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What We Know with Max Foster

Two Israeli Embassy Staffers Killed In DC, Suspect In Custody; Trump Administration Halts Harvard's Ability To Enroll International Students; Fiery Jet Crash Sets Homes And Cars On Fire In San Diego; Later: Trump To Attend Gala With His Top Memecoin Holders; U.S. & Iran To Attend Next Round of Talks In Rome Friday; Rapper Kid Cudi Testifies In Combs Sex Trafficking Trial. Aired 3-4p ET

Aired May 22, 2025 - 15:00   ET

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

[15:00:35]

MAX FOSTER, CNN HOST: A deadly shooting in Washington with a suspected gunman expected to appear in court in the coming hours.

This is WHAT WE KNOW.

We're expecting the man U.S. authorities believe killed two Israeli embassy staff members in Washington on Wednesday to make his first appearance in

federal court very soon. Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim were shot near the Capital Jewish Museum. The couple were to be engaged. A friend says

Yaron had a generosity of spirit. While sara is being remembered as someone who brought people together with empathy and purpose.

Law enforcement agents say they searched an address in Chicago that appeared to be linked to the suspected shooter. Police say the suspect is

30-year-old Elias Rodriguez, who is from there.

This is what the suspect was yelling as he was handcuffed by police.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ELIAS RODRIGUEZ, SUSPECT: Free, free Palestine. Free, free Palestine. Free, free, free Palestine.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: That face says it all, doesn't it?

Law enforcement correspondent Whitney Wild is standing by for us.

I mean, what more do we know about this man?

WHITNEY WILD, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT: Well, we are learning more from law enforcement today. What we're doing is poring through his

social media footprint, Max. And what we found is that there is a -- there is a X account that appears at least law enforcement is investigating

whether or not it is linked to Elias Rodriguez. And what it shows is that there's this lengthy letter that posted shortly after the shooting. And in

this letter, there is basically a call for retaliation. This letter says that the Israeli actions in Gaza amount to genocide, and it seems to be a

justification for violence in reaction to that, Max.

So these are all the questions that law enforcement is working through right now at this very moment. There is law enforcement activity at this

address associated with Elias Rodriguez. This is in a neighborhood called Albany Park, Chicago. This is a densely populated neighborhood, Max. This

is a very ethnically diverse neighborhood here on the north side.

And law enforcement has been here for several hours. We've seen law enforcement agents coming in and out, presumably searching this address

they believe is associated with Rodriguez. But as far as what they found inside that apartment, how it links or adds texture and information to how

this crime was committed, we just don't know yet. We expect to hear from law enforcement later this afternoon.

Max, to put it simply, there is a very long list of questions that law enforcement is asking. The most immediate are, is there any threat to the

public? Certainly, they say no at this point. The other question is whether or not there are other people associated with this crime. That is something

that law enforcement is working through.

And then, Max, you know, I'm certainly you've covered many of these cases, as have I. It's not always the case that the suspected gunman is alive at

this point. The suspected gunman is alive. This person is in custody. And right now, the primary concern is making sure that they gather every piece

of evidence to bring forth the most robust case, to ensure conviction that they possibly can.

And when I speak with law enforcement sources to get a sense of how they're doing that and what they're thinking about as they move through all of that

information, basically what they're looking at is every element of his life. Everywhere he went, everything he said, everything he touched to try

to understand more deeply why this crime happened and how, Max.

FOSTER: And the couple, Yaron and Sarah, I mean, presumably completely innocent, just getting caught up in this. But they were engaged. I mean,

it's an utter tragedy. What more do we know about them?

WILD: Well, we're learning more from the people who worked with them at the Israeli embassy. And they describe this really darling couple, you

know, really at the beginning of a blooming relationship, as you said, they expected to be engaged. The officials told our Alex Marquardt that Yaron

Lischinsky had planned to propose to Sarah Milgrim. She hadn't yet met his family, and that was one of the things that they were hoping to do if, you

know, when they went back to Israel to meet his family.

So, this is an absolute tragedy at the beginning of, again, a budding relationship that that brought so much joy to the people who worked around

them, you know, as just a little, little detail to help give a sense of what their day to day was like. They would eat lunch together at work.

[15:05:02]

They met at work. This started off as such an endearing love story. And it has been ended far too soon, Max.

FOSTER: Yeah, thoughts with all their families and friends. Whitney, thank you so much.

