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The Situation Room

Billy Joel Diagnosed With Rare Brain Disorder; NPR Sues Trump Administration; King Charles in Canada; Trump Targets Harvard. Aired 11:30a-12p ET

Aired May 27, 2025 - 11:30   ET

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

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WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: This morning, yet another blow to Harvard.

Top officials in the Trump administration now say the White House is directing the federal agencies, all federal agencies, to cancel all their remaining contracts with the nation's oldest university. Those total nearly $100 million.

And it comes as the school is fighting to keep its international students. The Trump administration wants to expel all those foreign students from Harvard University.

Joining us now is Harvard Professor Fernando Reimers. He's also the director of the university's Global Innovation Initiative.

What do you make of these latest moves, Professor, the Trump administration canceling all federal contracts with Harvard?

FERNANDO REIMERS, PROFESSOR OF INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION, HARVARD UNIVERSITY: Clearly, the Trump administration is intent in undermining the ability of the university to carry out its mission.

The ban on foreign students, for example, makes, first of all, no moral sense. It's a ban that is displacing 7,000 people who are just nose-in-the-book students who came here to receive the best education that they can. And they're being forcibly displaced. Why? Because the administration wants to control who Harvard can hire and what Harvard can teach.

And we said no. And so this is not just an escalation in tension between Harvard and the administration. It is harming thousands of people for no good reason.

BLITZER: Your university's president says these cuts stand to impact research that the government itself has deemed very high-priority. What could these cuts have -- where could these cuts have the biggest impact, Professor?

REIMERS: In the basic sciences.

Our international students contribute to intellectual diversity and innovation and to research leadership. At Harvard, as is the case at most research universities, international students are a very large proportion of our graduate researchers, especially in STEM.

And they're central to breakthrough scientific discoveries and technological advances, because they bring with them experience and knowledge particular to different places that increase the value and the impact of the breakthroughs and that stimulate creativity in those research teams.

So, the impact that the cuts, the financial cuts are having already is an impact in the sciences. It's stimulating a brain drain of some of our best international students to other places.

You may have read...

BLITZER: It's impacting, as you know, Professor, the American students as well. When I was a graduate student at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies here in Washington, there were a lot of foreign students there. I became friendly with many of them.

And I learned a lot about the world as a result of my conversations with the visiting foreign students who were enrolled at the Johns Hopkins University. I'm sure the same thing is going on at Harvard. It impacts American students who want to get a good education and want to learn about the world, and they can become friendly and talk to these foreign students, who will help them, right?

REIMERS: That's exactly right. Thanks for saying that.

And that is the reason President Alan Garber has said Harvard cannot be Harvard without our international students, because the educational experience would be severely diminished for -- if all of our students carried an American passport.

It's not only that their view of the world is expanded when they interact and learn from students from all over the world. It's that they collaborate on projects. For example, with my students, every year, we publish a book examining educational innovations happening in the U.S. and abroad.

This year, we looked at innovations to support marginalized students. And when you have in the same teams students who come from different parts of the world, as well as students from the U.S., they just have more ideas about how to solve that. They can think of the world as a global laboratory from which to draw. And we badly need that in my own field, education, in the field of education.

[11:35:11]

We need American educators to know about the global experience in education. For example, this semester, I invited the minister of education of one of South Korea's leading provinces in education that has -- they have implemented policies that have made South Korea the country with the greatest percentage of access to university in the world, far surpassing the United States.

They are doing extraordinary advances in bringing artificial intelligence to personalize education, advances we're not doing in the United States. And the reason those scholars come to Harvard is because we are a place that is a global place. We are a place that values that exchange of global experience.

So, this ban, if it came to pass, it would destroy Harvard as we know it. It would make us the little backwater provincial university that we were in 1850. Harvard was not only -- not always the great university it is today. That transformation began when our president Charles William Eliot, who had spent some time studying universities in Germany and in France, came back and decided that he had to open the university to the world.

And he built graduate studies. He built the professional schools. He brought in professors from all over the world. And that transformed Harvard.

It would be very difficult to find today an American university that has a very small percentage of international students. You would have to find universities that have a very specialized mission, religious institution, Paul Jones University, or some very small community colleges in rural areas.

Most universities in the United States understand that, in order to be a university, in order to offer an education worth its name, you need to have students from all over the world.

