Russia and Ukraine should continue to talk about this alone.

I have to say there is some shock amongst -- certainly one European official I spoke to about how this has been playing out. Remember, Trump promised European leaders here in Kyiv ten-plus days ago when they demanded an unconditional ceasefire or else sanctions against Russia that he supported them and had their back for those consequences, clearly not the case thus far. And this official I spoke to said many still expect some kind of steady and stable behavior from administration whose working method seems to be based on chaos, changing track every day, or at least every week, and keeping everyone on their toes.

Now, it's that sense of imbalance, the inability for a cohesive position amongst Ukraine's allies to pressure Russia that I think has many alarms here. There is, from what we heard yesterday, no immediate prospect of a breakthrough in peace talks more likely that Trump steps back and perhaps hopes someone else takes the lead and that gives the Russians time, time for the ground to dry here and for a potential summer offensive. Wolf?

BLITZER: All right. Nick Paton Walsh in Kyiv for us, thank you very much, Nick, for that. Pamela?

BROWN: All right, Wolf. Turning now to the immigration front, an 8-1 ruling from the Supreme Court is clearing the way for the Trump administration to strip temporary deportation protections for potentially hundreds of thousands of Venezuelan migrants, and it's a move that immigration attorneys say could make even more people vulnerable to deportation.

CNN's Priscilla Alvarez joins us now for more. So, walk us through what this order entails.

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is an order that has wide ranging impact, but it was also quite confusing even to the attorneys who argued the case.

Now, this is about temporary protected status. That is a form of humanitarian relief for people who cannot return to their home countries. In this case, it was granted to the Venezuelans under the Biden administration.

Now, the issue at the core of this case was an extension of those protections that was provided or granted in the final days of the Biden administration. When Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem came in to office, she had pulled down that termination, and that's what sparked this case.

Now, what the Supreme Court said here is that the administration can move forward with its plan to end these protections. So, what does that mean? That means that more than 300,000 people who had those protections are waking up today unclear really if they still have any protection at all, because the attorneys I've been speaking with say they're still trying to get instructions from the Department of Homeland Security as to what the next steps are here.

Now, these are protections that allow people to live in the United States legally. It allows them to work in the United States legally. So, there are a lot of questions. And it wasn't that long ago that I was in Florida, part of Florida, that overwhelmingly voted for Donald Trump and Venezuelans who were confused as to why the administration was going after them, after they supported him in such big numbers.

So, I've been in touch with them this morning too, and there is just so much confusion as to what happens here and clearly just so many implications for this community as they await those answers.

BROWN: Later on the show, we have Congressman Gimenez, a Republican who has a lot of Venezuelans in his district, will be interesting to hear what he has to say. But no doubt about it, this ruling from the Supreme Court, it's a win for the Trump administration.

And we're also learning more about this flight carrying the first round of migrants who chose to self-deport. Tell us about that.

ALVAREZ: Yes. This is a new program by an administration. They call it, quote, Project Homecoming. The idea is if you opt to voluntarily depart the United States, then they will give you a free ticket and a stipend when you return to your home country of $1,000.

The first charter flight took off yesterday from Houston. It went to both Honduras and to Columbia. These are people who had applied through a CBP Home app, which we've talked about here on the show, and said that they want to leave the United States, and they took up the administration on their offer.

Now, we're still trying to get in touch with some of these folks who took this software to understand a little bit about what their thinking was, but I have also talked to people who are just deeply concerned as to what they're seeing in the United States. They don't know where things are headed. They hear the president talk about mass deportation.

And while I wouldn't say that this is something that everyone is chomping at the bit to apply to this program, there's certainly people who are expressing some interest, and we saw that in the 64 people who took up the administration on this offer to do this charter flight and to go back home, again, to their home countries.

So, certainly, the administration is touting this. It is an effort that they are constantly pushing to try to get people to leave the United States on their own.

BROWN: Really quickly, where is that money coming from, the $1,000 that they're using as sort of an incentive?

ALVAREZ: Well, that is something that we're still trying to get answers to, because to your point there, it's not only the $1,000 stipend, but they are also footing the bill for a charter flight, which, as we know, those cost thousands of dollars.