A witness to the shooting told us earlier that at first, he didn't believe the loud noises he heard were gunshot. He described some of the chaos in

the aftermath of the shooting.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JONATHAN EPSTEIN, WITNESS: So the event had just wrapped up. A couple of us were touring the galleries upstairs, and out of nowhere we hear a series

of loud bangs, just boom, boom, boom, one after the other. And my friend was like, were those gunshots? I was like, no, no, no, that was just

construction. We're fine.

But then we went downstairs to the main lobby where the event was held. A man rushed in, said he had dislocated his shoulder, said there were indeed

gunshots. Security at the event ushered us quickly back into a safe location behind the main room. And we were there for a few minutes and we

were like, okay, was this shooting about?

And we just thought it was a random shooting. We're in a rough area of D.C., lots of gang violence, I thought had nothing to do with the event at

first. And then a couple minutes pass and I hear a man yell, "Free Palestine". And I thought he was just a random protesters protesting an

event for the sake of it. I had no idea he was the shooter.

I walk out, I see him yelling again. I see security who are now there run, grab him, take him outside and he's still yelling.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Well, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel has ordered heightened security at Israeli missions around the world. In response to

this, he also says that he spoke to the parents of the two Israeli embassy staff members who were killed. This is what he had to say just a short

while ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: Last night in Washington, something horrific happened, a brutal terrorist shot in cold blood, a

young, beautiful couple, Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim. Yaron had just bought an engagement ring for Sarah. He was planning to give it to her in

Jerusalem next week. They were planning to start a new and happy life together.

Well, that tragically did not happen. Yaron and Sarah weren't the victims of a random crime. The terrorist who cruelly gunned them down did so for

one reason and one reason alone. He wanted to kill Jews, and as he was taken away, he chanted "Free Palestine". This is exactly the same chant we

heard on October 7th.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Jeremy Diamond has more reaction now to the shootings from Tel Aviv.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN JERUSALEM CORRESPONDENT: Well, Israelis woke up horrified on Thursday to the news that two embassy staffers had been killed

in this shooting attack in Washington, D.C., outside of a Jewish Museum. And rightly so. This has really just amplified fears that many Israelis

already had about traveling abroad at this time of growing criticism and hatred being directed at Israel, as well as the tide of rising global

antisemitism.

And we are hearing Israeli officials channeling those fears, as well as that indignation. The Israeli prime minister, who spoke with the parents of

one of the victims earlier today, saying that his heart aches for those families. And then he said this, we are witnessing the terrible cost of

antisemitism and the wild incitement against the state of Israel. He blamed this attack on what he described as blood libels that are being leveled

against Israel, and he vowed that Israel will continue to fight against those.

We have also seen, as this attack has become a flashpoint in Israeli politics. A leader of the Democrats party, a left-wing party in Israel,

Yair Golan, saying that he shares in the grief of these families. But he also went after Netanyahu's right-wing government, saying that it is this

government's policies that is fueling antisemitism and hatred of Israel, which he said is endangering, quote, every Jew in every corner of the

globe.

Right wing politicians like Itamar Ben-Gvir, the national security minister, are blaming Golan, instead saying that it was his criticism of

Israel, for example, earlier this week in terms of its conduct in Gaza that is fueling the antisemitism that resulted in the attack that we saw in

Washington, dc. The Israeli president, Isaac Herzog, for his part, urging Israeli politicians to not turn this into a political matter, calling it a

despicable act of hatred and antisemitism.

We know that the Israeli prime minister has indeed reinforced embassy security at Israeli embassies around the world. We also heard from IsraAID,

which is a non-governmental humanitarian aid organization. Some of its staffers were the keynote speakers at this event that that young couple was

attending.

[15:10:00]

And they said that the brutal and tragic irony of all of this is that this event was focused on humanitarian principles, on talking about getting aid

to Gaza, and it resulted in this horrific attack.

Jeremy Diamond, CNN, Tel Aviv.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Israeli prime minister's office says Donald Trump, meanwhile, has reached out. The U.S. president expressed his deep sorrow in a phone call

with Benjamin Netanyahu.

Meanwhile, the White House says Mr. Trump is saddened and outraged over the killing of the embassy workers.

Another major story we are following for you this hour, a sharp escalation in the back and forth spat between the White House and Harvard University.

Donald Trump's administration today revoked the university's ability to enroll international students, also forcing existing foreign students to

transfer or lose their legal status. I mean, this is extraordinary.

We'll have -- okay, we have Jeff Zeleny we can speak to about this.