BLITZER: What are you hearing from some of these international students at Harvard, Professor, who are now being told they have to leave the university and leave the United States, for that matter?

REIMERS: Well, they are dumbfounded. They are dumbfounded because many of those students came here because they admire the United States and the values for which it stands.

And they see this ban as contradicting fundamentally America's values. America has always been seen as being open to talented and ambitious people from everywhere. And this ban is completely at odds with that proud tradition.

It's also tarnishing the reputation of the United States as a country of laws and reason, making us seem like a banana republic run by petty autocrats who have used their position to serve their personal interests and grievances.

So, it is not surprised that, just in the last few hours, several universities and nations around the world have announced that they would gladly accept all current and incoming international students to Harvard who can't remain here. The University of Tokyo in Japan has said that. The university in Hong Kong -- Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Macau University of Science and Technology, Sunway University in Malaysia. We're going to see more universities do that. So why the government of the United States would cause such harm to higher education in America and to the American economy is beyond reason, incomprehensible.

BLITZER: Yes, it's very hard to believe.

Professor Fernando Reimers, thanks so much for joining us.

REIMERS: Thank you for having me.

BLITZER: And just ahead: King Charles speaking before the Canadian Parliament right now, it's a powerful show of support during a very tense time between Canada and the U.S.

We will take a closer look at this visit. That's next here in THE SITUATION ROOM.

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[11:43:18]

BLITZER: New this morning, King Charles just wrapped up a very rare and symbolic speech to the Canadian Parliament and reaffirmed the U.K.'s commitment to Canada.

Listen and watch this.

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KING CHARLES III, UNITED KINGDOM: The crown has for so long been a symbol of unity for Canada. It also represents stability and continuity from the past to the present.

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BLITZER: This is just the second time in Canadian history that the reigning sovereign has opened Parliament. This is also coming amid rising tensions, as we all know, between Canada and the U.S.

CNN's Paula Newton is joining us live from Ottawa right now.

Paula, tell us more about the significance of this visit.

PAULA NEWTON, CNN INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: You know, the significance will resonate all the way to the White House, Wolf, and that's the way this Canadian government would like it to land.

Remember, and you know it well, the president for so many times in the last few months has uttered that Canada would be better off being the 51st state.

This is the comeback from Prime Minister Mark Carney and his government, to not only invite the king of Canada, King Charles, to Canada, to open Parliament, in what you just pointed out is rare and very historic, but for that king to read the words of Mark Carney and his government and how they intend this relationship for the United -- with the United States and the relationship with so many allies to carry on in the next few years.

Wolf, I want to point out that there was nothing all that blunt, and it was certainly very diplomatic language, the king reading the words, again, of Mark Carney and his government, saying that we will begin a new relationship with the United States based on mutual respect and economic and national security priorities.

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But making clear, Wolf, to also draw a distinction between Canada and the United States and standing up for certain values that perhaps separate it from the route that the United States is going on now.

Wolf, I will note a couple of things here that the president will be happy to hear, a commitment to a stronger border and also a commitment to rearm the Canadian armed forces.

BLITZER: All right, Paula Newton, reporting from Ottawa for us, thanks very, very much.

Also new this morning, NPR is now suing the Trump administration over the president's executive order to cut its federal funding. Several member stations joined the lawsuit, alleging Trump's actions are a clear violation of the First Amendment. The White House has targeted both NPR and its television counterpart, PBS, claiming they are biased.

I want to go to our chief media analyst, Brian Stelter, right now.

First of all, Brian, tell us more about this lawsuit.

BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA ANALYST: Yes, Trump has tried several different maneuvers to take the public out of public broadcasting. Most recently, he signed an executive order demanding that NPR and PBS lose all the federal funding.

But here's the thing. That federal funding was included in a law that was passed by Congress and signed into law by Trump earlier this year. And yet Trump on May 1 signed this executive order. There's the title, Ending Taxpayer Subsidization of Biased Media.

That is what he is trying to have happen. But NPR is suing to try to stop him. Here's part of the lawsuit's statement from earlier today.

NPR says in the suit -- quote -- "The executive order violated the expressed will of Congress and the First Amendment's bedrock guarantees of freedom of speech, freedom of the press and freedom of association and also threatens the existence of a public radio system that millions of Americans across the country rely upon."