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So, that is something too that the Homeland Security secretary, Kristi Noem, will likely be asked about today. She's currently before the Senate Homeland Security Committee, where she's being asked about the department's budget.

BROWN: All right. Priscilla Alvarez, thanks so much.

BLITZER: She really knows her stuff, Priscilla.

BROWN: She does always.

BLITZER: She's really good.

All right, happening now, a multi-state manhunt is intensifying for six inmates who are still on the run after escaping from a New Orleans jail. So far, police have recaptured four, including this inmate who officials arrested only yesterday.

Let's go live right now to CNN Correspondent Rafael Romo. He is watching all of this unfold. Rafael, some of the remaining escapees were facing pretty serious charges. Tell us about that.

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's right, Wolf. They face an array of charges, including aggravated assault with firearms, follow false imprisonment and even murder. It was the Louisiana State Police who were able to capture the fourth fugitive on Monday evening. He has been identified as 21-year-old Gary C. Price, and officials tell me he was caught in the New Orleans East neighborhood.

In announcing the arrest, Louisiana State Police said that Price was caught thanks to law enforcement agencies working collectively to locate the inmates who escaped Friday morning from a New Orleans jail.

According to police, Price was originally incarcerated at the Orleans Justice Center for attempted first-degree murder, domestic abuse, and aggravated assault. There are still, you'd have to remember this, Wolf, still six other fugitives at large this morning and authorities say over 200 law enforcement personnel continue to work around the clock to locate them.

The reward for information leading to the capture of each escapee has increased to $20,000, when you combine what the FBI, ATF and crime stoppers are offering. But the fact that they haven't been caught in more than four days after escaping is cause for great concern for people in Louisiana and neighboring states, including Orleans Parish District Attorney Jason Williams, whose office prosecuted some of the fugitives.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JASON WILLIAMS, ORLEANS PARISH DISTRICT ATTORNEY: I am personally afraid not just for myself, but for my lawyers who tried the case against the individual twice. We were asking for a life sentence of this man and he is now at large.

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ROMO: And, Wolf, Williams said that lawyers in his office who prosecuted Derrick Groves, one of the escape inmates, left New Orleans over the weekend out of fear of retribution and retaliation because the escapees may have crossed state lines. And Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill has asked her counterparts in Texas, Mississippi, Arkansas, here in Georgia, Oklahoma, and Tennessee to alert their law enforcement agencies. A lot of very worried people, as you can imagine, Wolf.

BLITZER: All right. Rafael Romo reporting for us, Rafael, keep us up to date, thank you very much. Pamela?

BROWN: And still ahead, Wolf, right here in the situation, a sitting congresswoman is charged with assault after a confrontation with Ice, and now she's speaking to CNN. You're in The Situation Room.

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BLITZER: New this morning, Democratic Congresswoman LaMonica McIver is speaking out following the US Justice Department's decision to charge her with assault in the chaotic confrontation that erupted outside an ICE detention facility in her home state of New Jersey. And it comes as the department also announced its dropping charges against Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, who was arrested during the incident and charged with trespassing.

BROWN: Let's go live now to CNN's Omar Jimenez in New York. Omar, what is Congresswoman McIver saying this morning?

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. So, Congresswoman McIver, as you mentioned, charged with assault by federal officials as the acting U.S. attorney, Alina Habba, announced for New Jersey. And this happened during, as you see on video what became a chaotic scrum outside of an ICE detention facility in Newark. And the protest was really about the detention facility being there in the first place.

But in this case it does seem to show her at one point using her body to push past some of the officers that were on scene there and before and right before and as the Newark mayor was eventually taken into handcuffs. But we just heard from Congresswoman McIver actually just last hour, and I want you to take a listen to some of how she's reacting this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. LAMONICA MCIVER (D-NJ): It's ridiculous. I was there to do my job along with my other colleagues. We have done this before. This is our obligation to do. It's in our job description to have oversight over a facility, and the entire situation was escalated by ICE. So, if I'm going to be charged with a crime for doing my job, it just speaks to, you know, where we're headed in this country and what we're dealing with as leaders.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JIMENEZ: And she was one of three Congress people from New Jersey that were there trying to get a tour of this facility. As for next step, she says she and her attorneys are in touch with federal law enforcement and the federal courts in New Jersey as well, but she says it is business as usual.