Jeff, this is students being caught up in a huge row, of course, but I think there's something like 25 percent or something of the students there

are international.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Max, it's actually a touch higher than that, about 27 percent in this academic year, about

6,700 students or so were registered in the `24-`25 academic year. And it affects all of them, of course.

And you're right, it marks a dramatic escalation between this really ongoing fight between the White House, the Trump administration and Harvard

University. Sort of a Harvard is one of the few institutions of higher learning that has really pushed back against the U.S. government. One

reason they can, they have the largest endowment, of course, of any university. But also, this is likely to be the latest sort of edict from

the government to be challenged legally here.

But Kristi Noem, the secretary of homeland security, is making the announcement. She is also quite bluntly calling it a warning to other

universities. She writes this. She said: Harvard is losing their student and exchange visitor program certification as a result of failing to adhere

to the law. Let this serve as a warning to all other universities and academic institutions.

So quite bluntly saying there that the government does not believe Harvard has followed their instruction in terms of what curriculum they can teach,

DEI programs being removed, et cetera. Of course, federal funding has also been pulled back from Harvard, medical funding, other things, these ongoing

fights.

Harvard, of course, is pushing back significantly on this as well. They're calling it unlawful. They're going to challenge this in court. So, we shall

see where this goes.

But the bottom line, at least as of now for these international students who, quite frankly, are on the cusp of finishing the school year, what is

next for them? So that is definitely an open question for all to answer, but not a small number of students. Nearly 7,000 students, and even more

than that, of course, just the idea that the U.S. government is trying to insert itself into these international students, they say they can, of

course, because they control what's called a student, an exchange, visitor program certification. So --

FOSTER: Yeah.

ZELENY: -- again, one more fight the Trump administration is eager to pick -- Max.

FOSTER: Absolutely. Jeff, thank you.

Heavy fog may have played a role in a deadly plane crash in southern California. A Cessna 550 crashed into a San Diego neighborhood on Thursday

morning. Jet fuel from the fiery crash rolled down the street, setting numerous cars on fire. About ten homes were damaged.

The plane took off from Teterboro Airport in New Jersey and made a brief stop in Kansas. This type of Cessna can carry up to eight people. Everyone

on board is believed to have been killed, of course.

CNN's Stephanie Elam is in San Diego.

I mean, a tragedy for the flight and also so scary for the people on the ground as well. The worst thing you can have in this situation is going up

into a residential area, right?

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT; Oh, truly, Max. It's unbelievable that really this happened at 3:45 in the morning, morning local time. It's

amazing that no one on the ground lost their lives. That's where we stand right now.

I want to show you this house behind me, because this is the house that took the brunt of the impact from the plane as it was coming through here.

Theres a tree here. It clipped. It hit this house. From what we can understand. And then jet fuel spilled down this road here. And cars on both

sides of the street were on fire.

They're saying about a dozen homes are damaged. This one home. They're saying it's likely destroyed because of this.

There are several things I can tell you. Like down the street, I can see part of the fuselage of the plane. It's hard to see from where I'm standing

right here, right now.

But you can see part of the plane. They are also saying that neighbors helped neighbors to evacuate to get out of here. As the investigation

continues, the NTSB, the National Transportation Safety Board, has made it here and is now investigating.

I saw them walking around to find out more about what happened here, as we're still trying to find out more about who was on this plane.

Teterboro is a commuter airplane that's outside of New York City, in New Jersey. We believe it stopped in Wichita, Kansas to refuel before finishing

coming here to San Diego. The plane did not send out any distress signals, is what we understand at this point.

We also know that there was dense fog. I can tell you, driving here from Los Angeles about a 2-1/2 hour drive, and there was some pretty good fog as

we were coming in even afterwards this happened. So that may have been part of the visibility. And there was a problem with a -- some technology that

tells pilots about the weather at the airport where this pilot was going.

So, he was able to get -- he, I should say, the person I don't know the gender of this person was able to get flight information from a nearby

base. Still, a lot of questions about who was on this flight, what may have happened. But overall, when you look at the scene and you see -- I wish I

could have you sense how strong the smell of jet fuel is here. It's amazing that none of these people in these homes lost their lives.

And I was told that all of these homes are occupied. I can also tell you that about a dozen animals they've taken into the Humane Society to clean

them of jet fuel, and a lot of these people just grabbed what they could and ran out of these homes when this happened.

Think about it. Most of these people were probably dead -- dead asleep when this happened. One man telling CNN that he heard a big boom was trying to

go back to sleep, and then heard another big boom and realized he needed to get himself and his animals out of the -- out of the house. So really, it

could be a lot worse.