Now, Trump accused the networks of liberal bias. NPR denies that charge. But that charge is at the heart of this lawsuit. Basically, the White House reiterated that charge again this morning. But that is what the Theodore Boutrous, one of the lawyers hired by NPR to fight this attack, that's what they say is viewpoint discrimination. Boutrous told me just a few minutes ago that viewpoint discrimination

is so clear in this case, because the White House is accusing NPR of bias, even though NPR denies that charge. So that's at the heart of this case. It's a First Amendment case. And it may not be the only one, Wolf.

PBS has also been considering legal action, and it may follow up in the days to come.

BLITZER: We shall see.

All right, Brian Stelter, thanks very, very much.

Coming up, the news that has stunned and concerned Billy Joel fans, the legendary singer canceling his upcoming tour because of a very rare brain condition.

We have details on that when we come back.

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BLITZER: Friends and family are rallying around Billy Joel after he was diagnosed with a very rare brain condition. It can affect balance, concentration and memory, and forced the legendary piano man to cancel his upcoming concert tour.

Billy Joel's ex-wife Christie Brinkley on social media wishing him a full and speedy recovery. We all -- recovery. We all do.

CNN's chief medical correspondent and practicing neurosurgeon, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, is joining us right now.

Explain to our viewers what Billy Joel is now facing and how common it is.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, so this is a condition known as normal pressure hydrocephalus.

It's a mouthful, but, basically, people have heard of water on the brain. Typically, you think of that in kids. But this is something that can happen in adults as well, particularly people over the age of 65. So, look at these images here, quickly, Wolf. On the left, that's normal. See, those black areas in the middle of the brain, those are fluid-filled areas known as ventricles.

On the right, you can see that they're quite large. That is hydrocephalus. That's what water on the brain really means, when water is sort of filling up those spaces in an abnormally large way. That's under normal pressure, which is why it has that name, normal pressure hydrocephalus.

Wolf, quickly, this is something that's often a mimic for things like Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's. People may have cognitive difficulties. They may have difficulties with walking. They may have difficulties with bowel or bladder control. These are the types of symptoms people come in with. And doctors initially aren't quite sure what to make of it.

If they get a scan and they see this, that is normal pressure hydrocephalus and something that is potentially treatable, Wolf.

BLITZER: You operate on patients, Sanjay, with this condition. I know you have done it several times. Tell us about the treatment.

GUPTA: Yes, so if you think about it, again, you have that fluid that you just saw in those scans. That is in the brain. It's also wrapping around the spinal cord. That's cerebral spinal fluid.

So the first thing doctors often do is, through a lumbar puncture, a needle in the lower back, they drain some of that fluid, take away some of that fluid, and basically see if the patient improves. Does their cognition improve? Does their walking improve, bladder function improve?

If it does, then you can do a sort of more permanent procedure, Wolf. So here's a brain model. Those fluid-filled spaces are sort of deep within the brain. You can put a catheter that basically goes through the brain into one of those fluid-filled spaces and then drain the fluid into the abdominal cavity, for example. That's a more permanent solution. That's called a shunt.

And I got to tell you again, while this condition is rare, if somebody comes in worried that they have Alzheimer's or Parkinson's or something like this, they end up having normal pressure hydrocephalus, they might get a really good result, which is something that we would certainly hope for Billy Joel as well.

BLITZER: We certainly do hope him only the very, very best.

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Sanjay, thank you very, very much.

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BLITZER: And, to our viewers, scan the Q.R. code on your screen and send us your questions about Billy Joel's diagnosis.

Dr. Gupta will be back tomorrow and he will answer your questions.

Meanwhile, there's breaking news right now. President Trump just posted this on social media. And I'm quoting him now: "What Vladimir Putin doesn't realize is that, if it weren't for me, lots of really bad things would have already happened to Russia, and I mean really bad. He's playing with fire" -- close quote.

Earlier this week, President Trump said that Putin had gone -- quote -- "absolutely crazy," and that he is not happy with what he was doing after Moscow launched its latest largest aerial attack on -- of its three-year war on Ukraine overnight.

Thanks very much for watching.

"INSIDE POLITICS WITH DANA BASH" will be covering all of this breaking news. That's coming up next right after a short break.