I should also mention those Congress members did eventually get a tour of the immigration facility, but obviously not during those moments.

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BLITZER: Omar, the Newark mayor, Baraka, has also weighed in. What is he saying?

JIMENEZ: Yes. So, with him, the Newark mayor was initially charged with trespassing. But those charges have now been dropped, as we understand, again, from acting U.S. Attorney Alina Habba for New Jersey. Now, with Mayor Baraka, he was part of the -- he was alongside these members of Congress that were trying to visit this facility. They and others have alleged that this facility is not up to date on permits, which the government has denied.

But regardless, at one point, he was seen on the private side of the fence. He was asked to leave. He eventually did leave, but once he was on the public side, he was taken into handcuffs, which produced another scrum that we've seen play out in some of the videos you're seeing on screen right now.

I want you to take a listen though to how he's reacting to now the dropping of these charges.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ABBY PHILLIP, CNN ANCHOR: Why do you think she dropped the charges against you?

MAYOR RAS BARAKA (D-NEWARK, NJ): Well, I think that was the right thing to do for them to drop the charges. Obviously, we agreed to move forward but, ultimately, I didn't do anything wrong. There was no charges that should be brought against me in the first place.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JIMENEZ: And now Habba said she's dropping the case against Baraka, quote, for the sake of moving forward, as the mayor said he's glad it's been dismissed and he's looking for areas of cooperation.

But we were actually outside court for one of Baraka's status conference hearing essentially for his trespassing charge. And he had a swell of support outside that courthouse, even for just a basic hearing, which he then came out to address the crowd.

So, clearly a lot of energy around this particular issue, even if we're just talking about minor charges in his case, and as we monitor to see what happens with Congresswoman McIver's case moving forward. BLITZER: We'll watch it together with you. Omar Jimenez, thank you very, very much. Pamela?

BROWN: All right, Wolf. We have some breaking news to get to right now. Authorities have now arrested an Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office employee following the escape of ten inmates. Six are still on the run. We should say New Orleans, not Orleans.

Let's go live now to CNN Correspondent Rafael Romo in Atlanta. Rafael, what are you learning about this development? Wow.

ROMO: Hey, Pam. Yes, it's quite a developing here. And we had heard from the very beginning from the sheriff there that they had a staffing issue and that the fugitives should have had help from inside the prison to be able to do this, to be able to run away. And authorities have arrested an Orleans Parish Sheriff's Office employee following the escape of these ten inmates.

This is coming to us from the Louisiana Attorney General's Office, was confirmed just a few moments ago, and as you may remember, Sheriff Susan Hudson has said that she believes the jailbreak was an inside job. And last week she told reporters at a press conference that her agency had suspended three employees pending an investigation.

We don't know if the person in question, the employee who has been arrested is one of those three employees, but she said at that press conference that it's almost impossible, Pam, not completely, she said, but almost impossible for anybody to get out of this facility, meaning the jail, without help. And there were 1,400 people there being held for years now. Authorities, officials, not only the sheriff, but others have complained about staffing levels not being adequate for the number of inmates having there.

The inmates escaped, as you may remember, through a hole in a wall behind a toilet in the early hours of Friday while the lone guard watching them went to get food. So, many questions there, and this guard was not the employee arrested. This coming to us from the A.P. and Lester Duhe, a spokesperson for the attorney general's office, but, again, one of those employees at the jail has been arrested. We're waiting to hear more details as to how exactly it happened and what kind of evidence they have against this person, Pam.

BROWN: Yes, quite the development here. Rafael Romo, thank you so much. Wolf?

BLITZER: And up next, testimony is underway in the trial against Sean Diddy Combs. Combs' former assistant is back on the stand right now. We're live outside the court with the latest.

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