But still, there has been a loss of life just wasn't from the people who were in their homes in this military neighborhood that is made up of people

who someone in their family is serving the U.S. Navy, and so they live in this community as long as they're deployed here. So they're from all over

the country, but still, it's pretty amazing the situation here -- Max.

FOSTER: Yeah, I mean, it's something to be thankful for, but as you say, a tragedy nevertheless.

Stephanie, thank you so much.

Still ahead, President Donald Trump holding a special dinner for top holders of his meme coin. We'll speak to one of them.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:20:27]

FOSTER: A private dinner president Trump will attend later today at his Virginia golf club is raising ethics concerns. Two hundred twenty guests

paid for an invitation by becoming the biggest investors in Mr. Trump's memecoin. A majority of investors appear to be from outside the U.S. That's

leading to fears they could be looking to buy access to a sitting U.S. president, potentially violating the Constitution.

An administration spokesperson pushed back on critics, saying President Trump only acts in the best interests of the American public.

Well, what we don't know properly on this show at least, is how meme coins work, why people buy them.

Joining us is Morten Christensen, a Danish crypto investor attending tonight's dinner.

Thanks for joining us so much.

I mean, am I allowed to ask how much you've got and how well it's done for you?

MORTEN CHRISTENSEN, DANISH CRYPTO INVESTOR: At the moment, I own zero. But I've done pretty well on the meme coin. Yeah.

FOSTER: So how did you get the invite?

CHRISTENSEN: The -- it was the leaderboard competition that had two factors. How many tokens you hold and how long you hold it. But the time

window, for the leaderboard ended on March 19th from top of mind. So, after the competition ended, I closed my positions.

FOSTER: So, this particular meme coin did particularly well, presumably.

CHRISTENSEN: Well, it did very well in the first week. After that, it's been going down quite a lot. I think it went down maybe 80 percent from its

top.

FOSTER: Why?

CHRISTENSEN: But the first couple of days, they were -- they were insane.

I think a couple of reasons. The whole market went down after inauguration. So it was probably priced in, that President Trump is going to be a pro

crypto president, prices ran up before inauguration and the days after market started going down, like all of crypto, not only his coin. His coin

-- yeah.

FOSTER: Carry on.

CHRISTENSEN: So, his coin went up a lot to billions of dollars in the first couple of days. But then shortly after his wife, Melania, also

dropped the meme coin. And that didn't sit well with many of the holders. And it cascaded kind of the price down.

FOSTER: Why was that? Because people were buying both.

CHRISTENSEN: Yes, but it also like it feels like a meme coins are more like an attention play. So, if all the attention is on one coin, it can go

up really fast and you're kind of gambling that it will go up more. But now if he has two coins and there was kind of fear that maybe Eric will do a

coin, Barron will do a coin.

And there were many fake meme coins of family members of Trump popping up left and right. So, it kind of felt like the attention won't be on this

meme coin. And people started selling it.

FOSTER: Okay, just explain how they work, because I think a lot of people watching are pretty baffled by them. It's a really, you know, up and down

market. Obviously, it's not. There's nothing underlying it, is there? Just explain what they are and how they work.

CHRISTENSEN: For me, meme coin is purely gambling. Yeah, it's an attention economy. The first meme coin ever was dogecoin. I don't know if you heard

about that one.

I used to mine it back in 2014. It was just a funny internet meme, and it turned into a coin and people started supporting it. A community started

going behind it because everyone thought it was funny. It was like a joke on bitcoin basically.

But this -- this particular -- this year, particularly, meme coins have gone crazy. It seems like the average people, they -- they prefer to invest

in meme coin and I say invest, but it's gambling. Because the returns can be very high. But you can also lose all your money, but it's -- if you lose

all your money, it's usually very swift on a meme coin. Like you can lose in a day, or it can 100x.

FOSTER: Do you think the president of the U.S. should be promoting them?

CHRISTENSEN: No, I don't think so. I think as there's loss with stocks that he cannot promote the stock you own, why would he be able to promote a

meme coin he owns?

FOSTER: Would he, you know, is it right that. Yeah. So, he's got one of his own. So, you don't you see that as an ethical problem? Because,

obviously, he's going to be making money from it and he's using his position. It only -- it only goes up, doesn't it, because of who he is. So

would you see that as an abuse of position.

CHRISTENSEN: I think it's like a -- I would say like in a like he's coloring outside of the lines here. There's -- there's no real strict rules

around this yet. So, you can't say he's breaking any laws.

[15:25:00]

But I -- if I was in his position, I wouldn't have done it. Yeah.

FOSTER: And you're getting access to him so that, you know, you'd obviously take that if you're offered it. But do you think -- do you see

the ethical problem about inviting people in you raise money from?

CHRISTENSEN: Well, in that scenario most businessmen do, right? There's investment meetings every single day or every single hour. So that's not

out of the normal, in my opinion.

But, yeah, how this competition was set up, like, I invested in it like I bought his coin, but on the other hand, I also shorted it. So I didn't have

any exposure to the price. So, in that scenario, the doing this dinner may have not had the results maybe that he expected, or maybe it wasn't planned

like that. But it was quite easy to do. Yeah.

FOSTER: Okay. Morten Christensen an investor and meeting Trump tonight. Thank you so much for joining us.

CHRISTENSEN: No problem.

FOSTER: Still to come, as friends and colleagues mourn the death of two Israeli embassy staffers, how many investigators move forward on the case?

I'll speak with our chief law enforcement and intelligence analyst.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FOSTER: Israel's foreign minister says he had a heartbreaking phone calls with the parents of two Israeli embassy staffers killed in a shooting in

Washington on Wednesday. Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim were shot outside the capital's Jewish museum, which was hosting an event. The sole

suspect, a 31-year-old man from Chicago, has been arrested. He's expected to appear in court today.

[15:30:01]

Police say he chanted "Free Palestine" whilst in custody.

The White House says Donald Trump is saddened and outraged over the killings.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The evil of antisemitism must be eradicated from our society. I spoke to the attorney general this

morning. The Department of Justice will be prosecuting the perpetrator responsible for this to the fullest extent of the law. Hatred has no place

in the United States of America under President Donald Trump.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Chief law enforcement and intelligence analyst John Miller joins me now.

Of course, he hasn't been found guilty, but there's so much evidence already in this case, isn't there? We talked earlier with our reporters

about the reaction in Israel. What we know about this suspect.

But are you concerned about a theme here? What do you think it speaks to?

JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: Max, what I think it speaks to is what we've been seeing coming since the October 7th

attacks where you have multiple foreign terrorists, terrorist groups who are on the air every day in their social media platforms, in their chat

rooms, exhorting others to violence. That that there are some of the more radical ends of the protest groups who are using, terms like escalate for

Palestine, meaning demonstrations are not enough.

You've seen a pattern of these attacks across the world at Jewish locations in the United States. The attempt to burn down the governor of

Pennsylvania's house after his Passover dinner. The New Year's attack inspired by ISIS in New Orleans, not directed at a Jewish target, but

directed at the United States, in part for what's been going on with the U.S. support of Israel.

So, this drumbeat has been going for a while, and this is an individual where there have been multiple arrests of people plotting attacks, who just

wasn't on the radar. He came out of the shadows last night.

FOSTER: Yeah. John Miller, thank you so much. As we digest this horrific event and watch the police go about their work. Thank you.

A fifth round of negotiations between the U.S. and Iran aimed at curbing Tehran's nuclear program are set to begin in Rome on Friday. The Trump

administration is sending a special envoy, Steve Witkoff, and other officials. But two Iranian sources tell CNN that Tehran is skeptical about

the talks.

CNN's Fred Pleitgen reports now from Tehran.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Here on the streets and markets in Tehran, of course, the negotiations between the

Iranians and the Trump administration is the talk of the town. Of course, those negotiations have been fairly difficult.

The Iranians have threatened to walk away several times because of some of the things that members of President Trump's negotiating team have said,

especially that the U.S. would not allow nuclear enrichment inside Iran by the Iranians. The Iranians say for them, that is an absolute red line. They

say they've worked hard for their civilian nuclear program, and they have a right to enrich nuclear fuel.

The Iranians are, however, saying if verification is necessary, they are willing to make compromises there. Folks that we've been speaking to here

on the streets of Tehran say they do hope that an agreement can be reached.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's going to be a situation. They're going to put Iran into a corner and they're going to be so much demand that Iran cannot give.

And it's going to fail.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In Iran, the economic situation is not good for people, and we are in a depression (ph). And I hope -- I think most of the

people, we hope that maybe it possible.

PLEITGEN: Do you think there's a chance of success still?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't think so. Because our decision is clear that we should have our nuclear power, not for -- using it for, I don't know,

weapons for, I don't know, killing people. We just need it for our power. I don't know, for our energy.

PLEITGEN: So, as you can see, a pretty complicated situation. What are the Israelis going to do? What's the Trump administration going to do? Can a

compromise be reached?

Now, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader and final authority on everything here in Iran, he says he's not confident that these negotiations

can come to a successful conclusion. And he's urged specifically the American negotiators to try not to talk any nonsense.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Fred Pleitgen there reporting from Tehran.

Now entering the lion's den, South Africa's president survived a stern oval office challenge from Donald Trump. We'll take a look at the best way to

deal with such a test if you ever find yourself in one.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:37:52]

FOSTER: The World Food Program says a handful of bakeries in Gaza are making bread again, calling it a critical first step. But it says much more

food must be allowed in. And now, if they want to stave off famine, Israel is allowing what it calls a basic, minimal amount of aid for Gaza's 2

million people. After blocking all humanitarian assistance for 11 weeks, the U.N. says about 90 trucks delivered aid on Wednesday, including flour

and medicine. The director of a Palestinian NGO in Gaza says no aid has reached the north yet where its actually needed the most.

Now, the U.N.'s humanitarian chief says just a tiny fraction of the trucks waiting at the Gaza border are actually making it in.

Tom Fletcher spoke earlier to my colleague Christiane Amanpour.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOM FLETCHER, U.N. UNDER-SECRETARY-GENERAL FOR HUMANITARIAN AFFAIRS: There is a trickle of aid now getting in. That's the good news here, 300,000

meals delivered today, 87 trucks in, most of them carrying food. Now, that's a drop in the ocean of what's needed. And I've got 10,000 trucks on

the border right now cleared, ready to go. And you know, well do everything to get them in and save lives.

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Ten thousand trucks are waiting.

FLETCHER: Full of food, baby food. You know, there are lots of people starving right now, 2 million people inside Gaza at risk of famine. And we

know how to do this. You know, we delivered 600, 700 trucks during the ceasefire.

Now, this is tough, tough work. We had some of the trucks looted today. We anticipated that the security situation is grim. There's obviously a war

going on above us. The roads are destroyed. People are desperate inside Gaza.

Our people are working around the clock. And I just pay tribute to them. You know, many of our teams are themselves malnourished, and they're

getting in those trucks and they're going to work through the night again and deliver as much as we can for as long as we can.

AMANPOUR: We can see some of the nighttime video. Can I ask you when you say trucks were looted?

This is also a talking point for the Israeli government. They say this stuff goes to Hamas. Hamas loots it. Hamas stores it. Hamas diverts it.

Who's doing the looting? And are you sure its not getting into the wrong hands?

FLETCHER: Well, so far, Hamas is staying well out of the way. A lot of the looting takes place as you come through those border crossings. Theres a no

man's land there. I've driven through it myself on the way out of Gaza a couple of months ago, where many of those gangs are. And some of it happens

as you hit the communities.

You know, these are desperate, starving people inside Gaza right now. But we don't think it's Hamas doing that looting. And we have distribution

networks. We have our people on the ground. It's in our interest to stop that aid, getting anywhere near Hamas and getting it to the civilians who

need it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Tom Fletcher there from the U.N., speaking to Christiane.

South Africa's president has been largely praised in his home country after handling one of his toughest public tests yet. This after U.S. President

Donald Trump's ambush of Cyril Ramaphosa in the Oval Office, peddling unsubstantiated claims of white genocide.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Turn the lights down. Turn the lights down and just put this on. It's right behind you, Johan.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's not in this parliament can do with or without you. People are going to occupy land. We require no permission from you, from

the president.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Newspapers describing the South African president as calm and the meeting as a shootout.

Some South Africans say Ramaphosa had nothing to explain when questioned by Donald Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't think it was the right call. South Africa is a country on its own. I don't think we need to explain ourselves to USA, to

U.S. Yeah, whatever they think about south Africa, he should have just let it be. We know where we stand. We as South Africans, we know there's no

white genocide.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's amazing what he did because like, really those Americans I think especially me personally, I think Donald Trump, he thinks

is a -- is a leader of the whole world. So, I think what he did Cyril Ramaphosa to prove them that it's not -- we don't have no separation in

this country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: The Oval Office is proving a dangerous place, isn't it, for many a world leader.

Cyril Ramaphosa just the latest to enter the lion's den. Famously, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's altercation with President Trump

and Vice President J.D. Vance in February, probably the worst-case scenario. Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney had to face Mr. Trump's

assertion that his country should become part of the U.S.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer came out relatively unscathed after passing on an invite from King Charles.

So, what we want to know tonight is how should leaders respond to Donald Trump's Oval Office showdowns and these moments that they just can't

control?

Joining me now, body language expert Susan Constantine.

Thank you so much for joining us. I mean --

SUSAN CONSTANTINE, BODY LANGUAGE EXPERT: You're welcome.

FOSTER: You see a lot of conflict, advise on conflict in your job. It's very little you can do, isn't there -- is there in an ambush situation? I

mean, what do you advise?

CONSTANTINE: Well, when we're looking at the communication between the leaders in Donald Trump, apparently some of the leaders were much more

advised and coached on how to address President Trump.

So, they need to understand President Trump's demeanor. He is very reactive. He gets defensive when he is being criticized. That in itself can

be very powerful if you know that ahead of time.

So how would you handle it? First of all, is that you have to oftentimes give the respect to where respect is due. You almost have to feed into that

ego. But also at the same time is to learn how to be more of an active listener and not to be so reactive.

So, when you come at Donald Trump, he then his natural reaction is to put his hands up and he's going to claw back that much harder and dominate and

control. So that's not the proper way to handle him. Donald Trump recognizes and admires strong, powerful people. He wants to have those

tough conversations. But when you start to criticize and to find fault, that is not the right way to do it. If you want to be reasonable and have

discussion, he's all for it.

FOSTER: Yeah. I mean, that's why I think the Ramaphosa one really stood out because he wasn't reacting. He did turn up with gifts and praise. But

then if I play you this moment Donald Trump showing him videos which are completely unsubstantiated, suggesting that they justify his view that

there's genocide in, in South Africa.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: These are articles over the last few days, death of people. Death. Death, death, horrible death.

[15:45:05]

CYRIL RAMAPHOSA, SOUTH AFRICAN PRESIDENT: It will take President Trump listening to the voices of South Africans, some of whom are his. Good

friends, like those who are here. I would say if there was Afrikaner farmer genocide, I can bet you these three gentlemen would not be here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: That's a really tough one, isn't it, Susan? Because he's going through articles which don't back up his story. According to all of our

reporting and our correspondent in Africa as well. So how do you deal with being presented with false information as if it's fact and you just having

to deal with it?

CONSTANTINE: Well, there's a lot of emotion that's going on there, and both of them have a real hard time with the emotional regulators because

it's personal. So, when you understand that it's personal, when you make these comments either way, both one way or the other way, whether they're

killing the white farmers or there's genocide or it's not really happening, there is going to be a conflict.

Right at the beginning, at the gate, you've already put out the boxing gloves. Not a good way to do it. The point being is that there has to be

some form of reciprocity, you know, and also some active listening that needs to be a part of it. You know, we learn more when we listen more. Both

of them were listening, but they were also thinking about how they're going to respond.

So, when we look at the South African president, you can see where he wanted to interrupt many times. You could actually see it in his hand

gestures. He was motioning. He was wanting to cordially interrupt, which I thought he actually did a very good job.

But when he hit him right out of the gate, as I said to you, Donald Trump has is, he is -- he gets very emotional when you start to criticize, when

you say you don't listen automatically, you already put his hands up. That was the wrong approach. He shouldn't have done that. If he would have said,

hey, you know, he wanted to have a discussion, he would have if things would have been a lot different.

FOSTER: Let's look at Zelenskyy. He didn't even have a chance to have a discussion, did he? He didn't get a word in edgeways. Let's listen to his

confrontation, particularly with Vance.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: What kind of diplomacy, J.D., you are speaking about? What -- what do you mean?

J.D. VANCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm talking about the kind of diplomacy that's going to end the destruction of your country.

ZELENSKYY: Yeah --

VANCE: Mr. President, Mr. President, with respect, I think it's disrespectful for you to come into the Oval Office and try to litigate this

in front of the American media.

TRUMP: You're not in a good position. You don't have the cards right now. With us, you start having cards. Right now, you don't -- you're playing

cards. You're playing cards.

You're gambling with the lives of millions of people. You're gambling with World War III.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: You saw, Susan, him just briefly. We haven't got much time. But Zelenskyy arguing back. Would your advice have been to just sit and listen,

actively listen, which a lot of people would just interpret as sucking it up?

CONSTANTINE: Well, he doesn't have to suck it up. He can have power and control and his tone of his voice and in the words, selected words he uses.

The problem is that he is very reactive and he's always in this militant stance. You can always see him as one legs in front of other, and he's

always ready to attack. That automatically sends a nonverbal cue to the other people that he's ready to fight.

The other point is, they're all fighting for the floor. The problem is, is they should play volleyball, you know, learn how to bat the ball back and

forth and be respectful, use active listening and respect each other's opinion, and learn to listen more so that you're not responding and

reacting emotionally.

FOSTER: Yeah. Susan Constantine, it is fascinating, particularly through your lens, and it does seem so simple, doesn't it, when you're looking at

it like that. But when you're completely caught out, it must be absolutely, it's a tough one. They all need your training.

Susan, thank you so much.

Still to come, rapper Kid Cudi testifies at the Sean "Diddy" Combs case. We'll have his stunning accusations against the music mogul.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:51:35]

FOSTER: Rapper Kid Cudi is testifying against Sean "Diddy" Combs in the music mogul sex trafficking trial.

Kid Cudi briefly dated Combs's ex-girlfriend, Cassie Ventura. He described Combs breaking into his home. The rapper also believes Combs was

responsible for a Molotov cocktail that set his Porsche on fire. Sean Combs is accused of racketeering and sex trafficking. He's pleaded not guilty.

Joining us is Elizabeth Wagmeister from outside the courthouse.

I mean, every detail of this case is so shocking, isn't it? But again, another day, another moment in the trial.

ELIZABETH WAGMEISTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, every detail is so incredibly shocking, Max, and Kid Cudi's testimony in

particular. It's so larger than life. It almost feels like an action movie that could not have happened in real life. And yet, Kid Cudi testified that

it really did happen. He testified that his car blew up, and he believes that Sean Combs was responsible for it.

The jury was actually shown photos of his car. Theres a gaping hole in the roof of the car. Theres severe smoke damage inside the car, to the point

where Kid Cudi testified that the car could not even be repaired.

He also testified to the fact that Sean Combs broke into his home. Now why? Because he allegedly found out that Kid Cudi was dating Cassie Ventura,

who, of course, is the star witness in this case. And he said that Sean Combs was upset. Now, this harkens back to Cassie's testimony from last

week.

As I said, she is the star witness in this case. She was on the stand for four days and she testified about these incidents, saying that Sean Combs

actually threatened her. There was an email that was shown to the jury that Cassie wrote to her mother and to one of Sean Combs employees, saying that

Sean Combs is threatening to release two sex tapes of me, and he is also threatening to physically harm me and Kid Cudi. So, it obviously remains to

be seen how the jury takes in all of this information.

But I do have to tell you that there were also some wins on the defense side, even though these claims from Kid Cudi are so outrageous and on the

surface, so damning for Sean Combs. When the defense came up for cross- examination, they asked Kid Cudi about his relationship with Cassie, and they basically asked, was she truthful about whether or not she was with

Sean Combs? And Kid Cudi said that he was hurt, that he was confused, and he agreed with Combs defense that he was being played. That's the word he

used. He was being played by Cassie Ventura.

So, the defense obviously trying to portray Cassie Ventura not as a victim but as a cheater. And remember, Max, in their opening statement, they said,

our client may not be a great person. You may not like him. They actually said in their opening statement he is a domestic abuser, which is

indefensible, but he is not a sex trafficker. He is not a racketeer. And this is all about a personal relationship, and the government has no

business in his personal life.

So we'll see if the jury is going to agree with that, or if they are going to agree with the prosecution, which says that Cassie Ventura and other

women were coerced and threatened into these sexual acts, which, of course, Max, would go into that sex trafficking charge.

Now, last point I do want to note, we are only at the end of week two.

[15:55:01]

This trial is expected to be eight weeks. There is now a long break for the Memorial Day weekend here in New York, so the jury has a lot of time this

long weekend to mull over all of these details before court is back in session.

FOSTER: A lot to think about. Elizabeth Wagmeister, thank you so much.

Looks like Nike decided to just do it. The athletic brand known as the world -- the world over, really returning to Amazon after more than five

years. That'll make it easier for fans. I'm one of them, I guess. To get the latest swoosh products.

But the company will also raise its prices as its CEO attempts to reverse revenue slump. Shoes priced between $100 and $150 will go up by $5, while

apparel and equipment will increase by as much as $10. The price hikes kick in on the 1st of June.

I'm Max Foster. That was WHAT WE KNOW.

"QUEST MEANS BUSINESS" up next.

END

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